Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Robusta: Robust AutoML for Feature Selection via Reinforcement Learning

Several AutoML approaches have been proposed to automate the machine learning (ML) process, such as searching for the ML model architectures and hyper-parameters. However, these AutoML pipelines only focus on improving the learning accuracy of benign samples while ignoring the ML model robustness under adversarial attacks. As ML systems are increasingly being used in a variety of mission-critical applications, improving the robustness of ML systems has become of utmost importance. In this paper, we propose the first robust AutoML framework, Robusta--based on reinforcement learning (RL)--to perform feature selection, aiming to select features that lead to both accurate and robust ML systems. We show that a variation of the 0-1 robust loss can be directly optimized via an RL-based combinatorial search in the feature selection scenario. In addition, we employ heuristics to accelerate the search procedure based on feature scoring metrics, which are mutual information scores, tree-based classifiers feature importance scores, F scores, and Integrated Gradient (IG) scores, as well as their combinations. We conduct extensive experiments and show that the proposed framework is able to improve the model robustness by up to 22% while maintaining competitive accuracy on benign samples compared with other feature selection methods.
Algorithmic monoculture and social welfare

Significance Algorithmic monoculture is a growing concern in the use of algorithms for high-stakes screening decisions in areas such as employment and lending. If many firms use the same algorithm, even if it is more accurate than the alternatives, the resulting “monoculture” may be susceptible to correlated failures, much as a monocultural system is in biological settings. To investigate this concern, we develop a model of selection under monoculture. We find that even without any assumption of shocks or correlated failures—i.e., under “normal operations”—the quality of decisions may decrease when multiple firms use the same algorithm. Thus, the introduction of a more accurate algorithm may decrease social welfare—a kind of “Braess’ paradox” for algorithmic decision-making. As algorithms are increasingly applied to screen applicants for high-stakes decisions in employment, lending, and other domains, concerns have been raised about the effects of algorithmic monoculture, in which many decision-makers all rely on the same algorithm. This concern invokes analogies to agriculture, where a monocultural system runs the risk of severe harm from unexpected shocks. Here, we show that the dangers of algorithmic monoculture run much deeper, in that monocultural convergence on a single algorithm by a group of decision-making agents, even when the algorithm is more accurate for any one agent in isolation, can reduce the overall quality of the decisions being made by the full collection of agents. Unexpected shocks are therefore not needed to expose the risks of monoculture; it can hurt accuracy even under “normal” operations and even for algorithms that are more accurate when used by only a single decision-maker. Our results rely on minimal assumptions and involve the development of a probabilistic framework for analyzing systems that use multiple noisy estimates of a set of alternatives.
Approximations with deep neural networks in Sobolev time-space

Solutions of the evolution equation generally lie in certain Bochner–Sobolev spaces, in which the solutions may have regularity and integrability properties for the time variable that can be different for the space variables. Therefore, in this paper, we develop a framework that shows that deep neural networks can approximate Sobolev-regular functions with respect to Bochner–Sobolev spaces. In our work, we use the so-called Rectified Cubic Unit (ReCU) as an activation function in our networks. This activation function allows us to deduce approximation results of the neural networks while avoiding issues caused by the nonregularity of the most commonly used Rectified Linear Unit (ReLU) activation function.
Accurate and Robust Scale Recovery for Monocular Visual Odometry Based on Plane Geometry

Scale ambiguity is a fundamental problem in monocular visual odometry. Typical solutions include loop closure detection and environment information mining. For applications like self-driving cars, loop closure is not always available, hence mining prior knowledge from the environment becomes a more promising approach. In this paper, with the assumption of a constant height of the camera above the ground, we develop a light-weight scale recovery framework leveraging an accurate and robust estimation of the ground plane. The framework includes a ground point extraction algorithm for selecting high-quality points on the ground plane, and a ground point aggregation algorithm for joining the extracted ground points in a local sliding window. Based on the aggregated data, the scale is finally recovered by solving a least-squares problem using a RANSAC-based optimizer. Sufficient data and robust optimizer enable a highly accurate scale recovery. Experiments on the KITTI dataset show that the proposed framework can achieve state-of-the-art accuracy in terms of translation errors, while maintaining competitive performance on the rotation error. Due to the light-weight design, our framework also demonstrates a high frequency of 20 Hz on the dataset.
Thermal degradation of cellulose and its phosphorylated products in air and nitrogen

The thermal degradation of cellulose and its phosphorylated products (phosphates, diethylphosphate, and diphenylphosphate) were studied in air and nitrogen by differential thermal analysis and dynamic thermogravimetry from ambient temperature to 750°C. From the resulting data various thermodynamic parameters were obtained following the methods of Broido and Freeman and Carroll. The values of Ea for decomposition for phosphorylated cellulose were found to be in the range 55–138 kJ mol−1 in air and 85–152 kJ mol−1 in nitrogen and depended upon the percent of phosphorus contents in the samples. The mass spectrum of cellobiose phosphate indicated the absence of the molecular ion, indicating that the compound was thermally unstable. The IR spectra of the pyrolysis residues of cellulose phosphate gave indication of formation of a compound having CO and PO groups. A fire retardancy mechanism for the thermal degradation of cellulose phosphate has been proposed.
Is asymptotically Weyl-invariant gravity viable?

We explore the cosmological viability of a theory of gravity defined by the Lagrangian $f(\mathcal{R})={\mathcal{R}}^{n(\mathcal{R})}$ in the Palatini formalism, where $n(\mathcal{R})$ is a dimensionless function of the Palatini scalar curvature $\mathcal{R}$ that interpolates between general relativity when $n(\mathcal{R})=1$ and a locally scale-invariant and superficially renormalizable theory when $n(\mathcal{R})=2$. We refer to this model as asymptotically Weyl-invariant gravity (AWIG). We analyze perhaps the simplest possible implementation of AWIG. A phase space analysis yields three fixed points with effective equations of state corresponding to de Sitter-, radiation-, and matter-dominated phases. An analysis of the deceleration parameter suggests our model is consistent with an early and late period of accelerated cosmic expansion, with an intermediate period of decelerated expansion. We show that the model contains no obvious curvature singularities. Therefore, AWIG appears to be cosmologically viable, at least for the simple implementation explored.
Nonlocal effects in negative triangularity TCV plasmas

Global gradient driven gyrokinetic simulations performed with the Gyrokinetic Electromagnetic Numerical Experiment (GENE) code are used to investigate Tokamak à configuration variable (TCV) plasmas with negative triangularity. Considering limited L-mode plasmas, the numerical results are able to reproduce the actual transport level over a major fraction of the plasma minor radius for a plasma with δLCFS=−0.3 and its equivalent with standard positive triangularity δ. For the same heat flux, a larger electron temperature gradient is sustained by δ<0 , in turn resulting in an improved electron energy confinement. In agreement with the experiments, a reduction of the electron density fluctuations is also seen. Local flux-tube simulations are used to gauge the magnitude of nonlocal effects. Surprisingly, very little differences are found between local and global approaches for δ>0 , while local results yield a strong overestimation of the heat fluxes when δ<0 . Despite the high sensitivity of the turbulence level with respect to the input parameters, global effects appear to play a crucial role in the negative triangularity plasma and must be retained to reconcile simulations and experiments. Finally, a general stabilizing effect of negative triangularity, reducing fluxes and fluctuations by a factor dependent on the actual profiles, is recovered.
Ask Me or Tell Me? Enhancing the Effectiveness of Crowdsourced Design Feedback

Crowdsourced design feedback systems are emerging resources for getting large amounts of feedback in a short period of time. Traditionally, the feedback comes in the form of a declarative statement, which often contains positive or negative sentiment. Prior research has shown that overly negative or positive sentiment can strongly influence the perceived usefulness and acceptance of feedback and, subsequently, lead to ineffective design revisions. To enhance the effectiveness of crowdsourced design feedback, we investigate a new approach for mitigating the effects of negative or positive feedback by combining open-ended and thought-provoking questions with declarative feedback statements. We conducted two user studies to assess the effects of question-based feedback on the sentiment and quality of design revisions in the context of graphic design. We found that crowdsourced question-based feedback contains more neutral sentiment than statement-based feedback. Moreover, we provide evidence that presenting feedback as questions followed by statements leads to better design revisions than question- or statement-based feedback alone.
Moment-SOS hierarchy and exit time of stochastic processes

The moment sum of squares (moment-SOS) hierarchy produces sequences of upper and lower bounds on functionals of the exit time solution of a polynomial stochastic differential equation with polynomial constraints, at the price of solving semidefinite optimization problems of increasing size. In this note we use standard results from elliptic partial differential equation analysis to prove convergence of the bounds produced by the hierarchy. We also use elementary convex analysis to describe a superand sub-solution interpretation dual to a linear formulation on occupation measures. The practical relevance of the hierarchy is illustrated with numerical examples.
Temporal-Relational CrossTransformers for Few-Shot Action Recognition

We propose a novel approach to few-shot action recognition, finding temporally-corresponding frame tuples between the query and videos in the support set. Distinct from previous few-shot works, we construct class prototypes using the CrossTransformer attention mechanism to observe relevant sub-sequences of all support videos, rather than using class averages or single best matches. Video representations are formed from ordered tuples of varying numbers of frames, which allows sub-sequences of actions at different speeds and temporal offsets to be compared.1Our proposed Temporal-Relational CrossTransformers (TRX) achieve state-of-the-art results on few-shot splits of Kinetics, Something-Something V2 (SSv2), HMDB51 and UCF101. Importantly, our method outperforms prior work on SSv2 by a wide margin (12%) due to the its ability to model temporal relations. A detailed ablation showcases the importance of matching to multiple support set videos and learning higher-order relational CrossTransformers.
Willingness to Pay for Improved Environmental Sanitation in a Nigerian City

Abstract Attempts at redressing the problem of rapid deterioration of the urban environment in developing countries have not produced the desired results. This is because such attempts have been mainly ad hoc and have not taken into consideration willingness to pay for improvements in the quality of the urban environment. Consequently, in implementing environmental management programmes, planners in developing countries have a genuine lack of understanding of this willingness to pay. Using a hedonic housing price approach, this paper presents estimates and determinants of the willingness to pay for improved environmental sanitation in the city of Lagos. Improved environmental sanitation is affected by increasing distance from a major landfill—the Achapo landfill. The empirical analysis reveals that households are aware of the disamenity effects of the landfill and are willing to pay a locational premium of about 9% of their annual housing rent in order to be one kilometre away from the landfill boundary, and thus improve the sanitation of their immediate environment. The major determinants of willingness to pay for improved environmental sanitation are: income, current level of environmental sanitation, the consumption of housing attributes complementary to improved environmental sanitation, and household size. Finally, some policy implications of the paper are discussed.
Interpretation of Mössbauer Spectra in Thin Iron Films

Mossbauer spectra for films condensed and analyzed in uhv are reported in the thickness range 1–42 A and from 15–350 K. The main features of the spectra can be explained in terms of superparamagnetic fluctuations of the magnetization within a given crystallite. Films in the thickness range 15–42 A, have a value of internal magnetic field which is slightly less than the 330 kG observed in bulk iron. As the films approach 12 A, the hyperfine lines move inwards by about 16% when the temperature is raised from 15 to 350 K, but the lines are still well resolved. Assuming a simple uniaxial anisotropy model the magnetization is stable on a time scale of the Larmor period for particles >90 A average size and the magnetic hyperfine spectrum collapses to a doublet for particle size <70 A. We interpret this as arising from the complete collapse of the four excited state levels and the partial decrease of the ground state splitting corresponding to the superparamagnetic fluctuation time being limited by the frequency.
Aethionema arabicum genome annotation using PacBio full‐length transcripts provides a valuable resource for seed dormancy and Brassicaceae evolution research

SUMMARY Aethionema arabicum is an important model plant for Brassicaceae trait evolution, particularly of seed (development, regulation, germination, dormancy) and fruit (development, dehiscence mechanisms) characters. Its genome assembly was recently improved but the gene annotation was not updated. Here, we improved the Ae. arabicum gene annotation using 294 RNA‐seq libraries and 136 307 full‐length PacBio Iso‐seq transcripts, increasing BUSCO completeness by 11.6% and featuring 5606 additional genes. Analysis of orthologs showed a lower number of genes in Ae. arabicum than in other Brassicaceae, which could be partially explained by loss of homeologs derived from the At‐α polyploidization event and by a lower occurrence of tandem duplications after divergence of Aethionema from the other Brassicaceae. Benchmarking of MADS‐box genes identified orthologs of FUL and AGL79 not found in previous versions. Analysis of full‐length transcripts related to ABA‐mediated seed dormancy discovered a conserved isoform of PIF6‐β and antisense transcripts in ABI3, ABI4 and DOG1, among other cases found of different alternative splicing between Turkey and Cyprus ecotypes. The presented data allow alternative splicing mining and proposition of numerous hypotheses to research evolution and functional genomics. Annotation data and sequences are available at the Ae. arabicum DB (https://plantcode.online.uni‐marburg.de/aetar_db).
Spontaneous synchronous network activity in the neonatal development of mPFC in mice

Spontaneous Synchronous Network Activity (SSA) is a hallmark of neurodevelopment found in numerous central nervous system structures, including neocortex. SSA occurs during restricted developmental time‐windows, commonly referred to as critical periods in sensory neocortex. Although part of the neocortex, the critical period for SSA in the medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC) and the underlying mechanisms for generation and propagation are unknown. Using Ca2+ imaging and whole‐cell patch‐clamp in an acute mPFC slice mouse model, the development of spontaneous activity and SSA was investigated at cellular and network levels during the two first postnatal weeks. The data revealed that developing mPFC neuronal networks are spontaneously active and exhibit SSA in the first two postnatal weeks, with peak synchronous activity at postnatal days (P)8–9. Networks remain active but are desynchronized by the end of this 2‐week period. SSA was driven by excitatory ionotropic glutamatergic transmission with a small contribution of excitatory GABAergic transmission at early time points. The neurohormone oxytocin desynchronized SSA in the first postnatal week only without affecting concurrent spontaneous activity. By the end of the second postnatal week, inhibiting GABAA receptors restored SSA. These findings point to the emergence of GABAA receptor‐mediated inhibition as a major factor in the termination of SSA in mouse mPFC.
Direct Measurement of the Relation Between Swelling Pressure and Interlayer Distance in Li-Vermiculite

To test the double-layer theory of swelling as applied to layer silicates, the interlayer separation, λ, in a Li-saturated vermiculite from Grouse Creek, Utah, was measured as a function of the swelling pressure, II. An oriented sample of the vermiculite (46-105 μm) was placed in an environmental chamber mounted on an X-ray diffractometer and compressed between N2 gas and a porous membrane in contact with a solution draining to the outside atmosphere. After equilibration at each of several successively higher gas pressures, the c-axis spacing was measured by X-ray diffraction, and the corresponding X was calculated by subtracting the thickness of an elementary silicate layer. The results of these measurements showed that. (1) the relation between II and λ for vermiculite is the same as that previously observed for Na-montmorillonite, i.e., II is an exponential function of 1/λ. (2) the values of II predicted by double-layer theory are much smaller than those observed if the surface potential is assigned the appropriate value; an. (3) the observed relation between II and λ does not have the form predicted by this theory. On the basis of these results, a repulsive force not ascribable to double-layer overlap must be primarily responsible for swelling; this force must result from the in-depth perturbation of the water by the surfaces of the vermiculite layers.
Citizens' conceptions of the genome: Related values and practical implications in a citizen forum on the use of genomic information

The development of large data sets, including genomic data, coupled with rapid advances in personalized medicine where citizens increasingly face complex choices about the use of their genomic information implies that citizens are essential stakeholders in genomics. They should be engaged in the ethical, legal and societal issues to produce a framework that fosters trust and allows them to guide the technology based on their values.
Modeling of Human Intervertebral Disc Annulus Fibrosus with Complex Multi-Fiber Networks

Collagen fibers within the annulus fibrosus (AF) lamellae are unidirectionally aligned with alternating orientations between adjacent layers. AF constitutive models often combine two adjacent lamellae into a single equivalent layer containing two fiber networks with a crisscross pattern. Additionally, AF models overlook the inter-lamellar matrix (ILM) as well as elastic fiber networks in between lamellae. We developed a nonhomogenous micromechanical model as well as two coarser homogenous hyperelastic and microplane models of the human AF, and compared their performances against measurements (tissue level uniaxial and biaxial tests as well as whole disc experiments) and seven published hyperelastic models. The micromechanical model had a realistic non-homogenous distribution of collagen fiber networks within each lamella and elastic fiber network in the ILM. For small matrix linear moduli (<0.2 MPa), the ILM showed substantial anisotropy (>10%) due to the elastic fiber network. However, at moduli >0.2 MPa, the effects of the elastic fiber network on differences in stress-strain responses at different directions disappeared (<10%). Variations in sample geometry and boundary conditions (due to uncertainty) markedly affected stress-strain responses of the tissue in uniaxial and biaxial tests (up to 16 times). In tissue level tests, therefore, simulations should represent testing conditions (e.g., boundary conditions, specimen geometry, preloads) as closely as possible. Stress/strain fields estimated from the single equivalent layer approach (conventional method) yielded different results from those predicted by the anatomically more accurate apparoach (i.e., layerwise). In addition, in a disc under a compressive force (symmetric loading), asymmetric stress-strain distributions were computed when using a layerwise simulation. Although all selected AF models predicted gross compression-displacement responses of the whole disc within the range of measured data, some showed excessively stiff or compliant responses under tissue-level uniaxial/biaxial tests. This study emphasizes, when constructing and validating constitutive models of AF, the importance of the proper simulation of individual lamellae as distinct layers, and testing parameters (sample geometric dimensions/loading/boundary conditions).
The histopathological effects of reabsorbable polyethylene glycol hydrogel (Coseal) on epidural fibrosis in an experimental postlaminectomy model in rats

Background/aim To investigate the histopathological effects of reabsorbable polyethylene glycol hydrogel (RPGH, Coseal) on epidural fibrosis (EF) following laminectomy in rats. Materials and methods A total of 24 rats were equally divided into three groups. In the first group, no treatment was applied after laminectomy (control group, Group 1). In the second group, hemostasis was achieved after laminectomy, and 2 mm absorbable gelatin sponge soaked in saline was placed over the epidural space and the wound was closed (Group 2). In the third group, hemostasis was achieved following laminectomy, and 0.5 mL RPGH (Coseal, Group 3) was squeezed over the dura mater, and the wound was closed. A histopathological examination was undertaken to evaluate arachnoidal invasion and EF. Results The results of EF in the Group 2 and Group 3 were significantly lower compared to the Group 1 (p = 0.023 and p = 0.002, respectively). No statistically significant difference was found between the Group 2 and Group 3 in terms of EF (p = 0.957). There was also no statistically significant difference between the mean arachnoidal invasion of the three groups (p > 0.171). However, the rate of arachnoidal invasion was the lowest in the Group 3. Conclusion Intraoperative Coseal, a polyethylene glycol polymer, tends to reduce the risk of epidural fibrosis, although this is not statistically significant.