Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Un système de segmentation automatique de gestes appliqué à la Langue des Signes (An automatic gesture segmentation system applied to Sign Language) [in French]

RÉSUMÉ De nombreuses études sont en cours afin de développer des méthodes de traitement automatique de langues des signes. Plusieurs approches nécessitent de grandes quantités de données segmentées pour l’apprentissage des systèmes de reconnaissance. Nos travaux s’occupent de la segmentation semi-automatique de gestes afin de permettre d’identifier le début et la fin d’un signe dans un énoncé en langue des signes. Nous proposons une méthode de segmentation des gestes à l’aide des caractéristiques de mouvement et de forme de la main.
Concurrent and Longitudinal Correlates of Depressive Symptoms Among Low-Income, Urban, African American Children

Examined the concurrent and longitudinal correlates of depressive symptoms among a sample (N = 129) of urban African American children across 2 assessments separated by 1 year. Measures of psychosocial functioning included mother-reported social and cognitive competence, externalizing and attention problems, and final grades. Results revealed significant correlations among depressive symptoms and several measures of concurrent psychosocial functioning, including mother-reported cognitive and social competence, aggressive behavior, and attention problems. Significant longitudinal relations were revealed among depressive symptoms at Time 1 and aggressive behavior, attention problems, and grades at Time 2. As a more conservative test of the relations among depressive symptoms and subsequent psychosocial functioning, hierarchical multiple-regression analyses were conducted. Regression analyses revealed that depressive symptoms at Time 1 predicted change in grades and mother-reported cognitive competence from Time 1 to Time 2.
Acessibilidade de recursos em uma interface de motor de busca com foco em usuários com baixo letramento

Retrieve information through search engines is not an easy activity for low literacy users. Designers and developers must understand these users' needs to improve their access to Web content. In this research, we identified the influence of some existing features of a search engine in the interaction of ten low literacy users. We analyzed users' experience and what features were used, as well as some barriers faced on the use of these features and users' perception about them. This analysis generated a list of recommendations for the development of search engine interfaces focused on low literacy users.
Temperature and texture dependent spectroscopic dielectric model for frozen mineral soils at 0.1–15GHz

Summary form only given. Dielectric models of topsoil are a crucial element of remote sensing retrieval algorithms that are used to obtain geophysical characteristics of the land surface, such as soil moisture, temperature, and freeze/thaw state. Contemporary radiometers and radars acting from space are functioning in the frequency range from 1.2 GHz to 89 GHz. In addition, the GPR and TDR instruments, which are used for subsurface sensing, operate in the megahertz band. Therefore, there exist a need to work out the spectroscopic dielectric models of moist soils covering both the GHz and MHz frequency ranges. A method of developing such a model is outlined in [1] and [2] in the cases of one type organic rich soil and one type mineral soil, respectively. Currently, a problem of developing such a model for an aggregate of natural soils, having varying textures should be still solved. In this paper, this problem is considered for a set of mineral arctic soils collected on Yamal peninsular. The dielectric model being developed is based on the measured dielectric data attained for 5 types of mineral soils, with clay fraction varying from 10 to 50%, soil water contents changing in the range from zero to the value of field moisture capacity, temperature ranging from -1 to -30°C, frequency bound from 0.05 to 15 GHz. The measured dielectric data were processed in accordance with the methodology given in [1] and [2]. Namely, the refractive mixing dielectric model was applied with the Debye multi-relaxation equations to fit the measurements of the soil's complex dielectric constant as a function of soil moisture and wave frequency. The spectroscopic parameters of the dielectric relaxations for the bound, transient bound, and unbound soil water components were derived as a function of temperature. Further, these temperature dependences were expressed using the respective thermodynamic parameters, providing a complete set of parameters for the temperature-dependent multi-relaxation spectroscopic dielectric model for each type of measured mineral soils. Thus, obtained spectroscopic and thermodynamic parameters were expressed as a set of empirical functions of percentages of clay contents contained in the respective soil types. Finally, the temperature and texture dependent spectroscopic dielectric model for frozen mineral soils at 0.05-15 GHz appeared to be presented as an ensemble of analytical expressions, and it provides for the values of complex dielectric constants of frozen soil using the dry soil density, clay percentage, gravimetric moisture, temperature, and wave frequency as input variables.
Energy efficient cellular networks with CoMP communications and smart grid

There is great interest in considering the energy efficiency aspect of wireless cellular networks. Coordinated multipoint (CoMP) communication is a new method that helps with the implementation of dynamic base station coordination for energy efficient communications. On the other hand, the power grid infrastructure is experiencing a significant shift from the traditional electricity grid to the smart grid. In this paper, we consider not only energy efficient communications but also the dynamics of the smart grid in designing green wireless cellular networks. We formulate the system as a Stackelberg game, which has two levels: a cellular network level and a smart grid level. Simulation results show that the smart grid has significant impacts on green wireless cellular networks, and our proposed scheme can significantly reduce operational expenditure and CO2 emissions in green wireless cellular networks.
Neuromechanical Control for Dynamic Bipedal Walking with Reduced Impact Forces

Human walking emerges from an intricate interaction of nervous and musculoskeletal systems. Inspired by this principle, we integrate neural control and muscle-like mechanisms to achieve neuromechanical control of the biped robot RunBot. As a result, the neuromechanical controller enables RunBot to perform more human-like walking and reduce impact force during walking, compared to original neural control. Moreover, it also generates adaptive joint motions of RunBot; thereby allowing it to deal with different terrains.
Investigation of Parallel Active Filters’ Limitations for Power Decoupling on Single-Stage/Single-Phase Microinverters

During the last decade, microinverters have gained a considerable share in residential photovoltaic (PV) systems' market. However, in order to be accepted by the marketplace, the reliability of microinverters must be comparable with that of traditional PV string and multistring inverters. A typical reliability issue that these systems experience, particularly in single-stage/single-phase topologies, is the presence of a large electrolytic capacitor for decoupling the power pulsation caused by the single-phase power generation. For this reason, several decoupling topologies have been introduced, which manage to decouple the power pulsation by using high reliability components, i.e., small capacitors (usually film ones) and power MOSFET transistors. Among these topologies, the family of bidirectional buck-boost-based parallel active filter (PAF) converters has been highlighted due to their minimum counterparts and their robust design. The main contribution of this paper is the unified theoretical analysis and the investigation of the operational limitations of this family of PAF converters, as well as the introduction of a control technique, which overcomes those restrictions. Simulation and experimental results validate the derived PAF family analysis and also prove the effectiveness of the introduced control technique.
The sweet connection: Solving the riddle of multiple sugar‐binding fimbrial adhesins in Escherichia coli

Proteinaceous stalks produced by Gram‐negative bacteria are often used to adhere to environmental surfaces. Among them, chaperone‐usher (CU) fimbriae adhesins, related to prototypical type 1 fimbriae, interact in highly specific ways with different ligands at different stages of bacterial infection or surface colonisation. Recent analyses revealed a large number of potential and often “cryptic” CU fimbriae homologues in the genome of commensal and pathogenic Escherichia coli and closely related bacteria. We propose that CU fimbriae form a yet unexplored arsenal of lectins, carbohydrate‐binding proteins involved in various aspects of bacterial surface adhesion and tissue tropism. Combined efforts of molecular and structural biologists will be required to unravel the biological contribution of the bacterial lectome, however, current progress has already opened up new perspectives in the design of novel anti‐infective strategies.
Modèle de processus pour la conception de produits d’assistance aux personnes en situation de handicap : cas d’étude sur la mobilité personnelle

L’impact de ce travail de doctorat se concentre sur l’inclusion sociale des Personnes en Situation de Handicap (PSH). Cette inclusion depend de plusieurs d’initiatives comme l’Accessibilite des espaces et des informations mais aussi de l’offre de Produits d’Assistance (PA) qui peuvent soulager voire compenser les situations de handicap. Notre travail se place sur ce second terrain, en particulier sur les insatisfactions et abandons des PA par les PSH et la difficulte des fabricants a offrir une variete de produits cibles sur besoins et avec des prix abordables. Nous pensons que la solution a une telle pro-blematique peut etre faite des la conception des PA. Ainsi, nous proposons un modele de reference pour l’organisation du processus de conception de ces produits autour d’une philosophie et d’une methodologie de conception. Ce modele a ete construit a partir de recherches bibliographiques sur les processus de conception de produits de maniere generale, telles que la conception lean et la customi-sation de masse, et aussi quelques approches et modeles de conception de produits qui integrent les PSH dans le public de consommateurs. Suite a son developpement, la proposition a ete testee et ame-lioree a partir de deux cas d’etude realises dans le cadre de la Mobilite Personnelle. Le premier cas d’etude se concentre sur la conception de Dispositifs d’Aide a la Marche (DAM), tels que les cannes, les bequilles et les cadres de marche. Ensuite, la deuxieme experience est focalisee sur la conception de Vehicules non-motorises (VNM), comme les cycles et les fauteuils roulants. Le resultat de ces experi-mentations et les revisions du modele de reference pour la conception de PA nous ont permis d'abou-tir a une configuration des principes et a une methodologie qui accordent les attentes tangibles et in-tangibles des PSH a travers la conception et l’offre de produits personnalisables tout en respectant les exigences des systemes de fabrication et distribution.
Lernen in der Arbeit

Im Zuge der gesellschaftlichen Transformationsprozesse lasst sich gegenwartig in der beruflichen Bildung ein Bedeutungszuwachs des „Lernens in der Arbeit“ konstatieren. Dieser Paradigmenwechsel, der sich in einer Ausrichtung am Leitbild einer umfassenden beruflichen Handlungskompetenz als Ziel von Berufsausbildung manifestiert, erfordert vom Bildungspersonal eine kritische Reflexion der bisherigen didaktischen Praxis und die Aufgabe tradierter didaktischer Konzepte und Rollenverstandnisse. Um diesen Prozess zu meistern, sind adaquate Hilfsund Unterstutzungsangebote erforderlich.
Effects of text segmentation on silent reading of Chinese regulated poems: Evidence from Eye Movements

Interword spaces have been reported to play an important role in silent reading of alphabetic languages. However, it has not yet been clear whether text spacing/segmentation facilitates the cognitive process in silent reading of Chinese, a logographic language, especially in reading Chinese regulated poems which have predefined rhythmic structures. An eye-tracking experiment was conducted to monitor eye movements of native participants in reading Chinese regulated poems in four segmenting conditions: normal text, character segmentation, rhythmic segmentation, and syntactic segmentation. By comparing a set of measures of eye movements, both global and local analyses showed that syntactic segmentation boosted reading efficiency, while rhythmic segmentation did not. The findings demonstrate that not rhythmic but syntactic structure plays major roles in the cognitive process in reading Chinese regulated poems, suggesting an intrinsic difference in the information structure between spoken and written languages. 提要:以往的研究表明, 词间空格在字母文字的阅读过程中有重要作用。 然 而, 这种间隔或切分对于语素文字如汉语的阅读、特别是对具有固定 节律的汉语格律诗的阅读, 是否有促进作用, 仍属未知。 为此, 我们 采用眼球追踪技术, 考察了文本切分对汉语格律诗阅读的影响。 实验 设计了四种文本切分模式: 正常文本、逐字切分、节律切分、句法切 分。 通过全局分析和局部分析, 我们发现, 与句法结构相吻合的切分 能有效加快汉语格律诗的阅读, 而与节律结构相吻合的切分对汉语格 律诗的认知加工并无促进作用。 研究结果表明, 是句法结构而不是节 律结构, 在汉语格律诗的阅读中发挥主要作用, 这也体现了书面语言 与口头言语在信息结构上的区别。
Delineating episodes of medical care.

T HE kinds of data which report the use Tof medical services generally fall far short of representing the complex reality of medical care. More revealing measures of utilization are needed to reflect the actual course and content of the medical care received by individuals and populations. ' The summary statistical data used to describe the medical care received by a population usually take the form of (1) stating how many in the population have obtained medical services in a given period of time (the volume of users), and/or (2) expressing the volume of services in terms of the number of physician visits made, the days of inpatient care provided, the number of x-rays, lab tests, medications, physical therapy treatments, and so on. These cumulations are valuable in so far as they represent, in an over-all way, the sheer volume of service. But their very simplicity, their objectivity, and apparent precision are deceptively reassuring. They create the illusion that the essential facts of utilization are thus expressed. There is much more to tell of medical care than these superficial counts reveal. And it is important to be able to tell it. The need to design measures and methods to reflect utilization effectively is intensified as medical care itself grows more complex. Yet our data on utilization remain couched in such elementary terms as counts of visits and days. No matter how precise these traditional measures of service volume, they are by their nature incapable of adequately representing the changing scope and character of medical care. The deficiency of the conventional measures in merely tallying a procession of units of service is that they are not addressed to the heart of the matterto represent the "natural history" of medical care. A keen observer has aptly stated that ". it is the glory of science to become ever more and more precise in its measurements, and it is the agony of the scientist to discover that when his measurements are really precise, what he has measured is just to one side of what he is after. "2
Asynchrony of Lateral Onset as a Factor in Difference in Visual Field

An experiment in matching judgments was designed to examine a role of perceptual process in apparent asymmetry. Recognition of Hirakana letters (Japanese letters) was required. The experimental condition in which stimuli were presented to the left visual field first and to the right visual field second produced more errors for all stimulus intervals (0 to 60 msec.) than experimental conditions where stimuli were presented to the right visual field first and to the left one second. Especially, superiority of the latter condition was marked with the longest stimulus interval employed. These results indicate superiority of the left hemisphere function for recognizing Hirakana letters and suggest that not only memory but also perceptual process contributes to this laterality effect.
Cancer antigen 125 in patients with chronic liver disease.

OBJECTIVES To determine the association between elevated levels of serum cancer antigen (CA) 125 and liver disease and to explore the possibility that CA 125 is produced by the peritoneum as a nonspecific response to the presence of fluid in the peritoneal cavity. PATIENTS AND METHODS Between June and October 1992, CA 125 levels were measured in serum stored from 50 consecutive patients with cirrhotic ascites, 20 patients with cirrhosis but without ascites, and 12 patients with acute viral hepatitis without ascites. Serum CA 125 was also measured in 4 patients with chronic renal failure before and after initiation of continuous ambulatory peritoneal dialysis. RESULTS Levels of CA 125 were elevated in patients with all forms of liver disease, especially in those with cirrhotic ascites irrespective of the etiology of cirrhosis or the presence of spontaneous bacterial peritonitis or hepatocellular carcinoma. Levels of CA 125 did not change significantly 1 month after initiation of continuous ambulatory peritoneal dialysis. CONCLUSION Cancer antigen 125 is elevated in patients with acute and chronic liver disease, especially in those with cirrhotic ascites. This elevation in CA 125 is not because of a nonspecific response of the peritoneum to fluid in the peritoneal cavity. Awareness of the association of elevated CA 125 in patients with cirrhotic ascites can prevent unnecessary surgical intervention.
Mitigation of lightning-induced overvoltages in medium Voltage distribution lines by means of periodical grounding of shielding wires and of surge arresters: modeling and experimental validation

In this paper, we investigate the effect of periodically-grounded shielding wires and surge arresters on the attenuation of lightning-induced voltages. We discuss the adequacy of the commonly made simplification of assuming the shielding wire at ground potential, instead of being treated as one of the conductors of the multiconductor system. We also compare then the mitigation effect of shielding wires with that achievable by the insertion of surge arresters along the line. The computation results are first validated by means of calculations obtained by other authors referring to a simple line configuration, and then by means of experimental results obtained using a reduced-scale line model illuminated by a nuclear electromagnetic pulse (NEMP) simulator. One of the main conclusions is that the effectiveness of shielding wires and surge arresters depends mostly on the spacing between two adjacent grounding points or surge arresters.
Wofür lehren wir Informatik!

Vielleicht liegt der Fehler aber an anderer Stelle. Vielleicht sollte es „lernen“ statt „lehren“ heißen? „Nicht für die Schule, für’s Leben sollt Ihr Informatik lernen! “ – Das wäre doch eine schöne Antwort auf eine Frage, die jener der Überschrift schon recht nahe käme. Doch der Autor gibt sich bockig. Er meinte schon „lehren“, denn den Umgang mit dem Computer lernen die jungen Menschen ohnehin. Ob dies innerhalb oder außerhalb der Schule erfolgt, mag dabei sekundär sein. Legt man auf korrekte Begriffsbildung wert, sollte man freilich zwischen „Umgang mit dem Computer“ und „Informatik“ differenzieren. Es wäre allerdings ein Fehler, die Diskussion darüber, worauf guter schulischer Informatik-Unterricht abheben sollte, so zu führen, als wäre der Umgang mit dem Gerät „Computer“ und damit auch die Exposition gegenüber dem vielfältigen Spektrum an Reizen, die mit diesem Umgang verbunden sind (dabei schließe ich die Bedienung eines Spielcomputers in diese Betrachtung ebenso ein, wie sinnvolles oder sinnloses Internet-surfen am PC der Eltern), auf Unterrichtssituationen beschränkt. Wenn wir von Informatik-Unterricht sprechen, sollte also tatsächlich sehr sorgfältig zwischen schulischem und außerschulischem Lernen unterschieden werden, um didaktische Falltüren zu vermeiden.
Platelets, inflammation and tissue regeneration

Summary Blood platelets have long been recognised to bring about primary haemostasis with deficiencies in platelet production and function manifesting in bleeding while upregulated function favourises arterial thrombosis. Yet increasing evidence indicates that platelets fulfil a much wider role in health and disease. First, they store and release a wide range of biologically active substances including the panoply of growth factors, chemokines and cytokines released from α-granules. Membrane budding gives rise to microparticles (MPs), another active participant within the blood stream. Platelets are essential for the innate immune response and combat infection (viruses, bacteria, micro-organisms). They help maintain and modulate inflammation and are a major source of pro-inflammatory molecules (e.g. P-selectin, tissue factor, CD40L, metalloproteinases). As well as promoting coagulation, they are active in fibrinolysis; wound healing, angiogenesis and bone formation as well as in maternal tissue and foetal vascular remodelling. Activated platelets and MPs intervene in the propagation of major diseases. They are major players in atherosclerosis and related diseases, pathologies of the central nervous system (Alzheimers disease, multiple sclerosis), cancer and tumour growth. They participate in other tissue-related acquired pathologies such as skin diseases and allergy, rheumatoid arthritis, liver disease; while, paradoxically, autologous platelet-rich plasma and platelet releasate are being used as an aid to promote tissue repair and cellular growth. The above mentioned roles of platelets are now discussed.
Effectiveness of a health promotion programme for long-term unemployed subjects with health problems: a randomised controlled trial

Background: Employment status is an important determinant of health inequalities. Among unemployed people, poor health decreases the likelihood of re-employment. Methods: A randomised controlled trial with 6 months’ follow-up among unemployed people with health complaints receiving social security benefits from the city of Rotterdam, The Netherlands. In total, 456 people were assigned to the control group and 465 people to the intervention group. The intervention consisted of three sessions weekly over 12 weeks. One session a week was focused on education to enhance the ability to cope with (health) problems, and two weekly sessions consisted of physical activities. The primary outcome measures were perceived health, measured by the Short Form 36 Health Survey, and psychological measures mastery, self-esteem and pain-related fear of movement. Secondary outcome measures were work values, job search activities and re-employment. Results: Enrolment in the intervention programme was 65%, and 72% completed the programme with over 70% attendance at all sessions. The intervention had a good reach among subjects with lower education, but had no effect on mental and physical health, mastery, self-esteem and pain-related fear of movement. Participation in the programme had no influence on work values, job search activities or re-employment. Conclusion: This intervention programme aimed at the promotion of physical and mental health in unemployed people with health complaints did not show beneficial effects. The lack of integration into regular vocational rehabilitation activities may have interfered with these findings. This particular health programme cannot be recommended for implementation.