Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Action Recognition with Image Based CNN Features

Most of human actions consist of complex temporal compositions of more simple actions. Action recognition tasks usually relies on complex handcrafted structures as features to represent the human action model. Convolutional Neural Nets (CNN) have shown to be a powerful tool that eliminate the need for designing handcrafted features. Usually, the output of the last layer in CNN (a layer before the classification layer -known as fc7) is used as a generic feature for images. In this paper, we show that fc7 features, per se, can not get a good performance for the task of action recognition, when the network is trained only on images. We present a feature structure on top of fc7 features, which can capture the temporal variation in a video. To represent the temporal components, which is needed to capture motion information, we introduced a hierarchical structure. The hierarchical model enables to capture sub-actions from a complex action. At the higher levels of the hierarchy, it represents a coarse capture of action sequence and lower levels represent fine action elements. Furthermore, we introduce a method for extracting key-frames using binary coding of each frame in a video, which helps to improve the performance of our hierarchical model. We experimented our method on several action datasets and show that our method achieves superior results compared to other state-of-the-arts methods.
Nitric oxide synthase activity in hyperthyroid and hypothyroid rats.

OBJECTIVE Thyroid disorders are accompanied by important changes in haemodynamic and cardiac functions and renal sodium handling. Since nitric oxide (NO) plays a crucial role in regulating vascular tone and renal sodium excretion, the present paper was designed to determine whether changes in the activity of NO synthase (NOS) participate in the cardiovascular and renal manifestations of thyroid disorders. METHODS We measured NOS activity in the heart (left and right ventricles), vessels (aorta and cava) and kidney (cortex and medulla) of euthyroid, hyperthyroid and hypothyroid rats after 6 weeks of treatment. NOS activity was determined by measuring the conversion of L-[(3)H]-arginine to L-[(3)H]-citruline. RESULTS NOS activity was higher in all tissues from hyperthyroid rats when compared with controls, except in the right ventricle. In the hypothyroid group, NOS activity showed a more heterogeneous pattern, with significant increases in both ventricles but significant reduction in the aorta, while in the vena cava, renal cortex and medulla the enzyme activity also tended to be higher, but significance was not reached. CONCLUSIONS These data indicated that NOS activity was upregulated in tissues primarily related to blood pressure control in hyperthyroid rats, suggesting that an increased NO production may contribute to the hyperdynamic circulation in hyperthyroidism and may have a protective homeostatic effect in the target organs of the hypertension that accompanies this endocrine disease. The aortic and renal findings in hypothyroid rats suggested a possible role for NOS in the increased peripheral resistance and the normal pressure-diuresis-natriuresis response of these hypotensive animals, although hypothyroidism produced a heterogeneous tissue response in NOS activity.
Intelligent Affect: Rational Decision Making for Socially Aligned Agents

Affect Control Theory (ACT) is a mathematical model that makes accurate predictions about human behaviour across a wide range of settings. The predictions, which are derived from statistics about human actions and identities in real and laboratory environments, are shared prescriptive and affective behaviours that are believed to lead to solutions to everyday cooperative problems. A generalisation of ACT, called BayesAct, allows the principles of ACT to be used for human-interactive agents by combining a probabilistic version of the ACT dynamical model of affect with a utility function encoding external goals. Planning in BayesAct, which we address in this paper, then allows one to go beyond the affective prescription, and leads to the emergence of more complex interactions between "cognitive" and "affective" reasoning, such as deception leading to manipulation and altercasting. We use a continuous variant of a successful Monte-Carlo tree search planner (POMCP) that dynamically discretises the action and observation spaces while planning. We give demonstrations on two classic two-person social dilemmas.
Weber's law and weberized TV restoration

Most conventional image processors consider little the influence of human vision psychology. Weber’s Law in psychology and psychophysics claims that human’s perception and response to the intensity fluctuation of visual signals are weighted by the background stimulus , instead of being plainly uniform. This paper attempts to integrate this well known perceptual law into the classical total variation (TV) image restoration model of Rudin, Osher, and Fatemi [Physica D, 60:259-268, 1992]. We study the issues of existence and uniqueness for the proposed Weberized nonlinear TV restoration model, making use of the direct method in the space of functions with bounded variations. We also propose an iterative algorithm based on the linearization technique for the associated nonlinear EulerLagrange equation. PACS (2001): 87.19. Dd (information processing in vision and hearing); 87.57. Nk (image analysis).
Cost-Effective Combination of Multiple Rankers: Learning When Not To Query

Combining multiple rankers has potential for improving the performance over using any of the single rankers. However, querying multiple rankers for every search request can often be too costly due to efficiency or commercial reasons. In this work, we propose a more cost-effective approach that predicts the utility of any additional rankers, prior to querying them. We develop a combined measure that allows us to maximize the gains in retrieval effectiveness of ranker combination subject to a given efficiency constraint. Given the results of a baseline ranker, we predict two quantities that indicate the utility of querying an additional ranker: (1) Overlap — the fraction of its results already retrieved by the baseline ranker and (2) Gain — the increase in effectiveness over the baseline ranker. Our experimental results on both a large web and TREC collections demonstrate the viability of our approach to cost-effective ranker combination. We also show that we can significantly improve the effectiveness and efficiency of ranker combination by augmenting the explicit relevance judgments with automatically generated overlap data. Overall, using easy-to-compute features based on the top retrieved results of a baseline ranker, we attain nearly 10% improvements over a class-prior based method.
Uncertainty and Business Cycles: Exogenous Impulse or Endogenous Response?

Uncertainty about the future rises in recessions. But is uncertainty a source of business cycles or an endogenous response to them, and does the type of uncertainty matter? We propose a novel SVAR identification strategy to address these questions via inequality constraints on the structural shocks. We find that sharply higher macroeconomic uncertainty in recessions is often an endogenous response to output shocks, while uncertainty about financial markets is a likely source of output fluctuations. (JEL D81, E23, E32, E44, G14)
Height loss caused by bent posture: A risk factor for stroke from ENT clinic - is it time to reconsider the physical examination?

Abstract Conclusion. When excessive height loss occurs in the elderly, which may be indicated by a cervical-bent posture, examination of the head and neck should be performed to detect common carotid artery (CCA) and internal carotid artery (ICA) aberration. In such cases brain magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) examination should be conducted to determine whether infarction is present. Objectives. To examine the relationships among bent posture, height loss, aberration of carotid arteries, and ischemic stroke risk with a case-control study. Methods: Controls (n = 163) were selected from among patients who had undergone MRI of the brain because of otolaryngologic symptoms. Case patients (n = 72) were selected from among those whose primary diagnosis was cerebral infarction in the area served by the ICA. Both groups were age-matched between 65 and 84 years old. The neck and pharyngeal cavity in each of the 235 patients were examined to determine whether the carotid arteries exhibited aberration. Patients' current height and greatest lifetime height were recorded, along with presence or absence of bent posture and other stroke risk factors. Results: Height loss alone could predict stroke risk in 79.1% of patients: 90.2% based on carotid artery aberration and 91.4% when all risk factors (aberration of carotid artery, height loss, bent posture) were analyzed.
Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD): Knowledge, Teaching Skills, Preparation, and Needed Knowledge of Saudi Arabian Special Educators to Meet the Needs of their Students with ASD

The Saudi government pays much attention to improving the quality of teachers who teach students with disabilities, including those identified with ASD. The purpose of this study was to explore the beliefs and perceptions of teachers of students with ASD in Al Qassim about their knowledge, teaching skills, and preparation to teach students with ASD. This study addressed two questions. The first question was what teachers in Al Qassim believe they know about ASD and how to teach students with ASD. The second was what teachers of students with ASD believe they need to be successful teachers of students with ASD. The study was qualitative in nature. I addressed these two questions by interviewing seven practicing special educators in Al Qassim, Saudi Arabia. Three themes emerged from the analysis: (a) Participants’ Perceptions of their Teacher Preparation Programs, (b) post-BA learning, and (c) the Reality of Teaching in Schools. Conclusions, implications, and suggestions were made based on the findings of the study.
Distraction by emotion in early adolescence: affective facilitation and interference during the attentional blink

This study examined the extent to which early adolescents (aged 10–13 years) differ from adults in their sensitivity to attention capture by affective stimuli during rapid processing. A rapid serial visual presentation paradigm (RSVP) was implemented as a dual task, requiring the report of two green target stimuli embedded in a stream of distractors. Known as the “attentional blink” (AB), task performance is typically impaired when the first and second targets (T1 and T2, respectively) are separated by at least one distractor and about 200 ms of time. Here we used written verbs of pleasant, neutral, and unpleasant content as T1 items, while affectively neutral exemplars served as T2 and distractor events. The temporal distance between T1 and T2 was manipulated to contain either one distractor (intertarget interval 232 ms) or five distractors (intertarget interval 696 ms). Students reported pleasant T1 words more accurately, compared to neutral and unpleasant words, indicating facilitation of appetitive content on performance during RSVP. Emotional relevance of T1 was at the expense of T2 accuracy: at an intertarget interval of 232 ms (i.e., during the AB period), identification of (neutral) T2 words was impaired when preceded by pleasant and unpleasant T1s. No interference across targets was observed, however, beyond the blink period, in which T1 and T2 were separated by 696 ms. Thus, emotionally relevant events capture and hold attentional resources, at the cost of attentive processing in subsequent episodes. Contrary to our findings in adults, these capture effects were most obvious when the available capacity was limited, i.e., during the critical interval of the AB. The findings are discussed in light of the use of alternative cognitive strategies as development proceeds beyond early adolescence into adulthood.
Co-teaching perspectives from middle school algebra co-teachers and their students with and without disabilities

ABSTRACT This study features data from middle school Algebra co-teachers and their students with and without disabilities, who completed questionnaires about their co-teaching experiences. Although most students with disabilities believed the general educator was in charge of lessons, students without disabilities also credited the special educator. Most students responded that the special educator or both educators provided support via explanations and help; few students responded that the general educator was the only person who explained things in different ways. Perspectives from the students provide an increased understanding of the importance of the special educator in a valued supportive role versus a subordinate role in this co-taught classroom.
The effects of microcredit on women's control over household spending in developing countries : a systematic review and meta-analysis

The main objective of this campbell systematic review was to provide a systematic review of the evidence on the effects of microcredit on women's control over household spending in developing countries. More specifically, we aimed to answer two related research questions: 1) what does the impact evaluative evidence say about the causal relationship between microcredit and specific dimensions of women's empowerment (women's control over household spending); and 2) what are the mechanisms which mediate this relationship. We prioritise depth of analysis over breadth, thus the scope of this review is narrower than previous systematic reviews on microfinance (stewart et al., 2010; duvendack et al. 2011; stewart et al., 2012). We focused on specific aspects of women's empowerment which allowed us to combine statistical meta-analysis and realist (context-mechanism-outcome) synthesis. From the different searches we identified an initial number of 310 papers that were selected for full text examination. Eventually, 29 papers were retained for further analysis, corresponding to 25 unique studies. In line with three recent other reviews on microfinance (stewart et al., 2010; duvendack et al., 2011; stewart et al. 2012) we found that the microcredit evidence base is extensive, yet most studies are weak methodologically. From those studies deemed comparable and of minimum acceptable quality, we concluded that overall there is no evidence for an effect of microcredit on women's control over household spending.
Investigation of Midtrimester Amniotic Fluid Factors as Potential Predictors of Term and Preterm Deliveries

Aims. Our aim is to investigate, in 13 cases (delivering preterm) and 21 matched (for age, parity, and gestational age) controls (delivering at term), whether midtrimester amniotic fluid concentrations of elastase, secretory leukocyte proteinase inhibitor (SLPI), soluble intercellular adhesion molecule-1, and soluble vascular cell adhesion molecule predict asymptomatic intra-amniotic inflammation/infection and preterm labor. Results. Concentrations of all substances were not statistically different among mothers, delivering preterm or at term. SLPI concentrations significantly increased in women, going into labor without ruptured membranes, irrespective of pre- or term delivery (P < .007, P < .001, resp) and correlated with elastase (r = 0.508, P < .002). Conclusions. Midtrimester amniotic fluid SLPI concentrations significantly decrease when membrane rupture precedes pre- or full-term labor. However, none of the investigated substances predict preterm delivery.
Clustering to Find Exemplar Terms for Keyphrase Extraction

Keyphrases are widely used as a brief summary of documents. Since manual assignment is time-consuming, various unsupervised ranking methods based on importance scores are proposed for keyphrase extraction. In practice, the keyphrases of a document should not only be statistically important in the document, but also have a good coverage of the document. Based on this observation, we propose an unsupervised method for keyphrase extraction. Firstly, the method finds exemplar terms by leveraging clustering techniques, which guarantees the document to be semantically covered by these exemplar terms. Then the keyphrases are extracted from the document using the exemplar terms. Our method outperforms sate-of-the-art graph-based ranking methods (TextRank) by 9.5% in F1-measure.
A Measurement of Performance: Student Involvement in Organization and Campus Environment

This study aims to measure student achievement based on the activity that involved in the organization. In addition, the authors also examine the effect of campus environment on student achievement. This research consist 2 models, first model has independent variables (involvement of student and campus environment) and dependent variables (Grade Point Average). Second model, performance orientation as dependent variable.The method used in this study with a quantitative approach, using multiple regression to measure the models. The samples of this study are the students of Bachelor Degree Management. This study shows that the campus environment has an influence on the level or performance orientation student. The students involvement in the organization has negative affect to the Grade Point Average (GPA),. Not that because they actively organize to make the GPA is low. The campus environment has no effect on the GPA but the effect on the level of performance orientation.
Widespread Divergence of the CEACAM/PSG Genes in Vertebrates and Humans Suggests Sensitivity to Selection

In mammals, carcinoembryonic antigen cell adhesion molecules (CEACAMs) and pregnancy-specific glycoproteins (PSGs) play important roles in the regulation of pathogen transmission, tumorigenesis, insulin signaling turnover, and fetal–maternal interactions. However, how these genes evolved and to what extent they diverged in humans remain to be investigated specifically. Based on syntenic mapping of chordate genomes, we reveal that diverging homologs with a prototypic CEACAM architecture–including an extracellular domain with immunoglobulin variable and constant domain-like regions, and an intracellular domain containing ITAM motif–are present from cartilaginous fish to humans, but are absent in sea lamprey, cephalochordate or urochordate. Interestingly, the CEACAM/PSG gene inventory underwent radical divergence in various vertebrate lineages: from zero in avian species to dozens in therian mammals. In addition, analyses of genetic variations in human populations showed the presence of various types of copy number variations (CNVs) at the CEACAM/PSG locus. These copy number polymorphisms have 3–80% frequency in select populations, and encompass single to more than six PSG genes. Furthermore, we found that CEACAM/PSG genes contain a significantly higher density of nonsynonymous single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) compared to the chromosome average, and many CEACAM/PSG SNPs exhibit high population differentiation. Taken together, our study suggested that CEACAM/PSG genes have had a more dynamic evolutionary history in vertebrates than previously thought. Given that CEACAM/PSGs play important roles in maternal–fetal interaction and pathogen recognition, these data have laid the groundwork for future analysis of adaptive CEACAM/PSG genotype-phenotypic relationships in normal and complicated pregnancies as well as other etiologies.
Adoption of Mobile Internet Services: An Exploratory Study of Mobile Commerce Early Adopters

The extent to which investment in information technology (IT) is related to organizational performance and productivity remains an open question in the minds of managers responsible for such investment decisions. Most past research into this relation has been based on cross-sectional analyses of 1-year periods. Attempts to determine relations between IT investment and the associated effect of that investment in such short periods have resulted in mostly mixed or negative findings. This study is thought to be the first to apply a multiyear, cross-sectional analysis. In the research, covering a 3-year period and involving firm-level data for a broad cross-section of U.S. industry, we found positive relations between higher levels of IT investment and selected measures representing organizational performance and productivity. These results, being based on multiyear analysis, are thought to be an important contribution in view of the fact that much of the existing literature in the area has failed to explain conclusively the economic impact of IT investment on organizational performance and productivity.
Decentralized Information Flow Verification Framework for the Service Chain Composition in Mobile Computing Environments

Dynamic service composition in wireless environment provides us with a promising approach to build complex applications based on the basic value-added services. In different network domains, multiple services may provide data with different security levels. In order to prevent from information leakage, information flow security is a major concern in composite services. However, the energy-limited nature of user terminal in mobile computing environments poses a significant challenge for the centralized information flow verification where the verification node need cost lots of computation and network resources. In this paper, we specify the security constraints for each service participant to secure the information flow in service chain based on the lattice model, and then present a decentralized information flow verification framework that cooperates different service participants to complete the verification process distributively with respect to their information flow policies. Through the experiments and evaluations, the results show it decreases the verification cost on single service node.
Managerial Caution, Operating Performance, and Accounting Conservatism

We investigate the relation between managerial (or corporate) caution, defined as the propensity to delay consequential decisions in the face of uncertainty, and conditional accounting conservatism — and document a substitution effect between the two. Economic theory predicts that caution reduces the probability of costly mistakes and improves the quality of information at managers’ disposal. Better-quality information ensures that good news in cautious firms is more likely to be persistent than in incautious ones, while bad news is more likely to be transitory. As a result, cautious firms report good news sooner and bad new later than incautious firms; i.e., the former exhibit lower conditional accounting conservatism than the latter. Our empirical results support the theoretical prediction. The study helps explain the standard setters’ position toward conservatism and sheds new light on the effect of the quality of managers’ private information on the quality of financial reporting.