Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Intuitive Interaction Techniques for Mobile Devices with Human Gestures

In recent years, mobile devices have rapidly penetrated into our daily lives. Several drawbacks of mobile devices have been mentioned so far, such as their limited computational capability, small screen real estate, and, so on, as compared with notebook or desktop computers. However, if we focus on the most powerful feature of mobile devices, namely mobility, we can explore possibilities for a new user interface of the devices. In this paper, we use PDAs and propose intuitive techniques of information transfer for mobile devices, which could not otherwize be achieved with notebook or desktop computers. Our system, Toss-It, enables a user to send information from the user’s PDA to other electronic devices with a “toss” or “swing” action, as the user would toss a ball or deal cards to others. Implementation of Toss-It largely consists of three parts gesture recognition, location recognition, and file transfer system. In this thesis, we describe these three parts of our implementation, and finally evaluate and affirm practicability and usability of Toss-It.
What and When Do Students Learn ? Methods For Knowledge Tracing With Data-Driven Mapping of Items to Skills

Recent interest in online education, such as Massively Open Online Courses and intelligent tutoring systems, promises large amounts of data from students solving items at different levels of proficiency over time. Existing approaches for inferring students’ knowledge from data require a cognitive model – a mapping between the tutor problems and the set of skills they require. This is a very expensive requirement, since it depends on expert domain knowledge. The success of previous methods in using student performance data to construct this mapping automatically has been limited in that they cannot handle data collected over time, or that they require expensive expert domain knowledge. This dissertation studies how to model students’ time varying knowledge, without requiring expert domain knowledge. We introduce four novel methods: • Dynamic Cognitive Tracing: an easily implemented prototype that jointly estimates cognitive and student models. • Automatic Knowledge Tracing: a method to discover first a mapping of items to skills and then a student model separately. • Topical Hidden Markov Model: a fully Bayesian method to discover both cognitive and student models jointly. • ItemClue: a method to bias the estimation of Topical Hidden Markov Model to discover more interpretable cognitive models by grouping similar items together. We evaluate our methods on synthetic data and real student data collected from students interacting with two commercial tutoring systems. Our automatic methods require much less human work and can achieve significantly higher accuracy at predicting future student performance than the models handcrafted by experts. Acknowledgments I want to thank my mentor, Jack Mostow, for enabling and trusting me to follow my intellectual interests. From Jack I learned many lessons that I know I will apply for the rest of my life. Jack is not only a great researcher, but also an inspirational, kind-hearted person that I look up to. I also want to thank my thesis committee, Kenneth Koedinger, Emma Brunskill and Michel Desmarais. They were very kind and generous with their suggestions that dramatically improved this thesis. I am very fortunate to have crossed paths with so many kind people in my life. Fu-Ren Lin was a great advisor that introduced me to research. Robert Frederking, Alan Black and Carolyn Rosé were great mentors that gave me a lot of advise. Sometimes the line between friends and colleagues is blurry. I want to thank Kriti, Ramnath, Mladen, Miro, Sourish, Wei, Yanbo, Jessica, Kaimin and Sivaraman for their friendship and helpful discussions. I am very appreciative to my good friends that I have met in Costa Rica, Pittsburgh, and Taiwan. I am thankful to my family for always being there. Their support is unconditional. I am very grateful for having such a special life partner. I wouldn’t have done it without you.
TGCR: An efficient algorithm for mining swarm in trajectory databases

Advance of positioning technology have enabled mass trajectory data of moving objects obtain more convenient. These moving objects always exists special behaviour correlation on spatio-temporal characteristics, and this information is important in some domains, such as prisoner monitoring, factory management, and the study of social behaviour. Many studies have focused on relative motion pattern mining algorithm, but the inefficiency of mining algorithms is still a problem. In this paper, we propose an efficient algorithm, Time Growth Cluster Recombinant algorithm (TGCR), for discovering swarm pattern, which is a group of relaxed aggregation moving objects. The algorithm construct maximum moving objectsets according to the clustering result of each timestamp, and record corresponding maximum time set of the maximum moving objectsets over time. TGCR employs three update rules to update candidate swarm list at each timestamp and proposes an insert rule to greatly reduce the redundant candidate items in the list. In addition, closure checking rule is presented for obtaining closed swarm patterns on fly. We performed an experimental evaluation of the correctness and efficiency of our algorithm using large synthetic data. The results of experiments demonstrate that TGCR discovers swarm patterns as same as objectGrowth algorithm and our algorithm have higher performance than objectGrowth. The further algorithm enhanced can be applicable to real-time trajectory data processing system.
Maintenance of parenteral nutrition volume reduction, without weight loss, after stopping teduglutide in a subset of patients with short bowel syndrome.

BACKGROUND Teduglutide was discontinued after being tested for ≥ 24 weeks in patients with parenteral nutrition (PN) -dependent short bowel syndrome in a clinical trial for efficacy to reduce PN volume. This study was describes change in body mass index (BMI) and PN volume over 12 months in patients who stopped drug after the clinical trial. METHODS Prescribed PN volume, weight, and complications were reported. Patients with stable (NEUT, n = 15) or decreased (DEC, n = 7) PN volume by 12 months after stopping drug (NEUT/DEC, n = 22) were compared to those who had increased PN volume (INC, n = 15). With drug response defined by ≥ 20% reduction from pre-drug PN volume to end of drug therapy, 12 INC and 13 NEUT/DEC patients were drug responders. RESULTS Eleven of 20 eligible sites reported data for 39 of 53 eligible study participants, with follow-up data for 37. INC patients had shorter colon and less frequently had colon in continuity than NEUT/DEC. BMI was decreased at 3, 6, and 12 months relative to the first off-drug visit in INC patients (P = .001), but not in NEUT/DEC patients. Change in BMI off-drug was predicted by colon and small bowel length, baseline BMI, and on-drug change in PN volume (adjusted R2 = 0.708). CONCLUSIONS Gastrointestinal anatomy, baseline BMI, and PN volume reduction on-drug predicted change in BMI off-drug. Whether this response would be maintained for a longer time or in the context of a challenging clinical situation has not been evaluated.
Critical Success Factors in Software Projects

Software projects are still late, over budget, and unpredictable. Sometimes the entire project fails before ever delivering an application. The article presents a clear, commonsense review of fundamental project management techniques which reminds us that we still have a long way to go. It presents five essential factors to managing a successful software project: (1) start on the right foot; (2) maintain momentum; (3) track progress; (4) make smart decisions; (5) institutionalize post-mortem analyses.
Process Improvement Satisfies Employees

When those of us working for Boeing's Space Transportation Systems organization succeeded in transforming the ad hoc, chaotic development environment into a smooth-running, process-driven environment, a major culture change occurred. Originally, in making this transition, we expected increased quality, reduced cycle time, and improved productivity. However, we achieved an important extra benefit-a significant increase in employee satisfaction. The author looks at this transformation.
Introducing haptic capabilities to a bone‐mounted robot for intra‐operative surface scanning

Bone‐mounted robots for orthopaedic surgery are small, cost‐effective and could reduce invasiveness. Preoperative planning requires imaging (e.g. X‐ray, CT, MRI) and a registration procedure, which introduces error. Accuracy might be improved by building an intraoperative anatomical model in the robot's own coordinate system, utilizing the rigid bone–robot connection.
Occurrence of Enterobacteriaceae in Raw Meat and in Human Samples from Egyptian Retail Sellers

The present study was performed to assess the presence of Enterobacteriaceae in raw meat and handlers in Egypt using cultivation and matrix-assisted laser desorption ionization time-of-flight mass spectrometry (MALDI-TOF MS). A total of 100 raw meat samples (chicken and beef meat, 50 each) were randomly purchased from butchers and local meat retailers located at Mansoura city, Egypt. Fifty human samples were collected from meat handlers (hand swabs and stool specimens, 25 each). 228 bacterial isolates were recovered from these samples. Unidentified isolates were characterized by partial 16S rRNA gene sequencing. Escherichia coli isolates were further typed using a DNA microarray system. Proteus spp. (60.0%) were found to be the most abundant followed by Escherichia coli (38.7%), Klebsiella spp. (17.3%), and Citrobacter spp. (13.3%). The presence of different Enterobacteriaceae in locally produced retail raw meat demonstrates the risk of infection of people through consumption of raw or undercooked meat and the risk for cross-contamination of other food products. Harmonized and concerted actions from veterinary and public health authorities are needed to reduce the risk of infection.
Orphan viruses, orphan diseases: still the raw material for virus discovery

This journal’s title specifies reviews of medical virology, and it is important not to lose sight of this, its primary purpose. The inter-relationship between virological research, clinical disease and public health should be at the heart of the journal’s contents. The viruses of humans are diverse, and the RNA viruses especially are unstable life forms on a continuing journey towards symbiosis with their host species. During this evolution, they may trade virulence for transmissibility, but they probably never establish complete harmony with their host. So, whenever a ‘new’ virus is isolated and is suspected of being a pathogen, it is important to ask what its range of virulence is, even if such questions may be difficult to answer comprehensively. It is now 60years since monolayer cell culture was first applied to the isolation and propagation of viruses. It soon uncovered a superfluity of isolates in human faecal extracts and throat swabs, many of themof uncertain pathogenicity. There was no doubt about the virulence of the three poliovirus types, nor of some other ‘enteroviruses’, such as the Coxsackie viruses that were pathogenic for mice and also associatedwith acute human illness; but there were other serologically distinct enteroviruses that seemed to be non-pathogenic both for humans and experimental animals. Only when the moment came that their occurrence coincided with local outbreaks of rash or other illness did their pathogenicity become apparent, and they were more closely investigated. At first, therefore, many enteroviruses were referred to as ECHO, that is, enterocytopathic orphan viruses, the term ‘orphan’ being applied because they lacked a parent disease. This term was, according to Gilbert Dalldorf, conceived by a group of pioneers of virus cell culture ‘in a moment of conviviality’ (Dalldorf, a New York pathologist, was the investigator who had previously shown that Coxsackie viruses caused paralysis in newborn mice but not in humans). Many so-called orphan viruses were subsequently linked to diseases. However, by the mid-1960s, the use of cell monolayers had become so routine in
Enteroviruses, hygiene and type 1 diabetes: toward a preventive vaccine

Enteroviruses and humans have long co‐existed. Although recognized in ancient times, poliomyelitis and type 1 diabetes (T1D) were exceptionally rare and not epidemic, due in large part to poor sanitation and personal hygiene which resulted in repeated exposure to fecal–oral transmitted viruses and other infectious agents and viruses and the generation of a broad protective immunity. As a function of a growing acceptance of the benefits of hygienic practices and microbiologically clean(er) water supplies, the likelihood of exposure to diverse infectious agents and viruses declined. The effort to vaccinate against poliomyelitis demonstrated that enteroviral diseases are preventable by vaccination and led to understanding how to successfully attenuate enteroviruses. Type 1 diabetes onset has been convincingly linked to infection by numerous enteroviruses including the group B coxsackieviruses (CVB), while studies of CVB infections in NOD mice have demonstrated not only a clear link between disease onset but an ability to reduce the incidence of T1D as well: CVB infections can suppress naturally occurring autoimmune T1D. We propose here that if we can harness and develop the capacity to use attenuated enteroviral strains to induce regulatory T cell populations in the host through vaccination, then a vaccine could be considered that should function to protect against both autoimmune as well as virus‐triggered T1D. Such a vaccine would not only specifically protect from certain enterovirus types but more importantly, also reset the organism's regulatory rheostat making the further development of pathogenic autoimmunity less likely. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Cloud Adoption in Malaysia: Trends, Opportunities, and Challenges

Cloud computing is rapidly penetrating academia, industry, and government sectors around the globe. Malaysia is one country that's rapidly adopting cloud computing, and its government is aiming to lead cloud adoption in the region. This article presents current trends in the adoption of cloud computing technology in Malaysia. It also discusses future cloud adoption opportunities, and the open challenges that ground future research. It briefly discusses and refers to beneficial documents about cloud adoption efforts in Malaysia as a guide to other governments.
The Future of Test and DFT

Advances in design characteristics and design processes are creating significant challenges to design for testability (DFT) and test. Are DFT and test capabilities developing at a pace that will not limit the rapid growth of the very large semiconductor and computing industries that rely on their capabilities? To answer this question, we must understand the alignment between two fundamental sets of trends: growing chip design requirements and the development of EDA capabilities to address these requirements. I outline some of the design requirement trends and the specific issues they introduce, including: fault models; current handling; and test accuracy.
Clinical Outcomes in Critically Ill Patients Associated With the Use of Complex vs Weight-Only Predictive Energy Equations.

BACKGROUND The energy intake goal is important to achieving energy intake in critically ill patients, yet clinical outcomes associated with energy goals have not been reported. METHODS This secondary analysis used the Improving Nutrition Practices in the Critically III International Nutrition Surveys database from 2007-2009 to evaluate whether mortality or time to discharge alive is related to use of complex energy prediction equations vs weight only. The sample size was 5672 patients in the intensive care unit (ICU) ≥ 4 days and a subset of 3356 in the ICU ≥ 12 days. Mortality and time to discharge alive were compared between groups by regression, controlling for age, sex, admission type, Acute Physiology and Chronic Health Evaluation II score, ICU geographic region, actual energy intake, and obesity. RESULTS There was no difference in mortality between the use of complex and weight-only equations (odds ratio [OR], 0.90; 95% confidence interval [CI], 0.86-1.15), but obesity (OR, 0.83; 95% CI, 0.71-0.96) and higher energy intake (OR, 0.65; 95% CI, 0.56-0.76) had lower odds of mortality. Time to discharge alive was shorter in patients fed using weight-only equations (hazard ratio [HR], 1.11; 95% CI, 1.01-1.23) in patients staying ≥ 4 days and with greater energy intake (HR, 1.19; 95% CI, 1.06-1.34) in patients in the ICU ≥ 12 days. CONCLUSION These data suggest that higher energy intake is important to survival and time to discharge alive. However, the analysis was limited by actual energy intake <70% of goal. Delivery of full goal intake will be needed to determine the relationship between the method of determining energy goal and clinical outcomes.
Specific Detection of Bradyrhizobium andRhizobium Strains Colonizing Rice (Oryza sativa) Roots by 16S-23S Ribosomal DNA Intergenic Spacer-Targeted PCR

ABSTRACT In addition to forming symbiotic nodules on legumes, rhizobial strains are members of soil or rhizosphere communities or occur as endophytes, e.g., in rice. Two rhizobial strains which have been isolated from root nodules of the aquatic legumes Aeschynomene fluminensis (IRBG271) and Sesbania aculeata(IRBG74) were previously found to promote rice growth. In addition to analyzing their phylogenetic positions, we assessed the suitability of the 16S-23S ribosomal DNA (rDNA) intergenic spacer (IGS) sequences for the differentiation of closely related rhizobial taxa and for the development of PCR protocols allowing the specific detection of strains in the environment. 16S rDNA sequence analysis (sequence identity, 99%) and phylogenetic analysis of IGS sequences showed that strain IRBG271 was related to but distinct from Bradyrhizobium elkanii. Rhizobium sp. (Sesbania) strain IRBG74 was located in theRhizobium-Agrobacterium cluster as a novel lineage according to phylogenetic 16S rDNA analysis (96.8 to 98.9% sequence identity with Agrobacterium tumefaciens;emended name, Rhizobium radiobacter). Strain IRBG74 harbored four copies of rRNA operons whose IGS sequences varied only slightly (2 to 9 nucleotides). The IGS sequence analyses allowed intraspecies differentiation, especially in the genusBradyrhizobium, as illustrated here for strains ofBradyrhizobium japonicum, B. elkanii, Bradyrhizobium liaoningense, and Bradyrhizobium sp. (Chamaecytisus) strain BTA-1. It also clearly differentiated fast-growing rhizobial species and strains, albeit with lower statistical significance. Moreover, the high sequence variability allowed the development of highly specific IGS-targeted nested-PCR assays. Strains IRBG74 and IRBG271 were specifically detected in complex DNA mixtures of numerous related bacteria and in the DNA of roots of gnotobiotically cultured or even of soil-grown rice plants after inoculation. Thus, IGS sequence analysis is an attractive technique for both microbial ecology and systematics.
Original Contribution Association between Reduced Sleep and Weight Gain in Women

1 Division of Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine, University Hospitals of Cleveland, Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, OH. 2 Division of Sleep Medicine, Department of Medicine, Brigham and Women’s Hospital, Boston, MA. 3 Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA. 4 Division of Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine, Boston University and VA Boston Healthcare System, Boston, MA. 5 Channing Laboratory, Department of Medicine, Brigham and Women’s Hospital, Boston, MA. 6 Departments of Nutrition and Epidemiology, Harvard School of Public Health, Boston, MA.
Involvement of the nucleolus in replication of human viruses

Viruses are intracellular pathogens that have to usurp some of the cellular machineries to provide an optimal environment for their own replication. An increasing number of reports reveal that many viruses induce modifications of nuclear substructures including nucleoli, whether they replicate or not in the nucleus of infected cells. Indeed, during infection of cells with various types of human viruses, nucleoli undergo important morphological modifications. A large number of viral components traffic to and from the nucleolus where they interact with different cellular and/or viral factors, numerous host nucleolar proteins are redistributed in other cell compartments or are modified and some cellular proteins are delocalised in the nucleolus of infected cells. Well‐documented studies have established that several of these nucleolar modifications play a role in some steps of the viral cycle, and also in fundamental cellular pathways. The nucleolus itself is the place where several essential steps of the viral cycle take place. In other cases, viruses divert host nucleolar proteins from their known functions in order to exert new unexpected role(s). Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Male Involvement in Family Planning: Challenges and Way Forward

Public health officials have advocated the involvement of men as a strategy for addressing the dismal performance of family planning (FP) programmes. This study was therefore designed to explore the challenges and determine way forward to male involvement in FP in Olorunda Local Government Area, Osogbo, Nigeria. This cross-sectional study involved the use of a four-stage sampling technique to select 500 married men and interviewed them using semistructured questionnaire. In addition, four focus group discussions (FGDs) were also conducted. Mean age of respondents was 28.5 ± 10.3 years. Some (37.9%) of the respondents’ spouse had ever used FP and out of which 19.0% were currently using FP. Only 4.8% of the respondents had ever been involved in FP. Identified barriers to male involvement included the perception that FP is woman’s activity and was not their custom to participate in FP programme. More than half of the FGD discussants were of the view that men should provide their wives with transport fare and other resources they may need for FP. The majority of the respondents had never been involved in family planning with their wives. Community sensitization programmes aimed at improving male involvement in FP should be provided by government and nongovernmental agencies.
The distinguishing features of human metapneumovirus and respiratory syncytial virus

Acute respiratory tract infections (RTIs) are a leading cause of morbidity and mortality worldwide. Human Metapneumovirus (hMPV) is a member of the Metapneumovirus genus within the Pneumovirinae subfamily of the Paramyxoviridae family. Though hMPV was only discovered in 2001, a large body of work has already shown that it is the aetiologic agent of a substantial proportion of upper and lower RTIs across all age groups in both healthy and immunocompromised hosts throughout the world. RSV, also a pneumovirus, is the human pathogen most closely related to hMPV. RSV is the leading cause of pneumonia and bronchiolitis in infants and young children, but can also cause respiratory tract disease in all age groups. In this paper, we will review the salient features of the virology, epidemiology, pathogenesis, host immune responses, clinical manifestations and diagnostic modalities of hMPV, using RSV as a comparison. In addition, we will show how immunoprophylactic and therapeutic strategies studied and used in clinical practice for RSV—some with great success, and others tragic failure—have led to promising areas of research for the prevention and treatment of the significant burden of disease caused by hMPV. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.