Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Automatically Detecting Avalanche Events in Passive Seismic Data

During the 2010-2011 winter season, we deployed seven geophones on a mountain outside of Davos, Switzerland and collected over 100 days of seismic data containing 385 possible avalanche events (33 confirmed slab avalanches). In this article, we describe our efforts to develop a pattern recognition workflow to automatically detect snow avalanche events from passive seismic data. Our initial workflow consisted of frequency domain feature extraction, cluster-based stratified subsampling, and 100 runs of training and testing of 12 different classification algorithms. When tested on the entire season of data from a single sensor, all twelve machine learning algorithms resulted in mean classification accuracies above 84%, with seven classifiers reaching over 90%. We then experimented with a voting based paradigm that combined information from all seven sensors. This method increased overall accuracy and precision, but performed quite poorly in terms of classifier recall. We, therefore, decided to pursue other signal preprocessing methodologies. We focused our efforts on improving the overall performance of single sensor avalanche detection, and employed spectral flux based event selection to identify events with significant instantaneous increases in spectral energy. With a threshold of 90% relative spectral flux increase, we correctly selected 32 of 33 slab avalanches and reduced our problem space by nearly 98%. When trained and tested on this reduced data set of only significant events, a decision stump classifier achieved 93% overall accuracy, 89.5% recall, and improved the precision of our initial workflow from 2.8% to 13.2%.
Framing gender identity and sexual orientation: media influence on young men who have sex with men’s health

ABSTRACT Sex education takes place in a wide range of contexts including through the media. Media use among young men who have sex with men is high and gender identity and sexual orientation are topics often integrated into today’s media. Little is known about young men who have sex with men’s perceptions of how the media frames messages about gender identity and sexual orientation and the implications these messages have on HIV prevention. A greater understanding of young men who have sex with men’s perceptions of media framing about gender identity and sexual orientation is needed to ensure prevention efforts reach those most impacted by HIV. Focus groups were conducted with forty-two African American men who have sex with men, aged 18–21, living in the Southeastern USA. Thematic analysis revealed that participants reported using the Internet and television to access gender identity and sexual orientation information. Participants felt that the media’s framing of gender identity and sexual orientation only worsened HIV-related stigma and discrimination. Findings illustrate the important role that media can play in educating about gender identity and sexual orientation and the implications this framing has for HIV prevention.
High Performance Detection of Strongly Connected Components in Sparse Graphs on GPUs

Detecting strongly connected components (SCC) has been broadly used in many real-world applications. To speedup SCC detection for large-scale graphs, parallel algorithms have been proposed to leverage modern GPUs. Existing GPU implementations are able to get speedup on synthetic graph instances, but show limited performance when applied to large-scale real-world datasets. In this paper, we present a parallel SCC detection implementation on GPUs that achieves high performance on both synthetic and real-world graphs. We use a hybrid method that divides the algorithm into two phases. Our method is able to dynamically change parallelism strategies to maximize performance for each algorithm phase. We then orchestrates the graph traversal kernel with customized strategy for each phase, and employ algorithm extensions to handle the serialization problem caused by irregular graph properties. Our design is carefully implemented to take advantage of the GPU hardware. Evaluation with diverse graphs on the NVIDIA K20c GPU shows that our proposed implementation achieves an average speedup of 5.0x over the serial Tarjan's algorithm. It also outperforms the existing OpenMP implementation with a speedup of 1.4x.
The evolution of research on collaborative learning

For many years, theories of collaborative learning tended to focus on how individuals function in a group. More recently, the focus has shifted so that the group itself has become the unit of analysis. In terms of empirical research, the initial goal was to establish whether and under what circumstances collaborative learning was more effective than learning alone. Researchers controlled several independent variables (size of the group, composition of the group, nature of the task, communication media, and so on). However, these variables interacted with one another in a way that made it almost impossible to establish causal links between the conditions and the effects of collaboration. Hence, empirical studies have more recently started to focus less on establishing parameters for effective collaboration and more on trying to understand the role which such variables play in mediating interaction. In this chapter, we argue that this shift to a more process-oriented account requires new tools for analysing and modelling interactions.
Human Hippocampal and Parahippocampal Activity during Visual Associative Recognition Memory for Spatial and Nonspatial Stimulus Configurations

Evidence from animal studies points to the importance of the parahippocampal region (PHR) [including entorhinal, perirhinal, and parahippocampal (PHC) cortices] for recognition of visual stimuli. Recent findings in animals suggest that PHR may also be involved in visual associative recognition memory for configurations of stimuli. Thus far, however, such involvement has not been demonstrated in humans. In fact, it has been argued that associative recognition in humans is critically dependent on the hippocampal formation (HF). To better understand the division of function between HF and PHR during recognition memory in humans, we measured the activity of both areas in healthy young adults during an associative recognition memory task using functional magnetic resonance imaging. To more precisely characterize the nature of the associations that might be coded by the HF and PHR during recognition, subjects were required to learn and were later tested for associations based on either the spatial arrangements of two stimuli or the identity of two stimuli (a face and a tool). An area in the PHC was found to be more active for recognized old configurations than new configurations in both the spatial and identity conditions. The HF, on the other hand, was more active for recognition of new configurations than old configurations and also more active in the spatial than the identity condition. These data highlight the involvement of PHR in the long-term coding of associative relationships between stimuli and help to clarify the nature of its functional distinction from the HF.
Engaging with curriculum reform: insights from English history teachers’ willingness to support curriculum change

ABSTRACT This research explored the extent to which secondary school history teachers in England willingly engaged with a series of concurrent curriculum reforms, and the factors that shaped their level of agency in the process. The curriculum has been the target of sustained reform by many governments, and accountability measures are frequently used to compel teachers to engage with the process of change, as teachers are often seen as resistant to change. Data were obtained through online surveys conducted annually from 2015 to 2017, providing a large, longitudinal data set of over 1100 individual responses. Responses to closed items were analysed using SPSS to generate descriptive and inferential statistics, and qualitative responses were coded to identify key themes. Generally the teachers were reluctant to engage in the process of reform. There was some statistically significant variation between teachers in different types of school. Teachers’ willingness to engage with changes was also related to their sense of subject identity. However it is evident that accountability measures dominates teachers’ thinking, and even impacts on what teachers choose to do in non-examined phases of the curriculum. This appears to diminish teachers’ agency when creating a curriculum.
The ‘double-edged sword’ of a sessional academic career

ABSTRACT There have been widespread changes to working arrangements and employment relationships, including significant decreases in continuing/full-time employment contracts. This trend is particularly notable in academia, with more universities relying on the expertise of sessional, teaching-focused academics. This qualitative study extends understanding of this important group of professionals, identifying sessional work as a ‘double-edged sword’ and suggesting a typology of sessional academic careers to be tested in future research. It reports on the diversity among sessional academics, some enjoying the autonomy and flexibility of this working arrangement, others seeking more job security and greater alignment with continuing employment. It also identifies synergies and contradictions between sessional academic careers and key themes in the contemporary careers literature.
Challenges of Adding Causation to Richer Event Descriptions

The goal of this study is to create guidelines for annotating cause-effect relations as part of the Richer Event Description schema. We present the challenges faced using the definition of causation in terms of counterfactual dependence and propose new guidelines for cause-effect annotation using an alternative definition which treats causation as an intrinsic relation between events. To support the use of such an intrinsic definition, we examine the theoretical problems that the counterfactual definition faces, show how the intrinsic definition solves those problems, and explain how the intrinsic definition adheres to psychological reality, at least for our annotation purposes, better than the counterfactual definition. We then evaluate the new guidelines by presenting results obtained from pilot annotations of ten documents, showing that an inter-annotator agreement (F1-score) of 0.5753 was achieved. The results provide a benchmark for future studies concerning cause-effect annotation in the RED schema.
Ovariectomy increases the formation of prostanoids and modulates their role in acetylcholine-induced relaxation and nitric oxide release in the rat aorta.

AIMS This study examines the effect of ovarian function on thromboxane A(2) (TXA(2)), prostaglandin (PG) I(2), PGF(2alpha), and PGE(2) release as well as the role of these substances in nitric oxide (NO) release and acetylcholine (ACh)-mediated relaxation. METHODS AND RESULTS Aortic segments from ovariectomized and control female Sprague-Dawley rats were used. Cyclooxygenase (COX-1 and COX-2) expression was studied. ACh-induced relaxation was analysed in the absence and presence of the COX-2 inhibitor NS-398, the TXA(2) synthesis inhibitor furegrelate, the PGI(2) synthesis inhibitor tranylcypromine (TCP), or the thromboxane-prostanoid receptor antagonist SQ-29548. TXA(2), PGI(2), PGF(2alpha), and PGE(2) release was measured, and the vasomotor effect of exogenous TXA(2), PGI(2,) PGF(2alpha), and PGE(2) was assessed. Basal and ACh-induced NO release in the absence and presence of NS-398, furegrelate, TCP, or TCP plus furegrelate was studied. Ovariectomy did not alter or increased COX-1 or COX-2 expression, respectively. NS-398 decreased, and furegrelate did not change, the ACh-induced relaxation in arteries from both groups. SQ29,548 decreased the ACh-induced relaxation only in aortas from ovariectomized rats. TCP decreased the ACh-induced relaxation in both groups, and furegrelate or SQ29,548 totally restored that response only in aortas from control rats. Ovariectomy increased the ACh-induced TXA(2), PGI(2), and PGE(2) release and the contractile responses induced by exogenous TXA(2), PGF(2alpha), or PGE(2), while it decreased the PGI(2)-induced vasodilator response. In aortas from control rats, NS-398 did not alter the ACh-induced NO release, and furegrelate, TCP, or TCP plus furegrelate increased that release. In arteries from ovariectomized rats, NS-398, furegrelate, TCP, or TCP plus furegrelate decreased the ACh-induced NO release. CONCLUSION Despite the prevalence of vasoconstrictor prostanoids derived from COX-2 in aortas from ovariectomized rats, the ACh-induced relaxation is maintained, probably as consequence of the positive regulation that prostanoids exert on eNOS activity.
Interobserver concordance in the BI-RADS classification of breast ultrasound exams

Breast ultrasound is an important complement to the clinical/mammographic investigation of breast lesions. This operator-dependent method entails real-time image detection and analysis and requires extensive training and experience in identifying and differentiating between benign and malignant lesions (1-,4). Lesion contour and shape are considered to be the main features that allow differentiating benign and malignant lesions, the former with high sensitivity and the latter with high specificity. Many authors believe that combined ultrasound methods may yield greater accuracy (5-,10). However, using morphological characteristics for lesion differentiation demands a high rate of interobserver agreement, an issue that has been extensively examined for mammography but that has been given less attention for ultrasound. Interobserver agreement is thus a matter of strong concern in clinical radiological practice (3-,11). To better characterize the interobserver agreement in breast ultrasound, this study examined a group of 14 breast imagers who used the Breast Imaging Reporting and Data System (BI-RADS) ultrasound classification on 40 breast lesions. The study was exclusively concerned with lesion categorization agreement among the observers according to the BI-RADS lexicon. The accuracy of the observers was not directly assessed through comparisons with the final lesion histology.
Computing the 2-D image euler number by an Artificial Neural Network

We describe for the first time how the Euler number of a 2-D binary image can be obtained by means of Artificial Neural Network (ANN). Calculating the Euler image number is treated as a pattern classification problem. To arrive at the specialized ANN architecture, we perform a partial results analysis provided by a known formulation to compute the Euler image number. We use this analysis for designing the desired ANN architecture. Due to its good functioning characteristics, outcomes with the so-called Morphological Neural Perceptron with Dendritic Processing (MNPDP) are presented. Numerical as well as experimental results with realistic images to demonstrate the operation and applicability of the proposed approach are reported. Initial results concerning the GPU implementation of the proposed ANN to show that the processing time can be effectively reduced are also provided.
MULTIPLE REGRESSION ANALYSIS OF THE OCCUPATIONAL STATUS OF TWINS: A COMPARISON OF ECONOMIC AND BEHAVIOURAL GENETICS MODELS

The purpose of this note is to compare the performance of the model of DeFries and Fulker [hereafter 'the DFF model'] with the conventional fixed effects model in the analysis of data on twins in the study of economic well-being. Unlike the fixed-effects model that has traditionally been estimated in the economics literature, the DFF model provides explicit controls for genetic and shared environmental factors, The weight of the evidence from estimation of the two models considered is that the impact of education in Australia, fielding constant genetic and shared environmental factors, is of the same order of magnitude as that estimated in studies that do not take account of these factors: at most ability and shared environmental factors contribute 1 to 2 percentage points to the gross return to education. The similarity of the results computed for the different models employed is reassuring, and suggests that reliable controls for the omitted genetic and shared environment variables are obtained through these indirect methods.
Relationship between innovativeness, quality, growth, profitability, and market value

The purpose of this study is to examine the relationship between innovativeness, quality, growth, profitability, and market value at the firm level. Building on concepts from a resource-based view of a firm and organizational learning, innovation and quality literature, we propose the innovativeness–quality–performance model, which describes how a firm's capability to balance innovativeness with quality drives growth and profitability, and in turn drives superior market value. Results of structural equation models indicate that (1) innovativeness mediates the relationship between quality and growth, (2) quality mediates the relationship between innovativeness and profitability, (3) both innovativeness and quality have mediation effects on market value, and (4) both growth and profitability have mediation effects on market value. Implications for theories and practices are discussed. Copyright © 2005 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Ionization and dissociation of cometary gaseous organic molecules by solar wind particles ¿ I. Formic acid

In order to simulate the effects of energetic charged particles present in the solar wind colliding with the cometary gaseous formic acid molecule (HCOOH), laboratory experiments have been performed. The absolute ionization and dissociation cross-sections for this molecule interacting with solar wind particles were measured employing fast electrons in the energy range of 0.5 to 2 keV and energetic protons with energies varying from 0.128 to 2 MeV. Despite the fact that both projectiles lead to a very similar fragmentation pattern, differences in the relative intensities of the fragments were observed. Formic acid survives about four to five times more to the proton beam than to the energetic electron collision. The minimum momentum transfer in the electron impact case was estimated to be 3-38 per cent larger than the minimum momentum transfer observed with the equivelocity protons. The ultraviolet (UV) photodissociation rates and half-lives for HCOOH are roughly closer to the values obtained with energetic electrons. It is consequently important to take electron impact data into account when developing chemical models to simulate the interplanetary conditions.
Oblique Propagation of Nonlinear Solitary Waves in Magnetized Plasma with Nonextensive Electrons

In this paper, authors have studied the properties of obliquely propagating nonlinear solitary waves in a plasma system consisting of warm ions and nonextensively distributed electrons. The nonlinear Korteweg-de-Vries (KdV) equation and its solution have been derived using the standard reductive perturbation method. The effect of ion temperature on the propagation of solitary waves has been investigated numerically. The critical value of nonextensivity at which solitary structures transit from negative to positive potential is found to shift to the lower value under the effect of finite temperature. The numerical results are interpreted graphically. The results may be useful for understanding the wave propagation in laboratory and space plasmas where magnetic field is present.
Emotionality Modulates the Effect of Chronic Stress on Feeding Behaviour in Birds

Chronic stress is a long-lasting negative emotional state that induces negative consequences on animals’ psycho-physiological state. This study aimed at assessing whether unpredictable and repeated negative stimuli (URNS) influence feeding behaviour in quail. Sixty-four quail were exposed to URNS from day 17 to 40, while 64 quail were undisturbed. Two lines divergently selected on their inherent emotionality were used to assess the effect of genetic factors on the sensitivity to URNS. All quail were submitted to a sequential feeding procedure (using two diets of different energetic values) which placed them in a contrasting situation. Behavioural tests were performed to assess the emotional reactivity of the two lines. Results confirmed that differences exist between them and that their emotional reactivity was enhanced by URNS. Diet preferences, motivation and daily intake were also measured. URNS did not change the preferences for the hypercaloric diet compared to the hypocaloric diet in choice tests, but they reduced daily intakes in both lines. Motivations for each diet were differently affected by URNS: they decreased the motivation to eat the hypercaloric diet in quail selected for their low inherent fearfulness whereas they increased the motivation to eat the hypocaloric diet in quail selected for their high inherent fearfulness, which suggested a devaluation process in the former and a compensatory behaviour in the later. Growth was furthermore reduced and laying delayed by URNS in both lines. In conclusion, the exposure to URNS induced interesting changes in feeding behaviour added with an increase in emotional reactivity and an alteration of production parameters. This confirms that both lines of quail experienced a chronic stress state. However differences in feed motivation and emotional reactivity between lines under chronic stress suggested that they experienced different emotional state and use different ways to cope with it depending on their genetic background.
Video Games Adam Eichenbaum Daphne Bavelier

The authors review recent research that reveals how today’s video games instantiate naturally and effectively many principles psychologists, neuroscientists, and educators believe critical for learning. A large body of research exists showing that the effects of these games are much broader. In fact, some types of commercial games have been proven to enhance basic perceptual and cognitive skills. These effects are significant enough that educators use these games for such practical, real-world purposes as training surgeons and rehabilitating individuals with perceptual or cognitive deficits. Although many individuals may still consider video games nothing more than mindless fun, the authors argue that games serve also as serious tools for good.
Source broadcasting to the masses: Separation has a bounded loss

This work discusses the source broadcasting problem, i.e. transmitting a source to many receivers via a broadcast channel. The optimal rate-distortion region for this problem is unknown. The separation approach divides the problem into two complementary problems: source successive refinement and broadcast channel transmission. We provide bounds on the loss incorporated by applying time-sharing and separation in source broadcasting. If the broadcast channel is degraded, it turns out that separation-based time-sharing achieves at least a factor of the joint source-channel optimal rate, and this factor has a positive limit even if the number of receivers increases to infinity. For the AWGN broadcast channel a better bound is introduced, implying that all achievable joint source-channel schemes have a rate within one bit of the separation-based achievable rate region for two receivers, or within log2 T bits for T receivers.