Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
“Vision for Action” in Young Children Aligning Multi-Featured Objects: Development and Comparison with Nonhuman Primates

Effective vision for action and effective management of concurrent spatial relations underlie skillful manipulation of objects, including hand tools, in humans. Children’s performance in object insertion tasks (fitting tasks) provides one index of the striking changes in the development of vision for action in early life. Fitting tasks also tap children’s ability to work with more than one feature of an object concurrently. We examine young children’s performance on fitting tasks in two and three dimensions and compare their performance with the previously reported performance of adult individuals of two species of nonhuman primates on similar tasks. Two, three, and four year-old children routinely aligned a bar-shaped stick and a cross-shaped stick but had difficulty aligning a tomahawk-shaped stick to a matching cut-out. Two year-olds were especially challenged by the tomahawk. Three and four year-olds occasionally held the stick several inches above the surface, comparing the stick to the surface visually, while trying to align it. The findings suggest asynchronous development in the ability to use vision to achieve alignment and to work with two and three spatial features concurrently. Using vision to align objects precisely to other objects and managing more than one spatial relation between an object and a surface are already more elaborated in two year-old humans than in other primates. The human advantage in using hand tools derives in part from this fundamental difference in the relation between vision and action between humans and other primates.
Text as Data: The Promise and Pitfalls of Automatic Content Analysis Methods for Political Texts

Politics and political conflict often occur in the written and spoken word. Scholars have long recognized this, but the massive costs of analyzing even moderately sized collections of texts have hindered their use in political science research. Here lies the promise of automated text analysis: it substantially reduces the costs of analyzing large collections of text. We provide a guide to this exciting new area of research and show how, in many instances, the methods have already obtained part of their promise. But there are pitfalls to using automated methods—they are no substitute for careful thought and close reading and require extensive and problem-specific validation. We survey a wide range of new methods, provide guidance on how to validate the output of the models, and clarify misconceptions and errors in the literature. To conclude, we argue that for automated text methods to become a standard tool for political scientists, methodologists must contribute new methods and new methods of validation.
ALLELE FREQUENCY SHIFTS IN RESPONSE TO CLIMATE CHANGE AND PHYSIOLOGICAL CONSEQUENCES OF ALLOZYME VARIATION IN A MONTANE INSECT

Abstract Rapid changes in climate may impose strong selective pressures on organisms. Evolutionary responses to climate change have been observed in natural populations, yet no example has been documented for a metabolic enzyme locus. Furthermore, few studies have linked physiological responses to stress with allozyme genotypic variation. We quantified changes in allele frequency between 1988 and 1996 at three allozyme loci (isocitrate dehydrogenase, Idh; phosphoglucose isomerase, Pgi; and phosphoglucomutase, Pgm) for the leaf beetle Chrysomela aeneicollis in the Bishop Creek region of the Sierra Nevada of California (2900–3300 m). Beetles often experience high daytime (>32°C) and extremely low nighttime (<−5°C) temperatures during summer. Bishop Creek weather station data indicated that conditions were unusually dry before 1988, and that conditions were cool and wet during the years preceding the 1996 collection. We found directional changes in allele frequency at Pgi (11% increase in the Pgi-1 allele), but not at Idh or Pgm. We also found that physiological response to thermal extremes depended on Pgi genotype. Pgi 1–1 individuals induced expression of a 70-kD heat shock protein (HSP) at lower temperatures than 1–4 or 4–4 individuals, and 1–1 individuals expressed higher levels of HSP70 after laboratory exposure to temperatures routinely experienced in nature. Survival after nighttime laboratory exposure to subzero temperatures depended on gender, previous exposure to cold, and Pgi genotype. Females expressed higher levels of HSP70 than males after exposure to heat, and recovery by female Pgi 1–1 homozygotes after exposure to cold (−5°C) was significantly better than 1–4 or 4–4 genotypes. These data suggest that the cooler climate of the mid-1990s may have caused an increase in frequency of the Pgi-1 allele, due to a more robust physiological response to cold by Pgi 1–1 and 1–4 genotypes.
The MDM2-inhibitor Nutlin-3 synergizes with cisplatin to induce p53 dependent tumor cell apoptosis in non-small cell lung cancer

The p53/MDM2 interaction has been a well-studied target for new drug design leading to the development of the small molecule inhibitor Nutlin-3. Our objectives were to combine Nutlin-3 with cisplatin (CDDP), a well-known activator of the p53 pathway, in a series of non-small cell lung cancer cell lines in order to increase the cytotoxic response to CDDP. We report that sequential treatment (CDDP followed by Nutlin-3), but not simultaneous treatment, resulted in strong synergism. Combination treatment induced p53's transcriptional activity, resulting in increased mRNA and protein levels of MDM2, p21, PUMA and BAX. In addition we report the induction of a strong p53 dependent apoptotic response and induction of G2/M cell cycle arrest. The strongest synergistic effect was observed at low doses of both CDDP and Nutlin-3, which could result in fewer (off-target) side effects while maintaining a strong cytotoxic effect. Our results indicate a promising preclinical potential, emphasizing the importance of the applied treatment scheme and the presence of wild type p53 for the combination of CDDP and Nutlin-3.
The Effects of Trailer Scheduling on the Layout of Freight Terminals

Supervisors in a less-than-truckload freight terminal establish material flows inside the terminal by assigning incoming trailers to open doors. A common scheduling strategy is to look ahead into the queue of incoming trailers and assign them to doors to minimize worker travel. We develop a model of the resulting material flows and use it to construct layouts that exploit this type of scheduling policy. Based on data from a test site, our results suggest that look-ahead scheduling alone can reduce labor costs due to travel by 15-20% compared to a first-come-first served policy. Layouts constructed with the material flow model provide further savings of 3-30% in labor cost due to travel, depending on the mix of freight on incoming trailers and the length of the queue of trailers from which the supervisor makes assignments.
Bi-Polynomial Modeling of Low-Frequency Reflectances

We present a bi-polynomial reflectance model that can precisely represent the low-frequency component of reflectance. Most existing reflectance models aim at accurately representing the complete reflectance domain for photo-realistic rendering purposes. In contrast, our bi-polynomial model is developed for the purpose of accurately solving inverse problems by effectively discarding the high-frequency component while retaining nonlinear variations in the low-frequency part. The bi-polynomial reflectance model is useful for estimating reflectance and shape of an object. Experimental evaluation in comparison with other parametric reflectance models demonstrates that the proposed model achieves better performance in reflectometry and photometric stereo applications.
The evolution and impact of social security in Sout h Africa

The current economic downturn and the sharp increase in social assistance expenditures in recent years has shown the importance of the social security system of South Africa in order to alleviate poverty and to prevent people from fal ling into poverty. These size, shape and design aspects of the social assistance system make South Africa an interesting case study and the objective of this paper is to provide a detaile d interrogation of the South African case. Are cash transfers well-targeted and redistributive? Do we know if they enhance human capital accumulation? Are they fiscally sustainable? Have c hanges in social policy been evidencebased or rights based? After a description of the historical background an d the evolution of the social assistance system of South Africa, we provid e an analysis of the impact on poverty and review the impacts on micro-outcomes such as health, education and labour supply. We find that the South African social assistance is a very effective policy instrument to fight poverty and to improve education and health especially of c hildren living in poor households. Such impacts are crucial for longer-run poverty alleviat ion. We also have a closer look at the costs of the social assistance system in South Africa and its fiscal sustainability, which has also important implications for other countries in Sub-S aharan Africa which are considering to implement a social assistance system.
Generalized low-error area-efficient fixed-width multipliers

In this paper, we extend our previous methodology for designing a family of low-error area-efficient fixed-width two's-complement multipliers that receive two n-bit numbers and produce an n-bit product. The generalized methodology involving four steps results in several better error-compensation biases. These better error-compensation biases can be easily mapped to low-error area-efficient fixed-width multipliers suitable for very large-scale integration implementation and digital signal processing application. Via the proposed Type 1 8 /spl times/ 8 fixed-width multiplier, the reduction of the average error can be improved by 88% compared with the direct-truncated (D-Truncated) multiplier. It is also shown that the same proposed multiplier leads to 32.75% reduction in area compared with the standard multiplier.
Measuring load-balanced paths in the internet

Tools to measure internet properties usually assume the existence of a single path from a source to a destination. However, load-balancing capabilities, which create multiple active paths between two end-hosts, are available in most contemporary routers. This paper proposes a methodology to identify load-balancing routers and characterize load-balanced paths. We enhance our traceroute-like tool, called Paris traceroute, to find all paths between a pair of hosts, and use it from 15 sources to over 68 thousand destinations. Our results show that the traditional concept of a single network path between hosts no longer holds. For instance, 39% of the source-destination pairs in our traces traverse a load balancer. Furthermore, this fraction increases to 70% if we consider the paths between a source and a destination network.
FastText.zip: Compressing text classification models

We consider the problem of producing compact architectures for text classification, such that the full model fits in a limited amount of memory. After considering different solutions inspired by the hashing literature, we propose a method built upon product quantization to store the word embeddings. While the original technique leads to a loss in accuracy, we adapt this method to circumvent the quantization artifacts. As a result, our approach produces a text classifier, derived from the fastText approach, which at test time requires only a fraction of the memory compared to the original one, without noticeably sacrificing the quality in terms of classification accuracy. Our experiments carried out on several benchmarks show that our approach typically requires two orders of magnitude less memory than fastText while being only slightly inferior with respect to accuracy. As a result, it outperforms the state of the art by a good margin in terms of the compromise between memory usage and accuracy.
Student Perspectives of Alternative Schools as Facilitators and Barriers for Positive Disciplinary Outcomes

Student Perspectives of Alternative Schools as Facilitators and Barriers for Positive Disciplinary Outcomes by Chasidy Phelps Dissertation Submitted in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy Criminal Justice Walden University November 2018 Abstract Inconsistent findings within the existing literature tend to confuse the ability of behaviorfocused alternative schools to address behavior problems of at-risk juveniles. Recent studies have suggested that juveniles who successfully commit to greater self-regulation skills display both academic success and positive classroom behavior. Although selfregulation skills have been positively associated with behavioral success among juvenilesInconsistent findings within the existing literature tend to confuse the ability of behaviorfocused alternative schools to address behavior problems of at-risk juveniles. Recent studies have suggested that juveniles who successfully commit to greater self-regulation skills display both academic success and positive classroom behavior. Although selfregulation skills have been positively associated with behavioral success among juveniles placed in behavior-focused alternative schools, it remains unclear as to what aspects of these programs that juveniles experience as facilitating the development of such skills. This phenomenological study used semistructured interviews of 5 students in Grades 10 through 12 enrolled in a behavior-focused alternative school to improve the understanding of how juveniles experience and perceive alternative school programs as facilitating the development of self-regulation skills in promotion of positive behavior outcomes. Structural functionalist theory provided an appropriate lens through which data of juvenile experiences and perceptions of the functions of an alternative school program could be interpreted. Data analysis consisted of a process of open coding, categorizing, and interpreting data for meaning. The findings of the current study revealed that when aspects of alternative schools function to develop reasoning skills and a willingness to adhere to school standards, such functions may be beneficial in juvenile commitment to behavioral self-regulation. The data provided by this study may be valuable for stakeholders and policymakers in assessing the influence of behavior-focused alternative schools. Student Perspectives of Alternative Schools as Facilitators and Barriers for Positive Disciplinary Outcomes by Chasidy Phelps Dissertation Submitted in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy
Categorical structures enriched in a quantaloid: projective cocomplete categories

We study the different guises of the projective objects in Cocont(Q): they are the " completely distributive " cocomplete Q-categories (the left adjoint to the Yoneda embedding admits a further left adjoint); equivalently, they are the " totally continuous " cocomplete Q-categories (every object is the supremum of the presheaf of objects " totally below " it); and also are they the Q-categories of regular presheaves on a regular Q-semicategory. As a particular case, the Q-categories of presheaves on a Q-category are precisely the " totally algebraic " cocomplete Q-categories (every object is the supremum of the " totally compact " objects below it). We think that these results should be part of a yet-to-be-understood " quantaloid-enriched domain theory " .
ight conditions and photosynthetic efficiency of phytoplankton in Murchison ay , Lake Victoria , Uganda

Eutrophication has increased in the tropical Lake Victoria during the last decades, leading to problems of toxic algal blooms, oxygen depletion, and reduced water visibility. To better understand the mechanism behind this negative development, more knowledge on the coupling between optical properties and photosynthetic efficiency is needed. Here we present such data from Murchison Bay during the period December 2009–March 2010. Photosynthetic efficiency was measured as photochemical energy quantum conversion efficiency (F ′ q/F ′ m) and functional absorption cross-section ( ′ PSII) by applying the Fast Repetition Rate Fluorometry (FRRF) technique. With chlorophyll-a concentrations between 100 and 174 g L−1, the vertical attenuation coefficient of photosynthetic active radiation (PAR) was found to be in the range 1.93–2.25 m−1. The FRRF parameters F ′ q/F ′ m and ′ PSII, as well as the dissolved oxygen, were found to vary with the physiochemical properties of the water column. The spectral light characteristics of the deeper parts of the water in Murchinson Bay were found to be favourable for growth of cyanobacteria due to the presence of phycobilins, which has typical absorption peaks between 565 and 620 nm. The light utilisation coefficient ̨B derived from the FRRF parameters was found to be within the same range as that obtained earlier using conventional methods for other bays in Lake Victoria. We conclude that eutrophication is still increasing in Murchison Bay, and that nitrogen limitation together with deep penetration of light within the 550–650 nm wavelength band seems to favour the dominance of cyanobacteria.
Rigid Motion Model for Audio Source Separation

We introduce a single channel blind source separation algorithm of audio mixtures. It uses a strategy that is similar to rigid object segregation in videos. A velocity field is defined over the wavelet time-frequency plane. It captures the time evolution of amplitude modulations and harmonic frequencies. Several audio sources are segregated by separating their velocity field with a harmonic rigidity assumption. Signals are then reconstructed from wavelet coefficients in different harmonic templates. The resulting monaural blind source separation is demonstrated on mixtures of speech, singing voice, music, and noise audio signals.
Changes predicting long-term care use among the oldest-old.

PURPOSE The aim of this study was to identify health-related changes occurring between 1983 and 1990 that characterize and differentiate 1996 long-term care outcomes (no services, home care, nursing home) among people aged 85 years and older. DESIGN AND METHODS Variables capturing health-related changes between 1983 and 1990 in a cohort (N = 616) of Aging in Manitoba Longitudinal Study participants aged 85 years and older were used in a series of logistic regression models to identify factors that best predicted the use of long-term care services in 1996, controlling for age and sex. RESULTS Factors predicting home care use relative to no services included changes in self-rated health, income adequacy, and railings outside of the house. Factors predicting nursing home use relative to home care included age and changes in general life satisfaction. Factors predicting nursing home use relative to no services included age; previous service use; length of time in the community; and changes in income adequacy, type of housing, and state of mind. IMPLICATIONS These findings challenge assumptions about the linearity of the continuum of long-term care services, because different factors were shown to predict home care use than were shown to predict nursing home use.
Fast Computation of Dense and Reliable Depth Maps from Stereo Images

Modern cars and robots act and interact more and more autonomously. Therefore they are equipped with a set of various sensors to monitor their surroundings. Depending on the application of such devices, different aspects of the measurement data are relevant and have to be extracted during post processing. The evenness of the movements depends on the sampling rate of the sensors. Yet for close interaction with people a very reliable information about the environment is necessary.
Potential Role of A2B Adenosine Receptors on Proliferation/Migration of Fetal Endothelium Derived from Preeclamptic Pregnancies

To investigate the functionality of A2B adenosine receptor (A2BAR) and the nitric oxide (NO) and vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) signaling pathway in the endothelial cell proliferation/migration during preeclampsia, we used human umbilical vein endothelial cells (HUVECs) isolated from normal pregnancies (n = 15) or pregnancies with preeclampsia (n = 15). Experiments were performed in presence or absence of the nonselective adenosine receptor agonist NECA, the A2BAR selective antagonist MRS-1754, and the nitric oxide synthase (NOS) inhibitor L-NAME. Results indicated that cells from preeclampsia exhibited a significant higher protein level of A2BAR and logEC50 for NECA-mediated proliferation than normotensive pregnancies. The stimulatory effect of NECA (10 μM, 24 h) on cell proliferation was prevented by MRS-1754 (5 nM) coincubation only in cells from normotensive pregnancies. Nevertheless, L-NAME (100 μM, 24 h) reduced the NECA-induced cell proliferation/migration in HUVEC from normal pregnancy; however in preeclampsia only NECA-induced cell proliferation was reduced by L-NAME. Moreover, NECA increased protein nitration and abundance of VEGF in cells from normal pregnancy and effect prevented by MRS-1754 coincubation. Nevertheless, in preeclampsia NECA did not affect the protein level of VEGF. In conclusion HUVECs from preeclampsia exhibit elevated protein level of A2BAR and impairment of A2BAR-mediated NO/VEGF signaling pathway.
The effect of temperature and water on secondary organic aerosol formation from ozonolysis of limonene, Δ 3 -carene and α-pinene

The effect of reaction temperature and how water vapour influences the formation of secondary organic aerosol (SOA) in ozonolysis of limonene, Δ 3 -carene and α-pinene, both regarding number and mass of particles, has been investigated by using a laminar flow reactor (G-FROST). Experiments with cyclohexane and 2-butanol as OH scavengers were compared to experiments without any scavenger. The reactions were conducted in the temperature range between 298 and 243 K, and at relative humidities between 3 -carene exhibit a similar temperature dependence regarding both number and mass of particles formed, whereas limonene shows a different dependence. The water effect at low temperature could be explained by physical uptake and cluster stabilisation. At higher temperatures, only a physical explanation is not sufficient and the observations are in line with water changing the chemical mechanism or reaction rates. The data presented adds to the understanding of SOA contribution to new particle formation and atmospheric degradation mechanisms.
Evaluating Root Parallelization in Go

Parallelizing Monte Carlo tree search (MCTS) has been considered to be a way to improve the strength of Computer Go programs. In this paper, we analyze the performance of two root parallelization methods: the standard strategy based on average selection and our new strategy based on majority voting. As a starting code base, we used Fuego, which is one of the best programs available. Our experimental results with 64 central processing unit (CPU) cores show that majority voting outperforms average selection. Additionally, we show through an extensive analysis that root parallelization has limitations.