Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Three Controversial Hypotheses Concerning Computation in the Primate Cortex

We consider three hypotheses concerning the primate neocortex which have influenced computational neuroscience in recent years. Is the mind modular in terms of its being profitably described as a collection of relatively independent functional units? Does the regular structure of the cortex imply a single algorithm at work, operating on many different inputs in parallel? Can the cognitive differences between humans and our closest primate relatives be explained in terms of a scalable cortical architecture? We bring to bear diverse sources of evidence to argue that the answers to each of these questions — with some judicious qualifications — are in the affirmative. In particular, we argue that while our higher cognitive functions may interact in a complicated fashion, many of the component functions operate through well-defined interfaces and, perhaps more important, are built on a neural substrate that scales easily under the control of a modular genetic architecture. Processing in the primary sensory cortices seem amenable to similar algorithmic principles, and, even for those cases where alternative principles are at play, the regular structure of cortex allows the same or greater advantages as the architecture scales. Similar genetic machinery to that used by nature to scale body plans has apparently been applied to scale cortical computations. The resulting replicated computing units can be used to build larger working memory and support deeper recursions needed to qualitatively improve our abilities to handle language, abstraction and social interaction.
AMP: a new time-frequency feature extraction method for intermittent time-series data

The characterisation of time-series data via their most salient features is extremely important in a range of machine learning task, not least of all with regards to classification and clustering. While there exist many feature extraction techniques suitable for non-intermittent time-series data, these approaches are not always appropriate for intermittent time-series data, where intermittency is characterized by constant values for large periods of time punctuated by sharp and transient increases or decreases in value. Motivated by this, we present aggregation, mode decomposition and projection (AMP) a feature extraction technique particularly suited to intermittent time-series data which contain time-frequency patterns. For our method all individual time-series within a set are combined to form a non-intermittent aggregate. This is decomposed into a set of components which represent the intrinsic time-frequency signals within the data set. Individual time-series can then be _t to these components to obtain a set of numerical features that represent their intrinsic time-frequency patterns. To demonstrate the effectiveness of AMP, we evaluate against the real word task of clustering intermittent time-series data. Using synthetically generated data we show that a clustering approach which uses the features derived from AMP significantly outperforms traditional clustering methods. Our technique is further exemplified on a real world data set where AMP can be used to discover groupings of individuals which correspond to real world sub-populations.
Center for Research on Economic Development and Policy Reform Stock Market Liberalizations and the Repricing of Systematic Risk Stock Market Liberalizations and the Repricing of Systematic Risk

When countries open their stock markets to foreign investors, firms that become eligible for purchase by foreigners (investible) are repriced according to the difference in the covariance of their returns with the local and world market. An investible firm whose return covariance with the local market exceeds that with the world market by 0.01 will experience a firm-specific revaluation of 3.4 percent. In contrast, the repricing of firms that remain off limits to foreign investors (non-investible) bears no significant relationship to differences in local and world covariances. These findings suggest that the CAPM has predictive power for the cross-sectional repricing of systematic risk when barriers to capital movements are removed.
Validity of the Finnish Diabetes Risk Score for Detecting Undiagnosed Type 2 Diabetes among General Medical Outpatients in Botswana

This was a cross-sectional study designed to assess the validity of the Finnish Diabetes Risk Score for detecting undiagnosed type 2 diabetes among general medical outpatients in Botswana. Participants aged ≥20 years without previously diagnosed diabetes were screened by (1) an 8-item Finnish diabetes risk assessment questionnaire and (2) Haemoglobin A1c test. Data from 291 participants were analyzed (74.2% were females). The mean age of the participants was 50.1 (SD = ±11) years, and the prevalence of undiagnosed diabetes was 42 (14.4%) with no significant differences between the gender (20% versus 12.5%, P = 0.26). The area under curve for detecting undiagnosed diabetes was 0.63 (95% CI 0.55–0.72) for the total population, 0.65 (95% CI: 0.56–0.75) for women, and 0.67 (95% CI: 0.52–0.83) for men. The optimal cut-off point for detecting undiagnosed diabetes was 17 (sensitivity = 48% and specificity = 73%) for the total population, 17 (sensitivity = 56% and specificity = 66%) for females, and 13 (sensitivity = 53% and specificity = 77%) for males. The positive predictive value and negative predictive value were 20% and 89.5%, respectively. The findings indicate that the Finnish questionnaire was only modestly effective in predicting undiagnosed diabetes among outpatients in Botswana.
An Evaluation of Science Teacher Canditates’ Energy Saving Behavior Intention Based on the Theory of Planned Behaviour

The aim of the study is to evaluate science teacher candidates’ behaviour of energy saving intention among sustainable behaviours within the frame of the Theory of Planned Behaviour. The study was conducted with 1947 teacher candidates studying in six geographical regions of Turkey (Central Anatolia Region, Black Sea Region, Aegean Region, Marmara Region, Mediterranean Region and Eastern Anatolia Region) in the spring semester of 2015-2016 academic year. Corelational survey model was used in the study. Within the scope of the research, the Energy Saving Scale (ESS) was developed in order to determine the factors and beliefs affecting the sustainable Behaviours of science teacher candidates, in pursuant of the Theory of Planned Behaviour and by taking into account the scale development steps. The Cronbach Alpha reliability coefficient of the dimensions of the Energy Saving Scale (N = 1947) varies between . 918 and . 952. The Cronbach Alpha reliability coefficient for the entire Energy Saving Scale is . 944. The results of the research, indicated that science teacher candidates’ attitudes towards energy saving Behaviour are low and the "Subjective Norm" is effective in explaining the "Intention towards Behaviour " and the " Intention towards Behaviour " is most influenced by the factor of the "Perceived Behaviour al Control".
What to do about inequality? Public opinion support for the European Union and further European integration in the Republic of Ireland

ABSTRACT This paper investigates individual’s perceptions of inequality and the impact this has on mass public opinion support for the European Union (EU) in the Republic of Ireland. This question is posed in the context of the onset of the economic and financial crisis of 2007/8 as the crisis can be regarded as a critical juncture in Ireland’s relationship with the EU as a result of the economic downturn and the widening of economic disparities individuals have experienced. Ireland is a critical case in examining EU support as since its accession to the EU in 1973 it is often considered an exemplar of what the EU could offer small member states with a strongly pro-integrationist mass public. Using Ordinary Least Squares (OLS) multiple regression analysis on 2009 European Election Study (EES) data, this paper shows that individuals’ concerns about inequality lowers support for the EU as it is currently constituted, but increases support for continued European integration. This suggests that individual-levels of support may be in a precarious state, yet they can be salvaged as individuals in Ireland regard the EU as the institutional-driving force to address market-generated inequality.
Lipoprotein Response to Diets High in Soy or Animal Protein With and Without Isoflavones in Moderately Hypercholesterolemic Subjects

Objective—The objective of this study was to assess the independent effect of soy relative to common sources of animal protein and soy-derived isoflavones on blood lipids. Methods and Results—Forty-two subjects with LDL cholesterol levels ≥3.36 mmol/L were fed each of four diets in randomized order for 6 weeks per phase. Diets contained a minimum of 25 g animal protein or isolated soy protein/4.2 MJ, with each containing trace amounts or 50 mg of isoflavones/4.2 MJ. Soy protein had a modest effect on total, LDL and HDL cholesterol, and triglyceride concentrations (−2%, P =0.017; −2%, P =0.042; +3%;P =0.034, −11%, P <0.001, respectively). Soy protein had no significant effect on plasma lipids in individuals with LDL cholesterol <4.14 mmol/L and significantly reduced total and LDL cholesterol and triglyceride concentrations in individuals with LDL cholesterol ≥4.14 mmol/L (−4%, P =0.001; −5%, P =0.003; −15%, P <0.001, respectively). No significant effect of isoflavones on plasma lipid levels was observed either constituent to the soy protein or supplemental to the animal protein. Conclusions—Although potentially helpful when used to displace products containing animal fat from the diet, the regular intake of relatively high levels of soy protein (>50 g/day) had only a modest effect on blood cholesterol levels and only in subjects with elevated LDL cholesterol levels (≥4.14 mmol/L). Soy-derived isoflavones had no significant effect.
Contention Window-Based MAC Protocol for Wireless Sensor Networks

Existing duty-cycle MAC protocols for wireless sensor networks(WSNs), such as S-MAC, mostly do not consider the influence of inherent traffic distribution characteristic derived from network infrastructure, leading to significant end-to-end delivery latency and poor medium contention handling in data gathering. To mitigate these drawbacks, we propose a novel duty-cycle MAC protocol, called RL-MAC (location-based RMAC). Firstly RL-MAC exploits a location-based configuration strategy to configure nodes with un-uniform CWmin (minimum contention window) values during network initialization, in order to optimize application-level medium access fairness, avoiding packet loss and buffer overflow incurred by mismatches between un-uniform payload distribution over nodes in different position and node-level equal medium access scheme adopted by current protocols. Secondly like RMAC, RL-MAC can forward data packets over multiple hops per cycle through intermediate nodes according to cross-layer routing information, significantly reducing end-to-end delivery latency. Our simulation results obtained on ns-2 show that RL-MAC can better accommodate data gathering applications, providing high throughput and packet delivery ratio without sacrificing energy efficiency.
Hormonal Control of Androgen Receptor Function through SIRT1

ABSTRACT The NAD-dependent histone deacetylase Sir2 plays a key role in connecting cellular metabolism with gene silencing and aging. The androgen receptor (AR) is a ligand-regulated modular nuclear receptor governing prostate cancer cellular proliferation, differentiation, and apoptosis in response to androgens, including dihydrotestosterone (DHT). Here, SIRT1 antagonists induce endogenous AR expression and enhance DHT-mediated AR expression. SIRT1 binds and deacetylates the AR at a conserved lysine motif. Human SIRT1 (hSIRT1) repression of DHT-induced AR signaling requires the NAD-dependent catalytic function of hSIRT1 and the AR lysine residues deacetylated by SIRT1. SIRT1 inhibited coactivator-induced interactions between the AR amino and carboxyl termini. DHT-induced prostate cancer cellular contact-independent growth is also blocked by SIRT1, providing a direct functional link between the AR, which is a critical determinant of progression of human prostate cancer, and the sirtuins.
Effective practice with e-portfolios: How can the UK experience inform practice?

This paper introduces the background to the JISC work within the e-portfolio domain in the UK and presents an overview of past and current activities and the drivers for these developments. This is followed by a review of JISC’s approach at drawing out the learning and implications for e-portfolio practice from this extensive collection of work and its dissemination. The analysis of twenty one recently funded projects involving the use of e-portfolios in the UK is introduced. The findings suggest that eportfolio implementation is particularly complex in part due to the number of stakeholders involved, the contexts in which e-portfolios can be applied and the number of purposes they can have. This research suggests that there are threshold concepts related to e-portfolio implementation and that the journey in developing an understanding of effective practice is not straightforward. However a means of supporting this journey is suggested.
The Effectiveness of Augmented Reality App to Improve Students Achievement in Learning Introduction to Animals

In this experimental study, AR book app is used to improve student learning outcome of kindergarten in animals introduction subject. AR book app is an application based on Augmented Reality (AR) technology that adapts the kindergarten curriculum in Indonesia. AR book app has included 3D view and animals video. 3D based learning makes it easy for students to visualize learning materials and video-based learning to makes students give attention when learning activity. In a field experiment at kindergarten, 111 kindergarten students were divided into two groups participated in the learning activity that using different learning media. The two groups were group A and group B. Group A is an experimental group which taught using Augmented Reality (AR) book app. Group B is control group which taught using group note methods. Experimental result showed that students’ performance in learning improved significantly by using Augmented Reality (AR) book app media. In this study, students indicated that the experimental group learning outcome is better than the control group.
Photosynthesis-dependent isoprene emission from leaf to planet in a global carbon-chemistry-climate model

We describe the implementation of a biochemical model of isoprene emission that depends on the electron requirement for isoprene synthesis into the Farquhar-Ball-Berry leaf model of photosynthesis and stomatal conductance that is embedded within a global chemistry-climate simulation framework. The isoprene production is calculated as a function of electron transport-limited photosynthesis, intercellular and atmospheric carbon dioxide concentration, and canopy temperature. The vegetation biophysics module computes the photosynthetic uptake of carbon dioxide coupled with the transpiration of water vapor and the isoprene emission rate at the 30 min physical integration time step of the global chemistry-climate model. In the model, the rate of carbon assimilation provides the dominant control on isoprene emission variability over canopy temperature. A control simulation representative of the present-day climatic state that uses 8 plant functional types (PFTs), prescribed phenology and generic PFT-specific isoprene emission potentials (fraction of electrons available for isoprene synthesis) reproduces 50% of the variability across different ecosystems and seasons in a global database of 28 measured campaign-average fluxes. Compared to time-varying isoprene flux measurements at 9 select sites, the model authentically captures the observed variability in the 30 min average diurnal cycle (R-2 = 64-96 %) and simulates the flux magnitude to within a factor of 2. The control run yields a global isoprene source strength of 451 TgC yr(-1) that increases by 30% in the artificial absence of plant water stress and by 55% for potential natural vegetation.
Inhibitory activities of Perilla frutescens britton leaf extract against the growth, migration, and adhesion of human cancer cells

BACKGROUND/OBJECTIVES Perilla frutescens Britton leaves are a commonly consumed vegetable in different Asian countries including Korea. Cancer is a major cause of human death worldwide. The aim of the current study was to investigate the inhibitory effects of ethanol extract of perilla leaf (PLE) against important characteristics of cancer cells, including unrestricted growth, resisted apoptosis, and activated metastasis, using human cancer cells. MATERIALS/METHODS Two human cancer cell lines were used in this study, HCT116 colorectal carcinoma cells and H1299 non-small cell lung carcinoma cells. Assays using 3-(4,5-dimethylthiazol-2-yl)-2,5-diphenyltetrazolium bromide were performed for measurement of cell growth. Soft agar and wound healing assays were performed to determine colony formation and cell migration, respectively. Nuclear staining and cell cycle analysis were performed for assessment of apoptosis. Fibronectin-coated plates were used to determine cell adhesion. RESULTS Treatment of HCT116 and H1299 cells with PLE resulted in dose-dependent inhibition of growth by 52-92% (at the concentrations of 87.5, 175, and 350 µg/ml) and completely abolished the colony formation in soft agar (at the concentration of 350 µg/ml). Treatment with PLE at the 350 µg/ml concentration resulted in change of the nucleus morphology and significantly increased sub-G1 cell population in both cells, indicating its apoptosis-inducing activity. PLE at the concentration range of 87.5 to 350 µg/ml was also effective in inhibiting the migration of H1299 cells (by 52-58%) and adhesion of both HCT116 and H1299 cells (by 25-46%). CONCLUSIONS These results indicate that PLE exerts anti-cancer activities against colon and lung cancers in vitro. Further studies are needed in order to determine whether similar effects are reproduced in vivo.
Fast Tracking of Hand and Finger Articulations Using a Single Depth Camera

Using hand gestures as input in human–computer interaction is of everincreasing interest. Markerless tracking of hands and fingers is a promising enabler, but adoption has been hampered because of tracking problems, complex and dense capture setups, high computing requirements, equipment costs, and poor latency. In this paper, we present a method that addresses these issues. Our method tracks rapid and complex articulations of the hand using a single depth camera. It is fast (50 fps without GPU support) and supports varying close-range camera-to-scene arrangements, such as in desktop or egocentric settings, where the camera can even move. We frame pose estimation as an optimization problem in depth using a new objective function based on a collection of Gaussian functions, focusing particularly on robust tracking of finger articulations. We demonstrate the benefits of the method in several interaction applications ranging from manipulating objects in a 3D blocks world to egocentric interaction on the go. We also present extensive evaluation of our method on publicly available datasets which shows that our method achieves competitive accuracy.
*Dissatisfied with Life But Having a Good Day: Time-Use and Well-Being of the Unemployed

We apply the Day Reconstruction Method to compare unemployed and employed people with respect to their subjective assessment of emotional affects, differences in the composition and duration of activities during the course of a day, and their self-reported life satisfaction. Employed persons are more satisfied with their life than the unemployed and report more positive feelings when engaged in similar activities. Weighting these activities with their duration shows, however, that average experienced utility does not differ between the two groups. Although the unemployed feel sadder when engaged in similar activities, they can compensate this by using the time the employed are at work in more enjoyable ways. Our finding that unemployment affects life satisfaction and experienced utility differently may be explained by the fact that people do not adjust their aspirations when becoming unemployed but face hedonic adaptation to changing life circumstances, triggered by the opportunity to use the time in a way that yields higher levels of satisfaction than working.
He who hesitates is lost (...in thoughts over a robot)

In a team, the strong bonds that can form between teammates are often seen as critical for reaching peak performance. This perspective may need to be reconsidered, however, if some team members are autonomous robots since establishing bonds with fundamentally inanimate and expendable objects may prove counterproductive. Previous work has measured empathic responses towards robots as singular events at the conclusion of experimental sessions. As relationships extend over long periods of time, sustained empathic behavior towards robots would be of interest. In order to measure user actions that may vary over time and are affected by empathy towards a robot teammate, we created the TEAMMATE simulation system. Our findings suggest that inducing empathy through a back story narrative can significantly change participant decisions in actions that may have consequences for a robot companion over time. The results of our study can have strong implications for the overall performance of human machine teams.
An effective legalization algorithm for mixed-cell-height standard cells

For circuit designs in advanced technologies, standard-cell libraries consist of cells with different heights; for example, the number of fins determines the height of cells in the FinFET technology. Cells of larger heights give higher drive strengths, but consume larger areas and power. Such mixed cell heights incur new, complicated challenges for layout designs, due mainly to the heterogeneity in cell dimensions and thus their larger solution spaces. There is not much published work on layout designs with mixed-height standard cells. This paper addresses the legalization problem of mixed-height standard cells, which intends to place cells without any overlap and with minimized displacement. We first study the properties of Abacus, generally considered the best legalization method for traditional single-row-height standard cells but criticized not suitable for handling the new challenge, analyze the capability and insufficiencies of Abacus for tackling the new problem, and remedy Abacuss insufficiencies and extend its advantages to develop an effective and efficient algorithm for the addressed problem. For example, dead spaces become a critical issue in mixed-cell-height legalization, which cannot be handled well with an Abacus variant alone. We thus derive a dead-space-aware objective function and an optimization scheme to handle this issue. Experimental results show that our algorithm can achieve the best wirelength among all published methods in reasonable running time, e.g., about 50% smaller wirelength increase than a state-of-the-art work.