Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Face recognition from near-infrared images with convolutional neural network

Owing to the vigorous development of face recognition, near-infrared (NIR) face recognition technology with light insensitivity has attracted increasing attention. However, the traditional methods for NIR face recognition feature the hand-crafted feature design. In this paper, we present a convolutional neural network (CNN) for NIR face recognition. CNN is a multiplayer feed-forward neural network which can automatically learn the features from the raw images and provide partial invariance to illumination, scale and deformation. Experimental results on PolyU-NIRFD database show that our proposed CNN architecture has higher recognition rate compared with the traditional recognition methods, such as Gabor-directional binary code (GDBC), Zernike moments and Hermite kernels (ZMHK).
Convergence and Energy Landscape for Cheeger Cut Clustering

This paper provides both theoretical and algorithmic results for the l1-relaxation of the Cheeger cut problem. The l2 -relaxation, known as spectral clustering, only loosely relates to the Cheeger cut; however, it is convex and leads to a simple optimization problem. The l1-relaxation, in contrast, is non-convex but is provably equivalent to the original problem. The l1-relaxation therefore trades convexity for exactness, yielding improved clustering results at the cost of a more challenging optimization. The first challenge is understanding convergence of algorithms. This paper provides the first complete proof of convergence for algorithms that minimize the l1-relaxation. The second challenge entails comprehending the l1-energy landscape, i.e. the set of possible points to which an algorithm might converge. We show that l1-algorithms can get trapped in local minima that are not globally optimal and we provide a classification theorem to interpret these local minima. This classification gives meaning to these suboptimal solutions and helps to explain, in terms of graph structure, when the l1-relaxation provides the solution of the original Cheeger cut problem.
20-Hydroxyeicosatetraenoic Acid (20-HETE) Modulates Canonical Transient Receptor Potential-6 (TRPC6) Channels in Podocytes

The arachidonic acid metabolite 20-hydroxyeicosatetraenoic acid (20-HETE) regulates renal function, including changes in glomerular function evoked during tubuloglomerular feedback (TGF). This study describes the cellular actions of 20-HETE on cultured podocytes, assessed by whole-cell recordings from cultured podocytes combined with pharmacological and cell-biological manipulations of cells. Bath superfusion of 20-HETE activates cationic currents that are blocked by the pan-TRP blocker SKF-96365 and by 50 μM La3+, and which are attenuated after siRNA knockdown of TRPC6 subunits. Similar currents are evoked by a membrane-permeable analog of diacylgycerol (OAG), but OAG does not occlude responses to maximally-activating concentrations of 20-HETE (20 μM). Exposure to 20-HETE also increased steady-state surface abundance of TRPC6 subunits in podocytes as assessed by cell-surface biotinylation assays, and increased cytosolic concentrations of reactive oxygen species (ROS). TRPC6 activation by 20-HETE was eliminated in cells pretreated with TEMPOL, a membrane-permeable superoxide dismutase mimic. Activation of TRPC6 by 20-HETE was also blocked when whole-cell recording pipettes contained GDP-βS, indicating a role for either small or heterotrimeric G proteins in the transduction cascade. Responses to 20-HETE were eliminated by siRNA knockdown of podocin, a protein that organizes NADPH oxidase complexes with TRPC6 subunits in this cell type. In summary, modulation of ionic channels in podocytes may contribute to glomerular actions of 20-HETE.
Vacation Travel Behaviour in a Very Different Future

Peak oil, strong international climate policy, and many other unconventional changes which loom on the horizon may strongly change current vacation travel patterns. What changes in vacation travel behaviour can we expect and how can policy-makers prepare for them? This thesis takes the first steps to answer these questions. It develops and empirically tests advanced portfolio vacation choice models. Insights (substantive and methodological) presented in this thesis can help governments and tourism industries to respond more adequately when the probability on an unconventional change becomes real.
Subband signal processing for hearing aids

In this paper a hearing aid concept working in subbands is presented. Consideration is given to the compensator for recruitment of loudness and the acoustic feedback cancellation. In addition, a step-size control for fast tracking and a constant error level with nonstationary input signals is presented. The feedback canceler is adapted to the feedback path in the transform domain using a power-normalized least mean square (LMS) algorithm. The transformation into subbands is based on the modulated lapped transform (MLT). Together with the feedback canceler the proposed hearing-loss compensating forward filter is computationally very efficient.
The tradeoff between the number of deployed p-cycles and the survivability to dual fiber duct failures

p-Cycles can attain high capacity efficiency and fast protection switching times in WDM networks. The number of deployed p-cycles and the ability to survive dual fiber duct failures are further important characteristics which are considered in a pan-European network case study. We show that the dual failure restorability and the protection capacity can vary significantly for cycle-configurations with different numbers of deployed p-cycles.
Planting Bugs: A System for Testing Students' Unit Tests

Automated marking of student programming assignments has long been a goal of IT educators. Much of this work has focused on the correctness of small student programs, and only limited attention has been given to systematic assessment of the effectiveness of student testing. In this work, we introduce SAM (the Seeded Auto Marker), a system for automated assessment of student submissions which assesses both program code and unit tests supplied by the students. Our central contribution is the use of programs seeded with specific bugs to analyse the effectiveness of the students' unit tests. Beginning with our intended solution program, and guided by our own set of unit tests, we create a suite of minor variations to the solution, each seeded with a single error. Ideally, a student's unit tests should not only identify the presence of the bug, but should do so via the failure of as small a number of tests as possible, indicating focused test cases with minimal redundancy. We describe our system, the creation of seeded test programs and report our experiences in using the approach in practice. In particular, we find that students often fail to provide appropriate coverage, and that their tests frequently suffer from their poor understanding of the limitations imposed by the abstraction.
Time-Discrete Higher-Order ALE Formulations: Stability

Arbitrary Lagrangian Eulerian (ALE) formulations deal with PDEs on deformable domains upon extending the domain velocity from the boundary into the bulk with the purpose of keeping mesh regularity. This arbitrary extension has no effect on the stability of the PDE but may influence that of a discrete scheme. We examine this critical issue for higher-order time stepping without space discretization. We propose time-discrete discontinuous Galerkin (dG) numerical schemes of any order for a time-dependent advection-diffusion-model problem in moving domains, and study their stability properties. The analysis hinges on the validity of the Reynolds' identity for dG. Exploiting the variational structure and assuming exact integration, we prove that our conservative and nonconservative dG schemes are equivalent and unconditionally stable. The same results remain true for piecewise polynomial ALE maps of any degree and suitable quadrature that guarantees the validity of the Reynolds' identity. This approach general.
High glucose attenuates VEGF expression in rat multipotent adult progenitor cells in association with inhibition of JAK2/STAT3 signalling

This study was to investigate the effect of high glucose (HG) on vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) expression in bone marrow stem cells and JAK2/STAT‐3 signalling. Adult rat bone marrow multipotent progenitor cells (rMAPCs) were cultured to evaluate VEGF expression (both mRNA and protein) with or without exposure to HG for up to 48 hrs using RT‐PCR and ELISA. JAK2 and STAT3 phosphorylation in rMAPCs was analysed by Western blotting. With cells in normal media, VEGF mRNA level after 24 hrs of culture was significantly increased by 15 times over baseline (day 0) with detectable level of VEGF protein intracellularly using immunofluorescence staining. Although there was no measurable VEGF in the media after 24 hrs of culture, a significant amount of VEGF was detected in the media after 48 hrs of incubation. VEGF expression was associated with constitutive activation of JAK2 and STAT3 in rMAPCs. However, VEGF mRNA level was significantly reduced without detectable VEGF in the media when rMAPCs exposed to HG for 48 hrs. Tyrosine‐phosphorylation of JAK2 and STAT3 and nuclear translocation of phosphorylated STAT3 were significantly decreased in the cells exposed to HG for 48 hrs. When JAK2 and STAT3 phosphorylation was blocked by the selective inhibitor AG490, VEGF mRNA level was significantly decreased in rMAPCs in normal media by 80% with no detectable VEGF in the media. VEGF expression was significantly suppressed in rMAPCs cultured in HG media that was further reduced by AG490. VEGF expression in rMAPCs is impaired by HG possibly through inhibition of JAK2/STAT3 signalling.
ULC Dynamics of Euro Area Countries and SR in the Long Run

In this paper we analyse the ability of national unit labor costs of euro area countries to converge to the weighted average of the EMU and in the case of SR also to the weighted average of V4 countries. Co-integration between individual and average nominal ULC indices was examined through static (OLS) and dynamic (VEC) tests and estimates. We discovered a significant co-integration under an absolute convergence of the ULC for almost all countries (incl. SR) to the equilibrium, which was determined mainly by the weighted average of the euro area. In general, a significant convergence would enable different levels of nominal ULC but not long-term differences in their development, which is an important criterion for sustaining the competitiveness of a country without an exchange rate mechanism.
Online Img2UML Repository: An Online Repository for UML Models

The Img2UML repository is a repository of UML models. A huge amount of UML models is available on the Internet – mostly in the form of images. This repository aims to offer these UML class diagram as a searchable XMI Database. The information that is in the XMI files is stored in the repository database. This repository will be useful for research as the first corpus of UML models. This repository will provide a good place for researchers and students to study and analyze UML models. This improves UML studying in research, education, and industry. In this paper, we outline the Img2UML repository, illustrate some of the research made possible, and discuss future plans.
A framework for the unification of the behavioral sciences

The various behavioral disciplines model human behavior in distinct and incompatible ways. Yet, recent theoretical and empirical developments have created the conditions for rendering coherent the areas of overlap of the various behavioral disciplines. The analytical tools deployed in this task incorporate core principles from several behavioral disciplines. The proposed framework recognizes evolutionary theory, covering both genetic and cultural evolution, as the integrating principle of behavioral science. Moreover, if decision theory and game theory are broadened to encompass other-regarding preferences, they become capable of modeling all aspects of decision making, including those normally considered “psychological,” “sociological,” or “anthropological. ” The mind as a decision-making organ then becomes the organizing principle of psychology.
Education and Health: Effects of School Reforms on Birth Outcomes in Iceland

This study investigates the effects of schooling on the incidence of preterm birth and low birth weight using a secondary-school reform that took place in 1985 in Iceland. A law change in 1974 immediately affected the structure of Iceland’s secondary school system and was in part implemented in 1985 when one year was added to compulsory schooling. Regression discontinuity analysis was performed on data from the Icelandic Birth Registry to compare births of female cohorts born before and after the school reform. The size of the Icelandic society and the resulting ease at which the reform could be implemented simultaneously for the whole country, along with high quality birth data makes for a good research opportunity. Our main results show that the reform had a very small, statistically significant positive causal effect on birth weight conditional on gestational age, indicating a greater growth of the fetus for the females who were subject to longer mandatory schooling. Former research show ambiguous results, but ours results are in accordance with recent studies on the subject where the effects of education on various health outcomes have been studied. While the effects are small, the results indicate that the human-capital investments made through the school system can be far reaching and extend between generations. JEL Classification: I12, I20, I28, I10
Resolution With Merging

A refinement of the resolution method for mechanical theorem proving is presented. A resolvent <italic>C</italic> of clauses <italic>A</italic> and <italic>B</italic> is called a <italic>merge</italic> if literals from <italic>A</italic> and <italic>B</italic> merge together to form some literal of <italic>C</italic>. It is shown that the resolution method remains complete if it is required that two noninitial clauses which are not merges never be resolved with one another. It is also shown that this strategy can be combined with the set-of-support strategy.
A Little Flexibility is All You Need : Optimality of Tailored Chaining and Pairing *

Deciding on the appropriate type and amount of flexibility is a classic management problem. The literature has shown that the choice between specialization and flexibility is not an “all-or-nothing” proposition. It is typically better to use a tailored portfolio of dedicated and flexible resources and a little flexibility goes a long way. Let “level-k” flexibility refer to a resource’s ability to process k different types of products. Simulations have shown that using only level-2 flexible resources in a special configuration called chaining achieves almost all the benefits of total flexibility. In this paper, we introduce “tailored pairing” that merges and extends the concepts of chaining and tailoring in dynamic processing systems. We optimize the type and amount of flexibility using a Brownian approximation that is asymptotically correct. We show analytically that for symmetric systems and most practical flexibility cost structures the optimal flexibility configuration invests a lot in dedicated resources, a little in only bi-level flexibility, but nothing in level-k > 2 flexibility, let alone full flexibility. Dedicated resources provide base capacity to serve the majority of the demand while only a small amount of bi-level flexibility is sufficient to serve the variable demand: dedicated capacity is sized roughly proportional to demand while flexible capacity is roughly proportional to the square root of demand and to its coefficient of variation. Our main result can be restated as saying that tailored pairing is optimal for symmetric systems. We investigate the accuracy and robustness of our results in asymmetric systems. It is obvious that the tailored flexible configuration will mirror the asymmetry in the demand. Yet our main result remains: even asymmetric systems do not seem to need k > 2-level flexible resources and complete resource pooling is suboptimal.
Sexuality in Nigerian older adults

Introduction Oftentimes the older adults are assumed to be asexual as few studies explore into the sexuality of this age group worldwide and even in Nigeria. It is an important aspect of quality of life which is often neglected by people in this age group, attending physicians and the society as a whole. The study was aimed at determining the perception of older adults about sexuality, identify the factors that could militate against sexuality and fill any void in information in this regard. Methods Descriptive study conducted in one hundred older adults. A semi-structured questionnaire was administered to consenting participants between 1st of September 2013 and 31st of March 2014. Results Mean age of respondents was 66.42± 5.77 years. Seventy-eight percent of the male respondents considered engaging in sexual activity as safe compared to 45.8% of the female respondents. More of the women (33.3%) regarded sexuality in the older adults as a taboo when compared to the men (5.4%). However, the men were more favourably disposed to discussing sexual problems than the women with their spouses (42% vs 20%) and Physicians (23.2% vs 0.0%). Major factors responsible for sexual inactivity were participants’ medical ailments (65%), partners’ failing health (15%) as well as anxiety about sexual performance (25%) in the men and dyspareunia (25%) in women. Conclusion There is an urgent need to correct the misconception about sexuality in this age group especially among the women and for the physicians to explore the sexual history of every patient.
Moderators of nonverbal indicators of deception: A meta-analytic synthesis.

In many legal proceedings, fact finders scrutinize the demeanor of a defendant or witness, particularly his or her nonverbal behavior, for indicators of deception. This meta-analysis investigated directly observable nonverbal correlates of deception as a function of different moderator variables. Although lay people and professionals alike assume that many nonverbal behaviors are displayed more frequently while lying, of 11 different behaviors observable in the head and body area, only 3 were reliably associated with deception. Nodding, foot and leg movements, and hand movements were negatively related to deception in the overall analyses weighted by sample size. Most people assume that nonverbal behaviors increase while lying; however, these behaviors decreased, whereas others showed no change. There was no evidence that people avoid eye contact while lying, although around the world, gaze aversion is deemed the most important signal of deception. Most effect sizes were found to be heterogeneous. Analyses of moderator variables revealed that many of the observed relationships varied as a function of content, motivation, preparation, sanctioning of the lie, experimental design, and operationalization. Existing theories cannot readily account for the heterogeneity in findings. Thus, practitioners are cautioned against using these indicators in assessing the truthfulness of oral reports.
The returns to apprenticeship training

This paper uses recent data from the UK Labour Force Survey to estimate the wage gains that individuals make on average if they complete an apprenticeship programme. The results suggest gains of around 5–7% for men, but no benefit for women. Further analysis extends the results by considering the returns by age group, by qualification obtained, by highest prior qualification and by industrial sector. A key finding emerging from this further analysis is the importance of acquiring level 3 qualifications with the apprenticeship.
Long-range Dependence in Daily Stock Volatilities

Recent empirical studies show that the squares of high-frequency stock returns are long-range dependent and can be modeled as fractionally integrated processes, using, for example, long-memory stochastic volatility models. Are such long-range dependencies common among stocks? Are they caused by the same sources of variation? In this article, we classify daily stock returns of Standard and Poor 500 companies on the basis of a company's size and its business or industrial sector and estimate the strength of long-range dependence in the stock volatilities using two different methods. Almost all of the companies analyzed exhibit strong persistence in volatility. We then use a canonical correlation method to identify common long-range dependent components in groups of companies, finding strong evidence in support of common persistence in volatility. Finally, we use a chi-squared test to study the effects of company size and sector on the number of common long-range dependent volatility components detected in groups of companies. Our results indicate the existence of some size effects, although they are not related to company size in a monotonic manner. On the other hand, the effects of company sector are pronounced. Randomly selected companies are found to be driven by a significantly larger number of persistent components than companies in certain business sectors, implying that persistence in stock volatility of companies in the same sector is more likely caused by the same source. These results suggest, among other interesting implications, that the volatilities of stocks for companies in the same business sector will be more often tied together in the longer run than will the volatilities of companies grouped only on the basis of size.
Multivoxel magnetic resonance spectroscopy identifies enriched foci of cancer stem-like cells in high-grade gliomas

Objective This study investigated the correlation between choline/creatine (Cho/Cr) ratios determined by multivoxel proton magnetic resonance spectroscopy (1H-MRS) and the distribution of cancer stem-like cells (CSLCs) in high-grade gliomas. Patients and methods Sixteen patients with high-grade gliomas were recruited and underwent 1H-MRS examination before surgery to identify distinct tumor regions with variable Cho/Cr ratios. Using intraoperative neuronavigation, tumor tissues were accurately sampled from regions with high and low Cho/Cr ratios within each tumor. The distribution of CSLCs in samples from glioma tissue regions with different Cho/Cr ratios was quantified by neurosphere culture, immunohistochemistry, and Western blot. Results The mean neurosphere formation rate in tissues with high Cho/Cr ratios was significantly increased compared with that in low Cho/Cr ratio tissues (13.94±5.94 per 100 cells vs 8.04±3.99 per 100 cells, P<0.001). Immunohistochemistry indicated that tissues with high Cho/Cr ratios had elevated expression of CD133, nestin, and CD15, relative to low Cho/Cr ratio tissue samples (23.6%±3.8% vs 18.3%±3.3%, 25.2%±4.5% vs 19.8%±2.8%, 24.5%±3.8% vs 17.8%±2.2%, respectively; all P<0.001). Western blot demonstrated that relative CD133 and nestin protein expression in high Cho/Cr ratio regions was significantly higher than that in low Cho/Cr ratio tissue samples (0.50±0.17 vs 0.30±0.08, 0.45±0.13 vs 0.27±0.07, respectively; both P<0.001). The protein expression levels of CD133 and nestin were highly correlated with Cho/Cr ratios (r=0.897 and r=0.861, respectively). Conclusion Cho/Cr ratios correlate with the distribution of CSLCs in high-grade gliomas, and this may assist in identifying foci enriched with CSLCs and thus improve the management of high-grade gliomas.
The Securities Industry under Negotiated Brokerage Commissions: Changes in the Structure and Performance of New York Stock Exchange Member Firms

This paper examines the effects of competitive brokerage commission rates on the structure and performance of the NYSE brokerage industry. Although the demise of fixed minimum commission rates has caused economic hardship for a number of brokerage firms, the results to date do not support the negative public policy effects that were alleged to be the inexorable consequences of permitting brokerage rates to be set by competitive pressures.