Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Reading Car License Plates Using Deep Convolutional Neural Networks and LSTMs

In this work, we tackle the problem of car license plate detection and recognition in natural scene images. Inspired by the success of deep neural networks (DNNs) in various vision applications, here we leverage DNNs to learn high-level features in a cascade framework, which lead to improved performance on both detection and recognition. Firstly, we train a $37$-class convolutional neural network (CNN) to detect all characters in an image, which results in a high recall, compared with conventional approaches such as training a binary text/non-text classifier. False positives are then eliminated by the second plate/non-plate CNN classifier. Bounding box refinement is then carried out based on the edge information of the license plates, in order to improve the intersection-over-union (IoU) ratio. The proposed cascade framework extracts license plates effectively with both high recall and precision. Last, we propose to recognize the license characters as a {sequence labelling} problem. A recurrent neural network (RNN) with long short-term memory (LSTM) is trained to recognize the sequential features extracted from the whole license plate via CNNs. The main advantage of this approach is that it is segmentation free. By exploring context information and avoiding errors caused by segmentation, the RNN method performs better than a baseline method of combining segmentation and deep CNN classification; and achieves state-of-the-art recognition accuracy.
Is an apple a fruit? Semantic relatedness as reflected by psychophysiological responsivity.

In the present study, we investigated orienting response generalization across various types of semantically related stimuli. Four experiments, based on a modified version of the guilty knowledge technique, were designed to examine whether semantic relations based on abstract features are reflected by electrodermal responsivity. No generalization across coordinates was obtained, but a moderate degree of generalization was demonstrated between a word and its superordinate category (e.g., table-furniture) and between a word and its synonym. Complete generalization occurred from a verbal label of an object to its pictorial representation, and vice versa. These results are compatible with our proposal that partial identification of the test stimulus as relevant is a necessary condition for generalization in the guilty knowledge technique.
Convergent Findings of Altered Functional and Structural Brain Connectivity in Individuals with High Functioning Autism: A Multimodal MRI Study

Brain tissue changes in autism spectrum disorders seem to be rather subtle and widespread than anatomically distinct. Therefore a multimodal, whole brain imaging technique appears to be an appropriate approach to investigate whether alterations in white and gray matter integrity relate to consistent changes in functional resting state connectivity in individuals with high functioning autism (HFA). We applied diffusion tensor imaging (DTI), voxel-based morphometry (VBM) and resting state functional connectivity magnetic resonance imaging (fcMRI) to assess differences in brain structure and function between 12 individuals with HFA (mean age 35.5, SD 11.4, 9 male) and 12 healthy controls (mean age 33.3, SD 9.0, 8 male). Psychological measures of empathy and emotionality were obtained and correlated with the most significant DTI, VBM and fcMRI findings. We found three regions of convergent structural and functional differences between HFA participants and controls. The right temporo-parietal junction area and the left frontal lobe showed decreased fractional anisotropy (FA) values along with decreased functional connectivity and a trend towards decreased gray matter volume. The bilateral superior temporal gyrus displayed significantly decreased functional connectivity that was accompanied by the strongest trend of gray matter volume decrease in the temporal lobe of HFA individuals. FA decrease in the right temporo-parietal region was correlated with psychological measurements of decreased emotionality. In conclusion, our results indicate common sites of structural and functional alterations in higher order association cortex areas and may therefore provide multimodal imaging support to the long-standing hypothesis of autism as a disorder of impaired higher-order multisensory integration.
Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation in a Finger-tapping Task Separates Motor from Timing Mechanisms and Induces Frequency Doubling

We study the interplay between motor programs and their timing in the brain by using precise pulses of transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) applied to the primary motor cortex. The movement of the finger performing a tapping task is periodically perturbed in synchronization with a metronome. TMS perturbation can profoundly affect both the finger trajectory and its kinematics, but the tapping accuracy itself is surprisingly not affected. The motion of the finger during the TMS perturbation can be categorized into two abnormal behaviors that subjects were unaware of: a doubling of the frequency of the tap and a stalling of the finger for half the period. More stalls occurred as the tapping frequency increased. In addition, an enhancement of the velocity of the finger on its way up was observed. We conclude that the timing process involved in controlling the tapping movement is separate from the motor processes in charge of execution of the motor commands. We speculate that the TMS is causing a release of the motor plan ahead of time into activation mode. The observed doubles and stalls are then the result of an indirect interaction in the brain, making use of an existing motor plan to correct the preactivation and obtain the temporal goal of keeping the beat.
Reduced functional connectivity within the limbic cortico‐striato‐thalamo‐cortical loop in unmedicated adults with obsessive‐compulsive disorder

Cortico‐striato‐thalamo‐cortical (CSTC) loops project from the cortex to the striatum, then from the striatum to the thalamus via the globus pallidus, and finally from the thalamus back to the cortex again. These loops have been implicated in Obsessive‐Compulsive Disorder (OCD) with particular focus on the limbic CSTC loop, which encompasses the orbitofrontal and anterior cingulate cortices, as well as the ventral striatum. Resting state functional‐connectivity MRI (rs‐fcMRI) studies, which examine temporal correlations in neural activity across brain regions at rest, have examined CSTC loop connectivity in patients with OCD and suggest hyperconnectivity within these loops in medicated adults with OCD. We used rs‐fcMRI to examine functional connectivity within CSTC loops in unmedicated adults with OCD (n = 23) versus healthy controls (HCs) (n = 20). Contrary to prior rs‐fcMRI studies in OCD patients on medications that report hyperconnectivity in the limbic CSTC loop, we found that compared with HCs, unmedicated OCD participants had reduced connectivity within the limbic CSTC loop. Exploratory analyses revealed that reduced connectivity within the limbic CSTC loop correlated with OCD symptom severity in the OCD group. Our finding of limbic loop hypoconnectivity in unmedicted OCD patients highlights the potential confounding effects of antidepressants on connectivity measures and the value of future examinations of the effects of pharmacological and/or behavioral treatments on limbic CSTC loop connectivity. Hum Brain Mapp 35:2852–2860, 2014. © 2013 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
Different effects of the ABCG2 c.421C>A SNP on the pharmacokinetics of fluvastatin, pravastatin and simvastatin.

AIMS This study aimed to investigate possible effects of the ABCG2 c.421C>A (p.Gln141Lys; rs2231142) genotype on fluvastatin, pravastatin and simvastatin pharmacokinetics. MATERIALS & METHODS In a crossover study, five healthy volunteers with the ABCG2 c.421A/A genotype, four with the c.421C/A genotype and 23 with the c.421C/C genotype ingested a single 40-mg dose of fluvastatin, pravastatin and simvastatin, with a washout period of 1 week. Plasma statin concentrations were measured up to 12 h. RESULTS The estimated marginal mean area under the plasma concentration-time curve from 0 h to infinity (AUC(0-infinity)) of fluvastatin was 97% (p = 0.015) or 72% (p = 0.009) larger in participants with the A/A genotype than in those with the C/A or C/C genotype. The AUC(0-infinity) of simvastatin lactone was 111% (p = 0.005) larger in participants with the A/A genotype than in participants with the C/C genotype. The simvastatin acid:lactone AUC(0-infinity) ratio was 46% (p = 0.017) smaller in individuals with the A/A genotype than in those with the C/C genotype. The ABCG2 genotype had no significant effect on simvastatin acid or pravastatin pharmacokinetics. CONCLUSIONS Genetic variability in ABCG2 markedly affects the pharmacokinetics of fluvastatin and simvastatin lactone, but has no significant effect on pravastatin or active simvastatin acid. Genotyping for ABCG2 in addition to SLCO1B1 and ABCB1 polymorphisms could help in predicting statin pharmacokinetics when selecting a statin and its dose for an individual patient.
Comparing Disciplinary Infraction Rates of North Carolina Fair Sentencing and Structured Sentencing Inmates: A Natural Experiment

Using data collected from June 1, 1995, to August 30, 1996, the researchers compared the disciplinary conviction rates of North Carolina prison inmates admitted during the study period before the truth-in-sentencing law and inmates admitted during that period under the truth-in-sentencing law. Based on deterrence theory, the researchers hypothesized that pre-truth-in-sentencing inmates, who could lose time off for good behavior and parole as results of a disciplinary conviction, would have higher disciplinary conviction rates than truth-in-sentencing inmates. Truth-in-sentencing inmates, with shorter sentences, could lose neither time off for good behavior nor parole as a result of disciplinary conviction. Cox regression and negative binomial regression procedures using control variables identified in the research literature generally supported the research hypotheses.
Sociology contra government? The contest for the meaning of unemployment in UK policy debates

The 1980s witnessed an intense political and ideological struggle over unemployment in Britain, which often involved sociologists defending the unemployed against real or perceived governmental attacks on their work ethic. Notwithstanding valid criticisms of the practical efficacy of supply-side unemployment policies, this rebuttal of governmental`victim-blaming'tactics restricted a deeper critique of the meaning and purpose of work, and perversely helped to reproduce a moral discourse of work in symbiosis with the Thatcher government. Subsequent critiques of New Labour policies have frequently perpetuated this moral discourse, through explicitly or tacitly positing (paid) `work' as the preferred or only `solution' to the `problem' of unemployment.An alternative solution could be a guaranteed income policy. This could both challenge the moral discourse of work and direct policy critique away from areas that teleologically inscribe preferred lifestyles such as that of paid worker.
Metabolic and hormonal effects of antenatal betamethasone after 35 weeks of gestation.

BACKGROUND Antenatal corticosteroid therapy recently has been considered for term and near-term infants, in addition to preterm infants, delivered by elective cesarean section, with the aim of preventing an adverse respiratory outcome. OBJECTIVES The objective of this study was to investigate hormonal and metabolic effects of antenatal betamethasone when administered to term fetuses. METHODS Cord blood levels of cortisol, C-peptide, insulin-like growth factor I and its binding protein 3, and 5 more analytes including glucose were measured in singleton newborns of over 35 weeks of gestational age. In anticipation of a cesarean delivery, the mother was either treated or not treated with 12 mg of intramuscularly administered antenatal betamethasone approximately 24 hours prior to birth. Babies of comparable gestational age, sex, and nutritional status who were not treated antenatally served as controls. RESULTS Cord serum cortisol levels of the betamethasone-treated fetuses were suppressed to <10% of that of untreated controls (median levels of 11.6 nmol/L vs. 138.2 nmol/L, respectively), and their C-peptide and glucose levels were significantly higher (2.85 mcg/L vs. 1.19 mcg/L, respectively, p < 0.0001; and 62.5 mg/dL vs. 56.0 mg/dL, respectively, p = 0.01). CONCLUSIONS Prophylactic betamethasone therapy causes immediate hormonal alterations, which might interfere with the metabolic adaptation of the newborn. This issue deserves thorough investigation.
Eastern Mediterranean surface water temperatures and delta O-18 composition during deposition of sapropels in the late Quaternary

[ 1 ] Water column stratification increased at climatic transitions from cold to warm periods during the late Quaternary and led to anoxic conditions and sapropel formation in the deep eastern Mediterranean basins. High-resolution data sets on sea-surface temperatures (SST) (estimated from U 37k 0 indices) and d 18 O of planktonic foraminifer calcite ( d 18 O fc ) across late Pleistocene sapropel intervals show that d 18 O fc decreased (between 1 and 4.6 % ) and SST increased (between 0.7 (cid:2) and 6.7 (cid:2) C). Maximal d 18 O seawater depletion of eastern Mediterranean surface waters at the transition is between 0.5 and 3.0 % , and in all but one case exceeded the depletion seen in a western Mediterranean core. The depletion in d 18 O seawater is most pronounced at sapropel bases, in agreement with an initial sudden input of monsoon-derived freshwater. Most sapropels coincide with warming trends of SST. The density decrease by initial freshwater input and continued warming of the sea surface pooled fresh water in the surface layer and prohibited deep convection down to ageing deep water emplaced during cold and arid glacial conditions. An exception to this pattern is ‘‘glacial’’ sapropel S6; its largest d 18 O seawater depletion (3 % ) is almost matched by the depletion in the western Mediterranean Sea, and it is accompanied by surface water cooling following an initially rapid warming phase. A second period of significant isotopic depletion is in isotope stage 6 at the 150 kyr insolation maximum. While not expressed as a sapropel due to cold
Transgender Emotional and Coping Processes

Eighteen transgender-identified individuals participated in semi-structured interviews regarding emotional and coping processes throughout their gender transition. The authors used grounded theory to conceptualize and analyze the data. There were three distinct phases through which the participants described emotional and coping experiences: (a) pretransition, (b) during the transition, and (c) posttransition. Five separate themes emerged, including descriptions of coping mechanisms, emotional hardship, lack of support, positive social support, and affirmative emotional experiences. The authors developed a model to describe the role of coping mechanisms and support experienced throughout the transition process. As participants continued through their transitions, emotional hardships lessened and they used facilitative coping mechanisms that in turn led to affirmative emotional experiences. The results of this study are indicative of the importance of guiding transgender individuals through facilitative coping experiences and providing social support throughout the transition process. Implications for counselors and for future research are discussed.
Toward Teacher Education Research That Informs Policy

This article investigates the extent to which researchers are currently engaged in a shared research program that offers systematic evidence of the classroom impact of organized venues (preservice as well as inservice) for teacher professional learning. The article stems from concern about policies rooted in suspicion that teacher education is either ineffective or tangential to improving outcomes for students, as well as earlier findings that far too little teacher education research has been designed to address that suspicion with data (Cochran-Smith & Zeichner, 2005; Yoon, Duncan, Lee, Scarloss, and Shapely, 2007). An analysis of 196 articles published in 2012 in four leading teacher education journals internationally found only 1% to report large-scale mixed-methods studies, only 6% to examine the impact of teacher education on teaching practice and/or student learning, and most of the rest to be conducted within rather than across silos. Three recommendations for strengthening teacher education research are offered.
Developing a Computer Workshop To Facilitate Computer Skills and Minimize Anxiety for Early Childhood Educators

Early childhood educators (n = 133) were assigned to 1 of 3 instructional conditions (direct, guided discovery, or no-exposure control) to assess the impact of computer workshops on their level of computer anxiety, computer knowledge, and comfort with computer technology. Groups were matched for computer experience and anxiety, early childhood education (ECE) experience, and ECE center. The direct and guided discovery groups attended a 3-hr hands-on workshop covering hardware, software, and Internet material. Immediately after the workshops, computer anxiety was lower and comfort with computer technology increased. Six months later, the control group had reduced computer anxiety, but the other groups maintained greater knowledge and comfort. Direct instruction reduced computer anxiety slightly but did not promote the acquisition of information of the guided condition. Overall, workshops provided gains that could translate into more effective and efficient computer use in the classroom.
Glider Dynamics in 3-Value Hexagonal Cellular Automata: The Beehive Rule

We present a 3-value cellular automaton which supports gliders, gliderguns and self-reproduction or self-destruction by glider collisions. The complex dynamics emerge spontaneously in both 2d and 3d according to the 6-neighbor, k-totalistic, “beehive” rule; the 2d dynamics on a hexagonal lattice is examined in detail. We show how analogous complex rules can be found, firstly by mutating a complex rule to produce a family of related complex rules, and secondly by classifying rule-space by inputentropy variance. A variety of complex rules opens up the possibility of finding a common thread to distinguish those few rules from the rest: an underlying principle of self-organization?
Poly(D,L-Lactide-Co-Glycolide) microspheres containing 5-fluorouracil: Optimization of process parameters

The objective of this research was to optimize the processing parameters for poly(D,L-lactide-coglycolide) (PLGA) microspheres of 5-fluorouracil (5-FU) and to mathematically relate the process parameters and properties of microspheres. Microspheres were prepared by a water-in-oil-in-water emulsion solvent evaporation technique. A 32 factorial design was employed to study the effect of the volume of the internal phase of the primary emulsion and the volume of the external phase of the secondary emulsion on yield, particle size, and encapsulation efficiency of microspheres. An increase in the volume of the internal phase of the primary emulsion resulted in a decrease in yield and encapsulation efficiency and an increase in particle size of microspheres. When the volume of the external phase of the secondary emulsion was increased, a decrease in yield, particle size, and encapsulation efficiency was observed. Microspheres with good batch-to-batch reproducibility could be produced. Scanning electron microscopic study indicated that microspheres existed as aggregates.
What is Valuable and Unique about the Educational Psychologist?

This paper describes a small‐scale piece of research identifying which aspects of the EP role are considered valuable by SENCos and by EPs themselves. In addition, both groups were asked to identify whether they felt these aspects were uniquely offered by EPs or whether other professionals offered similar or identical services. The differences between responses from SENCos and from EPs were marked, with SENCos valuing ‘traditional’ EP roles while EPs themselves saw a much wider range of services as valuable to schools. Implications for the EP team in addressing these conflicting perspectives are discussed.
An evaluation of voice recognition software for use in interview-based research: a research note

This small research project investigated whether it was feasible and beneficial to use voice recognition software to transcribe tape recordings of multiple voices. Two methods of use were trialed and it rapidly became clear that the ‘listen and repeat’ method was the leading contender. Through an iterative process, we developed guidelines to increase the usefulness of the software for research purposes, the main points of which are incorporated in this report. Our results suggest that voice recognition software has many advantages, and few disadvantages. It is of particular use for researchers for whom prolonged keyboard work is difficult or unsafe and for researchers with slow typing speeds, but any researcher may find it advantageous.
Is Test-Driven External Accountability Effective? Synthesizing the Evidence From Cross-State Causal-Comparative and Correlational Studies

In the midst of keen controversies on the impact of high-stakes testing and test-driven external accountability policy, the more balanced and careful selection, interpretation, and use of scientific research evidence are crucial. This article offers a critical synthesis of cross-state causal-comparative and correlational studies that explored the effects of test-driven external accountability policies on reading and math achievement. A meta-analysis of 76 effect-size estimates from 14 selected studies showed a modestly positive effect on average but no significant effect on the racial achievement gap. Nevertheless, this review calls for further evidence on the policy-outcome linkage, revealing limitations, uncertainties, and inconsistencies in many findings. The author explores variations among the studies in terms of independent and dependent variables, analytical samples and methods, and the reporting of statistical and practical significance. Implications for accountability policy and research under the No Child Left Behind Act are discussed.