Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Multiple Kernel Learning for vehicle detection in wide area motion imagery

Vehicle detection in wide area motion imagery (WAMI) is an important problem in computer science, which if solved, supports urban traffic management, emergency responder routing, and accident discovery. Due to large amount of camera motion, the small number of pixels on target objects, and the low frame rate of the WAMI data, vehicle detection is much more challenging than the task in traditional video imagery. Since the object in wide area imagery covers a few pixels, feature information of shape, texture, and appearance information are limited for vehicle detection and classification performance. Histogram of Gradients (HOG) and Haar descriptors have been used in human and face detection successfully, only using the intensity of an image, and HOG and Haar descriptors have different advantages. In this paper, we propose a classification scheme which combines HOG and Haar descriptors by using Generalized Multiple Kernel Learning (GMKL) that can learn the trade-off between HOG and Haar descriptors by constructing an optimal kernel with many base kernels. Due to the large number of Haar features, we first use a cascade of boosting classifier which is a variant of Gentle AdaBoost and has the ability to do feature selection to select a small number of features from a huge feature set. Then, we combine the HOG descriptors and the selected Haar features and use GMKL to train the final classifier. In our experiments, we evaluate the performance of HOG+Haar with GMKL, HOG with GMKL, Haar with GMKL, and also the cascaded boosting classifier on Columbus Large Image Format (CLIF) dataset. Experimental results show that the fusion of the HOG+Haar with GMKL outperforms the other three classification schemes.
Lecturing : Students ’ want it , but what about the lecturers ?

Universities around the world have been readily embracing online technologies to make their courses more convenient for today’s tech savvy gen Y students. However, such a change is often at the expense of the teaching staff as they are suddenly met with increased workload and the need to learn new technologies. Although student acceptance is often looked at, lecturers’ acceptance is often ignored. It is important to gauge lecturers’ acceptance of these online lecturing technologies as such technologies would be rendered useless if lecturers are not willing to accept and use them in their course. Hence, this study aims to examine the often ignored view from the lecturers’ perspective by looking at the factors surrounding lecturer’s acceptance of online media for lecturing purposes. Building on Davis’s (1989) TAM model, Daft and Lengel’s (1986) media richness theory and educational literature, this study will provide empirical evidence for the effects of perceived usefulness, perceived ease of use, subjective norms, self efficacy, organisational support, lecturing styles and workload on the lecturers’ choice to adopt usage of online video media. This paper reports the results of pilot study.
Agrobacterium-mediated Genetic Transformation of Carnation for Insect Resistance

Plant regeneration and genetic transformation techniques have been developed in leaf tissue of carnation (Dianthus caryophyllus L. cv. ‘Indios’). Callus was induced on Murashige and Skoog (MS) medium supplemented with 2 mg/l 2,4-dichlorophenoxyacetic acid (2,4-D). Highest shoot regeneration from callus was obtained with 2 mg/l thidiazuron (TDZ) and 1 mg/l indole-3-acetic acid (IAA). Carnation plantlets were able to regenerate within two months of culture. Agrobacterium-mediated genetic transformation was achieved using leaf explants and a synthetic gene encoding the cry1Ab –endotoxin of Bacillus thuringiensis. Highest callus induction was achieved on selective medium containing 100 mg/l kanamycin (Kan) and 500 mg/l cefotaxime (Cef) after 96-hr pre-conditioning following 72-hr cocultivation. Highest number of shoots per callus was observed when MS medium was supplemented with 2 mg/l TDZ, 1 mg/l IAA, 100 mg/l Kan and 500 mg/l Cef. Shoots were elongated and multiplied on MS medium containing 1 mg/l 6-benzyladenine and solidified with 1% agar. Rooting was accomplished on half-strength MS medium supplemented with 2 mg/l indole-3-butyric acid and 50 mg/l Kan. The putative shoots were hardened with 71% survival in a glasshouse. The transformed shoots were analyzed for the presence of the cry1Ab gene by PCR. The expression of the cry1Ab gene in the leaves of transgenic shoots was detected by an insect bioassay performed with the larvae of carnation bud borer (Helicoverpa armigera). _____________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Automatic Policy Refinement Using OWLS and Semantic Infrastructure Information

Network management requires a lot of manual work. Due to ongoing growth of the Internet, more self-management is needed in order to deal with the growing complexity. Autonomic communication systems address this issue. Often, they make use of policy-based management systems. Policy-based management is an approach to simplify management by the use of rules. Policy refinement, i.e. breaking down high-level policies to technical configurations is still a task that needs a significant amount of manual work. We propose SEMPR, an architecture that uses Web services and automatic Web services composition as a complementary technique to policy refinement in order to automate policy-based management. Semantic Web services, described in OWL-S, as well as policies make use of our simple network ontology NINO. We show the application of our work in a Home Area Network (HAN) environment and give an outlook on future research challenges.
Caffeine supplementation does not affect match activities and fatigue resistance during match play in young football players

Abstract The study examined the effect of caffeine supplementation on match activities and development of fatigue during a football match. In a randomised, double-blind cross-over design, two experimental football games separated by 7 days were organised between the junior teams of two professional football clubs (17.6 ± 1.1 years (±s), 71.7 ± 6.9 kg, 13.9% ± 5.0% body fat). The players ingested either a capsule of 6 mg · kg−1 b.w. caffeine or placebo (dextrose) 65 min prior to the matches. Match activities were assessed using the ZXY match analysis system, and a Yo-Yo intermittent recovery test–level 2 (Yo-Yo IR2) was conducted immediately post-game. Heart rate was monitored throughout the game, and blood samples were obtained at baseline, half-time and after the game. There were no differences between caffeine and placebo regarding total distance covered (10,062 ± 916 vs 9854 ± 901 m), high-intensity running (557 ± 178 vs 642 ± 240 m), sprinting distance (109 ± 58 vs 112 ± 69 m) or acceleration counts (123 ± 31 vs 126 ± 24). In both trials, players displayed lower (P < 0.05) values in total distance and acceleration counts in the last 15 min compared to all other 15-min periods of the matches. Post-game Yo-Yo IR2 performance was not different between game trials (caffeine: 829 ± 322 m; placebo 819 ± 289 m). In conclusion, oral caffeine administration does not appear to have an ergogenic effect in young football players during match play.
Reprints Available Directly from the Publisher Photocopying Permitted by License Only Adrenergic/cholinergic Immunomodulation in the Rat Model -in Vivo Veritas?

For several years, our group has been studying the in vivo role of adrenergic and cholinergic mechanisms in the immune-neuroendocrine dialogue in the rat model. The main results of these studies can be summarized as follows: (1) exogenous or endogenous catecholamines suppress PBL functions through alpha-2-receptor-mediated mechanisms, lymphocytes of the spleen are resistant to adrenergic in vivo stimulation, (2) direct or indirect cholinergic treatment leads to enhanced ex vivo functions of splenic and thymic lymphocytes leaving PBL unaffected, (3) cholinergic pathways play a critical role in the "talking back" of the immune system to the brain, (4) acetylcholine inhibits apoptosis of thymocytes possibly via direct effects on thymic epithelial cells, and may thereby influence T-cell maturation, (5) lymphocytes of the various immunological compartments were found to be equipped with the key enzymes for the synthesis of both acetylcholine and norepinephrine, and to secrete these neurotransmitters in culture supernatants
Generated Abstracts for TAC 2011

We have begun work on a framework for abstractive summarization and decided to focus first on a text generation module. In our submitted system, sentences are generated from the syntactic parse of the original sentences. The summaries are written entirely from automatically gener- ated sentences, as well as generated date and location modifiers when appropriate. The evaluation shows above-average per- formance in the content metric Pyramid, and low scores in linguistic quality.
Sex Stereotypes

We see evidence everyday that sex roles are changing in American society. Yet it appears that changes in the stereotypes of women and men have not kept pace with changing role options. Specifically, women still are viewed as possessing personality characteristics that are considered inappropriate for performing effectively in high-level positions. This article examines a number of employment and career issues that may be affected by sex stereotypes. The available research suggests that sex stereotypes operate at various stages in one's career and provide a series of barriers for women aspiring to positions that traditionally have been dominated by males.
Aripiprazole Augmentation in Major Depressive Disorder: A Double-Blind, Placebo-Controlled Study in Patients with Inadequate Response to Antidepressants

ABSTRACT Introduction: Effective management of major depressive disorder (MDD) continues to be a challenging task for psychiatrists and primary care physicians. This trial evaluated the efficacy and safety of adjunctive aripiprazole versus antidepressant monotherapy in patients with MDD and independently replicated the positive findings of two similar trials. Methods: Patients (N=1, 147) with MDD experiencing a major depressive episode and a history of inadequate response to antidepressant monotherapy were enrolled (week 0); 827 received single-blind adjunctive placebo plus open-label antidepressant (escitalopram, fluoxetine, paroxetine controlled release, sertraline, or venlafaxine extended release) for 8 weeks to confirm inadequate response to antidepressants; 349 patients with inadequate response were randomized (1:1) to double-blind, adjunctive placebo (n=172) or adjunctive aripiprazole (n=177; 2–20 mg/day). Primary outcome was the mean change in Montgomery-Åsberg Depression Rating Scale (MADRS) Total score from baseline (week 8) to endpoint (week 14). Results: Clinically significant improvements in depressive symptoms as assessed by decreases in the MADRS Total score were greater with adjunctive aripiprazole (−10.1) than placebo (−6.4; P<.001). Remission rates were greater for adjunctive aripiprazole than for adjunctive placebo (week 14, 36.8% vs 18.9%; P<.001). Completion rates with adjunctive aripiprazole and placebo were high (83% vs. 87%) and discontinuations due to adverse events were low (6.2% vs 1.7%). Conclusion: For some patients with MDD who do not obtain adequate symptom relief with antidepressant monotherapy, adjunctive therapies can significantly improve depressive symptoms. As reported, adjunctive aripiprazole was associated with a two-fold higher remission rate than adjunctive placebo. This, and previous studies, have shown that discontinuations due to adverse events were low and completion rates were high, and has indicated that both antidepressant and aripiprazole in combination were relatively well-tolerated and safe. This is the third consecutive clinical trial, in the absence of a failed trial, to demonstrate that aripiprazole augmentation to antidepressants is an efficacious and well-tolerated treatment for patients with MDD who do not respond adequately to standard antidepressant monotherapy (ClinicalTrials.gov study NCT00105196).
Improving processor utilization with a task classification model based application specific hard real-time architecture

Modern microprocessors with caches and pipelines show increasing performance, but at the price of a decreasing predictability of execution times. The design of hard real time systems however has to be based on worst case considerations. Consequently, real-time systems are generally oversized and fail to profit of developments in the standard processor field. This paper presents an approach where real-time systems are analyzed and built according to a task classification model. Each class of tasks corresponds to a type of processor best suited in terms of performance and deterministic execution times. The resulting target architecture framework is a tightly coupled heterogeneous multiprocessor system based on templates using off-the-shelf components. The described real-time system design process includes a schedulability analysis method that supports the partitioning and allocation process and provides the necessary real-time guarantees. The result is a event-driven hard real-time system with improved processor utilization that will provably meet all its deadlines. A rapid prototyping platform implementing this concept is presented as well as application examples.
A novel spherical wheel driven by chains with guiding wheels

A novel combination of chains with guiding wheel and spherical wheel unit (CWWU1) is presented in this paper, and its operating principle is basically a spherical wheel driven by two perpendicular pairs of chains with a set of guiding wheels. Thus, a CWWU1 base robot similar to the previous CWWU (combination of Omni wheel and spherical wheel unit) can perform the static and dynamic balancing function that a single wheel with inverse mouse-ball drive developed by Carnegie Mellon University (CMU) can also achieve. However, the previous CWWU has an unwanted compromise in which the strength is inversely proportional to the smoothing motion needed to be made. That is, increase the Omni wheels to improve the smoothness of motion will reduce the spacing of Omni wheel which will weak the strength of the Omni wheels. The CWWU1 can solve this problem, and the major difference between them is that the motion of CWWU1 can be smoother than the previous CWWU due to more than one guiding wheel to contact the surface of the spherical wheel. The other difference is that the size of CWWU1 can be reduced more as compared with the previous CWWU in case of size limit applications. Both robots have several exclusive features which can resolve key problems inherited in the CMU robot. Especially, the simultaneous demand of both a high-friction and low-friction material for the spherical ball is an undesired compromise needed to make for the CMU robot.
Does a land information system resolve land conflicts?: a tale from rural Eastern Indonesia

The absence of accurate land management arguably results in land conflicts as well as uncontrolled land use and conversion. The adoption of a land information system (LIS) might remedy such problems. Our study in rural Eastern Indonesia found that land management is a complex system involving various stakeholders, including the side of the local people and the side of the government. To some extent, an LIS is already in place but the actualised affordances it offers are limited because the system is hindered by numerous conflicts over uncertified land.
Parameter estimation in a general state space model from short observation data: A SMC based approach

In this article, we propose a SMC based method for estimating the static parameter of a general state space model. The proposed method is based on maximizing the joint likelihood of the observation and unknown state sequence with respect to both the unknown parameters and the unknown state sequence. This in turn, casts the problem into simultaneous estimations of state and parameter. We show the efficacy of this method by numerical simulation results.
Alzheimer's disease and the law: positive and negative consequences of structural stigma and labeling in the legal system

ABSTRACT Objective: To explore the meaning and consequences of labeling on structural stigma in the context of Alzheimer's disease (AD) in the legal system. Method: This qualitative study was made up of three focus groups including social workers and lawyers (n = 26). Participants were asked to report their experience in circumstances in which persons with AD and their family members engage with the legal system. Thematic analysis using the constant comparative method was used. Results: The discussions in the focus groups raised two overall themes. (1) The significance of the medical diagnostic labeling of AD in the legal system and (2) the consequences of labeling of AD within the legal system. This last theme included four sub-themes: (a) negative consequences of labeling; (b) reasons associated with negative consequences of labeling; (c) positive consequences of labeling; and (d) reasons associated with positive consequences of labeling. Conclusion: Findings of the study provide a first foundation for future research on the meaning and consequences of labeling in legal cases involving persons with AD. They suggest that increasing judges' knowledge about AD and reforming the existing ‘status-based’ legal capacity legislation might benefit by limiting the legal weight given today to the medical diagnosis.
Competitive algorithms for multilevel caching and relaxed list update

We study the Relaxed List Update Problem (RLUP), in which access requests are made to items stored in a list. The cost to access the jth item xj is cj, where ci 5 ci+i for all i. After the access, xj can be repeatedly swapped, at no cost, with any item that precedes it in the list. This problem was introduced by Aggarwal et al [l] as a model for the management of hierarchical memory that consists of a number of caches of increasing size and access time. They also proved that a version of LRU is C-competitive, for some C, for a restricted class of cost functions. (1) We give an efficient offline algorithm that computes the optimal strategy for RLUP. We also show an elegant characterization of work functions for RLUP. (2) We prove that Move-to-Front (MTF) is optimally competitive for RLUP with any cost function. An interesting feature of the proof is that it does not involve any estimates on the competitive ratio. (3) W e ive a lower bound on the g’ competitive ratio of online algorithms for RLUP.
Comparative Analyses of QTLs Influencing Obesity and Metabolic Phenotypes in Pigs and Humans

The pig is a well-known animal model used to investigate genetic and mechanistic aspects of human disease biology. They are particularly useful in the context of obesity and metabolic diseases because other widely used models (e.g. mice) do not completely recapitulate key pathophysiological features associated with these diseases in humans. Therefore, we established a F2 pig resource population (n = 564) designed to elucidate the genetics underlying obesity and metabolic phenotypes. Segregation of obesity traits was ensured by using breeds highly divergent with respect to obesity traits in the parental generation. Several obesity and metabolic phenotypes were recorded (n = 35) from birth to slaughter (242 ± 48 days), including body composition determined at about two months of age (63 ± 10 days) via dual-energy x-ray absorptiometry (DXA) scanning. All pigs were genotyped using Illumina Porcine 60k SNP Beadchip and a combined linkage disequilibrium-linkage analysis was used to identify genome-wide significant associations for collected phenotypes. We identified 229 QTLs which associated with adiposity- and metabolic phenotypes at genome-wide significant levels. Subsequently comparative analyses were performed to identify the extent of overlap between previously identified QTLs in both humans and pigs. The combined analysis of a large number of obesity phenotypes has provided insight in the genetic architecture of the molecular mechanisms underlying these traits indicating that QTLs underlying similar phenotypes are clustered in the genome. Our analyses have further confirmed that genetic heterogeneity is an inherent characteristic of obesity traits most likely caused by segregation or fixation of different variants of the individual components belonging to cellular pathways in different populations. Several important genes previously associated to obesity in human studies, along with novel genes were identified. Altogether, this study provides novel insight that may further the current understanding of the molecular mechanisms underlying human obesity.
Predictors of Burnout in Children's Residential Treatment Center Staff

SUMMARY This study explored burnout among frontline staff within a children's residential treatment center (RTC) population. Data were collected from 375 full-time, frontline, children's RTC staff employed at 21 RTCs in Illinois. Using hierarchical linear modeling (HLM), results indicated that frontline staff age, training, empathic concern, communicative responsiveness, neuroticism, extraversion, job satisfaction, and managerial support were associated with subscales of the Maslach Burnout Inventory (MBI). Further, burnout scores varied significantly at the provider level of analysis for the Emotional Exhaustion and Personal Accomplishment subscales of the MBI, lending support to the hypothesis that organizational variables may be associated with workers' burnout experiences. These findings have implications for personnel hiring, burnout prevention, and future research on the organizational correlates of burnout.
Role Salience, Social Support, and Work—Family Conflict Among Jewish and Arab Female Teachers in Israel

Conceptualizing career development in a cultural and contextual framework, this study examined within-gender differences in role salience and work— family conflict (WFC) among 101 Jewish and 99 Arab female teachers (aged 23-64 years) from central Israel. The contribution of social support to women’s conflict was also examined. Results highlighted various differences: in contrast to expectations, Jewish teachers demonstrated higher spouse and parent values than Arab teachers, who demonstrated higher work values and work commitment. As expected, Jewish women reported higher levels of WFC compared to their Arab colleagues. Support systems in Jewish culture were related to lower WFC but not in Arab culture. Theoretical and practical implications emphasize the need for culture-sensitive models of work—family relations and for career counseling interventions.
Spectral compression of mesh geometry

We show how spectral methods may be applied to 3D mesh data to obtain compact representations. This is achieved by projecting the mesh geometry onto an orthonormal basis derived from the mesh topology. To reduce complexity, the mesh is partitioned into a number of balanced submeshes with minimal interaction, each of which are compressed independently. Our methods may be used for compression and progressive transmission of 3D content, and are shown to be vastly superior to existing methods using spatial techniques, if slight loss can be tolerated.