Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Growing Gaussian mixture models for pose invariant face recognition

A major challenge for face recognition algorithms lies in the variance faces undergo while changing pose. This problem is typically addressed by building view dependent models based on face images taken from predefined head poses. However, it is impossible to determine all head poses beforehand in an unrestricted setting such as a meeting room, where people can move and interact freely. We present an approach to pose invariant face recognition. We employ Gaussian mixture models to characterize human faces and model pose variance with different numbers of mixture components. The optimal number of mixture components for each person is automatically learned from training data by growing the mixture models. The proposed algorithm is tested on real data recorded in a meeting room. The experimental results indicate that the new method outperforms standard eigenface and Gaussian mixture model approaches. Our algorithm achieved as much as 42% error reduction compared to the standard eigenface approach on the same test data.
Development / Plasticity / Repair Fibroblast Growth Factor 8 Organizes the Neocortical Area Map and Regulates Sensory Map Topography

The concept of an “organizer” is basic to embryology. An organizer is a portion of the embryo producing signals that lead to the creation of a patterned mature structure from an embryonic primordium. Fibroblast growth factor 8 (FGF8) is a morphogen that disperses from a rostromedial source in the neocortical primordium (NP), forms a rostral-to-caudal (R/C) gradient, and regulates embryonic and neonatal R/C patterns of gene expression in neocortex. Whether FGF8 also has organizer activity that generates the postnatal neocortical area map is uncertain. To test this possibility, new sources of FGF8 were introduced into the mouse NP with in utero microelectroporation at embryonic day 10.5, close to the estimated peak of area patterning. Results differed depending on the position of ectopic FGF8. Ectopic FGF8 in the caudalmost NP could duplicate somatosensory cortex (S1) and primary visual cortex (V1). FGF8 delivered to the midlateral NP generated a sulcus separating rostral and caudal portions of the NP, in effect creating duplicate NPs. In the caudal NP, ectopic FGF8 induced a second, inclusive area map, containing frontal cortex, S1, V1, and primary auditory areas. Moreover, duplicate S1 showed plasticity to sensory deprivation, and duplicate V1 responded to visual stimuli. Our findings implicate FGF8 as an organizer signal, and its source in the rostromedial telencephalon as an organizer of the neocortical area map.
Regulation of cofilin phosphorylation and asymmetry in collective cell migration during morphogenesis

During Drosophila oogenesis, two actin dynamics regulators, cofilin and Rac, are required for the collective migration of a coherent cluster of cells called border cells. Cell culture data have shown that Rac and cofilin are both essential for lamellipodium formation, but Rac signaling results in phosphorylation and hence inactivation of cofilin. So it remains unclear whether cofilin phosphorylation plays a promoting or inhibitory role during cell migration. We show here that cofilin is required for F-actin turnover and lamellipodial protrusion in the border cells. Interestingly, reducing the dosage of cofilin by half or expressing a phospho-mimetic mutant form, S3E, partially rescues the migration and protrusion defects of Rac-deficient border cells. Moreover, cofilin exhibits moderate accumulation in border cells at the migratory front of the cluster, whereas phospho-cofilin has a robust and uniform distribution pattern in all the outer border cells. Blocking or overactivating Rac signaling in border cells greatly reduces or increases cofilin phosphorylation, respectively, and each abolishes cell migration. Furthermore, Rac may signal through Pak and LIMK to result in uniform phosphorylation of cofilin in all the outer border cells, whereas the guidance receptor Pvr (PDGF/VEGF receptor) mediates the asymmetric localization of cofilin in the cluster but does not affect its phosphorylation. Our study provides one of the first models of how cofilin functions and is regulated in the collective migration of a group of cells in vivo.
The Impact of Foreign Aid on Economic Growth of East African Countries

In this paper, we employ panel data methods, namely Pooled OLS, Random Effects, and Fixed Effects, to examine the impact of foreign aid on economic growth of East African countries over the period of 1985 to 2010. The results suggest that foreign aid has significant negative influence on economic growth for these countries. This calls for further studies to investigate the possible channels through which foreign aid can have positive influence on growth. Keywords: EAC countries, Foreign aid, Panel data approach
The Equilibrium Allocation of Di ff usive and Jump Risks with Heterogeneous Agents 1

We study a two-agent pure exchange equilibrium subject to both nondiversifiable diffusive and jump risks. Agents can trade in a financial market consisting of a stock market, a money market, and an insurance market for jump risk. Heterogeneity is introduced through different levels of relative risk aversion. In the framework of standard expected utility we find the surprising result that the more risk averse agent purchases insurance contracts against jump risk from the less risk averse agent. This equilibrium allocation is linked to the non-linear wealth sharing rule in such an economy, and preserves the wealth effects studied by Dumas (1989) in the case of pure diffusive risk. Since the benchmark economy with homogenous agents generates no excess uncertainty in the stock market, we study the effect on excess volatility and excess jump size solely due to different levels of relative risk aversion. We observe up to 3% excess uncertainty for a reasonable specification of economic fundamentals.
The Effect of Managerial Bias on Employees' Specific Human Capital Investments

Contrary to the conventional belief that escalation of commitment by managers is detrimental, this study argues for its potential benefits. While firm‐specific human capital is considered a critical element of knowledge‐based resources that have the potential for superior firm performance, factors affecting the incentives for employees to make such investments are often overlooked. In the case of firms taking on risky projects, fear of project termination often reduces employees' incentives to make specific human capital investments. We argue that in this situation, the firms may find it desirable to commit to a lower probability of project termination in order to encourage the development of specific human capital by employees. Managers' escalation of commitment tendency may function as such a commitment mechanism. We find support for the key argument from the results of two experimental studies.
Finite Precision Elementary Geometric Constructions

In this paper we propose a new approach for the robust computation of the nearest integer lattice points of some specific geometric constructions (intersection of two planar segments, circumcenter of a planar triangle and of a spatial tethraedron). Given that the data and the final results of the geometric constructions are stored using single precision floating point representation (typically fixed size integers), the proposed algorithms first perform the geometric construction in IEEE double precision floating point arithmetic, the rounding error is estimated, and only if the error estimation indicates that the result of the floating point computation may be wrong, the computation is repeated with exact arithmetic. The basic advantage is that exact computations are in most cases avoided, thus reducing both the storage and the required computation time.
Will the Global Crisis Lead to Global Transformations? The Coming Epoch of New Coalitions

This article presents possible answers, and their respective probabilities, to the question, ‘What are the consequences of the present global crisis in the proximate future of the World System? ’ It also attempts to describe the basic characteristics of the forthcoming ‘Epoch of New Coalitions’ and to forecast certain future conditions. Among the problems analyzed in this paper are the following: What does the weakening of the economic role of the USA as the World System centre mean? Will there be a leader in the future World System? Will the deficit of global governance and world fragmentation continue to worsen? How can national sovereignty be transformed?
Grandchild Care , Financial Transfers and Grandma ’ s Labor Market Decisions

Labor supply decisions of older women have an undeniably important effect on their well-being later in life. However, in addition to the possibility of undertaking paid employment, many women also assume responsibility for providing caring for family members such as frail spouses, elderly parents and young grandchildren. This caregiving could come at the cost of reductions in leisure or reductions in labor supply. At the same time, mothers may aid their adult children by providing cash assistance, perhaps increasing hours worked in order to increase available financial resources. This paper investigates the relationship between time transfers in the form of grandchild care, financial transfers and paid employment of older women. We also examine, in detail, how these transfers vary with the gender and genetic relationship of the child. The results show that older women are likely to assist their children by working more, either by increasing time spent in paid employment in order to provide monetary transfers to their children, or working in an informal capacity providing grandchild care themselves and maintaining their original level of employment. In addition, these women are strongly more likely to provide money transfers and time transfers in the form of grandchild care to daughters than to sons, and they also tend to transfer more to biological children than to stepchildren. Even after controlling for mother fixed effect, this pattern still exists in time transfers, although it disappears in monetary transfers.
Auto-associative memory based on a new hybrid model of SFNN and GRNN: Performance comparison with NDRAM, ART2 and MLP

Currently, associative neural networks (AsNNs) are among the most extensively studied and understood neural paradigms. In this paper, we use a hybrid model of neural network for associative recall of analog and digital patterns. This hybrid model which consists of self-feedback neural network structures (SFNN) parallel with generalized regression neural network (GRNN) were first proposed by authors of this paper. Firstly, patterns are stored as the asymptotically stable fixed points of the SFNN. In the retrieving process, each new pattern is applied to the GRNN to make the corresponding initial conditions of that pattern which initiate the dynamical equations of the SFNN. In this way, the corresponding stored patterns and noisy version of them are retrieved. Several simulations are provided to show that the performance of the hybrid model is better than those of recurrent associative memory, feed-forward multilayer perceptron and is equally comparable with the performance of hard-competitive models.
Eye Care Quality and Accessibility Improvement in the Community (EQUALITY): impact of an eye health education program on patient knowledge about glaucoma and attitudes about eye care

Purpose To assess the impact of the education program of the Eye Care Quality and Accessibility Improvement in the Community (EQUALITY) telemedicine program on at-risk patients’ knowledge about glaucoma and attitudes about eye care as well as to assess patient satisfaction with EQUALITY. Patients and methods New or existing patients presenting for a comprehensive eye exam (CEE) at one of two retail-based primary eye clinics were enrolled based on ≥1 of the following at-risk criteria for glaucoma: African Americans ≥40 years of age, Whites ≥50 years of age, diabetes, family history of glaucoma, and/or preexisting diagnosis of glaucoma. A total of 651 patients were enrolled. A questionnaire was administered prior to the patients’ CEE and prior to the patients receiving any of the evidence-based eye health education program; a follow-up questionnaire was administered 2–4 weeks later by phone. Baseline and follow-up patient responses regarding knowledge about glaucoma and attitudes about eye care were compared using McNemar’s test. Logistic regression models were used to assess the association of patient-level characteristics with improvement in knowledge and attitudes. Overall patient satisfaction was summarized. Results At follow-up, all patient responses in the knowledge and attitude domains significantly improved from baseline (P≤0.01 for all questions). Those who were unemployed (odds ratio =0.63, 95% confidence interval =0.42–0.95, P=0.026) or had lower education (odds ratio =0.55, 95% confidence interval =0.29–1.02, P=0.058) were less likely to improve their knowledge after adjusting for age, sex, race, and prior glaucoma diagnosis. This association was attenuated after further adjustment for other patient-level characteristics. Ninety-eight percent (n=501) of patients reported being likely to have a CEE within the next 2 years, whereas 63% (n=326) had a CEE in the previous 2 years. Patient satisfaction with EQUALITY was high (99%). Conclusion Improved knowledge about glaucoma and a high intent to pursue eye care may lead to improved detection of early disease, thus lowering the risk of blindness.
Isolation and Characterization of the New Mosaic Filamentous Phage VFJ Φ of Vibrio cholerae

Filamentous phages have distinguished roles in conferring many pathogenicity and survival related features to Gram-negative bacteria including the medically important Vibrio cholerae, which carries factors such as cholera toxin on phages. A novel filamentous phage, designated VFJΦ, was isolated in this study from an ampicillin and kanamycin-resistant O139 serogroup V. cholerae strain ICDC-4470. The genome of VFJΦ is 8555 nucleotides long, including 12 predicted open reading frames (ORFs), which are organized in a modular structure. VFJΦ was found to be a mosaic of two groups of V. cholerae phages. A large part of the genome is highly similar to that of the fs2 phage, and the remaining 700 bp is homologous to VEJ and VCYΦ. This 700 bp region gave VFJΦ several characteristics that are not found in fs2 and other filamentous phages. In its native host ICDC-4470 and newly-infected strain N16961, VFJΦ was found to exist as a plasmid but did not integrate into the host chromosome. It showed a relatively wide host range but did not infect the classical biotype O1 V. cholerae strains. After infection, the host strains exhibited obvious inhibition of both growth and flagellum formation and had acquired a low level of ampicillin resistance and a high level of kanamycin resistance. The antibiotic resistances were not directly conferred to the hosts by phage-encoded genes and were not related to penicillinase. The discovery of VFJΦ updates our understanding of filamentous phages as well as the evolution and classification of V. cholerae filamentous phage, and the study provides new information on the interaction between phages and their host bacteria.
T ool Support for Object-Oriented Design Patterns

Design patterns are quickly being adopted by the object-oriented community. The application of design patterns to object-oriented software development has already brought positive results in practice. Reported benefits include significant increases in quality and productivity. There are however no tools yet to support the process of pattern-based design. An important reason for this lack of computer support may be that design patterns are written in a rather informal way, which makes them unsuitable for automation. Computer support of the design process however, could well lead to further improvements on objectoriented design. We are developing a pattern-based environment to support the design and implementation of object-oriented software. This paper gives a preliminary overview of the functionality of this system.
Modelling Macroeconomic Linkages in a Monetary Union: A West African Example

We construct a structural macroeconometric model for member states of the West African Economic and Monetary Union. Fitting this model to annual and quarterly time series data allows us to identify the channels through which macroeconomic innovation in one country impact on other countries in the union. We also discover the extent of heterogeneity across the member states in terms of the degree of similarity of macroeconomic transmission mechanisms. This is one important element in measuring the costs of union membership for each country.
Using Factors of Socioeconomic Status, Family Support, and Academic Preparation to Explain the Black-White Gap in Mathematics Achievement and Participation

The Black-White achievement and participation gap in mathematics is a major concern for educators in America. In order to understand why these gaps exist and have continued to exist over the years, it is important to identify some of the factors that may contribute to them. However, one of the limitations in identifying factors that influence the disparities in achievement and participation between Black and White students is the issue of finding comparable and representative groups. This study aspired to move beyond randomized experimental designs to studying a larger representative sample of Black college students who are equivalent to White college students on a number of factors hypothesized to impact achievement and participation in mathematics. Covariates dealing with socioeconomic status, family support, and academic preparation were considered in an attempt to understand the collective and isolated effects of external factors on the performance and representation disparities between Black and White college students. College calculus performance was chosen as an outcome of interest due to its role as a gatekeeper for STEM majors and careers. The likelihood of choosing a career in a STEM field was chosen as the other outcome of interest. Results indicated that although Black students are performing significantly worse than White students in college calculus, after comparing Black students to White students with similar backgrounds, the gap between the two groups decreased
Some Properties of the E Matrix in Two-View Motion Estimation

In the eight-point linear algorithm for determining 3D motion/structure from two perspective views using point correspondences, the E matrix plays a central role. The E matrix is defined as a skew-symmetrical matrix (containing the translation components) postmultiplied by a rotation matrix. The authors show that a necessary and sufficient condition for a 3*3 matrix to be so decomposable is that one of its singular values is zero and the other two are equal. Several other forms of this property are presented. Some applications are briefly described. >
Development and Characterization of a Novel In vivo Model of Carcinoid Syndrome

Purpose: Carcinoid syndrome, characterized by flushing, diarrhea, and valvular heart disease, can occur following carcinoid tumor metastasis to the liver and systemic release of bioactive hormones into the systemic circulation. Treatment of this devastating disease is hampered by the lack of an in vivo model that recapitulates the clinical syndrome. Experimental Design: Here, we have injected BON cells, a novel human carcinoid cell line established in our laboratory, into the spleens of athymic nude mice to establish liver metastases. Results: The majority of mice injected intrasplenically with BON cells developed significant increases in plasma serotonin and urine 5-hydroxyindoleacetic acid, and several mice exhibited mesenteric fibrosis, diarrhea, and fibrotic cardiac valvular disease reminiscent of carcinoid syndrome by both echocardiographic and histopathologic evaluation. Mice pretreated with octreotide, a long-acting somatostatin analogue, or bevacizumab, a vascular endothelial growth factor inhibitor, developed fewer liver metastases and manifestations of carcinoid syndrome, including valvular heart disease. Conclusion: We have provided an important in vivo model to further delineate novel treatment modalities for carcinoid syndrome that will also be useful to elucidate the factors contributing to the sequelae of carcinoid disease (e.g., mesenteric fibrosis and valvular heart disease).
Increased Hepato-Splanchnic Vasoconstriction in Diabetics during Regular Hemodialysis

Background and Objectives Ultrafiltration (UF) of excess fluid activates numerous compensatory mechanisms during hemodialysis (HD). The increase of both total peripheral and splanchnic vascular resistance is considered essential in maintaining hemodynamic stability. The aim of this study was to evaluate the extent of UF-induced changes in hepato-splanchnic blood flow and resistance in a group of maintenance HD patients during regular dialysis. Design, Setting, Participants, & Measurements Hepato-splanchnic flow resistance index (RI) and hepato-splanchnic perfusion index (QI) were measured in 12 chronic HD patients using a modified, non-invasive Indocyaningreen (ICG) dilution method. During a midweek dialysis session we determined RI, QI, ICG disappearance rate (k ICG), plasma volume (V p), hematocrit (Hct), mean arterial blood pressure (MAP) and heart rate (HR) at four times in hourly intervals (t 1 to t 4). Dialysis settings were standardized and all patient studies were done in duplicate. Results In the whole study group mean UF volume was 1.86 ± 0.46 L, V p dropped from 3.65 ± 0.77L at t1 to 3.40 ± 0.78L at t4, and all patients remained hemodynamically stable. In all patients RI significantly increased from 12.40 ± 4.21 mmHg∙s∙m2/mL at t1 to 14.94 ± 6.36 mmHg∙s∙m2/mL at t4 while QI significantly decreased from 0.61 ± 0.22 at t1 to 0.52 ± 0.20 L/min/m2 at t4, indicating active vasoconstriction. In diabetic subjects, however, RI was significantly larger than in non-diabetics at all time points. QI was lower in diabetic subjects. Conclusions In chronic HD-patients hepato-splanchnic blood flow substantially decreases during moderate UF as a result of an active splanchnic vasoconstriction. Our data indicate that diabetic HD-patients are particularly prone to splanchnic ischemia and might therefore have an increased risk for bacterial translocation, endotoxemia and systemic inflammation.
Misplaced Trust: A Bias in Human-Machine Trust Attribution -- In Contradiction to Learning Theory

Human-machine trust is a critical mitigating factor in many HCI instances. Lack of trust in a system can lead to system disuse whilst over-trust can lead to inappropriate use. Whilst human-machine trust has been examined extensively from within a technico-social framework, few efforts have been made to link the dynamics of trust within a steady-state operator-machine environment to the existing literature of the psychology of learning. We set out to recreate a commonly reported learning phenomenon within a trust acquisition environment: Users learning which algorithms can and cannot be trusted to reduce traffic in a city. We failed to replicate (after repeated efforts) the learning phenomena of "blocking", resulting in a finding that people consistently make a very specific error in trust assignment to cues in conditions of uncertainty. This error can be seen as a cognitive bias and has important implications for HCI.