Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Comment on Nick Crossley / 1 by Elisa Bellotti

The comment to Crossley article is intended to shift the debate on mixing social network analysis with qualitative methods from the methodological perspective to the theoretical and epistemological one. It is argued that social network theory observes concrete sets of interaction, therefore its object of research is more similar to qualitative studies rather than quantitative ones. The power of formalization and abstraction of the mathematical tools applied in social network analysis places this perspective aside from the classic qualitative/quantitative debate.
Autonomous mobile robots

In recent years, autonomous mobile robotics is increasingly becoming an effective way to carry out tasks that are difficult, dangerous, or simply boring for humans. Relevant examples include planetary exploration and search and rescue. While developing a system of autonomous robots, a designer should take care of fundamental issues that relate to locomotion, sensing, localization, and navigation. One of the most important and challenging aspects that could significantly impact on the system performance is the autonomous decision making to carry out the assigned task. This comprises the set of techniques that allow autonomous mobile robots to decide the next location to reach and to possibly coordinate among themselves, according to their current knowledge of the world they operate in. Consider for example the exploration problem, where mobile robots are employed for incrementally discovering and mapping the features of initially unknown environments, which could serve for more general missions, such as map building and search and rescue. The robots have to select the next locations where to perform sensing actions within the currently explored portion of the environment and who goes where. Clearly, the decisions made could have a significant impact on the performance of the exploration and, if made effectively, could really boost the robots’ autonomy. However, despite the importance of the development of techniques to make mobile robots more autonomous, general techniques are not mature yet. In this dissertation, we focus on some key activities for the multirobot exploration problem, namely the selection of interesting locations (exploration strategy) and their assignment to robots (coordination method). We
A Fast Decomposed Three-dimensional OTSU Algorithm Based on Cuckoo Search for Image Segmentation

Image threshold method is an important technique for image segmentation. The maximum between-class variance of pixel (Otsu) algorithm has been widely applied in the literature. However, the original Otsu method for image segmentation is very time-consuming, and the segmentation results are often unstable for the image with low signal to noise ratio (SNR). In this paper, a fast image segmentation method (D3OTSU-CS), decomposed three-dimensional Otsu based on the technology of the cuckoo search (CS), is proposed. The proposed method starts by overcoming the complex computational by decomposing the original three-dimensional Otsu into a one-dimensional Otsu and a two-dimensional Otsu. The cuckoo search algorithm is employed to find the optimal threshold vector by the global Lévy flight searching, and the between-class variance of the two-dimensional Otsu is investigated as fitness functions. The Experimental results are illustrated to show that the computation time efficiency of the proposed method is increased by about 98.6% than the 3OTSU. In addition, the stability and reliability of the segmentation results by the proposed method outperform 2OTSU and 3OTSU.
Sexuell übertragbare Infektionen – Thema für die Hausarztpraxis ? Sexually Transmitted Infections – an Issue for Family Practitioners ?

1 Bereich Allgemeinmedizin/Medizinische Klinik III, Universitätsklinikum „Carl Gustav Carus“, Technische Universität Dresden 2 Klinik und Poliklinik für Dermatologie, Universitätsklinikum „Carl Gustav Carus“, Technische Universität Dresden Peer reviewed article eingereicht: 01.07. 2016, akzeptiert: 09.08. 2016 DOI 10.3238/zfa.2017. 0032–0038 Hintergrund: Seit Mitte der 1990er Jahre werden in Europa (und weltweit) sexuell übertragbare Infektionen (STI) zunehmend als globales Gesundheitsproblem thematisiert. In Deutschland sind deutlich steigende STI-Inzidenzen seit einigen Jahren zu beobachten. Das Ausmaß des Nichtwissens um STI ist in der deutschen Bevölkerung groß. Ein Großteil der STI wäre durch konsequente Prävention vermeidbar. Der Artikel fokussiert auf die Einschätzung von STIKompetenz, -Beratung und -Testung in Hausarztpraxen. Methoden: Im Rahmen einer Pilotstudie erfolgte eine schriftliche Befragung bei hausärztlich tätigen Teilnehmern des Jahreskongresses der Sächsischen Gesellschaft für Allgemeinmedizin im Juni 2016. Der vierseitige Fragebogen fokussierte auf die Selbsteinschätzungen der STI-Beratungskompetenz, des STI-Beratungsverhaltens und des STI-Testungsverhaltens. Die Daten wurden mit SPSS 23.0 erfasst und mittels deskriptiver Analyseverfahren ausgewertet. Ergebnisse: 47 (62 % Frauen) von 63 hausärztlich tätigen Kongressteilnehmern beteiligten sich an der Befragung. Fast alle Befragten (98 %) bestätigten, Patienten präventiv zum Thema Sexualverhalten/STI zu beraten, wobei 43 % sich als unzureichend ausgebildet fühlten, um Patienten zu STI zu beraten. 36 % gaben an, mehr als die Hälfte der Patienten mit STI-Diagnose oder -Verdacht an spezialfachärztliche Kollegen oder den Öffentlichen Gesundheitsdienst zu verweisen. In den letzten 12 Monaten führten 74 % der Hausärzte mind. einen HIV-Test, 64 % mind. einen Chlamydien-Test, 30 % mind. einen Gonorrhö-Test und 11 % mind. einen Syphilis-Test durch. Schlussfolgerungen: Bei den Studienteilnehmern besteht Bedarf an hausärztlicher Fort-/Weiterbildung zum Thema Sexualverhalten/STI, die auf fachliche, aber auch kommunikative Beratungskompetenzen sowie auf patientenund arztseitige Tabuisierung und Stigmatisierung fokussieren sollte. Aufgrund steigender STI-Inzidenzen ist es wichtig, dass Hausärzte risikogruppenspezifische Beratung, Testung und Therapie anbieten, um STI zu verhindern, früh zu erkennen, zu behandeln und dadurch Neuinfektionen zu vermeiden.
Spekkens ’ toy model and contextuality as a resource in quantum computation

— Spekkens’ toy model (SM) is a non-contextual hidden-variable model made to support the epistemic view of quantum theory, where quantum states are states of partial knowledge about a deeper underlying reality. Despite being a classical model, it has reproduced many features of quantum theory (entanglement, teleportation, . . . ): (almost) everything but contextuality, which therefore seems to be the inherent quantum feature. In addition to the importance in foundation of quantum theory, the notion of contextuality seems to be a crucial resource for quantum computation. In particular it has been proven that, in the case of odd prime discrete dimensional systems, contextuality is necessary for universal quantum computation in state-injection schemes of computation based on stabilizer quantum mechanics (SQM). The latter is a subtheory of quantum mechanics which is very popular in the field of quantum computation and quantum error correction. State-injection schemes consist of a classically-simulable part (like SQM) and a resource state that boosts the computation to a quantum improvement. In the odd-dimensional case, SM is operationally equivalent to SQM. In the even-dimensional case, the equivalence only holds in terms of structure, not in terms of statistical predictions. This because qubit-SQM shows contextuality, while qudit(odd dimensions)-SQM does not. We believe that SM can be a valid tool to study contextuality as a resource in the field of quantum computation. Restricted versions of SM compatible with quantum mechanics (QM) can be used as the non-contextual classically-simulable part of state-injection schemes thus opening other scenarios where studying if contextuality is necessary for quantum computational speed-up.
Monetary Policy Rules and the Great Inflation Athanasios Orphanides

The nature of monetary policy during the 1970s is evaluated through the lens of a forwardlooking Taylor rule based on perceptions regarding the outlook for inflation and unemployment at the time policy decisions were made. The evidence suggests that policy during the 1970s was essentially indistinguishable from a systematic, activist, forward-looking approach such as is often identified with good policy advice in theoretical and econometric policy evaluation research. This points to the unpleasant possibility that the policy errors of the 1970s occured despite the use of a seemingly desirable policy approach. Though the resulting activist policies could have appeared highly promising, they proved, in retrospect, counterproductive.
A Maximization-Minimization Approach for Update Text Summarization

The work presents an update summarization system that uses a combination of two techniques to generate extractive summaries which focus on new but relevant information. A fast maximization-minimization approach is used to select sentences that are distant from sentences used in already read documents and at the same time close to the topic. On top of this sentence scoring approach, a second method called “Novelty Boosting” is used. The latter extends the topic by the unique terms in the update document cluster, thus biasing the cosine maximization-minimization towards maximizing relevance of a summary sentence not only with respect to the topic, but also to the novel aspects of the topic in the update cluster. Results are based on the duc 2007 update summarization task.
Estimating Detection Thresholds for Desktop-Scale Hand Redirection in Virtual Reality

Virtual reality (VR) interaction techniques like haptic retargeting offset the user's rendered virtual hand from the real hand location to redirect the user's physical hand movement. This paper explores the order of magnitude of hand redirection that can be applied without the user noticing it. By deriving lower-bound estimates of detection thresholds, we quantify the range of unnoticeable redirection for the three basic redirection dimensions, horizontal, vertical and gain-based hand warping. In a two-alternative forced choice (2AFC) experiment, we individually explore these three hand warping dimensions each in three different scenarios: a very conservative scenario without any distraction and two conservative but more realistic scenarios that distract users from the redirection. Additionally, we combine the results of all scenarios to derive robust recommendations for each redirection technique. Our results indicate that within a certain range, desktop-scale VR hand redirection can go unnoticed by the user, but that this range is narrow. The findings show that the virtual hand can be unnoticeably displaced horizontally or vertically by up to 4.5° in either direction, respectively. This allows for a range of ca. 9°, in which users cannot reliably detect applied redirection. For our gain-based hand redirection technique, we found that gain factors between g = 0.88 and g = 1.07 can go unnoticed, which corresponds to a user grasping up to 13.75% further or up to 6.18% less far than in virtual space. Our findings are of value for the development of VR applications that aim to redirect users in an undetectable manner, such as for haptic retargeting.
Formant Frequencies of Vowels in Tonal and Non-Tonal Standard Slovenian

The article presents formant frequencies of Standard Slovenian (SS) vowels as spoken by fi ve tonal and fi ve non-tonal speakers in citation form. The results and subsequent analysis of variance indicate two types of differences between both groups. In the tonal SS, [+ ATR] mid vowels have higher F1, and short [a] has considerably lower F1. Secondly, acute, circumfl ex, and short vowels of all phonemes are more dispersed in the tonal SS, the differences being statistically signifi cant in most cases. This is a by-product of fundamental frequency and intensity distinctions in the two tones, and of duration/centralization effects in quantity contrast. These phenomena do not occur in the non-tonal SS.
Next generation sequencing to investigate genomic diversity in Caryophyllales 1

16 Caryophyllales are a highly diverse and large order of plants with a global distribution. While some 17 species are important crops like Beta vulgaris, many others can survive under extreme conditions. 18 This order is well known for the complex pigment evolution, because the pigments anthocyanins and 19 betalains occur with mutual exclusion in species of the Caryophyllales. Here we report about genome 20 assemblies of Kewa caespitosa (Kewaceae), Macarthuria australis (Macarthuriaceae), and 21 Pharnaceum exiguum (Molluginaceae) which are representing different taxonomic groups in the 22 Caryophyllales. The availability of these assemblies enhances molecular investigation of these species 23 e.g. with respect to certain genes of interest. 24
Development of an Educational Engineering Workshop on Electric Vehicle and Motor Technology

This paper describes the development of an educational program centered on electric motor and electric vehicle technology at the MIT Edgerton Center. The program, called the Summer Engineering Workshop, has matched students from local high schools with MIT undergraduate and graduate students sharing a common interest in electric vehicles, their propulsion systems, and their controls. Past projects included the creation of a “do-it-yourself” self-balancing scooter and an electric go-kart with a novel regenerative braking system. In the summer of 2009, the Summer Engineering Workshop developed a compact electric kick-scooter powered by two 500W brushless in-wheel motors. This project provided opportunity for the group to go beyond integration of existing components and into the field of electric machine design. We developed an understanding of the theoretical and practical considerations through many avenues: research of prior art, design from first principles, integrated magnetic and mechanical computer-aided design, and ultimately the real-world construction and testing of these motors. In the process, academic and industry professionals provided insight that benefited both the educational and the technical objectives of the project. The final product will become a valuable research and teaching tool, and the success of the program highlights some strengths of combined technical and educational development.
Boolean Representations of Preferences under Ambiguity

We propose a class of multiple-prior representations of preferences under ambiguity where the belief the decision-maker (DM) uses to evaluate an uncertain prospect is the outcome of a game played by two conflicting forces, Pessimism and Optimism. The model does not restrict the sign of the DM\'s ambiguity attitude, and we show that it provides a unified framework through which to characterize different degrees of ambiguity aversion, as well as to represent context-dependent negative and positive ambiguity attitudes documented in experiments. We prove that our baseline representation, Boolean expected utility (BEU), yields a novel representation of the class of invariant biseparable preferences (Ghirardato, Maccheroni and Marinacci, 2004), which drops uncertainty aversion from maxmin expected utility (Gilboa and Schmeidler, 1989), while extensions of BEU allow for more general departures from independence.
Connecting Mathematics to Real Life Problem using Instructor Quality and Availability , Mathematics Facility and Teacher Motivation for Prediction

The mode of instruction in mathematics education has received a lot of criticisms where many have advocated a paradigm shift from traditional method of instruction to methods that emphasises on conceptual understanding. The major aim of this study is to investigate by means of confirmatory factor analysis the factors that influence teachers’ ability to connect mathematics to real life problem. The study deplored probability sampling techniques to randomly select 1,263 participants from over 80,000 students’ population in the Ashanti region of Ghana. The partial least squares (PLS) linear structural equation modelling (SEM) techniques was adopted to verify goodness of fit effects among the overall model, structural model and the measurement model. The results and the findings from the study revealed that, teachers ability to connect mathematics to real life problem is significantly influenced by instructor quality and availability as well as teacher motivation ,however mathematics facility have positive but statistically have no significant influence on teachers ability to connect mathematics to real life problem. The study concluded that teachers’ ability to connect mathematics to real life problem is directly influenced by teacher motivation, instructor quality and availability as well as mathematics facility availability. The study concluded further that teacher motivation and availability of mathematics facilities influence instructor quality while teacher motivation is further influence by mathematics learning facilities. The study recommended for improvement in mathematics facility, instructor quality and teacher motivation for better connectedness in teaching and learning of mathematics.
An Approach to Privacy Preserving eries for Spatio-Temporal Data

The increasing amount of spatio-temporal data from mobile devices and individual participation can help drive domains such as environmental monitoring, health care, and urban planning. Spatiotemporal data can be individually-identi able, which has lead to attempts to provide di erential privacy for such data. But such data breaks di erential privacy guarantees due to its inherent correlation. Previous works have ensured su cient privacy through synthetic data release and low privacy budgets. Unfortunately the lack of aggregation options for the data release approach weakens analyst utility and protection of users and their data in the interactive query setting. We propose acceptable error (AEs) and range count (RCs) query algorithms. RCs ensure a stronger level of di erential privacy than AEs, but typically use a greater privacy budget. We additionally propose two query data access mechanisms: data access policies (DAPs) and data access degrees (DADs) that grant or limit data access and specify the allowed amount of data leakage respectively. We propose a privacy-preserving system that implements these aggregation options to securely store and aggregate sensitive user trajectory data. Our goal is to incentivize users to participate in spatio-temporal aggregations while safely providing valuable data to analysts spanning a multitude of domains.
The case for riparian reserves around small streams

Riparian reserves for the purpose of protecting fish and fish habitat from possible adverse effects of forestry have been in use for nearly 30 years. For the most part, streams lacking fish, particularly small streams, do not receive reserves. An increasing appreciation that small streams provide important ecosystem services, strongly influence downstream environments, and are a unique habitat in their own right, means that we need to consider how to bring their consideration into watershed-scale measures for protection. The direct effects on these habitats and now-obvious downstream effects of perturbations of small streams make it clear that these sites are vulnerable and their effects can be cumulative. Sustainable forest management will demand that we consider the roles of small streams and cumulative effects at the landscape level when we evaluate whether guidelines can achieve the objectives set for them.
Mindfulness Promoting Blood Pressure and Stress Reduction in a Northwest Priest Community

Literature exploring burnout and stress among clergy is well-established, but recent research suggests this population may face higher risk for chronic comorbidities, including cardiovascular disease. A northwest priest community approached a local school of nursing requesting blood pressure screening and health promotion through nonpharmacologic interventions. The purpose of this project was to determine the effect of a mindfulness-based intervention on blood pressure (BP) and stress over a time period of eight weeks. Pre-treatment and post-treatment scores and BPs were compared and yielded a statistically significant improvement. Findings from this project inform the nurse practitioner’s care of individuals looking for cost-effective nonpharmacological treatment of hypertension.
Component-based modeling for Android application testing

The rising popularity of Android and the component-based structure of its apps have motivated the need for automated model-based testing techniques on Android platform. Prior researches have primarily focused on the GUI-based model of Android apps. GUI-based model only includes Activity targeting graphical user interfaces. It neglects other components such as Service and Broadcast Receiver in the Android Development Framework. Although the GUI-based model testing has achieved a good testing result targeting the graphical user interface, its effectiveness has been decreasing as Android applications become more complex in both functional behaviors and component-based structure. This phenomenon challenges the feasibility of currently existing model-based testing on Android platform. To address the challenges mentioned above, we propose a component-based approach of automated model generation for model-based testing on Android platform in this thesis. First, we extend the state definition in the model. Activity, Service and Broadcast Receiver are abstracted into the component-based model as states. Newly introduced states can depict the behaviors of a given app in a larger scope for better descriptive modeling and input generation. Second, we extend transition definition, and also propose a static mapping transition builder for transition construction across different kinds of components. Then the event sequence generator & cluster is proposed to generate proper test sequences for testing. The event cluster
The Effects of Chromosome Length on Hyper-Heuristics for Solving the Maritime Inventory Routing Problems

This paper describes the effects of chromosome length for solving maritime inventory routing problems (MIRP) by using a hyper-heuristics based Genetic Algorithm (GA). The approach uses a set of heuristic combinations, each of which consist of strategies that correspond to a ship assignment. These strategies are represented by a chromosome that may have several assignments. We examine several number of chromosome length to encourage the evolution of good heuristics combinations. Moreover, a variation of several number chromosome length is necessary since we do not know in advance how many ship assignments are needed to cover demands during a predefined planning horizon. At every iteration a number of chromosomes are evaluated and evolved within a GA framework. In this study, the approach has been applied on several test cases for transporting multiple oil products from a production facility to some consumption ports, by using several heterogeneous ships with undedicated compartments. The results show that a hyper-heuristics based GA reaches the same global optimal as the solutions in the mathematical model, but with a significant decrease in computational time. Moreover, the use two numbers of chromosome length proves that three assignments in one step (3AiOS) mostly got better solutions and lower minimum total number of assignments than the two assignments (2AiOS).