Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Crowdsourcing Attacks on Biometric Systems

We introduce a new approach for attacking and analyz- ing biometric-based authentication systems, which involves crowdsourcing the search for potential impostors to the sys- tem. Our focus is on voice-based authentication, or speaker verification (SV), and we propose a generic method to use crowdsourcing for identifying candidate "mimics" for speak- ers in a given target population. We then conduct a prelim- inary analysis of this method with respect to a well-known text-independent SV scheme (the GMM-UBM scheme) us- ing Mechanical Turk as the crowdsourcing platform. Our analysis shows that the new attack method can iden- tify mimics for target speakers with high impersonation suc- cess rates: from a pool of 176 candidates, we identified six with an overall false acceptance rate of 44%, which is higher than what has been reported for professional mimics in prior voice-mimicry experiments. This demonstrates that na¨ove, untrained users have the potential to carry out imperson- ation attacks against voice-based systems, although good imitators are rare to find. (We also implement our method with a crowd of amateur mimicry artists and obtain similar results for them.) Match scores for our best mimics were found to be lower than those for automated attacks but, given the relative difficulty of detecting mimicry attacks vis- ´ automated ones, our method presents a potent threat to real systems. We discuss implications of our results for the security analysis of SV systems (and of biometric systems, in general) and highlight benefits and challenges associated with the use of crowdsourcing in such analysis.
Effects of Deicers on Concrete Deterioration

For periods of up to 95 weeks, concrete specimens were exposed to weekly wetting and drying cycles in either distilled water or in solutions of sodium chloride (NaCl), calcium chloride (CaCl sub 2), magnesium chloride (MgCl sub 2) and calcium magnesium acetate (CMA) with either a 1.06 molal ion concentration, equivalent in iron concentration to a 3% solution of NaCl, or a 6.04 molal ion concentration equivalent in ion concentration to a 15% solution of NaCl to test the effects of deicers on concrete deterioration. Specimens also received air-only exposure. Based on changes in specimens' physical appearance at the conclusion of the tests, as well as changes in the dynamic modulus of elasticity, exposure effects were evaluated. An increase and a decrease in dynamic modulus of elasticity, principally due to moisture content changes, were shown in concretes exposed to distilled water and air, respectively. There was no observable negative impact on these specimen's properties, overall. There was a relatively small negative impact by NaCl and CaCl sub 2 on concrete properties at lower concentrations. NaCl had greater negative effect at high concentrations, but overall it was still relatively small. Measurable concrete damage could be caused by MgCl sub 2 and CMA at low concentrations. Significant concrete changes resulting in stiffness and strength reduction and loss of material could be caused by CaCl sub 2, MgCl sub 2, and CMA at high concentrations.
Search-Based Software Testing: Past, Present and Future

Search-Based Software Testing is the use of a meta-heuristic optimizing search technique, such as a Genetic Algorithm, to automate or partially automate a testing task, for example the automatic generation of test data. Key to the optimization process is a problem-specific fitness function. The role of the fitness function is to guide the search to good solutions from a potentially infinite search space, within a practical time limit. Work on Search-Based Software Testing dates back to 1976, with interest in the area beginning to gather pace in the 1990s. More recently there has been an explosion of the amount of work. This paper reviews past work and the current state of the art, and discusses potential future research areas and open problems that remain in the field.
Knowledge and Use of Dietary Supplement Products by Deaf Athletes

The purpose of this study was to determine the knowledge and use of dietary supplement products (DSP) among the deaf athletes of the Turkish Deaf Sports Federation. A total 74 voluntary athletes from various sports, 11 female and 63 male athletes (M age =23.62±5.38 years) participated in this study. The data was collected through the survey method and was analyzed by Fischer Exact test, frequencies and percentage distribution. As a result, it has been determined that 39.2% of deaf athletes have knowledge about DSP and athlete diets; their rate of DSP use increases as their educational level increases; the rate of DSP use in national athletes is higher and that taekwondo athletes do not use DSP while a rate of at least 30.8% DSP use is evident in other branches. In addition, the findings show that the deaf athletes do not have sufficient knowledge about their DSP use and they have problems in accessing reliable information about this issue.
Constructive Discrepancy Minimization for Convex Sets

A classical theorem of Spencer shows that any set system with n sets and n elements admits a coloring of discrepancy O(√(n)). Recent exciting work of Bansal, Lovett and Meka shows that such colorings can be found in polynomial time. In fact, the Lovett-Meka algorithm finds a half integral point in any "large enough" polytope. However, their algorithm crucially relies on the facet structure and does not apply to general convex sets. We show that for any symmetric convex set K with measure at least e-n/500, the following algorithm finds a point y ∈ K ∩ [-1, 1]n with Ω(n) coordinates in ±1: (1) take a random Gaussian vector x, (2) compute the point y in K ∩ [- 1, 1]n that is closest to x. (3) return y. This provides another truly constructive proof of Spencer's theorem and the first constructive proof of a Theorem of Giannopoulos.
Evaluating the effectiveness of stocking vendace (Coregonus albula (L.)) eleutheroembryos by alizarin marking of otoliths

Lake Wcrbcllin (804 ha. 18 m mean depth). a mesotrophic lake in north-eastem Germany yielded between <) and 14 tons (1.2 and 17.4 kg/ha) of vendace during the) 970's and 1980"'. ;. For the last 20 years. the lake has been stocked annually with 0.5 - 3.3 million eleutheroembryos (620 - 4100 per ha) in early spring. but the population is presumably self-sustaining. The contribution of stocking to commercial yields has never been assessed. In spring \994. 1.5 million embryos were marked by immersion In Alizarin Red S ( ) 50 mg/) for . ' h) prior to stocking. Survival rare was better than 90 9; after 48 h (76 ()( in one tank where the concentration had been higher initially) and ranged from 74 to 83 o/e after 24 d (21 o/r in one tank). Mark quality was excellent. as was mark retention after almost two years. In autumn 1995. more than one thou­ sand specimens of the 1994 year-class were sampled from the lake. Lapilli and sagittae were removed. embedded in epoxy revrn. ground and polished. and examined under ultraviolet light. Only 1.3 % of fish (14 specimens) were marked. We conclude that natural reproduction in Lake Werbellin was successful in 1994. The cost/benefit ratio of stocking was above unity. Evaluation of stocking programs in which cleutheroembryo-, are added to self-sustaining coregonid populations is strongly recommended.
Protocol for a Case Study to Explore the Transition to Practice of New Graduate Nurses in Long-Term Care

A qualitative case study protocol for an exploration of the transition to practice of new graduate nurses in long-term care is presented. For the new graduated nurse, the transition to professional practice is neither simple nor easy. This time of transition has been examined within the hospital setting, but little work has been done from the perspective and context of long-term care. As the global population continues to age and the acuity of persons accessing services outside of hospital continues to increase, there is a need to better understand the transition experience of new graduate nurses in alternative, tertiary settings such as long-term care. Therefore, the purpose of this report is to situate a study and describe a protocol that explored the transition to practice experience of seven new graduate nurses in long-term care using Yin’s case study methodology. The case or phenomenon being explored is new graduate nurse transition to practice. This report presents an overview of the literature in order to situate and describe the case under study, a thorough description of the binding of the case as well as the data sources utilized, and ultimately reflects upon the lessons learned using this methodology. The lessons learned include challenges related to precise case binding, the role and importance of context in conducting case study research, and difficulties in disseminating study findings. Overall, this report provides a detailed example of the application of the case study design through description of a study protocol in order to facilitate learning about this complex and often improperly utilized study design.
Physical and functional sensitivity of zinc finger transcription factors to redox change

Redox regulation of DNA-binding proteins through the reversible oxidation of key cysteine sulfhydryl groups has been demonstrated to occur in vitro for a range of transcription factors. The direct redox regulation of DNA binding has not been described in vivo, possibly because most protein thiol groups are strongly buffered against oxidation by the highly reduced intracellular environment mediated by glutathione, thioredoxin, and associated pathways. For this reason, only accessible protein thiol groups with high thiol-disulfide oxidation potentials are likely to be responsive to intracellular redox changes. In this article, we demonstrate that zinc finger DNA-binding proteins, in particular members of the Sp-1 family, appear to contain such redox-sensitive -SH groups. These proteins displayed a higher sensitivity to redox regulation than other redox-responsive factors both in vitro and in vivo. This effect was reflected in the hyperoxidative repression of transcription from promoters with essential Sp-1 binding sites, including the simian virus 40 early region, glycolytic enzyme, and dihydrofolate reductase genes. Promoter analyses implicated the Sp-1 sites in this repression. Non-Sp-1-dependent redox-regulated genes including metallothionein and heme oxygenase were induced by the same hyperoxic stress. The studies demonstrate that cellular redox changes can directly regulate gene expression in vivo by determining the level of occupancy of strategically positioned GC-binding sites.
Origins of GABAA and GABAB Receptor-Mediated Responses of Globus Pallidus Induced after Stimulation of the Putamen in the Monkey

The external and internal segments of the pallidum (GPe and GPi) receive heavy GABAergic innervations from the neostriatum, an input nucleus of the basal ganglia. The GPe neurons provide another major GABAergic innervation to the GPe itself and GPi. Although these GABAergic inputs are considered to play key roles in controlling the level and pattern of firing activity of pallidal neurons in both normal and pathophysiological conditions, these inputs have not been well characterized in vivo. Here, we characterized the responses of pallidal neurons to single and burst stimulation of the putamen (Put) in awake monkeys. Unit recordings in combination with local infusion of drugs and a chemical blockade of the subthalamic nucleus (STN), the major origin of excitatory afferents, revealed the following. Under STN blockade, the duration of single Put stimulation induced gabazine (a GABAA antagonist)-sensitive responses differed greatly in the GPe (∼400 ms long) and in the GPi (60 ms long). Burst stimulation of the Put induced CGP55845 [(2S)-3-{[(1S)-1-(3,4-dichlorophenyl)ethyl]amino-2-hydroxypropyl}(phenylmethyl)phosphinic acid] (a GABAB antagonist)-sensitive responses in the GPe and GPi. However, the data suggested that the origin of the GABAB responses was the GPe, not the Put. Local CGP55845 application increased the spontaneous firing of GPe and GPi neurons, suggesting that GABA released from the axons of GPe neurons effectively activates GABAB receptors in the GPe and GPi and contributes significantly to the control of the level of neuronal activity.
On a (β,q)-generalized Fisher information and inequalities involving q-Gaussian distributions

In the present paper, we would like to draw attention to a possible generalized Fisher information that fits well in the formalism of nonextensive thermostatistics. This generalized Fisher information is defined for densities on Rn. Just as the maximum Renyi or Tsallis entropy subject to an elliptic moment constraint is a generalized q-Gaussian, we show that the minimization of the generalized Fisher information also leads a generalized q-Gaussian. This yields a generalized Cramer-Rao inequality. In addition, we show that the generalized Fisher information naturally pops up in a simple inequality that links the generalized entropies, the generalized Fisher information, and an elliptic moment. Finally, we give an extended Stam inequality. In this series of results, the extremal functions are the generalized q-Gaussians. Thus, these results complement the classical characterization of the generalized q-Gaussian and introduce a generalized Fisher information as a new information measure in nonextensive therm.
Complexity in measuring outcomes after communication partner training: alignment between goals of intervention and methods of evaluation

ABSTRACT Background: Researchers are currently discussing the need for consensus on a core set of outcome measures to assess interventions in aphasia. For indirect, environmental approaches to aphasia intervention, such as communication partner training (CPT), the roadmap to obtaining consensus on core outcome measures seems especially complex. While the purpose of CPT is to improve communication for people with communication disorders, the intervention is aimed at the communication partner. There is also a variety of goals, activities, and possible settings for CPT. This complexity increases the risk of a mismatch between the goals and content of the intervention and measures used to evaluate the outcome. Aims: The purpose of this paper is to describe the complexity of measuring outcomes from CPT. The aim is to enable clinicians and researchers to reflect on the outcomes to be measured and also on how different types of measures may or may not be aligned with the goals and content of a specific CPT intervention. Main contribution: The current proliferation of outcome measures used in CPT is considered in the light of a survey of general factors to be considered in evaluating intervention outcomes. The complexity of measuring outcomes in CPT is illustrated and the importance of alignment of main objectives, intervention tasks, and projected outcomes is exemplified by referencing two common types of CPT approaches. Objectives relating to knowledge of aphasia, interactional behaviour, and feelings and attitudes are considered in relation to specific outcome measurements. It is suggested that both study-specific and more general measures are needed for capturing and comparing outcomes. The measurement of relevant outcome in CPT is discussed along with implications for future research and clinical practice. Conclusions: Different CPT approaches share the same purpose of facilitating communication in aphasia, but their application in research studies or in the clinic, is specific to the particular context. Special care must thus be taken in both clinical practice and research to safeguard the alignment between objectives, tasks, and projected intervention outcomes and the actual measures used. Further, it is concluded that there is a need for the development of new measures based on a consensus on key outcomes to be measured in CPT.
Newton Convex Bodies, Semigroups of Integral Points, Graded Algebras and Intersection Theory

Generalizing the notion of Newton polyhedron, we define the Newton convex body, respectively, for semigroups of integral points, graded algebras, and linear series on varieties. We prove that any semigroup in the lattice Z n is asymptotically approximated by the semigroup of all the points in a sublattice and lying in a convex cone. Applying this we obtain several results: we show that for a wide class of graded algebras, the Hilbert functions have polynomial growth and their growth coefficients satisfy a Brunn-Minkowski type inequality. We prove analogues of Fujita approximation theorem for semigroups of integral points and graded algebras, which implies a generalization of it for arbitrary linear series. Applications to intersection theory include a far-reaching generalization of Kušnirenko theorem (from Newton polyhedra theory) and a new version of Hodge inequality. We also give elementary proofs of Alexandrov-Fenchel inequality (and its corollaries) in convex geometry and their analogues in algebraic geometry.
Basic Values in Russia: Their Dynamics, Ethnocultural Differences, and Relation to Economic Attitudes

Background. This study was carried out using the framework of S. Schwartz’s theory of basic human values. Objective. This article examines the dynamics of the basic values of Russians (2008– 2016) and the relationship between value orientations and economic attitudes among Christians and Muslims in Russia. Design. The dynamics of values of Russians were analyzed based on the five waves rounds of ESS (2006, 2008, 2010, 2012, 2016), each of which included around 2,000 respondents. The 2010 sample included ethnic Russians as well as respondents from the North Caucasus (N = 278). Results. We found that the most preferred value among Russians is Security. However, the importance of this value decreased over 10 years (2006–2016). Such values as Achievement, Tradition, and Power were relatively stable among Russians during this period. In addition, between 2006 and 2016 we observed the increasing priority of the values of Hedonism and Stimulation. Using our own data set, we examined the relations between values and attitudes toward different types of economic behavior. Conclusion. We found that the patterns of the relations between values and attitudes toward different types of economic behavior had similarities as well as differences among Christians (in the Central Federal District and the North Caucasus Federal District) and Muslims (in the North Caucasus Federal District) in Russia.
Methodological approach to evaluate interactive behaviors in team games: an example in handball

In this paper we describe a method to evaluate interactive behaviors in Team Games, most precisely goalkeeper interaction with defenders. The aim of this study is to understand the performance of a handball goalkeeper, not only by the results of their own actions, but by integrating in the model the interactive actions between goalkeeper and defenders. The requirements of observational methodology are observed to gather data and we used sequential analysis and polar coordinates techniques to analyze data. The data are gathered from a natural environment where players have their behaviors, i.e., from handball matches in high level competitions context. Using an observational tool specially created and validated by an expert panel, the data was registered in a sequential way to make possible the sequential analysis with lags, prospective and retrospectively made. The results show the goalkeeper performance is significantly associated with defenders actions.
Intentional Contents and Self-Control

Conventional research programs adopt efficient cause as a metaphor for how mental events affect behavior. Such theory-constitutive metaphors usefully restrict the purview of research programs, to define the space of possibilities. However, conventional research programs have not yet offered a plausible account of how intentional contents control action, and such an account may be beyond the range of its theoretical possibilities. Circular causality supplies a more inclusive metaphor for how mental events might control behavior. Circular causality perpetuates dynamic structures in time. Mental contents are seen as emergent dynamic constraints perpetuated in time and vertically coupled across their multiple timescales. Intentional contents are accommodated as extraordinary boundary conditions (constraints) that evolve on timescales longer than those of motor coordination (Kugler & Turvey, 1987). Intentional contents, on their longer timescales, are thus available to control embodied processes on shorter timescales. One key assumption-that constraints are vertically coupled in time-is motivated empirically by correlated noise, long-range correlations in the background variability of measured laboratory performances.
Acute myocardial infarction complicated by atrial fibrillation in the elderly: prevalence and outcomes.

BACKGROUND Although atrial fibrillation (AF) is a common complication of acute myocardial infarction (MI), patient characteristics and association with outcomes remain poorly defined in the elderly. METHODS AND RESULTS We evaluated 106 780 Medicare beneficiaries > or =65 years of age from the Cooperative Cardiovascular Project treated for acute MI between January 1994 and February 1996 to determine the prevalence and prognostic significance of AF complicating acute MI in elderly patients. Patients were categorized on the basis of the presence of AF, and those with AF were further subdivided by time of AF (present on arrival versus developing during hospitalization). AF and non-AF patients were compared by univariate analysis, and logistic regression modeling was used to identify clinical predictors of AF. The influence of AF on outcomes was evaluated by unadjusted Kaplan-Meier survival curves and logistic regression models. AF was documented in 23 565 patients (22. 1%): 11 510 presented with AF and 12,055 developed AF during hospitalization. AF patients were older, had more advanced heart failure, and were more likely to have had a prior MI and undergone coronary revascularization. AF patients had poorer outcomes, including higher in-hospital (25.3% versus 16.0%), 30-day (29.3% versus 19.1%), and 1-year (48.3% versus 32.7%) mortality. AF remained an independent predictor of in-hospital (odds ratio [OR], 1. 21), 30-day (OR, 1.20), and 1-year (OR, 1.34) mortality after multivariate adjustment. Patients developing AF during hospitalization had a worse prognosis than patients who presented with AF. CONCLUSIONS AF is a common complication of acute MI in elderly patients and independently influences mortality, particularly when it develops during hospitalization.
Methodologies for crawler based Web surveys

There have been many attempts to study the content of the Web, either through human or automatic agents. Describes five different previously used Web survey methodologies, each justifiable in its own right, but presents a simple experiment that demonstrates concrete differences between them. The concept of crawling the Web also bears further inspection, including the scope of the pages to crawl, the method used to access and index each page, and the algorithm for the identification of duplicate pages. The issues involved here will be well‐known to many computer scientists but, with the increasing use of crawlers and search engines in other disciplines, they now require a public discussion in the wider research community. Concludes that any scientific attempt to crawl the Web must make available the parameters under which it is operating so that researchers can, in principle, replicate experiments or be aware of and take into account differences between methodologies. Also introduces a new hybrid random page selection methodology.