Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
European Network for Quality Assurance in Higher Education (ENQA)

The views expressed in this Workshop Report are those of the authors. Publication does not imply either approval or endorsement by the European Network for Quality Assurance in Higher Education or any of its members. Preface Benchmarking as a higher education evaluation tool is used commonly but differently throughout Eu-rope. Even the exact definition of the actual term benchmarking varies from country to country. A determination to map these various benchmarking concepts and to find common denominators to benchmarking resulted in an active workshop organised by ENQA on 14–15 June 2002 in Finland. European evaluation experts attacked these problems and were able to identify several good principles of benchmarking as well as recommendations for future action. This report, the second ENQA Workshop Report, is a direct result of the experts' hard work. The Steering Group of ENQA sees benchmarking as one of the increasingly relevant evaluation methods today. As a consequence the Steering Group decided to support this workshop in its annual action plan. The feedback ENQA has received from the participants of the workshop indicates that discussions and group work were definitely among the most active ones in recent ENQA workshops. This is gratifying , because one of the cornerstones of our Network's activities is to bring together European experts to exchange views on supportable evaluation practices. The number of participants in the workshops has intentionally been limited to about 30 persons per workshop in order to ensure the kind of intensive discussion among the participants, which again leads to joint practical results. This workshop showed once again that this method indeed is a practical one. I would like to thank the organisers of the workshop who also have written this final report and I hope the reader will find the result worthwhile.
Virtualizing and Scheduling Optical Network Infrastructure for Emerging IT Services [Invited]

Emerging IT service providers that aim at delivering supercomputing power available to the masses over the Internet rely on high-performance IT resources interconnected with ultra-high-performance optical networks. To adjust the provisioning of the resources to end-user demand variations, new infrastructure capabilities have to be supported. These capabilities have to take into account the business requirements of telecom networks. This paper proposes a service framework to offer Internet service providers dynamic access to extensible virtual private execution infrastructures, through on-demand and in-advance bandwidth and resource reservation services. This virtual infrastructure service concept is being studied in the CARRIOCAS project and implemented thanks to the scheduling, reconfiguration, and virtualization (SRV) component. This entity handles the service requests, aggregates them, and triggers the provisioning of different types of resources accordingly. We propose to adapt to envisioned heterogeneous needs by multiplexing rigid and flexible requests as well as coarse or fine demands. The goal is to optimize both resource provisioning and utility functions. Considering the options of advanced network bandwidth reservations and allocations, the optimization problem is formulated. The impacts of the malleability factor are studied by simulation to assess the gain.
Radio AGNs in 13,240 Galaxy Clusters from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey

We correlate the positions of 13,240 brightest cluster galaxies (BCGs) with 0.1 ≤ z ≤ 0.3 from the maxBCG catalog with radio sources from the FIRST survey to study the sizes and distributions of radio AGNs in galaxy clusters. We find that 19.7% of our BCGs are associated with FIRST sources, and this fraction depends on the stellar mass of the BCG, and to a lesser extent on the richness of the parent cluster (in the sense of increasing radio-loudness with increasing mass). The intrinsic size of the radio emission associated with the BCGs peaks at 55 kpc, with a tail extending to 200 kpc. The radio power of the extended sources places them on the divide between FR I and FR II type sources, while sources compact in the radio tend to be somewhat less radio-luminous. We also detect an excess of radio sources associated with the cluster, instead of with the BCG itself, extending out to ~1.4 Mpc.
Dynamic Resource Allocation for Heterogeneous Services in Cognitive Radio Networks with Imperfect Channel Sensing

In cognitive radio networks (CRNs), perfect knowledge of a dynamic radio environment is hard to know due to hardware limitation, short sensing time and network connectivity issues in CRNs. In this paper, we study the dynamic resource allocation problem for heterogeneous services in CRNs with imperfect channel sensing. We formulate the optimization problem as a mixed integer programming problem under constraints. Then we solve the optimal joint power and channel allocation problem using discrete stochastic optimization method. The proposed algorithm has low computation complexity and fast convergence to approximate to the optimal solution under imperfect channel sensing. Another advantage of this method is that it can track the changing radio environment to allocate the resources dynamically. Simulation results are presented to demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed scheme.
Inflammation, Immune System and Alzheimer's disease: A Review of the Findings from the Major GWAS Studies

A role for inflammation in the pathogenesis of Alzheimer's disease (AD) has been a matter of debate since the beginning of AD research in 1907. Over the past three decades immunohistochemical studies demonstrated that amyloid plaques are co-localized with activated microgliaas well as a broad spectrum of inflammation-related proteins (complement factors, acute-phase proteins, pro-inflammatory cytokines) spurring the hypothesis that amyloid plaques may benests of a non-immune mediated inflammatory reactions induced by fibrillar Aβ deposits. However, molecular studies also suggest that inflammation-related proteins are involved in Aβ generation and clearance, gliosis and increased phosphorylation of tau with accelerated tangle formation, i.e. several events considered key pathogenic steps in AD. In line with both notions, neuropathological studies show a close relation between fibrillar Aβ deposits, inflammation and neuroregeneration in relatively early stages preceding extensive tau-related neurofibrillary changes. Genetic studies address the issue of reverse causation and thus can help clarify the temporal relation between inflammatory changes and AD. In this review article we summarize the findings on inflammatory genes from the large scale genetic studies in AD and discuss directions for future research.
EE 368 Final Project : Road Sign Detection and Distance Estimation in Autonomous Car Application

Autonomous vehicle technology is a popular topic that could increase vehicle safety and convenience. Today, autonomous cars are tested with multiple sensors including lidar, radar, and cameras. Vehicle perception and localization today relies on expensive sensors like a Velodyne that costs as much as $30,000; however, humans are able to use the equivalent of one or two cameras as enough information to drive on the road. In order for autonomous vehicles to become realistic for the general public, there needs to be a more cost effective way to accomplish object recognition and state estimation.
Epidemiology of hepatitis E virus in the United States: results from the Third National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey, 1988-1994.

BACKGROUND Hepatitis E virus (HEV) is prevalent and causes disease worldwide, but its epidemiological profile is only partially understood. METHODS We used an enzyme immunoassay to measure anti-HEV immunoglobulin G antibodies in 18,695 serum samples collected in the Third National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey. We calculated estimates of HEV seroprevalence and examined associations with putative risk factors. RESULTS The seroprevalence of HEV in the civilian noninstitutionalized United States (US) population during the period from 1988 through 1994 was 21.0% (95% confidence interval [CI], 19.0%-22.9%). Among US-born individuals, males, non-Hispanic whites, and individuals residing in the Midwest and/or in metropolitan areas had the highest seroprevalence estimates. Having a pet in the home (odds ratio [OR], 1.19 [95% CI, 1.01-1.40]) and consuming liver or other organ meats more than once per month (OR, 1.38 [95% CI, 1.01-1.88]) were significantly associated with increased odds of HEV seropositivity. CONCLUSIONS Exposure to HEV is common in the US population, although hepatitis E is rarely reported. Having pets and consuming organ meats may play a role in HEV transmission in the United States, but other mechanisms of transmission may also exist. HEV may be considered a possible etiologic agent of acute and chronic hepatitis in US patients reporting no travel history.
Shoulder Rotator Muscle Dynamometry Characteristics: Side Asymmetry and Correlations with Ball-Throwing Speed in Adolescent Handball Players

Abstract The aim of the investigation was to: 1) compare shoulder external/internal rotator muscles’ peak torques and average power values and their ratios in the dominant and non-dominant arm; 2) determine correlations between shoulder rotator muscles’ peak torques, average power and ball-throwing speed in handball players. Fourteen 14 to 15- year-old male athletes with injury-free shoulders participated in the study (body height: 176 ± 7 cm, body mass 63 ± 9 kg). The tests were carried out by an isokinetic dynamometer system in the shoulder internal and external rotation movements at angular velocities of 60°/s, 90°/s and 240°/s during concentric contractions. The eccentric external- concentric internal rotator muscle contractions were performed at the velocity of 90°/s. The player threw a ball at maximal speed keeping both feet on the floor. The speed was recorded with reflected light rays. Training in handball does not cause significant side asymmetry in shoulder external/internal rotator muscle peak torques or the average power ratio. Positive correlations between isokinetic characteristics of the shoulder internal and external rotator muscles and ball-throwing speed were determined. The power produced by internal rotator muscles during concentric contractions after eccentric contractions of external rotator muscles was significantly greater in the dominant than in the non-dominant arm. Thus, it may be concluded that the shoulder eccentric external/concentric internal rotator muscle power ratio is significantly greater than this ratio in the concentric contractions of these muscles
A Framework for Conservative and Delay-Insensitive Computing

Asynchronous circuit elements are quescent whenever they are not actually performing a computation, and thus they potentially waste less power than synchronous circuits. However, previous research on asymptotically non-dissipative computation has concentrated exclusively on synchronous computing models, while researchers on asynchronous circuits have ignored the issues of conservative, reversible computing inherent in ultra low power systems. We show that delay insensitive asynchronous systems can be made asymptotically non-dissipating. Our construction achieves this without the need for explicit uncomputation of results that has characterized previous synchronous approaches.
The Contemporary Value and Defects of Chinese Traditional Culture

We want to apply the dialectical view to analyze the contemporary value and defects of Chinese traditional culture.In the context of globalization and the globalization,in the pre modern,modern and post modern coexist perspective,we use the method of the integrated innovation to analyze essence and dross of Chinese traditional culture.Chinese traditional culture is of the type more good administration and moral politics culture,which emphasizes moral humanism,ignores the process study and utensil manufacture.We want to inject the modern element in the construction of modern country today,to emphasize Dao and Qi which explain and support each other.Thus,Dao and Qi work at the same time.They become the wings of the modern building,which is the embodiment of mutual promoting and harmonious development in the culture and economy.Chinese traditional culture has main points as follows: unremitting self-improvement,magnanimous,harmony,Zhongyong,humanistic and so on.At the same time there are three problems which are the Joseph Needham Problem of philosophy in science and technology,the Smith Problem of system philosophy and the Robert's Problem in philosophy of industry.It is important to see the traditional culture deficiency,to cultivate new growth point of cultural development and prosperity.The biggest shortcoming of Chinese traditional culture is the lack of cultural modernization and the industrialization of culture.We must vigorously develop the cultural industry,so as to promote the prosperity of cultural undertakings and the traditional culture with the development.
Identification of Streptococcus pneumoniae Serotype 11E, Serovariant 11Av and Mixed Populations by High-Resolution Magic Angle Spinning Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (HR-MAS NMR) Spectroscopy and Flow Cytometric Serotyping Assay (FCSA)

Background Recent studies have identified Streptococcus pneumoniae serotype 11E and serovariant 11Av among isolates previously typed as 11A by classical serotyping methods. Serotype 11E and serovariant 11Av differ from serotype 11A by having totally or partially inactive wcjE, a gene in cps locus coding for an O-acetyl transferase. Serotype 11E is rare among carriage isolates but common among invasive isolates suggesting that it survives better during invasion. Aim of this work was to investigate the epidemiology of serotype 11A in a pneumococcal collection using a new serotyping approach based on High-Resolution Magic Angle Spinning Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (HR-MAS NMR) spectroscopy to distinguish serotypes 11A and 11E. Methods A collection of 48 (34 invasive and 14 carriage) S. pneumoniae isolates from Italy, previously identified as serotype 11A by the Quellung reaction, were investigated by wcjE sequencing, HR-MAS NMR spectroscopy and the reference flow cytometric serotyping assay (FCSA) based on monoclonal antibodies. Results HR-MAS NMR spectra from serotypes 11A and 11E showed different NMR peaks indicating that HR-MAS NMR could be used to distinguish these serotypes, although HR-MAS NMR could not distinguish serotype 11Av from serotype 11E unambiguously. Thirty-eight isolates were confirmed to be serotype 11A, 8 isolates with a mutated wcjE were serotype 11E, 1 isolate belonged to serovariant 11Av, and 1 isolate was a mixed population 11A/11Av. All 11E isolates were identified among invasive isolates. Conclusions We proved that HR-MAS NMR can be of potential use for pneumococcal serotyping. The detection of serotype 11E among invasive isolates in our collection, supports previous epidemiological studies suggesting that mutations in wcjE can represent a mechanism promoting pneumococcal survival during invasion. The discovery of a spectrum of immunochemical diversity within established serotypes should stimulate efforts to develop new serotyping approaches.
3D Tabletop User Interface with High Synchronization Accuracy using a High-speed Stereo Camera

In this paper, we try to compare standard and low latency mid-air 3D interactions in a tabletop user interface. For this purpose, we developed a 3D tabletop user interface that allows direct manipulation of 3D virtual objects presented on an autostereoscopic display. The system uses a high-speed stereo camera to synchronize real hands and virtual objects, both temporally and spatially, with a high degree of accuracy. In the developed system, we realized a processing speed resulting in a frame rate of 200 fps and a latency of 28.33 ms. We conducted a user study for evaluating the usability and sense of reality and the results showed that there was a significant difference in the time required to complete an object moving operation between the 200 fps and 30 fps cases.
Optimized electrochemical detection of anti-cancer drug by carbon nanotubes or gold nanoparticles

Nanostructured biosensors with the aim of electroactive cancer-drug detection were investigated. The aim of this work is improvement of the sensitivity and limit of detection of two differently nanostructured biosensors to find out the best choice for quantifying the concentration of etoposide, as a widely used electroactive cancer drug, in its therapeutic range. To this purpose etoposide concentrations, ranging from zero to 60 μM, were sensed at multi-walled carbon nanotube and gold nanoparticle functionalized bioelectrodes using cyclic voltammetry. The optimum scan rate for voltammetric experiments was found out equal to 70 mV s-1 and 130 mV s-1 for multi-walled carbon nanotube and gold nanoparticle based electrodes, respectively. For nanostructuring the electrodes, the optimum nanomaterial mass were experimentally obtained for multi-walled carbon nanotube and gold nanoparticle based electrodes equal to 20 μ g (4314 mm of additional electroactive surface area) and 104 g (6471 mm of additional electroactive surface area), respectively. Bioelectrodes produced based on this optimized configurations showed sensitivity of 0.98 ± 0.41 μA μM-1 cm-2 and 1.43 ± 0.26 μA μM-1 cm-2, and limit of detection of 1.52 ± 0.89 μM and 1.29 ± 0.48 μM for multi-walled carbon nanotube and gold nanoparticles based electrodes. Comparing the limit of detection achieved in this work with the therapeutic range of etoposide verifies the possibility of using both nanostructured bioelectrodes for etoposide detection. However, gold nanoparticle based electrodes exhibit better electrochemical improvements in terms of both sensitivity and limit of detection.
Omics-Based Comparative Transcriptional Profiling of Two Contrasting Rice Genotypes during Early Infestation by Small Brown Planthopper

The small brown planthopper (SBPH) is one of the destructive pests of rice. Although different biochemical pathways that are involved in rice responding to planthopper infestation have been documented, it is unclear which individual metabolic pathways are responsive to planthopper infestation. In this study, an omics-based comparative transcriptional profiling of two contrasting rice genotypes, an SBPH-resistant and an SBPH-susceptible rice line, was assessed for rice individual metabolic pathways responsive to SBPH infestation. When exposed to SBPH, 166 metabolic pathways were differentially regulated; of these, more than one-third of metabolic pathways displayed similar change patterns between these two contrasting rice genotypes; the difference of change pattern between these two contrasting rice genotypes mostly lies in biosynthetic pathways and the obvious difference of change pattern lies in energy metabolism pathways. Combining the Pathway Tools Omics Viewer with the web tool Venn, 21 and 6 metabolic pathways which potentially associated with SBPH resistance and susceptibility, respectively were identified. This study presents an omics-based comparative transcriptional profiling of SBPH-resistant and SBPH-susceptible rice plants during early infestation by SBPH, which will be very informative in studying rice-insect interaction. The results will provide insight into how rice plants respond to early infestation by SBPH from the biochemical pathways perspective.
Understanding player perceptions of RegnaTales, a mobile game for teaching social problem solving skills

Research on the use of serious games to support child and adolescent mental health interventions is in its early stages. Work is needed to provide evidence of the applicability and effectiveness of using such games in teaching children skills needed to overcome their behavioral and emotional problems. The present study adds to the knowledge in this area through the development and evaluation of RegnaTales, a mobile game for teaching social problem solving skills among children. The study examined the playability and usability of the mobile game among 12 children (mean age = 9.58; SD = 1.78) from international schools in Basel. Results showed that 76% of participants found the game fun and 58% would play it again. Our findings further highlight the potential of serious games in teaching skills needed to address anger feelings and provide support for its use in child and adolescent mental health interventions.
The efficacy of adherence interventions for chronically ill children: a meta-analytic review.

OBJECTIVES To provide quantitative information about the overall effectiveness of adherence interventions to improve adherence and health outcomes for children with chronic illnesses. To evaluate statistically the potential moderators. METHODS A meta-analysis was performed on 71 adherence intervention studies. RESULTS Weighted-mean effect size (ES) across all the adherence outcomes for group design studies was in the medium range (mean d = 0.58) and for single-subject design studies was in the large range (mean d = 1.44). The weighted mean ES across all health outcome measures for studies using group designs was in the medium range (mean d = 0.40) and for studies using single-subject designs was in the large range (mean d = 0.74). CONCLUSIONS Adherence interventions for children with chronic illnesses effectively increase adherence and result in some positive health benefits. Intervention and methodological variables had significant impact on ESs. High levels of heterogeneity characterized the data.
The Number of Embeddings of Minimally Rigid Graphs

Abstract Rigid frameworks in some Euclidean space are embedded graphs having a unique local realization (up to Euclidean motions) for the given edge lengths, although globally they may have several. We study the number of distinct planar embeddings of minimally rigid graphs with $n$ vertices. We show that, modulo planar rigid motions, this number is at most ${{2n-4}\choose {n-2}} \approx 4^n$. We also exhibit several families which realize lower bounds of the order of $2^n$, $2.21^n$ and $2.28^n$. For the upper bound we use techniques from complex algebraic geometry, based on the (projective) Cayley--Menger variety ${\it CM}^{2,n}(C)\subset P_{{{n}\choose {2}}-1}(C)$ over the complex numbers $C$. In this context, point configurations are represented by coordinates given by squared distances between all pairs of points. Sectioning the variety with $2n-4$ hyperplanes yields at most $deg({\it CM}^{2,n})$ zero-dimensional components, and one finds this degree to be $D^{2,n}=\frac{1}{2}{{2n-4}\choose {n-2}}$. The lower bounds are related to inductive constructions of minimally rigid graphs via Henneberg sequences. The same approach works in higher dimensions. In particular, we show that it leads to an upper bound of $2 D^{3,n}= {({2^{n-3}}/({n-2}})){{2n-6}\choose{n-3}}$ for the number of spatial embeddings with generic edge lengths of the $1$-skeleton of a simplicial polyhedron, up to rigid motions. Our technique can also be adapted to the non-Euclidean case.