Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Work-Family Life Courses and Metabolic Markers in the MRC National Survey of Health and Development

The aim was to investigate whether the combined work-family life courses of British men and women were associated with differences in metabolic markers—waist circumference, blood pressure, high density lipoprotein cholesterol, triglycerides, and glycated haemoglobin—in mid-life. We used data from the Medical Research Council’s National Survey of Health and Development—the 1946 British birth cohort. Multi-channel sequence analysis was used to create a typology of eight work-family life course types combining information on work, partnerships and parenthood between ages 16–51. Linear regression tested associations between work-family types and metabolic outcomes at age 53 on multiply imputed data (20 imputations) of >2,400 participants. Compared with men with strong ties to employment and early transitions to family life, men who made later transitions to parenthood and maintained strong ties to paid work had smaller waist circumferences (-2.16cm, 95% CI: -3.73, -0.59), lower triglycerides (9.78% lower, 95% CI: 0.81, 17.94) and lower blood pressure (systolic: -4.03mmHg, 95% CI: -6.93, -1.13; diastolic: -2.34mmHg, 95% CI: -4.15, -0.53). Married men and women who didn’t have children had increased high density lipoprotein cholesterol (7.23% higher, 95% CI: 0.68, 14.21) and lower waist circumferences (-4.67cm, 95% CI: -8.37, -0.97), respectively. For men later transitions to parenthood combined with strong ties to paid work were linked to reduced metabolic risk in mid-life. Fewer differences between work-family types and metabolic markers were seen for women.
Misdirection in magic: Implications for the relationship between eye gaze and attention

Magicians use misdirection to manipulate people's attention in order to prevent their audiences from uncovering their methods. Here we used a prerecorded version of a magic trick to investigate some of the factors that accompany successful misdirection. Prior information about the nature of the trick significantly improved participants’ detection of the method. The informed participants fixated closer to the event in question, suggesting that they were monitoring it more closely once they knew about the trick. The probability of detection was independent of how far the participant was looking from the “secret” event as it happened, but participants who detected the event moved their eyes towards where it took place much earlier than participants who missed it. This result is consistent with the notion that attention is allocated ahead of the current locus of fixation, and we present evidence that attention may be allocated two or more saccade targets ahead of where the participant is fixating.
Tobacco dependence in the general population in Italy.

BACKGROUND Measures of tobacco dependence are mainly used in the clinical setting, but limited information is available on tobacco dependence on a population level. MATERIALS AND METHODS To obtain estimates of tobacco dependence on a population level, a six-item Fagerstrom questionnaire was used in two surveys, conducted in 2002-2003 on a sample of 6773 individuals aged 15 years or over, representative of the Italian adult population. RESULTS Overall, 27.1% of Italian adults described themselves as current cigarette smokers (32.2% of men, 22.4% of women). Of all smokers, 42.8% were classified as very low dependent, 28.6% as low dependent, 11.0% as intermediate, 13.8% as high and only 3.8% as very high dependent. The proportions of very low/low dependent were 67.4% in men and 76.8% in women. Those of high/very high dependent smokers were 21.4% in men and 12.5% in women, but only 2.8% at age 15-17 years and 8.4% at age 18-24 years. Only 23% of smokers, moreover, found it difficult to avoid smoking in places where smoking was forbidden. CONCLUSIONS The observation that over two-thirds of smokers on a population level in Italy report low or very low dependence has useful implication for intervention on stopping smoking, particularly in the young, who appear to be low dependent. However, in this age group cessation rates were comparatively low.
On the conditions for consensusability of multi-agent systems with singular agent dynamics

In this paper, we consider the multi-agent consensus problem for the mobile agents with singular time-invariant systems. State feedback case for the consensus-ability of such multi-agent systems is discussed. Necessary and sufficient conditions on consensusability are given based on the structures of the agent dynamics and the (fixed) communication topology described by directed graph.
Contradictions Coming Home to Roost? Income Distribution and the Return of the Aggregate Demand Problem

It is widely believed that the current economic slowdown will be mild and temporary in nature, the result of a momentary wobble in the stock market. This paper argues that the slowdown stands to be more deep- seated, owing to contradictions in the existing process of aggregate demand generation. These contradictions are the result of deterioration in income distribution. They have been held at bay for almost two decades by a range of different demand compensation mechanisms: steadily rising consumer debt, a stock market boom, and rising profit rates. However, these mechanisms are now exhausted, confronting the U.S. economy with a serious aggregate demand generation problem. Fiscal policy adjustments may be the only way out of this impasse, but such adjustments should be accompanied by measures to rectify the structural imbalances at the root of the current impasse. Absent this, the problem of deficient demand will reassert itself, and the next time around public sector finances may not be in such a favorable position to deal with it.
Automatic Construction of Translation Knowledge for Corpus-based Machine Translation

Many machine translation (MT) systems that utilize the knowledge automatically acquired from bilingual corpora have been proposed in conjunction with efforts to accumulate corpora. We call this approach corpus-based machine translation in this thesis. This thesis focuses on automatic construction of the translation knowledge needed for corpus-based MT and discusses the following three tasks. 1. Proposing a knowledge acquisition method from bilingual corpora. 2. Applying the acquired knowledge to an actual MT engine and measuring the MT quality. 3. Identifying the inherent problems of the corpus-based MT that decrease MT quality and proposing solutions. A feature of this thesis is not only investigating the first task but also investigating the second and third tasks. In order to clarify features of corpus-based MT, this thesis identifies inherent problems by translating sentences using acquired knowledge and proposes solutions. For the first task, this thesis proposes a hierarchical phrase alignment (HPA) method. This method automatically extracts equivalent phrases, which are corresponding expressions between bilingual sentences. HPA employs parsers. Previous methods extract correspondences after determining the parsing trees of the bilingual sentence, while HPA simultaneously extracts the best parsing trees and corresponding phrases by utilizing the structural similarity measure called the phrase correspondence score. HPA has two features. One is the ability to resolve ∗Doctor’s Thesis, Department of Information Processing, Graduate School of Information Science, Nara Institute of Science and Technology, NAIST-IS-DT0261006, May 10, 2004.
Majority Bootstrap Percolation on G(n, p)

Majority bootstrap percolation on a graph $G$ is an epidemic process defined in the following manner. Firstly, an initially infected set of vertices is selected. Then step by step the vertices that have more infected than non-infected neighbours are infected. We say that percolation occurs if eventually all vertices in $G$ become infected. In this paper we study majority bootstrap percolation on the Erd\H{o}s-R\'enyi random graph $G(n,p)$ above the connectivity threshold. Perhaps surprisingly, the results obtained for small $p$ are comparable to the results for the hypercube obtained by Balogh, Bollob\'as and Morris (2009).
The Nature, Development, and Effects of Elementary Students’ Reading Motivation Profiles

The present study employed a longitudinal person-centered approach to examine the profiles of reading motivation in a sample of 405 elementary school students who were tested in grades 3 and 4. Two dimensions of intrinsic reading motivation (involvement and curiosity) and two dimensions of extrinsic reading motivation (recognition and competition) were considered. Latent profile analyses revealed the same set of four profiles across third and fourth grades: high intrinsic (i.e., high on involvement and curiosity, low on recognition and competition), high involvement (i.e., high on involvement, low on the remaining dimensions), high quantity (high on all dimensions), and moderate quantity (low to moderate on all dimensions). Further results showed that 35% of the students changed their profile membership from third to fourth grade. We particularly observed an increased probability of students in the high-quantity, moderate-quantity, and high-involvement profiles to move to the high-intrinsic profile. Finally, the moderate-quantity profile proved to be significantly lower in reading amount than the other groups that did not differ significantly. Pertaining to reading comprehension, however, the two intrinsic profiles outperformed both the high- and moderate-quantity groups. The latter finding emphasizes the particular importance of intrinsic reading motivation.
Analyzing and mitigating the impact of manufacturing variability in power-constrained supercomputing

A key challenge in next-generation supercomputing is to effectively schedule limited power resources. Modern processors suffer from increasingly large power variations due to the chip manufacturing process. These variations lead to power inhomogeneity in current systems and manifest into performance inhomogeneity in power constrained environments, drastically limiting supercomputing performance. We present a first-of-its-kind study on manufacturing variability on four production HPC systems spanning four microarchitectures, analyze its impact on HPC applications, and propose a novel variation-aware power budgeting scheme to maximize effective application performance. Our low-cost and scalable budgeting algorithm strives to achieve performance homogeneity under a power constraint by deriving application-specific, module-level power allocations. Experimental results using a 1,920 socket system show up to 5.4X speedup, with an average speedup of 1.8X across all benchmarks when compared to a variation-unaware power allocation scheme.
Two New Approaches for Secured Image Steganography Using Cryptographic Techniques and Type Conversions

The science of securing a data by encryption is Cryptography whereas the method of hiding secret messages in other messages is Steganography, so that the secret’s very existence is concealed. The term ‘Steganography’ describes the method of hiding cognitive content in another medium to avoid detection by the intruders. This paper introduces two new methods wherein cryptography and steganography are combined to encrypt the data as well as to hide the encrypted data in another medium so the fact that a message being sent is concealed. One of the methods shows how to secure the image by converting it into cipher text by S-DES algorithm using a secret key and conceal this text in another image by steganographic method. Another method shows a new way of hiding an image in another image by encrypting the image directly by S-DES algorithm using a key image and the data obtained is concealed in another image. The proposed method prevents the possibilities of steganalysis also.
Language planning, English language education and development aid in Bangladesh

ABSTRACT The increased status of English as the language of international communication and business has meant that development aid has increasingly been used to finance language planning initiatives aimed at improving and/or expanding English language education. The intended outcome of this aid is often to provide expanded economic returns and opportunities for those who learn the language. But is it really the case that they receive these benefits? In this paper I attempt to form a deeper understanding of the relationship between English language skills and economic value by providing a meta-analysis and critical evaluation of 11 research studies. By critically evaluating this research using Sen’s capabilities approach [1999. Development as freedom. Oxford: Oxford University Press], I find that while English language skills might enhance opportunities for individuals, they also appear to reinforcing embedded inequalities and therefore not necessarily contributing to the well-being of societies. English language education may have limited impact without sufficient political and economic stability. Moreover, there are ongoing and significant needs to develop literacy and numeracy in local and national languages. Equipped with this more nuanced understanding of the value of English, I argue that development aid and language planning initiatives can make more significant contributions to holistic development and social justice.
Automatic Limited-Choice and Completion Test Creation, Assessment and Feedback in modern Learning Processes

The objectives and expectations for learning processes have changed dramatically from remedial repetitive learning to today’s learning with understanding to become independent in the learning process. Approaches such as self-directed, explorative or example-based learning not only need advanced e-learning solutions for the knowledge transfer process, but also require enhanced methods for knowledge assessment and feedback. Motivated by the situation stated so far, we have started a research program to support knowledge assessment and feedback by computer-based automatic and peer assessment. In this paper we will focus on the automatic generation of limited-choice and completion questions from learning content, the answer evaluation and the feedback provision.
Design and Evaluation of an Intelligent Remote Tidal Volume Variability Monitoring System in E-Health Applications

A reliable long-term monitoring and diagnosis of breath disorders at an early stage provides an improvement of medical act, life expectancy, and quality of life while decreasing the costs of treatment and medical services. Therefore, a real-time unobtrusive monitoring of respiration patterns, as well as breath parameters, is a critical need in medical applications. In this paper, we propose an intelligent system for patient home care, capable of measuring respiration rate and tidal volume variability via a wearable sensing technology. The proposed system is designed particularly for the goal of diagnosis and treatment in patients with pathological breathing, e.g., respiratory complications after surgery or sleep disorders. The complete system was comprised of wearable calibrated accelerometer sensor, Bluetooth low energy, and cloud database. The experiments are conducted with eight subjects and the overall error in respiration rate calculation is obtained 0.29%±0.33% considering SPR-BTA spirometer as the reference. We also introduce a method for tidal volume variability estimation while validated using Pearson correlation. Furthermore, since it is essential to detect the critical events resulted from sudden rise or fall in per breath tidal volume of the patients, we provide a technique to automatically find the accurate threshold values based on each individual breath characteristics. Therefore, the system is able to detect the major changes, precisely by more than 98%, and provide immediate feedback such as sound alarm for round-the-clock respiration monitoring.
Stochastic fluctuations can reveal the auto-regulatory characteristics of gene networks at the single-molecule level

Understanding the relationship between spontaneous stochastic fluctuations and the topology of the underlying gene regulatory network is fundamental for the study of gene expression, especially at the molecular level. Here by solving the analytical steady-state distribution of the protein copy number in a general kinetic model of gene expression, we reveal a quantitative relation between stochastic fluctuations and feedback regulation at the single-molecule level, which provides novel insights into how and to what extent a feedback loop can enhance or suppress molecular fluctuations. Based on such relation, we also develop an effective method to extract the topological information of gene regulatory networks from single-cell gene expression data. The theory is demonstrated by numerical simulations and validated quantitatively by single-cell data analysis of a synthetic gene circuit integrated in human kidney cells.
Parallax-aware local alignment for image stitching under large occlusion/disocclusion

This paper presents a parallax-aware image stitching approach under large occlusion/disocclusion. Different from previous research, we explore the image stitching issue in a parallax-aware perspective via local alignment. Specifically, we first label each feature point with a probability of being large parallax by developing a graph-based optimization framework. Afterwards, an integer programming model is built to pick out a group of feature matches free from parallax in a local region. Finally, by enforcing a stitching seam passing through such a locally aligned area, we are able to generate a high-quality stitching result under large parallax. Experimental results demonstrate the effectiveness and superiority of the proposed parallax-aware approach.
The ReLogo agent-based modeling language

ReLogo is a new agent-based modeling (ABM) domain specific language (DSL) for developing agent-based models in the free and open source Repast Suite of ABM tools; the Java based Repast Simphony ABM toolkit and the C++ high performance computing Repast HPC toolkit both incorporate ReLogo. The language is geared towards a wide range of modeling and programming expertise, combining the sophisticated and powerful ABM infrastructure and capabilities in the Repast Suite with the ease of use of the Logo programming language and its associated programming idioms. This paper will present how ReLogo combines a number of concepts, including object-oriented programming, simple integration of existing code libraries, statically and dynamically typed languages, domain specific languages, and the use of integrated development environments, to create an ABM tool that is easy to learn yet is also capable of creating large scale ABMs of real world complex systems.
UVB-mediated induction of cytokines and growth factors in pterygium epithelial cells involves cell surface receptors and intracellular signaling.

PURPOSE Pterygium is a proliferative, inflammatory, and invasive ocular surface disease associated with excessive ultraviolet (UV) exposure. This investigation was conducted to identify UV activated signaling pathways in pterygium epithelial cells (PECs) that mediate cytokine and growth factor production and to determine whether these pathways are sensitive to blockade by anti-inflammatory agents such as retinoic acid (RA) and interferon (IFN)-alpha. METHODS PECs were pretreated with or without inhibitors of the ERK1/2, JNK, and p38 (PD98059, SB202190, and SB203580, respectively) mitogen-activated protein kinases (MAPK) or with inhibitors of the tyrosine kinase activity of epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR; PD153035) and platelet-derived growth factor (PDGF; AG1295); exposed to UVB (20 mJ/cm2); and then further treated with the same inhibitors. Media were harvested and analyzed by ELISA for interleukin (IL)-6, IL-8, and vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF). Cytokine mRNA was assessed by reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR). RESULTS Inhibitors of ERK1/2, JNK, and p38 MAPKs significantly abolished the UVB-mediated increase in IL-6, IL-8, and VEGF. PD153035 reduced IL-8, AG1295 repressed IL-6, and both inhibitors partially downregulated VEGF production in UV-exposed PECs. RA and IFN-alpha dose dependently abrogated IL-6 and IL-8 but had no effect on VEGF expression after UV exposure. CONCLUSIONS The results have identified a stress-induced intracellular pathway and potential cell-surface transmitters that may be relevant to pterygium development. Moreover, two anti-inflammatory/antiangiogenic agents were identified that reduced cytokine production in the study model. Topical application of these drugs may benefit patients with pterygia, potentially reducing the necessity for surgical intervention.
Cortical auditory evoked potential (CAEP) and behavioural measures of auditory function in an adult with a single sided deafness: case study

Abstract Objective: To examine cortical auditory evoked potentials (CAEPs) and behavioural measures of spatial speech in noise recognition, sound localization and self-reported perception of hearing performance before and after surgical removal of an acoustic neuroma, and to monitor changes over time after surgery. Methods: CAEPs in noise were recorded and auditory skills were assessed using tests of sound localization, spatial speech perception in noise and self-ratings of auditory abilities (Speech, Spatial and Qualities of Hearing questionnaire, SSQ) in a male adult with single-sided deafness due to acoustic neuroma removal. Measurements took place at 2, 6 and 12 months after surgery. Results: The pattern of CAEP responses, behavioural measurements and self-reported perception after surgery differed from the pre-surgery baseline and changed over time after surgery. Conclusions: The participant experienced considerable listening fatigue and deficits in auditory skills after losing hearing in one ear. Different patterns of change in CAEPs and other measures over time suggest multiple physiological mechanisms for auditory plasticity after acute onset of single sided deafness.
An Exploratory Study of Incorporating Task-Stage Identification into a Long-Term Document Support Process

With the increasing amount of information (and knowledge) in organizational memories and the phenomenal growth of the World Wide Web, knowledge workers are increasingly suffering from information overload. Because of the growing complexity of knowledge-intensive tasks, a profiling technique is needed to deliver task-relevant documents to workers. In this study, we propose a task-stage identification technique that provides effective document support throughout the execution of a task. A pattern similarity analysis method based on the correlation value is used to identify a worker's task-stage. The results are incorporated into a profile adaptation process to generate the worker's current task profile. We conducted a pilot study in a research institute. The results confirm the effectiveness of the proposed document support process in a knowledge-intensive working environment
Huge Parsed Corpora in LASSY Gertjan van Noord University of Groningen

One of the goals of the LASSY STEVIN project (Large Scale Syntactic Annotation of written Dutch) is a syntactically annotated (manually verified) corpus of 1 million words. In addition, the full STEVIN reference corpus of 500 million words will be syntactically annotated automatically. In this paper, the potential of such huge treebanks for applications in corpus linguistics, natural language processing and information extraction is illustrated.