Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
A ballet posture education using IT techniques: a comparative study

Recently, there were numerous ballet posture education systems using various IT techniques. We can divide these systems into three categories, such as wearable devices based systems; Kinect based systems; and other systems. Typically, these systems have a high accuracy of joint recognition. However, in certain cases, they outputs erroneous joint position. In this paper, we first provide a detailed overview of basic ballet postures and movements, discuss the state-of-the-art ballet posture education systems and then describe their main features, advantages and drawbacks.
A Literature Review To Predict Performance Analysis Of Miniature Loop Heat Pipe

In Industries for cooling the different components of electronic equipment and desktop computers, devices like fans, blowers, capillary pumped loop and loop heat pipe (LHP) are used. A literature study provide information that loop heat pipes are highly efficient heat-transfer devices capable of possessing mechanical flexibility and high adaptability to various operating conditions. A new generation of these devices, miniature heat pipes can solve the problem of cooling of promising electronics and computer equipment with heat dissipation levels which are forecast to rise from current levels to high. The possibility of carrying research of miniature LHP parameters provides effects on the performance like choice of the working fluid, the fill charge ratio, the porous wick geometry and thermal properties, etc for capacity improvement. Present research work aims to design and carry performance analysis by using several methodological techniques leading to improve the performance of miniature LHP. The recent research work also suggests that computational fluid dynamics (CFD) software which will predict different parameters and design components to be validated. By observations and results can be served as efficient parameters to solve complex heat and mass transfer problems. The present work will be supported with the aid of several statistical techniques to provide the empirical analysis and generate the conclusion.
Work-family reconciliation and use of parental leave in Luxembourg: empirical analysis of administrative records

The arrival of a child in the family poses a challenge for most parents. Time and money need to be managed differently in order to ensure that the newborn receives sufficient care. The presented analysis explores the work-family reconciliation trajectories of working parents and the role of parental leave in these trajectories. The analysis is based on administrative data from Luxembourg. The results suggest that the birth of a child is a turning point for a large part of women's trajectories, often followed by reduction in the labour force participation. On the contrary, men's labour participation appears to remain constant before and after the arrival of the child in the family. Salary-related earnings are positively associated with the probability to remain in the labour force for women and negatively associated with the probability of taking parental leave for men.
More than an education: leadership for rural school-community partnerships

The authors of this publication argue that educational provision in rural areas of Australia results in benefits for communities, apart from educational outcomes, that are not well understood. The publication reports on a project to investigate such benefits. The project focused on the relationship between school and community leadership and building community social capital. The project is grounded in research into social capital in rural communities that found that the quantity and quality of interactions between individual and institutional players affect the social and economic outcomes of those communities. Schools provide one of the major opportunities for interaction in rural communities. The project also draws on research into the effect of various leadership styles and leadership characteristics on the relationship between schools and communities. This report presents case studies of rural school-community partnerships in five diverse rural communities. Each case study provides an outline of the nature and extent of the partnership and analyses the influence of leadership and other factors on the development and sustainability of the partnership. A model of the leadership process for developing school-community partnerships is developed from the findings of the case studies. A number of indicators of effective school-community partnerships and effective leadership are identified. The report concludes with advice to help schools and communities in developing effective partnerships and recommendations for policymakers. The recommendations are intended to guide funding bodies in the provision of education services in rural areas, the integration of education, health and other services in rural communities, and the implementation of rural community development programs. They are also intended to inform rural leadership programs and educational leadership courses on ways to enhance school and community partnerships.
Attitudes towards socially assistive robots in intelligent homes

The near future will see an increasing demand of elder care and a shortage of professional and informal caregivers. In this context, ageing societies would benefit from the design of intelligent homes that provide assistance. The choice of interfaces between the assistive environment and the user is of great importance and determines the degree of user acceptance of this technology. Socially assistive robots are one of the most promising interfaces. Their embodiment and multimodal communication channels could potentially provide a large number of services that otherwise would have to be carried out by a variety of dedicated systems. Furthermore, evidence suggests that people perceive robots more as companions and social actors than tools and this is likely to steer user acceptance positively. This paper presents the authors' work related to the EU-FP7 project KSERA, a project that aims at introducing a socially assistive robot that acts as a proactive communication interface in smart home environments. In particular, it gives an overview of (1) human--robot interaction studies conducted in Eindhoven (The Netherlands) whose general aim was to preliminary assess the added value of socially assistive robots in intelligent homes and (2) the KSERA project field trials in Schwechat (Vienna) and Tel Aviv (Israel) that tested an integrated smart-home/robot system with real end users (N=16) in three real-world scenarios. Overall, results show that socially assistive robots positively affect user experience and motivation compared to standard smart environment interfaces such as touch screens. However, people still tend to prefer conventional interfaces for receiving information.
Technical Report # 100023 : Evaluating the Costs and Constraints Used to Make Footstep Decisions

The majority of steering algorithms model very few locomotion constraints or capabilities, and output only a force or velocity vector to motion synthesis. This simplistic interface between navigation and motion synthesis lacks control and introduces ambiguities. This paper considers how footsteps can be used to navigate in crowds of characters. We propose a novel locomotion model that represents a character’s stepping state and footstep actions using a 2D approximation of an inverted spherical pendulum model of bipedal locomotion. We use this model with a short-horizon planner to generate a timed sequence of footsteps that existing motion synthesis techniques can follow exactly. During planning, our locomotion model not only constrains characters to navigate with realistic locomotion, but more importantly, it also enables characters to control finer-grain subtlenavigation behaviors that are possible with exact footsteps. Our approach can navigate crowds of hundreds of individual characters with collision-free, natural behaviors in real-time.
Variation in the UCP2-UCP3 Gene Cluster Predicts the Development of Type 2 Diabetes in Healthy Middle-Aged Men

The impact of the UCP2 −866G>A and UCP3 −55C>T variants on prospective risk of type 2 diabetes was examined over 15 years in 2,936 healthy middle-aged men (mean age 56 years). Conversion to diabetes (n = 169) was associated with higher BMI, blood pressure, cholesterol, triglycerides and C-reactive protein. The hazard ratio (HR) for diabetes of a BMI >30 kg/m2 was 3.96 (95% CI 2.87–5.47). Homozygosity for the UCP2A or UCP3T alleles accelerated the onset of diabetes, with significant differences in risk of diabetes at 10 years (HR [95% CI] UCP2AA vs. GA+GG 1.94 [1.18–3.19], P = 0.009; UCP3TT vs. CC+ CT 2.06 [1.06–3.99], P = 0.03) but less so at 15 years (UCP2AA 1.42 [0.92–2.19], P = 0.1; UCP3TT 1.57 [0.87–2.04], P = 0.13). Men who were homozygous for both UCP2AA and UCP3TT (1.5% of men) had a risk for diabetes at 10 years of 4.20 (1.70–10.37), P = 0.002. These genotype effects were additive with obesity, and men with a BMI >30 kg/m2 and this genotype combination had a 10-year risk of diabetes of 19.23 [5.63–63.69], P < 0.0001. Functional promoter variants UCP2 and UCP3 increase the prospective risk of diabetes. Although the mechanism of the UCP2 effect is likely to be caused by increased expression in the pancreas and subsequent reduced insulin secretion, the mechanism of the UCP3 effect is currently unknown. Both effects are exacerbated by obesity.
Direct Imaging of Phase Objects Enables Conventional Deconvolution in Bright Field Light Microscopy

In transmitted optical microscopy, absorption structure and phase structure of the specimen determine the three-dimensional intensity distribution of the image. The elementary impulse responses of the bright field microscope therefore consist of separate absorptive and phase components, precluding general application of linear, conventional deconvolution processing methods to improve image contrast and resolution. However, conventional deconvolution can be applied in the case of pure phase (or pure absorptive) objects if the corresponding phase (or absorptive) impulse responses of the microscope are known. In this work, we present direct measurements of the phase point- and line-spread functions of a high-aperture microscope operating in transmitted bright field. Polystyrene nanoparticles and microtubules (biological polymer filaments) serve as the pure phase point and line objects, respectively, that are imaged with high contrast and low noise using standard microscopy plus digital image processing. Our experimental results agree with a proposed model for the response functions, and confirm previous theoretical predictions. Finally, we use the measured phase point-spread function to apply conventional deconvolution on the bright field images of living, unstained bacteria, resulting in improved definition of cell boundaries and sub-cellular features. These developments demonstrate practical application of standard restoration methods to improve imaging of phase objects such as cells in transmitted light microscopy.
How many thoughts can you think

In ordinary computer programs, the relationship between data in a machine and the concepts it represents is defined arbitrarily by the programmer. It is argued here that the Strong AI hypothesis suggests that no such arbitrariness is possible in the relationship between brain states and mental experiences, and that this may place surprising limitations on the possible variety of mental experiences. Possible psychology experiments are sketched which aim to falsify the Strong AI hypothesis by indicating that these limits can be exceeded. It is concluded that although such experiments might be valuable, they are unlikely to succeed in this aim.
A biooptical model of irradiance distribution and photosynthesis in seagrass canopies

Although extremely vulnerable to coastal eutrophication, seagrasses represent important structuring elements and sources of primary production in shallow waters. They also generate an optical signature that can be tracked remotely. Accurate knowledge of light absorption and scattering by submerged plant canopies permits the calculation of important plant‐ and ecosystem‐level properties, including rates of photosynthesis, vegetation abundance, and distribution. The objectives of this study were to develop a realistic, yet simply parameterized two‐flow model of plane irradiance distribution through a seagrass canopy submerged in an optically active water column, to evaluate its performance against in situ measurements, and to explore the impacts of variations in canopy architecture on irradiance distribution and photosynthesis within the canopy. Allometric functions derived from leaf length‐frequency data enabled simple parameterization of canopy architecture. Model predictions of downwelling spectral irradiance distributions in seagrass canopies growing in both oligotrophic and eutrophic waters were within 15% of field measurements. Thus, the model provides a robust tool for investigating photosynthetic performance of seagrass canopies as functions of water quality, depth distribution, canopy architecture, and leaf orientation. Model predictions of upwelling irradiance were less reliable, particularly in the upper half of the canopies. The model was more sensitive to leaf orientation than leaf optical properties, seabed reflectance, or the average cosine of downwelling irradiance. Better knowledge of leaf orientation appears to be a fruitful avenue for improving our understanding of the interaction between seagrasses and the submarine light environment.
Faculteit Economie En Bedrijfskunde Tweekerkenstraat 2 B-9000 Gent a Critical Note on Empirical Comprehensive Income Research

This paper presents a critical analysis of empirical comprehensive income research, the majority of which consists of value relevance studies. The first part of the analysis focuses on the functional form of the value relevance regressions. The paper distinguishes between the informational and the measurement approach to value relevance research and systematically traces the origin of the specifications under both approaches. The informational approach is characterized by diversity in functional form specifications, which can be traced to differences in expectations models for earnings or price/earnings ratios. In the light of this diversity, it is remarkable to observe that most of the authors provide little or no argumentation for the choice of their particular functional specification. While the authors under the measurement approach try to legitimize their regression specifications by referring to the work of Ohlson, in fact, one of the contributions of the residual income model is that it demonstrates the restrictive nature of these specifications. The second part of the paper performs a detailed investigation of the empirical findings. This analysis reveals several peculiarities that defy economic intuition. These peculiarities are nontrivial since they, together with the low explanatory power of the regressions, affect the credibility of the main research findings. The conclusion of the paper is that there is danger in taking the empirical findings of this research domain at face value and that the potential for informing standards setters is limited. Ackowlegdements: This paper has benefited from the comments and suggestions of Walter Aerts
VENTURE CAPITAL: A NEW APPROACH TO FINANCING SMALL AND MEDIUM ENTERPRISES IN DEVELOPING COUNTRIES / LE CAPITAL À RISQUE: UNE NOUVELLE APPROCHE POUR LE FINANCEMENT DES PETITES ET MOYENNES ENTREPRISES DANS LES PAYS EN VOIE DE DÉVELOPPEMENT

To date, venture capital has been largely a financial mechanism of the western world, notably the U.S.A. and the U.K. This paper argues that it has considerable potential for financing small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in developing countries, where equity capital tends to be scarce, and where the (perceived) high risk of SMEs indicates that relatively low debt-equity ratios are required. The paper reviews briefly the development of the venture capital industry in industrialised countries, and finds that, with the notable exception of the USA, venture capital has usually received some form of government incentive. In economic terms, this may be justified by the social desirability of closing the gap between the perceived risk and the true risk of SMEs. A review of developing country experience suggests that venture capital is restricted to a handful of newly industrialising countries, all of which have active securities markets. Such exit routes are important. Other necessary conditions are likely to be the provi sion of incentives to venture capitalists, and the creation of an enterprise culture? which encourages risk taking and profit making. Finally, venture capital is likely to be suitable for islamic cultures where debt financing is discouraged on religious grounds.
Optimal Control and Partial Differential Equations

In this work, some type of optimal control problems with equality constraints given by Partial Differential Equations (PDE) and convex inequality constraints are considered, obtaining their corresponding first order necessary optimality conditions by means of Dubovitskii-Milyutin (DM) method. Firstly, we consider problems with one objective functional (or scalar problems) but non-well posed equality constraints, where existence and uniqueness of state in function on control is not true (either one has existence but not uniqueness of state, or one has not existence of state for any control). In both cases, the classical Lions argument (re-writing the problem as an optimal control problem for the control without equality constraints, see for instance [14]) can not be applied. Afterwards, we consider multiobjective problems (or vectorial problems), considering three different concepts of solution: Pareto, Nash and Stackelberg. In all cases, an adequate abstract DM method is developed followed by an example.
A Combined DNA-Affinic Molecule and N-Mustard Alkylating Agent Has an Anti-Cancer Effect and Induces Autophagy in Oral Cancer Cells

Although surgery or the combination of chemotherapy and radiation are reported to improve the quality of life and reduce symptoms in patients with oral cancer, the prognosis of oral cancer remains generally poor. DNA alkylating agents, such as N-mustard, play an important role in cancer drug development. BO-1051 is a new 9-anilinoacridine N-mustard-derivative anti-cancer drug that can effectively target a variety of cancer cell lines and inhibit tumorigenesis in vivo. However, the underlying mechanism of BO-1051-mediated tumor suppression remains undetermined. In the present study, BO-1051 suppressed cell viability with a low IC50 in oral cancer cells, but not in normal gingival fibroblasts. Cell cycle analysis revealed that the tumor suppression by BO-1051 was accompanied by cell cycle arrest and downregulation of stemness genes. The enhanced conversion of LC3-I to LC3-II and the formation of acidic vesicular organelles indicated that BO-1501 induced autophagy. The expression of checkpoint kinases was upregulated as demonstrated with Western blot analysis, showing that BO-1051 could induce DNA damage and participate in DNA repair mechanisms. Furthermore, BO-1051 treatment alone exhibited a moderate tumor suppressive effect against xenograft tumor growth in immunocompromised mice. Importantly, the combination of BO-1051 and radiation led to a potent inhibition on xenograft tumorigenesis. Collectively, our findings demonstrated that BO-1051 exhibited a cytotoxic effect via cell cycle arrest and the induction of autophagy. Thus, the combination of BO-1051 and radiotherapy may be a feasible therapeutic strategy against oral cancer in the future.
Heart rate variability estimation with joint accelerometer and gyroscope sensing

This paper describes a method for estimation of heart rate (HR) and heart rate variability (HRV) with accelerometers and gyroscopes. We denote this joint seismocardiography (SCG) and gyrocardiography (GCG) approach as SCG/GCG. In principle, SCG which is a well known method measures the linear mechanical movements of the heart and GCG is a new technique which measures angular motion due to the chest micro-vibrations caused by myocardial rotation. As electrocardiography (ECG), they can also be performed in non-invasive manner using a device in contact to subjects skin, for example. Our method extracts HRV parameters based on single-axis and multi-axes autocorrelation analysis (1-AC and 6-AC) of all simultaneously captured SCG/GCG axes. The results of each axes are combined to maintain reliable HR- and HRV. We validate our results with a comparison study between simultaneous ECG and SCG/GCG recordings using a study group of 29 healthy male volunteers. The study provides a promising approach for HRV estimation with modern wearable devices.
Using 2:1 Shannon mapping for joint source-channel coding

The Archimedes' spiral can be used as a 2:1 bandwidth reducing mapping in a joint source-channel coding (JSCC) system. The combined point of two iid Gaussian sources (the source space) is mapped, or approximated, onto a double Archimedes' spiral (the codebook), and the squared angle from the origin to the mapped point is transmitted as an analogue channel symbol (the channel space), e.g. PAM. It is shown that the total distortion of this JSCC system is minimised when the distortion contributions from the approximation noise and channel noise are equal. The given system produces a channel input distribution close to a Laplace probability density function (pdf) instead of the optimal Gaussian pdf. The loss when using this mismatched pdf is shown to be approximately equal to the relative entropy of the two pdf.
Performance Evaluation of DYMO Protocol in Different VANET Scenarios

In this work, we evaluate the performance of DYMO routing protocol in different VANET scenarios. We investigate the effect of density and speed in the performance of communication between nodes using different node densities and speeds for the same simulation area. As evaluation metric, we use Packet Delivery Ratio (PDR). The simulation results have shown that with the increasing of the nodes density the probability of finding a path between communicating nodes is high and the PDR is increased. When the speed of nodes is increased, DYMO protocol tents to do most of the communication with less hops.
Expression of Putative Virulence Factors of Escherichia coli O157:H7 Differs in Bovine and Human Infections

ABSTRACT Escherichia coli O157:H7 is a commensal organism in cattle, but it is a pathogen in humans. This differential expression of virulence suggests that specific virulence factors are regulated differently in human and bovine hosts. To test this hypothesis, relative real-time reverse transcription-PCR was used to relate the expression of several putative virulence genes (eae, espA, stx2, rfbE, ehxA, and iha) to that of the “housekeeping” gene gnd during natural human and experimental bovine infection with E. coli O157:H7. We examined these genes in fecal samples from eight humans and four calves. iha and espA were significantly more expressed in bovine infections. rfbE and ehxA appeared to be more highly expressed in human infections, though these differences did not achieve statistical significance. Our results support the hypothesis that some virulence-associated genes of O157:H7 are differentially expressed in a host-specific manner.
Research on algorithm of point cloud MapReduce registration

An improved algorithm of point cloud ICP registration base on MapReduce is proposed. This method applies parallel computing of MapReduce to registration of point cloud in order to reduce the requirements of computing and improve the efficiency of computing. At last, the results of three examples running on a Hadoop cluster show that the efficiency of registration has been improved and the results achieve the expectant target.