Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
A New System for Recognition of Handwritten Persian Bank Checks

In this paper, a novel system for segmentation and recognition of handwritten Persian bank checks is presented. Our focus in this paper is on segmentation and recognition of handwritten courtesy amounts and dates of Persian checks. We present the results of our tests on different levels of check fields including: isolated digits, courtesy amounts, and dates. Courtesy amounts and dates used for experiments in this paper have been taken from a novel database created by the authors. Segmenting and extracting dates and courtesy amounts from this database has been carried out completely automatic. Our newly created database has 500 images of Persian Bank checks which all have been written by 200 men and 200 women participants who have been randomly chosen from a large population to write these checks. Our database has 500 samples of Persian courtesy amounts, 500 samples of Persian dates and 5628 images of isolated Persian handwritten digits which all have been taken from our collected checks. Our experimental results on these samples compare favorably with similar systems for Persian bank check processing. Our new database is also freely available to the research community for Persian handwritten recognition and check processing.
Incremental training of CNNs for user customization: work-in-progress

This paper presents a convolutional neural network architecture that supports transfer learning for user customization. The architecture consists of a large basic inference engine and a small augmenting engine. Initially, both engines are trained using a large dataset. Only the augmenting engine is tuned to the user-specific dataset. To preserve the accuracy for the original dataset, the novel concept of quality factor is proposed. The final network is evaluated with the Caffe framework, and our own implementation on a coarse-grained reconfigurable array (CGRA) processor. Experiments with MNIST, NIST'19, and our user-specific datasets show the effectiveness of the proposed approach and the potential of CGRAs as DNN processors.
Title On low complexity robust beamforming with positivesemidefinite constraints

This paper addresses the problem of robust beamforming for general-rank signal models with norm bounded uncertainties in the desired and received signal covariance matrices as well as positive semidefinite constraints on the covariance matrices. Two novel minimum variance robust beamformers are derived in closed-form. The first one basically is the closed-form version of an existing iterative algorithm, while the second one offers even better performance with respect to the first one. Both of them have the advantage of low complexity. The effectiveness and performance improvement of the proposed beamformers are verified by simulation results.
Fear of death in relation to religiosity in adults

Fear of death is an universal and widespread type of fear among humans. There are many factors that worsen, or help to cope with the fear of death. The primary goal of the study is to examine the connection of religiosity with the fear of death. For measurement of the fear form death The Original Collett-Lester Scale has been used. For religiousness we used the Religious Orientation Scale – Revised by Gorsuch & McPherson measuring two dimensions – extrinsic and intrinsic religiosity. Age and sex were monitored, too. Results show, that none of the monitored types of religiosity is connected with the levels of fear of death. It seems that age is more important factor than religiosity. Limits of the study and suggestions for further research are discussed.
Static and dynamic properties of vergence‐induced reduction of ocular counter‐roll in near vision

We have examined the characteristics of vergence‐induced reduction of ocular counter‐roll in near vision. Monkeys were trained to make convergent and divergent refixations with the head and body either upright or in various roll orientations. During near viewing requiring 17° horizontal vergence, we found that static binocular torsion was suppressed by about 68% (averaged over both eyes, two monkeys and both near target locations). This result is in accordance with a previous study in which binocular torsion was quantified based on the displacement planes of eye positions in far and near viewing. Latency and duration of the change in torsional eye position depended (for each eye differently) on body roll and the depth plane of fixation. For instance, during convergent refixations in left‐ear‐down orientations, the latencies of the left eye were smaller and the durations were longer than those of the right eye. However, both eyes reached their final positions required to fixate the second visual target at roughly the same time. The different dynamics of the two eyes is explained by the fact that each eye rotated temporally when the eyes converged, a pattern named binocular extension of Listing's law. Coming from or aiming at a common torsional value (normal ocular counter‐roll) in convergent or divergent refixations, the required torsion differs in the two eyes. The brain compensates for these differences by adjusting the dynamics of each eye's movement.
Control theory for model-based performance-driven software adaptation

Self-adaptive techniques have been introduced in the last few years to tackle the growing complexity of software systems, where a major complexity factor leans on their dynamic nature subject to sudden and unpredictable changes that can heavily impact on the software architecture quality. Nonfunctional models, as generated from architectural descriptions of software, have been proven as effective instruments to support designers meeting non-functional requirements since the early architectural phases. However, such models still lack of intrinsic support for adaptable software. Goal of this paper is to extend the modeling capabilities to the case of software adaptation aimed at satisfying performance requirements. In particular, we illustrate how control theory can solve the problem of keeping within pre-defined ranges the indices of a Queueing Network model (such as queue length) through software adaptation actions (such as replacing software services with less resource-demanding ones), while the model is subject to disturbances (such as workload and/or operational profile variations). For this goal we first introduce a library of Modelica components that represent Queueing Network (QN) elements with adaptable parameters (that can be used as knobs for adaptation actions). Then we use such components to build “adaptable” QN models that are subject to disturbances. Finally, in the same framework, we introduce controllers that drive the QN adaptation. We demonstrate the soundness of our approach on a simple representative example in two ways: (i) on one end, we provide a formal proof of controller performance guarantees, and (ii) on the other end we show the sensitivity over time of software adaptation actions to different (types and intensities of) disturbances.
Cognitive Linguistics and Information Technology In search of common language

This paper searches for the points of contact between cognitive linguistics and information technology (IT) by drawing parallels between key concepts of cognitive linguistics and mathematical logics. Within this research, the notions of the metalanguage, the object language and the graph are considered not only as strictly logical concepts but as a tool that can be used to solve a range of interdisciplinary problems such as modeling the knowledge structure of a certain subject field (by developing principles that can be applied to every subject field). Since every natural language is both an object and a subject of cognition, such type of research seems to be essential in terms of the modern level of computer technology and artificial intelligence (AI). The paper also substantiates the reason to create interdisciplinary teams of software developers because such kind of intercommunication and cooperation between different areas of study seems to be vital to deal with the problems of modern educational and testing issues. Keywords—concept; category; meta-language; object
Mental health team leadership and consumers satisfaction and quality of life.

OBJECTIVE The purpose of this study was to determine the association between leadership styles of leaders of mental health treatment teams and consumers' ratings of satisfaction with the program and their quality of life. METHODS A multifactor model has distinguished three factors relevant to leadership of mental health teams: transformational leadership, in which a leader's primary goal is to lead the team to evolving better programs; transactional leadership, in which the leader strives to maintain effective programs through feedback and reinforcement; and laissez-faire leadership, an ineffective, hands-off leadership style. Research has shown transformational leadership to be positively associated with measures of the team's functioning, but the effects of leadership style on consumers is not well known. A total of 143 leaders and 473 subordinates from 31 clinical teams rated the leadership style of the team leader. In addition, 184 consumers served by these teams rated their satisfaction with the treatment program and their quality of life. RESULTS Consumers' satisfaction and quality of life were inversely associated with laissez-faire approaches to leadership and positively associated with both transformational and transactional leadership. Moreover, leaders' and subordinates' ratings of team leadership accounted for independent variance in satisfaction ratings-up to 40 percent of the total variance. CONCLUSIONS Leadership seems to be an important variable for understanding a team's impact on its consumers.
Learning weighted similarity measurements for unconstrained face recognition

Unconstrained face recognition is the problem of deciding if an image pair is showing the same individual or not, without having class specific training material or knowing anything about the image conditions. In this paper, an approach of learning suited similarity measurements is introduced. For this the image is partitioned into several parts, to extract image region based histograms of gradients, local binary patterns and three patch local binary patterns. The similarities of respective patches are computed and it is learnt how to weight the different image regions. Finally, a fusion is applied using a Multi Layer Perceptron. Evaluations are done on the “Labeled Faces in the Wild” dataset.
THE EFFECT OF LABOR MARKET FREEDOM AND OTHER FACTORS ON U.S. SETTLEMENT PATTERN DECISIONS OF UNDOCUMENTED MIGRANTS, 2012 AND 2014

This empirical study seeks to identify key determinants of the recent post-Great settlement pattern of undocumented immigrants inside the U.S. Among the potential determining factors considered are the degree of labor market freedom, the quality of life, and Sanctuary cities. The focus is the year 2012, which has not by itself as yet been studied for this purpose. The estimation results provided in this study imply that the state-level settlement pattern of undocumented immigrants in the U.S. was an increasing function of labor market freedom, the number of Sanctuary cities, and the overall quality-of-life index, as well as per capita personal income, while being a decreasing function of the cost of living and colder climate. Furthermore, the impacts of labor market freedom and the other variables in the model are affirmed using a modest robustness test involving a semi-log estimate for the 2014 settlement pattern of undocumented immigrants.
A Novel Tunable Combline Bandpass Filter Based on External Quality Factor and Internal Coupling Tunings

─ A combline filter with quasi-elliptic performance with external quality factor and internal coupling tuning is presented in this paper. In this design, a wide center frequency tuning range with a constant 3-dB FBW (fractional bandwidth) and ABW (absolute bandwidth) is obtained. Also, it is demonstrated that the transmission zero located at the lower edge of passband can be adjusted with little effect on the passband characteristic. A prototype of the tunable filter with a tuning range of 1.27GHz to 2.25GHz is fabricated on a substrate with=10.2 and h=1.27mm. Through tuning internal coupling coefficient and external quality factor, one can make the filter operate over a wide center frequency tuning range, with a constant 3-dB FBW (fractional bandwidth) nearly kept at 54% or ABW (absolute bandwidth) nearly kept at 500 MHz. Index Terms ─ Absolute bandwidth, coupling coefficient, fractional bandwidth, quality factor, tunable filter, transmission zero.
Incorporating fairness motives into the Impulse Balance Equilibrium concept: an application to experimental 2X2 games

Substantial evidence has been accumulated in recent empirical works on the limited ability of the Nash equilibrium to rationalize observed behavior in many classes of games played by experimental subjects. This realization has led to several attempts aimed at finding tractable equilibrium concepts which perform better empirically, often by introducing a reference point to which players compare the available payoff allocations, as in impulse balance equilibrium (Selten & Chmura, forthcoming) and in the inequity aversion model (Fehr & Schmidt,1999). The purpose of this paper is to review some features of this recent literature and to propose a new, empirically sound, unifying concept which combines elements of fairness with reference considerations.
Enzymolog ica I and physiological consequences of restructuring the lipoyl domain content of the pyruvate dehydrogenase complex of Escherichia coli

The Krebs Institute for Biomolecular Research, Department of Molecular Biology and B iotechnology, University of Sheffield, Sheffield 510 2TN, UK The core-forming lipoate acetyltransferase (E2p) subunits of the pyruvate dehydrogenase (PDH) complex of Escherichia coli contain three tandemly repeated lipoyl domains although one lipoyl domain is apparently sufficient for full catalytic activity in vitro. Plasmids containing IPTG-inducible aceEF-lpdA operons which express multilip-PDH complexes bearing one Nterminal lipoyl domain and up to seven unlipoylated (mutant) domains per E2p chain, were constructed. Each plasmid restored the nutritional lesion of a strain lacking the PDH complex and expressed a sedimentable PDH complex, although the catalytic activities declined significantly as the number of unlipoylated domains increased above four per E2p chain. It was concluded that the extra domains protrude from the 24-meric E2p core without affecting assembly of the E l p and E3 subunits, and that the lipoyl cofactor bound to the outermost domain can participate successfully at each of the three types of active site in the assembled complex. Physiological studies with two series of isogenic strains expressing multilip-PDH complexes from modified chromosomal pdh operons (PdhR-aceEFlpdA) showed that three lipoyl domains per E2p chain is optimal and that only the outermost domain need be lipoylated for optimal activity. It is concluded that the reason for retaining three lipoyl domains is t o extend the reach of the outermost lipoyl cofactor rather than to provide extra cofactors for catalysis.
Integrating human and robot decision-making dynamics with feedback: Models and convergence analysis

Leveraging research by psychologists on human decision-making, we present a human-robot decision-making problem associated with a complex task and study the corresponding joint decision-making dynamics. The collaborative task is designed so that the human makes decisions just as human subjects make decisions in the two-alternative, forced-choice task, a well-studied decision-making task in behavioral experiments. The human subject chooses between two options at regular time intervals and receives a reward after each choice; for a variety of reward structures, the behavioral experiments show convergence to suboptimal choices. We propose a human-supervised robot foraging problem in which the human supervisor makes a sequence of binary decisions to assign the role of each robot in a group in response to a report from the robots on their resource return. We discuss conditions under which the decision dynamics of this human-robot task is reasonably well approximated by the kinds of reward structures studied in the psychology experiments. Using the win-stay, lose-switch human decision-making model, we prove convergence to the experimentally observed aggregate human decision-making behavior for reward structures with matching points. Finally, we propose an adaptive law for robot reward feedback designed to help the human make optimal decisions.
Multi-camera Imaging System Using Super-Resolution

This work presents a high-resolution image acquisition system by combining a multi-camera imaging system composed of multiple low-resolution digital cameras and a color super-resolution image reconstruction algorithm. Aligned and adjusted multiple mini-cameras and the controlling system consist the multi-camera imaging system. Some of the cameras obtain intensity information and the other ones receive color information. The spatial intensity information is enhanced by the Bayesian super-resolution image reconstruction algorithm. The high-resolution intensity data and the color channel inputs are merged to generate the final color composite high-resolution image. With experimental results, the performance of the proposed system is assessed.
Interconnectedness as a Source of Uncertainty in Systemic Risk

Financial networks have shown to be important in understanding systemic events in credit markets. In this paper, we investigate how the structure of those networks can affect the capacity of regulators to assess the level of systemic risk. We introduce a model to compute the individual and systemic probability of default in a system of banks connected in a generic network of credit contracts and exposed to external shocks with a generic correlation structure. Even in the presence of complete knowledge, we identify conditions on the network for the emergence of multiple equilibria. Multiple equilibria give rise to uncertainty in the determination of the default probability. We show how this uncertainty can affect the estimation of systemic risk in terms of expected losses. We further quantify the effects of cyclicality, leverage, volatility and correlations. Our results are relevant to the current policy discussions on new regulatory framework to deal with systemic events of distress as well as on the desirable level of regulatory data disclosure.
Oil prices, renewable energy, CO2 emissions and economic growth in OECD countries

This paper examines the casual relationship between oil prices , renewable energy, carbon dioxide emissions and economic growth for the OECD countries over the period 1990-2015. By performing panel cointegration models, we found strong evidence of a negative and significant long-run relationship between oil prices, renewable energy and CO2 emissions. Findings indicate also that there is a quadratic long run relationship between CO2 emissions and economic growth, confirming the existence of an Environmental Kuznets Curve (EKC) for OECD countries. The Granger-causality results indicate bidirectional causality between CO2 emissions and oil prices in both short and long-run. This paper supports the view that an increase of oil prices decreases CO2 emissions in OECD countries.
An Efficient Data Structure for Fast Join Query Processing

—In this research, we propose to store equi-join relationships of tuples on inexpensive and space abundant devices, such as disks, to facilitate query processing. The equi-join relationships are captured, grouped, and stored as various tables on disks, which are collectively called the Join Core. Queries involving arbitrary legitimate sequences of equi-joins, semi-joins, outer-joins, anti-joins, unions, differences, and intersections can all be answered quickly by merely merging these tables without having to perform joins. The Join Core can also be updated dynamically. Preliminary experimental results showed that all test queries began to generate results instantly, and many completed instantly too. The proposed methodology can be very useful for queries with complex joins of large relations as there are fewer or even no relations or intermediate results needed to be retrieved, generated.
Variations in the prevalence of childhood asthma and wheeze in MeDALL cohorts in Europe

While there is evidence for variations in prevalence rates of childhood wheeze and asthma between countries, longitudinal, individual-level data are needed to understand these differences. The aim of this study was to examine variations in prevalence rates of childhood asthma, wheeze and wheeze with asthma in Europe. We analysed datasets from 10 MeDALL (Mechanisms of the Development of ALLergy) cohorts in eight countries, representing 26 663 children, to calculate prevalence rates of wheeze and asthma by child age and wheeze with asthma at age 4 years. Harmonised variables included outcomes parent-reported wheeze and parent-reported doctor-diagnosed asthma, and covariates maternal education, parental smoking, pets, parental asthma, doctor-diagnosed allergic rhinitis, doctor-diagnosed eczema and wheeze severity. At age 4 years, asthma prevalence varied from 1.72% in Germany to 13.48% in England and the prevalence of wheeze varied from 9.82% in Greece to 55.37% in Spain. Adjusted estimates of the proportion of 4-year-old children with wheeze diagnosed with asthma remained highest in England (38.14%, 95% CI 31.38–44.90%) and lowest in Spain (15.94%, 95% CI 6.16–25.71%). The large differences in prevalence rates of asthma, wheeze and wheeze with asthma at age 4 years between European cohorts may indicate that childhood asthma is more readily diagnosed in some countries while going unrecognised elsewhere. Large variations in childhood wheeze across Europe do not match large variations in diagnosed childhood asthma http://ow.ly/eJQk30aPInr
Evolution of the Isoprene Biosynthetic Pathway in Kudzu1[w]

Isoprene synthase converts dimethylallyl diphosphate, derived from the methylerythritol 4-phosphate (MEP) pathway, to isoprene. Isoprene is made by some plants in substantial amounts, which affects atmospheric chemistry, while other plants make no isoprene. As part of our long-term study of isoprene synthesis, the genetics of the isoprene biosynthetic pathway of the isoprene emitter, kudzu (Pueraria montana), was compared with similar genes in Arabidopsis (Arabidopsis thaliana), which does not make isoprene. The MEP pathway genes in kudzu were similar to the corresponding Arabidopsis genes. Isoprene synthase genes of kudzu and aspen (Populus tremuloides) were cloned to compare their divergence with the divergence seen in MEP pathway genes. Phylogenetic analysis of the terpene synthase gene family indicated that isoprene synthases are either within the monoterpene synthase clade or sister to it. In Arabidopsis, the gene most similar to isoprene synthase is a myrcene/ocimene (acyclic monoterpenes) synthase. Two phenylalanine residues found exclusively in isoprene synthases make the active site smaller than other terpene synthase enzymes, possibly conferring specificity for the five-carbon substrate rather than precursors of the larger isoprenoids. Expression of the kudzu isoprene synthase gene in Arabidopsis caused Arabidopsis to emit isoprene, indicating that whether or not a plant emits isoprene depends on whether or not it has a terpene synthase capable of using dimethylallyl diphosphate.