Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Social Distance and Initial Trust in Virtual Teammates.

In existing literature, researchers have repeatedly demonstrated the importance of trust in maintaining inter-member relationships during virtual collaboration. Through the presentation and manipulation of social network information, this longitudinal experiment investigated whether the presence of social ties between an individual and a future virtual teammate influenced initial attitudes towards an unknown teammate and subsequent trusting behavior. Data from 68 participants were collected to test whether having a mutual acquaintance influences (a) perceived trustworthiness of teammate and (b) willingness to trust the teammate. The effects of individual propensity to trust were also assessed. Evidence did not support the hypothesized relationship between social ties and perceived trustworthiness of an unknown teammate. Furthermore, there was no significant relationship between propensity to trust and trusting behavior. ii BIOGRAPHY Eric Kuo graduated from the University of Maryland at College Park in 2009 with a B.A. in Psychology and Sociology. In Fall 2009, he started pursuing his degree in Industrial/Organizational Psychology at North Carolina State University. He currently conducts research looking at factors that influence successful formation of highly-virtual teams. It is difficult to deny that technology is a major factor shaping modern society. For organizations, maintaining a competitive advantage now requires the ability to not only adapt to new technologies, but also utilize them in innovative ways. In order to acquire new ideas, organizations must look beyond national boundaries and access human resources with a diverse perspective. This need for innovative orientation combined with the advent of increasingly powerful communication technologies has facilitated the development of what is commonly known as virtual or computer-mediated teams. Virtual teams often exist within the context of high-risk, high-stakes outcomes (Meyerson, Weik, & Kraimer, 1996). This situation in tandem with cultural differences associated with geographical dispersion among members puts the team at risk of dissociation. To facilitate group processes, literature maintains that initial trust amongst team members is As such, there is a need to better understand the factors that contribute to initial levels of trust as new individuals join a virtual team. The purpose of this study is to investigate theoretically-derived predictors of initial baseline levels of trust among virtual collaborators. Central to this investigation is an examination of the effects of social networks, specifically the presence of triadic relationships, on the formation of trust. However, prior to moving forward, the contextual domain of virtuality in teams was established. 2 Highly-virtual Teams Advances in technology have resulted in …
Joint Design of Twin-Antenna Assisted Space-Time Multilevel Sphere Packing Aided Coded Modulation

A new multilevel coding (MLC) scheme invoking sphere packing (SP) modulation is proposed, where the SP arrangement is jointly designed with a space time block code (STBC) for the sake of attaining an additional space diversity gain. An iterative multistage decoding (MSD) aided multilevel sphere packing demodulator is proposed for attaining a high decoding performance at a low decoding complexity, when communicating over a correlated Rayleigh channel. The appropriate design of a 4-dimensional (4D) sphere packing bit-to-SP-symbol mapping scheme and the beneficial choice of the individual coding rates of the MLC scheme allows us to provide an unequal error protection capability, which is often required for efficient audio or video transmissions.
Sequential user-item weighted-cluster extraction for Collaborative filtering

This paper proposes a new approach to collaborative filtering, in which sequential user-item cluster extraction is performed in order to relate the items to be recommended to each user. In the process, a user-item rectangular relational matrix whose elements are defined by an alternative process of “liking or not“ is first transformed into a square adjacency matrix and then co-clusters are sequentially extracted using a weighted aggregation criterion. Numerical examples including an application to a purchase history data set demonstrate the characteristics of the proposed approach.
The Use of Cross-Validation in Neural NetworkExtrapolation of Forest Tree GrowthC

A back-propagation multilayer Artiicial Neural Network (ANN) is used to model the mean growth rate of diierent plots of Pine trees. Cross-validation is found to be essential in providing a good extrapolation. Predictions are made for diierent plots which have diierent initial densities and diierent artiicial thinning regimes. Comparisons are made with a standard nonlinear regression solution.
A fast image stitching algorithm in the endless hot rolling process

Camber is one of the most important defects in the endless hot-rolling process, and can be defined as the longitudinal curvature of a slab or strip in the plan view. To obtain a value of the camber for a steel bar, the overall shape of a slab or strip is required. However, the strip is too long to capture overall image at once. In order to obtain precise information on the overall shape of the bar, two area-scan charge-coupled device (CCD) cameras to obtain partial bar images and the image stitching algorithm are needed. This paper proposes a fast algorithm to obtain the overall shape of a steel bar in the endless hot rolling process. The proposed algorithm reduces the computational complexity and the running time of the image stitching process by adaptively selecting the search region to find feature points in steel bar images. The algorithm consists of three parts: generating the feature points and descriptors of the selected regions of continuous images for the steel bar, choosing the overlapped region between the present image and the next image, and stitching the partial bar images after calibrating them. The proposed stitching algorithm based on adaptive selection of the search region improves the performance of the camber measurement system during the image stitching process.
Exploiting the Tradeoff Between Precision and Cpu-Time to Speed Up Nearest Neighbor Search

We describe a recursive algorithm to quickly compute the N nearest neighbors according to a similarity measure in a metric space. The algorithm exploits an intrinsic property of a large class of similarity measures for which some parameter p has a positive influence both on the precision and the cpu cost (precision-cputime tradeoff). The algorithm uses successive approximations of the measure to compute first cheap distances on the whole set of possible items, then more and more expensive measures on smaller and smaller sets. We illustrate the algorithm on the case of a timbre similarity algorithm, which compares gaussian mixture models using a Monte Carlo approximation of the Kullback-Leibler distance, where p is the number of points drawn from the distributions. We describe several Monte Carlo algorithmic variants, which improve the convergence speed of the approximation. On this problem, the algorithm performs more than 30 times faster than the naive approach.
GABA-induced inactivation of Cebus apella V2 neurons: effects on orientation tuning and direction selectivity

We investigated the GABA-induced inactivation of V2 neurons and terminals on the receptive field properties of this area in an anesthetized and paralyzed Cebus apella monkey. Extracellular single-unit activity was recorded using tungsten microelectrodes in a monkey before and after pressure-injection of a 0.25 or 0.5 M GABA solution. The visual stimulus consisted of a bar moving in 8 possible directions. In total, 24 V2 neurons were studied before and after blocker injections in 4 experimental sessions following GABA injection into area V2. A group of 10 neurons were studied over a short period. An additional 6 neurons were investigated over a long period after the GABA injection. A third group of 8 neurons were studied over a very long period. Overall, these 24 neurons displayed an early (1-20 min) significant general decrease in excitability with concomitant changes in orientation or direction selectivity. GABA inactivation in area V2 produced robust inhibition in 80% and a significant change in directional selectivity in 60% of the neurons examined. These GABA projections are capable of modulating not only levels of spontaneous and driven activity of V2 neurons but also receptive field properties such as direction selectivity.
Diversity of Dehydrins in Oleae europaea Plants Exposed to Stress

Dehydrins (DHNs) belong to a large family of proteins whose expression is associated with dehydration during seed maturation, pollen grain development and bud dormancy during winter, as well as plant adaptive response to various stressors. However, the exact roles played by different members of this protein family have not been fully defined. To gain a better understanding of DHN functions in olive plants, we used Western blot analyses to investigate their expression in the leaves of olive plants subjected to wounding, water-deprivation and salt-treatment. Two prominent bands having molecular masses of approximately 40 kD and 42 kD were constitutively expressed, however, their levels increased when the leaves were exposed to stress. Dehydration and salt stress also resulted in the accumulation of two additional proteins, which had molecular masses of approximately 16 kDa and 18 kD. These additional proteins were not detected following wounding. Our results suggest a physiological function for DHNs in olive plants during normal growth conditions and specialized functions during responses to certain types of stress.
Overestimating Fish Counts by Non-Instantaneous Visual Censuses: Consequences for Population and Community Descriptions

Background Increasingly, underwater visual censuses (UVC) are used to assess fish populations. Several studies have demonstrated the effectiveness of protected areas for increasing fish abundance or provided insight into the natural abundance and structure of reef fish communities in remote areas. Recently, high apex predator densities (>100,000 individuals·km−2) and biomasses (>4 tonnes·ha−1) have been reported for some remote islands suggesting the occurrence of inverted trophic biomass pyramids. However, few studies have critically evaluated the methods used for sampling conspicuous and highly mobile fish such as sharks. Ideally, UVC are done instantaneously, however, researchers often count animals that enter the survey area after the survey has started, thus performing non-instantaneous UVC. Methodology/Principal Findings We developed a simulation model to evaluate counts obtained by divers deploying non-instantaneous belt-transect and stationary-point-count techniques. We assessed how fish speed and survey procedure (visibility, diver speed, survey time and dimensions) affect observed fish counts. Results indicate that the bias caused by fish speed alone is huge, while survey procedures had varying effects. Because the fastest fishes tend to be the largest, the bias would have significant implications on their biomass contribution. Therefore, caution is needed when describing abundance, biomass, and community structure based on non-instantaneous UVC, especially for highly mobile species such as sharks. Conclusions/Significance Based on our results, we urge that published literature state explicitly whether instantaneous counts were made and that survey procedures be accounted for when non-instantaneous counts are used. Using published density and biomass values of communities that include sharks we explore the effect of this bias and suggest that further investigation may be needed to determine pristine shark abundances and the existence of inverted biomass pyramids. Because such studies are used to make important management and conservation decisions, incorrect estimates of animal abundance and biomass have serious and significant implications.
Concept-Teaching Practices in Social Studies Classrooms: Teacher Support for Enhancing the Development of Students' Vocabulary.

1 Correspondence to: İlhan İlter (PhD), Department of Education, The University of Bayburt, Bayburt 69000 Turkey. Email: iilter@bayburt.edu. tr Citation: İlter, İ. (2017). Concept-teaching practices in social studies classrooms: Teacher support for enhancing the development of students’ vocabulary. Educational Sciences: Theory & Practice, 17, 1135–1164. http://dx.doi. org/10.12738/ estp.2017. 4.0343 Abstract The purpose of this study is to describe social studies teachers’ perceptions related to their practices in teaching concepts within the context of social studies instruction in order to enhance students’ vocabulary development in their classes. The study focuses on how students’ breadth and depth of vocabulary knowledge is supported by teachers’ experiences and their self-reported practices in relation to teaching social studies content. The study has a qualitative research design and has been conducted with 35 middle-school social studies teachers selected in accordance with maximum variation sampling. A semi-structured interview form has been used to determine teachers’ perceptions and viewpoints, and data has been analyzed using content analysis techniques. Results show that the teachers’ espoused practices for enhancing social studies vocabulary and for assessing its overall development process supports widely accepted understanding and ideas on effective concept teaching and alternative assessment procedures. Some examples of these practices and assessment measures include interactive word-walls (ABC graffiti), contextualized vocabulary instruction, word analogy, semantic maps, vocabulary self-collection strategy, and concept circles. However, the majority of practices reported by the teachers reflect traditional tasks and methods that ignore how new concepts were acquired and also focus more on the definitional knowledge of words. Further research should include teacher observations along with interviews to validate actual classroom practices.
Agent self-assessment: Determining policy quality without execution

With the development of data-efficient reinforcement learning (RL) methods, a promising data-driven solution for optimal control of complex technical systems has become available. For the application of RL to a technical system, it is usually required to evaluate a policy before actually applying it to ensure it operates the system safely and within required performance bounds. In benchmark applications one can use the system dynamics directly to measure the policy quality. In real applications, however, this might be too expensive or even impossible. Being unable to evaluate the policy without using the actual system hinders the application of RL to autonomous controllers. As a first step toward agent self-assessment, we deal with discrete MDPs in this paper. We propose to use the value function along with its uncertainty to assess a policy's quality and show that, when dealing with an MDP estimated from observations, the value function itself can be misleading. We address this problem by determining the value function's uncertainty through uncertainty propagation and evaluate the approach using a number of benchmark applications.
No Increase of the Red Giant Branch Tip Luminosity toward the Center of M31

We present observations with the Hubble Space Telescope Wide-Field Planetary Camera 2 of three fields centered on super-metal-rich globular clusters in the bulge of M31. Our (I, V-I) color-magnitude diagrams reach as faint as I~26.5 mag and clearly reveal the magnitude of the first-ascent red giant branch (RGB) tip. We find that the apparent I magnitude of the RGB tip does not become brighter near the center of M31 as concluded by previous investigators. Our observations and artificial star experiments presented in this study strongly support the idea that previous very bright stars were likely the result of spurious detections of blended stars due to crowding in lower resolution images. On the contrary, our observations indicate that, at a mean projected galactocentric distance of 1.1 kpc, the RGB tip is some 1.3 mag fainter than it is at 7 kpc. An analysis of this difference in RGB tip magnitude suggests that the M31 bulge stellar population has a mean metallicity close to that of the Sun.
A methodology for advanced change detection with fuzzy image classification

High-quality land cover mapping and land cover change analysis are important for regional and global studies. Time series of satellite imagery seem suitable for land cover mapping, by integrating processes on the Earth surface into the classification result. However, the coarse spatial resolution in contrast to small-scale land cover patches as well as the mapping of transition zones or inherently defined mixed classes necessitate fuzzy image classification. This study describes a methodology of fuzzy image classification using a decision tree approach and bagging. The presented bi-annual change detection technique builds directly on the fuzzy classification result and presents the change in land cover composition for each class or each pixel. Furthermore, the discrete map agreement is presented as a function of classification confidence. Results based on MODIS time series for South Africa and Germany illustrate the change detection approach.
Optogenetic control of selective neural activity in multiple freely moving Drosophila adults

Significance We present an automated laser tracking and optogenetic manipulation system (ALTOMS) for studying social memory in Drosophila. Based on behavioral interactions computed with a high-speed image analysis system, ALTOMS can target two lasers (a 473-nm blue laser and a 593.5-nm yellow laser) independently on any specified body parts of two freely moving Drosophila adults in real time. We performed an operant conditioning assay in which a courting male quickly learned and formed a long-lasting memory to stay away from a freely moving virgin female. Given its capacity for optogenetic manipulation to transiently and independently activate/inactivate selective neurons, ALTOMS offers opportunities to systematically map brain circuits that orchestrate specific Drosophila behaviors. We present an automated laser tracking and optogenetic manipulation system (ALTOMS) for studying social memory in fruit flies (Drosophila melanogaster). ALTOMS comprises an intelligent central control module for high-speed fly behavior analysis and feedback laser scanning (∼40 frames per second) for targeting two lasers (a 473-nm blue laser and a 593.5-nm yellow laser) independently on any specified body parts of two freely moving Drosophila adults. By using ALTOMS to monitor and compute the locations, orientations, wing postures, and relative distance between two flies in real time and using high-intensity laser irradiation as an aversive stimulus, this laser tracking system can be used for an operant conditioning assay in which a courting male quickly learns and forms a long-lasting memory to stay away from a freely moving virgin female. With the equipped lasers, channelrhodopsin-2 and/or halorhodopsin expressed in selected neurons can be triggered on the basis of interactive behaviors between two flies. Given its capacity for optogenetic manipulation to transiently and independently activate/inactivate selective neurons, ALTOMS offers opportunities to systematically map brain circuits that orchestrate specific Drosophila behaviors.
Does Land-Use Intensification Decrease Plant Phylogenetic Diversity in Local Grasslands?

Phylogenetic diversity (PD) has been successfully used as a complement to classical measures of biological diversity such as species richness or functional diversity. By considering the phylogenetic history of species, PD broadly summarizes the trait space within a community. This covers amongst others complex physiological or biochemical traits that are often not considered in estimates of functional diversity, but may be important for the understanding of community assembly and the relationship between diversity and ecosystem functions. In this study we analyzed the relationship between PD of plant communities and land-use intensification in 150 local grassland plots in three regions in Germany. Specifically we asked whether PD decreases with land-use intensification and if so, whether the relationship is robust across different regions. Overall, we found that species richness decreased along land-use gradients the results however differed for common and rare species assemblages. PD only weakly decreased with increasing land-use intensity. The strength of the relationship thereby varied among regions and PD metrics used. From our results we suggest that there is no general relationship between PD and land-use intensification probably due to lack of phylogenetic conservatism in land-use sensitive traits. Nevertheless, we suggest that depending on specific regional idiosyncrasies the consideration of PD as a complement to other measures of diversity can be useful.
Dynamics of Line-driven Winds from Disks in Cataclysmic Variables. I. Solution Topology and Wind Geometry

We analyze the dynamics of two-dimensional stationary, line-driven winds from accretion disks in cataclysmic variable stars. The driving force is that of line radiation pressure, in the formalism developed by Castor, Abbott, & Klein for O stars. Our main assumption is that wind helical streamlines lie on straight cones. We find that the Euler equation for the disk wind has two eigenvalues, the mass-loss rate and the flow-tilt angle with the disk. Both are calculated self-consistently. The wind is characterized by two distinct regions, an outer wind launched beyond four white dwarf radii from the rotation axis and an inner wind launched within this radius. The inner wind is very steep, up to 80° with the disk plane, while the outer wind has a typical tilt of 60°. In both cases, the wind cone dispersion is small because of a good alignment between the wind and the radiative flux vectors from the disk. We, therefore, provide an insight into the formation of the biconical geometry of disk winds as suggested by observations and kinematical modeling. The wind collimation angle appears to be robust and depends on the disk temperature stratification only. The flow critical points lie high above the disk for the inner wind but close to the disk photosphere for the outer wind. Comparison with existing kinematical and dynamical models is provided. Mass-loss rates from the disk as well as wind velocity laws are discussed in the second paper in this series.
Rapid prototyping of smart garments for activity-aware applications

Continuous miniaturization of electronics and sensing elements stimulate the evolution of novel unobtrusively integrated smart garments that sense their environment and provide personalized assistance to its wearer. The development of smart garments requires robust integration techniques for electronics and textiles in one common system. Furthermore, recognition algorithms are needed to derive information on the wearer's activity and context within the smart garment. In this work both challenges are addressed in a smart shirt system, called SMASH. SMASH was developed as a rapid prototyping system for smart garment developments. We introduced in this work our approach for prototyping smart garments and present design, implementation, and evaluation of SMASH. The SMASH system embeds a distributed hierarchical architecture of sensing and processing functions in an off-the-shelf long-sleeve shirt. The system design focused on scalability regarding sensors and processing resources, as well as rapid deployment in different applications. We demonstrated the versatility of SMASH in three application evaluations that represent different prototyping phases of smart garments. For these studies several systems of different sizes were implemented. The SMASH system helps to bypass time- and cost-intensive implementation iterations using multiple garment prototypes.