Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Searching for the Visual Components of Object Perception

The nature of visual properties used for object perception in midand high-level vision areas of the brain is poorly understood. Past studies have employed simplistic stimuli probing models limited in descriptive power and mathematical underpinnings. Unfortunately, pursuit of more complex stimuli and properties requires searching through a wide, unknown space of models and of images. The difficulty of this pursuit is exacerbated in brain research by the limited number of stimulus responses that can be collected for a given human subject over the course of an experiment. To more quickly identify complex visual features underlying cortical object perception, I develop, test, and use a novel method in which stimuli for use in the ongoing study are selected in realtime based on fMRI-measured cortical responses to recently-selected and displayed stimuli. A variation of the simplex method [7] controls this ongoing selection as part of a search in visual space for images producing maximal activity — measured in realtime — in a pre-determined 1 cm brain region. I probe cortical selectivities during this search using photographs of realworld objects and synthetic “Fribble” objects [76]. Real-world objects are used to understand perception of naturally-occurring visual properties. These objects are characterized based on feature descriptors computed from the scale invariant feature transform (SIFT, [36]), a popular computer vision method that is well established in its utility for aiding in computer object recognition and that I recently found to account for intermediate-level representations in the visual object processing pathway in the brain [35]. Fribble objects are used to study object perception in an arena in which visual-properties are well defined a priori. They are constructed from multiple well-defined shapes, and variation of each of these component shapes produces a clear space of visual stimuli. I study the behavior of my novel realtime fMRI search method, to assess its value in the investigation of cortical visual perception, and I study the complex visual properties my method identifies as highly-activating selected brain regions in the visual object processing pathway. While there remain further technical and biological challenges to overcome, my method uncovers reliable and interesting cortical properties for most subjects — though only for selected searches performed for each subject. I identify brain regions selective for holistic and component object shapes and for varying surface properties, providing examples of more precise selectivities within classes of visual properties previously associated with cortical object representation [24, 63, 71]. I also find examples of “surround suppression,” in which cortical activity is inhibited upon viewing stimuli slightly deviation from the visual properties preferred by a brain region, expanding on similar observations at lower levels of vision [22, 73].
Towards better understanding of cover song retrieval: a modular evaluation of system choices

A study is presented of the cover song retrieval problem, in which multiple performances of the same musical work are sought. The problem is considered in the context of content-based audio retrieval. In order to gain more insight into the current state-of-the art in cover song retrieval research, several existing approaches to cover song retrieval are studied in a modular way. Modules from different approaches are systematically recombined and each resulting combination is tested on several designated datasets. The modules have been chosen such that they reflect general and independent system decisions, while the datasets were constructed to each pose a specific and known subset of the broad range of cover song types and similarity challenges. For the experiments that are carried out, we depart from cover song system combinations that use the conventional approach of representing songs as absolute chroma vectors over time. Additionally, we transform these representations into a statistical meta-representation and also study the influences of using relative first-order time-differential information. In the results obtained, several critical choices in system modules influencing the overall performance can be identified. Our work is presented by first discussing the cover song retrieval problem in a top-down way, starting from the general musical and technical issues posed that form the inspiration for our choice of considered system modules. Subsequently, we continue by discussing the existing approaches that were studied in more detail. After explaining our experimental setup and evaluation methodology, the results of our work are presented. Finally, considering the results of our work, several suggestions for future directions in cover song retrieval research are made that especially focus at gaining more understanding in the relation between high-level aspects and technical solutions.
Graph Visualisation and Navigation in Information Visualisation

This is a survey on graph visualisation and navigation techniques, as used in information visualisation. Graphs appear in numerous applications, like web browsing, state–transition diagrams, computer data structures, etc. The ability to visualise and to navigate in these potentially very large, abstract graphs is often a crucial part of an application. Information visualisation has specific requirements, which means that this survey approaches the results of traditional graph drawing from a different perspective than the traditional surveys; as such it is a useful complementary survey to those.
The Enron Email Dataset Database Schema and Brief Statistical Report

Email logs have been considered as a useful resource for research in fields like link analysis, social network analysis and textual analysis. Most of the experiments in these fields of research are performed on synthetic data due to lack of an adequate and real life benchmark. The Enron email dataset is a touchstone for such research. This dataset is very similar to the kind of the data collected for fraud detection and counter terrorism hence it is a perfect test bed for testing the effectiveness of techniques used for counter terrorism and fraud detection. In this report we describe the MySql database prepared for the dataset and also statistically analyze its appropriateness for research. We further derive a social network constituting of 151 employees from the email logs, by defining a social contact to be someone with whom an individual has exchanged a pre decided threshold number of emails.
Hierarchical Reinforcement Learning in Behavior and the Brain

Reinforcement learning (RL) has provided key insights to the neurobiology of learning and decision making. The pivotal finding is that the phasic activity of dopaminergic cells in the ventral tegmental area during learning conforms to a reward prediction error (RPE), as specified in the temporal-difference learning algorithm (TD). This has provided insights to conditioning, the distinction between habitual and goal-directed behavior, working memory, cognitive control and error monitoring. It has also advanced the understanding of cognitive deficits in Parkinson’s disease, depression, ADHD and of personality traits such as impulsivity. However, the RL models that have mostly been tested in psychology and neuroscience do not scale well with the complexity of a learning and decision making problem, namely on the order of complexity present in ecological tasks. This is a well-studied problem in the machine learning literature, known as the curse of dimensionality. Out of the solutions that have been proposed to increase the scalability of RL mechanisms, one that is particularly appealing to psychology and neuroscience is hierarchical reinforcement learning (HRL). HRL exploits the task-subtask structure of sequential action, which is a ubiquitous feature of human and animal behavior. The present research pursued the hypothesis that the same neural structures that are involved in RL are also also involved in HRL. In particular, that the activity of afferents of midbrain dopaminergic neurons should be sensitive to prediction errors at the level of subtasks, termed pseudo-reward prediction errors (PPEs). Before examining the neural correlates of PPEs, a set of behavioral studies confirmed that humans do not attach reward to subgoals, a crucial exploration to ensure that subgoal prediction errors are not RPEs. Nevertheless, in accordance with HRL, subgoal-related preferences were manifest when participants were engaged in a subtask and when their choices did not entail any change in reward. In three neuroimaging studies, using fMRI and EEG, activity in the dorsal anterior cingulate cortex
Interacting with e-text in multimedia formats by ESB and NESB students

Several major technology trends that are playing a role in shaping the future of higher education globally are ubiquity, mobility, personalization and virtualization. This keynote address offers a global view of changes in higher education and a conceptual framework for understanding the challenges and opportunities involved in rethinking curricula to transform schooling for the 21st century. The rationale draws on changes in the global economy, the impact of ICT on communication, learning and everyday life and shifts in the outcomes expected of millennial learners. A contextualised conceptual framework for 21st century pedagogy and learning is proposed that includes a global, lifelong learning perspective powered by technological change and an evolving learning society. TELOS OF HIGHER EDUCATION A CHARACTER BUILDER OR A QUALIFICATION PROVIDER By Dr. Theodora Issa, School of Management and School of Information Systems at Curtin Business School, Curtin University, Australia
Finding Fuzzy Sets for the Mining of Fuzzy Association Rules for Numerical Attributes

Fuzzy association rules is introduced in 3]. However, the algorithms proposed by 3] for mining fuzzy association rules assumes that fuzzy sets are given. Here we propose a method to nd the fuzzy sets based on clustering techniques. We have implemented our proposed method and showed that it is feasible and produces desirable results.
Online Collaborative Learning: The Promise of Wikis

This manuscript presents a pilot study investigating the affordances of wikis to support collaborative learning in online settings, compared to current asynchronous threaded discussion tools. The study was conducted with 21 graduate students enrolled in an online learning theories course. Innovative methodologies were utilized -- computer-mediated discourse analysis (CMDA) and chronologicallyoriented representations of discourse and tool-related activity (CORDTRA) -- to study discourse and technology use as students worked in groups to analyze a case. The study revealed results in favor of the wiki technology suggesting that wiki groups tend to be more collaborative, rather than cooperative, compared to threaded discussion groups.
Prosodies in Finnish.

A study describing Finnish phonetics and analyzing prosodic properties is reported. Subjects were two female 17-year-olds, speakers of standard Finnish and well acquainted with each other. Data were drawn from two sources: a conversation between the two, in which one described a picture so the other could draw it, and one a set of stories narrated by the informants based on a series of connected pictures. The report first describes phonetically the informants' speech, including consonants with complete oral closure, velic opening and oral closure, lateral airflow, tapped and trilled articulations, open approximation, friction with and without voicing, voicelessness/breathy voice, glottal stop and creaky voice, resonance features, vowels, diphthongs, velic opening and vocalic articulations, variability of vowel quality, voiceless vowels, and quantity and duration. It then outlines a prosodic analysis of six features of inter-word junctions. It is concluded that a phonological statement can be made that takes into consideration phonetic characteristics that are considered irrelevant in most phonologies. Contains 31 references. (MSE) *********************************************************************** Reproductions supplied by EDRS are the best that can be made from the original document. **************************************************AAA******************
Visual perception an information-based approach to understanding biological and artificial vision

The central issues of this dissertation are (a) what should we be doing — what problems should we be trying to solve — in order to build computer vision systems, and (b) what relevance biological vision has to the solution of these problems. The approach taken to tackle these issues centres mostly on the clarification and use of information-based ideas, and an investigation into the nature of the processes underlying perception. The primary objective is to demonstrate that information theory and extensions of it, and measurement theory are powerful tools in helping to find solutions to these problems. The quantitative meaning of information is examined, from its origins in physical theories, through Shannon information theory, Gabor representations and codes towards semantic interpretations of the term. Also the application of information theory to the understanding of the developmental and functional properties of biological visual systems is discussed. This includes a review of the current state of knowledge of the architecture and function of the early visual pathways, particularly the retina, and a discussion of the possible coding functions of cortical neurons. The nature of perception is discussed from a number of points of view: the types and function of explanation of perceptual systems and how these relate to the operation of the system; the role of the observer in describing perceptual functions in other systems or organisms; the status and role of objectivist and representational viewpoints in understanding vision; the philosophical basis of perception; the relationship between pattern recognition and perception, and the interpretation of perception in terms of a theory of measurement These two threads of research, information theory and measurement theory are brought together in an overview and reinterpretation of the cortical role in mammalian vision. Finally the application of some of the coding and recognition concepts to industrial inspection problems are described. The nature of the coding processes used are unusual in that coded images are used as the input for a simple neural network classifier, rather than a heuristic feature set The relationship between the Karhunen-Loeve transform and the singular value decomposition is clarified as background the coding technique used to code the images. This coding technique has also been used to code long sequences of moving images to investigate the possibilities of recognition of people on the basis of their gait or posture and this application is briefly described.
The Strategy Inventory for Language Learning (SILL) を用いた外国語学習方略の研究

This form of the strategy inventory for language learning (SILL) is for students of a second language (SL). Please read each statement and fill in the bubble of the response (1, 2, 3, 4, or 5) that tells HOW TRUE THE STATEMENT IS. 1. Never or almost never true of me 2. Usually not true of me 3. Somewhat true of me 4. Usually true of me 5. Always or almost always true of me Answer in terms of how well the statement describes you. Do not answer how you think you should be, or what other people do. There are no right or wrong answers to these statements. Part A 1. I think of relationships between what I already know and new things I learn in the SL. 1 2 3 4 5
Model Pewarisan Nilai-Nilai Budaya Jawa Melalui Pemanfaatan Upacara Ritual

Penelitian ini bertujuan mengembangkan model pewarisan nilai-nilai budaya Jawa melalui pemanfaatan upacara ritual dengan maksud agar nilai-nilai budaya Jawa dapat kembali menjadi filosofi dan mewujud dalam perilaku hidup masyarakat Jawa. Pemanfaatan ritual dimaksudkan untuk lebih memberdayakan potensinya mengingat penyelenggaraannya oleh masyarakat dan beberapa pemerintah daerah selama ini hanya diarahkan untuk meningkatkan PAD dari sektor pariwisata. Target khusus penelitian ini meliputi; (a) Pengujian teoretis model konseptual dan uji cobanya dalam skala kecil, (b) Deskripsi efektivitas model konseptual (c) Tersusunnya model konseptual efektif pewarisan nilai-nilai budaya Jawa melalui pemanfaatan upacara ritual. Metode yang digunakan antara lain : (a) Studi pustaka dan pelacakan hasil penelitian relefan untuk memantapkan rancangan penelitian, (b) Expert judgment melalui seminar /lokakarya untuk uji teoretis rancangan model konseptual, (c) Studi Experimental untuk uji coba model, dan (d) Survei analitik untuk pengukuran efektivitas model. Lokasi penelitian di Kabupaten Wonogiri dan jenis penelitian studi deskriptif kualitatif. Sampel ditentukan secara purposive dan pengumpulan data dengan teknik indepth interview, observasi berperan pasif, content analysis, dokumentasi, dan Focus Group Discussion. Hasil penelitian disimpulkan bahwa secara teoretis model konseptual pewarisan nilai-nilai budaya Jawa melalui pemanfaatan upacara ritual tepat untuk diaplikasikan di kalangan masyarakat pendukung budaya Jawa. Pesan dalam proses pewarisan tersebut menghasilkan efek kognitif dan afektif dalam arti dapat menambah pengetahuan tentang makna simbol yang digunakan dalam ritual dan mampu mengubah sikap ke arah yang lebih positif terhadap penyelenggaraan ritual.
Modeling and Analysis of a PV Grid-Tied Smart Inverter's Support Functions

The general trends in the past decade of increasing solar cell efficiency, decreasing PV system costs, increasing government incentive programs, and several other factors have all combined synergistically to reduce the barriers of entry for PV systems to enter the market and expand their contribution to the global energy portfolio. The shortcomings of current inverter functions which link PV systems to the utility network are becoming transparent as PV penetration levels continue to increase. The solution this thesis proposes is an approach to control the inverters real and reactive power output to help eliminate the problems associated with PV systems at their origin and in addition provide the grid with ancillary support services. The design, modeling, and analysis of a grid-tied PV system was performed in the PSCAD software simulation environment. Results indicate that in the presence of grid disturbances the smart inverter can react dynamically to help restore the power system back to its normal state. A harmonic analysis was also performed indicating the inverter under study met the applicable power quality standards for distributed energy resources. v ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS First and foremost I would like to express my thanks to my parents, Brian and Jackie Johnson, for providing me with love, support, and encouragement on a daily basis during my years in academia and in the completion of this thesis. Without them I would be nowhere near what I have become today. had the pleasure of working with him on this thesis and learning from him in the classroom where I discovered my love for power systems and power electronics engineering through his passionate instruction. I also owe a great deal of thanks to my girlfriend Jamie Ervin. She continually was my stress reliever over the years, and always supported me during the many hours I dedicated to studying. Lastly, I want to acknowledge my colleague and good friend Timothy D. Haskell. The majority of hours I spent studying, writing lab reports, and preparing for exams were with you. I couldn't have done it without you bud! Disclaimer: SDG&E does not endorse or accept the conclusions or results of this study.
A Study on the KSCI(Korean Science Citation Index) for Analyze the Impact Factor of Domestic Journals

In this study, we analyze out citing and cited references among researchers, using KSCI (Korean Science Citation Index) database that is developed by KISTI. we generate and analyze that impact factor and immediate index with same method in JCR`s. KSCI`s impact factor and immediate index compared to JCR`s, and with this basis, this study propose the need of development KSCI database and present new service model for evaluate of domestic journals.
The "Independent Components" of Scenes are Edge Filters

It has previously been suggested that neurons with line and edge selectivities found in primary visual cortex of cats and monkeys form a sparse, distributed representation of natural scenes, and it has been reasoned that such responses should emerge from an unsupervised learning algorithm that attempts to find a factorial code of independent visual features. We show here that a new unsupervised learning algorithm based on information maximization, a nonlinear "infomax" network, when applied to an ensemble of natural scenes produces sets of visual filters that are localized and oriented. Some of these filters are Gabor-like and resemble those produced by the sparseness-maxim ization network. In addition, the outputs of these filters are as independent as possible, since this infomax network performs Independent Components Analysis or ICA, for sparse (super-gaussian) component distributions. We compare the resulting ICA filters and their associated basis functions, with other decorrelating filters produced by Principal Components Analysis (PCA) and zero-phase whitening filters (ZCA). The ICA filters have more sparsely distributed (kurtotic) outputs on natural scenes. They also resemble the receptive fields of simple cells in visual cortex, which suggests that these neurons form a natural, information-theoretic coordinate system for natural images. © 1997 Elsevier Science Ltd Information theory Independent components Neural network learning
Exploring the validity of a test of productive vocabulary

Lex30 is a test of productive vocabulary which uses a word association task to elicit a lexically rich text from the learner. This text is then evaluated according to the number of infrequent words which it contains. Initial studies (Meara and Fitzpatrick, 2000) indicated that Lex30 scores might correlate with general L2 proficiency. This paper explores the reliability and validity of the test through a test-retest study and two concurrent validity measures, one using native speaker data and one using a set of collateral tests. These demonstrate that Lex30 produces reliable results and operates with a degree of validity. The results of these studies lead to suggestions as to how the Lex30 test might be improved to further increase its robustness. Lastly, we discuss ways in which the Lex30 studies have shed light on the construct of productive vocabulary and the complex nature of vocabulary knowledge.