Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
SVM Based Offline Handwritten Gurmukhi Character Recognition

Support Vector Machines (SVMs) have successfully been used in recognizing printed characters. In the present work, we have used this classification technique to recognize handwritten characters. Recognition of handwritten characters is a difficult task owing to various writing styles of individuals. A scheme for offline handwritten Gurmukhi character recognition based on SVMs is presented in this paper. The system first prepares a skeleton of the character, so that feature information about the character is extracted. Features of a character have been computed based on statistical measures of distribution of points on the bitmap image of character. SVM based approach has been used to classify a character based on the extracted features. In this work, we have taken the samples of offline handwritten Gurmukhi characters from one hundred different writers. The partition strategy for selecting the training and testing patterns has also been experimented in this work. We have used in all 3500 images of Gurmukhi characters for the purpose of training and testing. We have used diagonal and; intersection and open end points feature extraction techniques in order to find the feature sets for a given character. The proposed system achieves a maximum recognition accuracy of 94.29% with 90% training data and 10% testing data using intersection and open end points as features and SVM with polynomial kernel.
FED-a framework for iterative data selection in exploratory visualization

This paper presents a paradigm for the interactive selection (querying) of data from a structured grid of data points for exploratory visualization. The paradigm is based on specifying and iteratively adjusting the Focus, Extent, and Density (FED) of the data attributes. The FED model supports highly complex queries of structured data in an intuitive fashion, and is augmented with a visual interface composed of a set of simple yet powerful user interface controls for query specification. In addition, statistical aggregations are supported by the model. Finally, the FED model is compared to the SQL paradigm, and is shown to be well suited for mapping to a direct-manipulation graphical interface.
From Block to Traditional Schedule: The Impact on Academic Achievement, Attendance Rates, and Dropout Rates

The purpose of this study was to examine the impact of school schedule on student achievement and attendance of ninth and tenth grade students in metropolitan area Texas high schools (n = 22) and campus dropout rates. High schools that were analyzed in this study made a transition from A/B block scheduling in the 2003-04 school year to a traditional school schedule in the 2004-05 school year. Academic achievement, attendance rates and dropout rates were gathered through the archived files of the Texas Agency through the Academic Indicator of Excellence System (AEIS). Academic achievement was measured by the Texas Assessment of Knowledge and Skills (TAKS) Reading/Language Arts and Mathematics standardized tests. This study compared the mean scores of ninth grader student achievement, attendance, and dropout rates from the 2003-04 school year to the mean scores of the tenth graders from the same schools from the 2004-05 school year, after the schools converted from an A/B block schedule to a traditional class schedule. Each independent variable was divided into four subgroups; campus mean results, minority student results, limited English proficient (LEP) student results, and low-socioeconomic student results. Students under the A/B block scored significantly higher in reading achievement than when they were instructed the following year under a traditional schedule. Paired sample t-tests were conducted to analyze the data for each subgroup, and showed there was a statistically significance in reading / language arts student achievement scores for all subgroups. Statistical significance was determined with a ninety five percent confidence level (p < 0.05). Statistical analysis revealed varied results in mean scores for math academic achievement and attendance rates, but no statistical significant difference. Comparison of data showed a slight increase in mean scores for dropout rates in traditional schedule, however the results were not significant.
Hrs, a Mammalian Master Molecule in Vesicular Transport and Protein Sorting, Suppresses the Degradation of ESCRT Proteins Signal Transducing Adaptor Molecule 1 and 2*

The degradation and sorting of cytoplasmic and cell-surface proteins are crucial steps in the control of cellular functions. We previously identified three mammalian Vps (vacuolar protein sorting) proteins, Hrs (hepatocyte growth factor-regulated tyrosine kinase substrate) and signal transducing adaptor molecule (STAM) 1 and -2, which are tyrosine-phosphorylated upon cytokine/growth factor stimulation. Hrs and the STAMs each contain a ubiquitin-interacting motif and through formation of a complex are involved in the vesicle transport of early endosomes. To explore the mechanism and cellular function of this complex in mammalian cells, we established an Hrs-defective fibroblastoid cell line (hrs-/-); embryos with this genotype died in utero. In the hrs-/- cells only trace amounts of STAM1 and STAM2 were detected. Introduction of wild-type Hrs or an Hrs mutant with an intact STAM binding domain (Hrs-dFYVE) fully restored STAM1 and STAM2 expression, whereas mutants with no STAM binding ability (Hrs-dC2, Hrs-dM) failed to express the STAMs. This regulated control of STAM expression by Hrs was independent of transcription. Interestingly, STAM1 degradation was mediated by proteasomes and was partially dependent on the ubiquitin-interacting motif of STAM1. Revertant Hrs expression in hrs-/- cells not only led to the accumulation of ubiquitinated proteins, including intracytoplasmic vesicles, but also restored STAM1 levels in early endosomes and eliminated the enlarged endosome phenotype caused by the absence of Hrs. These results suggest that Hrs is a master molecule that controls in part the degradation of STAM1 and the accumulation of ubiquitinated proteins.
Ethics and Values in Industrial-Organizational Psychology

Contents: E.A. Fleishman, J.N. Cleveland, Series Foreword. Introduction. Part I:Moral Philosophy and Psychology. Meta-Ethics. Normative Ethical Theories: I. Deontology. Normative Ethical Theories II. Consequentialism. Moral Psychology. Part II:Values. The Central Role of Values in Ethical Decision Making. Values at the Group Level. Values and Value Conflicts in the Professions. Values in Psychology. Business Values: I. The Classical Free-Enterprise Model. Business Values: II. The Revisionist Neo-Liberal Free-Enterprise Model. The Values and Ethics of Industrial-Organizational Psychology. Part III:The Ethical Context of Research. Research Ethics: I. Informed Consent and Confidentiality. Research Ethics: II. The Use of Deception. Part IV:Conclusion. Taking Moral Action.
Youth Studies Australia (1998-2007): A Review and Content Analysis.

In this analysis of material published in Youth Studies Australia during the period 1998-2007, Brian Hemmings classifies 252 articles into 15 categories, and considers the characteristics of the contributors, the type of submission and the approach/framework used. Hemmings concludes by discussing the implications of the findings of the various analyses for future research and the reporting of that research in subsequent issues of Youth Studies Australia.
Spontaneous Mentalizing Predicts the Fundamental Attribution Error

When explaining the reasons for others' behavior, perceivers often overemphasize underlying dispositions and personality traits over the power of the situation, a tendency known as the fundamental attribution error. One possibility is that this bias results from the spontaneous processing of others' mental states, such as their momentary feelings or more enduring personality characteristics. Here, we use fMRI to test this hypothesis. Participants read a series of stories that described a target's ambiguous behavior in response to a specific social situation and later judged whether that act was attributable to the target's internal dispositions or to external situational factors. Neural regions consistently associated with mental state inference—especially, the medial pFC—strongly predicted whether participants later made dispositional attributions. These results suggest that the spontaneous engagement of mentalizing may underlie the biased tendency to attribute behavior to dispositional over situational forces.
Case-control studies of sporadic cryptosporidiosis in Melbourne and Adelaide, Australia

Few studies have assessed risk factors for sporadic cryptosporidiosis in industrialized countries, even though it may be numerically more common than outbreaks of disease. We carried out case-control studies assessing risk factors for sporadic disease in Melbourne and Adelaide, which have water supplies from different ends of the raw water spectrum. In addition to examining drinking water, we assessed several other exposures. 201 cases and 795 controls were recruited for Melbourne and 134 cases and 536 controls were recruited for Adelaide. Risk factors were similar for the two cities, with swimming in public pools and contact with a person with diarrhoea being most important. The consumption of plain tap water was not found to be associated with disease. This study emphasizes the need for regular public health messages to the public and swimming pool managers in an attempt to prevent sporadic cryptosporidiosis, as well as outbreaks of disease.
Asynchronous Functional Session Types

Session types support a type-theoretic formulation of structured patterns of communication, so that the communication behaviour of agents in a distributed system can be verified by static type checking. Applications include network protocols, business processes, and operating system services. In this paper we define a multithreaded functional language with session types, which unifies, simplifies and extends previous work. There are three main contributions. First: an operational semantics with buffered channels, instead of the synchronous communication of previous work. Second: session type manipulation by means of the standard structures of a linear type theory, rather than by means of new forms of typing judgement. Third: a notion of subtyping, including the standard subtyping relation for session types (imported into the functional setting) and a novel form of subtyping between standard and linear function types. Our new approach significantly simplifies session types in the functional setting, clarifies their essential features, and provides a secure foundation for language developments such as polymorphism and object-orientation, as well as further forms of static analysis including estimating the size of communication buffers.
Heart valve surgery: EuroSCORE vs. EuroSCORE II vs. Society of Thoracic Surgeons score

Background This is a validation study comparing the European System for Cardiac Operative Risk Evaluation (EuroSCORE) II with the previous additive (AES) and logistic EuroSCORE (LES) and the Society of Thoracic Surgeons’ (STS) risk prediction algorithm, for patients undergoing valve replacement with or without bypass in Pakistan. Patients and Methods Clinical data of 576 patients undergoing valve replacement surgery between 2006 and 2013 were retrospectively collected and individual expected risks of death were calculated by all four risk prediction algorithms. Performance of these risk algorithms was evaluated in terms of discrimination and calibration. Results There were 28 deaths (4.8%) among 576 patients, which was lower than the predicted mortality of 5.16%, 6.96% and 4.94% by AES, LES and EuroSCORE II but was higher than 2.13% predicted by STS scoring system. For single and double valve replacement procedures, EuroSCORE II was the best predictor of mortality with highest Hosmer and Lemmeshow test (H-L) p value (0.346 to 0.689) and area under the receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve (0.637 to 0.898). For valve plus concomitant coronary artery bypass grafting (CABG) patients actual mortality was 1.88%. STS calculator came out to be the best predictor of mortality for this subgroup with H-L p value (0.480 to 0.884) and ROC (0.657 to 0.775). Conclusions For Pakistani population EuroSCORE II is an accurate predictor for individual operative risk in patients undergoing isolated valve surgery, whereas STS performs better in the valve plus CABG group.
Template‐based modeling and ab initio refinement of protein oligomer structures using GALAXY in CAPRI round 30

Many proteins function as homo‐ or hetero‐oligomers; therefore, attempts to understand and regulate protein functions require knowledge of protein oligomer structures. The number of available experimental protein structures is increasing, and oligomer structures can be predicted using the experimental structures of related proteins as templates. However, template‐based models may have errors due to sequence differences between the target and template proteins, which can lead to functional differences. Such structural differences may be predicted by loop modeling of local regions or refinement of the overall structure. In CAPRI (Critical Assessment of PRotein Interactions) round 30, we used recently developed features of the GALAXY protein modeling package, including template‐based structure prediction, loop modeling, model refinement, and protein–protein docking to predict protein complex structures from amino acid sequences. Out of the 25 CAPRI targets, medium and acceptable quality models were obtained for 14 and 1 target(s), respectively, for which proper oligomer or monomer templates could be detected. Symmetric interface loop modeling on oligomer model structures successfully improved model quality, while loop modeling on monomer model structures failed. Overall refinement of the predicted oligomer structures consistently improved the model quality, in particular in interface contacts. Proteins 2017; 85:399–407. © 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
Identification of the Single Immunodominant Region of the Native Human CC Chemokine Receptor 6 Recognized by Mouse Monoclonal Antibodies

Chemokines and their receptors play an important role in cell trafficking and recruitment. The CCR6 chemokine receptor, selectively expressed on leukocyte populations, has been shown to play a deleterious role in the pathogenesis of various chronic inflammatory diseases and, as such, may constitute a prime target in the development of immunotherapeutic treatment. However, to date no neutralizing mouse monoclonal antibodies (mAbs) specific for this chemokine receptor have been reported, whereas information on small molecules capable of interfering with the interaction of CCR6 and its ligands is scant. Here, we report the failure to generate neutralizing mouse mAbs specific for human (hu)CCR6. Immunization of mice with peptides mimicking extracellular domains, potentially involved in CCR6 function, failed to induce Abs reactive with the native receptor. Although the use of NIH-3T3 cells expressing huCCR6 resulted in the isolation of mAbs specific for this receptor, they were not able to block the interaction between huCCR6 and huCCL20. Investigation of the anti-huCCR6 mAbs generated in the present study, as well as those commercially available, show that all mAbs invariably recognize a unique, non-neutralizing, immunodominant region in the first part of its N-terminal domain. Together, these results indicate that the generation of potential neutralizing anti-huCCR6 mAbs in the mouse is unlikely to succeed and that alternative techniques, such as the use of other animal species for immunization, might constitute a better approach to generate such a potentially therapeutic tool for the treatment of inflammatory disease.
Mobile-based advertisement information retrieval from images and websites

In the real world, there are a huge amount of advertisement (ad) boards to make customers have a visual awareness of the products or services easily. However, information appearing in the ad boards is so limited that customers always want to know more ad details in a convenient way. In this paper, we present an mobile-based prototype system to automatically extract web ad information from images and websites. After capturing ad images by smartphones and sending them to a remote server, ad image text is recognized by OCR engine, from where ad phrases and keywords are extracted and combined together as queries. Ad web page candidates are then obtained by specific search engines and clustered to remove noises. OCR results are further used to estimate valid ad topic web pages which are pushed back to end users for searching more detailed ad information. Based on the experiments on a real-world ad image dataset collected by ourselves, true ad topic web pages can be found from top-one and top-ten returned pages in about 51.85% and 83.33% query images respectively, which illustrates the effectiveness of the proposed system.
Les jeunes Bruxellois, entre diversité et adversité: enquête parmi les rhétoriciens des écoles de la Ville de Bruxelles

Bruxelles est une ville fortement segmentee socialement et culturellement. Cette diversite se retrouve particulierement au niveau de sa jeunesse. Cet article propose l’analyse d’une enquete par questionnaire realisee aupres de rhetoriciens des ecoles francophones de la Ville de Bruxelles, de toutes les formes d’enseignement, portant sur les styles de vie, le racisme et l’insecurite. Les resultats confirment la pluralite de la jeunesse. Trois variables essentielles semblent differencier les « jeunesses bruxelloises » : l’origine sociale, l’origine ethnique et l’orientation scolaire. Les resultats attestent que les relations entre les jeunes se construisent sur des bases identitaires s’ancrant dans la reference a l’appartenance sociale et a l’origine ethnique mais dont l’intensite est variable selon la forme de l’enseignement. L’ethnicisation des rapports sociaux parmi les jeunes parait tres presente. L’enquete revele un paradoxe : les expressions xenophobes, qui ne visent pas que les personnes d’origine etrangere, sont nombreuses dans les modes de designation d’autrui alors meme que l’adhesion au discours antiraciste semble dominante.
Double scattering, reactions and singular perturbation: The VPRT approach.

Second-order volumetric perturbative reciprocal theory (VPRT), which has a direct theoretical interest to scattering in random media including up to second-order effects, is presented. Expression for the scattering field are directly given in terms of meaningful reactions, i.e. involving physical observable quantities. Distribution theory for discontinuous test functions provides the rigorous mathematical backbone of the general VPRT formulation, so conferring conceptual elegance to the theoretical construct. In this paper, a conceptual and mathematical new approach of interest in electromagnetic scattering analysis is then introduced and discussed.
On optimization of reliability of distributed generation-enhanced feeders

Placement of protection devices in a conventional feeder (without distributed generation) is often performed so as to minimize traditional reliability indices (SAIDI, SAIFI, MAIFIe.), assuming the sole source(s) of energy at substation(s). Distributed generation (DG) and storage units located on the feeder may be constrained in terms of power and/or energy capacity, and may include renewable DG units whose output is dependent on the meteorological conditions. Those sources may reduce the number of faults and/or fault durations for customers residing within their protection zones, thus increasing the reliability of service. We propose a procedure for finding optimal recloser positions on the feeder equipped with power constrained distributed generators, using a specially tailored genetic algorithm.
Soft state-tying for HMM-based speech recognition

This paper introduces a method for regularization of HMM systems that avoidsparameteroverﬁtting causedby insufﬁcienttrain-ing data. Regularization is done by augmenting the EM training method by a penalty term that favors simple and smooth HMM systems. The penalty term is constructed as a mixture model of negative exponential distributions that is assumed to generate the state dependent emission probabilities of the HMMs. This new method is the successful transfer of a well known regularization approachin neuralnetworksto the HMMdomain andcan beinter-preted as a generalization of traditional state-tying for HMM systems. The effect of regularization is demonstrated for continuous speechrecognition tasks by improving overﬁtted triphone models and by speaker adaptation with limited training data.
Decreasing the Proportion of Self-Control Trials During the Acquisition Period Does Not Compromise the Learning Advantages in a Self-Controlled Context

The present experiment examined the learning effects of participants self-controlling their receipt of knowledge of results (KR) on all or half of their acquisition trials (50%). For participants who were provided 50% self-control, the first half of their acquisition period consisted of receiving KR on all trials, or according to a faded-KR schedule. Participants practiced a sequential timing task. The results showed that independent of practice condition, participants who self-controlled their KR during the acquisition period demonstrated superior performance compared to the respective yoked conditions in the retention and transfer portion of the experiment. These results extend previous research by suggesting that decreasing the proportion of self-control trials does not compromise learning in a self-controlled context.
A High-Throughput Oxidative Stress Biosensor Based on Escherichia coli roGFP2 Cells Immobilized in a k-Carrageenan Matrix

Biosensors fabricated with whole-cell bacteria appear to be suitable for detecting bioavailability and toxicity effects of the chemical(s) of concern, but they are usually reported to have drawbacks like long response times (ranging from hours to days), narrow dynamic range and instability during long term storage. Our aim is to fabricate a sensitive whole-cell oxidative stress biosensor which has improved properties that address the mentioned weaknesses. In this paper, we report a novel high-throughput whole-cell biosensor fabricated by immobilizing roGFP2 expressing Escherichia coli cells in a k-carrageenan matrix, for the detection of oxidative stress challenged by metalloid compounds. The E. coli roGFP2 oxidative stress biosensor shows high sensitivity towards arsenite and selenite, with wide linear range and low detection limit (arsenite: 1.0 × 10−3–1.0 × 101 mg·L−1, LOD: 2.0 × 10−4 mg·L−1; selenite: 1.0 × 10−5–1.0 × 102 mg·L−1, LOD: 5.8 × 10−6 mg·L−1), short response times (0–9 min), high stability and reproducibility. This research is expected to provide a new direction in performing high-throughput environmental toxicity screening with living bacterial cells which is capable of measuring the bioavailability and toxicity of environmental stressors in a friction of a second.