Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Modeling context aware interaction for wayfinding using mobile devices

In this paper, we introduce and implement a model for context-aware interaction, and demonstrate its usefulness through an empirical study of interaction in a wayfinding task. Firstly, we outline the challenge of modeling context-awareness in dynamic interaction arising from wayfinding and navigation assistance applications. The conceptual model is developed and explained with emphasis on the context-aware interaction, and the three dynamic aspects in such interactions. Secondly, a wayfinding experiment is used to implement the conceptual model. We finish by concluding that the model proposed enables a dynamically inter-relational concept of context to be considered, and that the experiment described provides a valuable method for evaluating context-aware interaction in wayfinding.
Potencial de contaminação de aquíferos na bacia do córrego do Gouveia, São Paulo

In the current scenario of increasing environmental awareness and seeking for methods to protect the environment, the preservation of both surface and underground water has gained prominence in the media and science. This research aimed to generate a chart of aquifers’ contamination potential of the Gouveia stream basin, located in the municipality of Brotas, Sao Paulo, for the year 2017, based on multicriteria analysis and systematized by Fuzzy logic. The chart considered the relationship between the geological, geomorphological, pedological, and declivity processes with the local land -. Results showed that 96% of the basin area present medium, high or very high potential for contamination of aquifers, suggesting that the relationship between the natural dynamics of the physical environment and the current pattern of anthropic occupation is unfavorable to the maintenance of the quality of groundwater resources. The methodology applied can support territorial planning decisions and sustainable management of the Guarani aquifer system once it is possible to spatialize areas that need more conservation and others where the occupation would be more favourable.
Involvement of Bcl-2 and IL-2R in HIV-positive patients whose CD4 cell counts fail to increase rapidly with highly active antiretroviral therapy

Objective Combination antiretroviral therapy in a subset of HIV-infected patients, here called CD4-low responders (CD4-LR), fails to produce a rapid rise in CD4 cell counts despite effective control of plasma viral load (< 50 copies/ml). The mechanism responsible for this failure was investigated. Design and Methods CD4-LR patients (n = 13) included in the study had been receiving stable antiretroviral therapy for > 9 months, resulting in undetectable viral load, but nontheless showed a CD4 cell count of < 200 × 106 cells/l. Samples from these patients were analysed for intracellular expression of the anti-apoptotic molecule Bcl-2 and the in vitro apoptosis of their CD4 lymphocytes. Since interleukin-2 (IL-2) induces Bcl-2 and participates in the control of lymphocyte apoptosis, we also investigated the IL-2/IL-2 receptor (IL-2R) system in these CD4-LR patients. All these investigations were performed before and after the CD4-LR patients received IL-2 therapy. Results CD4 T lymphocytes from these patients underexpressed the anti-apoptotic molecule Bcl-2 and were more susceptible to spontaneous apoptosis. Peripheral CD4 T lymphocytes from the CD4-LR patients showed a regulatory dysfunction in the IL-2R system that resulted in a lack of reactivity to IL-2. Overall, the results obtained with CD4-LR patients differed radically from those in patients undergoing successful antiretroviral therapy. Finally, an increase in Bcl-2 expression and IL-2 reactivity was observed in the CD4 T lymphocytes of CD4-LR patients receiving IL-2 immunotherapy. This correlated with a reduction in their apoptosis. Conclusion Our study characterizes the defective maintenance of peripheral CD4 T lymphocytes in CD4-LR patients, probably resulting from Bcl-2 underexpression and dysregulation of the IL-2R system.
An optimal algorithm for intersecting line segments in the plane

The authors present the first optimal algorithm for the following problem: given n line segments in the plane, compute all k pairwise intersections in O(n log n+k) time. Within the same asymptotic cost the algorithm will also compute the adjacencies of the planar subdivision induced by the segments, which is a useful data structure for contour-filling on raster devices. <<ETX>>
Evaluation of Triple‐Frequency Radar Retrieval of Snowfall Properties Using Coincident Airborne In Situ Observations During OLYMPEX

Scattering models of precipitation‐size ice particles have shown that aggregates and spheroidal particles occupy distinct regions of the Ku‐Ka‐W‐band dual‐frequency ratio (DFR) plane. Furthermore, past ground‐based observations suggest that particle bulk density and characteristic size can be retrieved from the DFR plane. This study, for the first time, evaluates airborne DFR observations with coincident airborne microphysical measurements. Over 2 hr of microphysical data collected aboard the University of North Dakota Citation from the Olympic Mountains Experiment are matched with Airborne Precipitation and cloud Radar Third Generation triple‐frequency radar observations. Across all flights, 31% (63%) of collocated data points show nonspheroidal (spheroidal) particle scattering characteristics. DFR observations compared with in situ observations of effective density and particle characteristic size reveal relationships that could potentially be used to develop quantitative dual‐ and triple‐frequency DFR ice property retrievals.
Benefits and limitations of automated software testing: Systematic literature review and practitioner survey

There is a documented gap between academic and practitioner views on software testing. This paper tries to close the gap by investigating both views regarding the benefits and limits of test automation. The academic views are studied with a systematic literature review while the practitioners views are assessed with a survey, where we received responses from 115 software professionals. The results of the systematic literature review show that the source of evidence regarding benefits and limitations is quite shallow as only 25 papers provide the evidence. Furthermore, it was found that benefits often originated from stronger sources of evidence (experiments and case studies), while limitations often originated from experience reports. We believe that this is caused by publication bias of positive results. The survey showed that benefits of test automation were related to test reusability, repeatability, test coverage and effort saved in test executions. The limitations were high initial invests in automation setup, tool selection and training. Additionally, 45% of the respondents agreed that available tools in the market offer a poor fit for their needs. Finally, it was found that 80% of the practitioners disagreed with the vision that automated testing would fully replace manual testing.
Assigning genomic sequences to CATH

We report the latest release (version 1.6) of the CATH protein domains database (http://www.biochem.ucl. ac.uk/bsm/cath ). This is a hierarchical classification of 18 577 domains into evolutionary families and structural groupings. We have identified 1028 homo-logous superfamilies in which the proteins have both structural, and sequence or functional similarity. These can be further clustered into 672 fold groups and 35 distinct architectures. Recent developments of the database include the generation of 3D templates for recognising structural relatives in each fold group, which has led to significant improvements in the speed and accuracy of updating the database and also means that less manual validation is required. We also report the establishment of the CATH-PFDB (Protein Family Database), which associates 1D sequences with the 3D homologous superfamilies. Sequences showing identifiable homology to entries in CATH have been extracted from GenBank using PSI-BLAST. A CATH-PSIBLAST server has been established, which allows you to scan a new sequence against the database. The CATH Dictionary of Homologous Superfamilies (DHS), which contains validated multiple structural alignments annotated with consensus functional information for evolutionary protein superfamilies, has been updated to include annotations associated with sequence relatives identified in GenBank. The DHS is a powerful tool for considering the variation of functional properties within a given CATH superfamily and in deciding what functional properties may be reliably inherited by a newly identified relative.
Application of Support Vector Machine to Recognize Trans-differentiated Neural Progenitor Cells for Bright-Field Microscopy

One possible solution of the investigation of the cell fate decision and its function is the study of cell morphology. Bright-field imaging analysis allow us to use a labeling free and non-invasive approach to measure the morphological dynamics during cellular reprogramming, which includes induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs), and trans-differentiated neural progenitor cells (NPCs) from somatic cell source. In order to automatically analyze and cultivate cells, a system classifying NPCs under bright-field microscopic imaging is necessary. In this paper, we investigate the use of support vector machine (SVM) based on a set of features for this task. The results illustrate that such a data driven approach has remarkable recognition and generalization performance.
Ngila: global pairwise alignments with logarithmic and affine gap costs

UNLABELLED Ngila is an application that will find the best alignment of a pair of sequences using log-affine gap costs, which are the most biologically realistic gap costs. AVAILABILITY Portable source code for Ngila can be downloaded from its development website, http://scit.us/projects/ngila/. It compiles on most operating systems.
Water Supply Basins of São Paulo Metropolitan Region: Hydro-Climatic Characteristics of the 2013–2015 Water Crisis

São Paulo metropolitan region experienced an acute water crisis between 2013 and 2015. According to the Brazilian and international press, it was due to climatic, anthropogenic, and water management factors. This paper assesses the hydro-climatic characteristics of the crisis by focusing on the Alto-Tietê basin and the headwater of the Piracicaba-Capivari-Jundiaí (PCJ) basin that supply 70% of the water consumed in the metropolis. Based on 16 rain-gauge stations, 5 runoff-gauge stations, and several statistical analyses carried over the 1951–2015 period, this assessment shows that the 2013–2015 hydro-climatic crisis resulted from a large number of days without rain in the north of the Alto-Tietê basin and to less intense precipitation events in the headwaters of the PCJ basin during the austral spring 2013 and the year 2014. It also defines a return period of 98 years for observed river flows in 2014. Despite the rare nature of this hydrological drought, the need for efficient water saving policies is brought forward.
Incidence and Risk of Treatment-Related Mortality with mTOR Inhibitors Everolimus and Temsirolimus in Cancer Patients: A Meta-Analysis

Background Two novel mammalian targets of rapamycin (mTOR) inhibitors everolimus and temsirolimus are now approved by regulatory agencies and have been widely investigated among various types of solid tumors, but the risk of fatal adverse events (FAEs) with these drugs is not well defined. Methods We searched PubMed, EMBASE, and Cochrane library databases for relevant trials. Eligible studies included prospective phase II and III trials evaluating everolimus and temsirolimus in patients with all malignancies and data on FAEs were available. Statistical analyses were conducted to calculate the summary incidence, RRs and 95% confidence intervals (CIs) by using either random effects or fixed effect models according to the heterogeneity of the included studies. Results A total of 3322 patients with various advanced solid tumors from 12 trials were included. The overall incidence of mTOR inhibitors associated FAEs was 1.8% (95%CI: 1.3–2.5%), and the incidences of everolimus related FAEs were comparable to that of temsirolimus (1.7% versus 1.8%). Compared with the controls, the use of mTOR inhibitors was associated with an increased risk of FAEs, with a RR of 3.24 (95%CI: 1.21–8.67, p = 0.019). On subgroup analysis, a non-statistically significant increase in the risk of FAEs was found according to different mTOR inhibitors, tumor types or controlled therapy. No evidence of publication bias was observed. Conclusion With the present evidence, the use of mTOR inhibitors seems to increase the risk of FAEs in patients with advanced solid tumors. More high quality trials are still needed to investigate this association.
Influence of Rendering Intents on the Gamut Volume and the Visual Evaluations in Digital Proofing

The aim of the investigation was to determine the influence of rendering intents on the gamut volume and the visual evaluations in digital proofing. According to that, the corresponding test form was used for the needs of investigation and printed on Epson style pro 7800 with the application of ICC standard rendering intents (perceptual, saturation, relative colorimetric and absolute colorimetric). Based on the results obtained by spectrophotometer measurements, the gamut of the digital proofing was illustrated with the ColorThink software in CIE L*a*b* color space. The analysis in relation to the results of visual evaluations shows the difference influence of the rending intents to digital image quality.
DOS - A scalable optical switch for datacenters

This paper discusses the architecture and performance studies of Datacenter Optical Switch (DOS) designed for scalable and high-throughput interconnections within a data center. DOS exploits wavelength routing characteristics of a switch fabric based on an Arrayed Waveguide Grating Router (AWGR) that allows contention resolution in the wavelength domain. Simulation results indicate that DOS exhibits lower latency and higher throughput even at high input loads compared with electronic switches or previously proposed optical switch architectures such as OSMOSIS [4, 5] and Data Vortex [6, 7]. Such characteristics, together with very high port count on a single switch fabric make DOS attractive for data center applications where the traffic patterns are known to be bursty with high temporary peaks [13]. DOS exploits the unique characteristics of the AWGR fabric to reduce the delay and complexity of arbitration. We present a detailed analysis of DOS using a cycle-accurate network simulator. The results show that the latency of DOS is almost independent of the number of input ports and does not saturate even at very high (approx 90%) input load. Furthermore, we show that even with 2 to 4 wavelengths, the performance of DOS is significantly better than an electrical switch network based on state-of-the-art flattened butterfly topology.
Mixing Matrix Estimation From Sparse Mixtures With Unknown Number of Sources

In blind source separation, many methods have been proposed to estimate the mixing matrix by exploiting sparsity. However, they often need to know the source number a priori, which is very inconvenient in practice. In this paper, a new method, namely nonlinear projection and column masking (NPCM), is proposed to estimate the mixing matrix. A major advantage of NPCM is that it does not need any knowledge of the source number. In NPCM, the objective function is based on a nonlinear projection and its maxima just correspond to the columns of the mixing matrix. Thus a column can be estimated first by locating a maximum and then deflated by a masking operation. This procedure is repeated until the evaluation of the objective function decreases to zero dramatically. Thus the mixing matrix and the number of sources are estimated simultaneously. Because the masking procedure may result in some small and useless local maxima, particle swarm optimization (PSO) is introduced to optimize the objective function. Feasibility and efficiency of PSO are also discussed. Comparative experimental results show the efficiency of NPCM, especially in the cases where the number of sources is unknown and the sources are relatively less sparse.
Predicting Rates and Distribution of Carbonate Melting in Oceanic Upper Mantle: Implications for Seismic Structure and Global Carbon Cycling

Coupling a global mantle flow model with a parameterized carbonate solidus, we examine the global distribution and extent of carbonate melting beneath the ocean basins. We predict carbonate melting in spatially heterogeneous patterns throughout the oceans. The rate of CO2 segregation from the mantle by off‐axis carbonate melting (~1.1 × 1012 mol/year) is comparable to the global ridge flux (~1.2 × 1012 mol/year). As the generation of carbonate melts should be enhanced in regions of mantle upwelling, we compare upwelling patterns with seismic detections of the G‐discontinuity. The upwelling velocities in areas where the G‐discontinuity is detected are not statistically different from areas with no detections—implying that the generation and pooling of carbonate melts are not dominant mechanisms in forming the G‐discontinuity. However, detections of a deeper seismic discontinuity are correlated with enhanced upwelling velocities, suggesting locally higher melt fractions at the transition between carbonate‐only and carbonate‐enhanced silicate melting.
Control of chemotaxis in Physarum polycephalum

Plasmodia migrate towards those situations which increase the frequency of their alternations in streaming, and away from those which decrease the frequency. Therefore peristalsis-like waves in Physarum move in the direction opposite from the net movement of the organism. The mechanism is fundamentally related to other known types of chemotaxis.
Calculating crop evapotranspiration using a dual crop coefficient - part 1 : technical

The series of technical articles covers topics related to the planning and design of irrigation systems. In previous articles, we started off by looking at the irrigation planning process, which is aimed at combining climatic, soil, crop, irrigation system and management information in order to identify a suitable irrigation emitter for the system being planned, for an appropriate irrigation cycle length and standing time at the peak irrigation period expected during the growing season of a specific crop. Other topics covered in the second, third and fourth articles of the series, included the calculation of reference evapotranspiration using the Penman-Monteith (PM) equation, the collection of climatic data for the PM equation using weather stations, and the assessment of soils' suitability for irrigation. In the next 3 issues, we look further at the development of crop coefficients to calculate crop water requirements for irrigation planning and management.
Development of a needle insertion end-effector for interventional radiology

Interventional radiology is a medical sub-specialty of radiology which utilizes minimally-invasive image guided procedures to diagnose and treat diseases. Interventional Needle Biopsy is a most common interventional Radiology. It is performed with a biopsy needle according to the guide of fluoroscopic apparatus including CT and C-arm. It is getting popular due to a great advantage induced from minimally invasive procedure. However, the surgeon performing needle biopsy and the patient are repeatedly exposed to radiation environment. Therefore, a need for developing a robotic needle insertion system which is performed with remote control master device is recognized. This paper explains about robotic needle insertion end-effector in order to reduce radiation exposure of the patient and the surgeon. It has 3 DoF motion which is designed to insert a needle, rotate a needle and release/hold a needle.
Environmental Chemistry of Beryllium

Beryllium is a rare but widely distributed element. As a consequence of rapid developments in the capabilities to determine low concentrations of Be in inorganic solids, tissue, air, and water, it is now possible to characterize the distribution of Be in various environmental compartments, to describe the fluxes among these compartments, and to determine the controls on these fluxes. Increased human activity, including land disturbance, metallurgical processes, the burning of fossil fuels (with associated air pollution, including Be, and related terrestrial acidification), has generally increased the flow of Be through ecosystems. This fact was recognized several decades ago (e.g., Kubizňakova 1983). The distribution and redistribution of Be nuclides are important to understand because of Be toxicity to fauna (including humans) and possibly to flora. The radioisotopes (7Be and 10Be) are used to understand environmental and geologic processes. Because of the very different half lives (7Be = 53 days; 10Be = 1.5 million years), Be nuclides have been used to study earth-surface processes as short as diurnal variation (EL-Hussein et al. 2001) to exposure age-dating (Braucher et al. 2000) and erosional processes (Small et al. 1999). Consequently, we review the literature from the perspective of the interaction of geologic materials, aqueous solutions, and biota, at or near Earth’s surface. This chapter is organized parallel to the hydrologic pathways from the atmosphere, through ecosystems, to estuaries. We focus on the environmental chemistry of the stable nuclide 9Be, whereas Kaste et al. (this volume) focus on the cosmogenic isotope 7Be and Morris et al. and Bierman et al. focus on 10Be. Effects of point-source pollution on the immediate environment, such as in the vicinity of smelters, are not discussed except where the effects may be transmitted regionally by the atmosphere or surface water. The atmospheric flux …
An Advanced Approach On Load Balancing in Grid Computing

With the rapid development in wide area networks and low cost, powerful computational resources, grid computing has gained its popularity. With the advent of grid computing, space limitations of conventional distributed systems can be overcome and underutilized computing resources at different locations around the world can be put to distributed jobs. Workload and resource management is the main key grid services at the service level of grid infrastructures, out of which load balancing in the main concern for grid developers. It has been found that load is the major problem which server faces, especially when the number of users increases. A lot of research is being done in the area of load management. This paper presents the various mechanisms of load balancing in grid computing so that the readers will get an idea of which algorithm would be suitable in different situations. Keywords: wide area network, distributed computing, load balancing.