Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Experimental philosophy and the history of philosophy

ABSTRACT Contemporary experimental philosophers sometimes use versions of an argument from the history of philosophy to defend the claim that what they do is philosophy. Although experimental philosophers conduct surveys and carry out what appear to be experiments in psychology, making them methodologically different from most analytic philosophers working today, techniques like theirs were not out of the ordinary in the philosophy of the past, early modern philosophy in particular. Or so some of them (Knobe, Nichols, Sytsma and Livengood) argue. This paper disputes the argument, citing important differences between early modern philosopher-scientists – Descartes, Hobbes and Boyle – and their supposed modern counterparts. Although there is some continuity between early modern philosopher-scientists and the contemporary experimentalists, it is mostly a continuity of interest in empirically informed philosophy, not a distinctively experimental philosophy.
Designed Amino Acid Feed in Improvement of Production and Quality Targets of a Therapeutic Monoclonal Antibody

Cell culture feeds optimization is a critical step in process development of pharmaceutical recombinant protein production. Amino acids are the basic supplements of mammalian cell culture feeds with known effect on their growth promotion and productivity. In this study, we reported the implementation of the Plackett-Burman (PB) multifactorial design to screen the effects of amino acids on the growth promotion and productivity of a Chinese hamster ovary DG-44 (CHO-DG44) cell line producing bevacizumab. After this screening, the amino acid combinations were optimized by the response surface methodology (RSM) to determine the most effective concentration in feeds. Through this strategy, the final monoclonal antibody (mAb) titre was enhanced by 70%, compared to the control group. For this particular cell line, aspartic acid, glutamic acid, arginine and glycine had the highest positive effects on the final mAb titre. Simultaneously, the impact of the designed amino acid feed on some critical quality attributes of bevacizumab was examined in the group with highest productivity. The product was analysed for N-glycan profiles, charge variant distribution, and low molecular weight forms. The results showed that the target product quality has been improved using this feeding strategy. It was shown how this strategy could significantly diminish the time and number of experiments in identifying the most effective amino acids and related concentrations in target product enhancement. This model could be successfully applied to other components of culture media and feeds.
Analysis of New Gradient Based Aggregation Algorithms for Data-Propagation in Mobile Networks

In large scale networks, agents must use partial knowledge obtained from local interactions to reason about their environment. They require efficient mechanisms to allow them to retrieve and aggregate information beyond their communication range. Even though proposals have been presented for gathering information in large scale wireless sensor networks, it is still a challenge to find an efficient and robust technique for gathering information in large scale mobile wireless networks. In this paper we propose gradients as a multi-path structure for routing and aggregating information across a network of computational mobile nodes. We use simulation to demonstrate that progressive aggregation done on top of a gradient improves the bandwidth usage and memory consumption. We also demonstrate self-* properties of our proposed algorithms including scalability, robustness and adaptability.
Modular PCA and Probabilistic Similarity Measure for Robust Face Recognition

This paper addresses a probabilistic approach to develop a robust face recognition system to partial variations such as occlusions. Based on the statistical feature extraction methods, we take the modular PCA method which finds eigenspace not for the set of whole images but for the sets of local image patches. Through the local feature extraction approach, we try to overcome the drawback of wholistic appearance-based conventional PCA, and consequently expect to improve robustness to local variations. The obtained local features are then applied to define two probabilistic models for facial images: one for modeling distribution of features observed in usual facial images, and the other for modeling distribution of environmental variations observed in face image from one subject. The probabilistic model for general facial images are used to evaluate the importance of each local patch. The probabilistic model for the environmental variations is used to evaluate the similarity between two local features. By combining two probabilistic models, we finally define a distance measure between two face images, which can be applied for face recognition. Computational experiments on benchmark face database show that the proposed face recognition method can achieve remarkable robustness to local variations.
Profiler and compiler assisted adaptive I/O prefetching for shared storage caches

I/O prefetching has been employed in the past as one of the mechanisms to hide large disk latencies. However, I/O prefetching in parallel applications is problematic when multiple CPUs share the same set of disks due to the possibility that prefetches from different CPUs can interact on shared memory caches in the I/O nodes in complex and unpredictable ways. In this paper, we (i) quantify the impact of compiler-directed I/O prefetching - developed originally in the context of sequential execution - on shared caches at I/O nodes. The experimental data collected shows that while I/O prefetching brings benefits, its effectiveness reduces significantly as the number of CPUs is increased; (ii) identify inter-CPU misses due to harmful prefetches as one of the main sources for this reduction in performance with the increased number of CPUs; and (iii) propose and experimentally evaluate a profiler and compiler assisted adaptive I/O prefetching scheme targeting shared storage caches. The proposed scheme obtains inter-thread data sharing information using profiling and, based on the captured data sharing patterns, divides the threads into clusters and assigns a separate (customized) I/O prefetcher thread for each cluster. In our approach, the compiler generates the I/O prefetching threads automatically. We implemented this new I/O prefetching scheme using a compiler and the PVFS file system running on Linux, and the empirical data collected clearly underline the importance of adapting I/O prefetching based on program phases. Specifically, our proposed scheme improves performance, on average, by 19.9%, 11.9% and 10.3% over the cases without I/O prefetching, with independent I/O prefetching (each CPU is performing compiler-directed I/O prefetching independently), and with one CPU prefetching (one CPU is reserved for prefetching on behalf of others), respectively, when 8 CPUs are used.
A Profile Measurement System for Rail Quality Assessment During Manufacturing

Steel rails used in the transport sector and in industry are designed and manufactured to support high stress levels generated by high-speed and heavy-loaded modern trains. In the rail manufacturing process, one of the key stages is rolling, where fast, accurate, and repeatable rail profile measurement is a major challenge. In this paper, a rail profile measurement system (PMS) for rail rolling mills based on four conventional, inexpensive laser range finders is proposed. The range finders are calibrated using a common reference to properly express the point clouds generated by each range finder in the world coordinate system (WCS). The alignment of the point clouds to the rail model is performed by means of an efficient and robust registration method. Experiments carried out in a rail rolling mill demonstrate the accuracy and repeatability of the system; the maximum error is below 0.12%. All parallelizable tasks were designed and developed to be executed concurrently, achieving an acquisition rate of up to 210 fps.
The effect of content and language integrated learning programmes' intensity on English proficiency: A longitudinal study

Content and language integrated learning (CLIL) is becoming a very popular approach in Europe and many other parts of the world. However, due to the novelty of its implementation the number of longitudinal studies is scant. With this in mind, the overall aim of this study was to examine the effect of CLIL sessions and their intensity on the learning of English as a foreign language. Two test rounds were conducted in a longitudinal study spanning one year. The participants were 393 secondary education students enrolled in both bilingual and monolingual regions in Spain. Our findings revealed a significant impact of the number of CLIL sessions on students' proficiency in English.
Sampling-based Volumetric Methods for Optimal Feedback Planning

We present a sampling-based, asymptotically optimal feedback planning method for the shortest path problem among obstacles in R. Our method combines an incremental sampling-based Delaunay triangulation with the newly introduced Repairing Fast Marching Method for computing a converging sequence of control policies. The convergence rate and asymptotic computational complexity of the algorithm are proven theoretically. In addition, the proposed method is compared with the state-of-the-art asymptotically optimal path planners in numerical simulation of a realistic planning problem. Finally, we present a straightforward extension of our method that handles dynamic environments where obstacles can appear, disappear, or move.
Greedy Selection of Materialized Views

Greedy based approach for view selection at each step selects a beneficial view that fits within the space available for view materialization. Most of these approaches are focused around the HRU algorithm, which uses a multidimensional lattice framework to determine a good set of views to materialize. The HRU algorithm exhibits high run time complexity as the number of possible views is exponential with respect to the number of dimensions. The PGA algorithm provides a scalable solution to this problem by selecting views for materialization in polynomial time relative to the number of dimensions. This paper compares the HRU and the PGA algorithm. It was experimentally deduced that the PGA algorithm, in comparison with the HRU algorithm, achieves an improved execution time with lowered memory and CPU usages. The HRU algorithm has an edge over the PGA algorithm on the quality of the views selected for materialization.
Pyramid stereo matching for spherical panoramas

This paper presents a novel pyramid stereo matching method to improve the matching accuracy of panoramas. Initial camera parameters and feature correspondences are obtained from Structure From Motion (SFM) with normal images extracted from two panoramas. Then a stereo matching pyramid is constructed to refine the feature correspondences layer by layer, and the correspondence is corrected in the original panoramas. Experimental results show the matching accuracy gains provided by the proposed approach.
Parenting advice for intercultural couples: a systemic perspective

This article presents advice for intercultural parents, based on findings of a qualitative study that examined how intercultural parents negotiated their cultural differences. Semi-structured in-depth interviews were conducted with fourteen intercultural heterosexual couples/parents in South East Queensland. Thematic analysis was used to analyse data and understand the meanings of participants’ experiences. The findings revealed that not only aspects of cultural background, but also systemic and contextual factors impacted on the experiences of intercultural parents. Advice for intercultural parents is described from three systemic perspectives: the individual sphere, the couple/parent sphere and the child's sphere. Practical implications for therapists and counsellors working with intercultural parents are discussed. Practitioner points Find value in cultural differences and similarities in parenting style to form a balanced view Explore benefits and opportunities of intercultural parenting as source of strength Use culture as a valuable source for change Assume the role of mediator and interpreter when dealing with conflicts in cultural code Practice cultural sensitivity and reflexivity Conflict may be due to processes other than culture, such as emotional processes. Explore power dynamics in parenting
The generalized tree quorum protocol: an efficient approach for managing replicated data

In this paper, we present a low-cost fault-tolerant protocol for managing replicated data. We impose a logical tree structure on the set of copies of an object and develop a protocol that uses the information available in the logical structure to reduce the communication requirements for read and write operations. The tree quorum protocol is a generalization of the static voting protocol with two degrees of freedom for choosing quorums. In general, this results in significantly lower communication costs for comparable data availability. The protocol exhibits the property of graceful degradation, i.e., communication costs for executing operations are minimal in a failure-free environment but may increase as failures occur. This approach in designing distributed systems is desirable since it provides fault-tolerance without imposing unnecessary costs on the failure-free mode of operations.
Producing youth ‘Out of sync:’ the intersectional social relations of educational inequality

ABSTRACT This article investigates intersecting institutional and policy relations that influence divergent developmental trajectories among young people. Beginning with young people’s experiential knowledge of key institutional contexts shaping their lives, the article illuminates socially organized disjunctures whereby young people come to see themselves as developmentally out of sync with institutional expectations for youth development, which organize everyday life in public schools. This institutional ethnography explicates the intersecting social relations that shape how young people grow up, the choices that are available to them, their participation in public sector institutions and ultimately, the race and class-based patterns of inequality perpetuated by public schools and other public sector institutions.
Evaluating identity management architectures

Developments in the area of identity management have been subject to very little critique. Many implementations have gathered little general following, and larger scale adoption, such as OpenID, has been limited to internal systems and large identity providers. Previous evaluation has focussed on specific areas and does little to describe the trade off performed in the use of new identity management architectures. Furthermore, these evaluations have not equally considered user vs service provider perspective. This paper looks to derive a method for evaluation which encapsulates metrics from past work and areas which have not been considered. This method produces a holistic evaluation and comparison of identity management architectures.
Regularity of stable solutions to semilinear elliptic equations on Riemannian models

Abstract We consider the reaction-diffusion problem -Δgu = f(u) in ℬR with zero Dirichlet boundary condition, posed in a geodesic ball ℬR with radius R of a Riemannian model (M,g). This class of Riemannian manifolds includes the classical space forms, i.e., the Euclidean, elliptic, and hyperbolic spaces. For the class of semistable solutions we prove radial symmetry and monotonicity. Furthermore, we establish L∞, Lp, and W1,p estimates which are optimal and do not depend on the nonlinearity f. As an application, under standard assumptions on the nonlinearity λf(u), we prove that the corresponding extremal solution u* is bounded whenever n ≤ 9. To establish the optimality of our regularity results we find the extremal solution for some exponential and power nonlinearities using an improved weighted Hardy inequality.
Hybrid Background Subtraction in video using Bi-level CodeBook model

Detection of Objects in Video is a highly demanding area of research. The Background Subtraction Algorithms can yield better results in Foreground Object Detection. This work presents a Hybrid CodeBook based Background Subtraction to extract the foreground ROI from the background. Codebooks are used to store compressed information by demanding lesser memory usage and high speedy processing. This Hybrid method which uses Block-Based and Pixel-Based Codebooks provide efficient detection results; the high speed processing capability of block based background subtraction as well as high Precision Rate of pixel based background subtraction are exploited to yield an efficient Background Subtraction System. The Block stage produces a coarse foreground area, which is then refined by the Pixel stage. The system's performance is evaluated with different block sizes and with different block descriptors like 2D-DCT, FFT etc. The Experimental analysis based on statistical measurements yields precision, recall, similarity and F measure of the hybrid system as 88.74%, 91.09%, 81.66% and 89.90% respectively, and thus proves the efficiency of the novel system.
Flavodoxin Mutants of Escherichia coli K-12

ABSTRACT The flavodoxins are flavin mononucleotide-containing electron transferases. Flavodoxin I has been presumed to be the only flavodoxin of Escherichia coli, and its gene, fldA, is known to belong to the soxRS (superoxide response) oxidative stress regulon. An insertion mutation of fldA was constructed and was lethal under both aerobic and anaerobic conditions; only cells that also had an intact (fldA+) allele could carry it. A second flavodoxin, flavodoxin II, was postulated, based on the sequence of its gene, fldB. Unlike the fldA mutant, an fldB insertion mutant is a viable prototroph in the presence or absence of oxygen. A high-copy-number fldB+ plasmid did not complement the fldA mutation. Therefore, there must be a vital function for which FldB cannot substitute for flavodoxin I. AnfldB-lacZ fusion was not induced by H2O2 and is therefore not a member of theoxyR regulon. However, it displayed asoxS-dependent induction by paraquat (methyl viologen), and the fldB gene is preceded by two overlapping regions that resemble known soxS binding sites. The fldBinsertion mutant did not have an increased sensitivity to the effects of paraquat on either cellular viability or the expression of asoxS-lacZ fusion. Therefore, fldB is a new member of the soxRS (superoxide response) regulon, a group of genes that is induced primarily by univalent oxidants and redox cycling compounds. However, the reactions in which flavodoxin II participates and its role during oxidative stress are unknown.
Multi-level LEACH protocol using NS-3

In Wireless Sensor Networks (WSNs), the nodes are used to detect and locate various events over wide areas. The nodes communicate among themselves using wireless connectivity. The data is gathered by the nodes and the same is forwarded using multi-hop wireless links towards the base station. These tiny nodes are supported by very limited computational and energy resources. In flat topology, the nodes relay every data item collected by each node towards the gateway node, thereby draining the energy of the relaying nodes soon. In a WSN application, it may not be possible to replace the batteries always. One of the basic requirements of any WSN application is energy conservation of the nodes. Using hierarchical topology, the data is collected from the nodes in the near vicinity and the same is aggregated and these aggregate values are sent to the gateway node. This work proposes an extension to the LEACH protocol thereby resulting in considerable improvement of energy efficiency. Various comparisons have also been made.
Image Captioning with both Object and Scene Information

Recently, automatic generation of image captions has attracted great interest not only because of its extensive applications but also because it connects computer vision and natural language processing. By combining convolutional neural networks (CNNs), which learn visual representations from images, and recurrent neural networks (RNNs), which translate the learned features into text sequences, the content of a image can be transformed into linguistic sequences. Existing approaches typically focus on visual features extracted form an object-oriented CNN (train on ImageNet) and then decode them into natural language. In this paper, we propose a novel model using not only object-related, but also scene-related information extracted from the images. To make full use of both object and scene information, we first combine object information and scene information (extracted from a scene-oriented CNN), and then using as inputs to RNNs. Both types of information provide complementary aspects that help in generating a more complete description of the image. Qualitative and quantitative evaluation results validate the effectiveness of our method.
Climate Change Impacts on the Water Resources An overview of global Impacts and techniques to assess at local scale Literature Review

This document presents an overview over global impacts on hydrology and water resources as consequence of climate changes. Likewise, in order to evaluate these impacts at local scale, main downscaling techniques and some applications are reviewed. At the global scale, precipitation will increase in some regions such as part of tropics and high latitudes and decreases in lower and mid latitudes. Runoff depends of the changes in precipitation; in this sense, it is noted a reduction in central American and Europe. Risks of droughts are projected for sub tropical, low and mid latitudes and floods for tropical and highs latitudes. Changes in groundwater recharge, soils moisture and evaporation are also reviewed. Likewise, some results from GCMs, climate change will affect directly on the water resources systems, indicating that in next 50 years will increase the water stress on land areas. On the other hand, statistical and dynamical methods are discussed. Statistical downscaling is classified in stochastic weather generators, regression models, and weather pattern approach. Dynamic downscaling develops and uses a regional climate model (RCM) with the course GCM data used as boundary conditions. Both techniques show great skill to perform the downscaling data. Finally, this paper presents a general procedure to incorporate the climate change impacts on hydrological and water resources models.
Product interest and engagement scale, beta (pies-beta): initial development

We report a work in progress: development and initial validation of the Product Interest and Engagement Scale (PIES), a short assessment instrument measuring consumer interest in technology products. PIES reflects an explicitly multidimensional, hierarchical, and extensible model of product interest. It assesses consumer product interest in terms of an overall interest scale plus three subscales assessing interest in features and choices, personal image as affected by a product, and interest in optimizing one's choice with regards to a product. We report factor structure in a sample of N=225 US consumers and replication with N=180 US consumers. The results establish reliability of the overall 12-item scale and subscales in a broad consumer sample (Cronbach's alpha = 0.89 overall, 0.82-0.88 for subscales). Validity measures in the validation sample demonstrate convergent and discriminant validity with product ownership and product involvement measures. We regard PIES as currently being in beta form (PIES-beta). It is suitable for usage now but will undergo further revision in 2009.