Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Empathy for Pain

The phenomenon of empathy has been fascinating laymen and scholars for centuries and has recently been an important subject for cognitive neuroscientific study. Empathy refers to the ability to understand and share others' emotions and a characteristic of this ability is the capacity to empathize with others in pain. This review intends to examine and read up on the current state of the field of the neural and behavioral mechanisms associated with empathy for pain. The neural underpinnings of the first-hand experience of pain have been shown to be activated in a person observing the suffering individual, and this similarity in brain activity has been referred to as shared networks. This phenomenon plays an important role in the study of empathy. However, different factors have been shown to influence empathy for pain, such as age, gender, affective link between observer and sufferer, as well as phylogenetic similarity. This thesis discusses these differences, as well as atypical aspects affecting the empathic ability such as synaesthesia for pain, psychopathy and Asperger's disease. Further, empathy for pain can be modulated by the individual observing someone in pain. For example, caregivers often down-regulate their empathic response to patients in pain, possibly in order to focus on their treatment and assistance. Also, paying attention to harmful stimuli heightens the perception of pain; therefore, the painful experience can be less remarkable when focusing on something else. The effect of empathy from others directed to oneself when suffering is discussed, as well as the consistency and limitations of presented research.
Risk perceptions, moral attitudes, and anticipated guilt in US consumers’ climate change behavioral intentions

Various reports and research have documented the risks of global warming on humans and the non-human environment. A growing amount of media coverage positions the fight against global warming as a moral issue. However, additional research needs to be conducted regarding whether individuals’ risk perceptions are related to their moral attitudes and whether their moral attitudes toward global warming are associated with their behavioral intentions to alleviate global warming. Based on a cross-sectional survey (N = 572) and structural equation modeling analysis, the present investigation situated moral attitudes within a larger theoretical framework (i.e. the theory of planned behavior). Results found that the American public’s moral attitudes were predicted by subjective norms and risk to others and the environment, but not risk to themselves. Moral attitudes, in turn, predicted anticipated guilt. Collectively, moral attitudes, self-efficacy, anticipated guilt, and consideration of future consequences predicted one’s intentions to engage in behaviors to alleviate global warming. Both theoretical and practical implications are discussed.
Association between psychosocial work characteristics and health functioning in American women: prospective study

Abstract Objective: To examine prospectively the relation between psychosocial work characteristics and changes in health related quality of life over four years in a cohort of working women in the United States. Design: Longitudinal cohort study. Setting: United States. Participants: 21 290 female registered nurses who completed the Karasek's job content questionnaire and a modified version of the short form 36 questionnaire (SF-36) as used for a survey of health status by the medical outcomes study. Main outcome measures: Seven dimensions of health status: physical functioning, role limitations due to physical health problems, bodily pain, vitality, social functioning, role limitations due to emotional problems, and mental health. Results: Examined separately low job control, high job demands, and low work related social support were associated with poor health status at baseline as well as greater functional declines over the four year follow up period. Examined in combination, women with low job control, high job demands, and low work related social support (“iso-strain” jobs) had the greatest functional declines. These associations could not be explained by age, body mass index, comorbid disease status, alcohol consumption, smoking status, education level, exercise level, employment status, marital status, or presence of a confidant. Conclusions: Adverse psychosocial work conditions are important predictors of poor functional status and its decline over time.
GaBoDS: The Garching-Bonn Deep Survey - VI. Probing galaxy bias using weak gravitational lensing

Aims. An interesting question of contemporary cosmology concerns the relation between the spatial distribution of galaxies and dark matter, which is thought to be the driving force behind the structure formation in the Universe. In this paper, we measure this relation, parameterised by the linear stochastic bias parameters, for a range of spatial scales using the data of the Garching-Bonn Deep Survey (GaBoDS). Methods. The weak gravitational lensing effect is used to infer matter density fluctuations within the field-of-view of the survey fields. This information is employed for a statistical comparison of the galaxy distribution to the total matter distribution. The result of this comparison is expressed by means of the linear bias factor b , the ratio of density fluctuations, and the correlation factor r between density fluctuations. The total galaxy sample is divided into three sub-samples using R -band magnitudes and the weak lensing analysis is applied separately for each sub-sample. Together with the photometric redshifts from the related COMBO-17 survey we estimate the typical mean redshifts of these samples with $\bar{z}=0.35, 0.47, 0.61$, respectively. Results. Using a flat $\Lambda\rm CDM$ model with $\Omega_{\rm m}=0.3, \Omega_\Lambda=0.7$ as fiducial cosmology, we obtain values for the galaxy bias on scales between $1^\prime\le\theta_{\rm ap}\le20^\prime$. At $10^\prime$, the median redshifts of the samples correspond roughly to a typical comoving scale of $3,5,7~h^{-1}\,\rm Mpc$ with $h=0.7$, respectively. We find evidence for a scale-dependence of b . Averaging the measurements of the bias over the range $2^\prime\le \theta_{\rm ap}\le 19^\prime$ yields $\bar{b}=0.81\pm0.11, 0.79\pm0.11, 0.81\pm0.11$ ($1\sigma$), respectively. Galaxies are thus less clustered than the total matter on that particular range of scales (anti-biased). As for the correlation factor r we see no scale-dependence within the statistical uncertainties; the average over the same range is $\bar{r}=0.61\pm0.16, 0.64\pm0.18, 0.58\pm0.19$ ($1\sigma$), respectively. This implies a possible decorrelation between galaxy and dark matter distribution. An evolution of galaxy bias with redshift is not found, the upper limits are: $\Delta b\lesssim0.2$ and $\Delta r\lesssim 0.4(1\sigma)$.
Fairness Without Punishment : Behavioral Experiments in the Yasawa Islands , Fiji

T chapter reports results from three behavioral experiments done in the villages of Teci and Dalomo on Yasawa Island in Fiji. We performed the dictator game (DG), the strategy method ultimatum game (UG), and the third-party punishment game (TPG), as explained in chapter 3. For comparison to an established reference population, we also performed an identical set of experiments among U.S. undergraduates at Emory University in Atlanta, Georgia. Five major results emerged from these behavioral experiments:
Combining Theoretical and Experimental Techniques to Study Murine Heart Transplant Rejection

The quality of life of organ transplant recipients is compromised by complications associated with life-long immunosuppression, such as hypertension, diabetes, opportunistic infections, and cancer. Moreover, the absence of established tolerance to the transplanted tissues causes limited long-term graft survival rates. Thus, there is a great medical need to understand the complex immune system interactions that lead to transplant rejection so that novel and effective strategies of intervention that redirect the system toward transplant acceptance (while preserving overall immune competence) can be identified. This study implements a systems biology approach in which an experimentally based mathematical model is used to predict how alterations in the immune response influence the rejection of mouse heart transplants. Five stages of conventional mouse heart transplantation are modeled using a system of 13 ordinary differential equations that tracks populations of both innate and adaptive immunity as well as proxies for pro- and anti-inflammatory factors within the graft and a representative draining lymph node. The model correctly reproduces known experimental outcomes, such as indefinite survival of the graft in the absence of CD4+ T cells and quick rejection in the absence of CD8+ T cells. The model predicts that decreasing the translocation rate of effector cells from the lymph node to the graft delays transplant rejection. Increasing the starting number of quiescent regulatory T cells in the model yields a significant but somewhat limited protective effect on graft survival. Surprisingly, the model shows that a delayed appearance of alloreactive T cells has an impact on graft survival that does not correlate linearly with the time delay. This computational model represents one of the first comprehensive approaches toward simulating the many interacting components of the immune system. Despite some limitations, the model provides important suggestions of experimental investigations that could improve the understanding of rejection. Overall, the systems biology approach used here is a first step in predicting treatments and interventions that can induce transplant tolerance while preserving the capacity of the immune system to protect against legitimate pathogens.
Exploiting noisy visual concept detection to improve spoken content based video retrieval

In this paper, we present a technique for unsupervised construction of concept vectors, concept-based representations of complete video units, from the noisy shot-level output of a set of visual concept detectors. We deploy these vectors to improve spoken-content-based video retrieval using Query Expansion Selection (QES). Our QES approach analyzes results lists returned in response to several alternative query expansions, applying a coherence indicator calculated on top-ranked items to choose the appropriate expansion. The approach is data driven, does not require prior training and relies solely on the analysis of the collection being queried and the results lists produced for the given query text. The experiments, performed on two datasets, TRECVID 2007/2008 and TRECVID 2009, demonstrate the effectiveness of our approach and show that a small set of well-selected visual concept detectors is sufficient to improve retrieval performance.
Lateralization of the arcuate fasciculus and its differential correlation with reading ability between young learners and experienced readers: A diffusion tensor tractography study in a chinese cohort

As Chinese reading engages a different neural network from alphabetic language reading, we investigate whether leftward lateralization of the arcuate fasciculus (AF), as observed in the Western population, is also present in the Chinese population and if it does, whether it is associated with better reading ability. Diffusion tensor tractography analysis on 75 Chinese subjects of three age groups (first graders, fourth graders, and college students) showed that 70–83% of them had leftward lateralization of the AF. The pattern of lateralization did not differ significantly among the three groups, suggesting that lateralization of the AF is formed at an early age and before one enters first grade. Among the first graders, who had just started to learn to read, subjects with strongly leftward lateralized AF scored significantly higher than those with other defined lateralization patterns in Chinese (P = 0.001) and English (P = 0.036) reading tasks. This association was not observed among the fourth graders and college students who were experienced Chinese readers. Among the fourth graders, females were found to obtain significantly higher Chinese (P = 0.033) and English reading scores than males (P = 0.002). Our study suggests a differential effect of leftward lateralization of the AF on reading ability at different stages of reading development in the Chinese population. Hum Brain Mapp, 2011. © 2011 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
Multimodal Referential Acts in a Dialogue Game : from empirical investigations to algorithms

Human-human conversation has often been heralded as a model for human-computer interaction, the rationale being that human-computer interaction can be improved significantly if it relies on those skills and abilities which come most natural to humans. The most rigorous application of this idea can be found in recent work on embodied conversational agents (ECAs; e.g., Cassell et al., 2000).
Impact of the Real Effective Exchange Rate (Reer) on Turkish Agricultural Trade

— In this work, the autoregressive vectors are used to know dynamics of the Agricultural export and import, and the real effective exchange rate (REER). In order to analyze the interactions, the impulse- response function is used in decomposition of variance, causality of Granger as well as the methodology of Johansen to know the relations co integration. The REER causes agricultural export and import in the sense of Granger. The influence displays the innovations of the REER on the agricultural export and import is not very great and the duration of the effects is short. It displays that REER has an immediate positive effect, after the tenth year it displays smooth results on the agricultural export. Evidence of a vector exists co integration, In short run, REER has smaller effects on export and import, compared to the long-run effects.
The Implications of Latent Technology Regimes for Competition and Efficiency in Banking

Banks continue to differ in many ways, for instance with respect to business models, growth strategies, or financial health. Neglecting these differences confuses inefficiency with heterogeneity while sub-sample estimation prohibits efficiency comparisons across different samples. We use a latent class stochastic frontier model to estimate simultaneously multiple technology regimes and group membership probabilities. The latter are conditioned on six bank traits of German banks and we identify four signifficantly different technology regimes. Only small, retail focused banks exhibit cost inefficiencies, which are 5.4% on average and thus substantially lower compared to previous studies. We use technology regime specific cost parameters to measure competition with Lerner indices. Large, national universal banks and the smallest, most specialized banks exhibit the lowest level of competition. In turn, medium sized universal banks are both efficient and exhibit the lowest Lerner margins between 1994 and 2004.
Design of Recurrent Neural Networks for Solving Constrained Least Absolute Deviation Problems

Recurrent neural networks for solving constrained least absolute deviation (LAD) problems or L1-norm optimization problems have attracted much interest in recent years. But so far most neural networks can only deal with some special linear constraints efficiently. In this paper, two neural networks are proposed for solving LAD problems with various linear constraints including equality, two-sided inequality and bound constraints. When tailored to solve some special cases of LAD problems in which not all types of constraints are present, the two networks can yield simpler architectures than most existing ones in the literature. In particular, for solving problems with both equality and one-sided inequality constraints, another network is invented. All of the networks proposed in this paper are rigorously shown to be capable of solving the corresponding problems. The different networks designed for solving the same types of problems possess the same structural complexity, which is due to the fact these architectures share the same computing blocks and only differ in connections between some blocks. By this means, some flexibility for circuits realization is provided. Numerical simulations are carried out to illustrate the theoretical results and compare the convergence rates of the networks.
ShoVAT: Shodan-based vulnerability assessment tool for Internet-facing services

Shodan has been acknowledged as one of the most popular search engines available today, designed to crawl the Internet and to index discovered services. This paper expands the features exposed by Shodan with advanced vulnerability assessment capabilities embedded into a novel tool called Shodan-based vulnerability assessment tool ShoVAT. ShoVAT takes the output of traditional Shodan queries and performs an in-depth analysis of service-specific data, that is, service banners. It embodies specially crafted algorithms which rely on novel in-memory data structures to automatically reconstruct Common Platform Enumeration names and to proficiently extract vulnerabilities from National Vulnerability Database. Compared with the state of the art, ShoVAT brings several novel and significant contributions because it encompasses automated vulnerability identification techniques, it can return highly accurate results with customized and even purposefully modified service banners, and it supports historical service vulnerability analysis without the need to deploy additional monitoring infrastructures. The experiments performed on 1501 services in 12 different institutions across different sectors revealed high accuracy of results and a total of 3922 known vulnerabilities. Copyright © 2015John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
FUNDAMENTAL PROPERTIES OF KEPLER PLANET-CANDIDATE HOST STARS USING ASTEROSEISMOLOGY

We have used asteroseismology to determine fundamental properties for 66 Kepler planet-candidate host stars, with typical uncertainties of 3% and 7% in radius and mass, respectively. The results include new asteroseismic solutions for four host stars with confirmed planets (Kepler-4, Kepler-14, Kepler-23 and Kepler-25) and increase the total number of Kepler host stars with asteroseismic solutions to 77. A comparison with stellar properties in the planet-candidate catalog by Batalha et al. shows that radii for subgiants and giants obtained from spectroscopic follow-up are systematically too low by up to a factor of 1.5, while the properties for unevolved stars are in good agreement. We furthermore apply asteroseismology to confirm that a large majority of cool main-sequence hosts are indeed dwarfs and not misclassified giants. Using the revised stellar properties, we recalculate the radii for 107 planet candidates in our sample, and comment on candidates for which the radii change from a previously giant-planet/brown-dwarf/stellar regime to a sub-Jupiter size or vice versa. A comparison of stellar densities from asteroseismology with densities derived from transit models in Batalha et al. assuming circular orbits shows significant disagreement for more than half of the sample due to systematics in the modeled impact parameters or due to planet candidates that may be in eccentric orbits. Finally, we investigate tentative correlations between host-star masses and planet-candidate radii, orbital periods, and multiplicity, but caution that these results may be influenced by the small sample size and detection biases.
Identity and Personality Influences on Donating Money, Time, and Blood

Building on previous research that examined role identity in relation to volunteering, this study explored the impact of identity and personality for three giving behaviors: donating money, volunteering time, and donating blood. This study examined the contribution of general identity as a helpful person, role identity specific to each behavior, and personality traits of conscientiousness and agreeableness within the decision-making framework of the theory of planned behavior (TPB). Participants (N = 203) completed a questionnaire measuring role identity (general and behavior specific), conscientiousness and agreeableness, and the TPB constructs of attitude, subjective norm, perceived behavioral control, and intention to donate. Three months later, participants reported whether they had engaged in each behavior. The results demonstrated that identity as a donor (i.e., specifically of money, time, or as a blood donor) emerged as more important in determining people’s giving actions than general role identity as a helpful person or global personality characteristics.
Effect of Graded Levels of Baobab (Adansonia digitata) Seed Meal on the Growth Performance and Production Economic Analysis of Broiler Chickens

2 Abstract: A feeding trial was conducted to determine the effect of graded levels of baobab seed meal on growth performance and cost benefit in broiler chicken production. A total of two hundred one-week old broiler chicks of the Anak breed were randomly distributed to five dietary treatments and replicated four times with 10 birds each for a period of 8 weeks. Baobab seed meal was included in the broiler chicken diets at 0, 10, 20, 30 and 40% levels designated as diets 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5, respectively for both the starter and finisher phases. At the starter phase, feed intake (65.18-71.73 g), daily weight gain (30.36-36.16 g) and feed conversion ratio (1.96-2.39) were not significantly (p>0.05) affected by the dietary treatments. However, at finisher phase, the daily feed intake (133.40-148.40 g) and weight gain (37.23-55.00 g) were significantly affected at (p 0.05) different among all the treatments means. The overall performance showed significant difference at (p<0.001 and p<0.01) for daily feed intake and daily weight gain, respectively. The birds fed 20% diet had the highest daily weight gain (44.55 g) and lowest (33.80 g) was recorded for diet 5. The feed cost per gain (N/kg gain) was cheaper (N142.44) on diet 4 and most expensive (N163.69) on diet 1 during the starter phase, while at the finisher phase diet 5 was cheaper (N176.36) and diet 1 being the most expensive (N193.91). Similar trends were obtained at the overall phase. It was therefore concluded that baobab seed meal can be incorporated into broiler chicken diets up to 30% without any deleterious effect on performance with concomitant reduction in feed cost.
Segmentation-Based Image Copy-Move Forgery Detection Scheme

In this paper, we propose a scheme to detect the copy-move forgery in an image, mainly by extracting the keypoints for comparison. The main difference to the traditional methods is that the proposed scheme first segments the test image into semantically independent patches prior to keypoint extraction. As a result, the copy-move regions can be detected by matching between these patches. The matching process consists of two stages. In the first stage, we find the suspicious pairs of patches that may contain copy-move forgery regions, and we roughly estimate an affine transform matrix. In the second stage, an Expectation-Maximization-based algorithm is designed to refine the estimated matrix and to confirm the existence of copy-move forgery. Experimental results prove the good performance of the proposed scheme via comparing it with the state-of-the-art schemes on the public databases.