Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Deep Belief Nets as Function Approximators for Reinforcement Learning

We describe a continuous state/action reinforcement learning method which uses deep belief networks (DBNs) in conjunction with a value function-based reinforcement learning algorithm to learn effective control policies. Our approach is to first learn a model of the state-action space from data in an unsupervised pretraining phase, and then use neural-fitted Q-iteration (NFQ) to learn an accurate value function approximator (analogous to a "fine-tuning" phase when training DBNs for classification). Our experiments suggest that this approach has the potential to significantly increase the efficiency of the learning process in NFQ, provided care is taken to ensure the initial data covers interesting areas of the state-action space, and may be particularly useful in transfer learning settings.
Examining the Relationship between Parental Involvement and Mobile Technology Use

Examining the Relationship between Parental Involvement and Mobile Technology Use by Toinette M. Flowers MA, Roosevelt University, 2004 MA, Roosevelt University, 2000 BS, University of Illinois, 1994 Dissertation Submitted in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy Walden University February 2015 Abstract Understanding how mobile devices can enhance parent/teacher communication is important because parents play an important part in their children’s learning. Research on parents’ use of mobile devices to communicate with their children’s teachers is limited. The purpose of this cross-sectional correlational study was to determine the relationships between parents’ (a) knowledge of using mobile devices, (b) general use of mobile devices, (c) purpose for using mobile devices, (d) perceived ease of using mobile devices,Understanding how mobile devices can enhance parent/teacher communication is important because parents play an important part in their children’s learning. Research on parents’ use of mobile devices to communicate with their children’s teachers is limited. The purpose of this cross-sectional correlational study was to determine the relationships between parents’ (a) knowledge of using mobile devices, (b) general use of mobile devices, (c) purpose for using mobile devices, (d) perceived ease of using mobile devices, (e) perceived usefulness of mobile devices, (f) attitude toward using mobile devices, and (g) use of mobile devices to communicate with teachers. The study was informed by the technology acceptance model and used a participant pool of 73 parents of high school students attending a Title I high school in a large Midwestern city in the United States. Data were collected using an online survey and analyzed using Pearson’s correlations. The study results indicate significant correlations between parents’ use of mobile devices to communicate with teachers and knowledge of using mobile devices, purpose for using mobile devices, perceived ease of using mobile devices, perceived usefulness of mobile devices, and attitudes toward using mobile devices. These findings suggest that parental use of mobile devices to communicate with teachers can be enhanced by administrators and school personnel using strategies that consider parents’ and the school culture. Social implication includes sharing the results of this study with district and school administrators who have the power to implement programs that encourage and support the use of mobile devices as a communication tool between parents and teachers, therefore increasing parental involvement and ultimately student academic success. Examining the Relationship between Parental Involvement and Mobile Technology Use by Toinette M. Flowers MA, Roosevelt University, 2004 MA, Roosevelt University, 2001 BS, University of Illinois, 1994 Dissertation Submitted in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy
Delta and Theta Oscillations as Risk Markers in Adolescent Offspring of Alcoholics

Background: Visual P300 is consistently lower in alcohol-dependent individuals, their offspring and subjects at risk. Delta and theta event-related oscillations (ERO) are the major contributors to the P300 signal. The total and evoked power in delta and theta bands in the 300 to 700 ms post-stimulus window (corresponding to the zone of P300 maxima) was compared between adolescent offspring of alcoholics (high-risk) and age-matched normal controls (low-risk), to assess the utility of the risk markers. Methods: EEG was recorded during the performance of a visual oddball task. The S-transform algorithm decomposed the EEG signals into different frequency bands and the group differences in total and evoked power in the oscillatory responses during the P300 time window (300 to 700 ms) were analyzed using a multivariate design. Similar analysis was performed on P300 peak amplitude for the target. Results: The high-risk group showed significantly lower parietal post-stimulus evoked and total power in the delta band for targets. A decrease in total power was seen centrally and parietally in the theta band. The P300 peak amplitude in the parietal electrodes was also significantly lower in the high-risk group. Conclusions: The decreased total theta power and total and evoked delta power for visual targets in high risk individuals may serve as an endophenotypic marker in the development of alcoholism and other disinhibitory disorders. The differences seen between the offspring of alcoholics and controls may have a cholinergic basis. The ERO measures appear to be more robust than the P300 amplitude in differentiating the groups.
Fast grid based collision avoidance for vessels using A∗ search algorithm

In this work a real-time grid based collision avoidance algorithm for vessels in maritime environments is presented. Most grid based collision avoidance approaches use Lee's algorithm to find an optimal collision-free path. The drawback of this algorithm is the long runtime for large grids. To reduce this runtime, in this work the A* search is used instead of Lee's algorithm. The algorithm additionally regards the physical constrains of the vessel and pays attention to the COLREGs. The runtime and the resulting path of Lee's algorithm and the A* search are compared in computational experiments. Furthermore, the performance of the collision avoidance on a real vessel on the Lake Constance is presented.
Advances in Text Comprehension: Model, Process and Development

To a very large extent, children learn in and out of school from written text. Information Communications Technologies (ICT) offers many possibilities to facilitate learning by confronting children with multimodal texts. In order to be able to implement learning environments that optimally facilitate children's learning, insight is needed into the cognitive processes underlying text comprehension. In this light, the aim of this special issue is to report on new advances in text comprehension research in perspective of educational implications. Starting from recent theoretical frameworks on the cognitive processes underlying text comprehension, the online processing of text will be discussed in adults and in school children. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Counterproductive behavior's impact on external stakeholders' decisions: Does "I'm sorry" remedy deviance?

ii Acknowledgments. iii List of Tables . v Introduction . 1 Counterproductive Work Behavior . 2 CWBs and Interactional Justice . 4 Rudeness as a CWB . 7 Mental Accounting . 8 Present Study . 11 Method . 14 Participants and Procedure . 14 Measures . 16 Results . 17 Discussion . 22 Limitations and Future Directions . 24 References . 27 Appendix A . 40 Appendix B . 44
Title: Preclinical Efficacy of the Mdm2 Inhibitor Rg7112 in Mdm2 Amplified and Significance Statement

Title: Preclinical efficacy of the MDM2 inhibitor RG7112 in MDM2 amplified and TP53 wild-type glioblastomas Authors: Maite Verreault, Charlotte Schmitt, Lauriane Goldwirt, Kristine Pelton, Samer Haidar, Camille Levasseur, Jeremy Guehennec, David Knoff, Marianne Labussiere, Yannick Marie, Azra H. Ligon, Karima Mokhtari, Khe Hoang-Xuan, Marc Sanson, Brian M Alexander, Patrick Y. Wen, Jean-Yves Delattre, Keith L. Ligon, Ahmed Idbaih Affiliations: 1: Inserm, U 1127, F-75013, Paris, France ; 2: CNRS, UMR 7225, F75013, Paris, France ; 3: Sorbonne Universités, UPMC Univ Paris 06, UMR S 1127, F-75013, Paris, France ; 4: Institut du Cerveau et de la Moëlle épinière, ICM, 47, Bd de l’Hôpital, F-75013, Paris, France ; 5: AP-HP, Hôpital universitaire Pitié-Salpêtrière, Service de Neurologie 2-Mazarin, 47, Bd de l’Hopital, F-75013, Paris, France; 6: APHP, Hôpital de la Pitié-Salpêtrière, Service de Neuropathologie R Escourolle, 47, Bd de l’Hopital, F-75013, Paris, France; 7: OncoNeuroThèque biobank, Institut du Cerveau et de la Moëlle épinière, ICM, 47, Bd de l’Hopital, F-75013, Paris, France; 8: Department of Medical Oncology, Center for Molecular Oncologic Pathology, DanaFarber Cancer Institute, 450 Brookline Ave, MA, Boston, Massachusetts, USA, 02115; 9: Department of Pathology, Brigham and Women's Hospital, 75, Francis Street, Boston, MA, USA, 02115; 10: Department of Pathology, Harvard Medical School, 25 Shattuck Street, Boston, MA, USA, 02115; 11: Institut du Cerveau et de la Moëlle épinière, Centre de neuroimagerie de recherche, CHU Pitié-Salpêtrière, 47, Bd de l’Hopital, 75013, Paris, France; 12: Laboratoire de Pharmacologie Biologique, Hôpital Saint-Louis, 1, avenue Claude-Vellefaux, 75010, Paris, France; 13: Department of Radiation Oncology, Dana-Farber/Brigham and Women’s Cancer Center, Harvard Medical School, 25 Shattuck Street, Boston, MA, USA, 02115; 14: Boston Children's Hospital, 300, Longwood avenue, Boston, MA 02115; 15: Department of Neurology, Brigham and Women’s Hospital Boston, 75, Francis Street, Boston, MA, USA, 02115; *, co-principal investigators Running title: Highly selective activity of RG7112 in glioblastoma
Blink Rate and Incomplete Blinks in Six Different Controlled Hard-Copy and Electronic Reading Conditions.

PURPOSE To evaluate spontaneous eye blink rate (SEBR) and percentage of incomplete blinks in different hard-copy and visual display terminal (VDT) reading conditions, compared with baseline conditions. METHODS A sample of 50 participants (29 females, age range, 18-74 years) were recruited for this study. All participants had good ocular health and reported no symptoms of dry eye (OSDI score < 15). Face video recordings were captured while participants observed in silence a landscape picture at 2 m (baseline) and during six different, 6-minute controlled reading experimental conditions. Texts were presented in electronic (tablet and computer display at 100% and 330% zoom levels) and hard-copy (text in book position in silence and aloud and text pasted on the computer display) formats. Video analysis was subsequently conducted to assess blink parameters. RESULTS All reading conditions resulted in a decrease in SEBR when compared with baseline conditions (all P < 0.001), with the least negative impact corresponding to reading in a 330% expanded display. The percentage of incomplete blinks was found to increase when reading was conducted on an electronic platform, in contrast to hard-copy text. CONCLUSIONS The high cognitive demands associated with a reading task led to a reduction in SEBR, irrespective of type of reading platform. However, only electronic reading resulted in an increase in the percentage of incomplete blinks, which may account for the symptoms experienced by VDT users. Spanish Abstract.
Efficient Mining of Interesting Patterns in Large Biological Sequences

Pattern discovery in biological sequences (e.g., DNA sequences) is one of the most challenging tasks in computational biology and bioinformatics. So far, in most approaches, the number of occurrences is a major measure of determining whether a pattern is interesting or not. In computational biology, however, a pattern that is not frequent may still be considered very informative if its actual support frequency exceeds the prior expectation by a large margin. In this paper, we propose a new interesting measure that can provide meaningful biological information. We also propose an efficient index-based method for mining such interesting patterns. Experimental results show that our approach can find interesting patterns within an acceptable computation time.
Time Centrality in Dynamic Complex Networks

There is an ever-increasing interest in investigating dynamics in time-varying graphs (TVGs). Nevertheless, so far, the notion of centrality in TVG scenarios usually refers to metrics that assess the relative importance of nodes along the temporal evolution of the dynamic complex network. For some TVG scenarios, however, more important than identifying the central nodes under a given node centrality definition is identifying the key time instants for taking certain actions. In this paper, we thus introduce and investigate the notion of time centrality in TVGs. Analogously to node centrality, time centrality evaluates the relative importance of time instants in dynamic complex networks. In this context, we present two time centrality metrics related to diffusion processes. We evaluate the two defined metrics using both a real-world dataset representing an in-person contact dynamic network and a synthetically generated randomized TVG. We validate the concept of time centrality showing that diffusion starting at the best ranked time instants (i.e., the most central ones), according to our metrics, can perform a faster and more efficient diffusion process.
Effect of chest physiotherapy on blood gases of neonates treated by intermittent positive pressure respiration

The effect of standardized chest physiotherapy and hyperinflation on the blood gases of neonates being treated for tetanus by intermittent positive pressure respiration was investigated. It was found that physiotherapy and suction to remove secretions did not improve oxygen pressures but produced a small drop in both Paco2 and Pao2. This was associated with a widening of the alveolar to arterial gradient for oxygen. During the hour that followed, blood oxygen pressure slowly returned to pre-physiotherapy levels. This could be hastened by hyperinflation (increasing the pressure delivered to the baby) after physiotherapy. Although hyperinflation restored blood oxygen pressures, it did so by a mechanism which left alveolar to arterial oxygen gradients unchanged. Moderate hyperinflation without physiotherapy produced small increases in blood oxygen tension, but also failed to restore completely arterial oxygen pressures of neonates on I.P.P.R. The results are discussed.
Association of Adiponectin Gene Polymorphisms With Type 2 Diabetes in an African American Population Enriched for Nephropathy

OBJECTIVE—Polymorphisms in the adiponectin gene (ADIPOQ) have been associated with type 2 diabetes and diabetic nephropathy in type 1 diabetes, in mostly European-derived populations. RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODS—A comprehensive association analysis of 24 single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in the adiponectin gene was performed for type 2 diabetes and diabetic nephropathy in African Americans. RESULTS—The minor allele (A) in a single SNP in intron 1 (rs182052) was associated with diabetic nephropathy (P = 0.0015, odds ratio [OR] 1.37, CI 1.13–1.67, dominant model) in an African American sample of 851 case subjects with diabetic nephropathy and 871 nondiabetic control subjects in analyses incorporating adjustment for varying levels of racial admixture. This association remained significant after adjustment of the data for BMI, age, and sex (P = 0.0013–0.0004). We further tested this SNP for association with longstanding type 2 diabetes without nephropathy (n = 317), and evidence of association was also significant (P = 0.0054, OR 1.46, CI 1.12–1.91, dominant model) when compared with the same set of 871 nondiabetic control subjects. Combining the type 2 diabetes and diabetic nephropathy samples into a single group of case subjects (n = 1,168) resulted in the most significant evidence of association (P = 0.0003, OR 1.40, CI 1.17–1.67, dominant model). Association tests between age at onset of type 2 diabetes and the rs182052 genotypes also revealed significant association between the presence of the minor allele (A/A or A/G) and earlier onset of type 2 diabetes. CONCLUSIONS—The SNP rs182052 in intron 1 of the adiponectin gene is associated with type 2 diabetes in African Americans.
Mean Field Theory for Sigmoid Belief Networks

We develop a mean field theory for sigmoid belief networks based on ideas from statistical mechanics. Our mean field theory provides a tractable approximation to the true probability distribution in these networks; it also yields a lower bound on the likelihood of evidence. We demonstrate the utility of this framework on a benchmark problem in statistical pattern recognition-the classification of handwritten digits.
Interface-Based Design of Real-Time Systems with Hierarchical Scheduling

In interface-based design, components are described by a component interface. In contrast to a component description that describes what a component does, a component interface describes how a component can be used, and a well designed component interface provides enough information to decide whether two or more components can work together properly in a system. Real-Time Interfaces expand the idea of interfacebased design to the area of real-time system design, where the term of working together properly refers to questions like: Does the composed system satisfy all requested real-time properties such as delay and throughput constraints? In this work, we extend the theory of Real-Time Interfaces and prove its applicability for the design of systems with hierarchical scheduling. We introduce a component system for interface-based design of systems with mixed FP, RM and EDF scheduling. We then further extend the ability for hierarchic scheduling by introducing server components. The introduced component system with Real-Time Interfaces not only allows interface-based design of complex real-time systems with hierarchical scheduling, but also inherently enables detailed schedulability analysis of such systems.
Helicobacter pylori and gastroesophageal reflux disease

Purpose of review The purpose of the review is to discuss key studies conducted on the intriguing relationship between Helicobacter pylori and gastroesophageal reflux disease. Recent findings Epidemiological studies have repeatedly described a negative association between H. pylori infection and erosive esophagitis, Barrett's esophagus, and esophageal adenocarcinoma, but not between H. pylori and gastroesophageal reflux disease symptoms. Especially, infection with CagA-positive strains appears to protect the distal esophagus by causing fundic gland atrophy and impaired gastric acid secretion. Although earlier reports suggested the development of erosive esophagitis after H. pylori eradication, more recent studies discuss that H. pylori eradication usually does not have an important clinical impact on gastroesophageal reflux disease. Summary Gastric atrophy is the most widely accepted mechanism by which the distal esophagus is protected from abnormal acid exposure in patients with H. pylori infection. The clinical impact of H. pylori infection on the prevalence of erosive esophagitis and Barrett's esophagus remains a matter of debate. In areas with a high prevalence of H. pylori-induced atrophic gastritis, the protection that this infection may afford against gastroesophageal reflux disease is not comparable to the risk that H. pylori poses for the development of gastric cancer.
Atypical Presentations of Celiac Disease: Recurrent Intussusception and Pneumatosis Intestinalis

An exploratory laparotomy was performed for suspected recurrent intussusception. A jejunoileal intussusception was identified, which reduced spontaneously intraoperatively. Massive lymphadenopathy was noted along the mesenteric border of the small bowel. She improved clinically and was discharged with oral feedings; however, during the next 2 weeks, she again started having postprandial vomiting and nonbloody diarrhea, and lower extremity edema developed. On physical examination, she had a distended but soft abdomen, decreased bowel sounds, and absence of a fluid wave. She had nonpitting edema of the lower extremities, without any periorbital or sacral edema. Introduction
Why Did I Stop? Barriers and Facilitators to Uptake and Adherence to ART in Option B+ HIV Care in Lilongwe, Malawi

Causes for loss-to-follow-up, including early refusals of and stopping antiretroviral therapy (ART), in Malawi’s Option B+ program are poorly understood. This study examines the main barriers and facilitators to uptake and adherence to ART under Option B+. In depth interviews were conducted with HIV-infected women who were pregnant or postpartum in Lilongwe, Malawi (N = 65). Study participants included women who refused ART initiation (N = 10), initiated ART and then stopped (N = 26), and those who initiated ART and remained on treatment (N = 29). The barriers to ART initiation were varied and included concerns about partner support, feeling healthy, and needing time to think. The main reasons for stopping ART included side effects and lack of partner support. A substantial number of women started ART after initially refusing or stopping ART. There were several facilitators for re-starting ART, including encouragement from community health workers, side effects subsiding, decline in health, change in partner, and fear of future sickness. Amongst those who remained on ART, desire to prevent transmission and improve health were the most influential facilitators. Reasons for refusing and stopping ART were varied. ART-related side effects and feeling healthy were common barriers to ART initiation and adherence. Providing consistent pre-ART counseling, early support for patients experiencing side effects, and targeted efforts to bring women who stop treatment back into care may improve long term health outcomes.
The Joint Submission of the TU Berlin and Fraunhofer FIRST (TUBFI) to the ImageCLEF2011 Photo Annotation Task

In this paper we present details on the joint submission of TU Berlin and Fraunhofer FIRST to the ImageCLEF 2011 Photo Annotation Task. We sought to experiment with extensions of Bag-of-Words (BoW) models at several levels and to apply several kernel-based learning methods recently developed in our group. For classifier training we used non-sparse multiple kernel learning (MKL) and an efficient multi-task learning (MTL) heuristic based on MKL over kernels from classifier outputs. For the multi-modal fusion we used a smoothing method on tag-based features inspired by Bag-of-Words soft mappings and Markov ran- dom walks. We submitted one multi-modal run extended by the user tags and four purely visual runs based on Bag-of-Words models. Our best visual result which used the MTL method was ranked first according to mean average preci- sion (MAP) within the purely visual submissions. Our multi-modal submission achieved the first rank by MAP among the multi-modal submissions and the best MAP among all submissions. Submissions by other groups such as BPACAD, CAEN, UvA-ISIS, LIRIS were ranked closely.