Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
FVRC2016: The 2nd Finger Vein Recognition Competition

Finger vein recognition is a newly developed and promising biometrics technology. In current researches, finger vein recognition algorithms are mostly evaluated on data collected in laboratory environment. Along with its development, this technology gradually transforms from laboratory to actual use. Finger vein images captured in operational systems are different from those obtained in the lab, due to its uncontrollable acquisition condition and users' behavior. The 2nd Finger Vein Recognition Competition (FVRC2016) was organized for the purpose of assessing and comparing finger vein recognition algorithms on such data. 3 new data sets collected in real application were prepared for evaluating and improving algorithms. 6 submitted algorithms were extensively tested on the data sets. Testing protocols and detailed analysis of the results are also presented in this paper.
DISCOVERY OF FOG AT THE SOUTH POLE OF TITAN

While Saturn's moon Titan appears to support an active methane hydrological cycle, no direct evidence for surface–atmosphere exchange has yet appeared. The indirect evidence, while compelling, could be misleading. It is possible, for example, that the identified lake features could be filled with ethane, an involatile long-term residue of atmospheric photolysis; the apparent stream and channel features could be ancient remnants of a previous climate; and the tropospheric methane clouds, while frequent, could cause no rain to reach the surface. We report here the detection of fog at the south pole of Titan during late summer using observations from the VIMS instrument on board the Cassini spacecraft. While terrestrial fog can form from a variety of causes, most of these processes are inoperable on Titan. Fog on Titan can only be caused by evaporation of nearly pure liquid methane; the detection of fog provides the first direct link between surface and atmospheric methane. Based on the detections presented here, liquid methane appears widespread at the south pole of Titan in late southern summer, and the hydrological cycle on Titan is currently active.
Separation of the global and local components in functional near-infrared spectroscopy signals using principal component spatial filtering

Abstract. Global systemic effects not specific to a task can be prominent in functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS) signals and the separation of task-specific fNIRS signals and global nonspecific effects is challenging due to waveform correlations. We describe a principal component spatial filter algorithm for separation of the global and local effects. The effectiveness of the approach is demonstrated using fNIRS signals acquired during a right finger-thumb tapping task where the response patterns are well established. Both the temporal waveforms and the spatial pattern consistencies between oxyhemoglobin and deoxyhemoglobin signals are significantly improved, consistent with the basic physiological basis of fNIRS signals and the expected pattern of activity associated with the task.
SHELL: Oral Language and Early Literacy Skills in Kindergarten and First-Grade Children

Abstract Since learning to read is a complex process, there are a diverse set of prerequisite skills, including both language and literacy related skills. This article reports on a battery of oral language and early literacy tests, called the SHELL. The battery contains measures of oral language development (a narrative production task, a picture description task, a definitions task, and a superordinates task), as well as comprehension, vocabulary, and early literacy measures (both emergent literacy and early reading and spelling.) In addition to presenting the tasks and the scoring systems for the SHELL, we also provide information about performance on these tasks by participants in the Home-School Study of Language and Literacy Development, a longitudinal project that is collecting interview, interactional, and outcome data on low-income children from age three to age ten at home and at school. Descriptive, correlational, and predictive analyses based on scores for SHELL-K (when the children were five y.
Anti-fat attitudes among children

Research has shown that adults consistently derogate overweight adults. However, little research has explored children's perceptions of overweight children. The aim of the present thesis was to explore the prevalence and nature of children's attitudes towards overweight children and to test an intervention designed to reduce such anti-fat prejudice. Children between 3 and 11 years of age took part in a range of investigations measuring: (1) children's desire to be friends with overweight children compared with average-weight black and white children, (2) children's stereotypes regarding overweight children's athletic, academic, artistic, and social abilities, (3) the mere-proximity effect, which is whether average-weight children are derogated when evaluated in the proximity of overweight children, and (4) the effectiveness of an intervention designed to reduce anti-fat prejudice. The key results showed that: (1) overweight children were liked significantly less than average-weight black and white children, (2) children eight years of age and younger held negative stereotypes about overweight children regarding their athletic, academic, artistic, and social abilities, (3) average-weight female targets were derogated when evaluated in the proximity of overweight female characters, and (4) the intervention altered children's answers on explicit (but not implicit) measures of anti-fat prejudice, and this tended to persist and sometimes became stronger over time. The implications of these findings are discussed with regards to obesity stigma in the context of existing research and future directions for research are discussed.
Expanding the Role of the Wind-Driven Manipulator

The wind-driven dynamic manipulator is a device which uses the wind tunnel freestream energy to drive multiaxis maneuvers of test models. This paper summarizes work performed using the device in several applications and discusses current work on characterizing the aerodynamics of an X-38 vehicle model in pitch-yaw maneuvers. Previous applications in flow visualization, adaptive control and lineardomain parameter identification are now extended to multiaxis inverse force and moment measurement over large ranges of attitude. A pitch-yaw-roll version is operated with active roll to measure forces and moments during maneuvers. A 3-D look-up table generated from direct force calibration allows operation of the manipulator through nonlinear regimes where control wing stall and boom wake-wing interactions are allowed to occur. Hybrid designs combining conventional and wind-driven degrees of freedom are discussed.
The Textural Discontinuity Hypothesis and its relation to nomadism, migration, decline, and competition

The causes of nomadism, migration, and decline in vertebrates are debated issues in the ecological sciences. Literature suggests nomadism may arise in species that specialize in granivory, nectivory, or the utilization of rodent outbreaks. Migration is thought to arise as a result of the exploitation of certain scarce or variable food resources. Species decline is hypothesized to be the result of many different factors as well; large species, island species and specialists may be more prone to decline. A fresh perspective regarding the causes for species nomadism, migration, and decline is being investigated utilizing the ideas within the Textural Discontinuity Hypothesis. The Textural Discontinuity Hypothesis stems from complex systems analysis and posits that body mass distributions form aggregations within ecological systems, and that those body mass aggregations reflect discontinuous distributions of resources. Additionally scientists have posited that species at the edges of body mass aggregations may be exposed to highly variable resources. Literature indicates nomadic and declining bird species populations occur at the edges of body mass aggregations more frequently than expected. Migratory bird species also may be located at the edges of body mass aggregations more frequently than expected. The morphological spacing of species within aggregations may yield clues regarding species interactions. Thedistribution of species within a body mass aggregation would have low variance if species within an aggregation interact with each other strongly – morphological overdispersion has been documented in many animal communities and reflects strong competitive interactions among species. I analyzed nomadism, migration, and decline in South African birds using an information-theoretic approach. I assembled a series of plausible models based upon suggested or theoretically predictive characteristics. Additionally, I used a series of Monte Carlo simulations to investigate the distribution of species within aggregations, in terms of body mass. Results suggest that a combination of species characteristics, including the distance to the edge of a body mass aggregation, explain the complex phenomena of nomadism, migration and decline. Generally there was no single model supported, and often many models were in the confidence set, providing only weak inference. Within body mass aggregations, there is more variance among species than null expectations, thus with my dataset morphological overdispersion is not present within body mass aggregations. Nomadism, migration, and decline are complex phenomena which incorporate different species characteristics, perhaps explaining why such debate still exists over the causes of these phenomena. DEDICATION This thesis is dedicated to my insightful advisor …
Assembly of asparagine-linked oligosaccharides.

PERSPECTIVES AND SUMMARY 631 STRUCTURES OF ASPARAGINE-LINKED OLIGOSACCI-IARIDES 632 ASSEMBLY AND TRANSFER OF THE LIPID-LINKED OLIGOSACCHARIDE . 635 Assembly 635 Transfer-Oligosaccharide Structural Requirements 636 Transfer-Role of Peptide Acceptor 637 OLIGOSACCHARIDE P OCESSING 639 Sequence of Processing 639 Subcellular Localization of Processing Enzymes 641 Processing in Lower Organisms 643 Specificity of Processing Enzymes 644 OTHER POS’VI~RANSLATIONAL MODIFICATIONS 653 CONTROL F OLIGOSACCHARIDE PROCESSING 655
Structured after‐school activities as a moderator of depressed mood for adolescents with detached relations to their parents

This study investigated whether participation in structured after-school activities moderates the association between detached parent–adolescent relationships and adolescent depressed mood. A representative sample of 539 14-year-olds and their parents were assessed concerning adolescent participation in after-school activities, the parent–adolescent relationship, and adolescent depressed mood. Results showed that adolescents with detached relations to their parents reported high levels of depressed mood. Adolescents who participated in after-school activities reported low levels of depressed mood compared to adolescents not participating in such activities; however, this was primarily true of participants who perceived high support from their activity leader. Support from after-school activity leaders was particularly important for a subgroup of youth characterized by highly detached relations to their parents. Although girls reported higher levels of depressed mood than did boys, the associated benefits of perceived support from an activity leader were consistent across gender. © 2002 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
Global Warming Coverage in the Media: Trends in a Mexico City Newspaper

This study examined newspaper coverage, intensity of stories (how intensely the issue of global warming is presented), and the presence of frames, solutions, and conflicts surrounding the global warming issue in 144 articles appearing from 2004 through 2006 in the Mexico City—based newspaper, Reforma. The ecology/science frame and consequences frames were the most intensely reported frames. Scientific conflict and U.S. conflict are present, but in low frequencies and near the end of stories. International relations were the most frequently presented solution to global warming, and story frequencies peaked during international conferences. Consistent with previous findings, this study found that foreign media tend to emphasize international relations and de-emphasize conflicts and controversies.
The Role of Community in Online Learning

This project examined learners' perceptions of the learning community construct, whether learners' online and face-to-face interactions led to the development of learning communities and whether the process of building community was different in face-to-face and web-based courses. Courses requiring learners to interact on a personal level early in the course were more likely to develop into learning communities. The degree of distance within the course did not make a difference in whether these learning communities developed. Rather, a sense of trust and of shared hardship as they worked through the course assignments were seen as more important by these learners. In situations where communications were considered inappropriate, developing communities were derailed or development never began. A definition of community emerged from the data that identified characteristics of shared learning goals, exchanging ideas, assisting each other, and an element of trust among the learners within the community.
Erroneous Diagnosis of Significant Obstruction by Doppler in a Patient with Discrete Subaortic Membrane: Correct Diagnosis by 3D‐Transthoracic Echocardiography

We report an adult with a discrete subaortic membrane in whom two‐dimensional transthoracic Doppler echocardiography demonstrated peak and mean gradients of 64 and 33 mmHg, respectively in the left ventricular outflow tract (LVOT) and a calculated orifice area by continuity equation of 1.14 cm2 consistent with significant obstruction. However, by direct en face visualization of the LVOT at the level of the membrane by live/real time three‐dimensional transthoracic echocardiography (3D TTE), a larger orifice measuring 2.29 cm2 was seen and was indicative of no significant obstruction. This finding was confirmed at cardiac catheterization, which showed insignificant obstruction.
Qualitative scene descriptions from images for integrated speech and image understanding

Human-computer interaction using means of communication which are natural to humans, like spoken instructions or gestures, has always been a challenging task. In this thesis, we address the subproblem of fusing the understanding of spoken instructions with the visual perception of the environment. We describe the design and implementation of a high-level computer vision component for the integrated speech and image understanding system QUASI-ACE. QUASI-ACE is a prototype of a ‘situated artificial communicator’, a system which aims to interact with humans in a natural way given a specific scenario or situation. A toy assembly scenario is our domain. The system QUASI-ACE is able to identify objects intended in spoken instructions given by a human instructor, based on results from the image understanding component which visually observes the scene. The high-level image understanding is accomplished by first reconstructing the 3D scene from uncalibrated stereo images. We use a model-based approach fitting 3D object models to 2D features extracted from images to estimate the pose of all objects and the camera parameters. In this context we developed a new method of using ellipses for 3D reconstruction based on projective invariants. The second image understanding step involves the computation of the qualitative features ‘type’, ‘color’, and ‘spatial relations’ from the 3D data and from 2D object hypotheses obtained from object recognition. These qualitative features are represented as fuzzified vectors assigning a likelihood value to each category in the feature space. The identification of the intended objects in the spoken instructions is based on a Bayesian network approach. The objects with the highest joint probability of being observed in the scene and being intended in the instructions are identified using the common qualitative representation for observed ‘type’, ‘color’, and ‘spatial relations’ as well as the uttered ‘type’, ‘color’, ‘size’, ‘shape’, and ‘spatial relations’. Domain and prior knowledge is incorporated in the identification process. We show the performance and robustness of our image understanding and object identification modules in the context of the entire system QUASI-ACE using real images and spoken instructions.
Efficient low-contention parallel algorithms

The queue-read, queue-write (QRQW) PRAM model [GMR94] permits concurrent reading and writing, but at a cost proportional to the number of readers/writers to a memory location in a given step. The QRQW model reflects the contention properties of most parallel machines more accurately than either the well-studied CRCW or EREW models: the CRCW model does not adequately penalize algorithms with high contention to shared memory locations, while the EREW model is too strict in its insistence on zero contention at each step. Of primary practical and theoretical interest, then, is the design of fast and efficient QRQW algorithms for problems for which all previous algorithms either suffer from high contention, fail to be fast, or fail to be work-optimal. This paper describes low-contention, fast, work-optimal QRQW PRAM algorithms for the fundamental problems of finding a random permutation, parallel hashing, load balancing, and sorting. There is no known fast, work-optimal EREW algorithm known for finding a random permutation or for parallel hashing. For load balancing, we improve upon the EREW result whenever the ratio of the maximum to the average load is not too large. We show that the logarithmic dependence of the QRQW running time on this ratio is inherent by providing a matching lower bound. We demonstrate the performance advantage of a QRQW random permutation algorithm, compared with the popular EREW algorithm, by implementing and running both algorithms on the MasPar MP-1. Finally, we extend the work-time framework for the design of parallel algorithms to account for contention, and relate it to the QRQW PRAM model. We use our QRQW load balancing algorithm, as well as the QRQW linear compaction algorithm in [GMR94], to provide automatic tools for processor allocation—an issue that needs to be handled when translating an algorithm from its work-time presentation into the explicit PRAM description.
Candidate Sequence Variants and Fetal Hemoglobin in Children with Sickle Cell Disease Treated with Hydroxyurea

Background Fetal hemoglobin level is a heritable complex trait that strongly correlates swith the clinical severity of sickle cell disease. Only few genetic loci have been identified as robustly associated with fetal hemoglobin in patients with sickle cell disease, primarily adults. The sole approved pharmacologic therapy for this disease is hydroxyurea, with effects largely attributable to induction of fetal hemoglobin. Methodology/Principal Findings In a multi-site observational analysis of children with sickle cell disease, candidate single nucleotide polymorphisms associated with baseline fetal hemoglobin levels in adult sickle cell disease were examined in children at baseline and induced by hydroxyurea therapy. For baseline levels, single marker analysis demonstrated significant association with BCL11A and the beta and epsilon globin loci (HBB and HBE, respectively), with an additive attributable variance from these loci of 23%. Among a subset of children on hydroxyurea, baseline fetal hemoglobin levels explained 33% of the variance in induced levels. The variant in HBE accounted for an additional 13% of the variance in induced levels, while variants in the HBB and BCL11A loci did not contribute beyond baseline levels. Conclusions/Significance These findings clarify the overlap between baseline and hydroxyurea-induced fetal hemoglobin levels in pediatric disease. Studies assessing influences of specific sequence variants in these and other genetic loci in larger populations and in unusual hydroxyurea responders are needed to further understand the maintenance and therapeutic induction of fetal hemoglobin in pediatric sickle cell disease.
Spectra of field fluctuations in braneworld models with broken Lorentz invariance

We investigate five-dimensional braneworld setups with broken Lorentz invariance continuing the developments of [P. Koroteev and M. Libanov, J. High Energy Phys. 02 (2008) 104], where a family of static self-tuning braneworld solutions was found. We show that several known braneworld models can be embedded into this family. Then we give a qualitative analysis of spectra of field fluctuations in backgrounds with broken Lorentz invariance. We also elaborate on one particular model and study spectra of scalar and spinor fields in it. It turns out that the spectra we have found possess very peculiar and unexpected properties.
A Role for the Endocannabinoid System in the Increased Motivation for Cocaine in Extended-Access Conditions

Extended access to cocaine produces an increase in cocaine self-administration in rats that mimics aspects of compulsive drug intake in human addicts. Although emerging evidence implicates the endogenous cannabinoid system in aspects of opioid and ethanol addiction, a role of the endocannabinoid system in cocaine addiction remains widely inconclusive. Here, we investigate the effects of systemic and intra-accumbal administration of the CB1 antagonist SR141716A (Rimonabant) on cocaine self-administration (0.5 mg/kg/infusion) under a progressive ratio (PR) schedule in rats with extended [long access (LgA); 6 h/d] or limited [short access (ShA); 1 h/d] access to cocaine. LgA rats, but not ShA rats, showed an increase in cocaine intake as previously reported, and responding for cocaine by LgA rats was higher than in ShA rats under a PR schedule. Systemic SR141716A induced a dramatic dose-dependent decrease in the breakpoint for cocaine by LgA rats, whereas only the highest dose of the antagonist had a significant effect in the ShA group. Anandamide levels in the nucleus accumbens (NAc) shell were decreased in ShA rats but unchanged in LgA rats during cocaine self-administration. Both phosphorylated and total CB1 receptor protein expression were upregulated in LgA rats in the NAc and the amygdala compared with ShA and drug-naive rats, 24 h after last cocaine session. Finally, intra-NAc infusions of SR141716A reduced cocaine breakpoints selectively in LgA animals. These results suggest that neuroadaptations in the endogenous cannabinoid system may be part of the neuroplasticity associated with the development of cocaine addiction.
A robotics wheelchair for crowded public environment

Describes the robotic wheelchair MAid (Mobility Aid for Elderly and Disabled People). MAid's task is to support and transport people with limited motion skills. It is based on a commercial wheelchair that has been equipped with an intelligent control and navigation system. Conversations with disabled and elderly people and with their physicians indicate that the automatic functions desired in a robotic wheelchair do not include following walls or passing doorways, but do include navigation in narrow, cluttered environments and through wide, crowded areas. MAid performs these functions.
Low-Order Controllability and Kinematic Reductions for Affine Connection Control Systems

Controllability and kinematic modeling notions are investigated for a class of mechanical control systems. First, low-order controllability results are given for the class of mechanical control systems. Second, a precise connection is made between those mechanical systems which are dynamic (i.e., have forces as inputs) and those which are kinematic (i.e., have velocities as inputs). Interestingly and surprisingly, these two subjects are characterized and linked by a certain intrinsic vector-valued quadratic form that can be associated to an affine connection control system.