Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Let it Learn - A Curious Vision System for Autonomous Object Learning

We present a “curious” active vision system for a humanoid robot that autonomously explores its environment and learns object representations without any human assistance. Similar to an infant, who is intrinsically motivated to seek out new information, our system is endowed with an attention and learning mechanism designed to search for new information that has not been learned yet. Our method can deal with dynamic changes of object appearance which are incorporated into the object models. Our experiments demonstrate improved learning speed and accuracy through curiosity-driven learning.
A role for genre-based pedagogy in academic writing instruction?: an EAP perspective

In this paper I discuss the use of genre as a theoretical construct in academic writing instruction in the context of English for Academic Purposes (EAP) courses. I begin by considering the notion of discourse competence as a concept that accounts for the knowledge elements and skills employed by expert academic writers, and then consider genre as a way of operationalizing the different elements of discourse competence knowledge for the purpose of writing instruction. I review briefly the diversity of approaches to theorizing genre knowledge, and then present the dual social genre/cognitive genre approach that I have used as a basis for research and course design in an EAP context. I exemplify this model by summarizing the key elements of two studies of research genres in which I have used this model. I conclude with a brief theoretical discussion of the issue of construct validity in relation to using the concept of genre in research that relates to writing instruction.
Comparative Structural and Functional Analysis of Bunyavirus and Arenavirus Cap-Snatching Endonucleases

Segmented negative strand RNA viruses of the arena-, bunya- and orthomyxovirus families uniquely carry out viral mRNA transcription by the cap-snatching mechanism. This involves cleavage of host mRNAs close to their capped 5′ end by an endonuclease (EN) domain located in the N-terminal region of the viral polymerase. We present the structure of the cap-snatching EN of Hantaan virus, a bunyavirus belonging to hantavirus genus. Hantaan EN has an active site configuration, including a metal co-ordinating histidine, and nuclease activity similar to the previously reported La Crosse virus and Influenza virus ENs (orthobunyavirus and orthomyxovirus respectively), but is more active in cleaving a double stranded RNA substrate. In contrast, Lassa arenavirus EN has only acidic metal co-ordinating residues. We present three high resolution structures of Lassa virus EN with different bound ion configurations and show in comparative biophysical and biochemical experiments with Hantaan, La Crosse and influenza ENs that the isolated Lassa EN is essentially inactive. The results are discussed in the light of EN activation mechanisms revealed by recent structures of full-length influenza virus polymerase.
Intrusion Detection on Smartphones

Smartphone technology is more and more becoming the predominant communication tool for people across the world. People use their smartphones to keep their contact data, to browse the internet, to exchange messages, to keep notes, carry their personal files and documents, etc. Users while browsing are also capable of shopping online, thus provoking a need to type their credit card numbers and security codes. As the smartphones are becoming widespread so do the security threats and vulnerabilities facing this technology. Recent news and articles indicate huge increase in malware and viruses for operating systems employed on smartphones (primarily Android and iOS). Major limitations of smartphone technology are its processing power and its scarce energy source since smartphones rely on battery usage. Since smartphones are devices which change their network location as the user moves between different places, intrusion detection systems for smartphone technology are most often classified as IDSs designed for mobile ad-hoc networks. The aim of this research is to give a brief overview of IDS technology, give an overview of major machine learning and pattern recognition algorithms used in IDS technologies, give an overview of security models of iOS and Android and propose a new host-based IDS model for smartphones and create proof-of-concept application for Android platform for the newly proposed model. Keywords: IDS, SVM, Android, iOS;
Predicting Maximum Tree Heights and Other Traits from Allometric Scaling and Resource Limitations

Terrestrial vegetation plays a central role in regulating the carbon and water cycles, and adjusting planetary albedo. As such, a clear understanding and accurate characterization of vegetation dynamics is critical to understanding and modeling the broader climate system. Maximum tree height is an important feature of forest vegetation because it is directly related to the overall scale of many ecological and environmental quantities and is an important indicator for understanding several properties of plant communities, including total standing biomass and resource use. We present a model that predicts local maximal tree height across the entire continental United States, in good agreement with data. The model combines scaling laws, which encode the average, base-line behavior of many tree characteristics, with energy budgets constrained by local resource limitations, such as precipitation, temperature and solar radiation. In addition to predicting maximum tree height in an environment, our framework can be extended to predict how other tree traits, such as stomatal density, depend on these resource constraints. Furthermore, it offers predictions for the relationship between height and whole canopy albedo, which is important for understanding the Earth's radiative budget, a critical component of the climate system. Because our model focuses on dominant features, which are represented by a small set of mechanisms, it can be easily integrated into more complicated ecological or climate models.
Therapeutics , Targets , and Chemical Biology Hepatocarcinogenesis Driven by GSNOR De fi ciency Is Prevented by iNOS Inhibition

Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is one of the most common and deadly human cancers and it remains poorly managed. Human HCC development is often associated both with elevated expression of inducible nitric oxide synthase (iNOS) and with genetic deletion of the major denitrosylase S-nitrosoglutathione reductase (GSNOR/ADH5). However, their causal involvement in human HCC is not established. In mice, GSNOR deficiency causes S-nitrosylation and depletion of the DNA repair protein O-alkylguanine-DNAalkyltransferase (AGT) and increases rates of both spontaneous and DEN carcinogen-induced HCC. Here, we report that administration of 1400W, a potent and highly selective inhibitor of iNOS, blocked AGT depletion and rescued the repair of mutagenic O-ethyldeoxyguanosines following DEN challenge in livers of GSNORdeficient (GSNOR / ) mice. Notably, short-term iNOS inhibition following DEN treatment had little effect on carcinogenesis in wild-type mice, but was sufficient to reduce HCC multiplicity, maximal size, and burden in GSNOR / mice to levels comparable with wild-type controls. Furthermore, increased HCC susceptibility in GSNOR / mice was not associated with an increase in interleukin 6, tumor necrosis factor-a, oxidative stress, or hepatocellular proliferation. These results suggested that GSNOR deficiency linked to defective DNA damage repair likely acts at the tumor initiation stage to promote HCC carcinogenesis. Together, our findings provide the first proof of principle that HCC development in the context of uncontrolled nitrosative stress can be blocked by pharmacologic inhibition of iNOS, possibly providing an effective therapy for patients with HCC. Cancer Res; 73(9); 2897–904. 2013 AACR.
RENO: a rename-based instruction optimizer

RENO is a modified MIPS R10000 register renamer that uses map-table "short-circuiting" to implement dynamic versions of several well-known static optimizations: move elimination, common subexpression elimination, register allocation, and constant folding. Because it implements these optimizations dynamically, RENO can apply optimizations in certain situations where static compilers cannot. Cycle-level simulation shows that RENO dynamically eliminates (i.e. optimizes away) 22% of the dynamic instructions in both SPECint2000 and MediaBench. RENO/sub CF/ is responsible for 12% and 17% of the eliminations, respectively. Because dataflow dependences are collapsed around eliminated instructions, performance improves by 8% and 13%, respectively. Alternatively, because eliminated instructions do not consume issue queue entries, physical registers, or issue, bypass, register file, and execution bandwidth, RENO can be used to absorb the performance impact of a significantly scaled-down execution core.
Content-aware click modeling

Click models aim at extracting intrinsic relevance of documents to queries from biased user clicks. One basic modeling assumption made in existing work is to treat such intrinsic relevance as an atomic query-document-specific parameter, which is solely estimated from historical clicks without using any content information about a document or relationship among the clicked/skipped documents under the same query. Due to this overly simplified assumption, existing click models can neither fully explore the information about a document's relevance quality nor make predictions of relevance for any unseen documents. In this work, we proposed a novel Bayesian Sequential State model for modeling the user click behaviors, where the document content and dependencies among the sequential click events within a query are characterized by a set of descriptive features via a probabilistic graphical model. By applying the posterior regularized Expectation Maximization algorithm for parameter learning, we tailor the model to meet specific ranking-oriented properties, e.g., pairwise click preferences, so as to exploit richer information buried in the user clicks. Experiment results on a large set of real click logs demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed model compared with several state-of-the-art click models.
Optimal Detection of Sentinel Lymph Node Metastases by Intraoperative Radioactive Threshold and Molecular Analysis in Patients with Melanoma

The aim of this study was to optimize a protocol for radioguided biopsy of the sentinel lymph node (SLN) in patients with melanoma. The protocol was based on a combination of ex vivo counting of the nodes detected intraoperatively and analysis of the harvested nodes by hematoxylin and eosin staining plus immunohistochemistry (conventional histopathology [PATH]) and by molecular biology (reverse-transcriptase polymerase chain reaction [RT-PCR]). Methods: A total of 124 patients with primary clinical stage I–II (according to the American Joint Committee on Cancer) cutaneous melanoma underwent successful radioguided SLN biopsy. SLNs harvested for analysis included any additional nodes whose ex vivo counting rate exceeded 20% of the hottest node. All removed SLNs were examined by conventional PATH and with RT-PCR analysis for the expression of messenger RNA for tyrosinase and the melanoma antigens recognized by T cells. Complete lymph node dissection (CLND) was performed only in the case of SLN metastasis detected by PATH. Different combinations of the intraoperative parameters (only the hottest node and all nodes harvested) and of analysis (PATH and RT-PCR) were tested as predictors of clinical outcome on the basis of long-term follow-up (12–81 mo; median, 55 mo). Results: A total of 197 SLNs were harvested, 41 of which harbored metastasis as detected by RT-PCR analysis; PATH detected metastasis in only 24 of 41 metastatic SLNs. In 5 of 41 instances, metastasis was not in the hottest SLN. The main factor determining correct classification of the SLN status was RT-PCR, which significantly improved detection of metastasis, even if applied only to the hottest node (P < 0.0001 vs. PATH analysis of either the hottest SLN or all nodes above the 20% threshold). Metastatic disease recurred locally in 5 patients who had not undergone CLND; RT-PCR analysis showed metastasis in 4 of these patients. The false-negative rate of SLN biopsy progressively decreased when applying PATH only to the hottest node (32.1%), additional RT-PCR to the hottest node (21.4%), PATH to all nodes (17.9%), and RT-PCR to all nodes (3.6%, P = 0.015 vs. PATH analysis of only the hottest SLN). Conclusion: On the basis of long-term follow-up (the gold standard for final clinical outcome of SLN biopsy), both 20% threshold and RT-PCR analysis should be applied for optimal detection of nodal metastases in patients with melanoma.
Role of interleukin-6 in fibrinolytic changes induced by lipopolysaccharide in mice

We have recently demonstrated that interleukin (IL)-6 is protective against coagulatory and hemostatic disturbance and subsequent pulmonary hemorrhage induced by bacterial endotoxin, at least partly, via the inhibition of proinflammatory cytokines and chemokines using IL-6-null [IL-6(−/−)] mice and corresponding wild-type mice. Its role in fibrinolytic systems remains undefined, however. The present study elucidated the role of IL-6 in the activity of α2-plasmin inhibitor, an inhibitor of fibrinolysis, during inflammation induced by intraperitoneal administration of lipopolysaccharide in IL-6(−/−) and wild-type mice. Both IL-6(−/−) and wild-type mice were injected with vehicle or lipopolysaccharide (1 mg/kg). Seventy-two hours later, blood samples were collected and α2-plasmin inhibitor activity was examined. Lipopolysaccharide challenge induced significant enhancement of α2-plasmin inhibitor activity as compared with vehicle challenge in wild-type mice, but not in IL-6(−/−) mice. In the presence of lipopolysaccharide, the activity was significantly lower in IL-6(−/−) mice than that in wild-type mice. These results indicate that IL-6 can, at least partly, inhibit the lipopolysaccharide-enhanced fibrinolysis via the enhanced α2-plasmin inhibitor activity.
Counselor Discomfort with Sexual Issues and Supervisory Role

s International: Section B. Sciences and Engineering, 71(9-B), 5785. Dillman, D. A. , Smyth, J. D. , & Christian, L. M. (2009). Internet, mail, and mixed-mode surveys: The tailored design method (3 ed.) Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley. Ebert, M. H. , Loosen, P. T. , Nurcombe, B. , Leckman, J. B. (2009). Current diagnosis and treatment psychiatry. New York, NY: McGraw Hill. Everitt, B. , & Skrondal, A. (2010). The cambridge dictionary of statistics. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Faul, F. , Erdfelder, E. , Buchner, A. , & Lang, A. G. (2009). Statistical power analyses using G*Power 3.1: Tests for correlation and regression analyses. Behavior Research Methods, 41, 1149-1160. Faul, F. , Erdfelder, E. , Lang, A. -G. , & Buchner, A. (2007). G*Power 3: A flexible statistical power analysis program for the social, behavioral, and biomedical sciences. Behavior Research Methods, 39, 175-191. Fluharty, L. B. (1996). The effects of sexual knowledge, professional status, and client gender, on male and female therapists' comfort with client-presented sexual material. Dissertation Abstracts International: Section B: The Sciences and Engineering, 56(12), 188.
DYNAMIC PANEL DATA EVIDENCE ON THE FINANCE-INVESTMENT LINK

This paper investigates the causality between aggregate private investment and financial development for 43 developing countries. GMM estimation on averaged data suggests the positive causal effects going in both directions, controlling for the possibility of endogeneity bias and omitted variable bias. The findings have rich implications for the conduct of macroeconomic policies in developing countries.
On rank-width of even-hole-free graphs

We present a class of (diamond, even hole)-free graphs with no clique cutset that has unbounded rank-width. In general, even-hole-free graphs have unbounded rank-width, because chordal graphs are even-hole-free. A.A. da Silva, A. Silva and C. Linhares-Sales (2010) showed that planar even-hole-free graphs have bounded rank-width, and N.K. Le (2016) showed that even-hole-free graphs with no star cutset have bounded rank-width. A natural question is to ask, whether even-hole-free graphs with no clique cutsets have bounded rank-width. Our result gives a negative answer. Hence we cannot apply Courcelle and Makowsky's meta-theorem which would provide efficient algorithms for a large number of problems, including the maximum independent set problem, whose complexity remains open for (diamond, even hole)-free graphs.
Towards Data Interoperability: Turning Domain Specific Knowledge to Agnostic across the Data Lifecycle

Today's rich digital environment is characterised by the exponential increase of the amount of "born digital" data, following the penetration of real (e.g. sensors, wearable devices, etc.) and virtual (e.g. online platforms, user generated content, etc.) Internet connected sources. While the majority of the research outcomes is focused on the processing and connectivity aspects, a key question relates to data utilization in cross-application cases: If everything is connected and identified uniquely, how is it possible to use the data from a sensor of an unidentified domain in a different application domain? In this paper an approach enabling the interconnection and utilization of domain specific data to a considerably different domain is presented. A functional scenario of that approach is proposed, trying to address the challenges and the needs emerging in the Internet of Things era, from a view point of increasing data utilization out of a specific's data lifecycle. Semantic data interoperability, integration, annotation, management, discovery, and analysis are issues being considered in the proposed approach.
Ways and means of research method

Number of books have come out with research tools and technique.While concentrating developing countries and in par with their knowledge and skill very few books are tailor made.Start with the concepts, differentiating the methods, fine tuning the knowledge regarding research with process, tools and techniques, incorporated in this book make a reader or scholar simple enough to capture the meaning and its applicability.Pursuing a research topic, or arriving at managerial decisions, with accompanying proof and evidences also need the support of tools and techniques for authenticity and accountability This book is an art and learning for any scholar or professional who wants to be investigative, critical, logical and scientific in their decision making and inferences leading to policy and project implementation.The “ways and means of research methods” incorporated in this book will equip the readers, researchers and professionals with scientific knowledge, critical mindset, and logical conclusions in an efficient and effective way.I presume this book titled ““ways and means of research methods”” will extend better insight and understanding of research and research methodology to the managers, teachers and professionals, researchers and student community.
Nosocomial Rhinovirus Infection in Preterm Infants

During 11 months, all preterm infants admitted to our neonatal care facility with suspected respiratory tract infection were screened for respiratory viruses by polymerase chain reaction. Rhinovirus infection was identified in 16 infants, leading to severe respiratory compromise in most cases. Distribution of rhinovirus infections during the year showed a strong clustering trend, suggesting a major role for nosocomial transmission.
Gate-First AlGaN/GaN HEMT Technology for High-Frequency Applications

This letter describes a gate-first AlGaN/GaN high-electron mobility transistor (HEMT) with a W/high-<i>k</i> dielectric gate stack. In this new fabrication technology, the gate stack is deposited before the ohmic contacts, and it is optimized to stand the 870degC ohmic contact annealing. The deposition of the W/high-<i>k</i> dielectric protects the intrinsic transistor early in the fabrication process. Three different gate stacks were studied: W/ HfO<sub>2</sub>, W/Al<sub>2</sub>O<sub>3</sub>, and W/HfO<sub>2</sub>/Ga<sub>2</sub>O<sub>3</sub>. DC characterization showed transconductances of up to 215 mS/mm, maximum drain current densities of up to 960 mA/mm, and more than five orders of magnitude lower gate leakage current than in the conventional gate-last Ni/Au/Ni gate HEMTs. Capacitance-voltage measurements and pulsed-<i>IV</i> characterization show no hysteresis for the W/HfO<sub>2</sub>/ Ga<sub>2</sub>O<sub>3</sub> capacitors and low interface traps. These W/high-<i>k</i> dielectric gates are an enabling technology for self-aligned AlGaN/GaN HEMTs, where the gate contact acts as a hard mask to the ohmic deposition.
Affektives Priming mit emotionalen Bildern in einer lexikalischen Entscheidungsaufgabe : eine EEG-Studie

Neulich auf dem Pausenhof einer Grundschule … Klein Julia: " Los, wir spielen ein Spiel. Du musst ganz schnell antworten! " Klein Thomas: " Okay, fang an! " Julia: " Welche Farbe haben die Wolken? " Thomas: " Weiß. " Julia: " Welche Farbe hat ein Brautkleid? " Thomas: " Weiß. " Julia: " Welche Farbe hat Schnee? " Thomas: " Weiß. " Julia: " Was trinkt die Kuh? " Thomas: " Milch, äh … nein, Wasser! " Oxford University und schalt seine Studenten mit Bemerkungen wie " You have tasted the whole worm! " anstatt " You have wasted the whole term! " (Zimbardo & Gerrig, 1999). Theoretische Grundlagen 8 bezeichnete sein Ergebnis als recency effect und beschrieb ihn im Sinne Hulls: " (…) the recency effect might be formulated as an augmentation of reaction potential resulting from the occurrence of a response low in habit-family hierachy for some waren, aber im semantischen Netzwerk zusammenhängen (z. B. " BODY " – " HEART "). Bei einer kurzen SOA ließ sich dieser schnelle semantische Effekt durch eine bewusste Strategie nicht inhibieren. (" BODY " – " HEART " sollte zu Gunsten von " BODY " – " DOOR " nicht erwartet werden.) Daraus lässt sich folgern, dass semantische Primingeffekte schnell und automatisch (denn sie lassen sich nicht unterdrücken) ablaufen, bewusste Strategien und Absichten sind langsamer und kommen nur im Fall einer längeren Vorbereitung (längere SOA) zum Tragen. Wörter als Primereize präsentiert. Diese waren entweder positiv (z. B. " gift " , " music " , " party ") oder negativ (z. B. " death " , " hell " , " guns "). Im Anschluss daran folgte ein eindeutig negatives (z. B. " repulsive " , " awful ") oder positives (z. B. " appealing " , " delightful ") Adjektiv, das von den Versuchspersonen so schnell wie möglich mittels Tastendrucks mit " gut " oder " schlecht " bewertet werden sollte. Es zeigte sich, dass die Reaktionszeiten kürzer waren, wenn Prime-und Targetwort dieselbe Valenz hatten, Vergleich zu einem affektiv inkonsistenten (z. vielfach repliziert werden (z. kongruenten Reizen wird deshalb eher mit " ja " reagiert, bei inkongruenten eher mit " nein ". beispielhaft im folgenden Kapitel beschrieben. Motivationssystem einen modulierenden Einfluss auf andere verarbeitende
Detecting inexplicable behaviour

This paper presents a novel approach to the detection of unusual or interesting events in videos involving certain types of intentional behaviour, such as pedestrian scenes. The approach is not based upon a statistical measure of typicality, but upon building an understanding of the way people navigate towards a goal. The activity of agents moving around within the scene is evaluated based upon whether the behaviour in question is consistent with a simple model of goal-directed behaviour and a model of those goals and obstacles known to be in the scene. The advantages of such an approach are multiple: it handles the presence of movable obstacles (for example, parked cars) with ease; trajectories which have never before been presented to the system can be classied as explicable; and the technique as a whole has a prima facie psychological plausibility. A system based upon these principles is demonstrated in two scenes: a car-park, and in a foyer scenario 1 .