Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Tech-note: Vtrail: Supporting trailblazing in virtual environments

Trails are a proven means of improving performance in virtual environments (VE) but there is very little understanding or support for the role of the trailblazer. The Use-IT Lab is currently designing a tool, the VTrail System, to support trailblazing in VE's. The objective of this document is to introduce the concept of trailblazing, present the initial prototype for a tool designed specifically to support trailblazing and discuss results from an initial usability study.
General highly accurate algebraic coarsening.

General purely algebraic approaches for repeated coarsening of deterministic or statistical eld equations are presented, including a universal way to gauge and control the quality of the coarse-level set of variables, and generic procedures for deriving the coarse-level set of equations. They apply to the equations arising from variational as well as non-variational discretizations of general, elliptic as well as non-elliptic, partial diierential systems, on structured or unstructured grids. They apply to many types of disordered systems, such as those arising in composite materials, inhomogeneous ground ows, \twisted geometry" discretizations and Dirac equations in disordered gauge elds, and also to non-PDE systems. The coarsening can be inexpensive with low accuracy, as needed for multigrid solvers, or more expensive and highly accurate, as needed for other applications (e.g., once-for-all derivation of macroscopic equations). Extensions to non-local and highly indeenite (wave) operators are brieey discussed. The paper reexamines various aspects of algebraic multigrid (AMG) solvers, suggesting some new approaches for relaxation, for interpolation, and for convergence acceleration by recombining iterants. An application to the highly-disordered Dirac equations is brieey reviewed.
Using Decision Trees as the Answer Networks in Temporal Difference-Networks

State representation for intelligent agents is a continuous challenge as the need for abstraction is unavoidable in large state spaces. Predictive representations offer one way to obtain state abstraction by replacing a state with a set of predictions about future interactions with the world. One such formalism is the Temporal-Difference Networks framework [2]. It splits the representation of knowledge in the question network and the answer network. The question network defines which questions (interactions) about future experience are of interest. It contains nodes, each corresponding to a single scalar prediction about a future observation given a certain sequence of interactions with the environment. The nodes are connected by links, annotated with action-labels, which represent temporal relationships between the predictions made by the nodes, conditioned on the action-labels on the links (more details in [2]). The answer network provides the predictive models to update the answers to the defined questions, which are expected values of the scalar quantities in the nodes. These values can be seen as estimates of probabilities. With each executed action of the agent, the predictions are updated using the answer network models to obtain a description of the new state. In classical TD-networks, logistic regression models are used, whose weight vector is obtained using a gradient learning approach. We propose the use of probability-valued decision trees [1] in the answer network of TD-Nets. We believe that decision trees are a particular good choice to investigate, as they offer a different yet powerful form of generalization. Moreover, this aids in a better understanding of the strengths and weaknesses of TD-Nets and represents an important first step towards using them in worlds with more extensive observations. Furthermore, decision tree induction can be regarded as a prototypical example of a non-gradient learning approach.
The effect of perceived price fairness through satisfaction and loyalty on international tourists’ price acceptance of Islamic-Iranian art products

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to investigate the effect of perceived price fairness through satisfaction and loyalty on price acceptance. The antecedents of price fairness, including price perception and tourist vulnerability, will also be examined. Design/methodology/approach – The authors collected 674 questionnaires from international tourists who purchased Islamic-Iranian art products and analyzed simultaneous relations with a structural equation modeling. Findings – The results indicate that perceived price awareness and perceived vulnerability positively and significantly affect perceived price fairness. Additionally, perceived price fairness has a significant influence on customer satisfaction and loyalty. Moreover, customer satisfaction and loyalty were found to have a positive impact on price acceptance. Practical implications – Based on the findings, the results are expected to create a useful perspective for the researchers so they can present a broader model in future studies. The res.
A positive future for educational psychology – if the profession gets it right

Recent Annual Courses of the Association of Educational Psychologists (2006–2008) have each focused on aspects of positive psychology either in keynote speeches or in workshops. This paper argues that whilst educational psychologists (EPs) are right to be positive about the future, the profession is currently undergoing a period of rapid change and uncertainty that will likely bring its own discomfort and challenges. EPs will not be immune from the emotional impact of change and stress and it is imperative to be positive, forward looking and skilled at scoping the evolving environment in order to take advantage of developing opportunities. Additionally, practising professionals should not underestimate the importance of individual casework, assessment and therapeutic interventions and ensure they are sufficiently skilled to be able to undertake this work in conjunction with their existing activities. It is argued that although the profession does have the potential for a vibrant future, it is incumbent upon participating professionals to get it right by being seen as relevant to the current challenges.
mediaBlocks: physical containers, transports, and controls for online media

We present a tangible user interface based upon mediaBlocks: small, electronically tagged wooden blocks that serve as physical icons (“phicons”) for the containment, transport, and manipulation of online media. MediaBlocks interface with media input and output devices such as video cameras and projectors, allowing digital media to be rapidly “copied” from a media source and “pasted” into a media display. MediaBlocks are also compatible with traditional GUIs, providing seamless gateways between tangible and graphical interfaces. Finally, mediaBlocks act as physical “controls” in tangible interfaces for tasks such as s equencing collections of media elements. CR Categories and Subject Descriptors: H.5. 2 [User Interfaces] Input devices and strategies; H.5. 1 [Multimedia Information Systems] Artificial, augmented, and virtual realities Additional Keywords: tangible user interface, tangible bits, phicons, physical constraints, ubiquitous compu ting
The electoral fate and policy impact of “anti-corruption parties” in Central and Eastern Europe

Niche parties have been increasingly successful during the last 30 years and have accordingly received a lot of scholarly attention. So far most of the focus has been on Green and radical right parties, and to a more limited extent, regional parties. In this paper I analyze the electoral fates and policy outcomes of another type of niche party, namely those focusing on anti-corruption, whose successes culminated during the 2000s. The study is limited to all new parties campaigning on the issue of anti-corruption in Central and Eastern Europe since the fall of the Berlin wall and the questions to be answered are: To what extent are these parties successful in obtaining relevant positions in the government so that they are able to effectively fight corruption? What impact do they have on anti-corruption measures, thereby influencing the level of corruption? How successful are these parties in the elections that follow? In short, to what extent do anticorruption parties matter? Apart from electoral and governmental data, the analysis is based on the Freedom House Nation in Transit annual reports, in which one section deals with the efforts to curb corruption. The results are rather mixed, but indicate that the more influential positions the anti-corruption parties (ACPs) have in government, the better are their anti-corruption performances. That implies that they are serious and competent enough to tackle those issues, despite their newness and lack of experience. Not surprisingly, the incumbent ACPs fare worse than those in opposition in subsequent elections, but quite a few still remain popular. Finally, all but one party abandoned their anti-corruption rhetoric in their second election, which implies that anti-corruption is a different type of issue, compared to the ones used by previous niche parties.
A comparison of self-assessment and tutor assessment of undergraduate psychology students

The capacity for self-assessment amongst undergraduate psychology students ( N = 64) was investigated in comparison to tutor assessments. Students were able to assess their own performance reasonably and accurately. However, higher achieving students underestimated their performance, while the opposite was found for lower achieving students. These results reflect the characteristics of self-enhancement and self-diminishment bias.
MMPBSA Decomposition of the Binding Energy throughout a Molecular Dynamics Simulation of Amyloid-Beta (Aß10−35) Aggregation

Recent experiments with amyloid-beta (Aβ) peptides indicate that the formation of toxic oligomers may be an important contribution to the onset of Alzheimer’s disease. The toxicity of Aβ oligomers depend on their structure, which is governed by assembly dynamics. However, a detailed knowledge of the structure of at the atomic level has not been achieved yet due to limitations of current experimental techniques. In this study, replica exchange molecular dynamics simulations are used to identify the expected diversity of dimer conformations of Aβ10−35 monomers. The most representative dimer conformation has been used to track the dimer formation process between both monomers. The process has been characterized by means of the evolution of the decomposition of the binding free energy, which provides an energetic profile of the interaction. Dimers undergo a process of reorganization driven basically by inter-chain hydrophobic and hydrophilic interactions and also solvation/desolvation processes.
Rotation invariant texture features using rotated complex wavelet for content based image retrieval

A new rotationally invariant texture feature extraction method is introduced that utilizes the dual tree rotated complex wavelet filters (DT-RCWF) and dual tree complex wavelet transform (DT-CWT) jointly. A new two-dimensional rotated complex wavelet filter is designed with a complex wavelet filter coefficient. Decomposing the image with DT-RCWF and DT-CWT jointly gives shift invariant subbands oriented in twelve different directions. Isotropic rotationally invariant features are extracted from these subbands. The performance of image retrieval with the proposed features on rotated and nonrotated image databases is compared with the existing method. Experimental results show that the proposed rotation-invariant texture features are more robust and outperform the other existing methods.
Using racial stereotypes in anti-racist campaigns

Abstract This article examines the use of stereotyped images in a series of adverts by the Commission for Racial Equality [CRE]. As part of the CRE's ‘personal responsibility’ campaign the adverts aimed to raise awareness of racial stereotyping, and, in one case, to provoke members of the public into complaining about the images presented. As the main body charged with implementing and monitoring anti-racism in the UK the use of racial stereotypes by the CRE has been controversial, though not always in the expected ways. The main arguments are that the CRE's use of stereotypes is based on questionable evidence, on a problematic conception of positive and negative images, and that it fails to consider how the images can be read in diverse ways. The CRE seems to rely upon a quasi-essentialist view of race and racism and, consequently, its anti-racism appears static and unable to engage with racism in its diverse manifestations.
Real-time mapping of a hydrogen peroxide concentration profile across a polymicrobial bacterial biofilm using scanning electrochemical microscopy

Quantitative detection of hydrogen peroxide in solution above a Streptococcus gordonii (Sg) bacterial biofilm was studied in real time by scanning electrochemical microscopy (SECM). The concentration of hydrogen peroxide was determined to be 0.7 mM to 1.6 mM in the presence of 10 mM glucose over a period of 2 to 8 h. The hydrogen peroxide production measured was higher near the biofilm surface in comparison to Sg grown planktonically. Differential hydrogen peroxide production was observed both by fluorometric as well as by SECM measurements. The interaction between two different species in a bacterial biofilm of Sg and Aggregatibacter actinomycetemcomitans (Aa) in terms of hydrogen peroxide production was also studied by SECM. One-directional y-scan SECM measurements showed the unique spatial mapping of hydrogen peroxide concentration across a mixed species biofilm and revealed that hydrogen peroxide concentration varies greatly dependent upon local species composition.
Effect of low‐power laser irradiation on the mechanical properties of bone fracture healing in rats

Low‐power laser irradiation (LPLI) has been found to have a positive effect on bone fracture healing in animal models, based on morphogenic, biochemical, roentgenographic, and electron microscopic measurements. We investigated the effect of LPLI on bone fracture healing in rats using biomechanical methods.
D1/D5 Dopamine Receptor Activation Differentially Modulates Rapidly Inactivating and Persistent Sodium Currents in Prefrontal Cortex Pyramidal Neurons

Dopamine (DA) is a well established modulator of prefrontal cortex (PFC) function, yet the cellular mechanisms by which DA exerts its effects in this region are controversial. A major point of contention is the consequence of D1 DA receptor activation. Several studies have argued that D1 receptors enhance the excitability of PFC pyramidal neurons by augmenting voltage-dependent Na+ currents, particularly persistent Na+ currents. However, this conjecture is based on indirect evidence. To provide a direct test of this hypothesis, we combined voltage-clamp studies of acutely isolated layer V–VI prefrontal pyramidal neurons with single-cell RT-PCR profiling. Contrary to prediction, the activation of D1 or D5 DA receptors consistently suppressed rapidly inactivating Na+ currents in identified corticostriatal pyramidal neurons. This modulation was attenuated by a D1/D5 receptor antagonist, mimicked by a cAMP analog, and blocked by a protein kinase A (PKA) inhibitor. In the same cells the persistent component of the Na+current was unaffected by D1/D5 receptor activation—suggesting that rapidly inactivating and persistent Na+ currents arise in part from different channels. Single-cell RT-PCR profiling showed that pyramidal neurons coexpressed three α-subunit mRNAs (Nav1.1, 1.2, and 1.6) that code for the Na+ channel pore. In neurons from Nav1.6 null mice the persistent Na+ currents were significantly smaller than in wild-type neurons. Moreover, the residual persistent currents in these mutant neurons—which are attributable to Nav1.1/1.2 channels—were reduced significantly by PKA activation. These results argue that D1/D5 DA receptor activation reduces the rapidly inactivating component of Na+ current in PFC pyramidal neurons arising from Nav1.1/1.2 Na+ channels but does not modulate effectively the persistent component of the Na+current that is attributable to Nav1.6 Na+channels.
The Output and Welfare Effects of Government Spending Shocks Over the Business Cycle

This paper studies the state-dependence of the output and welfare effects of shocks to government purchases in a canonical medium scale DSGE model. When monetary policy is characterized by a Taylor rule, the output multiplier (the change in output for a one unit change in government spending) is countercyclical but close to constant across states of the business cycle, whereas the welfare multiplier (the consumption equivalent change in a measure of aggregate welfare for the same change in government spending) is quite volatile and procyclical. These results are robust to different means of fiscal finance. When the nominal interest rate is unresponsive to economic conditions, such as would be the case at the zero lower bound, both the output and welfare multipliers are larger and move significantly more across states than under a Taylor rule. The welfare multiplier is still procyclical under passive monetary policy, albeit less so than under a Taylor rule.
Sialic Acid of Mammalian Cell Lines

Approximately two‐thirds of the total sialic acid (S.A.) per cell of a number of cell lines (L‐929, L5178Y, HeLa, C13, P183, and CHO) was located at the cell surface but was inaccessible to the action of trypsin, pronase, lysozyme, β‐glucuronidase, or hyaluronidase. The mean surface density of S.A. ranged from 5.4 × 105 molecules/μ2 surface area for the L5178Y cell to 16.1 × 105 molecules/μ2 for the P183 cell. The P183 cell line, which is a polyoma virus‐transformed derivative of Stoker's C13 line, consistently contained more S.A. per cell than the latter under a variety of growth conditions, although the two lines did not differ in mean cell volume. When mean cell volume of C13, P183, or CHO cells was experimentally manipulated by thymidine or colcemide blockade, S.A. content per cell followed size changes closely. No evidence could be found for a shift in total S.A. per unit cell volume accompanying the period of maximum mitotic activity of partially synchronized CHO suspension cultures. Comparisons between cells grown on glass and the same cells grown in suspension, or between cells grown to different densities on glass, indicated no differences in the characteristic S.A. content per cell.
Night-time leisure and violence in the breakdown of the pseudo-pacification process

A stubbornly high level of interpersonal violence in town and city centres across Britain every weekend is gradually being recognized as a key aspect of the general problem of crime. In this article we want to explore some of the important criminological outcomes of night-time leisure in a culture dominated by hedonism and the logical needs of the free-market consumer economy. Our ongoing research into the night-time economy in its broader social and economic contexts suggests that alcohol-related violence is emblematic of British society at this point in its history; a point we have conceptualized as the ‘breakdown of the pseudo-pacification process’. Since the 1980s, the altering cultural norms accompanying Britain’s enthusiastic adoption of the free-market consumer economy seem to have opened the door for specific types of interpersonal violence, the containment of which is proving very difficult for traditional-informal techniques of control and state-centred agencies alike.
Performance Expectations and Behavior in Small Groups

When given a collective task to accomplish, a group of strangers will evolve patterns of interaction that clearly reflect differences in power and prestige among the members. Some mcmbers will be more active than others, exercise more influence than others, and be rewarded more often than others. It is our purpose to set down in fornul axiom form some of the processes that underly such patterns of inequalities and that account for their maintenance. Bales and his associates found in their observation of ad hoc college student discussion groups that, through time, marked inequalities develop in the overall rates of initiation of activity by each member. ' Further, they found that those who initiate activity most frequently also receive activity most frequently and tend to be ranked highest by group members on the criteria of who had the best ideas, who guided the group discussion, and who demonstrated leadership. Norfleet found similar regularities in her examination of adult discussion groups which met together over a period of three weeks.2 Ratings, by the members, of those individuals seen as having contributed most to the "-productivity" of the group became concentrated, with a high degree of agreement, on a few individuals. Those who were rated as the best contributors also tended to be high on both initiation and receipt of interaction. These investigations indicate that a cluster of correlated inequalities develop in discussion groups. If we assume that the "guidance" ratings reflect primarily successful influence and that the "best ideas" and ",contribute to productivity" ratings reflect judgments of ability at the discussion task, then the cluster of inequalities includes at least initiation of activity, receipt of activity, task ability and social influence. The characteristics of these groups and their activities which we believe were crucial to the formation of inequalities were that: a) they were given a collective task to accomplish; b) it was reasonable to think of members having differential capacity to contribute to completing the task; c) the completion of the task was of central importance to the members. Under pressure to complete the task successfully, those thought to be more able were given more opportunities to contribute (questions, inquiring glances, etc.) and were allowed
Addressing the Raven's Progressive Matrices Test of "General" Intelligence

TheRaven'sProgressiveMatrices� (RPM)� testisa� commonlyusedtestofgeneralhumanintelligence. �� The� RPMissomewhatuniqueasageneralintelligencete stin� thatitfocusesonvisualproblemsolving,�andinp articular,� onvisualsimilarityandanalogy. ��Wearedevelopin gasmall� setofmethodsforproblemsolvingintheRPMwhich �use� propositional,� imagistic,� andmultimodalrepresenta tions,� respectively,� toinvestigatehowdifferentrepresen tations� cancontributetovisualproblemsolvingandhowth eeffects� oftheirusemightemergeinbehavior. �
Mind the Gap. The Theory and Practice of State Rescaling: Institutional Morphology and the ‘New’ City-regionalism

The repeated reterritorialisation of economic development policy has resulted in a congested institutional environment characterised by a confused, and confusing, nested spatial hierarchy of interventions. Nevertheless, advocacy for perpetual institutional manoeuvring has proceeded largely unchecked leaving important questions unanswered regarding both the desirability of adding to/modifying the institutional landscape of cities and also the viability of such policies in light of existing attachments to long-established administrative geographies. In calling for further research, this paper conducts a preliminary investigation of the mutation of sub-city Urban Regeneration Companies (URCs) into city-regional City Development Companies (CDCs) and suggests the expansive critical realist epistemology as a potentially worthwhile methodological starting-point.