Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
A Reaction-Diffusion Model to Capture Disparity Selectivity in Primary Visual Cortex

Decades of experimental studies are available on disparity selective cells in visual cortex of macaque and cat. Recently, local disparity map for iso-orientation sites for near-vertical edge preference is reported in area 18 of cat visual cortex. No experiment is yet reported on complete disparity map in V1. Disparity map for layer IV in V1 can provide insight into how disparity selective complex cell receptive field is organized from simple cell subunits. Though substantial amounts of experimental data on disparity selective cells is available, no model on receptive field development of such cells or disparity map development exists in literature. We model disparity selectivity in layer IV of cat V1 using a reaction-diffusion two-eye paradigm. In this model, the wiring between LGN and cortical layer IV is determined by resource an LGN cell has for supporting connections to cortical cells and competition for target space in layer IV. While competing for target space, the same type of LGN cells, irrespective of whether it belongs to left-eye-specific or right-eye-specific LGN layer, cooperate with each other while trying to push off the other type. Our model captures realistic 2D disparity selective simple cell receptive fields, their response properties and disparity map along with orientation and ocular dominance maps. There is lack of correlation between ocular dominance and disparity selectivity at the cell population level. At the map level, disparity selectivity topography is not random but weakly clustered for similar preferred disparities. This is similar to the experimental result reported for macaque. The details of weakly clustered disparity selectivity map in V1 indicate two types of complex cell receptive field organization.
The automatic evaluation of pictures

Previous research (Hermans, de Houwer, & Eelen, 1994) has found that in a priming paradigm, pictures of extremely evaluated objects speed the evaluation of same-valence targets when presented for a very short interval beforehand, showing that such pictures are automatically evaluated. This research extended the generality of the automatic evaluation effect among pictures by including less extreme pictures as prime stimuli, and by reducing explicitly evaluative aspects of the experimental paradigms. In the first experiment, pictures influenced evaluation latencies as predicted, but extremely evaluated pictures were more likely to do so. A second experiment found that more and less extreme pictures showed comparable automatic evaluation without an explicit evaluation goal. These experiments indicate that everyday objects can be immediately and implicitly evaluated on sight.
Attributes of digital natives as predictors of information literacy in higher education

Digital natives are assumed to possess knowledge and skills that allow them to handle information and communication technologies (ICT) tools in a 'natural' way. Accordingly, this calls for the application of different teaching/learning strategies in education. The purpose of the study was to test the predictive strength of some attributes of digital nativeness (ICT ownership, ICT experiences, internet confidence and number of ICT-rich university courses) on the information literacy (IL) of 299 Slovenian university students. Correlation and regression analysis based on survey data revealed that the attributes of digital natives are poor predictors of IL. The principal findings are: ICT experiences expressed as the sum of the use of different applications do not necessarily contribute to IL; some applications have a positive and some a negative effect; personal ownership of smartphones, portable computers and desktop computers has no direct effect on IL, while ownership of a tablet computer is actually a negative predictor; personal ownership of ICT devices has an impact on ICT experiences and Internet confidence, and, therefore, an indirect impact on IL; and ICT-rich university courses (if not designed to cultivate IL) have only a marginal impact on IL, although they may have some impact on ICT experiences and Internet confidence. The overall conclusion is that digital natives are not necessarily information literate, and that IL should be promoted with hands-on and minds-on courses based on IL standards. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
Automatic pronunciation scoring for language instruction

This work is part of an effort aimed at developing computer-based systems for language instruction; we address the task of grading the pronunciation quality of the speech of a student of a foreign language. The automatic grading system uses SRI's Decipher/sup TM/ continuous speech recognition system to generate phonetic segmentations. Based on these segmentations and probabilistic models we produce pronunciation scores for individual or groups of sentences. Scores obtained from expert human listeners are used as the reference to evaluate the different machine scores and to provide targets when training some of the algorithms. In previous work we had found that duration-based scores outperformed HMM log-likelihood-based scores. In this paper we show that we can significantly improve HMM-based scores by using average phone segment posterior probabilities. Correlation between machine and human scores went up from r=0.50 with likelihood-based scores to r=0.88 with posterior-based scores. The new measures also outperformed duration-based scores in their ability to produce reliable scores from only a few sentences.
The early acquisition of Spanish verbal morphology: Across-the-board or piecemeal knowledge?

This paper examines the earliest uses of verbal morphology in aninflectional language, Spanish . Stringent criteria are applied to data from two children to determine what inflections are used productively. Analyses reveal that there is little productive command of verbal morphology at early ages and that subjects begin with a single form per verb. When elements of the verb paradigm do begin to become productive, they do so in a very gradual, piecemeal fashion. Finally, what governs which aspects of the paradigm are learned early seems to be a complex interaction of the input with cognitive and linguistic complexity.
Visual Attention and Eye Movements

Visual perception occurs when the eyes retrieve information from the visual field. The process of choosing “what” to observe is selective. Our eyes do not have enough attention to focus on every object in the field and gather their information; therefore, we need to select what is important to process. There are many different characteristics to visual selection such as when it occurs and how it occurs. Visual selection can either be overt or covert. Overt selections are generally performed by eye movement. Our eyes will move to locations of interest to retrieve information. Covert selections are performed by visual attention. Even when our eyes are fixated on one location, we can still shift our attention to observe the different properties of that same location (i.e. color and shape).
Rollover Control in Heavy Vehicles via Recurrent High Order Neural Networks

Heavy vehicles, such as tractor-semitrailers, play an important role in transportation systems. They present more complex dynamical behavior than passenger cars, due to their high centers of gravity, which can vary depending on the load conditions, and are highly susceptible to rollover during cornering. Heavy vehicle rollover on highways occurs as a result of cornering with excessively high speed, cornering on a small radius curve or sudden lane change. However, if rollover threat is predicted using an appropriate algorithm, then the accident can be prevented by the driver's corrective maneuvers. For situations where rollover warning is ineffective, active rollover control is necessary. Most of the rollover warning algorithms use instantaneous rollover-threat index to identify the rollover threat. Since a rollover warning may be issued at 75 % of the rollover threshold acceleration, the time from warning to rollover is too short for the driver to respond effectively. However, if the rollover threat is predicted using the expected maneuvers, a warning can be issued sufficiently in advance of the event. This fact implies that warning systems based on predicted rollover threat can be more effective. Many control strategies have been designed to prevent rollover, most of them based on active speed control and active roll control. However, active roll control is ineffective for sharp turns, since it does not reduce the lateral acceleration, and requires hydraulic actuators which increase the cost considerably. On the other hand, the use of differential braking prevent jack-knifing and loss of direction generated by sudden braking during cornering. Different loading configurations produce different reaction forces on each wheel. This motivates the use of nonlinear robust controllers which have to be able to deal with parametric uncertainties, but most controllers are based on reduced models, in order to lessen the computational requirements. Many mathematical models for tractor semitrailers have been developed in order to derive active control algorithms. The Automotive Research Center of the University of Michigan developed the 33 degrees-of-freedom ArcSim model (UMTRI, 1997) to study the acceleration/braking and handling responses of an US Army 6-axle tractor-semitrailer. In (Hyun & Langari, 2003), the vehicle model for single-unit heavy
A Hormone-Responsive C1-Domain-Containing Protein At5g17960 Mediates Stress Response in Arabidopsis thaliana

Phytohormones play a critical role in mediating plant stress response. They employ a variety of proteins for coordinating such processes. In Arabidopsis thaliana, some members of a Cys-rich protein family known as C1-clan proteins were involved in stress response, but the actual function of the protein family is largely unknown. We studied At5g17960, a C1-clan protein member that possesses three unique C1 signature domains viz. C1_2, C1_3 and ZZ/PHD type. Additionally, we identified 72 other proteins in A. thaliana that contain all three unique signature domains. Subsequently, the 73 proteins were phylogenetically classified into IX subgroups. Promoter motif analysis of the 73 genes identified the presence of hormone-responsive and stress-responsive putative cis-regulatory elements. Furthermore, we observed that transcript levels of At5g17960 were induced in response to different hormones and stress treatments. At1g35610 and At3g13760, two other members of subgroup IV, also showed upregulation upon GA3, biotic and abiotic stress treatments. Moreover, seedlings of independent transgenic A. thaliana lines ectopically expressing or suppressing At5g17960 also showed differential regulation of several abiotic stress-responsive marker genes. Thus, our data suggest that C1-domain-containing proteins have a role to play in plant hormone-mediated stress responses, thereby assigning a putative function for the C1-clan protein family.
Influences on Student Cognitions About Evaluation

Interviews on two occasions with 71 Grade 2, 4 and 6 students in a multi-ethnic setting in Toronto, Canada, found that student cognitions about evaluation mediated the relationship between evaluation and achievement. Parents, peers and student characteristics influenced student cognitions about evaluation. Parents identified the evaluation dimensions their children should attend to, raised student aspirations, stated how well student work attained standards and recommended actions children should take in response to the evaluation. Peer interpretations influenced whether a given performance was viewed as superior or inferior. Older student peers focused attention, to a greater extent than parents, on specific aspects of student performance that could be ameliorated through self-remediation. Children became more sophisticated evaluation consumers as they grew older. Females processed evaluation data more productively than males. There were few cultural differences in response to evaluation. Students responded to traditional and alternate evaluation in very similar ways.
Women's Participation in Argentina's Picketing Movement

Based on case study analysis of four picketing organizations in Argentina, this article analyzes the impact of women's participation in the picketing movements, on the ways in which women think about themselves and the social roles they claim. Women's initial involvement in the picketing movements was tied closely to their performance of the traditional roles of mother and wife. Over time, and as a result of women's social participation, these roles acquired new meaning. Women began to reject certain stereotypes linked to the feminine, and to challenge some aspects of the gendered division of tasks and responsibilities. Redefinition of feminine roles, however, has limitations, which are evident through analysis of the unequal participation of women in the movements’ leadership.
A middleware system for Web-based digital music libraries

We present a middleware system that facilitates Internet users' access to Web-based digital music libraries and allows them to manipulate audio meta-information taking into consideration content and semantic information of music data. Useful relations in the data are automatically extracted through semantic networks (constructed and maintained in the library). Our system is complemented with a query-by-example retrieval subsystem, user relevance feedback facilities, and a new approach for musical genre classification based on the features extracted from signals that correspond to distinct musical instrument sources, as these sources have been identified by a source separation process. The system operation is illustrated in detail.
SEPIC converter passive components design

This paper presents a novel method for the design of passive components for battery powered SEPIC dc-dc switching regulators. The method is based on use of Acceptability Boundary Regions (ABR), which determine an area, in the space of parameters, corresponding to commercial components which ensure acceptable voltage ripples, fulfillment of maximum allowed power dissipation, and non pulsating source current absorption. The effectiveness of this technique is strengthened by a practical method to assign a loss budget distribution among passive components. It is shown that the new approach allows to figure out most convenient design solutions without making preliminary assumptions of inductors current ripples, but rather considering them like an optimization parameter.
A pervasive Dietary Data Recording System

Electronic sensors and various digital devices have been quite successful in improving collection of physical activity data in a pervasive manner, and we believe that advances in dietary assessment can be achieved using similar strategies. Dietary assessment is a critical yet understudied component within the domain of recent advances in electronic health records management. The design of a system for real-time recording of food intake requires considerable research to optimize both system characteristics and data collection procedures, and rigorous validation to confirm its superiority compared to paper-based methods for self-report. We propose to demonstrate a functional prototype of a Dietary Data Recording System (DDRS), which consists of an electronic data collection device and the software and protocols necessary to support data capture and calculation of nutrient intake. A key innovative feature of the DDRS is the use of a video camera and a laser-generated grid of distances to food surfaces, which allows calculation of food volume. This prototype system is a first step in designing an overall framework to support a realistic and rigorous evaluation of whether real-time, electronic collection of dietary data is feasible, acceptable and valid for better health data management. Components demonstrated include a real-time data collection application based on the Google Android OS, a stream based data transfer and on the fly evaluation.
Children's use of dispositions to predict classmates' behavior

Kindergartners, 3rd, and 6th graders chose classmates whom they would and would not like to have on their team for an academic contest and as playmates. Ss also rated their classmates on likableness and academic ability. At all ages, children's choices for the academic competition and the play situation were significantly associated with their ratings of their classmates' academic and social competence, respectively. Ss typically referred to academic abilities to explain their teammate choices for the academic contest and to social competence or friendship to explain playmate choices. Questions about the stability of classmates' academic and social competencies revealed that not until 6th grade did Ss indicate that there are limits in the degree to which academic and social competencies could improve with effort
Nuclear protein import is inhibited by an antibody to a lumenal epitope of a nuclear pore complex glycoprotein

Gp210 is a major transmembrane glycoprotein associated with the nuclear pore complex that is suggested to be important for organizing pore complex architecture and assembly. A mouse monoclonal IgG directed against an epitope in the lumenal domain of rat gp210 was expressed in cultured rat cells by microinjection of mRNA prepared from a hybridoma cell line. The expressed IgG, which becomes assembled into a functional antibody in the lumen of the endoplasmic reticulum, bound to the nuclear envelope in vivo. Expression of anti-gp210 antibody in interphase cells specifically reduced approximately fourfold the mediated nuclear import of a microinjected nuclear protein (nucleoplasmin) coupled to gold particles. The antibody also significantly decreased nuclear influx of a 10-kD dextran by passive diffusion. This transport inhibition did not result from removal of pore complexes from nuclear membranes or from gross alterations in pore complex structure, as shown by EM and immunocytochemistry. A physiological consequence of this transport inhibition was inhibition of cell progression from G2 into M phase. Hence, binding of this antibody to the lumenal side of gp210 must have a transmembrane effect on the structure and functions of the pore complex. These data argue that gp210 is directly or indirectly connected to pore complex constituents involved in mediated import and passive diffusion.
Soluble Aβ Seeds Are Potent Inducers of Cerebral β-Amyloid Deposition

Cerebral β-amyloidosis and associated pathologies can be exogenously induced by the intracerebral injection of small amounts of pathogenic Aβ-containing brain extract into young β-amyloid precursor protein (APP) transgenic mice. The probable β-amyloid-inducing factor in the brain extract has been identified as a species of aggregated Aβ that is generated in its most effective conformation or composition in vivo. Here we report that Aβ in the brain extract is more proteinase K (PK) resistant than is synthetic fibrillar Aβ, and that this PK-resistant fraction of the brain extract retains the capacity to induce β-amyloid deposition upon intracerebral injection in young, pre-depositing APP23 transgenic mice. After ultracentrifugation of the brain extract, <0.05% of the Aβ remained in the supernatant fraction, and these soluble Aβ species were largely PK sensitive. However, upon intracerebral injection, this soluble fraction accounted for up to 30% of the β-amyloid induction observed with the unfractionated extract. Fragmentation of the Aβ seeds by extended sonication increased the seeding capacity of the brain extract. In summary, these results suggest that multiple Aβ assemblies, with various PK sensitivities, are capable of inducing β-amyloid aggregation in vivo. The finding that small and soluble Aβ seeds are potent inducers of cerebral β-amyloidosis raises the possibility that such seeds may mediate the spread of β-amyloidosis in the brain. If they can be identified in vivo, soluble Aβ seeds in bodily fluids also could serve as early biomarkers for cerebral β-amyloidogenesis and eventually Alzheimer's disease.
Autobiographical narrative in a language classroom: a case study in a South African school

There are still many South African teachers who are challenged by the implementation of the relatively new system of education. They have to explore a variety of strategies as they try to transform their pedagogy to enhance learning in their classrooms. This post-apartheid system also challenges educators to be transformative individuals who unveil learning opportunities for their pupils. Furthermore, as they attempt to transform their teaching, they ought to assess their own practice on a continuous basis. Ideally, this means that concepts such as teacher research and reflection will be instrumental in enabling South African teachers to attain the goals of the post-apartheid curriculum. This paper focuses on a case study which explores the professional journey of one (English second language) teacher who tried to improve his teaching by using the autobiographical narrative as well as journal writing strategies. Mr. Poni had been teaching for 10 years when he came across the idea of using autobiographical narrative to enhance his teaching of (mainly) English literature in his Grade 12 classes. This study's findings reveal that reflection does lead to better action. Poni discovered that it was through the sharing of experiences with colleagues and his pupils that he became aware of various aspects he had previously overlooked. This study also confirms the invaluable nature of the autobiographical narrative, as well as the concept of teacher as researcher. It was also through the utilisation of the narrative that Poni was able to be critical of his own teaching practice.
Factored Shapes and Appearances for Parts-based Object Understanding

We present a novel generative framework for learning parts-based representations of object classes. Our model, Factored Shapes and Appearances (FSA), employs a highly factored representation to reason about appearance and shape variability across datasets of images. We propose Markov Chain Monte Carlo sampling schemes for efficient inference and learning, and evaluate the model on a number of datasets. Here we consider datasets that exhibit large amounts of variability, both in the shapes of objects in the scene, and in their appearances. We show that the FSA model extracts meaningful parts from training data, and that its parameters and representation can be used to perform a range of tasks, including object parsing, segmentation and fine-grained categorisation.