Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
On the selection of surrogate models in evolutionary optimization algorithms

Since many real-world problems are related to the satisfaction of at least one goal, several optimization techniques have been proposed in the past. However, traditional optimization techniques are computationally expensive and are normally highly susceptible to some characteristics such as high dimensionality, non-differentiability, non-linearity, highly expensive function calculation, among others. Evolutionary algorithms are bio-inspired meta-heuristics that have shown flexibility, adaptability and good performance when solving these sort of problems. In order to achieve acceptable results, some problems usually require several evaluations of the optimization function. However, when each of these evaluations represents a high computational cost, these problems remain intractable even by these meta-heuristics. To reduce the computational cost in expensive optimization problems, some researchers have replaced the real optimization function with a computationally inexpensive surrogate model. Despite there are comparison studies among these techniques, these studies focused on revised the accuracy of the meta-model for the problem at hand, but neither its suitability to be used with evolutionary algorithms, nor its scalability in the variable design space. In this work, we compare four meta-modeling techniques, polynomial approximation, kriging, radial basis functions and support vector regression, in different aspects such as accuracy, robustness, efficiency, and scalability with the aim to identify advantages and disadvantages of each meta-modeling technique in order to select the most suitable one to be combined with evolutionary optimization algorithms.
On fractional Ornstein-Uhlenbeck processes

In this paper we study Doob's transform of fractional Brownian motion (FBM). It is well known that Doob's transform of standard Brownian motion is identical in law with the Ornstein-Uhlenbeck diffusion defined as the solution of the (stochastic) Langevin equation where the driving process is a Brownian motion. It is also known that Doob's transform of FBM and the process obtained from the Langevin equation with FBM as the driving process are different. However, also the first one of these can be described as a solution of a Langevin equation but now with some other driving process than FBM. We are mainly interested in the properties of this new driving process denoted Y^{(1)}. We also study the solution of the Langevin equation with Y^{(1)} as the driving process. Moreover, we show that the covariance of Y^{(1)} grows linearly; hence, in this respect Y^{(1)} is more like a standard Brownian motion than a FBM. In fact, it is proved that a properly scaled version of Y^{(1)} converges weakly to Brownian motion.
COPD promotes migration of A549 lung cancer cells: the role of chemokine CCL21

Patients with COPD develop lung cancer more frequently than healthy smokers. At the same time, molecular mediators promoting various aspects of cancer cell progression are still elusive. In this report, we examined whether COPD can be coupled with increased migration of non-small-cell lung cancer cells A549 and, if so, whether this effect may be related to altered production and activity of chemokines CCL21, CXCL5, and CXCL12. The study showed that the migration of A549 cells through the polycarbonate membrane and basement membrane extract toward a chemotactic gradient elicited by serum from patients with COPD was markedly higher as compared with serum from healthy donors. The concentration of CCL21 and CXCL12, but not CXCL5, in serum from patients with COPD was also increased. Experiments in which CCL21- and CXCL12-dependent signaling was blocked revealed that increased migration of the cancer cells upon treatment with serum from patients with COPD was mediated exclusively by CCL21. Collectively, our results indicate that COPD may contribute to the progression of lung cancer via CCL21-dependent intensification of cancer cell migration.
Spoken language recognition based on senone posteriors

This paper explores in depth a recently proposed approach to spoken language recognition based on the estimated posteriors for a set of senones representing the phonetic space of one or more languages. A neural network (NN) is trained to estimate the posterior probabilities for the senones at a frame level. A feature vector is then derived for every sample using these posteriors. The effect of the language used in training the NN and the number of senones are studied. Speech-activity detection (SAD) and dimensionality reduction approaches are also explored and Gaussian and NN backends are compared. Results are presented on heavily degraded speech data. The proposed system is shown to give over 40% relative gain compared to a state-of-the-art language recognition system at sample durations from 3 to 120 seconds.
Prolegomena to any future artificial moral agent

As artificial intelligence moves ever closer to the goal of producing fully autonomous agents, the question of how to design and implement an artificial moral agent (AMA) becomes increasingly pressing. Robots possessing autonomous capacities to do things that are useful to humans will also have the capacity to do things that are harmful to humans and other sentient beings. Theoretical challenges to developing artificial moral agents result both from controversies among ethicists about moral theory itself, and from computational limits to the implementation of such theories. In this paper the ethical disputes are surveyed, the possibility of a ‘moral Turing Test’ is considered and the computational difficulties accompanying the different types of approach are assessed. Human-like performance, which is prone to include immoral actions, may not be acceptable in machines, but moral perfection may be computationally unattainable. The risks posed by autonomous machines ignorantly or deliberately harming people and other sentient beings are great. The development of machines with enough intelligence to assess the effects of their actions on sentient beings and act accordingly may ultimately be the most important task faced by the designers of artificially intelligent automata.
Accuracy of thin slice judgments of same-sex couples

By AUTUMN DEVEREAUX NANASSY A thesis submitted to the Graduate School-Camden Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey In partial fulfillment of the requirements For the degree of Master of Arts Graduate Program in Psychology Written under the direction of Charlotte N. Markey, Ph.D. And approved by ______________________________ Charlotte N. Markey, Ph.D. ______________________________ Christopher S. Nave, Ph.D. ______________________________ Kristin J. August, Ph.D.
24-micron Detections of Disks around Very Low-mass Stars and Brown Dwarfs in IC 348: Grain Growth/Settling and Inner Holes?

We present observations of six late-type members of the young cluster IC 348 detected at 24 microns with the Multiband Imaging Photometer for Spitzer(MIPS). At least four of the objects are probably substellar. Combining these data with ground-based optical and near-infrared photometry and complementary observations with the Infrared Array Camera (IRAC), we have modeled the spectral energy distributions using detailed models of irradiated accretion disks. We are able to fit the observations with models using a range of maximum grain sizes from ISM-type dust to grains as large as 1 millimeter. Two objects show a lack of excess emission at wavelengths shortward of 5.8-8 microns but significant excess at longer wavelengths, indicative of large optically thin or evacuated inner holes. Our models indicate a inner hole of radius ~ 0.5-0.9 AU for the brown dwarf L316; this is the first brown dwarf with evidence for an AU-scale inner disk hole. We examine several possible mechanisms for the inner disk clearing in this case, including photoevaporation and planet formation.
The Impact of Culture on Reactions to Promise Breaches: Differences Between East and West in Behavioral Integrity Perceptions

Behavioral integrity (BI)—a perception that a person acts in ways that are consistent with their words—has been shown to have an impact on many areas of work life. However, there have been few studies of BI in Eastern cultural contexts. Differences in communication style and the nature of hierarchical relationships suggest that spoken commitments are interpreted differently in the East and the West. We performed three scenario-based experiments that look at response to word–deed inconsistency in different cultures. The experiments show that Indians, Koreans, and Taiwanese do not as readily revise BI downward following a broken promise as do Americans (Study 1), that the U.S.–Indian difference is especially pronounced when the speaker is a boss rather than a subordinate (Study 2), and that people exposed to both cultures adjust perceptions of BI based on the cultural context of where the speaking occurs (Study 3).
Mitigating the Stress of Drought on Soil Respiration by Selective Thinning: Contrasting Effects of Drought on Soil Respiration of Two Oak Species in a Mediterranean Forest

Drought has been shown to reduce soil respiration (SR) in previous studies. Meanwhile, studies of the effect of forest management on SR yielded contrasting results. However, little is known about the combined effect of drought and forest management on SR. To investigate if the drought stress on SR can be mitigated by thinning, we implemented plots of selective thinning and 15% reduced rainfall in a mixed forest consisting of the evergreen Quercus ilex and deciduous Quercus cerrioides; we measured SR seasonally from 2004 to 2007. Our results showed a clear soil moisture threshold of 9%; above this value, SR was strongly dependent on soil temperature, with Q10 of 3.0–3.8. Below this threshold, the relationship between SR and soil temperature weakened. We observed contrasting responses of SR of target oak species to drought and thinning. Reduced rainfall had a strong negative impact on SR of Q. cerrioides, whereas the effect on SR for Q. ilex was marginal or even positive. Meanwhile, selective thinning increased SR of Q. cerrioides, but reduced that of Q. ilex. Overall, our results showed that the negative effect of drought on SR can be offset through selective thinning, but the effect is attenuated with time.
An Empirical Test and Calibration of H II Region Diagnostics

We present spectrophotometry in the 3600-9700 Å region for a sample of 39 H II regions in the Galaxy and Magellanic Clouds, for which independent information is available on the spectral types and effective temperatures of the ionizing stars. The spectra have been used to evaluate nebular diagnostics of stellar temperature, metal abundance, and ionization parameter, and to compare the observed behavior of the line indices with predictions of nebular photoionization models. We observe a strong degeneracy between forbidden-line sequences produced by changes in stellar Teff and metal abundance, which severely complicates the application of many forbidden-line diagnostics to extragalactic H II regions. Our data confirm however that the Edmunds & Pagel [O II] + [O III] abundance index and the Vílchez & Pagel η′ index provide more robust diagnostics of metal abundance and stellar effective temperature, respectively. A comparison of the fractional helium ionization of the H II regions with stellar temperature confirms the reliability of the spectral type versus Teff calibration for the relevant temperature range Teff ≤ 38,000 K. We use empirical relations between the nebular hardness indices and Teff to reinvestigate the case for systematic variations in the stellar effective temperatures and the upper initial mass functions of massive stars in extragalactic H II regions. The data are consistent with a significant softening of the ionizing spectra (consistent with cooler stellar temperatures) with increasing metal abundance, especially for Z ≤ Z☉. However, unresolved degeneracies between Z and Teff still complicate the interpretation of this result.
Ratiometric Activatable Cell-Penetrating Peptides Provide Rapid In Vivo Readout of Thrombin Activation**

In real time: thrombin activation in vivo can be imaged in real time with ratiometric activatable cell penetrating peptides (RACPPs). RACPPs are designed to combine 1) dual-emission ratioing, 2) far red to infrared wavelengths for in vivo mammalian imaging, and 3) cleavage-dependent spatial localization. The most advanced RACPP uses norleucine (Nle)-TPRSFL as a linker that increases sensitivity to thrombin by about 90-fold.
Confidence culture and the remaking of feminism

In this article we explore how confidence works as a technology of self, exhorting women and girls to act upon themselves, and how it is reconfiguring feminist concerns. Our analysis demonstrates how the confidence cult(ure) has materialised in three different sites: discussions about women in the workplace; texts and practices promoting 'confident mothering'; and contemporary sex and relationship advice. We show that confidence acts as a disciplinary technology of self which is addressed almost exclusively to women and is articulated in highly standardised terms which disavow any difference between and among women. It is an individualising technology which demands intense labour, places the emphasis upon women's self-regulation and locates the source of the 'problems' and their 'solutions' within a newly upgraded form of confident subjectivity, thus rendering insecurity and lack of confidence abhorrent. We then discuss how the confidence culture is deeply implicated in the new luminosity of feminism, and argue that it contributes to the remaking of feminism in three central ways: by continuing and promoting elements of postfeminist sensibility, yet through celebration rather than repudiation of feminism; through an inclusive address that expunges difference and the possibility of its critique; and by favouring positive affect and outlawing 'negative' 'political' feelings. We argue that this move, which calls forth a new kind of a 'cool' 'feminist' subject, is simultaneously political, psychological and aesthetic.
Sexual Scripts

repeated in this later work. The criteria for selection of items are not stated, leaving the user to wonder if these are the best references on the topics. Some omissions seem curious. The Rapoports’ book (1971) on dual career families i s omitted, while a brief article by them on the same topic is included (Item 8.1 25). Elisabeth Bing has only one of her books on prepared childbirth listed (Item 9.980). As some omissions are curious, so are some of the inclusions. Articles on “Advertising and Abuse of Drugs” (Item 10.1 034) or “Bladder Dysfunction after Schauta Hysterectomy” (Item 10.1 090) seem outside the scope of this bibliography. Elimination of these peripheral references would have reduced the overwhelming bulk of the bibliography, and perhaps its cost, without sacrificing those references likely to be of the most interest to women’s studies researchers. Despite these flaws, the bibliography does make an impressive contribution to the documentation of research on women. It will prove to be a major resource in this area.
Effects of Different Tissue Microenvironments on Gene Expression in Breast Cancer Cells

In metastasis, circulating tumor cells penetrate the walls of blood vessels and enter the metastatic target tissue, thereby becoming exposed to novel and relatively unsupportive microenvironments. In the new microenvironments, the tumor cells often remain in a dormant state indefinitely and must adapt before they are able to successfully colonize the tissue. Very little is known about this adaptive process. We studied temporal changes in gene expression when breast cancer cells adapt to survive and grow on brain, bone marrow, and lung tissue maintained in an in vivo culture system, as models of the metastatic colonization of these tissues. We observed the transient activation of genes typically associated with homeostasis and stress during the initial stages of adaptation, followed by the activation of genes that mediate more advanced functions, such as elaboration of cell morphology and cell division, as the cells adapted to thrive in the host tissue microenvironment. We also observed the temporary induction of genes characteristic of the host tissue, which was particularly evident when tumor cells were grown on brain tissue. These early transient gene expression events suggest potential points of therapeutic intervention that are not evident in data from well-established tumors.
Kinship, parental manipulation and evolutionary origins of eusociality

One of the hallmarks of eusociality is that workers forego their own reproduction to assist their mother in raising siblings. This seemingly altruistic behaviour may benefit workers if gains in indirect fitness from rearing siblings outweigh the loss of direct fitness. If worker presence is advantageous to mothers, however, eusociality may evolve without net benefits to workers. Indirect fitness benefits are often cited as evidence for the importance of inclusive fitness in eusociality, but have rarely been measured in natural populations. We compared inclusive fitness of alternative social strategies in the tropical sweat bee, Megalopta genalis, for which eusociality is optional. Our results show that workers have significantly lower inclusive fitness than females that found their own nests. In mathematical simulations based on M. genalis field data, eusociality cannot evolve with reduced intra-nest relatedness. The simulated distribution of alternative social strategies matched observed distributions of M. genalis social strategies when helping behaviour was simulated as the result of maternal manipulation, but not as worker altruism. Thus, eusociality in M. genalis is best explained through kin selection, but the underlying mechanism is likely maternal manipulation.
Microwave Imaging Via Adaptive Beamforming Methods for Breast Cancer Detection

Ultra-wideband (UWB) Microwave imaging (MWI) is a promising breast cancer detection technology which exploits the significant contrast in dielectric properties between normal breast tissue and tumor. Previously, data-independent methods, such as delay-and-sum (DAS) and space-time (ST) beamforming, have been used for microwave imaging. However, the low resolution and the poor interference suppression capability associated with the data-independent methods restrict their use in practice, especially when the noise is high and the backscattered signals are weak. In this paper, we develop two data-adaptive methods for microwave imaging, which are referred to as the robust weighted Capon beamforming (RWCB) method and the amplitude and phase estimation (APES) method. Due to their data-adaptive nature, these methods outperform their data-independent counterparts in terms of improved resolution and reduced sidelobe levels.
A Comprehensive Maximum Likelihood Analysis of the Structural Properties of Faint Milky Way Satellites

We derive the structural parameters of the recently discovered very low luminosity Milky Way satellites through a maximum likelihood algorithm applied to SDSS data. For each satellite, even when only a few tens of stars are available down to the SDSS flux limit, the algorithm yields robust estimates and errors for the centroid, position angle, ellipticity, exponential half-light radius and number of member stars (within the SDSS). This latter parameter is then used in conjunction with stellar population models of the satellites to derive their absolute magnitudes and stellar masses, accounting for color-magnitude diagram shot noise. Most parameters are in good agreement with previous determinations, but we now properly account for parameter covariances. However, we find that faint satellites are somewhat more elliptical than initially thought, and ascribe this effect to the previous use of smoothed maps, which can be dominated by the smoothing (round) kernel. As a result, the faintest half of the Milky Way dwarf galaxies (MV ≳ −7.5) is significantly (4 σ) flatter (⟨ϵ⟩ = 0.47 ± 0.03) than its brightest half (MV≲ − 7.5, ⟨ϵ⟩ = 0.32 ± 0.02). From our best models, we also investigate whether the seemingly distorted shape of the satellites, often taken to be a sign of tidal distortion, can be quantified. We find that, except for tentative evidence of distortion in Canes Venatici I and Ursa Major II, these can be completely accounted for by Poisson scatter in the sparsely sampled systems. We consider three scenarios that could explain the rather elongated shape of faint satellites: rotation supported systems, stars following the shape of more triaxial dark matter subhalos, or elongation due to tidal interaction with the Milky Way. Although none of these is entirely satisfactory, the last one appears the least problematic, but obviously warrants much deeper observations to track evidence of such tidal interaction.
Interaction Effects between Openness and Fluid Intelligence Predicting Scholastic Performance

Figural reasoning as an indicator of fluid intelligence and the domains of the Five Factor Model were explored as predictors of scholastic performance. A total of 836 Chinese secondary school students (406 girls) from grades 7 to 11 participated. Figural reasoning, as measured by Raven’s Standard Progressive Matrices, predicted performance in Math, Chinese, and English, and also for a composite score. Among the personality domains, Openness had a positive effect on performance for all subjects after controlling for all the other variables. For Conscientiousness, the effects were smaller and only significant for Math. Neuroticism had a negative effect on Math grades. The effects of Extraversion on all grades were very small and not significant. Most importantly, hierarchical latent regression analyses indicated that all interaction effects between Openness and figural reasoning were significant, revealing a compensatory interaction. Our results further suggest that scholastic performance basically relies on the same traits through the secondary school years. However, importance is given to interaction effects between ability and personality. Implications along with limitations and suggestions for future research are discussed.
Why Fallacies Appear to Be Better Arguments than They Are

This paper explains how a fallacious argument can be deceptive by appearing to be a better argument of its kind than it really is. The explanation combines heuristics and argumentation schemes. Heuristics are fast and frugal shortcuts to a solution to a problem. They are reasonable to use, but sometimes jump to a conclusion that is not justified. In fallacious instances, according to the theory proposed, such a jump overlooks prerequisites of the defeasible argumentation scheme for the type of argument in question. Three informal fallacies, argumentum ad verecundiam, argumentum ad ignorantiam and fear appeal argument, are used to illustrate and explain the theory.
Iron Abundance Profiles of 12 Clusters of Galaxies Observed with BeppoSAX

We have derived azimuthally averaged radial iron-abundance profiles of the X-ray gas contained within 12 clusters of galaxies with redshift 0.03 ≤ z ≤ 0.2 observed with BeppoSAX. We find evidence for a negative metal-abundance gradient in most of the clusters, particularly significant in clusters that possess cooling flows. The composite profile from the 12 clusters resembles that of cluster simulations of Metzler & Evrard. This abundance gradient could be the result of the spatial distribution of gas-losing galaxies within the cluster being more centrally condensed than the primordial hot gas. Both inside and outside the core region we find a higher abundance in cooling-flow clusters than in non-cooling-flow clusters. Outside of the cooling region this difference cannot be the result of more efficient sputtering of metals into the gaseous phase in cooling-flow clusters but might be the result of the mixing of low-metallicity gas from the outer regions of the cluster during a merger.