Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
AUDIOVISUAL SENSING OF HUMAN MOVEMENTS FOR HOME-CARE AND SECURITY IN A SMART ENVIRONMENT

This paper presents the necessity and possibility of smart sensing using a multitude of sensors such as audio and visual sensors for human movement detection for home-care and home security applications in a smart environment. We define an event and spatial relationship based approach to the problem. Use of multisensory information to even detection is proposed and its prototype implementation to detect events like falling, walking, standing, shouting etc. are presented. Use of audio sensor based event detection and video sensor based event detection helped to increase the number of different types of actions that can be detected within a smart environment. Video sensors detected the actions at 94.44% accuracy while the audio sensors detected the actions at 83.35%. In addition to that the video based fall detection accuracy was 93.3%. Currently we are working in real life data capture and analysis using multi-sensor integration
International Expansion Through Sequential Investment: The Effects of National Culture on Buyouts and Dissolutions in Biotechnology Partnerships

This study examines the role of national culture on an issue which is central to competitive strategy: whether to maintain flexibility or commit to a strategic direction. We consider that equity investments in foreign partners may be initiated as the first step in a sequential acquisition process. Applying a competing hazard model to a sample of 168 joint ventures and minority equity collaborations in the biotechnology industry, we find that cultural characteristics have some bearing on a firm's willingness to commit through partner acquisition or partnership dissolution, and its preference for flexibility embodied in maintaining an equity collaboration.
Linear pulse structure and signalling in a film flow on an inclined plane

The film flow down an inclined plane has several features that make it an interesting prototype for studying transition in a shear flow: the basic parallel state is an exact explicit solution of the Navier–Stokes equations; the experimentally observed transition of this flow shows many properties in common with boundary-layer transition; and it has a free surface, leading to more than one class of modes. In this paper, unstable wavepackets – associated with the full Navier–Stokes equations with viscous free-surface boundary conditions – are analysed by using the formalism of absolute and convective instabilities based on the exact Briggs collision criterion for multiple k-roots of D(k, ω) = 0; where k is a wavenumber, ω is a frequency and D(k, ω) is the dispersion relation function. The main results of this paper are threefold. First, we work with the full Navier–Stokes equations with viscous free-surface boundary conditions, rather than a model partial differential equation, and, guided by experiments, explore a large region of the parameter space to see if absolute instability – as predicted by some model equations – is possible. Secondly, our numerical results find only convective instability, in complete agreement with experiments. Thirdly, we find a curious saddle-point bifurcation which affects dramatically the interpretation of the convective instability. This is the first finding of this type of bifurcation in a fluids problem and it may have implications for the analysis of wavepackets in other flows, in particular for three-dimensional instabilities. The numerical results of the wavepacket analysis compare well with the available experimental data, confirming the importance of convective instability for this problem. The numerical results on the position of a dominant saddle point obtained by using the exact collision criterion are also compared to the results based on a steepest-descent method coupled with a continuation procedure for tracking convective instability that until now was considered as reliable. While for two-dimensional instabilities a numerical implementation of the collision criterion is readily available, the only existing numerical procedure for studying three-dimensional wavepackets is based on the tracking technique. For the present flow, the comparison shows a failure of the tracking treatment to recover a subinterval of the interval of unstable ray velocities V whose length constitutes 29% of the length of the entire unstable interval of V. The failure occurs due to a bifurcation of the saddle point, where V is a bifurcation parameter. We argue that this bifurcation of unstable ray velocities should be observable in experiments because of the abrupt increase by a factor of about 5.3 of the wavelength across the wavepacket associated with the appearance of the bifurcating branch. Further implications for experiments including the effect on spatial amplification rate are also discussed.
Effect of self-management training on adherence to medications among community residents with chronic schizophrenia: a singleblind randomized controlled trial in Shanghai, China

Background Many community dwelling individuals with schizophrenia do not take medications regularly and, thus, are prone to frequent relapses. Aim Evaluate the effectiveness of self-management training on adherence to medications and relapse among individuals with chronic schizophrenia living in the community. Methods A total of 201 individuals with chronic schizophrenia living in the urban and rural communities of Shanghai Municipality were randomized into a treatment as usual control group (n=98) or a selfmanagement intervention group (n=103) that received weekly self-management skills training for 6 months followed by 24 months of monthly group booster sessions in which a community health worker reviewed patients’ self-management checklists. Two psychiatrists blind to the treatment status of patients, assessed adherence to medications using the Morisky Medication Adherence Scale and patients’ insight into their illness using the Scale to Assess Unawareness of Mental Disorders (SAUMD) at baseline and 30 months after baseline. A total of 194 individuals (95.6%) completed the study. Results There were no differences between groups at baseline, but after 30 months the intervention group had significantly better medication compliance, significantly greater insight into their illness, and (by self-report) were using significantly higher dosages of antipsychotic medication. Only 2 (1.9%) of the 103 intervention group participants relapsed (i.e., experienced one or more re-hospitalizations) over the 30 months of follow-up, but 14 (14.3%) of the 98 control group subjects relapsed (X2=8.83, p=0.003). Conclusions Given the large sample size, relatively long follow-up, randomized design, and single-blind evaluation of outcomes the dramatic reduction in relapse and improvements in medication adherence and insight identified in this study are robust findings. These results extended our previous findings, which demonstrated the benefit of self-management training on improving the symptoms and social functioning of individuals with chronic schizophrenia living in the community. Cost-benefit studies are now needed to assess the feasibility of up-scaling this self-management intervention to a wide range of communities.
Gendering of family firms : the story of family funeral homes

field yielded between seven (7) and twelve (12) articles, depending on the search engine. Two new journals, Journal of Family Business Strategy, published since 2010 and Journal of Family Business Management, published since 2011 have published, since their inceptions, a combined total of four articles with the term, women, in the abstract. Finally, I completed a search on the Family Business Review (published since 1988) web site for the keyword women that yielded twenty (20) articles. Of those, only five were published since 2000. In the twenty years since Dumas’ work and the early calls for research in this area, little has been done. The most recent article about women in Family Business Review, published in 2009, was a review article re-issuing the call for research on women in family firms. As scarce as the literature on women in family business is, the literature about women working in funeral service is even more limited. Searches of peerreviewed literature in both ABI-Inform and in Academic One File yielded a total of three articles about women in funeral service. The articles from these searches about women in family business, generally, and women in funeral service, specifically, comprise the bulk of this review. As succession is cited as the primary issue of concern for FOBs (Sharma, 2004), it is one of the most studied issues in the literature on women in FOBs. However, Brockhaus (2004) reviewed existing succession research methodology and outlines several gaps in the research, including the topic of women, as areas
A distributed obstacle avoidance MPC strategy for leader-follower formations

Abstract In this paper we address the obstacle avoidance motion planning problem for leader-follower vehicles configurations operating in static environments. By resorting to set-theoretic ideas, a receding horizon control algorithm is proposed for robots modelled by linear time-invariant (LTI) systems subject to input and state constraints. Terminal robust positively invariant regions and sequences of precomputed inner approximations of the one-step controllable sets are on-line exploited to compute the commands to be applied in a receding horizon fashion. Moreover, we prove that the design of both terminal sets and one-step ahead controllable regions is achieved in a distributed sense. An illustrative example is used to show the effectiveness of the proposed control strategy.
Reducing bullying in schools by focusing on school climate and school socio-economic status

This paper is a secondary analysis, using data from the South African 2015 cycle of the Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS). TIMSS is a trend study that assesses Mathematics and Science achievement and is designed to measure changes in the education system over time. The participants of the study included 12,514 learners from 292 schools, where a national sample of schools and learners are selected, making the study nationally representative. A multiple regression was conducted to respond to the main aims of the study, which is, firstly, to investigate the association between school climate and the prevalence of bullying in schools. Secondly, to determine if the socioeconomic status of the school is associated with incidences of bullying at the school. The results show that learners are less likely to be bullied when they feel a sense of belonging to the school they attend, they are confident, and when they are constantly engaged in the classroom. A significant gender bias exists where boys are bullied more often than girls. It has also been found that students who are often bullied obtain a significantly lower score in Mathematics than their counterparts. The findings demonstrate the need for schools to monitor the nature and frequency of bullying, so that targeted interventions can be designed, implemented and monitored on a regular basis. Keywords: bullying; school climate; school factors; school violence, South Africa; TIMSS 2015
Long‐term efficacy and safety of bosutinib in patients with advanced leukemia following resistance/intolerance to imatinib and other tyrosine kinase inhibitors

Long‐term efficacy and safety of bosutinib (≥4 years follow‐up from last enrolled patient) were evaluated in an ongoing phase 1/2 study in the advanced leukemia cohort with prior treatment failure (accelerated‐phase [AP, n = 79] chronic myeloid leukemia [CML], blast‐phase [BP, n = 64] CML, acute lymphoblastic leukemia [ALL, n = 24]). Fourteen AP, 2 BP, and 1 ALL patient remained on bosutinib at 4 years (vs. 38, 8, 1 at 1 year); median (range) treatment durations: 10.2 (0.1–88.6), 2.8 (0.03–55.9), 0.97 (0.3–89.2) months. Among AP and BP patients, 57% and 28% newly attained or maintained baseline overall hematologic response (OHR); 40% and 37% attained/maintained major cytogenetic response (MCyR) by 4 years (most by 12 months). In responders at 1 versus 4 years, Kaplan‐Meier (KM) probabilities of maintaining OHR were 78% versus 49% (AP) and 28% versus 19% (BP); KM probabilities of maintaining MCyR were 65% versus 49% (AP) and 21% versus 21% (BP). Most common AEs (AP, BP) were gastrointestinal (96%; 83%), primarily diarrhea (85%; 64%), which was typically low grade (maximum grade 1/2: 81%; 59%) and transient; no patient discontinued due to diarrhea. Serious AEs occurred in 44 (56%) AP and 37 (58%) BP patients, most commonly pneumonia (n = 9) for AP and pyrexia (n = 6) for BP; 11 and 13 died within 30 days of last dose (2 considered bosutinib‐related [AP] per investigator). Responses were durable in ∼50% AP responders at 4 years (∼25% BP patients responded at year 1, suggesting possible bridge‐to‐transplant role in BP patients); toxicity was manageable.Am. J. Hematol. 90:755–768, 2015. © 2015 The Authors. American Journal of Hematology Published by Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
Detunable transverse electromagnetic (TEM) volume coil for high‐field NMR

Most high‐field MRI systems do not have the actively detuned body coils that are integral to clinical systems operating at 1.5T and lower field strengths. Therefore, many clinical applications requiring homogeneous volume excitation in combination with local surface coil reception are not easily implemented at high fields. To solve this problem for neuroimaging applications, actively detunable transverse electromagnetic (TEM) head coils were developed to be used with receive‐only surface coils for signal‐to‐noise ratio (SNR) gains and improved spatial coverage from homogeneously excited regions. These SNR and field of view (FOV) gains were achieved by application of a detunable TEM volume coil to human brain imaging at 4T. Magn Reson Med 47:990–1000, 2002. © 2002 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
Comparison of Tablet-Delivered and Instructor-Delivered Teaching on Receptive Identification in Children With Autism Spectrum Disorders

The purpose of our study was to compare the effectiveness of tablet- and instructor-delivered teaching (i.e., prompting and reinforcement) on the receptive identification of one-word concepts in children with autism spectrum disorders (ASDs). To this end, we embedded a multielement design within a multiple probe design to compare the effectiveness of the two instructional modalities in seven participants. Two of the seven participants showed generalization on all concepts in fewer instructional trials following instructor-delivered teaching, whereas the remaining five participants had mixed results depending on the concept. In total, the participants showed more rapid generalization with the instructor for 14 of the 19 concepts taught. Our results suggest that tablets should not systematically replace instructor-delivered prompting and reinforcement, but that they may be used to provide supplementary teaching to children with ASD.
Dual Inequalities for Stabilized Column Generation Revisited

Column generation (CG) models have several advantages over compact formulations: they provide better linear program bounds, may eliminate symmetry, and can hide nonlinearities in their subproblems. However, users also encounter drawbacks in the form of slow convergence, also known as the tailing-off effect, and the oscillation of the dual variables. Among different alternatives for stabilizing the CG process, Ben Amor et al. [Ben Amor H, Desrosiers J, Valerio de Carvalho JM (2006) Dual-optimal inequalities for stabilized column generation. Oper. Res. 54(3):454–463] suggest the use of dual-optimal inequalities (DOIs) in the context of cutting stock and bin packing problems. We generalize their results, provide new classes of (deep) DOIs, and show the applicability to other problems (vector packing, vertex coloring, bin packing with conflicts). We also suggest the dynamic addition of violated dual inequalities in a cutting-plane fashion and the use of dual inequalities that are not necessarily (deep) DOIs.
AN iterative model-constrained graph-cut algorithm for Abdominal Aortic Aneurysm thrombus segmentation

We present an iterative model-constrained graph-cut algorithm for the segmentation of Abdominal Aortic Aneurysm (AAA) thrombus. Given an initial segmentation of the aortic lumen, our method automatically segments the thrombus by iteratively coupling intensity-based graph min-cut segmentation and geometric parametric model fitting. The geometric model effectively constrains the graph min-cut segmentation from “leaking” to nearby veins and organs. Experimental results on 8 AAA CTA datasets yield robust segmentations of the AAA thrombus in 2 mins computer time with a mean absolute volume difference of 8.0% and mean volumetric overlap error of 12.9%, which is comparable to the interobserver error.
Persistent Differences in Walking across the Socioeconomic Spectrum: Variations by Trip Purpose

The relationship between socioeconomic status (SES) and walking remains underexamined, and prior research identifies multiple models of walking behavior. This research examines the distribution of walking across SES, using the 2001, 2009, and 2017 National Household Travel Surveys. Statistical models estimate walking rates and likelihoods by trip purpose, controlling for income, education, and other factors. Findings include less walking by middle-SES travelers and specific trip purposes favoring walking by high-SES adults in urban areas. Increases in walking between 2001 and 2017 are broad based, but persistent imbalances suggest the need for a more pluralistic view of walkability.
Multimodal Mastery Learning

Educators frequently encourage and value the use of a variety of media in student work, as learners design their knowledge representations using rich, multimodal sources and embedding multiple types of complementary media—photographs, diagrams, tables, data visualizations, videos, and raw datasets. The pedagogical and cognitive benefits of shifting meaning representation across a range of integrated modalities enriches their understanding. In this paper we present our experiences and findings from a casestudy in which graduate learners are engaged in the creation of knowledge artefacts as part of their evidentiary work in an online environment. The e-learning portal we created supports and enables the incorporation of all types of new media through its “Creator” interface as they move incrementally towards subject-matter mastery. We present the rationale behind our design, together with methodologies employed to encourage the creative use of diverse yet complementary media. Finally, we present results from qualitative data collected and analysed regarding the use of rich, multimodal sources, as we come to a close with a number of conclusions and recommendations.
Early stages of Nitrogen enrichment in galaxies: Clues from measurements in damped Lyman alpha systems

We present 4 new measurements of nitrogen abundances and one upper limit in damped Ly α absorbers (DLAs) obtained by means of high resolution (FWHM � 7k m s −1 ) UVES/VLT spectra. In addition to these measurements we have compiled data from all DLAs with measurements of nitrogen and α-capture elements (O, S or Si) available in the literature, including all HIRES/Keck and UVES/VLT data for a total of 32 systems, i.e. the largest sample investigated so far. We find that (N/α) ratios are distributed in two groups: 75% of the DLAs show a mean value of (N/α) = −0.87 with a scatter of 0.17 dex, while the remaining 25% shows ratios clustered at (N/α) = −1.45 with an even lower dispersion of 0.05 dex. The high (N/α) �− 0.9 plateau is consistent with the one observed in metal-poor H  regions of blue compact dwarf (BCD) galaxies ((N/α) = −0.73 ± 0.13), while the (N/α) �− 1.5 values are the lowest ever observed in any astrophysical site. These low (N/α) ratios are real and are not due to ionization effects. They provide crucial evidence against the primary production of N by massive stars as being responsible for the plateau at −0.9/−0.7 dex observed in DLAs and BCD galaxies. The transition between the low-N ((N/α) �− 1.5) and high-N ((N/α) �− 0.9) DLAs occurs at a nitrogen abundance of (N/H) �− 2.8, suggesting that the separation may result from some peculiarity of the nitrogen enrichment history. The (N/α) �− 1.5 values and their low dispersion are consistent with a modest production of primary N in massive stars; however, due to the limited sample, specially for the low-N DLAs, we cannot exclude a primary origin in intermediate mass stars as responsible for the low N abundances observed. Nitrogen is an important element when attempting to under- stand the chemical evolution of galaxies. The synthesis of N in the CNO cycle during hydrogen burning is reasonably well understood, but the characteristics of the stars that produce this element (range of masses, stage of evolution, etc.) are not completely clear. N is mostly a secondary element, produced in the CNO cycle from seed C and O nuclei created in ear- lier generation of stars. Primary N is produced when freshly synthesized C in the helium-burning shell penetrates into the hydrogen-burning shell where it will be converted in primary N by means of the CNO cycle. In evolution models of intermedi- ate mass stars, thermal pulses occurring during the asymptotic giant branch AGB phase are responsible for the transport of
Super-Resolution Method for Face Recognition Using Nonlinear Mappings on Coherent Features

Low-resolution (LR) of face images significantly decreases the performance of face recognition. To address this problem, we present a super-resolution method that uses nonlinear mappings to infer coherent features that favor higher recognition of the nearest neighbor (NN) classifiers for recognition of single LR face image. Canonical correlation analysis is applied to establish the coherent subspaces between the principal component analysis (PCA) based features of high-resolution (HR) and LR face images. Then, a nonlinear mapping between HR/LR features can be built by radial basis functions (RBFs) with lower regression errors in the coherent feature space than in the PCA feature space. Thus, we can compute super-resolved coherent features corresponding to an input LR image according to the trained RBF model efficiently and accurately. And, face identity can be obtained by feeding these super-resolved features to a simple NN classifier. Extensive experiments on the Facial Recognition Technology, University of Manchester Institute of Science and Technology, and Olivetti Research Laboratory databases show that the proposed method outperforms the state-of-the-art face recognition algorithms for single LR image in terms of both recognition rate and robustness to facial variations of pose and expression.
Phasic excitation of dopamine neurons in ventral VTA by noxious stimuli

Midbrain dopamine neurons play central roles in reward processing. It is widely assumed that all dopamine neurons encode the same information. Some evidence, however, suggests functional differences between subgroups of dopamine neurons, particularly with respect to processing nonrewarding, aversive stimuli. To directly test this possibility, we recorded from and juxtacellularly labeled individual ventral tegmental area (VTA) dopamine neurons in anesthetized rats so that we could link precise anatomical position and neurochemical identity with coding for noxious stimuli. Here, we show that dopamine neurons in the dorsal VTA are inhibited by noxious footshocks, consistent with their role in reward processing. In contrast, we find that dopamine neurons in the ventral VTA are phasically excited by footshocks. This observation can explain a number of previously confusing findings that suggested a role for dopamine in processing both rewarding and aversive events. Taken together, our results indicate that there are 2 functionally and anatomically distinct VTA dopamine systems.