Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Activity recognition in a physical interactive robogame

In this paper, we investigate the possibility of human physical activity recognition in a robot game scenario. Being able to recognize types of activity is essential to enable robot behavior adaptation to support player engagement. Also, the introduction of this recognition system will allow for development of better models for prediction, planning and problem solving in PIRGs that can foster human-robot interaction. The experiments reported on this paper were performed on data collected from real in-game activity, where a human player faces a mobile robot. We use a custom single tri-axial accelerometer module attached to the player's chest in order to capture motion information. The main characteristic of our approach is the extraction of features from patterns found on the motion variance rather than on raw data. Furthermore, we allow for the recognition of unconstrained motion given that we do not ask the players to perform target activities before hand: all detectable activities are derived from the free player motion during the game itself. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first paper to consider activity recognition in a physical interactive robogame.
DRAFT OF THE FULL PAPER 07 / 05 / 2007

This paper analyzes the main determinants of tenure choice in Brazil in formal and informal housing markets. Logit and Multinomial Logit models with several specifications are used to test the household ́s tenure choice behavior taking demographic, social, economic and locational factors as dependent variables. The main source of information is the 2005 National Household Survey (PNAD) microdata. The probability of ownership is higher among non-afrodescendents, man-headed households and public servants. The poor, the young, recent migrants and single women with young children have higher probabilities of renting or becoming owners in informal settlements. Wealth and life cycle variables such as age, household size and marital status are good predictors for formal ownership. Education enhances the probability of being in the formal housing markets, either as a renter or an owner.
The Spillovers, Interactions, and (Un)Intended Consequences of Monetary and Regulatory Policies

Have bank regulatory policies and unconventional monetary policies—and any possible interactions—been a factor behind the recent “deglobalisation” in cross-border bank lending? To test this hypothesis, we use bank-level data from the UK—a country at the heart of the global financial system. Our results suggest that increases in microprudential capital requirements tend to reduce international bank lending and some forms of unconventional monetary policy can amplify this effect. Specifically, the UK’s Funding for Lending Scheme (FLS) significantly amplified the effects of increased capital requirements on cross-border lending. Quantitative easing did not appear to have a similar effect. We find that this interaction between microprudential regulations and the FLS can explain roughly 30% of the contraction in aggregate UK cross-border bank lending between mid-2012 and end-2013, corresponding to around 10% of the global contraction in cross-border lending. This suggests that unconventional monetary policy designed to support domestic lending can have the unintended consequence of reducing foreign lending.
Container and Installation Time Effects on Soil Moisture, Temperature, and Inorganic Nitrogen Retention for an in situ Nitrogen Mineralization Method

Mineralization contributes significantly to agronomic nitrogen (N) budgets and is difficult to accurately predict. Models for predicting N‐mineralization contributions are needed, and development of these models will require field‐based data. In situ mineralization methods are intended to quantify N mineralization under ambient environmental conditions. This study was conducted to compare soil moisture and temperature in intact soil cores contained in cylinders to those in adjacent bulk soil, compare the effect of two resin‐bag techniques on water content of soil within cylinders, and assess the effect of installation duration on inorganic N retention by resins. The study was conducted at a dryland conventionally tilled corn (Zea mays L.) site and an irrigated no‐tillage corn site in eastern Nebraska. Soil in cylinders was slightly wetter (<0.05 g g−1) and warmer (<1 °C) than adjacent soil. Soil water content was <80% water‐filled pore space (WFPS) at all sampling times and differed little between the two resin‐bag techniques. Greater soil water content and temperature conditions (though small) observed during most of the study period likely enhanced N mineralization within the cylinder compared to N mineralization in adjacent bulk soil, but the magnitude is likely much less than core‐to‐core variation normally observed in a field. Installing cylinders for more than 60 days resulted in loss of inorganic N from resins. Care is needed during installation to ensure that compaction of soil below the cylinder does not impede water movement through the intact soil core. The in situ method utilizing intact soil cores and resin bags replaced at 28‐ to 40‐day intervals is a viable method for measuring N mineralization.
American Options with Asymmetric Information and Reflected BSDE

We consider an American contingent claim on a financial market where the buyer has additional information. Both agents (seller and buyer) observe the same prices, while the information available to them may differ due to some extra exogenous knowledge the buyer has. The buyer's information flow is modeled by an initial enlargement of the reference filtration. It seems natural to investigate the value of the American contingent claim with asymmetric information. We provide a representation for the cost of the additional information relying on some results on reflected backward stochastic differential equations (RBSDE). This is done by using an interpretation of prices of American contingent claims with extra information for the buyer by solutions of appropriate RBSDE.
Filtration pressure by bivalves affects the trophic conditions in Mediterranean shallow ecosystems

Bivalve filtration may control the amount of seston in coastal waters, reducing local euthrophication and keeping degrading phenomena like hypoxia and anthropogenic pollution under control. Two Sicilian brackish-marine ponds (Ganzirri and Faro) present us with the opportunity to gain data on the effect of bivalve filtration on the amount of particulate organic matter in the field. The cultivation of bivalves has been carried out in both of the ponds since the early 1990s but stopped in Ganzirri in 1995. We tested whether the cessation of bivalve cultivation influenced features of organic matter available to suspension feeders (total suspended matter, its inorganic and organic fractions, chlorophyll a, carbohydrates, proteins and lipids). Since the bivalve cultivation was stopped in Ganzirri in 1995, chlorophyll a sharply and significantly increased compared to Faro, where, in contrast, they remained the same as in previous decades. Recent data shows that organic matter was significantly higher in Ganzirri than Faro and that differences were maintained throughout the study period. Using clearance rate data from the literature, we determined that bivalves can filter the available volume in Ganzirri by about 540 times and in Faro by 650 times per year. Thus bivalve farmed biomass (about 300 tonnes per year of fresh biomass) can exert a high filtration pressure to both (i) control the phytoplankton biomass and trophic dynamics in ponds, and (ii) reduce a possible role of natural-with-sea exchange and polluted waters coming from the hinterlands.
Influence of maternal negative emotion reactivity and cognitive reappraisal on child anxiety disorder

Anxiety disorders are among the most common psychopathologies in childhood. Two underlying contributors to child anxiety disorders (ADs) are negative emotional hyper‐reactivity and deficits in reappraisal, a cognitive strategy of emotion regulation. Given that emotion regulation develops in the context of parent–child interaction, the aim of this study was to fill a research gap regarding the association between maternal negative emotional reactivity (NER) and reappraisal and child anxiety by examining (a) whether mothers of children with ADs display abnormalities in emotional reactivity and reappraisal compared to mothers of children without ADs; (b) whether maternal NER and reappraisal are associated with child anxiety; and (c) whether maternal reactivity and reappraisal significantly explain the variance in the level of child anxiety beyond the level of maternal anxiety.
Expression of cannabinoid receptors type 1 and type 2 in non‐Hodgkin lymphoma: Growth inhibition by receptor activation

Endogenous and synthetic cannabinoids exert antiproliferative and proapoptotic effects in various types of cancer and in mantle cell lymphoma (MCL). In this study, we evaluated the expression of cannabinoid receptors type 1 and type 2 (CB1 and CB2) in non‐Hodgkin lymphomas of B cell type (n = 62). A majority of the lymphomas expressed higher mRNA levels of CB1 and/or CB2 as compared to reactive lymphoid tissue. With the exception of MCL, which uniformly overexpresses both CB1 and CB2, the levels of cannabinoid receptors within other lymphoma entities were highly variable, ranging from 0.1 to 224 times the expression in reactive lymph nodes. Low levels of the splice variant CB1a, previously shown to have a different affinity for cannabinoids than CB1, were detected in 44% of the lymphomas, while CB1b expression was not detected. In functional studies using MCL, Burkitt lymphoma (BL), chronic lymphatic leukemia (CLL) and plasma cell leukemia cell lines, the stable anandamide analog R(+)‐methanandamide (R(+)‐MA) induced cell death only in MCL and CLL cells, which overexpressed both cannabinoid receptors, but not in BL. In vivo treatment with R(+)‐MA caused a significant reduction of tumor size and mitotic index in mice xenografted with human MCL. Together, our results suggest that therapies using cannabinoid receptor ligands will have efficiency in reducing tumor burden in malignant lymphoma overexpressing CB1 and CB2. © 2008 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
Local M-estimation with discontinuous criterion for dependent and limited observations

This paper examines asymptotic properties of local M-estimators under three sets of high-level conditions. These conditions are sufficiently general to cover the minimum volume predictive region, conditional maximum score estimator for a panel data discrete choice model, and many other widely used estimators in statistics and econometrics. Specifically, they allow for discontinuous criterion functions of weakly dependent observations, which may be localized by kernel smoothing and contain nuisance parameters whose dimension may grow to infinity. Furthermore, the localization can occur around parameter values rather than around a fixed point and the observation may take limited values, which leads to set estimators. Our theory produces three different nonparametric cube root rates and enables valid inference for the local M-estimators, building on novel maximal inequalities for weakly dependent data. Our results include the standard cube root asymptotics as a special case. To illustrate the usefulness of our results, we verify our conditions for various examples such as the Hough transform estimator with diminishing bandwidth, maximum score-type set estimator, and many others.
Geographic variation in animal colour polymorphisms and its role in speciation

Polymorphic species, in which multiple variants coexist within a population, are often used as model systems in evolutionary biology. Recent research has been dominated by the hypothesis that polymorphism can be a precursor to speciation. To date, the majority of research regarding polymorphism and speciation has focused on whether polymorphism is maintained within a population or whether morphs within populations may diverge to form separate species (sympatric speciation); however, the geographical context of speciation in polymorphic systems is likely to be both diverse and complex. In this review, we draw attention to the geographic variation in morph composition and frequencies that characterises many, if not most polymorphic species. Recent theoretical and empirical developments suggest that such variation in the number, type and frequency of morphs present among populations can increase the probability of speciation. Thus, the geographical context of a polymorphism requires a greater research focus. Here, we review the prevalence, causes and evolutionary consequences of geographic variation in polymorphism in colour‐polymorphic animal species. The prevalence and nature of geographic variation in polymorphism suggests that polymorphism may be a precursor to and facilitate speciation more commonly than appreciated previously. We argue that a better understanding of the processes generating geographic variation in polymorphism is vital to understanding how polymorphism can promote speciation.
Right Hemisphere Regions Critical for Expression of Emotion Through Prosody

Impaired expression of emotion through pitch, loudness, rate, and rhythm of speech (affective prosody) is common and disabling after right hemisphere (RH) stroke. These deficits impede all social interactions. Previous studies have identified cortical areas associated with impairments of expression, recognition, or repetition of affective prosody, but have not identified critical white matter tracts. We hypothesized that: (1) differences across patients in specific acoustic features correlate with listener judgment of affective prosody and (2) these differences are associated with infarcts of specific RH gray and white matter regions. To test these hypotheses, 41 acute ischemic RH stroke patients had MRI diffusion weighted imaging and described a picture. Affective prosody of picture descriptions was rated by 21 healthy volunteers. We identified percent damage (lesion load) to each of seven regions of interest previously associated with expression of affective prosody and two control areas that have been associated with recognition but not expression of prosody. We identified acoustic features that correlated with listener ratings of prosody (hereafter “prosody acoustic measures”) with Spearman correlations and linear regression. We then identified demographic variables and brain regions where lesion load independently predicted the lowest quartile of each of the “prosody acoustic measures” using logistic regression. We found that listener ratings of prosody positively correlated with four acoustic measures. Furthermore, the lowest quartile of each of these four “prosody acoustic measures” was predicted by sex, age, lesion volume, and percent damage to the seven regions of interest. Lesion load in pars opercularis, supramarginal gyrus, or associated white matter tracts (and not control regions) predicted lowest quartile of the four “prosody acoustic measures” in logistic regression. Results indicate that listener perception of reduced affective prosody after RH stroke is due to reduction in specific acoustic features caused by infarct in right pars opercularis or supramarginal gyrus, or associated white matter tracts.
Power Spectrum Blind Sampling

Power spectrum blind sampling (PSBS) consists of a sampling procedure and a reconstruction method that is capable of perfectly reconstructing the unknown power spectrum of a signal from the obtained samples. In this letter, we propose a solution to the PSBS problem based on a periodic sampling procedure and a simple least squares (LS) reconstruction method. For this PSBS technique, we derive the lowest possible average sampling rate, which is much lower than the Nyquist rate of the signal. Note the difference with spectrum blind sampling (SBS) where the goal is to perfectly reconstruct the spectrum and not the power spectrum of the signal, in which case sub-Nyquist rate sampling is only possible if the spectrum is sparse. In the current work, we can perform sub-Nyquist rate sampling without making any constraints on the power spectrum, because we try to reconstruct the power spectrum and not the spectrum. In many applications, such as spectrum sensing for cognitive radio, the power spectrum is of interest and estimating the spectrum is basically overkill.
The effects of presenting oncologic information in terms of opposites in a medical context

Background An extensive body of literature has demonstrated that many patients who have been asked to participate in clinical trials do not fully understand the informed consent forms. A parallel independent study has demonstrated that opposites have a special status in human cognitive organization: they are common to all-natural languages and are intuitively and naturally understood and learnt. Purpose The study investigates whether, and how, the use of opposites impacts on doctor–patient communication: does using the terms “small–large” to describe a nodule (ie, bipolar communication) rather than speaking in terms of centimeters (ie, unipolar communication) affect a patient’s understanding of the situation? And is it better to speak of “common–rare” side effects (ie, bipolar communication) instead of the number of people who have suffered from particular side effects (ie, unipolar communication)? Methods Two questionnaires were created and used, one presenting the information in terms of opposites (ie, bipolar communication) and another using unipolar communication. Results The participants’ perception of their situation (in terms of feeling healthy–ill, being at high–low risk, and their treatment requiring high–low commitment) varied in the two conditions. Moreover, self-reported levels of understanding and satisfaction with how the information was communicated were higher when opposites were used. Limitations Since this is the first study that addresses the merits of using bipolar structures versus unipolar structures in doctor–patient communication, further work is needed to consolidate and expand on the results, involving not only simulated but also real diagnostic contexts. Conclusion The encouraging results imply that further testing of the use of opposites in informed consent forms and in doctor–patient communication is strongly advisable.
Lanthanum doped multiferroic DyFeO3: Structural and magnetic properties

Lanthanum doped multiferroic DyFeO3 was synthesized by solid state reaction. X-ray diffraction and refinement show that the lattice parameters of Dy1−xLaxFeO3 increase linearly with the La content. Raman spectroscopy reveals that the short-range force constant in Dy1−xLaxFeO3 is decreased by La3+ ion substitution. The spin reorientation phase transition temperature (TSRPT) is observed to decrease along with the doping level. The antiferromagnetic ordering temperature TN of Fe3+ ions is depressed with increasing doping level. Both decreasing TSRPT and decreasing TN indicate that Fe–Dy and Fe–Fe interactions are weakened by La substitution. It is found that the electron configuration of Fe3+ is high spin state and not affected by the La doping in all the samples above TN.
A local mesh method for solving PDEs on point clouds

In this work, we introduce a numerical method to approximate differential operators and integrals on point clouds sampled from a two dimensional manifold embedded in $\mathbb{R}^n$. Global mesh structure is usually hard to construct in this case. While our method only relies on the local mesh structure at each data point, which is constructed through local triangulation in the tangent space obtained by local principal component analysis (PCA). Once the local mesh is available, we propose numerical schemes to approximate differential operators and define mass matrix and stiffness matrix on point clouds, which are utilized to solve partial differential equations (PDEs) and variational problems on point clouds. As numerical examples, we use the proposed local mesh method and variational formulation to solve the Laplace-Beltrami eigenproblem and solve the Eikonal equation for computing distance map and tracing geodesics on point clouds.
Choice of Quantization Interval for Finite-Energy Fields

We consider in this paper how to encode a finite-energy random field via a finite number of bits. We present a method giving rise to a finite-bit representation for a given field. We analyze the overall reconstruction error associated with this method, and see that it is a summation which consists of the error coming from the sampling and quantization domains. Then, we search for the best sampling and quantization parameters to get the optimal reconstruction error for a given number of bits. This optimization leads to the number of bits versus reconstruction error curve consisting of best achievable points, which is reminiscent of rate distortion curve in information theory.
Acetylcholine receptor turnover in membranes of developing muscle fibers

[125I mono-iodo-alpha-bungarotoxin is used as a specific marker in a description of acetylcholine receptor metabolism. It is concluded that acetylcholine receptors in the surface membranes of chick and rat myotubes developing in cell cultures have a half-life of 22-24 h. Alpha-bungarotoxin (bound to a receptor which is removed from the membrane) is degraded to monoiodotyrosine which appears in the medium. Several observations are consistent with a model in which receptors or alpha-bungarotoxin-receptor complexes are internalized and then degraded: (a) the rate of appearance of iodotyrosine does not reach its maximal rate until 90 min after alpha-bungarotoxin is bound to the surface receptors; (b) 2,4-dinitrophenol, reduced temperature, and cell disruption all inhibit the degradation process. The degradation of surface receptors is not coupled to the process by which receptors are incorporated into the membrane. Evidence suggest that receptors are incorporated into the surface membrane from a presynthesized set of receptors containing about 10% as many alpha-bungarotoxin binding sites as does the surface. Additionally, a third set of acetylcholine receptors is described containing about 30% as amny binding sites as does the surface. These "hidden" recptors are not precursors yet are not readily accessible for binding of extracellular alpha-bungarotoxin. These findings are discussed in relation to both plasma membrane biosynthesis and control of chemosensitivity in developing and denervated skeletal muscle.
Taguchi ’ s method in optimizing the experimental conditions of simultaneous supercritical fluid extraction and chemical derivatization for the gas chromatographic-mass spectrometric determination of amphetamine and methamphetamine in aqueous matrix

With the aid of gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS), a systematical and analytical evaluation method called Taguchi’s quality engineering has been applied to the in-situ supercritical fluid extraction (SFE) and chemical derivatization (ChD) of amphetamines from water to afford the optimal experimental conditions and hence achieved the highest recoveries of the analytes (as their trifluoroacetyl derivatives) and the best robustness of the quatitation out of the least number of experimental runs. The optimal levels thus determined for the four influential factors are: pressure, 4000 psi; temperature, 90 ̊C; time for static SFE, 5 min; amount of TFA (ChD agent), 100 μL. Also, the mean recoveries achieved by simultaneous SFE-ChD, i.e., 95% (rsd = 3.8%) for AP and 89% (rsd = 4.0%) for MA, are significantly better than the corresponding overall recoveries obtained upon stepwise SFE-ChD, suggesting the unreacted TFA in the former procedure has strengthened the extracting power of CO2 fluid as has been evidenced by a control test. The success of this study has significantly strengthened the base and broadened the usefulness of both simultaneous SFE-ChD and Taguchi’s method.