Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Improved Models and Queries for Grounded Human-Robot Dialog

The ability to understand and communicate in natural language can make robots much more accessible for naive users. Environments such as homes and offices contain many objects that humans describe in diverse language referencing perceptual properties. Robots operating in such environments need to be able to understand such descriptions. Different types of dialog interactions with humans can help robots clarify their understanding to reduce mistakes, and also improve their language understanding models, or adapt them to the specific domain of operation. We present completed work on jointly learning a dialog policy that enables a robot to clarify partially understood natural language commands, while simultaneously using the dialogs to improve the underlying semantic parser for future commands. We introduce the setting of opportunistic active learning a framework for interactive tasks that use supervised models. This framework allows a robot to ask diverse, potentially off-topic queries across interactions, requiring the robot to trade-off between task completion and knowledge acquisition for future tasks. We also attempt to learn a dialog policy in this framework using reinforcement learning We propose a novel distributional model for perceptual grounding, based on learning a joint space for vector representations from multiple modalities. We also propose a method for identifying more informative clarification questions that can scale well to a larger space of objects, and wish to learn a dialog policy that would make use of such clarifications.
CHAPTER 3 THE RESPONSE OF TWO AVIAN NECTARIVORES TO INTERRUPTIONS IN FOOD AVAILABILITY

Nectarivorous birds are generally small, have high metabolic rates and have to feed frequently to meet high energy requirements. Their energy balance is therefore likely to be adversely affected by interruptions in foraging opportunities, as caused by unfavourable weather conditions for instance. To investigate how nectarivorous birds cope with a loss in foraging time, we exposed captive whitebellied sunbirds ( Cinnyris talatala) and brown honeyeaters ( Lichmera indistincta) to a 2 h fasting period during the day, while birds were kept at 10°C and fed a 20% w/w sucrose solution. Both species increased their food intake significantly following the fasting period, relative to uninterrupted feeding. Although the short-term feeding pattern of honeyeate rs was not investigated, whitebellied sunbirds increased their food intake by increasing the length of meals immediately after the fast. Thereafter, sunbirds returned to having shorter meals during the remaining afternoon and appeared to compensate for the fasting period by increasing the number of meals, although this was not significant. In contrast to published data for hummingbirds, these two passerines accumulated energy at a higher rate after the fast compared to a control day. However, food intake over the whole day was lower on the fasting day and birds weighed less in the evening following the fast compared to the control, indicating that the compensation of energy intake and accumulation was incomplete. Although unrelated, sunbirds and honeyeaters show convergence in behavioural responses to energetic challenge, perhaps due to their similar nectar-feeding lifestyle.
Integrative analysis of the melanoma transcriptome Material Supplemental

Open Access Open Access option. Genome Research Freely available online through the License Commons Creative . http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/3.0/ described at as a Creative Commons License (Attribution-NonCommercial 3.0 Unported License), ). After six months, it is available under http://genome.cshlp. org/site/misc/terms.xhtml for the first six months after the full-issue publication date (see This article is distributed exclusively by Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory Press
INSTITUTIONAL FACTORS OF SMEs’ INTERNATIONALIZATION IN TRANSITION ECONOMIES

The paper aims to study the influence of the institutional environment on the international expansion of SMEs from China; the study is based on 134 SMEs operating in Jiangsu Province, China. Data from these companies were analysed using multivariate regressions, and the models used the firms’ export intensity as dependent variables. Seven models were run for the following variables, limited access to financial resources, inefficiencies in logistics and distribution in the home market, transport and insurance costs and payment collection methods, assistance from the government, adverse regulatory framework, state ownership, and public procurement. The results show that access to financial resources, distribution inefficiencies, payment methods, and exchange rates influence the internationalisation of Jiangsu’s SMEs. The paper concludes with an analysis of these findings compared with those in previous works.
Actin Is a Component of the Compensation Mechanism in Pseudorabies Virus Virions Lacking the Major Tegument Protein VP22

ABSTRACT Despite being a major component of the pseudorabies virus tegument, VP22 is not required for PRV replication, virulence, or neuroinvasion (T. del Rio, H. C. Werner, and L. W. Enquist, J. Virol. 76:774-782, 2002). In the absence of VP22, tegument assembly compensates in a limited fashion with increased incorporation of cellular actin. Infection of epithelial cell lines expressing fluorescent actin fusion proteins resulted in the incorporation of filamentous and nonfilamentous actin into individual virions that were predominately light, noninfectious particles. We conclude that cellular actin is incorporated in the tegument of wild-type virions and is part of a compensation mechanism for VP22-null virions.
Partial VAE for Hybrid Recommender System

We propose a novel hybrid recommender system method that treats missing data in a principled manner and that uses amortized inference for fast predictions. We name this method, the Partial Variational Autoencoder (p-VAE). P-VAE uses a novel probabilistic generative model to handle varying numbers of user ratings in a principled way. Using the proposed amortized partial inference technique in p-VAEs, learning and inference can be efficiently performed by minimizing the so-called partial variational upper bound, without making ad-hoc assumptions on the values of missing ratings. Empirical experiments on the MovieLens dataset demonstrate the state-of-the-art performance of our method for movie recommendations.
Developmentally Regulated Telomerase Activity Is Correlated with Chromosomal Healing during Chromatin Diminution inAscaris suum

ABSTRACT Telomerase is the ribonucleoprotein complex responsible for the maintenance of the physical ends, or telomeres, of most eukaryotic chromosomes. In this study, telomerase activity has been identified in cell extracts from the nematode Ascaris suum. This parasitic nematode is particularly suited as a model system for the study of telomerase, because it shows the phenomenon of chromatin diminution, consisting of developmentally programmed chromosomal breakage, DNA elimination, and new telomere formation. In vitro, the A. suum telomerase is capable of efficiently recognizing and elongating nontelomeric primers with nematode-specific telomere repeats by using limited homology at the 3′ end of the DNA to anneal with the putative telomerase RNA template. The activity of this enzyme is developmentally regulated, and it correlates temporally with the phenomenon of chromatin diminution. It is up-regulated during the first two rounds of embryonic cell divisions, to reach a peak in 4-cell-stage embryos, when three presomatic blastomeres prepare for chromatin diminution. The activity remains high until the beginning of gastrulation, when the last of the presomatic cells undergoes chromatin diminution, and then constantly decreases during further development. In summary, our data strongly argue for a role of this enzyme in chromosome healing during the process of chromatin diminution.
THE ROLE OF ATTENTION IN THE RENEWAL EFFECT EL PAPEL DE LA ATENCIÓN EN EL EFECTO DE LA RENOVACIÓN

The renewal effect is a key phenomenon in understanding the underlying mechanism of recovery from extinction. Findings in renewal strongly suggest that contextual cues play an important role in retrieving previously extinguished responses. The retrieval– of–information theory (Bouton, 1993) has been the main theoretical view in this area for the last 20 years. However, some inconsistent data suggest that Bouton’s explanation is incomplete. This article reviews recent research indicating that attention could be another mechanism that underlies renewal and other recovery effects. Implications for learning theory and interventions in applied settings are discussed.
Abstract : Constructing Heuristics for PDDL + Planning Domains

Planning with hybrid domains modelled in PDDL+ has been gaining research interest in the Automated Planning community in recent years. Hybrid domain models capture a more accurate representation of real world problems, that involve continuous processes, than is possible using discrete systems. However, solving problems represented as PDDL+ domains is very challenging due to the construction of complex system dynamics, including non-linear processes and events, and vast search spaces. The main focus of my PhD is to mitigate these challenges by developing domain-independent heuristics for planning in hybrid domains modelled in PDDL+. This is a very real issue as only a handful of planners can cope with hybrid domains and, fewer still with the full set of PDDL+ features and non-linear behaviour.
The family as a place of education. Between a school-centred focus on education and family needs

The results of the PISA studies over recent years have revealed the social selectivity of the scholastic education system. Based on my empirical research on families with mentally ill parents, I show how, for the children involved, social exclusion begins before they even start school; how the parents' mental illness is seen to affect the children, and what support the families in question require. This shows how important it is to take family coping situations into account in the educational discourse on the child and youth welfare services and formal education systems.
The Demand Function for Bank-Issued Warrants 1 By

Bank-issued warrants are securitized options which are particularly designed to give smaller individual investors the opportunity to participate in the derivative markets. As banks incorporate potentially different margins on top of the theoretical fair values of the products, investors face the problem of choosing an optimal product. While previous literature has characterized individual investors as “noise traders”, this paper finds that they do act pricesensitively. In particular, we provide evidence that demand decreases with increasing margins, but also show that larger investors still realize lower margins than smaller investors.
Title Patient with multiple acyl-CoA dehydrogenase deficiency disease and ETFDH mutations benefits from riboflavin therapy : a case report

Background: Lipid storage myopathy (LSM) is a diverse group of lipid metabolic disorders with great variations in the clinical phenotype and age of onset. Classical multiple acyl-CoA dehydrogenase deficiency (MADD) is known to occur secondary to mutations in electron transfer flavoprotein dehydrogenase (ETFDH) gene. Whole exome sequencing (WES) with clinical correlations can be useful in identifying genomic alterations for targeted therapy. Case presentation: We report a patient presented with severe muscle weakness and exercise intolerance, suggestive of LSM. Diagnostic testing demonstrated lipid accumulation in muscle fibres and elevated plasma acyl carnitine levels. Exome sequencing of the proband and two of his unaffected siblings revealed compound heterozygous mutations, c. 250G > A (p.Ala84Thr) and c.770A > G (p.Tyr257Cys) in the ETFDH gene as the probable causative mutations. In addition, a previously unreported variant c.1042C > T (p.Arg348Trp) in ACOT11 gene was found. This missense variant was predicted to be deleterious but its association with lipid storage in muscle is unclear. The diagnosis of MADD was established and the patient was treated with riboflavin which resulted in rapid clinical and biochemical improvement. Conclusions: Our findings support the role of WES as an effective tool in the diagnosis of highly heterogeneous disease and this has important implications in the therapeutic strategy of LSM treatment.
AISeL ) All Sprouts Content Sprouts 1130-2009 An Information-Processing Perspective of IS-Business Integration : A Review of Research and a Conceptual Model

This paper presents a review framework of research related to inter-departmental integration, with a focus toward research into the IS-business relationship. While much of the literature reviewed lies outside the Information Systems realm, it is proposed here that related research in other business disciplines has much to contribute to the current interest in the integration between the Information Systems function, and line management in organizations. The main contribution of this manuscript lies in the identification of an appropriate theoretical base that can be employed in the study of this relationship.
China's Internal Borders

We measured the business-cycle correlations of the real gross domestic product (GDP) growth rates of two cities to capture the degree of segmentation across China's provincial and regional borders. This type of segmentation can be caused by local protectionism as well as other economic and geographic factors. After controlling the other factors, we zeroed in on the administrative border effect that is due to local protectionism. We found that the interprovincial administrative border effect rose and then gradually declined in the period between 1991 and 2007. Its increase coincided with the introduction of the Tax-Sharing System reform, which started in 1994. Our analysis shows that China's reform path did not create a persistent provincial "administrative border effect" that would debilitate market forces.
Analysis of the relation between level of asthma control and depression and anxiety

Summary Background Frequent co-existence of bronchial asthma and depression or anxiety is an unquestioned phenomenon. In contrast, little is known about the relationship between the degree of asthma control and the prevalence of depression and anxiety. The aim of this study was to determine the potential relationship between the degree of asthma control and the prevalence of depression and anxiety. Material/Methods This study included a group of 128 randomly selected asthmatic individuals with various degree of asthma control. The study was based on a questionnaire survey, using the following tools: the Asthma Control Test, Beck Depression Inventory, and State-Trait Anxiety Inventory (STAI) – X-1 and X-2 questionnaires. All the questionnaires were completed during a single follow-up visit at the clinic. Results The occurrence of depression and its severity significantly correlated with the degree of asthma control. Individuals with depression were characterized by a significantly lower degree of asthma control compared to depression-free individuals (p<0.001). The degree of asthma control decreased significantly with increasing severity of depression (R=−0.367; p<0.001). No significant correlation was observed between the degree of asthma control and the levels of trait anxiety (R=−0.095; p=0.295) and state anxiety (R=−0.093; p=0.308). Conclusions The prevalence of depression and its severity significantly correlate with the degree of asthma control. Large, standardized multicenter studies of the relationship between the degree of asthma control and the prevalence of depression and other psychopathological symptoms are needed. Furthermore, it seems reasonable to introduce the screening of asthmatics for mental disorders.
Memristor Neural Network Design

Neural network, a powerful learning model, has archived amazing results. However, the current Von Neumann computing system – based implementations of neural networks are suffering from memory wall and communication bottleneck problems ascrib- ing to the Complementary Metal Oxide Semiconductor (CMOS) technology scaling down and communication gap. Memristor, a two terminal nanosolid state nonvolatile resistive switching, can provide energy-efficient neuromorphic computing with its synaptic behavior. Crossbar architecture can be used to perform neural computations because of its high density and parallel computation. Thus, neural networks based on memristor crossbar will perform better in real world applications. In this chapter, the design of different neural network architectures based on memristor is introduced, including spiking neural networks, multilayer neural networks, convolution neural networks, and recurrent neural networks. And the brief introduction, the architecture, the computing circuits, and the training algorithm of each kind of neural networks are presented by instances. The potential applications and the prospects of memristor-based neural network system are discussed.
Measuring Pavlovian appetitive conditioning in humans with the startle eyeblink and postauricular reflexes

Emotional learning is an essential adaptive function that mainly occurs through aversive and appetitive conditioning. Despite a comparable evolutionary and clinical significance, appetitive conditioning has rarely been studied in humans, in contrast to aversive conditioning. This divergence might be explained by the difficulty in finding effective appetitive stimuli that elicit strong physiological reactions, and/or by a potential lack of sensitivity of the psychophysiological measures typically used to detect appetitive conditioning. However, promising findings suggest that the postauricular reflex (PAR) and the startle eyeblink reflex may be sensitive to appetitive stimuli. The present study therefore aimed to determine whether these two reflexes represent suitable psychophysiological indicators of human appetitive conditioning. To this end, we adopted a differential appetitive conditioning procedure, in which one neutral figure (CS+) was contingently paired with a pleasant odor (US), whereas another neutral figure (CS-) was never paired with any odor. Taken together, our results revealed that the PAR was specifically potentiated in response to the CS+ only during acquisition, demonstrating its sensitivity to the appetitive contingencies. Likewise, CS-US contingency and CS liking ratings reflected successful appetitive conditioning. In contrast, we found no startle eyeblink reflex modulation in response to the CS+, and no effect of appetitive conditioning on SCR. Our findings hence indicate that the postauricular reflex is a sensitive measure of human appetitive conditioning, therefore representing a valuable tool for further investigating the basic mechanisms underlying emotional learning in humans, as well as their dysfunctions in related disorders.
Regional and Sectoral Foreign Direct Investment in Portugal since Joining the EU: A Dynamic Portrait

Despite the very few studies regarding FDI in Portuguese regions - especially regarding its effects - FDI can be an important catalyst for regional economic development and growth. This work studies the existing FDI in the Portuguese regions, analysing its distribution by NUTS III, the sectors in which FDI has more weight in each region, as well as it evolution between 1986 and 2009. Over the years analysed, the results show an increase in the number of firms with FDI in Portugal, although their relative weight remained constant. At the same time, these firms spread to all regions of the country, besides the main economic and services agglomerations (Lisboa and Porto). The regions attracted not only FDI for the sectors in which they have already been specialized, but also for other activities, diversifying the regional productive structure. The increase and diversification of FDI coincided with the tertiarisation of the economy, approaching the totality of the productive specialization of the country, while continuing to focus on manufacturing.
On a Gaussian approximation to the capacity of wireless MIMO systems

We consider the capacity of a single user t /spl rarr/ /spl tau/ MIMO wireless system in a Rayleigh or Ricean fading environment. It is known that a certain central limit theorem exists which states (under certain conditions) that the distribution of the standardized capacity is asymptotically Gaussian as r /spl rarr/ /spl infin/, t /spl rarr/ /spl infin/ and /spl tau//t /spl rarr/ y for some constant y. However we demonstrate the surprising accuracy of a Gaussian approximation to the capacity for virtually all values of /spl tau/ and t. In order to investigate the accuracy of the Gaussian fit we derive the variance of the capacity in the Rayleigh fading case.
Functionality of Wet Grasslands as Green Infrastructure Waders , Avian Predators and Land Covers in Northern Europe

Habitat loss is a global issue that affects land cover patterns, ecological processes and the distribution and abundance of species. As a result, many conservation approaches have appeared, such as the European Union’s green infrastructure (GI) policy and UNESCO’s Biosphere Reserve (BR) concept. Both are being applied in southern Sweden’s Kristianstad Vattenrike Biosphere Reserve (KVBR). Despite concentrated conservation efforts at a local scale to conserve biodiversity, focal grasslands and waders have declined. This calls for the assessment of outputs within the KVBR in terms of both knowledge production and its dissemination, as well as the consequences of management on the ground (Paper I). Focusing on supporting the KVBRs’ work and wader conservation in general, this thesis studied how anthropogenic factors affect the land cover patterns and processes of wet grasslands for waders. Over the past two centuries land use and land cover change have reduced the KVBR’s area of functional grassland habitat by >98% (Paper II). Whilst loss and degradation of wet grassland habitats is considered a primary reason of wader decline in Europe, predator–prey relationships have been proposed as a secondary reason. Using several wet grassland landscapes across Northern Europe, predator-prey relationships were explored (Paper III, IV & V). Firstly, the distribution and abundance of avian predators is determined by resource diversity and anthropogenic factors of a landscape at multiple spatial scales. Secondly, predator abundance and predation pressure were positively correlated, and linked to different wet grassland developmental stages in Northern Europe. Thus, based on the studies contained in this thesis, changes to both land cover patterns and ecological processes play a vital role for the maintenance of wet grasslands as functional GI. Finally, the multiple landscape case study approach employed in this thesis is a novel macroecological tool that encourages knowledge production and learning for functional GI.