Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Deep Supervised, but Not Unsupervised, Models May Explain IT Cortical Representation

Inferior temporal (IT) cortex in human and nonhuman primates serves visual object recognition. Computational object-vision models, although continually improving, do not yet reach human performance. It is unclear to what extent the internal representations of computational models can explain the IT representation. Here we investigate a wide range of computational model representations (37 in total), testing their categorization performance and their ability to account for the IT representational geometry. The models include well-known neuroscientific object-recognition models (e.g. HMAX, VisNet) along with several models from computer vision (e.g. SIFT, GIST, self-similarity features, and a deep convolutional neural network). We compared the representational dissimilarity matrices (RDMs) of the model representations with the RDMs obtained from human IT (measured with fMRI) and monkey IT (measured with cell recording) for the same set of stimuli (not used in training the models). Better performing models were more similar to IT in that they showed greater clustering of representational patterns by category. In addition, better performing models also more strongly resembled IT in terms of their within-category representational dissimilarities. Representational geometries were significantly correlated between IT and many of the models. However, the categorical clustering observed in IT was largely unexplained by the unsupervised models. The deep convolutional network, which was trained by supervision with over a million category-labeled images, reached the highest categorization performance and also best explained IT, although it did not fully explain the IT data. Combining the features of this model with appropriate weights and adding linear combinations that maximize the margin between animate and inanimate objects and between faces and other objects yielded a representation that fully explained our IT data. Overall, our results suggest that explaining IT requires computational features trained through supervised learning to emphasize the behaviorally important categorical divisions prominently reflected in IT.
VLA 8.4-GHz monitoring observations of the CLASS gravitational lens B1933+503

The complex 10-component gravitational lens system B1933+503 has been monitored with the Very Large Array (VLA) during the period 1998 February-June with a view to measuring the time delay between the four compact components and hence to determine the Hubble parameter H-0. Here we present the results of an 'A' configuration 8.4-GHz monitoring campaign that consists of 37 epochs with an average spacing of 2.8 d. The data have yielded light curves for the four flat-spectrum radio components (components 1, 3, 4 and 6). We observe only small flux density changes in the four flat-spectrum components that we do not believe are predominantly intrinsic to the source. Therefore the variations do not allow us to determine the independent time delays in this system. However, the data do allow us to accurately determine the flux density ratios between the four flat-spectrum components. These will prove important as modelling constraints and could prove crucial in future monitoring observations should these data show only a monotonic increase or decrease in the flux densities of the flat-spectrum components.
Mutability Dynamics of an Emergent Single Stranded DNA Virus in a Naïve Host

Quasispecies variants and recombination were studied longitudinally in an emergent outbreak of beak and feather disease virus (BFDV) infection in the orange-bellied parrot (Neophema chrysogaster). Detailed health monitoring and the small population size (<300 individuals) of this critically endangered bird provided an opportunity to longitudinally track viral replication and mutation events occurring in a circular, single-stranded DNA virus over a period of four years within a novel bottleneck population. Optimized PCR was used with different combinations of primers, primer walking, direct amplicon sequencing and sequencing of cloned amplicons to analyze BFDV genome variants. Analysis of complete viral genomes (n = 16) and Rep gene sequences (n = 35) revealed that the outbreak was associated with mutations in functionally important regions of the normally conserved Rep gene and immunogenic capsid (Cap) gene with a high evolutionary rate (3.41×10−3 subs/site/year) approaching that for RNA viruses; simultaneously we observed significant evidence of recombination hotspots between two distinct progenitor genotypes within orange-bellied parrots indicating early cross-transmission of BFDV in the population. Multiple quasispecies variants were also demonstrated with at least 13 genotypic variants identified in four different individual birds, with one containing up to seven genetic variants. Preferential PCR amplification of variants was also detected. Our findings suggest that the high degree of genetic variation within the BFDV species as a whole is reflected in evolutionary dynamics within individually infected birds as quasispecies variation, particularly when BFDV jumps from one host species to another.
State-making at Gunpoint: The Role of Violent Conflict in Somaliland’s March to Statehood

Abstract The role of war in processes of state-making has long been hotly disputed. Although generally considered an African ‘success story’, the case of Somaliland, whose unilateral declaration of independence was embedded in violent conflict, may be instructive. Applying the conceptual prism of ‘rule standardization’, this article argues that episodes of large-scale violence were constitutive of Somaliland’s state-making trajectory. Based on theoretical reasoning and empirical findings, the article concludes that, while collective political violence is neither an angel of order nor a daemon of decay, war can be constitutive of state-making under the condition that it advances institutional and identity standardization.
Does Perfectionism Predict Depression, Anxiety, Stress, and Life Satisfaction After Controlling for Neuroticism?: A Study of Canadian and Chinese Undergraduates

Neuroticism overlaps substantially with several perfectionism dimensions, depression, anxiety, stress, and life satisfaction. Accordingly, research testing whether perfectionism dimensions explain unique variance in these outcomes beyond neuroticism is needed. Research on cultural differences in perfectionism is also scarce. And it is especially unclear whether the link between perfectionism and psychological distress differs across individualistic and collectivistic cultures. Our study addressed these important gaps in knowledge. A sample of undergraduates from a traditionally individualistic culture (Canada; N = 449) and a traditionally collectivistic culture (China; N = 585) completed measures of self-oriented perfectionism, personal standards, socially prescribed perfectionism, concern over mistakes, doubts about actions, depression, anxiety, stress, and satisfaction with life. To test the incremental validity of perfectionism dimensions beyond neuroticism, as well as to test potential moderating effects of culture, four hierarchical regression analyses with interactions were conducted. Results supported the explanatory power of concern over mistakes and doubts about actions, beyond neuroticism and culture, in the prediction of depression, anxiety, and stress. As the first study to explore the incremental validity of perfectionism dimensions across undergraduates from traditionally individualistic and collectivistic cultures, our research both extends and clarifies understanding of the predictive power of perfectionism in important ways.
Strengthening Conditional Presuppositions

In this paper it will be shown how conditional presuppositions can be strengthened to unconditional ones if we assume that the antecedent and consequent of a conditional presupposition are independent of one another. Our notion of independence is very weak, and based on Lewis' (1988) notion of orthogonality of questions. It will be argued that our way of strengthening these presuppositions does not give rise to some wrong predictions Geurts (1996) argued other proposed strengthening accounts do.
Understanding e-Learners ’ Satisfaction with Learning Management Systems

Our university has recently transitioned from a home-grown learning management system (LMS), online instructor suite (OIS), to an open-source LMS, Moodle. Reactions of students to the new LMS range from “extremely dislike” to “extremely like. ” This study tested a model for determining e-learner satisfaction with LMS using WarpPLS. Of the four antecedent constructs hypothesized to affect user satisfaction with LMS, only two (information quality and readiness for online learning) are significant, while both learners’ psychological variables (self-efficacy) and psychological learning process (self-regulated learning management) failed to show significant and positive relationships with elearner satisfaction with LMS.
Age‐related decline in brain white matter anisotropy measured with spatially corrected echo‐planar diffusion tensor imaging

Echo planar (EP) diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) permits in vivo identification of the orientation and coherence of brain white matter tracts but suffers from field inhomogeneity‐induced geometric distortion. To reduce spatial distortion, polynomial warping corrections were applied and the effects tested on measures of fractional anisotropy (FA) in the genu and splenium of corpus callosum. Implementation entailed spatially warping EP images obtained without diffusion weighting (b = 0) to long‐echo T2‐weighted fast spin echo images, collected for anatomical delineation, tissue segmentation, and coregistration with the diffusion images. Using the optimal warping procedure (third‐order polynomial), the effects of age on FA and a quantitative measure of intervoxel coherence (C) in the genu, splenium, centrum semiovale, and frontal and parietal pericallosal white matter were examined in 31 healthy men (23–76 years). FA declined significantly with age in all regions except the splenium, whereas intervoxel coherence positively correlated with age in the genu. Magn Reson Med 44:259–268, 2000. © 2000 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
Self-Awareness and Leadership Skills of Female Students in Outdoor Camp

This study aims to determine the role of youth camp practices, organised by the Ministry of Youth and Sports, in the development of self-awareness and leadership skills of female students participating in youth camps. As a result of analysis of the data collected with triangulation method -observation, focus group discussions and document analysis-, common ten (10) kernel categories were obtained. These themes are prejudice, communication, friendships, acculturation, team work, responsibility, self-confidence, consciousness, volunteering and taking role model. Finally, it is determined that youth camp practices contribute in the development of self-awareness and leadership skills in female students according to “obtained kernel themes”.
Who Learns More? Cultural Differences in Implicit Sequence Learning

Background It is well documented that East Asians differ from Westerners in conscious perception and attention. However, few studies have explored cultural differences in unconscious processes such as implicit learning. Methodology/Principal Findings The global-local Navon letters were adopted in the serial reaction time (SRT) task, during which Chinese and British participants were instructed to respond to global or local letters, to investigate whether culture influences what people acquire in implicit sequence learning. Our results showed that from the beginning British expressed a greater local bias in perception than Chinese, confirming a cultural difference in perception. Further, over extended exposure, the Chinese learned the target regularity better than the British when the targets were global, indicating a global advantage for Chinese in implicit learning. Moreover, Chinese participants acquired greater unconscious knowledge of an irrelevant regularity than British participants, indicating that the Chinese were more sensitive to contextual regularities than the British. Conclusions/Significance The results suggest that cultural biases can profoundly influence both what people consciously perceive and unconsciously learn.
Minor effect of GLUT1 polymorphisms on susceptibility to diabetic nephropathy in type 1 diabetes.

Elevation of intracellular glucose in mesangial cells as mediated by GLUT1 may be important in initiating cellular mechanisms that cause diabetic nephropathy. To determine whether DNA sequence differences in GLUT1 confer susceptibility to this complication, single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in this gene were examined using a large case-control study. SNPs examined included the known XbaI (intron 2) and HaeIII SNPs (exon 2). Four novel SNPs located in three putative enhancers were also investigated. Homozygosity for the XbaI(-) allele was associated with diabetic nephropathy (odds ratio 1.83 [95% CI 1.01-3.33]). Furthermore, homozygosity for the A allele for a novel SNP (enhancer-2 SNP 1) located in a putative insulin-responsive enhancer-2 was associated with diabetic nephropathy (2.38 [1.16-4.90]). Patients who were homozygous for risk alleles at both XbaI SNP and enhancer-2 SNP 1 [i.e., homozygosity for XbaI(-)/A haplotype] also had an increased risk of diabetic nephropathy (2.40 [1.13-5.07]). Because enhancer-2 SNP 1 may directly control GLUT1 expression, the strong linkage disequilibrium between the two SNPs likely accounts for XbaI SNP being associated with diabetic nephropathy. In conclusion, our study confirms that SNPs at the GLUT1 locus are associated with susceptibility to diabetic nephropathy in type 1 diabetes. Although these SNPs confer a considerable personal risk for diabetic nephropathy, they account for a limited proportion of cases among type 1 diabetic patients.
Significance of resistin expression in acute pancreatitis

The aim of the present study was to detect the expression of resistin in rats with acute pancreatitis (AP) and investigate its significance in the pathogenesis of AP. In total, 40 Sprague-Dawley rats were randomly divided into four groups (n=10), including the normal control, sham-operated, acute edematous pancreatitis (AEP) and acute necrotizing pancreatitis (ANP) groups. Following the establishment of animal models, the levels of serum resistin, C-reactive protein (CRP), tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α) and interleukin (IL)-1β were measured using ELISA. Resistin expression in the pancreatic tissues was detected using an immunohistochemical method. In addition, the mRNA expression of resistin in the pancreatic tissues was analyzed with quantitative polymerase chain reaction. The levels of serum amylase, serum resistin, TNF-α, IL-1β and CRP were all significantly higher in the AEP and ANP groups when compared with the control and sham-operated groups (P<0.01), as were the pancreas/body weight ratios and pathological scores of the pancreas. These increases were more significant in the ANP group than in the AEP group (P<0.05). The mRNA expression levels of resistin in the pancreatic tissues were markedly higher in the AEP and ANP groups when compared with the control and sham-operated groups (P<0.01), particularly in the pancreatic tissues of the ANP group, which exhibited notably higher levels compared with the AEP group. The serum resistin level was found to positively correlate with the serum levels of CRP, TNF-α and IL-1β, and the pathological scores of the pancreatic tissues. In conclusion, the results indicated that resistin may be associated with the occurrence and development of AP; thus, the protein may be a valuable indicator for assessing the severity of AP.
Remote Sensing Radiometric Calibration of Terrestrial Laser Scanners with External Reference Targets

The intensity data produced by terrestrial laser scanners has become a topic of increasing interest in the remote sensing community. We present a case study of radiometric calibration for two phase-shift continuous wave (CW) terrestrial scanners and discuss some major issues in correcting and applying the intensity data, and a practical calibration scheme based on external reference targets. There are differences in the operation of detectors of different (although similar type) instruments, and the detector effects must be known in order to calibrate the intensity data into values representing the target reflectance. It is, therefore, important that the effects of distance and target reflectance on the recorded intensity are carefully studied before using the intensity data from any terrestrial laser scanner.
Adaptive quantization by soft thresholding in HEVC

The High Efficiency Video Coding (HEVC) reference encoder includes a Uniform Reconstruction Quantization (URQ) method. This block level quantization technique does not take into account the importance of transform coefficients in terms of signal reconstruction. In this paper, we present a transform coefficient level quantization technique based on a soft thresholding approach, in which the quantization parameter (QP) of a transform coefficient is altered according to its importance in the signal reconstruction process and according to the overall energy of the corresponding Transform Block (TB). The proposed method attains important coding efficiency performance gains as measured by the Bjøntegaard Delta Bitrate metric (BD-Rate). In comparison with reference encoder HM 16, our technique produces both luma and chroma BD-Rate improvements in all JCT-VC test sequences, particularly for sequences in Class E using the Low Delay B and Low Delay P configurations, with BD-Rate reductions of up to 5.5% (Y), 13.2% (Cb) and 11.7% (Cr).
Learning analytics for online discussions: a pedagogical model for intervention with embedded and extracted analytics

This paper describes an application of learning analytics that builds on an existing research program investigating how students contribute and attend to the messages of others in online discussions. A pedagogical model that translates the concepts and findings of the research program into guidelines for practice and analytics with which students and instructors can assess their discussion participation are presented. The analytics are both embedded in the learning environment and extracted from it, allowing for integrated and reflective metacognitive activity. The pedagogical intervention is based on the principles of (1) Integration (2) Diversity (of Metrics) (3) Agency (4) Reflection (5) Parity and (6) Dialogue. Details of an initial implementation of this approach and preliminary findings are described. Initial results strongly support the value of student-teacher dialogue around the analytics. In contrast, instructor parity in analytics use did not seem as important to students as was expected. Analytics were reported as useful in validating invisible discussion activity, but at times triggered emotionally-charged responses.
Father’s involvement and parenting styles in Portuguese families. The role of education and working hours

Early studies on fathers focused mainly on his presence in or absence from children’s lives, and the amount of time they spent with them. More recently, several authors have stated the importance of understanding the quality of father involvement to comprehend fully its impact on child development. However, studies have also reported that socio-demographic variables, namely, father educational levels and employment status affect parenting and children outcomes. The aims of this study were to analyze a sample of 465 Portuguese two-parent families with pre-school age children, looking for associations between father involvement in care/socialization activities and paternal parenting styles while testing for the moderating effect of father educational levels and working hours. Fathers reported on their own parenting styles and mothers described the father’s involvement. Fathers’ working hours moderated the relation between his authoritative parenting style and involvement in teaching/discipline and play activities. In addition, fathers’ education moderated the relation between his authoritative style and involvement in direct care and teaching/discipline. Given the different roles that fathers can assume in their children’s lives, it is important to understand the mechanisms of paternal participation, and identify the factors which explain the differences in effective care so that we can promote higher positive involvement.
Some algebraic fixed point theorems for multi-valued mappings with applications

In this paper, some algebraic fixed point theorems for multi-valued discontinuous operators on ordered spaces are proved. These theorems improve the earlier fixed point theorems of Dhage (1988, 1991) Dhage and Regan (2002) and Heikkila and Hu (1993) under weaker conditions. The main fixed point theorems are applied to the first order discontinuous differential inclusions for proving the existence of the solutions under certain monotonicity condition of multi-functions.