Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Using Self-Supervised Dual Constraint Contrastive Learning for Cross-Modal Retrieval

In this work, we present a self-supervised dual constraint contrastive method for efﬁciently ﬁne-tuning the vision-language pre-trained (VLP) models that have achieved great success on various cross-modal tasks, since full ﬁne-tune these pre-trained models is computationally expensive and tend to result in catastrophic forgetting restricted by the size and quality of labeled datasets. Our approach freezes the pre-trained VLP models as the fundamental, generalized, and transferable multimodal representation and incorporates lightweight parameters to learn domain and task-speciﬁc features without labeled data. We demonstrated that our self-supervised dual contrastive model performs better than previous ﬁne-tuning methods on MS COCO and Flickr 30K datasets on the cross-modal retrieval task, with an even more pronounced improvement in zero-shot performance. Furthermore, experiments on the MOTIF dataset prove that our self-supervised approach remains effective when trained on a small, out-of-domain dataset without overﬁtting. As a plug-and-play method, our proposed method is agnostic to the underlying models and can be easily integrated with different VLP models, allowing for the potential incorporation of future advancements in VLP models.
Combating Short Circuit Behavior in Natural Language Reasoning: Crossover and Mutation Operations for Enhanced Robustness

In this study, we delve into the “short circuit” phenomenon observed in multiple-choice natural language reasoning tasks, where models tend to make accurate choices without properly considering the context of the question. To better understand this phenomenon, we propose white-box and black-box proxy tests as investigative tools to detect short circuit behavior, conﬁrming its presence in ﬁne-tuned NLU reasoning models. To tackle the short circuit issue, we introduce biologically inspired “crossover” and “mutation” operations. These operations are applied to augment the training data for popular models such as BERT, XLNet, and RoBERTa. Our results demonstrate that these data augmentation techniques effectively enhance the models’ robustness and mitigate the short circuit problem.
Accelerating SAT-Based HTN Plan Verification by Exploiting Data Structures from HTN Planning

Plan verification is the task of deciding whether a given plan is a solution to a planning problem. In this paper, we study the plan verification problem in the context of Hierarchical Task Network (HTN) planning, which has been proved to be NP -complete when partial order (PO) is involved. We will develop a novel SAT-based approach exploiting the data structures solution order graphs and path decomposition trees which encodes an HTN plan verification problem as a SAT one. We show in our experiments that this new approach outperforms the current state-of-the-art (SOTA) planning-based approach for verifying plans for POHTN problems.
Exploiting Epistemic Uncertainty at Inference Time for Early-Exit Power Saving

Distinguishing epistemic from aleatoric uncertainty is a central idea to out-of-distribution (OOD) detection. By interpreting adversarial and OOD inputs from this perspective, we can collect them into a single unclassifiable group. Rejecting such inputs mid-inference will reduce resource usage. To achieve this, we apply k-nearest neighbour (KNN) classifiers to the embedding space of branched neural networks. This introduces a novel means of additional power savings, through an early-exit reject . Our technique works out-of-the-box on any branched neural network and can be competitive on OOD benchmarks, achieving an area under receiver operator characteristic (AUROC) of over 0.9 in most datasets, and scores of 0.95+ when identifying perturbed inputs. A mixed input test set is introduced, we show how OOD inputs can be identified up to 50% of the time, and adversarial inputs up to 85% of the time. In a balanced test environment, this equates to power savings of up to 18% in the OOD scenario and 40% in the adversarial scenario. This allows a more stringent in-distribution (ID) classification policy, leading to accuracy improvements of 15% and 20% on the OOD and adversarial tests, respectively, when compared to conventional exit policies operating under the same conditions.
Resource-Constrained Knowledge Diffusion Processes Inspired by Human Peer Learning

We consider a setting where a population of artificial learners is given, and the objective is to optimize aggregate measures of performance, under constraints on training resources. The problem is motivated by the study of peer learning in human educational systems. In this context, we study natural knowledge diffusion processes in networks of interacting artificial learners. By `natural', we mean processes that reflect human peer learning where the students' internal state and learning process is mostly opaque, and the main degree of freedom lies in the formation of peer learning groups by a coordinator who can potentially evaluate the learners before assigning them to peer groups. Among else, we empirically show that such processes indeed make effective use of the training resources, and enable the design of modular neural models that have the capacity to generalize without being prone to overfitting noisy labels.
Low conﬁdence in multi-decadal trends of wind-driven upwelling across the Benguela Upwelling System

Like other eastern boundary upwelling systems, in the Benguela Upwelling System, the upwelling along the coastline is primarily alongshore-wind-driven. In contrast, it is mainly driven by the wind stress curl farther offshore. The surface wind regime across the Benguela Upwelling System is strongly related to the South Atlantic Anticyclone that is believed to migrate poleward in response to anthropogenic global warming. Using the European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts ERA5 reanalysis for 1979–2021, we investigate multi-decadal changes in the South Atlantic Anticyclone and their impacts on coastal upwelling driven by along-shore winds, wind-stress-curl-driven upwelling within the coastal zone and total upwelling as the sum of both across the Benguela Upwelling System. Even though the detailed structure of surface wind over the coastal zone matters for both alongshore-wind-driven coastal upwelling and wind-stress-curl-driven upwelling, we show that it is not of major importance for the total amount of upwelled water. We found a robust connection between the anticyclone intensity and the zonally integrated wind-stress-curl-driven and total upwelling. However
A Dynamic Model of Demand for Houses and Neighborhoods∗

We develop a tractable model of neighborhood choice in a dynamic setting along with a computationally straightforward estimation approach. This approach uses information on neighborhood choice and the timing of moves to recover: (i) preferences for dynamically evolving housing and neighborhood attributes, (ii) preferences for the performance of housing as a financial asset (e.g., expected appreciation, volatility), and (iii) moving costs. The model and estimation approach are potentially applicable to the study of a wide set of dynamic phenomena in housing markets and cities. We use our model to estimate the marginal willingness to pay for housing size and three (dis)amenities: living near neighbors from the same racial group, exposure to ground-level ozone, and proximity to violent crime. Consistent with theory, we find that a naive static model understates willingness to pay to avoid ozone and crime, but overstates willingness to pay to live near one’s own race. This has important implications for the class of static housing demand and hedonic models that are typically used to value all many types of urban amenities. ∗We thank Ed Glaeser, participants of NBER Summer Institute, Stanford Institute for Theoretical Economics, Regional Science Annual Meetings, Duke’s Applied Microeconomics lunch groups, and seminar participants at the University of Minnesota, the University of British Columbia, New York University, Georgetown University, University of Rochester, and the University of Arizona for their helpful comments. We also thank Elliot Anenberg for excellent research assistance. All errors are our own.
CYTOCHROME P450 GENE INDUCTION IN RATS EX VIVO ASSESSED BY QUANTITATIVE REAL-TIME REVERSE-TRANSCRIPTION POLYMERASE

: Drug-induced changes in expression of cytochrome P450 (CYP) genes are a significant issue in the pre-clinical development of pharmaceuticals. For example, pre-clinically CYP induction can impact safety studies by reducing the systemic exposure of a compound undergoing toxicological evaluation, thus limiting the exposure that can be safely investigated in patients. Consequently, the induction potential of candidate drugs has been studied as part of the drug development process, typically utilising protein and/or catalytic end points. However, measuring changes in the levels of mRNA using TaqMan ® technology offers the opportunity to investigate this issue with the advantages of better dynamic range and specific enzyme identification. Here, we describe the TaqMan ® application to study ex vivo the P450 gene induction in the rat. Initially, livers from rats dosed with the prototypic CYP inducers β -napthoflavone (BNF), phenobarbital (PB), dexamethasone (DEX) and clofibric acid (CLO) were analysed for mRNA levels of CYP1A1, 1A2, 2B1, 2B2, 2E1, 3A2, 3A23 and 4A1 and compared to control animals. The maximum fold induction of mRNA varied; 2500-fold for CYP1A1 with BNF, 680-fold for CYP2B1 with PB, 59-fold for CYP3A23 with DEX and 16-fold for CYP4A1 with CLO. This method was then applied to estimate the inductive potential of putative drug candidates undergoing rodent toxicological evaluation. We present a summary of these data which demonstrates the sensitivity and specificity of the TaqMan ® assay to distinguish between inducers and non-inducers and which offers a highly specific alternative to the quantification of drug effects on CYP expression using immunodetection and substrate metabolism.
High‐pressure mineral assemblage in granitic rocks from continental units, Alpine Corsica, France

The Popolasca–Francardo area of northern Corsica contains an assemblage of continental tectonic units affected by an Alpine deformation. In one of these units, Unit II, previously regarded as weakly metamorphosed, a metamorphic mineral assemblage characterized by sodic amphibole, phengite, quartz, albite and epidote has been found in an aplite dyke that cuts the dominant granitoids. Peak‐metamorphic temperature and pressure conditions of 300–370°C and 0.50–0.80 GPa, respectively, have been determined. This finding indicates that a continuous belt of continental slices, characterized by high‐pressure, low‐temperature metamorphism of Tertiary age, extends from the Tenda Massif in the north to the Corte area in the south, thus placing additional constraints on the tectonic evolution of Alpine Corsica. Copyright © 2005 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
THE EFFECTS OF VITAMIN D LEVELS ON PREGNANCY OUTCOMES IN PATIENTS RECEIVING FROZEN EMBRYO TRANSFER

Objective: The aim of this study is to evaluate the effects of 25-OH vitamin D on pregnancy outcomes in infertile patients undergoing a frozen embryo transfer. Methods: In this prospective, single-blind study conducted at Kocaeli University Medical Faculty Hospital, Center for Assisted Reproductive Techniques, baseline serum levels of 25-OH vitamin D were measured at the start of treatment in 276 infertile patients who were scheduled to undergo frozen embryo transfer (FET). Cases with 25-OH-D vitamin levels lower than the level of deficiency (<20 ng/ml, group A, n=48) and higher than the level of deficiency (≥20 ng/ml, group B, n=44) were compared in terms of the rates of pregnancy as an outcome of the FET cycle, clinical pregnancy, ongoing pregnancy, live birth, implantation, pregnancy loss, and multiple pregnancy. Results: Cases in groups 1 and 2 had similar demographic characteristics, and the serum AMH levels, one of the cycle follow-up parameters, were statistically significantly higher in group 1 compared to group 2 (p=0.014). Pregnancy (41.6% vs. 31.8%), clinical pregnancy (35.4% vs. 25%), ongoing pregnancy (25% vs. 18.2%), live birth (20.8% vs. 18.2%), pregnancy loss (18.8% vs. 13.6%) and twin pregnancy (4.2% vs. 9.1%) were similar between the groups (p=0.328, p=0.278, p=0.428, p=0.749, p=0.507, p=0.421, respectively). Conclusion: There was no correlation between pregnancy outcomes from frozen embryo transfer and baseline serum 25-OH vitamin D levels obtained at the start of treatment. There is no indirect evidence showing that vitamin D level exerts its effects on fertility through endometrial receptivity and the implantation process.
Move More: Combining gamification and physical nudges to promote walking breaks and reduce sedentary behaviour of office workers. A randomized controlled trial.

Background: Sedentary behaviour (SB) and lack of physical activity (PA) have been associated with poorer health outcomes and are increasingly prevalent in individuals working in sedentary occupations, such as office jobs. Gamification and nudges have attracted attention as promising strategies to promote health behaviour change. However, most studies of effectiveness so far lacked active controls, and few studies have tested interventions combining these two strategies. Objective: This study investigated the effectiveness of an intervention combining a gamified digital intervention with physical nudges to increase PA and reduce SB in Dutch office workers. Methods: Employees of the municipality of Rotterdam (N = 298) from two office locations were randomized at the location-level to either a 10-week intervention, combining a five-week gamification phase encompassing a gamified digital intervention with social support features and a five-week physical nudges phase, or to an active control (i.e. limited digital application with self-monitoring and goal-setting). The primary outcome was daily step count objectively measured via accelerometers. Secondary outcomes were self-reported PA and SB. Mixed-effects models were used to analyse the effects of the intervention on the primary and secondary outcome measures of participants up to one month after the intervention. Results: A total of 234 participants completed the study and provided accelerometer data. During the gamification phase, participants in the intervention condition significantly increased their number of daily steps (from 10138 to 10901; 763.5 increase) compared to those in the active control (from 10403 to 10619; 215.6 increase) (p = 0.01). These improvements were not sustained during the physical nudges phase (p = 0.76) or follow-up (p = 0.88). Conclusions: A digital intervention with gamification and social support features significantly increased the step count of office workers, compared to an active control encompassing self-monitoring and goal-setting. Physical nudges in the workplace were insufficient to promote maintanence of behaviour change achieved in the gamification phase. Future research should explore how to improve the long-term effectiveness of gamified digital interventions.
High-frequency signals from air-gun arrays

We suggest two different mechanisms for generation of high-frequency signals from seismic sources: one type that we interpret as being caused by high-frequency effects close to and within each individual air gun and another type caused by an effect that we refer to as ghost cavitation. The former one is found to have a steep decreasing amplitude trend with frequency, while the latter has a close to 1=f attenuation for frequencies above 1 kHz. A thorough understanding of the effects is of significant importance to quantify and estimate any environmental impact of marine seismic air-gun arrays. The proposed ghost-cavitation mechanism needs further experimental testing. However, given that the suggested model is proven, we think it is possible to attenuate the high-frequency noise generated by compact air-gun arrays by increasing the areal extent of the gun array.
CAPA: An Architecture For Operating Cluster Networks With High Availability (

Management operations are a major source of outages for networks. A number of best practices designed to reduce and mitigate such outages are well known, but their enforcement has been challenging, leaving the network vulnerable to inadvertent mistakes and gaps which repeatedly result in outages. We present our experiences with CAPA, Google’s “containment and prevention architecture” for regulating management operations on our cluster networking ﬂeet. Our goal with CAPA is to limit the systems where strict adherence to best practices is required, so that availability of the network is not dependent on the good intentions of every engineer and operator. We enumerate the features of CAPA which we have found to be necessary to effectively enforce best practices within a thin “regulation“ layer. We evaluate CAPA based on case studies of outages prevented, counter-factual analysis of past incidents, and known limitations. Management-plane-related outages have substantially reduced both in frequency and severity, with a 82% reduction in cumulative duration of incidents normalized to ﬂeet size over ﬁve years.
Cryologic continuum of a steep watershed

Ice processes taking place in steep channels are sensitive to the thermal and hydrological regimes of upstream reaches and tributaries as well as to the local channel morphology. This work presents freezeup, mid‐winter, and breakup data from four channels of increasing order located in a cold temperate watershed during the winter 2010–2011. From headwater channels to the main drainage system, water temperature, ice coverage, and ice processes are reported and related to weather conditions and to channel characteristics. Headwater channels only formed ephemeral ice features, and their water temperature reached as much as 4 °C in mid‐winter. On the other hand, larger channels formed impressively large ice dams, some of them reaching 2 m in height. The development of a suspended ice cover partially insulated the channels; as a result, water temperatures remained above 0 °C even for air temperatures well below freezing. This work presents steep channels ice processes that have not been described in previous publications. The concept of a watershed cryologic continuum (WCC) is developed from the data collected at each channel order. This concept emphasizes the feedback loops that exist between morphology, hydrology, heat, and ice processes in a given watershed and can lead to a better understanding of ice processes taking place at any channel location within that watershed. The WCC can also contribute in improving our understanding of the impacts of climate change on the cryologic and thermal regimes of steep channels. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Tax Filing and Take-Up: Experimental Evidence on Tax Preparation Outreach and Benefit Claiming∗

The U.S. federal government, states, and non-profits all devote substantial resources to increasing take-up of refundable tax credits like the Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) and Child Tax Credit (CTC) through educational outreach. We study a different approach to increasing take-up: policies that encourage tax filing. In a large field experiment, we find that IRS letters about free tax preparation modestly increased filing, with a large share of the new filers claiming the EITC and the CTC. The results suggest policies that increase filing can be an effective way to increase take-up of tax-administered social benefits, even policies that do not raise awareness of the benefit
Geologia do Estado de Roraima, Brasil

Four major domains are present in Roraima State: 1) the Urariquera Domain with WNW-ESE and E-W trends and dominantly calc-alkaline granite and volcanics and sedimentary cover rocks; 2) the Central Guyana Domain trending NE-SW and containing high-grade metamorphic rocks and a typical AMG association; 3) the Parima Domain with NW-SE structural lineaments and post-TransAmazonian granite–greenstone terrains; and 4) the AnauaJatapu Domain with NW-SE and NE-SW trends and widespread calc-alkaline and alkaline granite.
dis-Sedentary Behavior and Arterial Stiffness in Adults with and without Metabolic Syndrome

This study aimed to investigate whether sedentary time (Sed) and physical activity (PA) are associated with arterial stiffness in individuals with and without metabolic syndrome (MetS). This cross-sectional study comprised 197 individuals (47 ± 13 years; 58 % female) from a primary health care centre. Arterial stiffness was assessed using carotid-femoral pulse wave velocity (cfPWV). Metabolic syndrome was determined as clustering of at least 3 out of 5 risk factors (central obesity, hyperten - sion, impaired glucose, triglycerides and high-density lipoprotein cholesterol). Daily PA was objectively assessed and classified in Sed
Self-Fulﬁlling Prophecies

: Causal loops are a recurring feature in the philosophy of time travel, where it is generally agreed that they are logically possible but may come with a theoretical cost. This paper introduces an unfamiliar set of causal loop cases involving knowledge or beliefs about the future: self-fulﬁlling prophecy loops (SFP loops). I show how and when such loops arise and consider their relationship to more familiar causal loops.
An Assessment Of The Prevalence Of Hepatitis B, C & HIV Infection Status Among Dental Out Patients At Neigrihms Two-Year Data Comparative Study.

Background : Viral hepatitis B and C, as well as HIV infection, are like endemic diseases across the globe, and the spread of these illnesses is a major health concern, especially among developing nations . The most important aspect about this is that, the majority of the population (in developing countries) does not know how this disease gets transmitted and how severe its consequences can be if it persists forever. It’s likely that they are only aware of the source of infection, such as repeated blood transfusions or needle exchanges among drug users, which are the main reason for the spread of blood borne diseases . But it has been found that apart from the above mentioned sources of infection, there are some trivial issues where most of the population are not aware and even ignore by the most of the health care professionals. So this slight amount of negligence might cause a risk of transmission and acquisition of these diseases in a profession especially like dentistry after any form of a dental procedure’s unless mandatory screening of every patient for hepatitis B, C and HIV were not done. Besides that proper sterilization of any dental instrument after any form dental procedure , including Oral examination set is not maintained. Since from our data it has been come to our notice that some of the patient who had attended our dental OPD for any form of dental treatment had shown HBV & HCV including HIV test reactive or positive after mandatory screening of every patient before any dental procedure except paediatrics patient. AIM: The aim of the present paper is to acknowledge the prevalence rate of hepatitis B, C as well as HIV infection status among the dental OPD patients of North-East India, who had attended dental OPD at Neigrihms hospital during the two-years of study. Method : It’s a prospective comparative study where a data was collected from dental OPD patient who was recorded in between January 2018 to December 2020.In this study OPD patients were asked to go for mandatory screening of hepatitis B, C as well and HIV before any dental procedure except paediatric patients. Result : The result from a data shows that nine Nos. Of dental OPD patients was infected with hepatis B, C including HIV out of 27932 total Nos of OPD patients. Where five was shown with HBsAg: positive, three was shown with Anti-HCV: test positive and one was infected with, HIV. The total Nos of patients were comprised of new cases, follow-up cases, In-patient cases, referred cases which was recorded in between January 2018 to December 2020.The prevalence rate was 0.032 % for overall cases,0.018 % for HBsAg: positive cases,0.011% for Anti-HCV: positive cases and 0.