Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Stochastic Choice and Optimal Sequential Sampling

We model the joint distribution of choice probabilities and decision times in binary choice tasks as the solution to a problem of optimal sequential sampling, where the agent is uncertain of the utility of each action and pays a constant cost per unit time for gathering information. In the resulting optimal policy, the agent's choices are more likely to be correct when the agent chooses to decide quickly, provided that the agent's prior beliefs are correct. For this reason it better matches the observed correlation between decision time and choice probability than does the classical drift-diffusion model, where the agent is uncertain which of two actions is best but knows the utility difference between them.
DeepBot: a focused crawler for accessing hidden web content

The crawler engines of today cannot reach most of the information contained in the Web. A great amount of valuable information is "hidden" behind the query forms of online databases, and/or is dynamically generated by technologies such as Javascript. This portion of the web is usually known as the Deep Web or the Hidden Web. We have built DeepBot, a prototype of hidden-web focused crawler able to access such content. DeepBot receives a set of domain definitions as an input, each one describing a specific data-collecting task and automatically identifies and learns to execute queries on the forms relevant to them. In this paper we describe the techniques employed for building DeepBot and report the experimental results obtained when testing it with several real world data collection tasks.
2-d Processing of Speech with Application to Pitch Estimation

In this paper, we introduce a new approach to two-dimensional (2-D) processing of the one-dimensional (1-D) speech signal in the time-frequency plane. Specifically, we obtain the shortspace 2-D Fourier transform magnitude of a narrowband spectrogram of the signal and show that this 2-D transformation maps harmonically-related signal components to a concentrated entity in the new 2-D plane. We refer to this series of operations as the “grating compression transform” (GCT), consistent with sine-wave grating patterns in the spectrogram reduced to smeared impulses. The GCT forms the basis of a speech pitch estimator that uses the radial distance to the largest peak in the GCT plane. Using an average magnitude difference between pitch-contour estimates, the GCT-based pitch estimator is shown to compare favorably to a sine-wave-based pitch estimator for all-voiced speech in additive white noise. An extension to a basis for two-speaker pitch estimation is also proposed.
As the Egg Turns: Monitoring Egg Attendance Behavior in Wild Birds Using Novel Data Logging Technology

Egg turning is unique to birds and critical for embryonic development in most avian species. Technology that can measure changes in egg orientation and temperature at fine temporal scales (1 Hz) was neither readily available nor small enough to fit into artificial eggs until recently. Here we show the utility of novel miniature data loggers equipped with 3-axis (i.e., triaxial) accelerometers, magnetometers, and a temperature thermistor to study egg turning behavior in free-ranging birds. Artificial eggs containing egg loggers were deployed in the nests of three seabird species for 1–7 days of continuous monitoring. These species (1) turned their eggs more frequently (up to 6.5 turns h−1) than previously reported for other species, but angular changes were often small (1–10° most common), (2) displayed similar mean turning rates (ca. 2 turns h−1) despite major differences in reproductive ecology, and (3) demonstrated distinct diurnal cycling in egg temperatures that varied between 1.4 and 2.4°C. These novel egg loggers revealed high-resolution, three-dimensional egg turning behavior heretofore never measured in wild birds. This new form of biotechnology has broad applicability for addressing fundamental questions in avian breeding ecology, life history, and development, and can be used as a tool to monitor birds that are sensitive to disturbance while breeding.
Charting Design Preferences on Wellness Wearables

This paper presents a study on people's preferences with wearable wellness devices. The results are based on an online survey (n=84), where people assessed different features in wearable wellness devices. Our salient findings show that the highest rated features were the comfort of wearing the device and long battery lifetime. Altogether, factors related to the form factor and industrial design were emphasized, whereas social sharing features attracted surprisingly little attention.
A Measurement-Based Multilink Shadowing Model for V2V Network Simulations of Highway Scenarios

Shadowing from vehicles can significantly degrade the performance of vehicle-to-vehicle (V2V) communication in multilink systems, e.g., vehicular ad hoc networks (VANETs). It is, thus, important to characterize and model the influence of common shadowing objects like cars properly when designing these VANETs. Despite the fact that for multilink systems it is essential to model the joint effects on the different links, the multilink shadowing effects of V2V channels on VANET simulations are not yet well understood. In this paper, we present a measurement-based analysis of multilink shadowing effects in a V2V communication system with cars as blocking objects. In particular, we analyze, characterize, and model the large scale fading, both regarding the autocorrelation and the joint multilink cross-correlation process, for communication at 5.9 GHz between four cars in a highway convoy scenario. The results show that it is essential to separate the instantaneous propagation condition into line-of-sight (LOS) and obstructed LOS (OLOS), by other cars, and then apply an appropriate pathloss model for each of the two cases. The choice of the pathloss model not only influences the autocorrelation but also changes the cross correlation of the large scale fading process between different links. By this, we conclude that it is important that VANET simulators should use geometry-based models, that distinguish between LOS and OLOS communication. Otherwise, the VANET simulators need to consider the cross correlation between different communication links to achieve results close to reality.
Patient Participation in Chronic Pain Management Through Social Media: A Clinical Study

Chronic pain places a significant burden on individuals as well as health services. Long wait lists to access public clinical pain management services can result, and health outcomes deteriorate. Innovative technologies, such as social media provide opportunities to support self-management within the participatory health framework. This paper aims to investigate patients' perceptions towards using social media while waiting for clinic access, with a particular focus on therapeutic affordances. Seventeen wait-listed patients underwent intervention using various social media resources as part of self-management. Thematic content analysis of semi-structured interviews examined patients' perceptions about social media use and participation. Three therapeutic affordances were most evident in the qualitative data: exploration, connection and narration. Barriers to participation were also identified, such as 'specificity of the resources'. Findings suggest social media are perceived positively. However, there is also the need to balance a desire to deliver evidence-based practice with patient-preferences in shared-decision making about social media use.
Power-aware through-silicon-via minimization by partitioning finite state machine with datapath

This paper proposes an extended Finite State Machine with Datapath (FSMD) partitioning that performs three-dimensional (3D) high level synthesis (HLS) with objectives to minimize the number of through-silicon-via (TSV) and to equip the synthesized system with power gating capability to save power. The original FSMD partitioning was proposed for conventional low-power 2D system and was only employed before HLS. Our extended FSMD partitioning problem is formulated using integer linear programming (ILP) to minimize TSVs under constraints of footprint area, power limit, number of die stacks and HLS rules. Case study has been conducted on Discrete Cosine Transform (DCT) circuit to evaluate the effectiveness of the proposed method in terms of number of TSVs and power dissipation. Besides, power gating capability is verified and analyzed.
Partner Meeting Place Is Significantly Associated With Gonorrhea and Chlamydia in Adolescents Participating in a Large High School Sexually Transmitted Disease Screening Program

Background From 2003 to 2012, the Philadelphia High School STD Screening Program screened 126,053 students, identifying 8089 Chlamydia trachomatis (CT)/Neisseria gonorrhoeae (GC) infections. We examined sociodemographic and behavioral factors associated with CT/GC diagnoses among a sample of this high-risk population. Methods Standardized interviews were given to infected students receiving in-school CT/GC treatment (2009–2012) and to uninfected students calling for results (2011–2012). Sex-stratified multivariable logistic models were created to examine factors independently associated with a CT/GC diagnosis. A simple risk index was developed using variables significant on multivariable analysis. Results A total of 1489 positive and 318 negative students were interviewed. Independent factors associated with a GC/CT diagnosis among females were black race (adjusted odds ratio [AOR], 2.27; confidence interval, 1.12–4.58), history of arrest (AOR, 2.26; 1.22–4.21), higher partner number (AOR, 1.75; 1.05–2.91), meeting partners in own neighborhood (AOR, 1.92; 1.29–2.86), and meeting partners in venues other than own school, neighborhood, or through friends (“all other”; AOR, 9.44; 3.70–24.09). For males, factors included early sexual debut (AOR, 1.99; 1.21–3.26) and meeting partners at “all other” venues (AOR, 2.76; 1.2–6.4); meeting through friends was protective (AOR, 0.63; 0.41–0.96). Meeting partners at own school was protective for both sexes (males: AOR, 0.33; 0.20–0.55; females: AOR, 0.65; 0.44–0.96). Conclusions Although factors associated with a GC/CT infection differed between males and females in our sample, partner meeting place was associated with infection for both sexes. School-based screening programs could use this information to target high-risk students for effective interventions.
CD99 isoform expression dictates T‐cell functional outcomes

CD99, a unique integral membrane protein present on the surface of all human T cells, has previously been shown to regulate cell function and fate. In peripheral T cells, it triggers immediate activation of α4β1 integrin and cell arrest on inflamed vascular endothelium, whereas it mediates an apoptotic signal in double‐positive thymocytes undergoing the selection process. Two isoforms of CD99 exist, a long form corresponding to the full‐length protein and a short form harboring a deletion in the intracytoplasmic segment. Here, we show that while peripheral T cells display exclusive expression of the long form, double‐positive thymocytes express both isoforms. Moreover, differential expression of these two CD99 molecules can lead to distinct functional outcomes. Expression of the long form in a CD99‐deficient Jurkat T cell line is sufficient to promote CD99‐induced cell adhesion, whereas coexpression of the two isoforms is required to trigger T‐cell death. When coexpressed, the two proteins form covalent heterodimers, which locate within glycosphingolipidic rafts and induce sphingomyelin degradation. Cholesterol depletion experiments show that this localization is required for the induction of apoptosis. Thus, the surface expression pattern of CD99 isoforms determines T‐cell functional outcomes.
Sugar beet contains a large CONSTANS-LIKE gene family including a CO homologue that is independent of the early-bolting (B) gene locus

Floral transition in the obligate long-day (LD) plant sugar beet (Beta vulgaris ssp. vulgaris) is tightly linked to the B gene, a dominant early-bolting quantitative trait locus, the expression of which is positively regulated by LD photoperiod. Thus, photoperiod regulators like CONSTANS (CO) and CONSTANS-LIKE (COL) genes identified in many LD and short-day (SD)-responsive plants have long been considered constituents and/or candidates for the B gene. Until now, the photoperiod response pathway of sugar beet (a Caryophyllid), diverged from the Rosids and Asterids has not been identified. Here, evidence supporting the existence of a COL gene family is provided and the presence of Group I, II, and III COL genes in sugar beet, as characterized by different zinc-finger (B-box) and CCT (CO, CO-like, TOC) domains is demonstrated. BvCOL1 is identified as a close-homologue of Group 1a (AtCO, AtCOL1, AtCOL2) COL genes, hence a good candidate for flowering time control and it is shown that it maps to chromosome II but distant from the B gene locus. The late-flowering phenotype of A. thaliana co-2 mutants was rescued by over-expression of BvCOL1 thereby suggesting functional equivalence with AtCO, and it is shown that BvCOL1 interacts appropriately with the endogenous downstream genes, AtFT and AtSOC1 in the transgenic plants. Curiously, BvCOL1 has a dawn-phased diurnal pattern of transcription, mimicking that of AtCOL1 and AtCOL2 while contrasting with AtCO. Taken together, these data suggest that BvCOL1 plays an important role in the photoperiod response of sugar beet.
Melatonin inhibits LPS‐induced NO production in rat endothelial cells

Abstract: Endothelial cells produce NO by activation of constitutive nitric oxide synthase (NOS) and transcription of inducible NOS (iNOS). We have previously shown that melatonin, in the nanomolar range, inhibits activation of constitutive NOS, and in the present paper, we evaluated whether it could interfere with the expression of iNOS, which is activated by lipopolysaccharide (LPS), a major component of gram‐negative bacteria cell walls. Primary cultures of rat endothelial cells were loaded with fluorescent probe for NO detection. Nuclear factor kappa B (NF‐κB) translocation in endothelial cells elicited by LPS was measured by electromobility shift assay, and the vasodilation of aortic rings was accessed by recording isometric contraction. Melatonin in a micromolar but not in a nanomolar range inhibits the NO production induced by LPS. This effect is not dependent on the activation of G protein‐coupled melatonin receptors. The nuclear NF‐κB translocation is a process necessary for iNOS transcription, and melatonin also inhibits its translocation. LPS induced vasodilation only in endothelium‐intact aortic rings, and melatonin (10 μm) inhibits the vasodilation. Here, we show that concentrations compatible with nocturnal melatonin surge (nm) did not interfere with the activity of iNOS. Considering that micromolar melatonin concentrations could be locally achieved through production by activated immune competent cells, extra‐pineal melatonin could have a protective effect against tissue injury. We propose that melatonin blocked the LPS‐induced vasodilation by inhibiting the NF‐κB pathway. Finally, we propose that the effect of melatonin on vascular reactivity is one of the mechanisms that underlies the protective effect of this indolamine against LPS.
Experiments and Interpretations of some Load Interaction Phenomena in Fatigue Crack Growth Related to Compressive Loading

The present paper addresses two issues regarding the influence of compressive loadings for fatigue crack growth. The first issue is the crack tip loading in compression. It will be verified that Kmaxand R are not suitable to account for compressive loading conditions at the crack tip. The second issue is the investigation of some basic load interaction effects in tension-compression loading. Especially loading conditions that were reported leading to an acceleration of fatigue crack growth were revisited. Numerical simulations of the experiments are used to interpret the results.
Numerical simulation of the steady-state deformation of a smart hydrogel under an external electric field

In this paper, we develop a numerical model based on a multiphasic theory to simulate the deformation response of a hydrogel strip immersed into an acidic solution under an external electric field. The deformation response consists of complicated mechano-electrochemical behaviours including mechanical effects (pressure and diffusive drag), chemical effects (concentration, chemical potential, osmotic pressure) and electric effects (electric field intensity, electric potential). The complexly coupled nonlinear governing equations are numerically solved using a recently developed meshless radial basis function method. We analyse the major factors which influence the swelling/shrinking behaviours of the hydrogel strip. The numerical results show good agreement with the experimental measurements.
Effect of heat processing on degradation of organophosphorus compounds in milk

In the present scenario, usage of pesticides are inevitable to meet the demands of growing population and to secure the food grain production, there is need for regular screening of milk and milk products for pesticide residues which is being felt in the trade and also at the consumers level. The present work was undertaken to study the effect of heat processing on degradation of various Organophosphorus compounds (Dichlorvos, Dimethoate, Diazinon, Chlorpyrifos, Malathion and methyl Parathion) in both natural and spiked samples of milk were heated to pasteurization temperature (63 oC for 1/2hrs), sterilization (121 oC for 15 minutes) and boiling (5min) respectively. Extraction and Cleanup of samples was done by employing QuEChERS method and analysed by GC-FPD. The mean concentration levels of pesticide residues were assessed and degradation percentage of respective pesticide in different food processing methods were calculated. Sterilization and boiling proved to be highly effective on degradation of Organophosphorus compounds than pasteurization temperatures.
Asbestos fibre dimensions and lung cancer mortality among workers exposed to chrysotile

Objectives To estimate exposures to asbestos fibres of specific sizes among asbestos textile manufacturing workers exposed to chrysotile using data from transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and to evaluate the extent to which the risk of lung cancer varies with fibre length and diameter. Methods 3803 workers employed for at least 1 day between 1 January 1950 and 31 December 1973 in any of three plants in North Carolina, USA that produced asbestos textile products and followed for vital status through 31 December 2003 were included. Historical exposures to asbestos fibres were estimated from work histories and 3578 industrial hygiene measurements taken in 1935–1986. Exposure–response relationships for lung cancer were examined within the cohort using Poisson regression. Results Indicators of fibre length and diameter obtained by TEM were positively and significantly associated with increasing risk of lung cancer. Exposures to longer and thinner fibres tended to be most strongly associated with lung cancer, and models for these fibres fit the data best. Simultaneously modelling indicators of cumulative mean fibre length and diameter yielded a positive coefficient for fibre length and a negative coefficient for fibre diameter. Conclusions The results support the hypothesis that the risk of lung cancer among workers exposed to chrysotile asbestos increases with exposure to longer fibres. More research is needed to improve the characterisation of exposures by fibre size and number and to analyse the associated risks in a variety of industries and populations.
Leucothoe kawesqari, a new amphipod from Bernardo O’Higgins National Park (Chile), with remarks on the genus in the Magellan Region (Crustacea, Peracarida)

Abstract Although the genus Leucothoe has been reported repeatedly in the Magellan Region, the citations in the Channels and Fjords Ecoregion were either unidentified or attributed to the previously considered cosmopolitan Leucothoe spinicarpa. In this work, Leucothoe kawesqari sp. n. is described, which can be distinguished from other species of the genus in the Southern Ocean by having eyes present, epimeral plates with no setae, anterior coxae not acutely produced or excavate, coxa 5 slightly bilobed, accessory flagellum present, mandibular palp article 3 shorter than ½ article 2, pereopods 5–7 basis expanded, ovoid, posterior margin weakly crenulate and telson apex irregularly truncated. The new species was found in hard substrates, both unvegetated and with macroalgae, mainly in kelp forest of Macrocystis pyrifera.
Impression cytology features of conjunctival nevi reported as more noticeable.

PURPOSE To report the impression cytology features of conjunctival nevi reported as more noticeable. METHODS 35 patients who reported that a conjunctival lesion had become more noticeable after color or size change were enrolled. On slit-lamp examination, a clinical diagnosis of nevus was made and lesions underwent impression cytology using acetate cellulose strips and a combined staining with PAS, H&E and Papanicolaou. At patient's or parents' request, excision of the lesion was performed and the tissue was submitted to histopathological study. RESULTS Impression cytology examination revealed nests or cluster of nevus cells within the epithelium layer containing or not mucous-secreting goblet cells in 32 cases (91.4%). Ten patients (28.5%) had the tumor removed and histopathological diagnosis was compound nevus in 8 eyes (1 from caruncle, 1 from plica semilunaris and 6 from bulbar conjunctiva) and subepithelial nevus from bulbar conjunctiva (2 eyes). CONCLUSION Optical microscopy analysis of the impression cytology specimens confirmed the clinical diagnosis by demonstrating typical histopathological features of the superficial layers from conjunctival nevi in 91.4% of the cases. For amelanotic nevi IC can also allow a differential diagnosis from other nonpigmented lesions. The technique does not replace histopathological examination, but additionally, may assist in evaluating nevus cells in children and adults.
An Assessment of Alternative Strategies for Constructing EMD-Based Kernel Functions for Use in an SVM for Image Classification

Because of their sound theoretical underpinnings, support vector machines (SVMs) have very impressive performance in classification. However, the use of SVMs is constrained by the fact that the affinity measure that is used to build the classifier must produce a kernel matrix that is positive semi-definite (PSD). This is normally not a problem, however many very effective affinity measures are known that will not produce a PSD kernel matrix. One such measure is the Earth-Mover's distance (EMD) for quantifying the difference between images. In this paper we consider three methods for producing a PSD kernel from the EMD and compare SVM-based classifiers that use these measures against a nearest neighbour classifier built directly on the EMD. We find that two of these kernelised EMD measures are effective and the resulting SVMs are better than the nearest neighbour alternatives.