Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Man, Play and Games

According to Roger Caillois, play is "an occasion of pure waste: waste of time, energy, ingenuity, skill, and often of money. " In spite of this - or because of it - play constitutes an essential element of human social and spiritual development.In this classic study, Caillois defines play as a free and voluntary activity that occurs in a pure space, isolated and protected from the rest of life. Play is uncertain, since the outcome may not be foreseen, and it is governed by rules that provide a level playing field for all participants. In its most basic form, play consists of finding a response to the opponent's action - or to the play situation - that is free within the limits set by the rules.Caillois qualifies types of games - according to whether competition, chance, simulation, or vertigo (being physically out of control) is dominant - and ways of playing, ranging from the unrestricted improvisation characteristic of children's play to the disciplined pursuit of solutions to gratuitously difficult puzzles. Caillois also examines the means by which games become part of daily life and ultimately contribute to various cultures their most characteristic customs and institutions. Presented here in Meyer Barash's superb English translation, Man, Play and Games is a companion volume to Caillois's Man and the Sacred.
Notes on the Evaluation of Dependency Parsers Obtained Through Cross-Lingual Projection

In this paper we address methodological issues in the evaluation of a projection-based framework for dependency parsing in which annotations for a source language are transfered to a target language using word alignments in a parallel corpus. The projected trees then constitute the training data for a data-driven parser in the target language. We discuss two problems that arise in the evaluation of such cross-lingual approaches. First, the annotation scheme underlying the source language annotations - and hence the projected target annotations and predictions of the parser derived from them - is likely to differ from previously existing gold standard test sets devised specifically for the target language. Second, the standard procedure of cross-validation cannot be performed in the absence of parallel gold standard annotations, so an alternative method has to be used to assess the generalization capabilities of the projected parsers.
Balancing data-driven and rule-based approaches in the context of a Multimodal Conversational System

We address the issue of combining data-driven and grammar-based models for rapid prototyping of a multimodal conversational system. Moderate-sized rule-based spoken language models for recognition and understanding are easy to develop and provide the ability to prototype conversational applications rapidly. However, scalability of such systems is a bottleneck due to the heavy cost of authoring and maintenance of rule sets and inevitable brittleness due to lack of coverage in the rule sets. In contrast, data-driven approaches are robust and the procedure for model building is usually simple. However, the lack of data in an application context limits the ability to build data-driven models, especially in multimodal systems. We also present methods that reuse data from different domains and investigate the limits of such models in the context of an application domain.
Measuring defensive responses to threatening messages: a meta-analysis of measures

Abstract A systematic review and meta-analysis was conducted to establish the nature and relative sensitivity of measures used to detect defensive responses to threatening messages. Databases were searched using a descendency approach to identify quasi-experimental or experimental studies which (i) exposed participants to information that could be personally threatening; (ii) included measures of defensiveness; and (iii) compared groups that differed in their expected defensiveness. Comparisons between three types of group were included: (a) those who naturally differed in the personal relevance of the threatening message; (b) those who had or had not received efficacy information; and (c) those who had or had not received self-affirmation. Thirty-five papers (reporting 43 studies) met these criteria. Twelve different types of defensiveness measures were identified. Of these, only three generated consistently expected results in relation to anticipated group differences. Suggestions are made for the use of multiple, standardised measures of defensive processing in future research.
Objective Measures of Electrode Discrimination With Electrically Evoked Auditory Change Complex and Speech-Perception Abilities in Children With Auditory Neuropathy Spectrum Disorder

Objectives: This study aimed to (1) determine the sensitivity of the electrically evoked auditory change complex (eACC) to changes in stimulating electrode position; and (2) investigate the association between results of eACC measures and behavioral electrode discrimination and their association with speech-perception performance in pediatric cochlear implant (CI) users who have auditory neuropathy spectrum disorder (ANSD). Design: Fifteen children with ANSD ranging in age between 5.4 and 18.6 years participated in this study. All subjects used Cochlear Nucleus devices. For each subject, open-set speech-perception ability was assessed using the Phonetically Balanced Kindergarten word lists presented at 60 dB SPL, using monitored live voice in a sound booth. Behavioral and objective measures of electrode discrimination were assessed in a nonclinical test environment. The stimuli used to elicit these measures were 800 msec biphasic pulse trains delivered by a direct interface to the CI. Data were collected from two basic stimulation conditions. In the standard condition, the entire pulse train was delivered to a mid-array electrode (electrode 11 or 12) at the maximum comfortable level (C level). In the change condition, the stimulus was split into two 400 msec pulse train segments presented sequentially on two different electrodes. The stimulation level of the second 400 msec pulse train was loudness balanced to the C level of the mid-array electrode used in the standard condition. The separation between the pair of stimulating electrodes was systematically varied. For behavioral electrode-discrimination measures, each subject was required to determine whether he or she heard one or two sounds for stimuli presented in different stimulation conditions. For the eACC measures, two replicates of 100 artifact-free sweeps were recorded for each stimulation condition. Results: The eACC in response to changes in stimulating electrode position was recorded from all subjects with ANSD using direct electrical stimulation. Electrode-discrimination thresholds determined with the eACC and behavioral measures were consistent. Children with ANSD using CIs who showed poorer speech performance also required larger separations between the stimulating electrode pair to reliably elicit the eACC than subjects with better speech-perception performance. There was a robust correlation between electrode-discrimination capacities and speech-perception performances in subjects tested in this study. The effect of electrode separation on eACC amplitudes was not monotonic. Conclusions: These results demonstrate the feasibility of using eACC to evaluate electrode-discrimination capacities in children with ANSD. These results suggest that the eACC elicited by changes in stimulating electrode position holds great promise as an objective tool for evaluating spectral-pattern detection in such subjects, which may be predictive of their potential speech-perception performance.
PREDICTION OF COMPLEX FLOW PATTERNS IN INTRACRANIAL ATHEROSCLEROTIC DISEASE USING COMPUTATIONAL FLUID DYNAMICS

OBJECTIVEAlthough carotid and vertebral intracranial atherosclerotic disease (ICAD) can lead to both hemodynamic insufficiency and thromboembolism, its fluid dynamic properties remain undefined because of its intricate features and complex three-dimensional geometry. We used computational fluid dynamic (CFD) analysis to model the hemodynamics of symptomatic ICAD lesions. METHODSNine ICAD lesions (six carotid, two vertebral, one middle cerebral) underwent high-resolution catheter-based digital rotational angiography. The reconstructed three-dimensional volumes of the target lesions were segmented and used to generate hybrid computational meshes. Dynamic pulsatile CFD analysis was performed using a non-Newtonian shear-dependent model of blood's viscosity. RESULTSCFD results revealed complex flow patterns within ICAD lesions with midstenotic shear rates of greater than 19,000/s, sufficiently high to induce high-shear platelet activation. Vorticity and helicity within the stenoses were followed by sudden deceleration with formation of vortex cores. Pressure gradients were significant mostly at greater than 75% stenosis with a mean time-averaged drop of 27.2 ±17.8 mmHg. Unlike the smoothly-varying helicity imparted by the three-dimensional anatomy of the intracranial circulation, poststenotic regions of ICAD lesions showed significant and rapidly fluctuating helicity and vorticity patterns, which may contribute to the propagation of platelets activated by the high shear region within the stenosis throat. Stent angioplasty restored the hemodynamic profile of ICAD lesions to within contralateral controls. CONCLUSIONPatient-based symptomatic ICAD lesions studied using CFD analysis appear to harbor a hemodynamically pathological environment that favors the activation, aggregation and distal embolization of platelets and is reversed by endovascular stent angioplasty.
The Effects of Work–Family Conflict and Facilitation on Turnover Intentions: The Moderating Role of Core Self-Evaluations

The purpose of this study is to examine core self-evaluations as a moderator of the effects of work–family conflict, family–work conflict, work–family facilitation, and family–work facilitation on turnover intentions. This study also investigates the effects of two directions of conflict and facilitation on turnover intentions. Based on data collected from a sample of full-time frontline hotel employees in Iran, the previously mentioned relationships were tested using hierarchical multiple regression analysis. The results reveal that core self-evaluations strengthen the negative effects of work–family facilitation and family–work facilitation on turnover intentions. The results further indicate that work–family conflict and family–work conflict exacerbate turnover intentions, while only family–work facilitation alleviates turnover intentions. Implications of the findings are discussed, and their future research directions are offered.
MMSE-based stereo feature stochastic mapping for noise robust speech recognition

A stochastic mapping approach under the MMSE criterion based on stereo features is investigated in this paper for noise robust speech recognition. By learning the mapping from a joint GMM distribution of clean and noisy features, the MMSE estimate of the clean feature is shown to be a piece-wise linear transformation of the noisy feature. The mathematical relationship between the proposed MMSE mapping and other piece-wise linear estimates for noise robustness (i.e. MAP mapping and SPLICE) is also analyzed and discussed. Experimental results show that the proposed MMSE-based stochastic mapping yields superior performance over the MAP mapping on DARPA Transtac large vocabulary spontaneous speech test sets when using clean and multi-style acoustic models.
Anti-obesity effects of hot water extract from Wasabi (Wasabia japonica Matsum.) leaves in mice fed high-fat diets

The anti-obesity effects of a hot water extract from wasabi (Wasabia japonica Matsum.) leaves (WLE), without its specific pungent constituents, such as allyl-isothiocyanate, were investigated in high fat-diet induced mice. C57J/BL mice were fed a high-fat diet (control group) or a high-fat diet supplemented with 5% WLE (WLE group). Physical parameters and blood profiles were determined. Gene expression associated with lipid metabolism in liver and white adipose tissue were analyzed. After 120 days of feeding, significantly lower body weight gain, liver weight and epididymal white adipose tissue weight was observed in the WLE group compared to the control group. In liver gene expression within the WLE group, PPARα was significantly enhanced and SREBP-1c was significantly suppressed. Subsequent downstream genes controlled by these regulators were significantly suppressed. In epididymal white adipose tissue of the WLE group, expression of leptin, PPARγ, and C/EBPα were significantly suppressed and adiponectin was significantly enhanced. Acox, related to fatty acid oxidization in adipocytes, was also enhanced. Our results demonstrate that the WLE dietary supplement induces mild suppression of obesity in a high-fat diet induced mice, possibly due to suppression of lipid accumulation in liver and white adipose tissue.
Learners' and teachers' perceptions of principals' leadership in Soweto secondary schools: a social justice analysis

The legislative framework for education in South Africa enforces the democratisation and transformation of education consistent with the values of human dignity, equity, human rights, and freedom. As ex officio members of School Governing Bodies (SGBs) and professional managers of schools, principals should play a pivotal role in providing transformative leadership for social justice in these schools. The purpose of this study was to examine, through a social justice framework, how teachers and learners who are SGB members perceive and experience the principals’ leadership in Soweto secondary schools. Five schools were purposefully sampled for this qualitative case study. Data were collected through semi-structured focus group interviews and follow-up individual interviews. Findings suggest that learners and teachers experience sampled schools as democratically untransformed with a climate fraught with unfairness, inequity, disregard for human rights, and intolerance of diversity. The leadership behaviour of principals is perceived as a barrier to democratic transformation and social justice and this engenders resistance and threatens management effectiveness. Keywords : learners; principals; secondary schools; social justice; Soweto; teachers; transformative leadership
A piezoresistive cellular traction force sensor

This paper presents a rigid piezoresistive sensor to measure cellular traction forces. The traction forces on a rigid substrate such as bone (10~30 [GPa]) are still unknown. Our approach of the traction force measurement is not by an observation [1-4] but by a resistance change of the piezo-resistor due to the deformation of the rigid sensor (spring constant: 900 nN/μm). Because of its high sensitivity with sub-μN resolution, we were able to measure the traction forces on the rigid substrate. The stiffness of the proposed sensor was 10 times larger than that of previous works. We demonstrated that the traction forces generated by fibroblast were 0.7 μN when two cells adhered to the sensor.
Middle-Class Mobilization and the Language of Orders in Urban Latin America

Scholars have generally argued that the modern triumph of a language of class eclipsed collective identities rooted in older, more hierarchical conceptions of rank and estate. This article, drawing on the author’s previously published research on white-collar workers in twentieth-century Peru, comes to a radically different conclusion. Despite using what appeared to be an explicit and often combative discourse of class interest and class conflict, Peru’s white-collar workers justified their demands by emphasizing the difference between themselves and manual workers. Masquerading as class consciousness were many of the rhetorical tropes that had long legitimated the society of orders, including a presumption that social standing was an innate quality fixed at birth. Corporatist social legislation adopted in the 1920s reinforced the principle that white-collar and blue-collar workers were distinct species of human beings deserving of entirely different benefits. Unequal rights became enshrined in labor law.
Theft-resilient mobile wallets: transparently authenticating NFC users with tapping gesture biometrics

The deployment of NFC technology on mobile phones is gaining momentum, enabling many important applications such as NFC payments, access control for building or public transit ticketing. However, (NFC) phones are prone to loss or theft, which allows the attacker with physical access to the phone to fully compromise the functionality provided by the NFC applications. Authenticating a user of an NFC phone using PINs or passwords provides only a weak level of security, and undermines the efficiency and convenience that NFC applications are supposed to provide. In this paper, we devise a novel gesture-centric NFC bio-metric authentication mechanism that is fully transparent to the user. Simply "tapping" the phone with the NFC reader - a natural gesture already performed by the user prior to making the NFC transaction - would unlock the NFC functionality. An unauthorized user cannot unlock the NFC functionality because tapping serves as a "hard-to-mimic" biometric gesture unique to each user. We show how the NFC tapping biometrics can be extracted in a highly robust manner using multiple - motion, position and ambient - phone's sensors and machine learning classifiers. The use of multiple sensors not only improves the authentication accuracy but also makes active attacks harder since multiple sensor events need to be mimicked simultaneously. Our work significantly enhances the security of NFC transactions without adding any extra burden on the users.
Experiences of Early Transdisciplinary Teams in Pediatric Community Rehabilitation

Although a transdisciplinary approach (TA) is considered best practice for children aged 0–3 years, there is limited information for professionals on how to successfully implement TA services. Using qualitative inquiry, in-depth interviews were conducted to explore the experiences of 6 service providers and managers who took part in early implementation of 2 pilot transdisciplinary teams. Although sought, no parents were recruited. Data were condensed by a system of coding and developed into inductive themes. The study findings reveal 3 main themes that captured the experiences of stakeholders. The primary theme is ensuring alignment with organizational values when guiding teams through change. The second theme is the awareness that is needed for managing change when an organization is going through a transformation. The third theme is valuable learning occurs throughout the change process. For early intervention service providers and managers, the study findings emphasize the importance of ensuring participants' awareness of change management processes while staying true to organization values when developing new team structures. Balancing theoretical knowledge acquisition and practical learning opportunities is essential when learning a new service delivery approach. Further attempts to explore the involvement of parents within collaborative teams are recommended.
The symmetric group defies strong Fourier sampling

We resolve the question of whether Fourier sampling can efficiently solve the hidden subgroup problem in general groups. Specifically, we show that the hidden subgroup problem in the symmetric group cannot be efficiently solved by strong Fourier sampling. Indeed we prove the stronger statement that no measurement of a single coset state can reveal more than an exponentially small amount of information about the identity of the hidden subgroup, in the special case relevant to the graph isomorphism problem.
Impact of GM crops on biodiversity

The potential impact of GM crops on biodiversity has been a topic of interest both in general as well as specifically in the context of the Convention on Biological Diversity. Agricultural biodiversity has been defined at levels from genes to ecosystems that are involved or impacted by agricultural production (www.cbd.int/agro/whatis.shtml). After fifteen years of commercial cultivation, a substantial body of literature now exists addressing the potential impacts of GM crops on the environment. This review takes a biodiversity lens to this literature, considering the impacts at three levels: the crop, farm and landscape scales. Within that framework, this review covers potential impacts of the introduction of genetically engineered crops on: crop diversity, biodiversity of wild relatives, non-target soil organisms, weeds, land use, non-target above-ground organisms, and area-wide pest suppression.
The kinases NDR1/2 act downstream of the Hippo homolog MST1 to mediate both egress of thymocytes from the thymus and lymphocyte motility

Signaling by kinases downstream of the Hippo homolog mediates thymocyte migration. Sending thymocytes into action MST1, the mammalian homolog of Hippo, plays a role in apoptosis and cellular proliferation by activating the kinase LATS, which inhibits the transcriptional coactivator YAP; however, MST1 also functions independently of LATS and YAP in T cell adhesion and migration. Tang et al. generated mice with a T cell–specific deficiency in both isoforms of the LATS-related kinase NDR. These mice had reduced numbers of naïve T cells in the periphery because mature thymocytes were trapped in the thymus. Chemoattractants stimulated actin polymerization and the migration of thymocytes in an MST1- and NDR-dependent manner, suggesting that the NDRs act downstream of MST1 to mediate thymocyte egress. The serine and threonine kinase MST1 is the mammalian homolog of Hippo. MST1 is a critical mediator of the migration, adhesion, and survival of T cells; however, these functions of MST1 are independent of signaling by its typical effectors, the kinase LATS and the transcriptional coactivator YAP. The kinase NDR1, a member of the same family of kinases as LATS, functions as a tumor suppressor by preventing T cell lymphomagenesis, which suggests that it may play a role in T cell homeostasis. We generated and characterized mice with a T cell–specific double knockout of Ndr1 and Ndr2 (Ndr DKO). Compared with control mice, Ndr DKO mice exhibited a substantial reduction in the number of naïve T cells in their secondary lymphoid organs. Mature single-positive thymocytes accumulated in the thymus in Ndr DKO mice. We also found that NDRs acted downstream of MST1 to mediate the egress of mature thymocytes from the thymus, as well as the interstitial migration of naïve T cells within popliteal lymph nodes. Together, our findings indicate that the kinases NDR1 and NDR2 function as downstream effectors of MST1 to mediate thymocyte egress and T cell migration.
Evaluating the accuracy of Java profilers

Performance analysts profile their programs to find methods that are worth optimizing: the "hot" methods. This paper shows that four commonly-used Java profilers (xprof , hprof , jprofile, and yourkit) often disagree on the identity of the hot methods. If two profilers disagree, at least one must be incorrect. Thus, there is a good chance that a profiler will mislead a performance analyst into wasting time optimizing a cold method with little or no performance improvement. This paper uses causality analysis to evaluate profilers and to gain insight into the source of their incorrectness. It shows that these profilers all violate a fundamental requirement for sampling based profilers: to be correct, a sampling-based profilermust collect samples randomly. We show that a proof-of-concept profiler, which collects samples randomly, does not suffer from the above problems. Specifically, we show, using a number of case studies, that our profiler correctly identifies methods that are important to optimize; in some cases other profilers report that these methods are cold and thus not worth optimizing.