Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Reinforcement Learning to Rank with Markov Decision Process

One of the central issues in learning to rank for information retrieval is to develop algorithms that construct ranking models by directly optimizing evaluation measures such as normalized discounted cumulative gain~(ND CG). Existing methods usually focus on optimizing a specific evaluation measure calculated at a fixed position, e.g., NDCG calculated at a fixed position K. In information retrieval the evaluation measures, including the widely used NDCG and P@K, are usually designed to evaluate the document ranking at all of the ranking positions, which provide much richer information than only measuring the document ranking at a single position. Thus, it is interesting to ask if we can devise an algorithm that has the ability of leveraging the measures calculated at all of the ranking postilions, for learning a better ranking model. In this paper, we propose a novel learning to rank model on the basis of Markov decision process (MDP), referred to as MDPRank. In the learning phase of MDPRank, the construction of a document ranking is considered as a sequential decision making, each corresponds to an action of selecting a document for the corresponding position. The policy gradient algorithm of REINFORCE is adopted to train the model parameters. The evaluation measures calculated at every ranking positions are utilized as the immediate rewards to the corresponding actions, which guide the learning algorithm to adjust the model parameters so that the measure is optimized. Experimental results on LETOR benchmark datasets showed that MDPRank can outperform the state-of-the-art baselines.
Smoking during pregnancy and ADHD risk: A genetically informed, multiple‐rater approach

Maternal smoking during pregnancy (SDP) is a significant public health concern with adverse consequences to the health and well‐being of the developing child, including behavioral outcomes such as Attention–Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD). There is substantial interest in understanding the nature of this reported association, particularly in light of more recent genetically informed studies that suggest that the SDP‐ADHD link is less clear than once thought. In a sample of families (N = 173) specifically selected for sibling pairs discordant for prenatal smoking exposure, we use a sibling‐comparison approach that controls for shared genetic and familial influences to assess the effects of SDP on ADHD symptom dimensions. ADHD was measured by both parent and teacher report on the Conners report forms and the Child Behavior Checklist/Teacher Report Form (CBCL/TRF). Results for the CBCL/TRF Total ADHD score are consistent with prior genetically informed approaches and suggest that previously reported associations between SDP and ADHD are largely due to familial confounding rather than causal teratogenic effects. However, results from the Conners parent report suggest a potentially causal effect of SDP on hyperactive/impulsive and, to a lesser extent, total ADHD symptoms; SDP results in increased parent‐reported hyperactive/impulsive and total ADHD symptoms even after accounting for genetic and familial confounding factors. This suggests that the Conners assessment (parent‐report) may provide a sensitive measure for use in studies examining child specific SDP effects on continuous and dimensional aspects of ADHD. © 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
Electrospinning Nanofibers as Uniaxially Aligned Arrays and Layer‐by‐Layer Stacked Films

The conventional procedure for electrospinning has been modified to generate nanofibers as uniaxially aligned arrays over large areas. The key to the success of this method was the use of a collector composed of two conductive strips separated by an insulating gap of variable width. Directed by electrostatic interactions, the charged nanofibers were stretched to span across the gap and became uniaxially aligned arrays. Two types of gaps have been demonstrated: void gaps and gaps made of a highly insulating material. When a void gap was used, the nanofibers could readily be transferred onto the surfaces of other substrates for various applications. When an insulating substrate was involved, the electrodes could be patterned in various designs on the solid insulator. In both cases, the nanofibers could be conveniently stacked into multi‐layered architectures with controllable hierarchical structures. This new version of electrospinning has already been successfully applied to a range of different materials that include organic polymers, carbon, ceramics, and composites.
The Class Number of the Cyclotomic Field.

1. Let g denote any odd prime and h = h(g) the class number of the cyclotomic field R(r), where r is the primitive gth root of unity, R the rational numbers. It is known that we can write: h = h1h2, where hi and h2 (both integers) are the so-called first and second factors of the class number; in fact h2 is the class number of the real field of degree 2 under R(r), namely the field R(D + D-). Kummer conjectured (J. Math., 16, 473 (1851)) that g(g+3)/4 hl t-2(9-3)/2 (g-1)/2 = G. (1)
Phenological Changes in the Southern Hemisphere

Current evidence of phenological responses to recent climate change is substantially biased towards northern hemisphere temperate regions. Given regional differences in climate change, shifts in phenology will not be uniform across the globe, and conclusions drawn from temperate systems in the northern hemisphere might not be applicable to other regions on the planet. We conduct the largest meta-analysis to date of phenological drivers and trends among southern hemisphere species, assessing 1208 long-term datasets from 89 studies on 347 species. Data were mostly from Australasia (Australia and New Zealand), South America and the Antarctic/subantarctic, and focused primarily on plants and birds. This meta-analysis shows an advance in the timing of spring events (with a strong Australian data bias), although substantial differences in trends were apparent among taxonomic groups and regions. When only statistically significant trends were considered, 82% of terrestrial datasets and 42% of marine datasets demonstrated an advance in phenology. Temperature was most frequently identified as the primary driver of phenological changes; however, in many studies it was the only climate variable considered. When precipitation was examined, it often played a key role but, in contrast with temperature, the direction of phenological shifts in response to precipitation variation was difficult to predict a priori. We discuss how phenological information can inform the adaptive capacity of species, their resilience, and constraints on autonomous adaptation. We also highlight serious weaknesses in past and current data collection and analyses at large regional scales (with very few studies in the tropics or from Africa) and dramatic taxonomic biases. If accurate predictions regarding the general effects of climate change on the biology of organisms are to be made, data collection policies focussing on targeting data-deficient regions and taxa need to be financially and logistically supported.
Research in and Prospects for the Measurement of Health Using Self-Rated Health.

Self-rated health (SRH)-for example, "in general would you say your health is excellent, very good, good, fair, or poor? "-is the most widely used measure of health across a range of survey research studies. This paper synthesizes extant research and provides a framework for future research on the measurement of health using SRH, focusing on four interrelated topics: the factors that influence respondents' health ratings, the survey measurement features of SRH, how SRH answers are analyzed, and the stated purpose of SRH as a proxy for more objective health or as a perception of health. Extant research on the health, psychological, and social factors influencing respondents' SRH answers is reviewed, as is research concerned with the survey measurement features of SRH that influence how respondents rate their health. The synthesis proposes a framework for future research that focuses on further explicating the factors that underlie respondents' SRH answers and improving features of SRH measurement and analysis in ways that are consistent with the various goals of the researchers who both collect and analyze the data.
Prostitution Stigma and Its Effect on the Working Conditions, Personal Lives, and Health of Sex Workers

Researchers have shown that stigma is a fundamental determinant of behavior, well-being, and health for many marginalized groups, but sex workers are notably absent from their analyses. This article aims to fill the empirical research gap on sex workers by reviewing the mounting evidence of stigmatization attached to sex workers’ occupation, often referred to as “prostitution” or “whore” stigma. We give special attention to its negative effect on the working conditions, personal lives, and health of sex workers. The article first draws attention to the problem of terminology related to the subject area and makes the case for consideration of prostitution stigmatization as a fundamental cause of social inequality. We then examined the sources of prostitution stigma at macro, meso, and micro levels. The third section focuses on tactics sex workers employ to manage, reframe, or resist occupational stigma. We conclude with a call for more comparative studies of stigma related to sex work to contribute to the general stigma literature, as well as social policy and law reform.
Patterns of Plant Biomass Allocation in Temperate Grasslands across a 2500-km Transect in Northern China

Plant biomass allocation between below- and above-ground parts can actively adapt to the ambient growth conditions and is a key parameter for estimating terrestrial ecosystem carbon (C) stocks. To investigate how climatic variations affect patterns of plant biomass allocation, we sampled 548 plants belonging to four dominant genera (Stipa spp., Cleistogenes spp., Agropyron spp., and Leymus spp.) along a large-scale (2500 km) climatic gradient across the temperate grasslands from west to east in northern China. Our results showed that Leymus spp. had the lowest root/shoot ratios among the each genus. Root/shoot ratios of each genera were positively correlated with mean annual temperature (MAT), and negatively correlated with mean annual precipitation (MAP) across the transect. Temperature contributed more to the variation of root/shoot ratios than precipitation for Cleistogenes spp. (C4 plants), whereas precipitation exerted a stronger influence than temperature on their variations for the other three genera (C3 plants). From east to west, investment of C into the belowground parts increased as precipitation decreased while temperature increased. Such changes in biomass allocation patterns in response to climatic factors may alter the competition regimes among co-existing plants, resulting in changes in community composition, structure and ecosystem functions. Our results suggested that future climate change would have great impact on C allocation and storage, as well as C turnover in the grassland ecosystems in northern China.
Detection and avoidance of a carnivore odor by prey

Predator–prey relationships provide a classic paradigm for the study of innate animal behavior. Odors from carnivores elicit stereotyped fear and avoidance responses in rodents, although sensory mechanisms involved are largely unknown. Here, we identified a chemical produced by predators that activates a mouse olfactory receptor and produces an innate behavioral response. We purified this predator cue from bobcat urine and identified it to be a biogenic amine, 2-phenylethylamine. Quantitative HPLC analysis across 38 mammalian species indicates enriched 2-phenylethylamine production by numerous carnivores, with some producing >3,000-fold more than herbivores examined. Calcium imaging of neuronal responses in mouse olfactory tissue slices identified dispersed carnivore odor-selective sensory neurons that also responded to 2-phenylethylamine. Two prey species, rat and mouse, avoid a 2-phenylethylamine odor source, and loss-of-function studies involving enzymatic depletion of 2-phenylethylamine from a carnivore odor indicate it to be required for full avoidance behavior. Thus, rodent olfactory sensory neurons and chemosensory receptors have the capacity for recognizing interspecies odors. One such cue, carnivore-derived 2-phenylethylamine, is a key component of a predator odor blend that triggers hard-wired aversion circuits in the rodent brain. These data show how a single, volatile chemical detected in the environment can drive an elaborate danger-associated behavioral response in mammals.
Object Detection and Tracking for Creation of Interactive Videos

Object detection is a fundamental approach in creating interactive videos. In this thesis, we propose a new method for object detection, combining object recognition with tracking in a neural network. Specifically, we use GoogLeNet as a feature extractor, and then apply a long short-term memory (LSTM) network to further adjust the feature vectors extracted by GoogLeNet according to the context of the feature vectors of the previous frame. We feed the output of the LSTM to a classifier and regressor as in the Overfeat network, to obtain predicted confidences and predicted bounding boxes. We pre-train the feature extractor on ImageNet datasets, then evaluate our network on OTB100 dataset. We compare our results to results obtained without tracking. Our model shows a better performance at predicting objects in frames where occlusion and background clutter appear, and results in more consistent object bounding boxes across frames.
Robust PID autopilot design for back-to-tum missile

This paper presents a robust proportional-integral-derivative (PID) control autopilot design method for the BTT (Back-to-turn) missile. Robust PID control scheme is designed to stabilize the three channels and to compensate the lumped disturbances consisting of non-linear couplings and external disturbances. The robust PID control parameters are obtained using Kharitnov theorem and control scheme is designed separately for the each subsystem. The effect of proposed control demonstrated with simulation results in the presence of external, disturbances, non-linear couplings, and parameter perturbations.
Corneal collagen cross-linking as treatment for infectious and noninfectious corneal melting in cats and dogs: results of a prospective, nonrandomized, controlled trial.

OBJECTIVE UV-A/Riboflavin cross-linking of corneal collagen fibers (CXL) is a highly promising therapy for corneal melting in humans. A prospective interventional, nonrandomized, controlled study was conducted to compare the stabilizing effect of CXL treatment on melting keratitis in dogs and cats and the complication rate of CXL to those of standardized intensive medical treatment. PROCEDURES Forty-nine eyes with melting keratitis were included in the study between October 2009 and October 2012. All eyes were treated according to the same medical treatment protocol. Nineteen eyes were CXL-treated, and 30 eyes were not. Follow-up included slit-lamp examination, fluorescein staining, ulcer size measurement, stromal stability evaluation, photographic documentation, and documentation of complications. RESULTS Five of 19 eyes in the CXL group and 9/30 eyes in the control group required rescue stabilization due to continued melting. Seven of the nine control group corneas stabilized after rescue CXL treatment. At initial presentation, the ulcers in the canine CXL group were significantly deeper and larger than in the control group. Ulcer deepening during follow-up was more pronounced in the canine control group than in the canine CXL group. CXL treatment-related complications were not observed. CONCLUSIONS Based on the similar failure rates in the control and CXL treatment groups despite the poorer initial situation in the CXL group, the tendency for the ulcers in the control group to deepen and the stabilization of all corneas receiving CXL rescue treatment, we believe that CXL has its place as an adjunctive therapy for melting keratitis in veterinary ophthalmology.
Recapitulating early development of mouse musculoskeletal precursors of the paraxial mesoderm in vitro

ABSTRACT Body skeletal muscles derive from the paraxial mesoderm, which forms in the posterior region of the embryo. Using microarrays, we characterize novel mouse presomitic mesoderm (PSM) markers and show that, unlike the abrupt transcriptome reorganization of the PSM, neural tube differentiation is accompanied by progressive transcriptome changes. The early paraxial mesoderm differentiation stages can be efficiently recapitulated in vitro using mouse and human pluripotent stem cells. While Wnt activation alone can induce posterior PSM markers, acquisition of a committed PSM fate and efficient differentiation into anterior PSM Pax3+ identity further requires BMP inhibition to prevent progenitors from drifting to a lateral plate mesoderm fate. When transplanted into injured adult muscle, these precursors generated large numbers of immature muscle fibers. Furthermore, exposing these mouse PSM-like cells to a brief FGF inhibition step followed by culture in horse serum-containing medium allows efficient recapitulation of the myogenic program to generate myotubes and associated Pax7+ cells. This protocol results in improved in vitro differentiation and maturation of mouse muscle fibers over serum-free protocols and enables the study of myogenic cell fusion and satellite cell differentiation. Summary: Pluripotent stem cells are used to generate early paraxial mesoderm and subsequently to recapitulate the stages of musculoskeletal progenitor specification and differentiation into muscle.
The Environment, Not Space, Dominantly Structures the Landscape Patterns of the Richness and Composition of the Tropical Understory Vegetation

The mechanisms driving the spatial patterns of species richness and composition are essential to the understanding of biodiversity. Numerous studies separately identify the contributions of the environment (niche process) and space (neutral process) to the species richness or composition at different scales, but few studies have investigated the contributions of both types of processes in the two types of data at the landscape scale. In this study, we partitioned the spatial variations in all, exotic and native understory plant species richness and composition constrained by environmental variables and space in 134 plots that were spread across 10 counties in Hainan Island in southern China. The 134 plots included 70 rubber (Hevea brasiliensis) plantation plots, 50 eucalyptus (Eucalyptus urophylla) plantation plots, and 14 secondary forest plots. RDA based variation partitioning was run to assess the contribution of environment and space to species richness and composition. The results showed that the environmental variables alone explained a large proportion of the variations in both the species richness and composition of all, native, and exotic species. The RDA results indicated that overstory composition (forest type here) plays a leading role in determining species richness and composition patterns. The alpha and beta diversities of the secondary forest plots were markedly higher than that of the two plantations. In conclusion, niche differentiation processes are the principal mechanisms that shape the alpha and beta diversities of understory plant species in Hainan Island.
Viscoelastically prestressed polymeric matrix composites: An overview

Elastically prestressed polymeric matrix composites exploit the principles of prestressed concrete, i.e. fibres are stretched elastically during matrix curing. On matrix solidification, compressive stresses are created within the matrix, counterbalanced by residual fibre tension. Unidirectional glass fibre elastically prestressed polymeric matrix composites have demonstrated 25–50% improvements in impact toughness, strength and stiffness compared with control (unstressed) counterparts. Although these benefits require no increase in section dimensions or weight, the need to apply fibre tension during curing can impose restrictions on processing and product geometry. Also, fibre–matrix interfacial creep may eventually cause the prestress to deteriorate. This paper gives an overview of an alternative approach: viscoelastically prestressed polymeric matrix composites. Here, polymeric fibres are subjected to tensile creep, the applied load being removed before the fibres are moulded into the matrix. Following matrix curing, viscoelastic recovery mechanisms cause the previously strained fibres to impart compressive stresses to the matrix. Since fibre stretching and moulding operations are decoupled, viscoelastically prestressed polymeric matrix composite production offers considerable flexibility. Also, the potential for deterioration through fibre–matrix creep is offset by longer term viscoelastic recovery mechanisms. To date, viscoelastically prestressed viscoelastically prestressed polymeric matrix composites have been produced from fibre reinforcements such as nylon 6,6, ultra-high molecular weight polyethylene and bamboo. Compared with control counterparts, mechanical property improvements are similar to those of elastically prestressed polymeric matrix composites. Of major importance, however, is longevity: through accelerated ageing, nylon fibre-based viscoelastically prestressed viscoelastically prestressed polymeric matrix composites show no deterioration in mechanical performance over a duration equivalent to ∼25 years at 50℃ ambient. Potential applications include crashworthy and impact-absorbing structures, dental materials, prestressed precast concrete and shape-changing (morphing) structures.
Enhancing Cognition with Video Games: A Multiple Game Training Study

Background Previous evidence points to a causal link between playing action video games and enhanced cognition and perception. However, benefits of playing other video games are under-investigated. We examined whether playing non-action games also improves cognition. Hence, we compared transfer effects of an action and other non-action types that required different cognitive demands. Methodology/Principal Findings We instructed 5 groups of non-gamer participants to play one game each on a mobile device (iPhone/iPod Touch) for one hour a day/five days a week over four weeks (20 hours). Games included action, spatial memory, match-3, hidden- object, and an agent-based life simulation. Participants performed four behavioral tasks before and after video game training to assess for transfer effects. Tasks included an attentional blink task, a spatial memory and visual search dual task, a visual filter memory task to assess for multiple object tracking and cognitive control, as well as a complex verbal span task. Action game playing eliminated attentional blink and improved cognitive control and multiple-object tracking. Match-3, spatial memory and hidden object games improved visual search performance while the latter two also improved spatial working memory. Complex verbal span improved after match-3 and action game training. Conclusion/Significance Cognitive improvements were not limited to action game training alone and different games enhanced different aspects of cognition. We conclude that training specific cognitive abilities frequently in a video game improves performance in tasks that share common underlying demands. Overall, these results suggest that many video game-related cognitive improvements may not be due to training of general broad cognitive systems such as executive attentional control, but instead due to frequent utilization of specific cognitive processes during game play. Thus, many video game training related improvements to cognition may be attributed to near-transfer effects.