Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Sample-eﬃcient Adversarial Imitation Learning

Imitation learning, in which learning is performed by demonstration, has been studied and advanced for sequential decision-making tasks in which a reward function is not predeﬁned. However, imitation learning methods still require numerous expert demonstration samples to successfully imitate an expert’s behavior. To improve sample eﬃciency, we utilize self-supervised representation learning, which can generate vast training signals from the given data. In this study, we propose a self-supervised representation-based adversarial imitation learning method to learn state and action representations that are robust to diverse distortions and temporally predictive, on non-image control tasks. In particular, in comparison with existing self-supervised learning methods for tabular data, we propose a diﬀerent corruption method for state and action representations that is robust to diverse distortions. We theoretically and empirically observe that making an informative feature manifold with less sample complexity signiﬁcantly improves the performance of imitation learning. The proposed method shows a 39 % relative improvement over existing adversarial imitation learning methods on MuJoCo in a setting limited to 100 expert state-action pairs. Moreover, we conduct comprehensive ablations and additional experiments using demonstrations with varying optimality to provide insights into a range of factors.
A Robust Diffusion Modeling Framework for Radar Camera 3D Object Detection

Radar-camera 3D object detection aims at interacting radar signals with camera images for identifying objects of interest and localizing their corresponding 3D bounding boxes. To overcome the severe sparsity and ambiguity of radar signals, we propose a robust framework based on probabilistic denoising diffusion modeling. We design our framework to be easily implementable on different multi-view 3D detectors without the requirement of using LiDAR point clouds during either the training or inference. In specific, we first design our framework with a denoised radar-camera encoder via developing a lightweight denoising diffusion model with semantic embedding. Secondly, we develop the query denoising training into 3D space via introducing the reconstruction training at depth measurement for the transformer detection decoder. Our framework achieves new state-of-the-art performance on the nuScenes 3D detection benchmark but with few computational cost increases compared to the baseline detectors.
Variability and predictability of productive and body traits of Fulani ecotype chicken.

Improvement of the domestic chicken has dominated the effort of indigenous breeders in Nigeria in recent times. Three hundred and fifty-seven (357) Fulani ecotype chickens were surveyed and assessed for their phenotypic and productive characteristics in Osun State, Nigeria. Mature weight (kg), comb size, wattle size, breast length, breast width, leg length (all in cm); egg weight (gm), clutch size were examined and classified. A higher level of variability was revealed in comb size, wattle size, egg weight, and clutch size within the hen population of each local government; and in leg length within Orolu cocks and hens as shown by their coefficient of variation (CV), respectively. Strong and significant association was observed between mature weight and wattle size, mature weight and comb size, and between wattle size and comb size in the cocks; and between egg weight and egg clutch size in hens. Breast length and breast width were best predictors of each other while mature weight was best predicted by wattle size in cocks. Breast length was predicted by mature weight and leg length, breast width was predicted by mature weight and, mature weight was predicted by the combination of leg length, breast length and breast width in hens. All parameters were more accurately predicted in cocks than in hens. Statistical modelling revealed sexual dimorphism on all equations.
Evolution & conservation of cutthroat trout (Oncorhynchus clarkii ssp.) in the southern Rocky Mountains

Cutthroat trout are endemic to the cold waters of the American West. The subspecies probably evolved in isolated drainages during the Quaternary. I developed nuclear DNA markers to distinguish between closely related subspecies and estimate divergence times between populations in the southern Rocky Mountains. The subspecies native to Colorado are much older than previous estimates: using a molecular clock, I estimated that greenback and Colorado River cutthroat trout split 0.79 MYA. Human movement of fish has obscured the evolutionary legacy of cutthroats. I used assessments of purity and stocking records for Rocky Mountain National Park, combined with Geographic Information Systems, to assess the utility of geographic measures to serve as proxies for propagule pressure. I found no significant relationships among genetic purity, geographic configuration of roads and trails, and stocking history. Understanding the evolutionary history and the role of human actions in altering evolutionary history has important implications for conservation.
Poster: Thaw: A UWB-based Ice-Water State Detector

This work explores the use of wireless signals to distinguish be-tween solid and liquid states of water inside enclosed spaces such as freezers and microwave ovens. This proof-of-concept system, utilizes ultra-wideband (UWB) technology, demonstrating how changes in wireless reflection patterns can indicate transition be-tween ice and water states.
THE T – µ PHASE DIAGRAM OF THE NAMBU–JONA-LASINIO MODEL IN THE PRESENCE OF EXPLICIT SYMMETRY-BREAKING INTERACTIONS

It is shown that the strange-quark mass undergoes a ﬁrst-order transition in a generalized 3 ﬂavor Nambu–Jona-Lasinio (NJL) Lagrangian which includes a complete set of explicit chiral symmetry breaking interactions. This transition occurs in a moderate chemical potential region µ ∼ 400 MeV, in addition to the usual chiral transition associated with the light-quark sector. This favors the formation of stable strange-quark matter at chemical potentials which are considerably lower than the ones discussed in the literature. The reason for this behavior is discussed.
Herzberg’s Two-Factor Theory of Job Satisfaction: An Integrative Literature Review

Herzberg published the two-factor theory of work motivation in 1959. The theory was highly controversial at the time it was published, claims to be the most replicated study in this area, and provided the foundation for numerous other theories and frameworks in human resource development (Herzberg, 1987). The theory states that job satisfaction and dissatisfaction are affected by two different sets of factors. Therefore, satisfaction and dissatisfaction cannot be measured on the same continuum. This paper examines the historical context in which the theory was developed, the methodology used to develop the theory, the controversy and attempts to duplicate the study, and the theory’s current relevance to HRD.
ArcGeo: Localizing Limited Field-of-View Images using Cross-view Matching

Cross-view matching techniques for image geo-localization attempt to match features in ground-level query images against a collection of satellite images to determine their positions of origin. We present ArcGeo, a novel cross-view image matching approach which introduces a batch-all angular margin loss and several train-time strategies including large-scale pretraining and FoV-based data augmentation. This allows our model to perform well even in challenging cases with limited field-of-view (FoV). Further, we evaluate multiple model architectures, data augmentation approaches and optimization strategies to train a deep cross-view matching network, specifically optimized for limited FoV cases. In low FoV experiments (FoV = 90°) our method improves top-1 image recall rate on the CVUSA dataset from 30.12% to 43.08%. We also demonstrate improved performance over the state-of-the-art techniques for panoramic cross-view retrieval, improving top-1 recall from 95.43% to 96.06% on the CVUSA dataset and from 64.52% to 79.88% on the CVACT test dataset. Lastly, we evaluate the role of large-scale pretraining for improved robustness. With appropriate pretraining on external data, our model improves top-1 recall dramatically to 66.83% for the FoV = 90° test case on CVUSA, an increase of over twice what is reported by existing approaches.
Emergence of Things Felt Harnessing the Semantic Space of Facebook Feeling Tags

In 2013 Facebook launched a feature allowing users to add a feeling tag to their posts as part of their daily interactions online. Our research leverages the text accompanying all such volunteered feeling tags in an effort to map the semantic space of ‘Facebook feelings’ as they are catalogued by the crowd. By letting the data speak for itself, a folksonomy of feelings reveal temporal and social patterns in the most commonly shared feelings. Unlike many such studies, however, we do not only focus on examining the patterns emerging from big data, but also put the expressed feelings to work using machine learning towards both the classification and detection of emotions. This paper first demonstrates that feelings expressed online self-organize along the same lines (valence and arousal dimensions) experts in psychology and emotions have organized them for decades. As we enter the debate of classifying human emotions, our analysis directly contrasts Facebook’s manifestation of feelings with prior theoretical proposals to detect both similarities and differences from past assumptions. In line with the ‘exhibitional’ nature of Facebook, we illustrate that ‘extreme’ feelings, such as excitement and anger, are expressed in even more extreme levels of both valence and arousal. Beyond contrasting the folksonomy of feelings with dimensional mappings of emotions proposed by past research, we further utilize artificial intelligence techniques towards building a test version of an automatic ‘Feelings Meter’ able to detect feelings from text.
University of Birmingham A comparative study of fixed-bed and dispersed catalytic upgrading of heavy crude oil using-CAPRI

(cid:2) Fixed-bed and dispersed catalytic upgrading of heavy oils was studied. (cid:2) The extent of upgrading is dispersed catalyst > ﬁxed-bed > thermal cracking. (cid:2) Fixed-bed produces high middle distillate fractions than dispersed catalyst. (cid:2) Dispersed catalyst produces more light distillates compared to ﬁxed-bed. (cid:2) High level of ultraﬁne particles dispersion improves catalytic activity.
Who Cares About the Budget? The Effect of National and State Fiscal Policy on State Electoral

Although state government officials have direct power over certain issues like fiscal policy, legislatures and governors can be held accountable for conditions largely outside their control, such as unemployment at the state and national levels. To compound this effect, national fiscal policy and economic conditions have been volatile and highly publicized in recent years, with little research to discover how much these conditions affect elections at the state level. This study finds that although national fiscal policy and economic conditions are highly visible, voters often only hold state representatives accountable for conditions within their control: state fiscal policy decisions. Furthermore, governors are held more accountable than legislators for fiscal policy decisions, while legislatures avoid direct scrutiny and are only affected by partisan association with presidential and gubernatorial representatives. Interestingly, while governors are punished for increasing the size of government, they are rewarded independently for revenue and expenditure increases as well as budget mismanagement. This implies that while voters allocate accountability for fiscal policy conditions to state representatives, voter desire for government program and benefit sustainment outweighs the conventional desire for prudent budget management. Finally, it is observed that while voters desire lavish spending at the state level, they expect more fiscal prudence from federal budget decisions.
Bond Strength Evaluation of Ceramic Restorations with Immediate Dentin Sealing: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis

Statement of the Problem: Immediate dentin sealing (IDS) was introduced to overcome the disadvantages of delayed dentin sealing like pollution of dentin tubules, microleakage, and bond strength destruction over time. Purpose: This study was conducted to determine the effect of IDS on the bond strength of ceramic restorations to dentin. Materials and Method: In this systematic review and meta-analysis, the study protocol was registered on the PROSPERO database under the registration
Volatility, Growth, and Welfare

This paper constructs an endogenous growth model driven by self-fulfilling expectation shocks to explain the stylized fact that the average growth rate of GDP is related negatively to volatility and positively to capacity utilization. The implied welfare gain from further stabilizing the U.S. economy is about a quarter of annual consumption, which is consistent in order of magnitude with estimates based on the empirical studies of Ramey and Ramey (1995) and Alvarez and Jermann (2004). Hence, policies designed to reduce fluctuations can generate large welfare gains because smaller fluctuations are associated with permanently higher rates of growth.
Academic leadership: changing conceptions, identities and experiences in UK Higher Education

Acknowledgements The authors would like to acknowledge the support of the Leadership Foundation for Higher Education in funding this project. In particular we would like to thank Professor Robin Middlehurst, Helen Goreham and Nicola Sayers for their invaluable support and advice. We would also like to thank all the research participants who gave up their valuable time to take part in this work and Tim Dartington, Olya Khaleelee and Jonathan Wyatt for their help in organising and running the listening posts. Finally, we would like to thank Natalia Boguslavskaya for her assistance in collating the literature and Rebecca Gosling and her team of transcribers for typing up the interviews. Please note: unless indicated otherwise, views expressed in this report are those of the authors and research participants, not those of the Leadership Foundation and/or its partner organisations.
Effect of and Interventions in Prevention and Management of Maternal Anemia in the Advent of COVID-19

Background There were many unknowns for pregnant women during the COVID-19 pandemic. Most of these could have been silent however lethal and anemic conditions could escalate the worsening of pregnancy outcomes. Existing evidence indicate that, array of factors is associated with the ability of compromising maternal anemia, some directly and others indirectly. Objective This review aimed at ascertaining the pooled effect of several anemia interventions. Specifically, the aim of this study was to establish if pregnancy status is associated with COVID-19 severity characterized by a cytokine storm. Methods We searched the Google Scholar, PubMed, Scopus, Web of Science, and Embase databases to studies suitable for inclusion in this meta-analysis. Studies examining women of reproductive age on any maternal anemia intervention were included. The risk of bias was assessed using the Cochrane risk of bias tool. Review Manager 5.4. 1 was used to calculate rate ratios (RRs) with 95% CIs, which were depicted using forest plots. Quantitative variables were summarized in total numbers and percentages. The effect on prevention, control, management and or treatment of anemia was calculated and compared between the intervention and the comparator arms. Heterogeneity was evaluated with the Cochran Q statistic and Higgins test. Results A total of 11 articles including data for 6,129 were included. With sensitivity analysis, the interventions had a utility of 39% on maternal anemia prevention and management (random effects model RR 0.61, 95% CI 0.43, 0.87; P = 0.006) (X-squared 6=286.98, P<.00001; I-squared=97%). All the interventions against maternal anemia showed an effect of 17% (fixed-effect model RR 0.83, 95% CI 0.79-0.88; P<.00001) (X-squared 7;24=2.93, P=0.57;I-squared = 0%). Education to pregnant women showed a 28% effect (RR 0.72 95% CI 0.58, 0.89), medicinal administration 19% (RR 0.81 95% CI 0.73, 0.90), iron supplementation 17% (RR 0.83 95% CI 0.75, 0.92) and I.V Ferric Carboxy-maltose 15% (RR 0.85 95% CI 0.74, 0.97) (I-squared = 0%). Interventions in African region had a higher (16%) and significant effect compared to other regions (fixed-effects model RR 0.84, 95% CI 0.79-0.89; P<.001) (X-squared 7;25=176.53, P<.00001;I-squared = 7%). Multiple center studies had a significant predictive effect (16%) compared to single center studies (fixed-effects model RR 0.84, 95% CI 0.79-0.89; P<.00001)(967;25=176.53, P<.00001; I-squared=97%) . The year 2020 recorded the highest effect of maternal anemia interventions at 28% (random-effects model RR 0.72, 95% CI 0.67-0.78; P<.00001) (967;23=167.34, P<.00001; I-squared =98%) Conclusion In the advent of COVID-19, maternal anemia interventions were compromised demonstrated by a low effectiveness trend from the year 2020 to the year 2022. During this period, even the most effective and recommended interventions against maternal anemia were somehow affected.
Attention-mediated genetic influences on psychotic symptomatology in adolescence

Attention problems are among the earliest precursors of schizophrenia (SCZ). Here we examine relationships between multi-trait polygenic scores (PGS), psychotic spectrum symptoms, and attention-related phenotypes in an adolescent cohort (ABCD; n=11,855, mean baseline age: 9.93). Across three biennial visits, greater attentional variability and altered functional connectivity were associated with severity of psychotic-like experiences (PLEs). In European ancestry youth, neuropsychiatric and cognitive PGS were associated with greater PLE severity and greater attentional variability; notably, the effect of multi-trait PGS on PLEs weakened over time. Attentional variability partially mediated relationships between multi-trait PGS and PLEs, explaining 4-16% of these associations. Lastly, multi-trait PGS parsed by developmental co-expression patterns were significantly associated with greater PLE severity, though effect sizes were larger for genome-wide PGS. Findings suggest that broad neurodevelopmental liability is implicated in pathophysiology of psychotic spectrum symptomatology in adolescence, and attentional variability may act as an intermediate between risk variants and symptom expression.
The impact of sub-national heterogeneities in demography and epidemiology on the introduction of rubella vaccination programs in Nigeria

Rubella infection during pregnancy can result in miscarriage or infants with a constellation of birth defects known as congenital rubella syndrome (CRS). When coverage is inadequate, rubella vaccination can increase CRS cases by increasing the average age of infection. Thus, the World Health Organisation recommends that countries introducing rubella vaccine be able to vaccinate at least 80% of each birth cohort. Previous studies have focused on national-level analyses and have overlooked sub-national variation in introduction risk. We characterised the sub-national heterogeneity in rubella transmission within Nigeria and modelled local rubella vaccine introduction under different scenarios to refine the set of conditions and strategies required for safe rubella vaccine use. Across Nigeria, the basic reproduction number ranged from 2.6 to 6.2. Consequently, the conditions for safe vaccination varied across states with low-risk areas requiring coverage levels well below 80%. In high-risk settings, inadequate routine coverage needed to be supplemented by campaigns that allowed for gradual improvements in vaccination coverage over time. Understanding local heterogeneities in both short-term and long-term epidemic dynamics can permit earlier nationwide introduction of rubella vaccination and identify sub-national areas suitable for program monitoring, program improvement and campaign support.
"Just a knife wound this week, nothing too painful": an ethnographic exploration of how homeless clients attending an urban primary care and addiction service view their own health and healthcare

This study used an ethnographic approach grounded in a social constructivist research paradigm to explore the perspectives of people in homelessness attending a primary care and addiction service in Ireland on their priority health and healthcare needs. Participant observations and informal interviews were conducted with homeless clients attending the service for three hours every Monday morning between October 2022 and April 2023. Field note data from active participant observation and informal conversations were collected, anonymised, and analysed using inductive thematic analysis in accordance with the Declaration of Helsinki and the researchers institutional Research Ethics Committee. Three main themes emerged from the analysis: self-identified priorities, satisfaction with services, and migrant health. Clients priority concerns relate to their mental health, maintaining ties with children and families, navigating complex intimate relationships, finding meaningful activities, and feeling better physically. These challenges differ from those of the general population in terms of their severity observed both prior to, and during experiences of homelessness, coupled with disproportionately high levels of loss, fear, pain, disability, fatigue, and isolation. In terms of services, clients are satisfied with their ability to access primary care and harm reduction in a social environment where positive exchanges with friends and providers take place. Conversely, barriers to accessing mental health and addiction services persist including the internalised belief that one is beyond help, lack of access to information on available services and their entry requirements, and lingering stigma within a health system that treats addiction as separate to health. Moving forward, health practitioners may consider holding more regular and open conversations with homeless clients about the care they are receiving, its rationale, and whether or not changes are desired that can be safely made. The health needs of migrants and asylum seekers entering homelessness in Ireland are urgent and should be prioritised in future research.
Recent areal and altimetric variations of Miage Glacier (Monte Bianco Massif, Italian Alps)

Changes in ice thickness and area of the debris-covered tongue of Miage Glacier have been measured using 1975 and 1991 aerial photographs, supplemented by measurements of ice flow from the displacement of 24 supraglacial boulders. Results show an increase in surface elevation of the lower glacier of >40 m, but thinning upstream. Overall ice volume increased in the study period, with negligible detectable change to terminus position and glacier area. The pattern of thickness variation is interpreted as a response to positive mass balance sometime after c. 1951. The debris cover may have prevented ablation from reducing the amplitude of a kinematic wave. Thus, the downstream amplification of thickening in the zone of compressive flow has been largely preserved. Debris-covered glaciers, whose termini are often held to be unresponsive to climatic variability, may actually magnify mass balance perturbations if ice remains mobile to the terminus.