Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Confirming the Detection of an Intergalactic X-Ray Absorber toward PKS 2155–304

We present new observations of PKS 2155-304 with the Chandra Low Energy Transmission Grating (LETG), using the Advanced CCD Imaging Spectrometer (ACIS). We confirm the detection of an absorption line plausibly identified as O VIII Lyα from a warm-hot intergalactic medium associated with a small group of galaxies along the line of sight, as originally reported by Fang and coworkers. Combining the previous observations by Fang and coworkers with five new long observations on the same target, we increase the total exposure time by a factor of 3 and the total counts per resolution element by a factor of 5. The measured line equivalent width is smaller than that observed by Fang and coworkers, but still consistent at 90% confidence. We also analyze the XMM-Newton observations on the same target, as well as observations using the combination of the Chandra LETG and the High Resolution Camera (HRC). These observations have been used to challenge our reported detection. While no line is seen in either the XMM-Newton or the Chandra LETG+HRC data, we find that our result is consistent with the upper limits from both data sets. We attribute the nondetection to (1) the higher quality of the Chandra LETG+ACIS spectrum and (2) the rather extended wings of the line-spread functions of both the XMM-Newton Reflection Grating Spectrometer (RGS) and the Chandra LETG+HRC. We discuss the implication of our observation on the temperature and density of the absorber. We also confirm the detection of z ~ 0 O VII absorption, and, comparing with previous Chandra analysis, we obtain much tighter constraints on the line properties.
HYBRID OF AGILE PROCESS AND USABILITY EVALUATION METHOD

Agile software development is one of the most widely used methodologies for software development. It plans to improve software quality and responsiveness to modifying client requirements. Agile software development is based on an iterative cycle with the goal of faster distribution of solutions with on-going user participation. To improve the market value of software, usability evaluation techniques in software model helps to gain user satisfaction and increase product market value. Producing rapid solutions by agile software methods leads to the deficiency of good design and architecture is regarded to be very expensive if followed. As a remedy, a proposed life cycle for agile software development has been designed. The proposed life cycle outlined in this paper integrate usability evaluation concepts and agile software methodologies for the development of interactive software. To achieve the result, a survey form was designed and conducted worldwide. The results show a greater interest of usability at the early stage of development along with the user participation at every stage. To evaluate the proposed life cycle and IEEE Std 12207-2008, ISO 9241:210 was used to validate the proposed software model.
Methods and Tools for Developing Interactive Information Systems: an Historical Perspective

This paper describes the evolution of hardware and software technology over the past three decades, focusing on approaches for building interactive information systems and web applications. Successive generations of technology have used advances in hardware and software technology, along with increasingly sophisticated development methods and tools, to reduce development times and to produce a better user experience. After describing the key technology characteristics of each generation, this paper also describes the evolution of a specific methodology, User Software Engineering, from its origins in the 1970’s to its applicability to the development of modern applications.
Chandra Observations of A 2670 and A 2107: A Comet Galaxy and cDs with Large Peculiar Velocities

We present an analysis of Chandra observations of the galaxy clusters A 2670 and A 2107. Their cD galaxies have large peculiar velocities (> 200kms −1 ) and thus the clusters appear to be undergoing mergers. In A 2670, we find a comet-like structure around one of the brightest galaxies. At the leading edge of the structure, there is a cold front. The mass of the X-ray gas in the comet-like structure suggests that the galaxy was in a small cluster or group, and its intracluster medium is being stripped by ram-pressure. The regions of cool interstellar medium of the cD galaxies in A 2670 and A 2107 are very compact. This is similar to the brightest galaxies in the Coma cluster, which is also a merging cluster. In each galaxy, the short cooling time of the ISM requires a heating source; the compact nature of the ISM makes it unlikely that the heating source is a central active galactic nucleus.
Chorus/mix, a Distributed Unix, on Multicomputers

Currently available multicomputers are generally featured with simple operating system kernels offering mostly communication primitives. The CHORUS technology has been designed for building "new generations" of open, distributed, scalable operating systems. It is based on a small kernel onto which operating systems are built as sets of distributed, cooperating servers. This paper presents a description of CHORUS/MiX on multicomputer, a first step in implementing a UNIX interface suited for this architecture. A discussion of the port on an experimental platform is given. Finally, we describe an IMS T9000-based version of CHORUS and explain how T9000-based multicomputers will benefit from the experiences of the port on the experimental platform.
CARD6 Is a Modulator of NF-κB Activation by Nod1- and Cardiak-mediated Pathways*

We cloned a novel cDNA derived from the CARD6 gene locus on chromosome 5p12 of 311 amino acids in length. By immunoprecipitation we detected specific binding of this CARD6-encoding protein to Nod1 (CARD4), Cardiak (Rip2/Rick), NAC (NALP1/DEFCAP/CARD7), and TUCAN (CARD8/Cardinal/NDPP/Dakar), caspase recruitment domain (CARD)-containing proteins implicated in NF-κB and caspase-1 activation but not to other CARD family proteins. Cardiak and Nod1 (but not other CARD proteins) also exhibited opposing effects on CARD6 protein phosphorylation and expression, providing further evidence of functional interactions among these proteins in cells. In transfection experiments, the CARD6 protein suppressed NF-κB induction by Nod1 or Cardiak but did not interfere with NF-κB activation by the CARD-containing adapter protein Bcl10 or the cytokine tumor necrosis factor-α, demonstrating specificity of CARD6 for Nod-1 and Cardiak-dependent pathways. In contrast to its effects on Nod1- and Cardiak-dependent NF-κB activation, CARD6 did not interfere with caspase-1-dependent interleukin-1β secretion induced by Cardiak or Nod1. CARD6 also did not affect caspase activation and apoptosis induced by overexpression of Fas, Bax, or other pro-apoptotic stimuli. Thus, CARD6 represents a selective modulator of NF-κB activation by Cardiak and Nod1, adding to the repertoire of CARD-family proteins implicated in inflammatory responses and innate immunity.
InvisiPage: Oblivious Demand Paging for Secure Enclaves

State-of-art secure processors like Intel SGX remain susceptible to leaking page-level address trace of an application via the page fault channel in which a malicious OS induces spurious page faults and deduces application's secrets from it. Prior works which fix this vulnerability do not provision for OS demand paging to be oblivious. In this work, we present InvisiPage which obfuscates page fault channel while simultaneously making OS demand paging oblivious. To do so, InvisiPage first carefully distributes page management actions between the application and the OS. Second, InvisiPage secures application's page management interactions with the OS using a novel construct which is derived from Oblivious RAM (ORAM) but is customized for page management. Finally, we lower overheads of our approach by reducing page management interactions with the OS via a novel memory partition. For a suite of cloud applications which process sensitive data we show that page fault channel can be tackled while enabling oblivious demand paging at low overheads.
Corneal neovascularization: updates on pathophysiology, investigations & management

Objective. Corneal neovascularization is a sight-threatening condition affecting more than 1.4 million people per year. Left untreated, it can lead to tissue scarring, oedema, lipid deposition, and persistent inflammation that may significantly affect visual prognosis and quality of life. The aim was to review the recent evidence relating to the pathophysiology, investigations and management of corneal neovascularization. Methods. Literature review of prospective and retrospective studies, clinical trials and animal models relating to the pathophysiology, investigation and management of corneal neovascularization. Results. Corneal neovascularization is characterized by the invasion of new blood vessels into the cornea caused by an imbalance between angiogenic and antiangiogenic factors that preserve corneal transparency as a result of various ocular insults and hypoxic injuries. Risk factors that have been implicated in the pathogenesis of the disease include contact lens wear, ocular surface disease, trauma, previous surgery and herpes. The results highlighted the current and future management modalities of corneal neovascularization, which includes corneal transplantation, laser - phototherapy, injections and topical treatment. Conclusion. The future of corneal neovascularization is promising and this paper discusses the upcoming revolution in local gene therapy. Abbreviations. HSK = herpes stromal keratitis, VEGF = vascular endothelial growth factor, VEGFR-1 = VEGF Receptor-1, FGF = Fibroblast growth factor, PDGF = Platelet-derived growth factor, IL-6 = interleukin-6, IL-7 = interleukin-7, IL-8 = interleukin-8, IRS-1 = insulin receptor substrate-1
Facebook polls as proto-democratic instruments in the Egyptian revolution: The ‘We Are All Khaled Said’ Facebook page

This article examines the dynamics of political participation on the ‘We Are All Khaled Said’ Facebook page, which hosted the call for Egypt’s 25 January 2011 revolution. It shows that the page served as a proto-democratic instrument by introducing both qualitative and quantitative polls and following up with actions based on majority opinion. This argument is developed through an analysis of discussion threads and polls from the page, selected from a data set of 14,072 posts, 6,810,357 comments and 32,030,731 likes made by 1,892,118 users, extracted via a customized version of Netvizz. The analysis demonstrates that the page provided a basic lesson in democratic participation to its users. ‘We Are All Khaled Said’ constituted an unprecedented public space for active discussions on fighting corruption, torture and police brutality. Moreover, it served as a practical example of shared governance and political participation, which became a model for its users to strive to apply to their country.
View-Dependent Multiresolution Splatting of Non-Uniform Data

This paper develops an approach for the splat-based visualization of large scale, non-uniform data. A hierarchical structure is generated that permits detailed treatment at the leaf nodes of the non-uniform distribution. A set of levels of detail (LODs) are generated based on the levels of the hierarchy. These yield two metrics, one in terms of the spatial extent of the bounding box containing the splat and one in terms of the variation of the scalar field over this box. The former yields a view-dependent choice of LODs while the latter yields a view-independent LOD based on the field variation. To show the utility of this general approach it is applied to a set of application data for a whole earth environment and some test data. Performance results are given.
Senescence rates and late adulthood reproductive success are strongly influenced by personality in a long-lived seabird

Studies are increasingly demonstrating that individuals differ in their rate of ageing, and this is postulated to emerge from a trade-off between current and future reproduction. Recent theory predicts a correlation between individual personality and life-history strategy, and from this comes the prediction that personality may predict the intensity of senescence. Here we show that boldness correlates with reproductive success and foraging behaviour in wandering albatrosses, with strong sex-specific differences. Shy males show a strong decline in reproductive performance with age, and bold females have lower reproductive success in later adulthood. In both sexes, bolder birds have longer foraging trips and gain more mass per trip as they get older. However, the benefit of this behaviour appears to differ between the sexes, such that it is only matched by high reproductive success in males. Together our results suggest that personality linked foraging adaptations with age are strongly sex-specific in their fitness benefits and that the impact of boldness on senescence is linked to ecological parameters.
Robust speed controller for PMSM based on artificial neural network

The paper deals with the problem of robust speed control of permanent magnet synchronous motors. In the paper an artificial neural network (ANN) was applied to design a robust controller. An original method of neural controller synthesis was presented in the paper. Application of this synthesis ensured a robustness of the speed control against variation of moment of inertia. Simulation and laboratory investigation results proved good robustness of the system
On the use of a genetic algorithm in High Performance computer benchmark tuning

The High-Performance Linpack (HPL) [14] package is a reference benchmark used worldwide to evaluate high-performance computing platforms. Adjustment of HPLpsilas seventeen tuning parameters to achieve maximum performance is a time-consuming task that must be performed by hand. In this paper, we show how a genetic algorithm may be exploited to automatically determine the best parameters possible to maximize the future results of the benchmark. Indeed we propose a GA based approach, even if we do not really specify a particular GA as our investigation relies on the Acovea framework [11], which managed repeated runs of the benchmark to explore the very large space of parameter combinations on the test-case cluster. This work opens the possibility of creating a fully-automatic benchmark tuning tool.
A distributed hypercube file system

For the hypercube, an autonomous physically interconnected file system is proposed. The resulting distributed file system consists of an I/O organization and a software interface. The system is loosely-coupled architecturally but from operating systems point of view a tightly-coupled system is formed in which interprocessor messages are handled differently from file accesses. A matrix multiplication algorithm is given to show how the distributed file system is utilized.
POWER FACTOR CORRECTION WITH BOOST RECTIFIER

Conventional AC/DC power converters that are connected to the line through full-wave rectifier draws a non-sinusoidal input current. These Harmonic currents flowing through the impedances in the electrical utility distribution system can cause several problems such as voltage distortion, heating, noises. These harmonics distort the local voltage waveform, potentially interfering with other electrical equipment connected to the same electrical service and reduce the capability of the line to provide energy. This fact and the presence of standards or recommendations have forced to use power factor correction in power supplies. Boost regulators have been with us for many years as a power factor correction rectifiers. The main problem in boost rectifier is, the output voltage is very sensitive to Duty ratio variations. So maintaining the output voltage with in the regulation is very complex. Boost regulators are draws power from utility at unity power factor when it is operated in continuous conduction mode.
Understanding the Prediction of Transmembrane Proteins by Support Vector Machine using Association Rule Mining

With the efforts to understand protein structure, many computational approaches have been made recently. Among them, the support vector machine (SVM) methods have been recently applied and showed successful performance compared with other machine learning schemes. However, despite the high performance, the SVM approaches suffer from the problem of understandability since it is a black-box model. To overcome this limitation, this study attempted to combine the SVM with the association rule based classifier which can present the meaningful explanation about the prediction. To perform this task, a new association rule based classifier (PCPAR) was devised based on the existing classifier, CPAR, to handle the sequential data. PCPAR creates the patterns by merging the generated rules and then classifies the sequential data based on the pattern match. The experimental result presents the following: with sequential data, the PCPAR scheme shows better performance with respect to the accuracy and the number of generated patterns than CPAR method whether applied alone or combined with SVM. The combined scheme of SVMPCPAR generates more compact patterns than the combined scheme of SVM with decision tree, SVM DT, with similar performance. These patterns are easily understandable and biologically meaningful
Development of self-stigma inventory for patients with schizophrenia (SSI-P): reliability and validity study

ABSTRACT OBJECTIVES: Internalizing the public stigma in patients with schizophrenia leads to self-stigmatization associated with a number of negative consequences such as depression, low self-esteem, hopelessness, impairment of social adaptation, unemployment, and treatment non-adherence. No instruments have been developed to assess the self-stigmatization for patients with schizophrenia living in Turkey. The purpose of this study was to develop a culturally-sensitive and easy-to-use instrument to measure self-stigma of the patients with schizophrenia and schizoaffective disorder. METHODS: After examining the existing stigma and self-stigma scales for people with mental illnesses, a 19-item self-stigma inventory was formed. Focus group interviews were conducted with patients with schizophrenia and the items were reviewed and rephrased into more comprehensible statements for the patients. The pilot study was conducted with a sample of 15 patients with schizophrenia, and the inventory was given its final form, self-stigma inventory for patients (SSI-P). Outpatients with schizophrenia and schizoaffective disorder were given sociodemographic form, SSI-P, Beck Depression Inventory (BDI), Internalized Stigma of Mental Illness (ISMI), Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale (RSES), Beck Hopelessness Scale (BHS), Positive and Negative Syndrome Scale (PANSS), Clinical Global Impression-Severity (CGI-S), and Global Assessment of Functioning (GAF). For reliability analyses; internal consistency, item-total correlation, and test-retest reliability were assessed. Validity analyses were conducted with Explanatory Factor Analysis and convergent validity. RESULTS: The sample of the study was 162 patients with schizophrenia and schizoaffective disorder of which 77% were males, 70% were single, mean age was 37, and level of education was 10 years. Cronbach’s alpha coefficient of the scale was 0.93 ranging among the subscales between 0.60 and 0.91. Kaiser-Meyer-Olkin value was 0.91, and the Barlett test was significant (p < 0.001) for explanatory factor analysis and three factors were found (perceived devaluation, internalized stereotypes and social withdrawal, concealment of the illness) that can explain 63.5% of the total variance. Two items were removed because of their low factor value, and the final form consisted of 17 items. SSI-P was highly correlated with commonly-used stigma scale ISMI (r = 0.73), and moderately correlated with BDI (r = 0.53), BHS (r = 0.40), and RSES (r = −0.59). It also showed low correlation with PANSS negative score (r = 0.19). The test-retest reliability coefficient of the scale was 0.83. CONCLUSION: SSI-P is a reliable and valid instrument for assessing the self-stigmatization of patients with schizophrenia and schizoaffective disorder. The scale is an easy-to-comprehend, user-friendly, and culturally-sensitive tool with its 17 items.
Plusoptix photoscreener use for paediatric vision screening in Flanders and Iran

Photoscreening assesses risk factors for amblyopia, as an alternative to measurement of visual acuity (VA) to detect amblyopia, on the premise that its early correction could prevent development of amblyopia. We studied implementations of Plusoptix photoscreening in existing population‐based screening in Flanders and Iran.
Evaluation of the Repeatability and the Reproducibility of AL-Scan Measurements Obtained by Residents

Purpose. To assess the repeatability and reproducibility of ocular biometry and intraocular lens (IOL) power measurements obtained by ophthalmology residents using an AL-Scan device, a novel optical biometer. Methods. Two ophthalmology residents were instructed regarding the AL-Scan device. Both performed ocular biometry and IOL power measurements using AL-Scan, three times on each of 128 eyes, independently of one another. Corneal keratometry readings, horizontal iris width, central corneal thickness, anterior chamber depth, pupil size, and axial length values measured by both residents were recorded together with IOL power values calculated on the basis of four different IOL calculation formulas (SRK/T, Holladay, and HofferQ). Repeatability and reproducibility of the measurements obtained were analyzed using the intraclass correlation coefficient (ICC). Results. Repeatability (ICC, 0.872-0.999 for resident 1 versus 0.905-0.999 for resident 2) and reproducibility (ICC, 0.916-0.999) were high for all biometric measurements. Repeatability (ICC, 0.981-0.983 for resident 1 versus 0.995-0.996 for resident 2) and reproducibility were also high for all IOL power measurements (ICC, 0.996 for all). Conclusions. The AL-Scan device exhibits good repeatability and reproducibility in all biometric measurements and IOL power calculations, independent of the operator concerned.
Speech parameter selection for emotional stress characterization in women

A total of 68 acoustical, glottal and biomechanical parameters were extracted from neutral and stressed speech from 31 women. The stress was elicited by asking the speaker to defend her false opinion in a controversial topic. The importance of the parameters was evaluated accordingly to Pearson's coefficient, and the most relevant ones were tested in a SVM classification algorithm. We have found out that the most relevant parameters to characterize stress are pitch and the biomechanical parameters of body mass and body stiffness of the vocal folds.
TCPA – Tool to Test Effort Estimation

Software testing of software application is more complex and critical than conventional software testing. This paper presents an approach to the Estimation of Testing Effort using Test Case Point Analysis Test Case Point Analysis is a tool to estimate the effort required to test a software project, based on the number of use cases and the other features of object-orientation used in software development.
Self-optimizing scheme for active noise and vibration control

This paper presents a new approach to rejection of sinusoidal disturbances acting at the output of a discrete-time complex-valued linear stable plant (e.g. acoustic channel) with unknown and possibly time-varying dynamics. It is assumed that the instantaneous frequency of the sinusoidal disturbance may be slowly varying with time and that the output signal is contaminated with wideband measurement noise. It is not assumed that a reference signal, correlated with the disturbance, is available. The proposed disturbance rejection algorithm automatically adjusts its adaptation gains to the rate of system and/or disturbance variation.