Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
A feasibility study on SSVEP-based interaction with motivating and immersive virtual and augmented reality

Non-invasive steady-state visual evoked potential (SSVEP) based brain-computer interface (BCI) systems offer high bandwidth compared to other BCI types and require only minimal calibration and training. Virtual reality (VR) has been already validated as effective, safe, affordable and motivating feedback modality for BCI experiments. Augmented reality (AR) enhances the physical world by superimposing informative, context sensitive, computer generated content. In the context of BCI, AR can be used as a friendlier and more intuitive real-world user interface, thereby facilitating a more seamless and goal directed interaction. This can improve practicality and usability of BCI systems and may help to compensate for their low bandwidth. In this feasibility study, three healthy participants had to finish a complex navigation task in immersive VR and AR conditions using an online SSVEP BCI. Two out of three subjects were successful in all conditions. To our knowledge, this is the first work to present an SSVEP BCI that operates using target stimuli integrated in immersive VR and AR (head-mounted display and camera). This research direction can benefit patients by introducing more intuitive and effective real-world interaction (e.g. smart home control). It may also be relevant for user groups that require or benefit from hands free operation (e.g. due to temporary situational disability).
Partial and Total Disaggregation Framework of A Second-Order Construct of Organisational Culture

Satu hal yang penting dalam penelitian organisasi adalah penilaian validitas konstruk ukuran atau kedalamannya. Beberapa metode tersedia secara luas namun para peneliti telah berkesimpulan untuk mengakui kekuatan analisis faktor konfirmatori dalam menyelidiki validitas konstruk ukuran. Dalam tulisan ini, model pemilahan total (Total Dissagregation) dan pemilahan parsial (Partial Dissagregation) diterapkan dalam upaya untuk memberikan perbandingan empiris pengukuran konstruk dua tingkat (second-order construct) di bawah kedua metode ini. Konstruk dua tingkat budaya organisasi terdiri dari lima konstruk tingkat pertama. Hasil penelitian menunjukkan bahwa, secara umum, kedua model menghasilkan hasil yang sangat mirip. Persyaratan validitas konvergen dan reliabilitas skala konstruks dipenuhi, diskriminan uji validitas terpenuhi, dan keseluruhan indeks kebaikan (goodness-of-fit indices) memenuhi patokan yang diterapkan. Dengan demikian, analisis mendukung penggunaan konstruks dua tingkat budaya organisasi dan menyediakan contoh bagi para ahli bagaimana model ini diterapkan dalam pemodelan persamaan struktural. Kata kunci: Persamaan Pemodelan Struktural, Pemilahan Parsial, Pemilahan Total, Konstruks dua tingkat, Budaya Organisasi.
A Doubling of Microphytobenthos Biomass Coincides with a Tenfold Increase in Denitrifier and Total Bacterial Abundances in Intertidal Sediments of a Temperate Estuary

Surface sediments are important systems for the removal of anthropogenically derived inorganic nitrogen in estuaries. They are often characterized by the presence of a microphytobenthos (MPB) biofilm, which can impact bacterial communities in underlying sediments for example by secretion of extracellular polymeric substances (EPS) and competition for nutrients (including nitrogen). Pyrosequencing and qPCR was performed on two intertidal surface sediments of the Westerschelde estuary characterized by a two-fold difference in MPB biomass but no difference in MPB composition. Doubling of MPB biomass was accompanied by a disproportionately (ten-fold) increase in total bacterial abundances while, unexpectedly, no difference in general community structure was observed, despite significantly lower bacterial richness and distinct community membership, mostly for non-abundant taxa. Denitrifier abundances corresponded likewise while community structure, both for nirS and nirK denitrifiers, remained unchanged, suggesting that competition with diatoms for nitrate is negligible at concentrations in the investigated sediments (appr. 1 mg/l NO3 -). This study indicates that MPB biomass increase has a general, significantly positive effect on total bacterial and denitrifier abundances, with stimulation or inhibition of specific bacterial groups that however do not result in a re-structured community.
Automatic segmentation of the left ventricle in cardiac CT angiography using convolutional neural networks

Accurate delineation of the left ventricle (LV) is an important step in evaluation of cardiac function. In this paper, we present an automatic method for segmentation of the LV in cardiac CT angiography (CCTA) scans. Segmentation is performed in two stages. First, a bounding box around the LV is detected using a combination of three convolutional neural networks (CNNs). Subsequently, to obtain the segmentation of the LV, voxel classification is performed within the defined bounding box using a CNN. The study included CCTA scans of sixty patients, fifty scans were used to train the CNNs for the LV localization, five scans were used to train LV segmentation and the remaining five scans were used for testing the method. Automatic segmentation resulted in the average Dice coefficient of 0.85 and mean absolute surface distance of 1.1 mm. The results demonstrate that automatic segmentation of the LV in CCTA scans using voxel classification with convolutional neural networks is feasible.
Inhomogeneous Chemical Evolution of the Galactic Halo: Abundance of r-Process Elements

We present a stochastic model based on the Monte Carlo technique to study the inhomogeneous chemical evolution of the Galactic halo. In particular, we consider the local enrichment and subsequent mixing of the interstellar gas resulting from bursts of star formation, following explicitly the fragmentation and coalescence of interstellar gas clouds. The model takes into account the mixing of halo gas through cloud-cloud collisions and the delayed mixing of supernova ejecta into the interstellar medium. The consequences of the infall of halo gas onto the Galactic disk are also discussed. The mass spectrum of clouds, the age-metallicity relation, and the G-dwarf distribution are investigated at different times. We analyze in detail the predictions of our model for the abundance of elements such as Eu, Ba, and Sr in the Galactic halo, following their production by r-process nucleosynthesis for different assumptions on the supernova mass range. Finally, we compare our results with spectroscopic data for the chemical composition of metal-poor halo stars.
A Concept Analysis of Digital Citizenship for Democratic Citizenship Education in the Internet Age

Abstract Despite the importance of promoting socially responsible citizenship in the Internet age, there is a paucity of research on how digital citizenship or digital citizens might be defined and/or investigated. This study found 4 major categories that construct digital citizenship: Ethics, Media and Information Literacy, Participation/Engagement, and Critical Resistance. Based on these comprehensive and interconnected categories of digital citizenship, the author argues that digital citizenship needs to be understood as a multidimensional and complex concept in connection with an interrelated but non-linear relationship with offline (place-based) civic lives.
Image denoising with multi-layer perceptrons, part 1: comparison with existing algorithms and with bounds

Image denoising can be described as the problem of mapping from a noisy image to a noise-free image. The best currently available denoising methods approximate this mapping with cleverly engineered algorithms. In this work we attempt to learn this mapping directly with plain multi layer perceptrons (MLP) applied to image patches. We will show that by training on large image databases we are able to outperform the current state-of-the-art image denoising methods. In addition, our method achieves results that are superior to one type of theoretical bound and goes a large way toward closing the gap with a second type of theoretical bound. Our approach is easily adapted to less extensively studied types of noise, such as mixed Poisson-Gaussian noise, JPEG artifacts, salt-and-pepper noise and noise resembling stripes, for which we achieve excellent results as well. We will show that combining a block-matching procedure with MLPs can further improve the results on certain images. In a second paper, we detail the training trade-offs and the inner mechanisms of our MLPs.
Factors Contributing towards Stigmatisation of Offenders in Singapore

Stigmatisation is a frequently listed as a concern by offenders and has been identified as a major barrier to reintegration. The present study explored factors contributing to stigmatising attitudes towards various sub-types of offenders in Singapore. Six hundred and twenty-eight undergraduate students read a vignette illustrating a sexual, a white-collar, or a violent crime before answering various questionnaires in an online survey. Previous contact with offenders was not related to desire for social distance from them. However, respondents who perceived offenders as incapable of changing, as well as those who felt more morally outraged by the crimes they had committed, indicated a greater desire for social distance from offenders. Respondents also had a tendency to desire distance from sexual and violent offenders more than they did from white-collar offenders. The findings extend the understanding of pathways leading towards stigmatisation of offenders and have implications for policy-making and reintegration efforts.
Caribbean-Wide, Long-Term Study of Seagrass Beds Reveals Local Variations, Shifts in Community Structure and Occasional Collapse

The CARICOMP monitoring network gathered standardized data from 52 seagrass sampling stations at 22 sites (mostly Thalassia testudinum-dominated beds in reef systems) across the Wider Caribbean twice a year over the period 1993 to 2007 (and in some cases up to 2012). Wide variations in community total biomass (285 to >2000 g dry m−2) and annual foliar productivity of the dominant seagrass T. testudinum (<200 and >2000 g dry m−2) were found among sites. Solar-cycle related intra-annual variations in T. testudinum leaf productivity were detected at latitudes > 16°N. Hurricanes had little to no long-term effects on these well-developed seagrass communities, except for 1 station, where the vegetation was lost by burial below ∼1 m sand. At two sites (5 stations), the seagrass beds collapsed due to excessive grazing by turtles or sea-urchins (the latter in combination with human impact and storms). The low-cost methods of this regional-scale monitoring program were sufficient to detect long-term shifts in the communities, and fifteen (43%) out of 35 long-term monitoring stations (at 17 sites) showed trends in seagrass communities consistent with expected changes under environmental deterioration.
βig-h3 Promotes Human Osteosarcoma Cells Metastasis by Interacting with Integrin α2β1 and Activating PI3K Signaling Pathway

Osteosarcoma, the most common primary bone tumor in children and young adolescents, is characterized by local invasion and distant metastasis. But the detailed mechanisms of osteosarcoma metastasis are not well known. In the present study, we found that βig-h3 promotes metastatic potential of human osteosarcoma cells in vitro and in vivo. Furthermore, βig-h3 co-localized with integrin α2β1 in osteosarcoma cells. But βig-h3 did not change integrin α2β1 expression in Saos-2 cells. Interaction of βig-h3 with integrin α2β1 mediates metastasis of human osteosarcoma cells. The second FAS1 domain of βig-h3 but not the first FAS1 domain, the third FAS1 domain or the fourth FAS1 domain mediates human osteosarcoma cells metastasis, which is the α2β1 integrin-interacting domain. We further demonstrated that PI3K/AKT signaling pathway is involved in βig-h3-induced human osteosarcoma cells metastasis process. Together, these results reveal βig-h3 enhances the metastasis potentials of human osteosarcoma cells via integrin α2β1-mediated PI3K/AKT signal pathways. The discovery of βig-h3-mediated pathway helps us to understand the mechanism of human osteosarcoma metastasis and provides evidence for the possibility that βig-h3 can be a potential therapeutic target for osteosarcoma treatment.
Mechanical adaptability of sea cucumber Cuvierian tubules involves a mutable collagenous tissue

ABSTRACT Despite their soft body and slow motion, sea cucumbers present a low predation rate, reflecting the presence of efficient defence systems. For instance, members of the family Holothuriidae rely on Cuvierian tubules for their defence. These tubules are normally stored in the posterior coelomic cavity of the animal, but when the sea cucumber is threatened by a potential predator, they are expelled through the cloacal aperture, elongate, become sticky and entangle and immobilise the predator in a matter of seconds. The mechanical properties (extensibility, tensile strength, stiffness and toughness) of quiescent (i.e. in the body cavity) and elongated (i.e. after expulsion) Cuvierian tubules were investigated in the species Holothuria forskali using traction tests. Important mechanical differences were measured between the two types of tubules, reflecting adaptability to their operating mode: to ease elongation, quiescent tubules present a low resistance to extension, while elongated tubules present a high toughness to resist tractions generated by the predator. We demonstrate that a mutable collagenous tissue (MCT) is involved in the functioning of these organs: (1) some mechanical properties of Cuvierian tubules are modified by incubation in a cell-disrupting solution; (2) the connective tissue layer encloses juxtaligamental-like cells, a cell type present in all MCTs; and (3) tensilin, a MCT stiffening protein, was localised inside these cells. Cuvierian tubules thus appear to enclose a new type of MCT which shows irreversible stiffening. Summary: Sea cucumber Cuvierian tubules are a remarkable defence system with characteristics of mutable collagenous tissues, showing initial compliance and subsequent irreversible tensilin-mediated stiffening, which allows them to entangle predators.
Simulation of the Middle Miocene Climate Optimum

Proxy data constraining land and ocean surface paleo‐temperatures indicate that the Middle Miocene Climate Optimum (MMCO), a global warming event at ∼15 Ma, had a global annual mean surface temperature of 18.4°C, about 3°C higher than present and equivalent to the warming predicted for the next century. We apply the latest National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR) Community Atmosphere Model CAM3.1 and Land Model CLM3.0 coupled to a slab ocean to examine sensitivity of MMCO climate to varying ocean heat fluxes derived from paleo sea surface temperatures (SSTs) and atmospheric carbon dioxide concentrations, using detailed reconstructions of Middle Miocene boundary conditions including paleogeography, elevation, vegetation and surface temperatures. Our model suggests that to maintain MMCO warmth consistent with proxy data, the required atmospheric CO2 concentration is about 460–580 ppmv, narrowed from the most recent estimate of 300–600 ppmv.
Argumentation Using Temporal Knowledge

Proposals for logic-based argumentation have the potential to be adapted for handling diverse kinds of knowledge. In this paper, a calculus for representing temporal knowledge is proposed, and defined in terms of propositional logic. This calculus is then considered with respect to argumentation, where an argument is pair such that Φ a minimally consistent subset of a database entailing α. Two alternative definitions of an argument are considered and contrasted.
Visual binaries among high-mass stars An adaptive optics survey of OB stars in the NGC 6611 cluster

We have searched for visual binaries with projected separations in the range 200{3000 AU (0: 1{1: 5) among a sample of 96 stars in the massive young NGC 6611 cluster, 60 of them being subsequently identied as high probability cluster members of mainly OB spectral type. This is the rst visual binary survey among such a large and homogeneous sample of high-mass stars. We nd an uncorrected binary frequency of 18 6% over the surveyed separation range. Considering only binaries with mass ratios q 0:1, we nd that OB stars in NGC 6611 host more companions than solar-type eld stars. We derive mass ratios for the detected binaries from their near-infrared flux ratios and conclude that about half of the detected binaries have q < 0:2, which does not contradict the assumption that companion masses are randomly drawn from the initial mass function. There is no evidence in our sample that wide-binary properties depend upon the mass of the primary star. The high frequency of massive binaries in a cluster as rich as NGC 6611 and the lack of a strong mass dependence of their properties are dicult to reconcile with the scenario whereby massive stars form as the result of mergers of smaller stars. The canonical protostellar accretion scenario together with cloud fragmentation, on the other hand, can naturally explain most of the observed binary properties, although the very high stellar density in the protocluster is likely to require signicant modication to that picture as well.
The Effectiveness of RNAi in Caenorhabditis elegans Is Maintained during Spaceflight

Background Overcoming spaceflight-induced (patho)physiologic adaptations is a major challenge preventing long-term deep space exploration. RNA interference (RNAi) has emerged as a promising therapeutic for combating diseases on Earth; however the efficacy of RNAi in space is currently unknown. Methods Caenorhabditis elegans were prepared in liquid media on Earth using standard techniques and treated acutely with RNAi or a vector control upon arrival in Low Earth Orbit. After culturing during 4 and 8 d spaceflight, experiments were stopped by freezing at −80°C until analysis by mRNA and microRNA array chips, microscopy and Western blot on return to Earth. Ground controls (GC) on Earth were simultaneously grown under identical conditions. Results After 8 d spaceflight, mRNA expression levels of components of the RNAi machinery were not different from that in GC (e.g., Dicer, Argonaute, Piwi; P>0.05). The expression of 228 microRNAs, of the 232 analysed, were also unaffected during 4 and 8 d spaceflight (P>0.05). In spaceflight, RNAi against green fluorescent protein (gfp) reduced chromosomal gfp expression in gonad tissue, which was not different from GC. RNAi against rbx-1 also induced abnormal chromosome segregation in the gonad during spaceflight as on Earth. Finally, culture in RNAi against lysosomal cathepsins prevented degradation of the muscle-specific α-actin protein in both spaceflight and GC conditions. Conclusions Treatment with RNAi works as effectively in the space environment as on Earth within multiple tissues, suggesting RNAi may provide an effective tool for combating spaceflight-induced pathologies aboard future long-duration space missions. Furthermore, this is the first demonstration that RNAi can be utilised to block muscle protein degradation, both on Earth and in space.
Are Governments Pro-Poor but Short-Sighted ? Targeted and Social Spending for the Poor During Booms and Busts

A model is proposed to analyze how targeted public spending for the poor is affected by booms and bust. A Government is said to be pro-poor but also short-sighted if it helps the poor by increasing targeted and social spending fatser than economic growth during booms. The reason why despite a pro-poor bias, this is characterized as short-sighted behavior, is that rapidly raising spending during booms does not allow the stocking up of resources for helping the poor during recessions. If a Government is pro-poor and short-sighted, the elasticity of targeted or social public spending to growth will be positive and larger than one during booms, and smaller than one during recessions. If the Government is not pro-poor, the elasticity will always be smaller than or equal to one. The prediction of an asymetry between booms and busts in the elasticity to growth of targeted and socila public spending for the poor is tested with panel data on public expenditures for seven Latin American countries. The results suggest that Governments are indeed pro-poor, or at least pro-social, and also short-sighted. JEL numbers: H50, I38, E62 Correspondence: qwodon@worldbank.org. 1 The authors are with the Poverty group, Latin America and Caribbean Region, World Bank. The paper benefitted from support from the regional studies budget at the Office of the Chief Economist (Guillermo Perry) for Latin America at The World Bank. These are the views of the authors and need not reflect those of The World Bank. Comments by Ihsan Ajwad, Francisco Ferreira, Indermit Gill, and Martin Ravallion are appreciated.
Scalable Ray-Casted Volume Rendering

Computational power has been increasing tremendously in recent years, resulting in an increase in data size and complexity. Volume rendering is an important method for visualizing such data, as it provides insight over the entire data set. However, traditional volume rendering techniques are not sufficient to handle such data because they are too large to fit in the memory of a single computer. Using a distributed system to visualize massive data improves the performance. That said, while parallelization has its benefits, it also creates challenges. There are two main approaches for parallel volume rendering: image order and object order. While these methods have advantages, they fail to achieve load balance in some cases. With our work, we present a hybrid parallel volume rendering algorithm that guarantees good performance and maintains load balance, since at each step of our hybrid approach the execution time is bounded. We compare our algorithm with the object order approach and demonstrate that our algorithm achieves performance and data scalability in cases where object order fails.
Number word structure in first and second language influences arithmetic skills

Languages differ in how they represent numerical information, and specifically whether the verbal notation of numbers follows the same order as the symbolic notation (in non-inverted languages, e.g., Hebrew, “25, twenty-five”) or whether the two notations diverge (in inverted languages, e.g., Arabic, “25, five-and-twenty”). We examined how the structure of number–words affects how arithmetic operations are processed by bilingual speakers of an inverted and a non-inverted language. We examined Arabic–Hebrew bilinguals’ performance in the first language, L1 (inverted) and in the second language, L2 (non-inverted). Their performance was compared to that of Hebrew L1 speakers, who do not speak an inverted language. Participants judged the accuracy of addition problems presented aurally in L1, aurally in L2 or in visual symbolic notation. Problems were presented such that they matched or did not match the structure of number words in the language. Arabic–Hebrew bilinguals demonstrated both flexibility in processing and adaptation to the language of aural–verbal presentation – they were more accurate for the inverted order of presentation in Arabic, but more accurate for non-inverted order of presentation in Hebrew, thus exhibiting the same pattern found for native Hebrew speakers. In addition, whereas native Hebrew speakers preferred the non-inverted order in visual symbolic presentation as well, the Arabic–Hebrew bilinguals showed enhanced flexibility, without a significant preference for one order over the other, in either speed or accuracy. These findings suggest that arithmetic processing is sensitive to the linguistic representations of number words. Moreover, bilinguals exposed to inverted and non-inverted languages showed influence of both systems, and enhanced flexibility in processing. Thus, the L1 does not seem to have exclusive power in shaping numerical mental representations, but rather the system remains open to influences from a later learned L2.