Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Deep Machine Learning with Spatio-Temporal Inference

Deep Machine Learning (DML) refers to methods which utilize hierarchies of more than one or two layers of computational elements to achieve learning. DML may draw upon biomemetic models, or may be simply biologically-inspired. Regardless, these architectures seek to employ hierarchical processing as means of mimicking the ability of the human brain to process a myriad of sensory data and make meaningful decisions based on this data. In this dissertation we present a novel DML architecture which is biologically-inspired in that (1) all processing is performed hierarchically; (2) all processing units are identical; and (3) processing captures both spatial and temporal dependencies in the observations to organize and extract features suitable for supervised learning. We call this architecture Deep Spatio-Temporal Inference Network (DeSTIN). In this framework, patterns observed in pixel data at the lowest layer of the hierarchy are organized and fit to generalizations using decomposition algorithms. Subsequent spatial layers draw upon previous layers, their own temporal observations and beliefs, and the observations and beliefs of parent nodes to extract features suitable for supervised learning using standard classifiers such as feedforward neural networks. Hence, DeSTIN is viewed as an unsupervised feature extraction scheme in the sense that rather than relying on human engineering to determine features for a particular problem, DeSTIN naturally constructs features of interest by representing salient regularities in the patterns observed. Detailed discussion and analysis of the DeSTIN framework is provided, including focus on its key components of generalization through online clustering and temporal inference. We present a variety of implementation details, including static and dynamic learning formulations, and function approximation methods. Results on standardized datasets of handwritten digits as well as face and optic nerve detection are presented, illustrating the efficacy of the proposed approach.
Recherche de mesures innovantes pour suivre la qualité du raisin de Cabernet Franc pendant sa maturation

Les professionnels de la filiere vin sont a la recherche de methodes globales pour suivre la maturite du raisin et ainsi en determiner la qualite a la vendange pour l'elaboration de leurs vins. Dans ce contexte, le principal objectif de ce travail est de rechercher des methodes sensorielle et instrumentales innovantes pour suivre globalement la maturation des baies de raisin de Cabernet franc. La spectroscopie VisNIR et l'analyse sensorielle des baies de raisin apparaissent comme les methodes les plus prometteuses en terme de suivi de maturation pour la filiere vin. La technique de double compression a 20 % n'est en revanche pas approprie��e pour suivre la maturite « texturale ». D'autres techniques mecaniques destructives pourraient cependant etre envisagees comme la penetrometrie. La spectroscopie de fluorescence a permis de suivre la maturite phenolique du raisin. Mais, cette methode doit etre optimisee pour gagner en precision. Une methode capable de caracteriser la qualite globale du raisin a egalement ete recherchee. La spectroscopie VisNIR et les descripteurs sensoriels permettent de caracteriser les differents aspects de la qualite globale du raisin pendant sa maturation. Ces deux techniques permettent en effet une caracterisation en termes de maturites technologique, phenolique, aromatique et « texturale ». La methode d'analyse sensorielle des baies de raisin est en cours de transfert vers les professionnels de la filiere afin d'obtenir un outil d'aide a la decision pour determiner la date de vendange. La mise au point d'un appareil portable de spectroscopie VisNIR pourrait quant a elle etre envisage afin de realiser des mesures directes dans les parcelles.
Diary Studies of Classroom Language Learning: The Doubting Game and the Believing Game.

A discussion of diary studies, research on second language learning and teaching that uses student journals about the learning experience, defines the method, reviews a number of such studies, and examines the pros and cons of this approach. It is noted that diary studies are first-person case study research, a form of empirical (data-based) research enhanced by introspection and analysis. Introspection can be concurrent with the learning event, immediate retrospection, or delayed retrospection. Diary studies span this continuum. Problems associated with the method include: sampling limitations (small samples, biased subjects); data collection issues (those inherent in self-reporting, bias in retrospection, limitations of introspection, quality and breadth of entries, and commitment of the diarist); and data analysis concerns (limited generalizability of small quantities of information, inappropriateness of causal statements, and all problems typically associated with qualitative analysis). The method is seen to have advantages for: teachers, in re-examining the language learning process; learners, for whom diaries are a safety valve for frustration, promote awareness of learning processes and pitfalls, and are evidence of progress; and language learning research, by adding to the knowledge base and also revealing new issues and factors to be considered. Contains 105 references. (MSE) Reproductions supplied by EDRS are the best that can be made from the original document. DIARY STUDIES OF CLASSROOM LANGUAGE LEARNING: THE DOUBTING GAME AND THE BELIEVING GAME
Modern method of construction: An experience from UK construction industry

Industrialised Building Systems (IBS) is commonly used interchangeably with other terms such as offsite construction, prefabrication, offsite manufacturing, modern method of construction (MMC), industrialised building and industrialised construction. However, the term modern method of construction (MMC) is used to collectively describe both offsite-based construction technologies and innovative onsite technologies in the United Kingdom. It is evident that there exist a wide range of contextual issues which stems from the definition of these terminologies. Nonetheless, no previous research has explored the relationship between these terminologies. This paper highlights the contrasting concepts of IBS and MMC, and concludes that ill defining the MMC-IBS terms leads to misunderstanding, uncertainty and prejudice of the IBS concept and its benefits, which will be detrimental to efforts promoting the use of IBS in the construction industry.
PENGARUH MEDITASI TERHADAP KUALITAS HIDUP LANSIA YANG MENDERITA HIPERTENSI DI UNIT REHABILITASI SOSIAL WENING WARDOYO UNGARAN KABUPATEN SEMARANG

Hipertensi merupakan suatu kondisi penyakit kronis yang menyebabkan stres ( stressful). Meditasi telah berhasil digunakan dalam perawatan dan pencegahan tekanan darah tinggi (hipertensi), penyakit jantung, stroke. Tujuan penelitian ini untuk menganalisis pengaruh meditasi terhadap kualitas hidup lansia yang menderita Â hipertensi Â di Â Unit Â Rehabilitasi Â Sosial Â Wening Â WardoyoÂ Kabupaten Â Semarang. Â Metode penelitian adalah quasy eksperimen yang dilakukan terhadap 20 responden kelompok control dan 20 responden kelompok intervensi. Kelompok intervensi dilakukan meditasi dalam kelompok yang berisi 10 responden tiap kelompok yang dilakukan selama 7 pertemuan. Kelompok control diberikan pendidikan kesehatan tentang pengelolaan hipertensi. Analisis dilakukan uji beda pada 2 kelompok dengan menggunakan Â uji Â chi Â square. Â Hasil Â penelitian Â didapatkan Â KualitasÂ hidup Â pada Â kelompok Â intervensi sebagian besar adalah cukup sebanyak 16 responden (80,0%), demikian juga pada kelompok kontrol respondenÂ yang memiliki kualitas hidup sedang sebanyak 17 responden (85%). Kualitas hidup pada kelompok Â intervensi Â sebagian Â besar Â adalah Â baik Â sebanyakÂ 18Â responden Â (90,0%), Â sedangkan Â pada kelompok kontrol responden yang memiliki kualitas hidup cukup sebanyak 19 responden (95%). terdapat perbedaan kualitas hidup setelah diberkan meditasi pada kelompok intervensi (p: 0,000). Rekomendasi hasil Â penelitian Â ini Â dapat Â dilanjutkan Â secaraÂ kontinu Â oleh Â pengelola Â unit Â rehabilitasi Â social Â untuk membantu meningkatkan kualitas hidup lansia yang berada dipanti.
Attitude of Women towards Family Planning in Selected Rural Communities of Ibadan

The immediate need to control the high fertility rates among women in the rural part of Nigeria has attracted the interest of scholars in the academic world. Lots have been done by international agencies and other stakeholders to encourage the use of family planning methods among women both in rural and urban areas of developing countries including Nigeria. This notwithstanding, there still exist a great challenge of unmet needs regarding family planning especially in the rural part of Ibadan as the desired attitudinal and behavioral changes towards family planning is yet to be achieved. This study attempts to examine the attitude of women from selected rural areas in Ibadan towards family planning using the Health Belief Model and Social Action as frameworks for explanation. The qualitative and quantitative methods of research were employed with a survey of 136 randomly selected mothers from 5 rural communities in Ibadan, 15 IDI', 5 KIIs and 5 FGDs. The Statistical Package for Social Sciences was utilized in analyzing the quantitative data, while the qualitative data were analyzed using content analysis. The study revealed that the socio-economic status of mothers significantly influenced their attitude towards family planning. Most of the women had only primary education and more women had no formal education compared to those who had secondary and tertiary education, hence few of them displayed positive attitude towards family planning methods. Majority of the women hardly gave birth in hospitals and depended on their husbands to decide what ever method will be used to space or limit the number of children they will have. The study also revealed that women perceived benefits of family planning as measures: to control population, reduce infant and maternal mortality and also make mothers healthy and strong after child birth. However, these were learnt after they had given birth to more than four children in other places aside the hospitals. The study recommends that couples in rural areas be encouraged to make effective use of contraceptives and adequately educated to appreciate the essence of utilizing family planning methods in order to give birth to quality children. Ante-natal and delivery cost should be highly subsidized in rural areas for women to be encouraged to give birth in the hospitals from the very first child and learn about family planning methods. It was also recommended that family planning programmes that will attract couples to increase their knowledge and positively influence their attitudes towards practicing family planning especially in the rural parts of Ibadan be sponsored and supported by the government.
Metabolic, Mental and Immunological Effects of Normoxic and Hypoxic Training in Multiple Sclerosis Patients: A Pilot Study

Background: Physical activity might attenuate inflammation and neurodegeneration in multiple sclerosis (MS). Erythropoietin, which is produced upon exposure to hypoxia, is thought to act as a neuroprotective agent in MS. Therefore, we studied the effects of intermittent hypoxic training on activity energy expenditure, maximal workload, serum erythropoietin, and immunophenotype focusing on regulatory and IL-17A-producing T cells. Methods: We assigned 34 relapsing-remitting MS patients within a randomized, single blind, parallel-group study to either normoxic (NO) or hypoxic (HO) treadmill training, both 3 times/week for 1 h over 4 weeks (Clinicaltrials.gov identifier: NCT02509897). Before and after training, activity energy expenditure (metabolic chamber), maximal workload (incremental treadmill test), walking ability, depressive symptoms (Beck Depression Inventory I), serum erythropoietin concentrations, and immunophenotype of peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) were assessed. Results: Energy expenditure did not change due to training in both groups, but was rather fueled by fat than by carbohydrate oxidation after HO training (P = 0.002). Maximal workload increased by 40 Watt and 42 Watt in the NO and HO group, respectively (both P < 0.0001). Distance patients walked in 6 min increased by 25 m and 27 m in the NO and HO group, respectively (NO P = 0.02; HO P = 0.01). Beck Depression Inventory score markedly decreased in both groups (NO P = 0.03; HO P = 0.0003). NO training shifted Treg subpopulations by increasing and decreasing the frequency of CD39+ and CD31+ Tregs, respectively, and decreased IL-17A-producing CD4+ cells. HO training provoked none of these immunological changes. Erythropoietin concentrations were within normal range and did not significantly change in either group. Conclusion: 4 weeks of moderate treadmill training had considerable effects on fitness level and mood in MS patients, both under normoxic and hypoxic conditions. Additionally, NO training improved Th17/Treg profile and HO training improved fatty acid oxidation during exercise. These effects could not be attributed to an increase of erythropoietin. Clinical Trial Registration: ClinicalTrials.gov; NCT02509897; http://www.clinicaltrials. gov
Exploratory investigation of region level risk factors of Ebola Virus Disease in West Africa

Background Ebola Virus Disease (EVD) is a highly infectious disease that has produced over 25,000 cases in the past 50 years. While many past outbreaks resulted in relatively few cases, the 2014 outbreak in West Africa was the most deadly occurrence of EVD to date, producing over 15,000 confirmed cases. Objective In this study, we investigated population level predictors of EVD risk at the regional level in Sierra Leone, Liberia, and Guinea. Methods Spatial and descriptive analyses were conducted to assess distribution of EVD cases. Choropleth maps showing the spatial distribution of EVD risk across the study area were generated in ArcGIS. Poisson and negative binomial models were then used to investigate population and regional predictors of EVD risk. Results Results indicated that the risk of EVD was significantly lower in areas with higher proportions of: (a) the population living in urban areas, (b) households with a low quality or no toilets, and (c) married men working in blue collar jobs. However, risk of EVD was significantly higher in areas with high mean years of education. Conclusions The identified significant predictors of high risk were associated with areas with higher levels of urbanization. This may be due to higher population densities in the more urban centers and hence higher potential of infectious contact. However, there is need to better understand the role of urbanization and individual contact structure in an Ebola outbreak. We discuss shortcomings in available data and emphasize the need to consider spatial scale in future data collection and epidemiological studies.
Drug and Alcohol Abuse after Abortion

outcomes. 4,5 • Mothers with a history of previous abortion are more likely to use illegal drugs and alcohol during their next pregnancy. Compared to women who had previously given birth, women who had previously aborted were significantly more likely to use marijuana (929%), various illegal drugs (460%) and alcohol (122%) during their next pregnancy. Differences between the groups were even greater when more time had elapsed since the prior pregnancy. This U.S. study used a nationally representative, racially diverse sample, and measured substance abuse at a time when abortion-related stress is likely to be exacerbated. 8
Of strategies, deliberate and emergent

How do strategies form in organizations? Research into the question is necessarily shaped by the underlying conception of the term. Since strategy has almost inevitably been conceived in terms of what the leaders of an organization ‘plan’ to do in the future, strategy formation has, not surprisingly, tended to be treated as an analytic process for establishing long-range goals and action plans for an organization; that is, as one of formulation followed by implementation. As important as this emphasis may be, we would argue that it is seriously limited, that the process needs to be viewed from a wider perspective so that the variety of ways in which strategies actually take shape can be considered.
Direct-Fed microbials for receiving cattle I: Effects of ProTernative stress formula fed in a liquid suspension on growth and health performance of receiving beef heifers

Introduction Lightweight stocker calves experience variable degrees of physiological stress resulting from weaning, transport, food and water deprivation, diet changes, inclement weather, and infectious diseases. Consequently, preconditioning and specialized nutrition that include direct-fed microbials may become more common in the beef industry as a means of controlling disease and minimizing the effects of stress.
Plasma Protein Pattern Correlates With Pain Intensity and Psychological Distress in Women With Chronic Widespread Pain

Objectives: Although generalized muscle pain, tiredness, anxiety, and depression are commonly present among chronic widespread pain (CWP) patients, the molecular mechanisms behind CWP are not fully elucidated. Moreover, the lack of biomarkers often makes diagnosis and treatment problematic. In this study, we investigated the correlation between pain intensity, psychological distress, and plasma proteins among CWP patients and controls (CON). Methods: The plasma proteome of CWP (n = 15) and CON (n = 23) was analyzed using two-dimensional gel electrophoresis. Orthogonal Partial Least Square analysis (OPLS) was used to determine proteins associated with pain intensity (numeric rating scale) in CWP and psychological distress (Hospital and Depression Scale, HADS) in CWP and CON. Significant proteins were identified by MALDI-TOF and tandem MS. Results: In CWP, pain intensity was associated with plasma proteins mostly involved in metabolic and immunity processes (e.g., kininogen-1, fibrinogen gamma chain, and ceruloplasmin), and psychological distress was associated with plasma proteins related to immunity response, iron ion, and lipid metabolism (e.g., complement factor B, complement C1r subcomponent, hemopexin, and clusterin). Discussion: This study suggests that different plasma protein patterns are associated with different pain intensity and psychological distress in CWP. Proteins belonging to the coagulation cascade and immunity processes showed strong associations to each clinical outcome. Using the plasma proteome profile of CWP to study potential biomarker candidates provides a snapshot of ongoing systemic mechanisms in CWP.
Prioritizing Starting States for Reinforcement Learning

Online, off-policy reinforcement learning algorithms are able to use an experience memory to remember and replay past experiences. In prior work, this approach was used to stabilize training by breaking the temporal correlations of the updates and avoiding the rapid forgetting of possibly rare experiences. In this work, we propose a conceptually simple framework that uses an experience memory to help exploration by prioritizing the starting states from which the agent starts acting in the environment, importantly, in a fashion that is also compatible with on-policy algorithms. Given the capacity to restart the agent in states corresponding to its past observations, we achieve this objective by (i) enabling the agent to restart in states belonging to significant past experiences (e.g., nearby goals), and (ii) promoting faster coverage of the state space through starting from a more diverse set of states. While, using a good priority measure to identify significant past transitions, we expect case (i) to more considerably help exploration in certain domains (e.g., sparse reward tasks), we hypothesize that case (ii) will generally be beneficial, even without any prioritization. We show empirically that our approach improves learning performance for both off-policy and on-policy deep reinforcement learning methods, with most notable gains in highly sparse reward tasks.
Reduced Structural Connectivity Between Left Auditory Thalamus and the Motion-Sensitive Planum Temporale in Developmental Dyslexia

Developmental dyslexia is characterized by the inability to acquire typical reading and writing skills. Dyslexia has been frequently linked to cerebral cortex alterations; however, recent evidence also points toward sensory thalamus dysfunctions: dyslexics showed reduced responses in the left auditory thalamus (medial geniculate body, MGB) during speech processing in contrast to neurotypical readers. In addition, in the visual modality, dyslexics have reduced structural connectivity between the left visual thalamus (lateral geniculate nucleus, LGN) and V5/MT, a cerebral cortex region involved in visual movement processing. Higher LGN-V5/MT connectivity in dyslexics was associated with the faster rapid naming of letters and numbers (RANln), a measure that is highly correlated with reading proficiency. Here, we tested two hypotheses that were directly derived from these previous findings. First, we tested the hypothesis that dyslexics have reduced structural connectivity between the left MGB and the auditory-motion-sensitive part of the left planum temporale (mPT). Second, we hypothesized that the amount of left mPT–MGB connectivity correlates with dyslexics RANln scores. Using diffusion tensor imaging-based probabilistic tracking, we show that male adults with developmental dyslexia have reduced structural connectivity between the left MGB and the left mPT, confirming the first hypothesis. Stronger left mPT–MGB connectivity was not associated with faster RANln scores in dyslexics, but was in neurotypical readers. Our findings provide the first evidence that reduced cortico-thalamic connectivity in the auditory modality is a feature of developmental dyslexia and it may also affect reading-related cognitive abilities in neurotypical readers. SIGNIFICANCE STATEMENT Developmental dyslexia is one of the most widespread learning disabilities. Although previous neuroimaging research mainly focused on pathomechanisms of dyslexia at the cerebral cortex level, several lines of evidence suggest an atypical functioning of subcortical sensory structures. By means of diffusion tensor imaging, we here show that dyslexic male adults have reduced white matter connectivity in a cortico-thalamic auditory pathway between the left auditory motion-sensitive planum temporale and the left medial geniculate body. Connectivity strength of this pathway was associated with measures of reading fluency in neurotypical readers. This is novel evidence on the neurocognitive correlates of reading proficiency, highlighting the importance of cortico-subcortical interactions between regions involved in the processing of spectrotemporally complex sound.
Concepções e práticas de mulheres portadoras de diabetes mellitus no contexto da atenção primária à saúde

This article aims to understand the concepts and practices of women with diabetes mellitus (DM) in the context of Primary Health Care. The methodology used is qualitative character, and interviewed 15 women with DM seen at the Health Centre in the city of Belo Horizonte, in June 2010, through a semistructured interview. The theoretical reference was the theory of social representations. Recorded and transcribed records were submitted to thematic content analysis. The data indicate that the time of diagnosis and living with a medical professional to monitor diabetes, women did not provide a deeper understanding of the pathophysiology of the disease. This lack of guidance from the health service is manifested by the women interviewed as they relate mainly to food and disease management seen claiming not to know what can or can not be done. Daily management of feeding seems to be, well, the main impact of illness on the lives of women with diabetes.