nils-herrmann/clean_scirepeval huggingface dataset:
Conformity assessment of car quality databases exemplified on the case of the Russian car manufacturer "Auto VAZ"
Venue: 2016 5th International Conference on Reliability, Infocom Technologies and Optimization (Trends and Future Directions) (ICRITO)

Car manufacturing is a complicated task: a manufacturer accomplishes a large amount of work for collecting and managing the information about a competitive position of a particular car model in order to satisfy a customer. However, solving technical problem of database support does not allow providing conformity of information to a real competitive position of a car model. The present paper suggests a monitoring system of information conformity, which can help achieve a required level of information accuracy.
Design and implementation of an auto following robot car system for the elderly
Venue: 2016 International Conference on System Science and Engineering (ICSSE)

With the progress of ageing society, more elderly people are living alone. Due to work and school factors, family members are not always available at home to care for the elderly. It is dangerous if they suffer an accident at home alone. Therefore, utilizing Internet of Things (IoTs) technology to enhance the safety of the elderly at home is a possible solution. In this paper, an auto following robot car was created to assist elderly people at home. This system includes an Arduino Robot Car (Arduino BOE BOT) with ultrasound sensor, wireless networks (Wi Fi) databases (MySQL) and Android based mobile application (APP) The robot car can determine its location by calculating its signal from the Received Signal Strength Indication (RSSI) The use of ultrasound sensors and indoor maps, will allow the robot car to automatically follow around the elderly person and avoid obstacles in its path.
Modeling Car Sharing and Its Impact on Auto Ownership: Evidence from Vancouver and Seattle

Car sharing is a relatively recent phenomenon but an increasingly important phenomenon in understanding urban household travel behavior. TransLink, the agency responsible for carrying out regional transportation planning for metropolitan Vancouver, British Columbia, and the Puget Sound Regional Council (PSRC) the MPO for metropolitan Seattle, have started investigating this issue. Their recent travel surveys asked the question of all households whether anyone in the household was a member of a car sharing service (not merely using a ride sharing app such as Uber or Lyft) In addition to investigating the impact of car sharing membership on household auto ownership, these surveys provide insight into whether car sharing services lead to a net increase or decrease in motorized travel at the household level. Two models are investigated in this paper. First, a conventional model of household auto ownership is estimated with car sharing treated as an exogenous input, along with a stand alone model of car sharing membership. This is followed by a more complex household mobility model that is outlined in the paper (a simultaneous model of household car sharing and auto ownership) which only would make sense in the context of an activity based model or at least a model with a population synthesizer. In terms of model results, income is a major predictor of car sharing membership and auto ownership. As expected, the presence of seniors in household and proximity to car sharing lot have the biggest impact on car sharing membership. These variables also impact auto ownership directly, though we find number of workers in the household to play an even larger direct role in auto ownership. As far as the overall implications emerging from these models, we recommend that auto ownership models be refined to take car sharing membership and ideally transit pass holding into account. In most cases, a series of sequential models will be more feasible than estimating and implementing the simultaneous household mobility model outlined in this paper. Given the strong growth of car sharing in the Pacific Northwest, as well as across North America, we recommend that further research into car sharing membership be carried out, and this of course also means monitoring the growth in usage of traditional car sharing services, as well as the car ride services, which have been transforming the urban transportation system in recent years.
El arte como herramienta para favorecer el desarrollo del pensamiento critico en preescolares

De acuerdo a Villarini (2003) el pensamiento critico es la capacidad o competencia general del ser humano para procesar la informacion y construir el conocimiento, combinando representaciones, operaciones y actitudes mentales, en forma automatica, sistematica, creativa o critica, para producir creencias y conocimientos, plantear problemas y buscar soluciones, tomar decisiones y comunicarse e interactuar con otros, asi como establecer las metas y los medios para su logro. La presente investigacion considera pertinente el trabajo en estimulacion del pensamiento critico desde la etapa de la infancia temprana, entendida esta como la etapa que abarca de los 3 a los 5 anos de edad (Santrock, 2006) enfocandonos especificamente en el area educativa, donde se entiende a esta etapa como edad preescolar, que abarca de los 3 a los 5 anos 11 meses de edad (Secretaria de Educacion Publica, 2011) Se evaluo el impacto de una intervencion a traves del arte en el desarrollo del pensamiento critico de un grupo de estudiantes preescolares del estado de Colima, Mexico. Se realiza el analisis de las actividades implementadas y los resultados de una evaluacion del pensamiento critico previa y posterior a la intervencion con un grupo control y un grupo experimental.
Microbial degradation of herbicides
Venue: Critical reviews in microbiology

Herbicides remain the most effective, efficient and economical way to control weeds; and its market continues to grow even with the plethora of generic products. With the development of herbicide tolerant crops, use of herbicides is increasing around the world that has resulted in severe contamination of the environment. The strategies are now being developed to clean these substances in an economical and eco friendly manner. In this review, an attempt has been made to pool all the available literature on the biodegradation of key herbicides, clodinafop propargyl, 2,4 dichlorophenoxyacetic acid, atrazine, metolachlor, diuron, glyphosate, imazapyr, pendimethalin and paraquat under the following objectives: (1) to highlight the general characteristic and mode of action, (2) to enlist toxicity in animals, (3) to pool microorganisms capable of degrading herbicides, (4) to discuss the assessment of herbicides degradation by efficient microbes, (5) to highlight biodegradation pathways, (6) to discuss the molecular basis of degradation, (7) to enlist the products of herbicides under degradation process, (8) to highlight the factors effecting biodegradation of herbicides and (9) to discuss the future aspects of herbicides degradation. This review may be useful in developing safer and economic microbiological methods for cleanup of soil and water contaminated with such compounds.
Automated GPR Rebar Analysis for Robotic Bridge Deck Evaluation
Venue: IEEE Transactions on Cybernetics

Ground penetrating radar (GPR) is used to evaluate deterioration of reinforced concrete bridge decks based on measuring signal attenuation from embedded rebar. The existing methods for obtaining deterioration maps from GPR data often require manual interaction and offsite processing. In this paper, a novel algorithm is presented for automated rebar detection and analysis. We test the process with comprehensive measurements obtained using a novel state of the art robotic bridge inspection system equipped with GPR sensors. The algorithm achieves robust performance by integrating machine learning classification using image based gradient features and robust curve fitting of the rebar hyperbolic signature. The approach avoids edge detection, thresholding, and template matching that require manual tuning and are known to perform poorly in the presence of noise and outliers. The detected hyperbolic signatures of rebars within the bridge deck are used to generate deterioration maps of the bridge deck. The results of the rebar region detector are compared quantitatively with several methods of image based classification and a significant performance advantage is demonstrated. High rates of accuracy are reported on real data that includes thousands of individual hyperbolic rebar signatures from three real bridge decks.
Does inhibitory control training transfer? behavioral and neural effects on an untrained emotion regulation task.
Venue: Social cognitive and affective neuroscience

Inhibitory control (IC) is a critical neurocognitive skill for successfully navigating challenges across domains. Several studies have attempted to use training to improve neurocognitive skills such as IC, but few have found that training generalizes to performance on non trained tasks. We used functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to investigate the effect of IC training on a related but untrained emotion regulation (ER) task with the goal of clarifying how training alters brain function and why its effects typically do not transfer across tasks. We suggest hypotheses for training related changes in activation relevant to transfer effects: the strength model and several plausible alternatives (shifting priorities, stimulus response automaticity, scaffolding) Sixty participants completed three weeks of IC training and underwent fMRI scanning before and after. The training produced pre to post training changes in neural activation during the ER task in the absence of behavioral changes. Specifically, individuals in the training group demonstrated reduced activation during ER in the left inferior frontal gyrus and supramarginal gyrus, key regions in the IC neural network. This result is less consistent with the strength model and more consistent with a motivational account. Implications for future work aiming to further pinpoint mechanisms of training transfer are discussed.
Adolescent harm avoidance as a longitudinal predictor of maladaptive cognitive emotion regulation in adulthood: The mediating role of inhibitory control.
Venue: Journal of adolescence

The current study investigates the effect of adolescent harm avoidance (HA) on maladaptive cognitive emotion regulation strategies (mCER) in early adulthood. The mediating role of inhibitory control and the moderating effect of gender on this link were also examined. Longitudinal data from 261 adolescents (147 female) were collected in three phases (T0, T1 and T2) over approximately 10 years. Results revealed that, after controlling for HA in adulthood (T2) female adolescents' HA (T0) significantly predicted mCER strategies after 10 years (T2) whereas male adolescents' HA only predicted catastrophizing. In addition, attentional impulsivity (T1) significantly mediated the relation between HA and mCER, though only among women. There was no significant indirect effect for emotional interference and stop signal reaction time. Results revealed gender and measure specific associations between HA and inhibitory control and suggest that HA could induce inhibitory deficits leading to mCER.
Emotions in Eating Disorders: The Interplay of Emotion Regulation and Inhibitory Control in Appetite and Eating Behaviour

Facial expression of emotion is crucial to social interaction and emotion regulation; therefore, altered facial expressivity can be a contributing factor in social isolation, difficulties with emotion regulation and a target for therapy. This article provides a systematic review and meta analysis of the literature on automatic emotional facial expression in people with non psychotic disorders compared to healthy comparison groups. Studies in the review used an emotionally salient visual induction method, and reported on automatic facial expression in response to congruent stimuli. A total of 39 studies show alterations in emotional facial expression across all included disorders, except anxiety disorders. In depression, decreases in facial expression are mainly evident for positive affect. In eating disorders, a meta analysis showed decreased facial expressivity in response to positive and negative stimuli. Studies in autism partially support generally decreased facial expressivity in this group. The data included in this review point towards decreased facial emotional expressivity in individuals with different non psychotic disorders. This is the first review to synthesise facial expression studies across clinical disorders.
White and Brown Rot Fungi as Decomposers of Lignocellulosic Materials and Their Role in Waste and Pollution Control

Along with bacteria, fungi contribute to essential ecological functions, such as recycling of organic carbon 'trapped' in cellulose and lignin, an ability that is the hallmark of white and brown rot fungi. The mycelium of some of these fungi produces digestive enzymes that speed up the breakdown of lignocellulosic wastes. In doing so, they promote the recycling of nutrients and help maintain the ecosystem equilibrium. Some fungi are parasites and mutualistic symbionts, and obtain their nutrients from living organisms. Others are saprotrophs, which rely on dead organisms for their nutrition. Among fungal saprotrophs, basidiomycete white and brown rot fungi are the main decomposers of lignocellulosic materials and will be the focus of this chapter. White and brown rot fungi are important contributors to mitigation of environmental pollution. They decompose lignocellulosic residues and wastes generated from agricultural and forestry operations, releasing the carbon stored in plant and wood cell walls. Collected residues, along with purposely grown energy crops, can be converted into value added products, such as biofuels and novelty chemicals, and the application of white and brown rot fungi and their enzymes can significantly improve process efficiency. On the negative side, these fungi cause damage to wooden structures constructed for human use. However, the knowledge gained on the growth conditions, physiology, biochemistry and enzymology of white and brown rot fungi in an effort to minimise or control the damage caused by them to useful wooden structures is offering opportunities to employ these fungi and their enzymes to degrade a wide range of environmental contaminants and pollutants from industrial and other sources. The chapter will describe the processes of decomposition of lignocellulosic materials by white and brown rot fungi, and then highlight the advances being made in the application of these fungi and their enzymes in waste and pollution minimisation. Limitations to developing effective technologies will also be discussed.
Coupled heat transfer performance of a high temperature cup shaped porous absorber

In this article, a newly designed volumetric solar receiver (VSR) using cup shaped Al2O3 porous absorber is studied through numerical simulations and experimental verification. The absorber achieves several advantages including lower heat loss and higher uniformity of heat flux. The ray tracing method is adopted to obtain the external radiation source. The inner radiative exchange within the cavity is solved with the aid of User Defined Function (UDF) The heat transfer performance has been compared based on different parameters including window reflectivity, porosity and mass flow rate. The theoretical advantages of using cup shaped Al2O3 absorber are presented. The experimental verification is adopted based on sixteen dish concentrator (SDC) platform.
Joint Blind Source Separation for Neurophysiological Data Analysis: Multiset and multimodal methods
Venue: IEEE Signal Processing Magazine

Conventional blind source separation (BSS) methods have become widely adopted tools for neurophysiological data analysis. However, the increasing availability of multiset and multimodal neurophysiological data has posed new challenges for BSS methods originally designed to analyze one data set at a time. Concomitantly, there is growing recognition that joint analysis of neurophysiological data has the potential to substantially enhance our understanding of brain function by extracting information from complementary modalities and synergistically combining the results. Therefore, joint data analysis methods represent both a challenge and an opportunity for the neurophysiological signal processing community that attempts to enhance understanding of normal brain function and the pathophysiology of many brain diseases. Over the past decade, various joint blind source separation (JBSS) methods have been proposed to simultaneously accommodate multiple data sets. In this article, we provide an overview and taxonomy of representative JBSS methods. We show, through illustrative numerical simulations, that different statistical assumptions and tradeoffs underlie different JBSS methods, affecting which method should be ideally chosen for a given application. We then discuss several real world neurophysiological applications from both multiset and multimodal perspectives, highlighting the benefits of the JBSS methods as effective and promising tools for neurophysiological data analysis. Finally, we discuss remaining challenges for future JBSS development.
A Blind Source Separation Framework for Monitoring Heart Beat Rate Using Nanofiber Based Strain Sensors
Venue: IEEE Sensors Journal

A recently developed novel nanofiber based strain sensor is introduced as a potential alternative to the conventional measurement tools for heart beat rate monitoring. Since the measured signals in real life are often contaminated by certain artifacts, in this paper, to overcome limitations of currently available empirical mode decomposing (EMD) and blind source separation based methods and recover the buried heart beat signal accurately, we propose a novel blind source separation framework by combining noise assisted multivariate EMD (NAMEMD) and multiset canonical correlation analysis (MCCA) The proposed method takes advantage of the multivariate data adaptive nature of the NAMEMD and MCCA, which contributes to accurate extraction of the desired signal. The absolute correlation coefficients (ACCs) between the extracted signal and the original source signal are adopted to evaluate the performance of the proposed method in the simulation study. The average of the ACC yielded by the proposed method is 0.902, which is significantly higher than that by the state of the art approaches. We also examine the proposed method on the nano sensor data collected when the subject performs 11 tasks. It is shown that the proposed method can achieve better performance, especially for preserving the shape of the heart beat signal.
Saproxylic Beetle Assemblage Selection as Determining Factor of Species Distributional Patterns: Implications for Conservation
Venue: Journal of insect science

The knowledge of the distributional patterns of saproxylic beetles is essential for conservation biology due to the relevance of this fauna in the maintenance of ecological processes and the endangerment of species. The complex community of saproxylic beetles is shaped by different assemblages that are composed of species linked by the microhabitats they use. We evaluate how different the species distribution patterns that are obtained can be, depending on the analyzed assemblage and to what extent these can affect conservation decisions. Beetles were sampled using hollow emergence and window traps in three protected areas of the Iberian Peninsula. Species richness, composition, and diversity turnover were analyzed for each sampling method and showed high variation depending on the analyzed assemblage. Beta diversity was clearly higher among forests for the assemblage captured using window traps. This method collects flying insects from different tree microhabitats and its captures are influenced by the forest structuring. Within forests, the assemblages captured by hollow emergence traps, which collect the fauna linked to tree hollows, showed the largest turnover of species, as they are influenced by the characteristics of each cavity. Moreover, the selection of the forest showing the highest species richness strongly depended on the studied assemblage. This study demonstrates that differences in the studied assemblages (group of species co occurring in the same habitat) can also lead to significant differences in the identified patterns of species distribution and diversity turnover. This fact will be necessary to take into consideration when making decisions about conservation and management.
An incremental sampling based approach to inspection planning: the rapidly exploring random tree of trees
Venue: Robotica

A new algorithm, called rapidly exploring random tree of trees (RRTOT) is proposed, that aims to address the challenge of planning for autonomous structural inspection. Given a representation of a structure, a visibility model of an onboard sensor, an initial robot configuration and constraints, RRTOT computes inspection paths that provide full coverage. Sampling based techniques and a meta tree structure consisting of multiple RRT* trees are employed to find admissible paths with decreasing cost. Using this approach, RRTOT does not suffer from the limitations of strategies that separate the inspection path planning problem into that of finding the minimum set of observation points and only afterwards compute the best possible path among them. Analysis is provided on the capability of RRTOT to find admissible solutions that, in the limit case, approach the optimal one. The algorithm is evaluated in both simulation and experimental studies. An unmanned rotorcraft equipped with a vision sensor was utilized as the experimental platform and validation of the achieved inspection properties was performed using 3D reconstruction techniques.
Reconstruction of the Upper Cervical Spine Using a Personalized 3D Printed Vertebral Body in an Adolescent With Ewing Sarcoma
Venue: Spine

Case report.  To describe a three dimensional (3D) printed axial vertebral body used in upper cervical spine reconstruction after a C2 Ewing sarcoma resection in an adolescent boy.  Ewing sarcoma is a malignant musculoskeletal neoplasm with a peak incidence in adolescents. Cervical spine as the primary site of the tumor has been related to a worse prognosis. Tumor resection is particularly challenging in the atlantoaxial region due to complexity of the anatomy, necessity for extensive resection according to oncological principles, and a lack of specialized implants for reconstruction. 3D printing refers to a process where 3D objects are created through successive layering of material under computer control. Although this technology potentially enables accurate fabrication of patient specific orthopedic implants, literature on its utilization in this regard is rare.  A 12 year old boy with a C2 Ewing sarcoma underwent a staged spondylectomy. Wide resection of the posterior elements was first performed. Two weeks later, a high anterior retropharyngeal approach was taken to remove the remains of the C2 vertebra. A customized artificial vertebral body fabricated according to a computer model using titanium alloy powder was inserted to replace the defect between C1 and C3. The microstructure of the implant was optimized for better biomechanical stability and enhanced bone healing.  Patient had an uneventful recovery and began to ambulate on postoperative day 7. Adjuvant treatment commenced 3 weeks after the surgery. He was tumor free at the 1 year follow up. Computed tomography studies revealed evidence of implant osseointegration and no subsidence or displacement of the construct.  This is a case example on the concept of personalized precision medicine in a surgical setting and demonstrates how 3D printed, patient specific implants may bring individualized solutions to rare problems wherein restoration of the specific anatomy of each patient is a key prognostic factor.