Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
INTERACTIVE INFORMATION AGENTS AND INTERFACES

Research and development in the domain of intelligent information agents aims at providing innovative solutions to the challenges of the current and future information landscape, which is largely dominated by Internet-based, pervasive computing infrastructures, and huge volumes of heterogeneous, volatile, redundant, and geographically dispersed data. The main challenges are how to discover, integrate, and provide relevant information to the user in a flexible, knowledge-based, scalable, and resource-efficient way. Prominent but limited solution approaches to this problem include federated database systems to integrate heterogeneous, structured data; Web indices, directories, and search engines; and data warehouses and distributed data mining systems to analyze massive, distributed data sets. Intelligent information agents rely on the paradigm of agentbased computing (Luck, McBurney, & Preist, 2003; Weiss, 1999) and advances in artificial intelligence. They have been originally invented to significantly leverage database and information systems by adding one new characteristic feature: intelligent autonomous behavior (Klusch, 2001a, 2001b; Klusch & Sycara, 2001; Papazoglou, Laufmann, & Sellis, 1992). It is fair to say that, most information agents to date have been developed mainly in response to the information overload problem of the common user of the Internet and the Web, as seen from both the technological and human user perspective. In this chapter, we focus on the latter perspective and review the current state of the art in developing interactive information agents. Such agents are supposed to be able to interact with their users by means of appropriate intelligent user interfaces. They promise their users the benefit of more rapid task completion with less work, but more personal and natural interaction, and tailoring the content and form of the interaction to the situated context of both the application and the user. Currently,
Communication models for services

Communication is an essential aspect of services. Services do not only realize simple request-response scenarios, but increasingly implement complex and stateful communication protocols. Such a protocol specifies the order in which messages are sent and received by a service and is an essential part of a service description. Services are usually not executed in isolation, but as a collaboration which is composed of several services. The behavior of such a collaboration is not only determined by the communication protocol of each participating service, but also by the way messages are exchanged. A communication model specifies the properties of the message channels between the services and defines the way how messages are sent and received. This paper studies and classifies several dimensions of communication models and describes their impact to the behavior of service compositions.
The complete genome sequence of the Arabidopsis and tomato pathogen Pseudomonas syringae pv. tomato DC3000

We report the complete genome sequence of the model bacterial pathogen Pseudomonas syringae pathovar tomato DC3000 (DC3000), which is pathogenic on tomato and Arabidopsis thaliana. The DC3000 genome (6.5 megabases) contains a circular chromosome and two plasmids, which collectively encode 5,763 ORFs. We identified 298 established and putative virulence genes, including several clusters of genes encoding 31 confirmed and 19 predicted type III secretion system effector proteins. Many of the virulence genes were members of paralogous families and also were proximal to mobile elements, which collectively comprise 7% of the DC3000 genome. The bacterium possesses a large repertoire of transporters for the acquisition of nutrients, particularly sugars, as well as genes implicated in attachment to plant surfaces. Over 12% of the genes are dedicated to regulation, which may reflect the need for rapid adaptation to the diverse environments encountered during epiphytic growth and pathogenesis. Comparative analyses confirmed a high degree of similarity with two sequenced pseudomonads, Pseudomonas putida and Pseudomonas aeruginosa, yet revealed 1,159 genes unique to DC3000, of which 811 lack a known function.
KDE-Track: An Efficient Dynamic Density Estimator for Data Streams

Recent developments in sensors, global positioning system devices, and smart phones have increased the availability of spatiotemporal data streams. Developing models for mining such streams is challenged by the huge amount of data that cannot be stored in the memory, the high arrival speed, and the dynamic changes in the data distribution. Density estimation is an important technique in stream mining for a wide variety of applications. The construction of kernel density estimators is well studied and documented. However, existing techniques are either expensive or inaccurate and unable to capture the changes in the data distribution. In this paper, we present a method called KDE-Track to estimate the density of spatiotemporal data streams. KDE-Track can efficiently estimate the density function with linear time complexity using interpolation on a kernel model, which is incrementally updated upon the arrival of new samples from the stream. We also propose an accurate and efficient method for selecting the bandwidth value for the kernel density estimator, which increases its accuracy significantly. Both theoretical analysis and experimental validation show that KDE-Track outperforms a set of baseline methods on the estimation accuracy and computing time of complex density structures in data streams.
Modelling obesity as a function of weekly physical activity profiles measured by Actigraph accelerometers

INTRODUCTION We develop a new statistical model investigating the relationship between fat mass and physical activity measured by actigraph. The key feature of the model is that it utilises the full profile of measured physical activity, rather than simple summary measures. METHODS Our data are from the the Avon longitudinal study of parents and children (ALSPAC). Fat mass, the outcome, was derived using a Lunar Prodigy DEXA scanner. Physical activity, the predictor, is a time series of 10080 minute by minute accelerometer measurements of counts per minute over 7 days available at three ages (12, 14 and 16). We first transform the profiles to activity level histograms, thereby making profiles comparable between individuals, reducing the dimension of data, but maintaining interpretability (Figure 1 left). We then fit a generalised version of a regression model with fat mass as the outcome and the profile histogram as one of the predictors. The response yik is total fat mass for individual i at age k, the vector xik is the accelerometer profile, with 10080 entries and zik(x) is the corresponding histogram with some given number of mid-points xj . Our new model approach is a generalised regression of scalars on functions:
License Plate Segmentation Using Connected Component Analysis

Vehicle License Plate recognition has turned out to be a vital appliance of Intelligent Transportation Systems (ITS). In view of the fact that license plates can be put back, wrap or simply alter, they are not the eventual result for vehicle identification. The intention is to widen a structure where by Vehicle Identification Number (VIN) is digitally take picture and then identified by segmenting the characters from the images confined. In the proposed work a novel moves toward for segmentation of characters of license plate using Connected Component Analysis (CCA). In the beginning stage the identification number of the Vehicle was kept back in focal point and images were captured. The images were then focus to pre-processing which consists of image processing algorithms. These images were further powerfully developed by taking into account making the distance transform. The forgotten time and entropy results give a study for rising the effectiveness and highquality performance of CCA segmentation. The projected work presents a new method for License Plate Characters’ Segmentation. The proposed approach is more effective than some of the presented method reported past.
Parallel and Distributed Mining of Association Rule on Knowledge Grid

In Virtual organization, Knowledge Discovery (KD) service contains distributed data resources and computing grid nodes. Computational grid is integrated with data grid to form Knowledge Grid, which implements Apriori algorithm for mining association rule on grid network. This paper describes development of parallel and distributed version of Apriori algorithm on Globus Toolkit using Message Passing Interface extended with Grid Services (MPICHG2). The creation of Knowledge Grid on top of data and computational grid is to support decision making in real time applications. In this paper, the case study describes design and implementation of local and global mining of frequent item sets. The experiments were conducted on different configurations of grid network and computation time was recorded for each operation. We analyzed our result with various grid configurations and it shows speedup of computation time is almost superlinear. Keywords—Association rule, Grid computing, Knowledge grid, Mobility prediction.
Threats, Gods, and plastic brains: explaining the religion/health relationship

Are mental disorders and other psychiatric symptoms “by-products of brain mechanisms that have evolved to protect us from harm”? Can religious beliefs impact mental disorders and psychiatric symptoms? These are the questions posed by psychologist Kevin Flannelly in Religious Beliefs, Evolutionary Psychiatry, and Mental Health in America. Flannelly’s stated objective is “to summarize what U.S. research has found about the relationship between religious beliefs and mental health, and to put those findings into a theoretical context that explains how and why religious beliefs affect mental health, especially psychiatric symptoms” (2017, p. 2). It is an ambitious undertaking that requires the integration of a large and rapidly growing body of interdisciplinary research. Flannelly largely succeeds in this endeavor, and his extensive review of current research and comprehensive list of references are highlights of this book.
Difference scaling of gloss: nonlinearity, binocularity, and constancy.

Gloss is an attribute of visual appearance that originates from the geometrical distribution of the light reflected by the surface. We used the maximum likelihood difference scaling (MLDS) procedure (L.T. Maloney & J. N. Yang, 2003) to estimate gloss scales over an extended range. Observers' judgments were obtained for a series of 10 black, coated samples for two directions of illumination, in binocular and monocular vision. The results showed a nonlinear relation between gloss percept and instrumental specular gloss values. Sensitivity is higher at extreme scale values than in the middle. In binocular vision, the sensitivity to gloss is higher than in monocular vision exclusively for high gloss levels. Lastly, we found that gloss difference scales, when expressed in terms of the samples rather than the photometric characteristics, vary little with the direction of illumination. Gloss scaling thus seems to be independent of the geometrical variations of the luminous flux at the surface of the sample. By analogy with the term "color constancy," we call this property "gloss constancy. "
Learning to Disagree in a Game of Experimentation

We analyze strategic experimentation in which information arrives through fully revealing, publicly observable “breakdowns. ” When actions are hidden, there exists a unique symmetric equilibrium that involves randomization over stopping times. With two players, this is the unique equilibrium. Randomization leads to dispersion in actions and to belief disagreement on the equilibrium path. The resulting lack of coordination has significant welfare consequences. In contrast, when actions are observable, the equilibrium is pure and welfare improves.
Same-Sex Intimate Partner Violence

ABSTRACT This article presents a review of literature describing intimate partner violence (IPV) in same-sex relationships. The authors present definitions and the prevalence of the main forms of violence-physical, sexual, and emotional-that can occur within same-sex intimate partner relationships, an overview of the existing research that examines the dynamics and broader social context of same-sex IPV, and implications for counseling affected individuals.
An Integrated Genomic and Expression Analysis of 7q Deletion in Splenic Marginal Zone Lymphoma

Splenic marginal zone lymphoma (SMZL) is an indolent B-cell lymphoproliferative disorder characterised by 7q32 deletion, but the target genes of this deletion remain unknown. In order to elucidate the genetic target of this deletion, we performed an integrative analysis of the genetic, epigenetic, transcriptomic and miRNomic data. High resolution array comparative genomic hybridization of 56 cases of SMZL delineated a minimally deleted region (2.8 Mb) at 7q32, but showed no evidence of any cryptic homozygous deletion or recurrent breakpoint in this region. Integrated transcriptomic analysis confirmed significant under-expression of a number of genes in this region in cases of SMZL with deletion, several of which showed hypermethylation. In addition, a cluster of 8 miRNA in this region showed under-expression in cases with the deletion, and three (miR-182/96/183) were also significantly under-expressed (P<0.05) in SMZL relative to other lymphomas. Genomic sequencing of these miRNA and IRF5, a strong candidate gene, did not show any evidence of somatic mutation in SMZL. These observations provide valuable guidance for further characterisation of 7q deletion.
Innovation Success and Structural Change: An Abstract Agent Based Study

A model is developed to study the effectiveness of innovation and its impact on structure creation and structure change on agent-based societies. The abstract model that is developed is easily adapted to any particular field. In any interacting environment, the agents receive something from the environment (the other agents) in exchange for their effort and pay the environment a certain amount of value for the fulfilling of their needs or for the very price of existence in that environment. This is coded by two bit strings and the dynamics of the exchange is based on the matching of these strings to those of the other agents. Innovation is related to the adaptation by the agents of their bit strings to improve some utility function.
MB$^{\ast}$-Tree: A Multilevel Floorplanner for Large-Scale Building-Module Design

In this paper, we present an agglomeratively multilevel floorplanning/placement framework based on the B -tree representation called MB- tree to handle the floorplanning and packing for large-scale building modules. The MB-tree adopts a two-stage technique, i.e., clustering followed by declustering. The clustering stage iteratively groups a set of modules based on a cost metric guided by area utilization and module connectivity and at the same time establishes the geometric relations for the newly clustered modules by constructing a corresponding B -tree for them. The declustering stage iteratively ungroups a set of the previously clustered modules (i.e., perform tree expansion) and then refines the floorplanning/placement solution by using a simulated annealing scheme. In particular, the MB-tree preserves the geometric relations among modules during declustering, which makes the MB-tree an ideal data structure for the multilevel floorplanning/placement framework. Experimental results show that the MB-tree obtains significantly better silicon area and wirelength than previous works. Further, unlike previous works, the MB-tree scales very well as the circuit size increases.
Retrieving aerosol optical depth and type in the boundary layer over land and ocean from simultaneous GOME spectrometer and ATSR-2 radiometer measurements, 1, Method description

[1] A new aerosol retrieval method called Synergetic Aerosol Retrieval (SYNAER), using simultaneous measurements of the radiometer Along Track Scanning Radiometer (ATSR-2) and the spectrometer Global Ozone Monitoring Experiment (GOME) in the visible and near-infrared spectra, was developed. Both instruments are flown onboard the European Remote Sensing (ERS-2) satellite. SYNAER delivers boundary layer aerosol optical thickness (BLAOT) and aerosol type both over land and over ocean, the latter as BLAOT percentage of six representative components from the Optical Parameters of Aerosols and Clouds (OPAC) data set. The high spatial resolution of ATSR-2 permits accurate cloud detection. It allows BLAOT calculation over automatically selected dark pixels and surface albedo correction for a set of boundary layer aerosol mixtures. After spatial integration and colocation to GOME pixels, these parameters are used to simulate GOME spectra for the same set of aerosol mixtures. A least squares fit of these spectra to the measured and cloud-corrected GOME spectrum chooses the aerosol mixture. First validation studies are presented in part 2 of this paper [Holzer-Popp et al., 2002]. The method will be used for the future sensor pairs Scanning Imaging Absorption Spectrometer for Atmospheric Cartography (SCIAMACHY)/Advanced ATSR (AATSR) on Envisat and GOME-2/Advanced Very High Resolution Radiometer (AVHRR) on METOP. Thus, SYNAER holds the potential to extract a long-term climatological data set.
Complex matrix inversion versus real

A comparison of complex matrix inversion with real matrix inversion is made. it is shown that the complex inversion can be up to twice as fast as the real inversion. Further, the rounding error bound for complex inversion is about one-eighth that of real, for Gaussian elimination. Using extended inner product cccu:nulation, the bound is half that of the real system. 1. I n t r o d u c t i o n Consider the n X n complex system (A + i B) (x ÷ iy) = a ÷ ib (1)-. }:<,re A and/B are real matrices and x, y, a, and b are real ~ ,'~. ,,rs. We compare the solution of the above problem complex arithmetic with the solution in real arithmetic <J t}> 2n. X 2n p r o b l e m \% ~,~" that complex inversion is faster than rea[ inversion ~,i ,~:t,~ be up to twice as fast. Furthermore, error analysis : :+,~;:. a ! a ~, m<mson [6] shows t h a t the r o u n d i n g error b o u n d of z~. fi> complex system is about one-eighth that, of the real
Assessment of Allergic Rhinitis Websites in Korea

Objectives The internet has become an important source of medical information and a great amount of information related to allergic rhinitis (AR) is available on the internet. However, the quality of this information is still a matter of debate. Therefore, this study was conducted to assess the AR-related information on Korean websites. Methods The key word "allergic rhinitis" was entered into 4 popular search engines, and this led to identifying 40 websites. After being categorized according to authorship, the informational value of these websites was evaluated using 4 different assessment tools such as the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) benchmarks, the DISCERN questionnaire, the Allergic Rhinitis and its Impact on Asthma (ARIA) 2008 Update and the Health On the Net (HON) code. Results The 40 websites containing AR-related information were categorized according to their authorship as Western physician: 20, Oriental physician: 14, commercial: 1, and others: 5. The mean citation frequencies of the JAMA benchmarks and the ARIA 2008 Update concepts was 1.23 out of 4 and 4.33 out of 8, respectively, while the mean DISCERN score was 1.92 out of 5. When the websites were evaluated based on the type of authorship, the mean citation frequencies of the ARIA 2008 Update concepts were Western physician: 5.35, Oriental physician: 2.64. Additionally, three websites authored by Western physicians and 13 authored by Oriental physicians contained unreliable information. Among these 16 websites, only 3 websites met the requirements for the HON code "Justification". Conclusion AR-related information available on Korean websites is of variable quality and not all of the information provided is justifiable. Thus, performing surveillance of the medical information on these websites is necessary. Furthermore, common criteria that can be used to evaluate the websites created by both Western and Oriental physicians are also needed.
Developing mindfulness in children through participation in music activities

The vast majority of young South African children grow up in socially- and economicallychallenging settings. These impeding conditions hamper their intellectual growth and affect their physical, mental, emotional and spiritual well-being. Increasingly, mindfulness is being recognised as a means to enhance holistic well-being of children. Likewise, music is widely acknowledged for its potential contribution to the holistic development of children. In this article, we reflect on a non-formal music programme, implemented on a weekly basis over a period of 10 months, at an aftercare facility in an impoverished township area in South Africa. Our aim was to develop, through the children’s active participation in music activities, some aspects of mindfulness. Data were generated through personal observations, field notes and semi-structured interviews. Two salient themes emerged, namely, enhanced awareness of self and others, and improved listening and attention skills. These are key aspects of mindfulness. We subsequently argue that aspects of mindfulness in young children can be developed through focused activities centred on music and sound.
EXACT INFERENCE ON MANYCORE PROCESSORS USING POINTER JUMPING

Exact inference is a key problem in exploring probabilistic graphical models. Most parallel algorithms for exact inference explore data and structural parallelism. These algorithms result in limited performance if the input model offers limited data and structural parallelism. In this paper, we study a pointer jumping based method on manycore systems for exact inference in junction trees. We adapt the technique for both evidence collection and evidence distribution so as to efficiently process junction trees with multiple evidence cliques. We also study the impact of junction tree topology on evidence collection. We implement the proposed method on state-of-the-art manycore systems. Experimental results show that, for junction trees with limited data and structural parallelism, pointer jumping is well suited to accelerate exact inference on manycore systems.
Stability for a class of homogeneous hybrid systems by annular Lyapunov analysis

For a class of homogeneous hybrid systems we present a set of annular Lyapunov-like conditions for inferring global pre-asymptotic stability of systems. Then, we prove that such conditions are mild, namely, that each globally pre-asymptotically stable system must satisfy them. Based on these results, we design a sum of squares algorithm that constructs a suitable Lyapunov-like function to fulfill such annular conditions. Finally, based on recent results on homogeneous approximations of hybrid systems, we point out that such conditions can also be used to deduce local pre-asymptotic stability for a wider class of hybrid systems.
Applying the right statistics: analyses of measurement studies

The study of measurement error, observer variation and agreement between different methods of measurement are frequent topics in the imaging literature. We describe the problems of some applications of correlation and regression methods to these studies, using recent examples from this literature. We use a simulated example to show how these problems and misinterpretations arise. We describe the 95% limits of agreement approach and a similar, appropriate, regression technique. We discuss the difference vs. mean plot, and the pitfalls of plotting difference against one variable only. We stress that these are questions of estimation, not significance tests, and show how confidence intervals can be found for these estimates. Copyright © 2003 ISUOG. Published by John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.