Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Bridging the Gap: The Relationship between INGO Activism and Human Rights Indicators

Abstract This article explores the tension between the production of “naming and shaming” reports as tools of activism by international nongovernmental organizations (INGOs) and the usage of these reports as cross-national indicators of human rights violations. Because INGOs are strategic actors, their reports are not a reflection of the “true” levels of abuse. Although existing scholarship has raised this issue in relation to bias in cross-national indicators, it has yet to explain the process by which NGOs produce reports. This article exploits subnational variation across domestic and international NGOs within India, showing how the divergence in their reports can be explained by these groups’ organizational structures, probability of success in their chosen issue areas, and target audiences. By explaining how human rights NGOs produce reports, this article concludes with suggestions to ensure that the biases prevalent in a single source of data do not drive the results of future scholarship.
Reconstruct : a Free Editor for Serial Section Microscopy

Many microscopy studies require reconstruction from serial sections, a method of analysis that is sometimes difficult and time-consuming. When each section is cut, mounted and imaged separately, section images must be montaged and realigned to accurately analyse and visualize the three-dimensional (3D) structure. Reconstruct is a free editor designed to facilitate montaging, alignment, analysis and visualization of serial sections. The methods used by Reconstruct for organizing , transforming and displaying data enable the analysis of series with large numbers of sections and images over a large range of magnifications by making efficient use of computer memory. Alignments can correct for some types of non-linear deformations, including cracks and folds, as often encountered in serial electron microscopy. A large number of different structures can be easily traced and placed together in a single 3D scene that can be animated or saved. As a flexible editor, Reconstruct can reduce the time and resources expended for serial section studies and allows a larger tissue volume to be analysed more quickly.
Evaluation of the Antioxidant Capacity and Phenolic Content of Agriophyllum pungens Seed Extracts from Mongolia

Antioxidants are an important group of medicinal preventive compounds as well as being food additives inhibiting detrimental changes of easily oxidizable nutrients. The present investigation has been carried out to evaluate the antioxidant properties of different solvent extracts of Agriophyllum pungens seeds by various in vitro systems. The anti-oxidative activities of these samples were determined using four methods: 1,1-diphenyl-2-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH), 2,2′-azino-bis(3-ethylbenzothiazoline-6-sulfonic acid) (ABTS) radical scavenging activity, ferric-reducing antioxidant potential (FRAP), and hydroxyl (OH) radical scavenging activities. Additionally, total flavonoids and phenolic contents (TPC) were also determined. Yield of extracts varied widely among solvents and was the highest for water extract (5.642% based on dry weight basis), while ethyl acetate extract exhibited the highest total phenolic content (0.149 mg/mL), total flavonoid content (0.111 mg/mL), and antioxidant activities (P<0.05). The ABTS radical scavenging activity of A. pungens seeds occurred in the following order: ascorbic acid (92.9157%)>BHA (90.1503%)>α-tocopherol (87.7527%)>APEA (83.9887%) >APWR (75.5633%); the antioxidant activity of the extracts might be attributed to the presence of these phenolics. This suggests that A. pungens seed extract is a potential source of natural antioxidants, which could be added to dietary supplements to help prevent oxidative stress.
Keyframe compression and decompression for time series data based on the continuous hidden Markov model

Memory of motion patterns as data, comparison of a new motion pattern with data, and playback of one from the data are inevitably involved in the information processing of intelligent robot systems. Such computation forms the computational foundation of learning, acquisition, recognition, and generation process of intelligent robotic systems. In this paper, we propose to apply the continuous hidden Markov model to establish the computational foundation, using which one obtains the specified number of keyframes and their probability distributions. The keyframes are optimally selected to maximize the likelihood. The probability distributions are to be used to compute comparison and playback. The proposed method is applied to the motion data of a humanoid robot as well as the time series image data, and its validity is to be discussed.
Optimizing the Quantity of Off-Broad Charger for Whole Vehicle Charging Station

With technology development of Electric Vehicles (EVs), whole vehicle charging will be the main method of EVs adding energy in the future. The whole vehicle charging station provides charging services by off-broad chargers for EVs, According to characteristics of whole vehicle charging station, this paper presents a mathematical model based on the queue theory of operations research to optimize the quantity of off-broad charger in the station. And then it gives an example to prove that the model can be used as a basic theory of optimizing the quantity of off-broad charger for whole vehicle charging station.
Novel Edge Detection Using BP Neural Network Based on Threshold Binarization

One of the most fundamental features of digital image and the basic steps in image processing, analysis, pattern recognition and computer vision is the Edge of image where the preciseness and reliability of its results will affect directly the comprehension machine system made for objective world. Several edge detectors have been developed in the past decades, although no single edge detectors have been developed satisfactorily enough for all application. In this paper, a new edge detection technique is proposed basis on the BP neural network. Here, it is classified the edge patterns of binary images into 16 possible types of visual patterns. In the following, After training the pre-defined edge patterns, the BP neural network is applied to correspond any type of edges with its related visual pattern. The results demonstrated that the new proposed technique provides the better results compared with traditional edge detection techniques while improved the computations complexity.
Neuro-evolution of spiking neural networks on SpiNNaker neuromorphic hardware

Neuro-evolutionary algorithms optimize the synaptic connectivity of sets of candidate neural networks based on a task-dependent fitness function. Compared to the commonly used methods from machine learning, many of them not only support the adaptation of connection weights but also of the network topology. However, the evaluation of the current fitness requires running every candidate network in every generation. This becomes a major impediment especially when using biologically inspired spiking neural networks which require considerable amounts of simulation time even on powerful computers. In this paper, we address this issue by offloading the network simulation to SpiNNaker, a state-of-the art neuromorphic hardware architecture which is capable of simulating large spiking neural networks in biological real-time. We were able to apply SpiNNaker's simulation power to the popular NEAT algorithm by running all candidate networks in parallel and successfully evolved spiking neural networks for solving the XOR problem and for playing the Pac-Man arcade game
The Influence of Product Diversity on Consumers’ Impulsive Purchase in Online Shopping Environment

This paper explores the impact of product diversity on consumers’ online impulse purchase intentions in the context of e-commerce development, and finds that product diversity has a significant negative impact on consumers’ online impulse buying intentions. Compared with the great product diversity, consumers have higher online impulse buying willingness when they do not have many choices. Further, we found that this effect is regulated by different shopping objects (oneself vs. intimate others). At the same time, information processing fluency plays a mediating role in this effect.
Availability through Adaptation : a Distributed Application Experiment and Evaluation

In this article we consider adaptations of existing component-based applications. We are interested in guaranteeing application availability under different network conditions. The adaptations we look for are to be done without application code modifications, thus favouring code-reuse and reducing software production costs. To meet these adaptation objectives, we use the JavaPod experimental platform implemented in the SIRAC project [1]. JavaPod provides mechanisms for the separation, the creation and the composition of different software aspects [6]. Since we focus on availability, the two particular aspects manipulated are replication and consistency.
Posttraumatic stress in intensive care unit survivors – a prospective study

Aims: This study aimed to estimate the prevalence of severe Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) symptoms and to identify factors associated with PTSD in survivors of intensive care unit (ICU) treatment following traumatic injury. Methods: Fifty-two patients who were admitted to an ICU through the emergency ward following traumatic injury were prospectively followed. Information on injury severity and ICU treatment were obtained through medical records. Demographic information and measures of acute stress symptoms, experienced social support, coping style, sense of coherence (SOC) and locus of control were assessed within one-month post-accident (T1). At the six months follow-up (T2), PTSD was assessed with the Harvard Trauma Questionnaire (HTQ). Results: In the six months follow-up, 10 respondents (19.2%) had HTQ total scores reaching a level suggestive of PTSD (N = 52), and 11 respondents (21%) had symptom levels indicating subclinical PTSD. Female, five illness factors: coma time, mechanical ventilation, sedation, benzodiazepine, pain relieving medication, and four psychological factors: symptoms of acute stress (T1), fear of death and/or feeling completely helpless and powerless in relation to the accident and/or ICU (T1), SOC (T1) and more external locus of control (T1) correlated significantly with PTSD symptoms at T2. In the linear regression analysis, female, length of sedation, dissociation (T1), hypervigilance (T1), and external locus of control predicted 58% of the variation of PTSD. Conclusions: High levels of PTSD symptoms occurred in 19.2% of respondents in six months following traumatic injury requiring ICU admission. Screening for the variables gender, length of sedation, dissociation, hypervigilance, and locus of control after ICU admission following traumatic injuries may help to predict who will develop PTSD.
Bank Specific and Macroeconomic Determinants of Commercial Bank Profitability: Empirical Evidence from Turkey

The aim of this study is to examine the bank-specific and macroeconomic determinants of the banks profitability in Turkey over the time period from 2002 to 2010. The bank profitability is measured by return on assets (ROA) and return on equity (ROE) as a function of bank-specific and macroeconomic determinants. Using a balanced panel data set, the results show that asset size and non-interest income have a positive and significant effect on bank profitability. However, size of credit portfolio and loans under follow-up have a negative and significant impact on bank profitability. With regard to macroeconomic variables, only the real interest rate affects the performance of banks positively. These results suggest that banks can improve their profitability through increasing bank size and non-interest income, decreasing credit/asset ratio. In addition, higher real interest rate can lead to higher bank profitability.
Mobile instruments for multi-surface interaction

Marc-Emmanuel Perrin Télécom ParisTech & CNRS LTCI UMR 5141 46, rue Barrault 75013 Paris, France marcemmanuel.perrin@telecomparistech.fr Abstract Increasingly portable and wearable computing devices offer a rich interactional capability for multi-surface environments. We argue that these environments offer an exciting opportunity for collaborative and dynamic interactions that will require us to develop new interaction models. We use instrumental interaction as a framework to guide our approach to allowing users to express interaction using a blend of personal devices and shared multi-surface environments.
OBSA: Ontology-Based Semantic Information Processing Architecture

Integrating with the respective advantages of XML Schema and Ontology, this paper puts forward a semantic information processing architecture-OBSA to solve the problem of heterogeneity of information sources and uncertainty of semantic. It introduces an F-Logic based semantic information presentation mechanism, presents a design of an ontology-based semantic representation language and a mapping algorithm converting Ontology to XML DTD/Schema, and an adapter architecture for accessing distributed and heterogeneous information.
2016 Ieee International Conference on Big Data (big Data) Android Malware Development on Public Malware Scanning Platforms: a Large-scale Data-driven Study

—Android malware scanning services (e.g., Virus-Total) are websites that users submit suspicious Android programs and get an array of malware detection results. With the growing popularity of such websites, we suspect that, these services are not only used by innocent users, but also, malware writers for testing the evasion capability of their malware samples. May this hypothesis be true, it not only provides interesting insight on Android malware development (AMD), but also provides opportunities for important security applications such as zero-day sample detection. In this work, we first validate this hypothesis with massive data; then design a system AMDHunter to hunt for AMDs on VirusTotal that reveals new threats for Android that has never been revealed before. This is the first systematic study of the malware development phenomenon on VirusTotal, and the first system to automatically detect such malware development cases. AMDHunter has been used in a leading security company for months. Our study is driven by the large amount of data on VirusTotal— We analyzed 153 million submissions collected on VirusTotal during 102 days. Our system identifies 1,623 AMDs with 13,855 samples from 83 countries. We also performed case studies on 890 malware samples selected from the identified AMDs, which revealed lots of new threats, e.g., the development cases of fake system/banking phishing malware, new rooting exploits and etc.
Scalable Dimension Reduction for Large Abstract Data Visualization

The ability to browse vast amounts of scientific data is critical to facilitate science discovery. High perf ormance Multidimensional Scaling (MDS) algorithm makes it a reality by reducing dimensions so that scientists can gain insight i nto data set from a 3D visualization space. As multidimensional scaling requires quadratics order of physical memory and computation, a major challenge is to design and implement parallel MDS algorithms that can run on multicore clusters for millions of data points. Bases on our early work of parallel SMACOF algorithm, the authors have developed an interpolated approach, majorizing interpolation MDS (MIMDS). It utilizes the known mapping from a subset of given in-sample data to effectively reduce computational comple xity with minor cost of approximation. MI-MDS makes it possible to process huge data set with modest amounts of computation and memory requirements. Our experimental results show that the quality of interpolated mapping is comparable to that of the original SMACOF in a million chemical compounds data, where we construct a configuration of over two-million out-ofsample data into target dimension space. Keywords-Multidimensional Scaling; Parallelism; Interpolation;
Broadening the positive psychological capital construct: An Asian cultural perspective

INTRODUCTION Fatima Ashraf 1 Muhammad Asif Khan2 1PhD Scholar, Shaheed Zulfikar Ali Bhutto Institute of Science and Technology Islamabad. email: fasaifi77@gmail.com. 2Professor, Shaheed Zulfikar Ali Bhutto Institute of Science and Technology, Islamabad. While global organisations vehemently strive to sustain competitiveness amid excessive rivalry and competition (Schraeder & Jordan, 2011; Zhang, Waldman, Han, & Li, 2015), Asian markets particularly represent vast economic challenges and opportunities today (Moore & Wang, 2014; Patel, 2016; Schmitt, 2015). Clearly, organisational behaviour and human research management research – both global as well as Asian – revolves around remedying relevant issues. In such times, elevated competition and the resultant doubt and vagueness has urged customary human resource management to shift from conventional, mainstream human resource management style to contemporary and improved human resource methods with the aim of strengthening, energizing, and motivating their workforce – a workforce that is exhausted and strained following of decades of organizational change, overhauling, and downscaling (Bartlett & Ghoshal, 2002; Luan, Tien, & Chi, 2013). The upcoming Asian business opportunities have more than ever emphasized the importance of fresh and planned human resource management approaches. Indeed, the contemporary worker is obliged to be concerned for his individual development and enactment (Van de Heuvel, Demerouti, Schaufeli, & Bakker, 2010). Reasonably, such an environment focuses on the individual level practices (Wright & McMahan, 2011).
An Acidic PATHOGENESIS-RELATED1 Gene of Oryza grandiglumis is Involved in Disease Resistance Response Against Bacterial Infection

Wild rice, Oryza grandiglumis shows hyper-resistance response to pathogen infection. In order to identify genes necessary for defense response in plants, we have carried out a subtractive hybridization coupled with a cDNA macroarray. An acidic PATHOGENESIS-RELATED1 (PR1) gene of the wild rice is highly identical to the acidic PR1 genes of different plant species. The OgPR1a cDNA has an apparent single open reading frame with a predicted molecular mass 40,621 Da and an isoelectic point of 5.14. Both in silico analysis and a transient expression assay in onion epidermal cells revealed that the OgPR1a protein could be localized in intercellular space in plants. The OgPR1a mRNA was strongly transcribed by the exogenous treatment with ethylene and jasmonic acid as well as protein phosphatase inhibitors. Additionally, ectopic expression of the OgPR1a conferred disease resistance on Arabidopsis to the bacterial and fungal infections.
Reference Sphere Positioning Measurement Based on Line-Structured Light Vision Sensor

The line-structured light vision sensor has been used widely in industrial vision measuring fields due to its simple structure, small volume, light weight, low cost, convenient calibration, and high accuracy of measurement. To locate the reference sphere precisely with line-structured light vision sensor, a mathematical model based on the measuring principle of line-structured light vision sensor is established in the paper. Then, the positioning measurement error is analyzed in detail. The experimental results show that the method is valid and correct. In addition, an accurate measurement area which is from R0 × sin 45° to R0 × sin 75° away from the center of reference sphere is delimited through the statistical analysis of the experimental data. For the robot temperature compensation and calibration of flexible vision measurement system, this method effectively solves the positioning measurement problems about reference sphere with line-structured light vision sensor and has been applied in the industrial flexible online measurement systems successfully.
Serious work on playful experiences : a preliminary set of challenges

1 This work was carried out during the tenure of an ERCIM “Alain Bensoussan” Fellowship Programme ABSTRACT As work, leisure and social activities blend together, and amateur and professional practices becomes harder to distinguish, we need to explore the role of technology that works to support people in this rich range of everyday experiences. Incorporating fun, playful elements in the workplace is essential for enhancing creativity and making work activities more socially and emotionally meaningful practices in which to participate.
User-centered security management of API-based data integration workflows

One of the consequences of the present adoption of cloud-based services among organizations is the increasing rate of outsourcing of business and technical functions to third parties. The recent approaches such as cloud integration platforms (iPaaS) facilitate this trend even further. In this scenario, users' resources distributed across different cloud systems are accessed, shared and processed completely in the cloud, at third-party premises, effectively transferring the execution of entire business processes to the cloud. In this work, we approach security challenges and issues that arise from data and resource integrations of such scale. Our contribution aims at advancing privacy and confidentiality in collaboration flows of distributed, cross-domain systems. We focus on the perspective of resource owners, enabling automated, structured discovery and security orchestration of their resources hosted at various cloud premises. We furthermore consider the perspective of integration clients that access and process distributed resources on behalf of resource owners, providing the model for discovery, integration and fine-grained constraints of sharing requests. Our contribution is examined on a basis of the focused prototype that allows proxy-based integration with existing systems and web authorization protocols.
Data Security and Access Control for Geospatial Database sets using Novel StegoHash Algorithm

The applications of spatial database (2D and 3D vector maps) are more and more popular in the computer and network environments. It is the reason why information security is an important issue. Data hiding schemes may include map data authentication, secret communication for the purposes of copyright protection, integrity authentication, or secret communication. The purpose of this paper is to proposed novel StegoHash algorithm to enhance the security of spatial database. This algorithm is more appropriate for hiding data in vector maps because the distortions can be removed after the hidden data have been extracted. Combining the concepts of traditional cryptography and steganography, a new spatial database cryptosystem is proposed. Here access remains secure in case of steganalytic attacks especially for highly secure areas like defence, research centres etc.
A Corpus of Machine Translation Errors Extracted from Translation Students Exercises

In this paper, we present a freely available corpus of automatic translations accompanied with post-edited versions, annotated with labels identifying the different kinds of errors made by the MT system. These data have been extracted from translation students exercises that have been corrected by a senior professor. This corpus can be useful for training quality estimation tools and for analyzing the types of errors made MT system.
Crowdfunding in the U.S. and Abroad: What to Expect When You’re Expecting

I. Origins of Crowdfunding and Governing Challenges . 428 R A. Origins, The Microfinance Movement . 428 R B. Beyond Charitable Giving . 430 R C. The Existing Regulatory Regime for Exempt Public Offerings . 431 R D. Regulating Crowdfunding . 434 R II. Equity Crowdfunding Abroad . 437 R A. The United Kingdom . 437 R B. Italy . 441 R C. France . 444 R D. Elsewhere in the European Union and the Rest of the World . 447 R III. The JOBS Act and the Future of Crowdfunding in the United States . 449 R A. Proposals and SEC Rulemaking . 449 R B. The Extra-Regulatory Limits of Crowdfunding, and the Future of Crowdfunding in the United States . 452 R