Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
How Visual Is the Visual Cortex? Comparing Connectional and Functional Fingerprints between Congenitally Blind and Sighted Individuals

Classical animal visual deprivation studies and human neuroimaging studies have shown that visual experience plays a critical role in shaping the functionality and connectivity of the visual cortex. Interestingly, recent studies have additionally reported circumscribed regions in the visual cortex in which functional selectivity was remarkably similar in individuals with and without visual experience. Here, by directly comparing resting-state and task-based fMRI data in congenitally blind and sighted human subjects, we obtained large-scale continuous maps of the degree to which connectional and functional “fingerprints” of ventral visual cortex depend on visual experience. We found a close agreement between connectional and functional maps, pointing to a strong interdependence of connectivity and function. Visual experience (or the absence thereof) had a pronounced effect on the resting-state connectivity and functional response profile of occipital cortex and the posterior lateral fusiform gyrus. By contrast, connectional and functional fingerprints in the anterior medial and posterior lateral parts of the ventral visual cortex were statistically indistinguishable between blind and sighted individuals. These results provide a large-scale mapping of the influence of visual experience on the development of both functional and connectivity properties of visual cortex, which serves as a basis for the formulation of new hypotheses regarding the functionality and plasticity of specific subregions. SIGNIFICANCE STATEMENT How is the functionality and connectivity of the visual cortex shaped by visual experience? By directly comparing resting-state and task-based fMRI data in congenitally blind and sighted subjects, we obtained large-scale continuous maps of the degree to which connectional and functional “fingerprints” of ventral visual cortex depend on visual experience. In addition to revealing regions that are strongly dependent on visual experience (early visual cortex and posterior fusiform gyrus), our results showed regions in which connectional and functional patterns are highly similar in blind and sighted individuals (anterior medial and posterior lateral ventral occipital temporal cortex). These results serve as a basis for the formulation of new hypotheses regarding the functionality and plasticity of specific subregions of the visual cortex.
Automatic transcription error recovery for Person Name Recognition

Person Name Recognition from transcriptions of TV shows spoken content is a crucial step towards multimedia document indexing. Recognizing Person Names implies the combination of three main modules: Automatic Speech Recognition, Named-Entity Recognition and Entity Linking to associate the recognized surface form to a normalized Person Name. The three modules are potentially error prone. Hence, beyond each module's intrinsic complexity, the Person Names issue suffers from the highly dynamic evolution of vocabularies and occurrence contexts that are correlated to various dimensions (such as actuality, topic of the show…). This paper focuses on the first module and proposes an approach to recover from transcription errors made on Person Names. An error correction method is applied on the textual ASR output and we show that it is all the more efficient that it is coupled with a specific error region detection system. Experiments on the French REPERE database show that Person Names transcription can be efficiently corrected while preserving the overall transcription quality and thus increasing the performance of the whole Person Name Recognition process.
A Genetic Algorithm for the Generation of Jazz Melodies

This paper describes a system for the generation of jazz melodies over an input chord progression. A genetic algorithm was used to search through the space of possible solutions. A symbolic, as opposed to binary, approach with domain-specific reproduction operators was chosen because it allowed knowledge based constraints to be imposed on the search space. The objective, algorithmic fitness function as well as the domain-specific genetic operators orientate the search to promising musical paths.
An ultimate encoding layer for real-time packetized voice streaming and experiments over a multi-hop wireless network

Future integrated networks are expected to offer packetized voice and other multimedia conferencing services to mobile users over wireless links. Wireless networks cannot easily support multimedia applications due to the media high probability, burstiness, persistence of errors, and delay jitter suffered by packets. This is not only due to queuing but due to link-layer (MAC) protocols as well. Mobility results in even higher loss rates and jitter for the higher layers. Adding real-time, reliability and multicast constrains to ad-hoc, multihop or cellular configurations makes the problem even more difficult. Providing for good end user perception in such environments cannot be done by applying traditional methods such as scheduling and reservations as in wired fixed networks. The high variance of the media response has to be handled by managing (monitoring and adapting to) QoS. A finer and more aggressive layering can improve perception in some applications intended for use in these or in hybrid systems. A lower layer can be defined as the minimal set of information that is needed to keep the application alive under extremely adverse network conditions. In this paper, using a real testbed and our audio on demand application ([1], [2], [3]) we propose one more possibility for the lower rate layer which is useful in speech streaming over such networks. A text transcription can be generated from the audio stream using a speech recognition engine at the sender side. The text traverses the path easier (very low bit rate) and more reliably (e.g. using redundancy). The data can be displayed at the receiver side in a caption window or, more importantly, the speech can be reproduced using the transcription with a text-to-speech synthesizer. Our experiments show that, by adapting to QoS and using our transcription scheme, end user perception can
The Big Australian Speech Corpus (The Big ASC)

Under an ARC Linkage Infrastructure, Equipment and Facilities (LIEF) grant, speech science and technology experts from across Australia have joined forces to organise the recording of audio-visual (AV) speech data from representative speakers of Australian English in all capital cities and some regional centres. The Big Australian Speech Corpus (the Big ASC) will provide a standard recording setup and a collaboratively-designed elicitation protocol to create a corpus of AV speech data incorporating annotations and metadata, accessible via a centralised storage facility. The Big ASC infrastructure will provide a significant boost to research in speech science and human communication in Australia.
A practical algorithm for L triangulation with outliers

This paper addresses the problem of robust optimal multi-view triangulation. We propose an abstract framework, as well as a practical algorithm, which finds the best 3D reconstruction with guaranteed global optimality even in the presence of outliers. Our algorithm is founded on the theory of LP-type problem. We have recognized that the Linfin triangulation is a concrete example of the LP-type problems. We propose a set of non-trivial basis operation subroutines that actually implement the idea. Experiments have validated the effectiveness and efficiency of the proposed algorithm.
Unsupervised Unmixing of Subcellular Location Patterns

With the advent of high-throughput microscopes, researchers can routinely image hundreds of different proteins per day, generating thousands of images. To be able to organize these images and extract meaningful information, we need automatic methods. The state-of-the-art in automated subcellular localization is classification in the space of image features. This approach is not suited, however, for handling mixture patterns (the pattern of a protein present in more than one location). We have previously described methods for determining the fraction of fluorescence in various subcellular locations when the basic locations in which a protein can be present are given a priori. However, knowing all fundamental patterns a priori may be problematic. The alternative is unsupervised unmixing: given a set of images from different proteins, identify the basic patterns that best explain all the observed images as either examples of such basic patterns or combinations thereof. We extend our previous work to handle this problem. Using a validation dataset, we show that this method can recover the underlying mixed patterns. It identifies meaningful basis patterns and mixture coefficients that correlate well with the probe concentrations that generated the dataset (the probe concentrations were kept hidden from the algorithm).
Household Charitable Giving at the Intersection of Gender, Marital Status, and Religion

Past research reveals mixed results regarding the relationship between gender and charitable giving. We show gender plays a significant role in giving but only when considered alongside marital status and religion. Using the 2006 Portraits of American Life Study, we model a household’s propensity to give and the amount given. We extend past research by disaggregating unmarried households to look at divorced, widowed, and never-married households, and by including multiple religion measures. Results indicate households headed by never-married females have lower giving levels compared with those headed by divorced and widowed women. In households headed by single males, these differences are largely absent. Religious attendance has a stronger association with giving in male-headed households. The respondent’s gender is also related to the amount married households report giving to charity. Future research on giving should consider both gender and marital status to more fully capture increasing diversity in American families.
Saddle Point Optimality Conditions in Fuzzy Optimization Problems

The Karush–Kuhn–Tucker (KKT) optimality conditions and saddle point optimality conditions in fuzzy programming problems have been studied in literature by various authors under different conditions. In this paper, by considering a partial order relation on the set of fuzzy numbers, and convexity with differentiability of fuzzy mappings, we have obtained the Fritz John (FJ) constraint qualification and KKT necessary conditions for a fuzzy optimization problem with fuzzy coefficients, for first time. Owing to the help of the KKT optimality conditions, we then discuss, the saddle point optimality conditions, associated with a fuzzy optimization problem under convexity and differentiability of fuzzy mappings.
Biomimetic design for bipedal/quadrupedal motion in a robotic primate

Biomimetic design is a methodology that takes inspiration from natural systems and it is a format that is becoming increasingly effective in the design of future generations of robots that will closely interact with humans. This paper describes the biomimetically inspired design, construction and testing of a robot based on the anatomy of a Gorilla. The paper will show that through the use of novel materials including new pneumatic muscle actuators, composites and highly complaint structures it is possible to produce a robot based on primates that has a capacity for quadrupedal locomotion, jump/fall shock absorption, bipedal standing/squatting and planarized bipedal walking.
Load Discontinuity in Shock Response and Its Remedies

It has been shown that a load discontinuity at the end of an impulse will result in an extra impulse and hence an extra amplitude distortion if a step-by-step integration method is employed to yield the shock response. In order to overcome this difficulty, three remedies are proposed to reduce the extra amplitude distortion. The first remedy is to solve the momentum equation of motion instead of the force equation of motion in the step-by-step solution of the shock response, where an external momentum is used in the solution of the momentum equation of motion. Since the external momentum is a resultant of the time integration of external force, the problem of load discontinuity will automatically disappear. The second remedy is to perform a single small time step immediately upon termination of the applied impulse while the other time steps can still be conducted by using the time step determined from general considerations. This is because that the extra impulse caused by a load discontinuity at the end of an impulse is almost linearly proportional to the step size. Finally, the third remedy is to use the average value of the two different values at the integration point of the load discontinuity to replace the use of one of them for loading input. The basic motivation of this remedy originates from the concept of no loading input error associated with the integration point of load discontinuity. The feasibility of the three remedies are analytically explained and numerically illustrated. Keywords—Dynamic analysis, load discontinuity, shock response, step-by-step integration
The Evolution of the Black-White Test Score Gap in Grades K–3: The Fragility of Results

Abstract Although both economists and psychometricians typically treat them as interval scales, test scores are reported using ordinal scales. Using the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study (ECLS-K) and the Children of the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth (CNLSY), we examine how order-preserving scale transformations affect the evolution of the black-white reading test score gap from kindergarten entry through third grade. Plausible transformations reverse the growth of the gap in the CNLSY and greatly reduce it in the ECLS-K during the early school years. All growth from entry through first grade and a nontrivial proportion from first to third grade probably reflects scaling decisions.
Wide-Field Survey of Globular Clusters in M31. II. Kinematics of the Globular Cluster System

We present a kinematic analysis of the globular cluster (GC) system in M31, using the velocity data for 504 GCs including those for 150 GCs in our wide-field survey. The all GC system shows strong rotation, with rotation amplitude of vrot ∼ 190 km s−1, and weak rotation persists even for the outermost samples at | Y| ⩾ 5 kpc, where Y represents the projected distance from the major axis. The rotation-corrected velocity dispersion for the GC system is estimated to be σp,r ∼ 130 km s−1, and it increases from σp,r ∼ 120 km s−1 at | Y| < 1 kpc to σp,r ∼ 150 km s−1 at | Y| ⩾ 5 kpc. These results are very similar to those for the metal-poor GCs. This shows that there is a dynamically hot halo in M31 that is rotating but primarily pressure-supported. We have identified 50 “friendless” GCs, and they appear to rotate around the major axis of M31. Both metal-rich GCs and metal-poor GCs show strong rotation in the inner region. The rotation for the faint GCs is stronger than that for the bright GCs. We have identified 56 GCs and GC candidates with X-ray detection including 39 GCs with measured velocities. The majority of X-ray-emitting GCs follow the disk rotation. We have derived a rotation curve of M31 using the GCs at | Y| ⩽ 0.6 kpc. We have estimated the dynamical mass of M31 using “Projected Mass Estimator (PME)” and “Tracer Mass Estimator (TME)” as MPME = 5.5+ 0.4−0.3 × 1011 M☉ out to a radius of ~55 kpc and MTME = 19.2+ 1.4−1.3 × 1011 M☉ for a radius of ~100 kpc, respectively. We finally discuss the implication of these results and compare the kinematics of GCs with that of planetary nebulae in M31.
Synthesis of Timed Circuits using BDDs

This paper presents a tool which synthesizes timed circuits from reduced state graphs. Using timing information to reduce state graphs can lead to significantly smaller and faster circuits. The tool uses implicit techniques (binary decision diagrams) to represent these graphs. This allows us to synthesize larger, more complex systems which may be intractable with an explicit representation. We are also able to create a parameterized family of solutions, facilitating technology mapping.
Digital games: Developing the Issues of Socio-cognitive Learning Theory in an Attempt to Shift an Entertainment Gadget to an Educational Tool

Over the years, digital games have become one of adolescents' main interests and a controversial issue among researchers all over the world. However, it is claimed that digital games can be a promising educational tool utilizing both the attributes that make them effective in the learning process and the students' predisposition to deal with them. The present study explores the background of digital game use in a group of Greek adolescents (N=125) (12 to 16 years old) and the potential of using digital games as an educational tool, on a socio-cognitive learning theory basis. Gender differences were revealed; concerning the time spent playing digital games, the game preferences, and the identification with the hero of the game. There was no correlation of frequent digital game use with low academic performance, though frequent game use was partially correlated with low self-esteem and high computer self-efficacy.
Comparing Boolean and Probabilistic Information Retrieval Systems across Queries and Disciplines

Whether using Boolean queries or ranking documents using document and term weights will result in better retrieval performance has been the subject of considerable discussion among document retrieval system users and researchers. We suggest a method that allows one to analytically compare the two approaches to retrieval and examine their relative merits. The performance of information retrieval systems may be determined either by using experimental simulation, or through the application of analytic techniques that directly estimate the retrieval performance, given values for query and database characteristics. Using these performance predicting techniques, sample performance figures are provided for queries using the Boolean and or, as well as for probabilistic systems assuming statistical term independence or term dependence. The variation of performance across sublanguages (used in different academic disciplines) and queries is examined. The performance of models failing to meet statistical and other assumptions is examined. © 1997 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
The genomic organization of type I keratin genes in mice.

We isolated two new keratin cDNAs by screening a cDNA library constructed from poly(A)+ RNA of the dorsal and abdominal skin of C57BL/10J mice with a probe of human KRT14. Due to its high sequence homology to human keratin 17 cDNA, one full-length cDNA is most likely to be mouse keratin 17 (Krt1-17) cDNA. The other is the putative full-length cDNA of a novel type I keratin gene, designated Krt1-c29. These two keratin genes were mapped to the distal portion of Chromosome 11, where the mouse keratin gene complex-1 (Krt1) is localized. To elucidate the genomic organization of Krt1 in mice, we carried out genetic and physical analyses of Krt1. A large-scale linkage analysis using intersubspecific backcrosses suggested that there are two major clusters in Krt1, one containing Krt1-c29, Krt1-10, and Krt1-12 and the other containing Krt1-14, -15, -17, and -19. Truncation experiments with two yeast artificial chromosome clones containing the two clusters above have revealed that the gene order of Krt1 is centromere-Krt1-c29-Krt1-10-Krt1-12-Krt1-13-K rt1-15-Krt1-19-Krt1-14-K rt1-17-telomere. Finally, we analyzed sequence divergence between the genes belonging to the Krt1 complex. The results clearly indicated that genes are classified into two major groups with respect to phylogenetic relationship. Each group consists of the respective gene cluster demonstrated by genetic and physical analyses in this study, suggesting that the physical organization of the Krt1 complex reflects the evolutionary process of gene duplication of this complex.
Tag tables

Tag Tables enable storage of tags for very large set-associative caches - such as those afforded by 3D DRAM integration - with fine-grained block sizes (e.g. 64B) with low enough overhead to be feasibly implemented on the processor die in SRAM. This approach differs from previous proposals utilizing small block sizes which have assumed that on-chip tag arrays for DRAM caches are too expensive and have consequently stored them with the data in the DRAM itself. Tag Tables are able to avoid the costly overhead of traditional tag arrays by exploiting the natural spatial locality of applications to track the location of data in the cache via a compact "base-plus-offset" encoding. Further, Tag Tables leverage the on-demand nature of a forward page table structure to only allocate storage for those entries that correspond to data currently present in the cache, as opposed to the static cost imposed by a traditional tag array. Through high associativity, we show that Tag Tables provide an average performance improvement of more than 10% over the prior state-of-the-art - Alloy Cache - 44% more than the Loh-Hill Cache due to fast on-chip lookups, and 58% over a no-L4 system through a range of multithreaded and multiprogrammed workloads with high L3 miss rates.
Genome Sequence of the Symbiotic Type Strain Rhizobium tibeticum CCBAU85039T

ABSTRACT Rhizobium tibeticum was originally isolated from root nodules of Trigonella archiducis-nicolai grown in Tibet, China. This species is also able to nodulate Medicago sativa and Phaseolus vulgaris. The whole-genome sequence of the type strain, R. tibeticum CCBAU85039T, is reported in this study.
Or's of And's for Interpretable Classification, with Application to Context-Aware Recommender Systems

We present a machine learning algorithm for building classifiers that are comprised of a small number of disjunctions of conjunctions (or's of and's). An example of a classifier of this form is as follows: If X satisfies (x1 = 'blue' AND x3 = 'middle') OR (x1 = 'blue' AND x2 = '<15') OR (x1 = 'yellow'), then we predict that Y=1, ELSE predict Y=0. An attribute-value pair is called a literal and a conjunction of literals is called a pattern. Models of this form have the advantage of being interpretable to human experts, since they produce a set of conditions that concisely describe a specific class. We present two probabilistic models for forming a pattern set, one with a Beta-Binomial prior, and the other with Poisson priors. In both cases, there are prior parameters that the user can set to encourage the model to have a desired size and shape, to conform with a domain-specific definition of interpretability. We provide two scalable MAP inference approaches: a pattern level search, which involves association rule mining, and a literal level search. We show stronger priors reduce computation. We apply the Bayesian Or's of And's (BOA) model to predict user behavior with respect to in-vehicle context-aware personalized recommender systems.