Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Actions speak louder than words: Non-verbal mis/communication

Effective inter-cultural interaction relies heavily upon non-verbal communication. Para/non- linguistic means constitute non-verbal communication. A seminal contribution of Ferdinand de Saussure, the Father of modern linguistics, was the analysis of the word as a verbal sign having two sides; an acoustic image or a sound pattern (signifier) and a concept or meaning (signified). He highlighted the arbitrariness of the verbal sign that necessitates a systematic structure of language. Applying Saussure’s system of language to non-verbal signifier, the paper posits that the non-verbal signifier is a cultural construct. For any given sign, each culture assigns its own meaning. When one is dealing in inter-cultural settings, sensitivity towards these associations is a prerequisite for communication. If these aspects are not manifested properly, the end result may be no/mis-communication. This paper is concerned with sociolinguistic understanding of communication. It cites a few real life experiences from individual, organizational and societal spheres to analyze how non-verbal communication, though potentially one of the strongest modes of communication can act as a barrier to convey the intended message. It extends the Lacanian paradigm to kinaesthetic to infer that body language fails to transcend the limits of language if culture is not taken into consideration. So, non-verbal communication can prove to be more volatile than verbal communication. In this era of cross-cultural learning, one needs to assess the strengths and weaknesses of non-verbal communication to facilitate effective intra- and inter-cultural understanding. Key words: Non-verbal communication, inter-cultural interaction, communication, a bridge/ a barrier.
A programming system for the imagine media processor

Media processing applications motivate new processor architectures that place new burdens on the compiler. These applications demand very high arithmetic rates and data bandwidth, but lack data reuse. The Imagine Media Processor (Imagine) is a new architecture that introduces two innovations to meet these demands. It uses multiple register files connected to the ALUs by shared buses and register file ports, and a large on-chip memory called the stream register file (SRF) to hold sequences of records called streams. The compiler is responsible for allocating the shared interconnect and SRF. This thesis describes a programming system that enables efficient application development for Imagine and other architectures that include these innovations. It introduces an implementation of the stream programming model. The stream programming model divides a media processing application into a series of kernels, computation-intensive functions that operate on streams, and a stream program that defines the high-level control- and data-flow between kernels. This thesis introduces KernelC, a C-like language used to write kernels. It describes a KernelC compiler that uses a new technique called communication scheduling to allocate the shared buses and register file ports and manage data flow between multiple functional units and register files. This thesis introduces a language extension called StreamC used with C++ to write stream programs. It describes a StreamC compiler that uses a new technique called stream scheduling to allocate the stream register file and determine when to load and store streams. The Imagine programming system has been used to implement sophisticated, high-performance applications for Imagine such as stereo depth extraction, MPEG2 encoding, and polygon rendering. Experimental results for a set of image processing, signal processing, and graphics benchmarks show that communication scheduling delivers schedule lengths for an Imagine Media Processor with multiple partitioned register files and shared interconnect that are within 1% of the same architecture with one multi-ported register file that is estimated to be eight times larger. For these benchmarks, stream scheduling allocates the SRF as well or better than experienced Imagine programmers can by hand using assembly language.
New approach for logo recognition

The problem of logo recognition is of great interest in the document domain, especially for document database. By recognizing the logo we obtain semantic information about the document which may be useful in deciding whether or not to analyze the textual components. In order to develop a logo recognition method that is efficient to compute and product intuitively reasonable results, we investigate the Line Segment Hausdorff Distance on logo recognition. Researchers apply Hausdorff Distance to measure the dissimilarity of two point sets. It has been extended to match two sets of line segments. The new approach has the advantage to incorporate structural and spatial information to compute the dissimilarity. The added information can conceptually provide more and better distinctive capability for recognition. The proposed technique has been applied on line segments of logos with encouraging results that support the concept experimentally. This might imply a new way for logo recognition.
Biosorption of Ni(II), Cu(II) and Pb(II) by Punica geranatum from Aqueous Solutions

In this paper removal of Ni(II), Cu(II) and Pb(II) ions from aqueous solutions by leaves of Punica geranatum were investigated. The biosorption was found to be pH dependent and the highest uptake of all the men- tioned metal ions occurred at pH 4. Furthermore, the influence of other parameters such as initial metal ions concentration and contact time of biosorbent and sorbents were evaluated. Equilibrium data fitted very well to Langmuir model for all studied metals. It was also concluded that the Freundlich isotherm cannot be enough appropriate for the equilibrium data of all three metals. Biosorption of Ni(II), Cu(II) and Pb(II), reached equilibrium in 60, 60 and 30 min, respectively. Moreover, the adsorption rate of the metals can be best described by the second order model.
The Evolution of Araliaceae: A Phylogenetic Analysis Based on ITS Sequences of Nuclear Ribosomal DNA

Abstract Phylogenetic analyses of ITS sequence data from 70 species and 40 genera of Araliaceae (representing all major lineages within the “core group” of the family) do not support the widely used traditional division of Araliaceae into three tribes. Tribe Aralieae (characterized by imbricate petals) is found nested within a paraphyletic Schefflerieae (whose taxa have valvate petals). There are, however, two large monophyletic groups comprising most araliad genera: the ”Aralia-Polyscias-Pseudopanax group” (which includes Aralia, Meryta, Munroidendron, Panax, Pentapanax, Polyscias, Pseudopanax, Reynoldsia, Sciadodendron, Tetraplasandra, and their close allies), and the ”Eleutherococcus-Dendropanax-Schefflera group” (including Brassaiopsis, Dendropanax, Eleutherococcus, Fatsia, Hedera, Oreopanax, Schefflera, Sinopanax, and their close allies). The ITS trees also permit a re-evaluation of several taxonomically important morphological characters (e.g., petal aestivation, leaf architecture, carpel number, and habit), and provide the opportunity to assess traditional generic delimitations in the family. Four of the largest genera appear to be either polyphyletic (Schefflera, Pseudopanax) or paraphyletic (Aralia, Polyscias), but further studies will be needed to fully re-define these complex taxa. Outgroup comparisons and the placement of Astrotricha and Osmoxylon (in basally-branching lineages in Araliaceae) help to confirm a paleotropical origin of the family. The ITS topologies suggest that biogeographic radiations into different tropical/subtropical regions and into the north and south temperate regions occurred early in the history of core Araliaceae. Temperate taxa have arisen several times independently from tropical and subtropical relatives, although a few subtropical taxa may be found nested within temperate clades (e.g., Pentapanax within Aralia). Migrations between the Old and New Worlds are also suggested for several taxa, including Aralia, Panax, Oplopanax, and the Sinopanax—Oreopanax generic pair. Communicating Editor: Alan Whittemore
Elevated plasma level of homocysteine is an independent risk factor for peripheral neuropathy.

Introduction: Elevated plasma level of homocysteine (eHcy) is associated with increased prevalence of peripheral neuropathy (PN) in diabetic patients. However, it is not known whether eHcy is an independent risk factor for the development of PN. Methods: We retrospectively reviewed clinic and laboratory data of patients with PN, and patients with headaches serving as controls. The study consisted of two separate cohorts in two different settings. Setting-A was designed to address whether the isolated eHcy is relevant to PN and setting-B to analyze various risk factors in patients with PN. Results: Fifty seven and 217 subjects with PN and 42 and 252 individuals with headache were included in the setting-A and setting-B, respectively. A significantly elevated level of homocysteine was observed in the patients with PN in both setting-A and setting-B (11.3±7.1 and 13.4±14.6 μmol/L, mean±SD) than in the patients with headaches (8.6±2.8 and 8.1±2.5, P=.02 and P=.02, respectively). In addition, significantly increased frequency of eHcy was observed in PN (21% and 38% in settingResearch Article British Journal of Medicine & Medical Research, 4(1): 161-169, 2014 162 A and setting-B) than that in headache controls (4.5% and 4.8%; P= .05 and P= .002, respectively). Conclusion: eHcy may potentially act as an independent risk factor for the development
Factores asociados al desarrollo de formas sintomáticas de hipercalciuria idiopática en niños de la Fundación Cardioinfantil

La hipercalciuria idiopatica (HI) es un trastorno metabolico frecuente, con curso clinico, la mayoria de las veces asintomatico. Sin embargo, en algunos pacientes se manifiesta clinicamente con hematuria, polaquiuria, disuria, incontinencia urinaria, enuresis y dolor abdominal o lumbar, los cuales afectan las actividades diarias de los ninos y motivan consultas medicas repetitivas, con los costos que esto genera. Se requiere de la sospecha clinica y el conocimiento de la enfermedad para su diagnostico y tratamiento oportunos. Objetivo. Determinar los factores relacionados con el desarrollo de la forma sintomatica de HI, para lo cual se estudiaron: la magnitud de la calciuria, el antecedente familiar de urolitiasis, el genero, la edad y la excrecion de oxalato de calcio. El proposito final fue ampliar y difundir el conocimiento de la enfermedad dentro de la comunidad medica. Materiales y metodos. Se realizo un estudio analitico de casos y controles para determinar la relacion existente entre los factores mencionados y la presencia de sintomas de HI. La poblacion de estudio estuvo compuesta por 60 pacientes con diagnostico establecido de HI, de la consulta de Nefropediatria de la Fundacion Cardioinfantil, con edades entre los 2 y los 13 anos. La metodologia consistio en un estudio no pareado con 1,4 casos por cada control. Para el analisis estadistico de las asociaciones entre los factores en estudio y la HI sintomatica se utilizo la prueba exacta de Fisher y el Ji cuadrado de Pearson con un nivel de significancia del 5% (p<0,05). Para establecer la fuerza de la asociacion se calculo la razon de disparidad (OR) y el intervalo de confianza del 95%. Ademas, se determinaron las variables que explican en conjunto la HI sintomatica, controlando las variables de confusion con un modelo de regresion logistica incondicional a un nivel de significancia del 5% (p<0,05). Resultados. Se establecieron asociaciones entre los siguientes factores y la presencia de sintomas de HI en ninos: el genero masculino (p = 0,006; OR = 6,2; IC = 1,6-24,5) y la magnitud de la calciuria (p = 0,003). Con menor diferencia estadistica se encontraron el antecedente familiar positivo de urolitiasis (p = 0,018; OR = 4,889; IC = 1,26-19,48) y el incremento en la edad (p = 0,044). La presencia de oxalato de calcio en el uroanalisis no se relaciono con los sintomas de HI (p = 0,2; OR = 0,59; IC = 0,17-1,49). Conclusiones. Los valores elevados de calciuria M(mayor a 6 mg/kg/dia) y el genero masculino, se asocian con la presencia de sintomas de HI en ninos. Adicionalmente, se observaron, con frecuencia, en el grupo de pacientes sintomaticos, la presencia de ninos de edades mayores y el antecedente familiar positivo de litiasis renal, aunque no se evidencian diferencias significativas para estos dos factores. El hallazgo de cristales de oxalato de calcio en el uroanalisis no se relaciono con los sintomas de HI.
Effect of soft flares on XMM-Newton EPIC-pn timing mode data

The EPIC-pn CCD Camera on board the ESA X-ray observatory XMM-Newton is a very sensitive and versatile instrument with many observing modes. One of the modes, the timing mode, was designed so that a time resolution of 0.029 milliseconds can be achieved. This mode is important for observing bright variable sources with a very high time resolution. Up to now it has only been possible to use the spectra down to 300-400 eV in this mode. Below this energy the data appears to be affected by soft flares which are caused by stack overflows generated by high energy particles. We present a method that can be used to mitigate the effect these flares have on the data and discuss the improvement that this brings to the timing mode spectra. This new method will at last make it possible to get spectra down to the lowest energies detectable in this mode. This is particularly interesting for timing studies of isolated neutron stars and other variable objects, such as magnetic CVs, with very soft spectra.
A New Microstrip Filter Using CRLH Structure and Defected Ground Structure in Antenna Application

A new microstrip bandpass filter using composite right/left-handed (CRLH) mushroom structure with interdigital capacitors and defected ground structure (DGS) is proposed. The proposed filter uses CRLH mushroom structure working at its first negative resonance mode to create the passband and DGS to increase rejection outside the passband. Simulation and measurement results are in good agreement, and low in-band insertion loss and great out-band rejection have been achieved. It is demonstrated that the combination of CRLH mushroom structure with interdigital capacitors and DGS has succeeded in achieving excellent performance. This new filter can be applied in transmitting and receiving antennas.
Phytoplankton biomasses and hydrographic conditions during El Niño 1997-1998 in Bahía Concepción, Gulf of California, Mexico

Los cambios en las condiciones físico-químicas y los pigmentos fitoplanctónicos, en Bahía Concepción, Golfo de California, se analizan para el periodo 1997 a 1999 con el objetivo de observar el efecto de El Niño 1997-1998 en esta bahía. Tres diferencias notables en los parámetros medidos ocurrieron durante 1998: Temperaturas mayores en la columna de agua, un retrazo de 2-3 meses en el inicio del período de la estratificación y concentraciones menores de nutrientes (nitratos y fosfatos) y peridinina. Estos datos sugieren la presencia de Agua Ecuatorial Superficial (altas temperaturas y baja concentración de nutrientes) con un efecto negativo en la proliferación de dinoflagelados. Se discuten las posibles causas de la baja en la concentración de los dinoflagelados.doi: sin doi
CORRELATION BETWEEN ACUTE RESPIRATORY DISEASE (ARE) IN PREGNANT WOMEN AND THE AIR QUALITY

La contaminación ambiental es uno de los factores que contribuye a exacerbar las enfermedades respiratorias (ERA) y que puede afectar el embarazo. Se tomaron los registros de consulta externa y de urgencias del Hospital de Suba y se tabularon las cinco primeras causas de ERA, correlacionándolas con los promedios mensuales del material particulado PM10, concentración de Gases NO, N02, NOx, SO2, flujo radiante (W), dirección del viento (DV) y temperatura medio ambiente (TPM). En la evaluación estadística, se utilizaron medidas de tendencia central y el índice de correlación de Pearson. Se tabularon 6.310 casos que ingresaron al Hospital, de los cuales, 1.307 correspondieron a mujeres embarazadas (27,9%). Las cinco primeras causas de ERA presentaron una frecuencia de asma no específica (26,1%), amigdalitis (24,4%) gripa (21,8%), faringitis (16%) y asma (11,5%). Las diferencias promedio de las variables mostraron diferencias entre el primer y el segundo semestre, así: W (X=177 vs 155), DV (225,7 vs 199,5), ToC (16,8 vs 15,6) y PM10 (94,23 vs 84,86), y para los gases: NO (10,5 vs 15,2), NO2 (15,9 vs 16,4), NOx (28,5 vs 31,8) y SO2 (2,0 vs 3,2). En su correlación mostró una fuerte asociación entre PM10, SO2 y asma no específica (p<0,007 y 0,0048) y DV y estado gripal (0,048). Se puede afirmar que la contaminación ambiental, se manifiesta en forma cíclica durante el año, afectando la ERA en la mujer embarazada, existiendo una correlación significativa entre las PM10, SO2 y asma no específica y la DV y los estados gripales.
Représentation hybride pour la modélisation géométrique interactive

De nos jours, les objets virtuels sont devenus omnipresents. On les trouve dans de nombreux domaines comme le divertissement (cinema, jeux video, etc.), la conception assistee par ordinateur ou encore la realite virtuelle. Nous nous interessons en particulier a la modelisation d'objets 3D dans le domaine de la creation artistique. Ici, la creation d'images riches necessite de faire appel a des modeles tres detailles et donc extremement complexes. Les surfaces de subdivision, traditionnellement utilisees dans ces domaines, voient leur complexite croitre rapidement lorsqu'on ajoute des details, et la gestion de la connectivite du maillage de controle devient trop contraignante. Une approche standard pour gerer la complexite de tels modeles est d'utiliser des representations differentes pour la forme generale de la surface et les details. Cependant, ces details sont representes par des cartes matricielles qui ne possedent pas la plupart des avantages des representations vectorielles, et cela complexifie certaines tâches, comme par exemple l'animation. Dans cette these, nous proposons deux nouvelles representations vectorielles, la premiere pour les surfaces de base, la deuxieme pour les details. Nous utilisons pour cette derniere une representation vectorielle appelee images de diffusion permettant de creer des variations lisses a l'aide d'un ensemble reduit de contraintes. Cela nous permet de representer aussi bien la geometrie que la couleur ou d'autres parametres necessaires au rendu de facon purement vectoriel, en conservant des controles de haut niveau. Notre premiere contribution est une representation de surfaces, baptisee LS3, issue de la combinaison entre surfaces de subdivision et -point set surfaces. Cette approche reduit notablement les artefacts des surfaces de subdivision aux alentours de sommets dits extraordinaires, qui sont connus pour poser probleme. Nous presentons une analyse numerique des proprietes de ces surfaces, qui tend a montrer que du point de vue de la continuite elles se comportent au moins aussi bien que les schemas de subdivision lineaires traditionnels. Notre deuxieme contribution est un solveur pour les images de diffusion dont le principal avantage est de produire en sortie une autre representation vectorielle legere et tres rapide a evaluer. Nous illustrons la force de note solveur sur de nombreux exemples difficiles ou impossibles a realiser avec les methodes precedentes. Pour conclure, nous montrons comment combiner nos deux contributions pour obtenir une representation de surface entierement vectorielle capable de representer des details sans avoir a manipuler la connectivite d'un maillage.
NUMERICAL ANALYSES OF LEAF AND FRUIT EXTERNAL MORPHOLOGY IN Moringa oleifera LAM

The wide range of uses of Moringa oleifera in recent time has witnessed increasing demand of its foliar and seed products in nutritional, medical and ecological applications. The upsurge of demand for these products needs to be balanced with new varieties of improved performance to meet the supply chain. To achieve this, morphological diversity assessment is prerequisite for future crop improvement programme. Therefore, numerical analyses of the external morphology of leaf and fruit of thirty accessions of Moringa oleifera were assessed. The study was carried out on both qualitative and quantitative characters to assess the diversity at morphological level to establish the phenetic relationships and the delimitation of accessions. Relationship studies showed considerable correlation between the leaf and fruits characters that produced clear and reproducible threats and were selected for diversity study. Numerical analysis of the qualitative and quantitative characters clustered the accessions into five groups – operational taxonomic units (OTUs) 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 7, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30 were clustered in group one; OTUs 6 and 8 were clustered in group two and three respectively; OTUs 15 and 16 in group four and OUT 23 in group five cluster membership. Principal Component Analysis was carried out to augment the Cluster Analysis which showed large morphological diversity existing in accessions of Moringa oleifera hence, infraspecific classification is hereby proposed. These analysis particularly traits related to leaf and fruits yield can also be utilised for crop improvement programme.
Innovation and Creativity in the HCI classroom

The present paper explores what creative thinking and design thinking could contribute to Human-Computer Interaction (HCI) education if included as a part of the curriculum. The investigations were carried out in the context of a mixed undergraduate and graduate course in HCI. The findings indicate that design thinking contributed to increased focus on innovation and creativity, as well as prevented too early fixation on a single solution in the initial phases of HCI design processes. More openness in design processes and changes in ways of learning required stepping out of the comfort zone for some students. However, increased creativity and adaptability may still be the best long-term benefits that HCI education can offer to students when preparing them for future work practices. The paper also addresses the organization of the course that, based on the empirical evidence from the past two years, fosters such processes in HCI
Action Support with Spatial Condition and Users' Concept in Ubiquitous Environment Database

In recent years, ubiquitous environments in which users can share and use information that overcome from the real world became realistic by low-priced RFID tag and database technology. In such environment, they can get states of objects and their positions easily. When we intend to support their action with the information about objects position and/or states, it's limited and difficult to do by using only such information. When a parson makes an action, he/she is consciously and unconsciously affected by conceptual things that knowledge and common senses in specific space and actions of other persons. In this paper, first we accumulated concept of specific space and particular community (e.g., in a certain situation, an object should have a state and a ubiquitous environment user should do the action) into a database by proposed modeling. In addition, we present the model that accumulates each object's real state acquired by sensors like RFID and conceptual state in parallel. When difference occurred between these states, we can provide support for their action with spatial condition and users' concept by action demand to resolve the difference so that the loads of end users become average. We implemented proposed action support system in CONSENT (concept sharing environment) and evaluated effectiveness by life experiment. Keyword Ubiquitous Computing, Spatial-temporal DB