Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Constancy, Categories and Bayes:

Philosophers have long sought to explain perceptual constancy—the fact that objects appear to remain the same color, size and shape despite changes in the illumination condition, perspective and the relative distance—in terms of a mechanism that actively categorizes variable stimuli under the same pre-formed conceptual categories. Contemporary representationalists, on the other hand, explain perceptual constancy in terms of a modular mechanism that automatically discounts variation in the visual field to represent the stable properties of objects. In this paper I argue that while the former view is unmotivated by empirical evidence, the later fails to account for interand intrapersonal variability, the influence of expectations on constancy, and the systematic and normal failures of color constancy. A Bayesian approach that builds on the representational tradition in psychology solves both problems. Consider the phenomenon of perceptual constancy: that objects appear to remain the same color, size and shape despite changes in the illumination condition, perspective and the relative distance. Philosophers often try to explain constancy by asserting that perceivers actively categorize non-constant stimuli under constant conceptual categories. Contemporary representationalists about perception like Jackson, Tye, and Bryne & Hilbert offer an alternative explanation. According to them, color constancy demonstrates that our visual system represents constant properties of objects. In the case of color
Storage and processing working memory functions in Alzheimer-type dementia.

A selective deterioration of working memory functions has been suggested as an explanation of the cognitive decay occurring in normal ageing as well as in Alzheimer-type dementia. Recent studies have highlighted that elderly people's limitations in working memory functions may be better interpreted when analysing the specific characteristics of the cognitive process (i.e., passive storage or active manipulation of information). In the present study, we have adapted a procedure used to investigate age-related memory modifications, involving both verbal and visuo-spatial material in tasks tapping passive and active processes, to investigate the deterioration associated with Alzheimer's disease. A group of Alzheimer patients in the early stages of the disease were matched to a control group of healthy elderly. Results show that Alzheimer patients performed less accurately than the control group in all tasks. However, the deficit was maximised in the case of active processes, regardless of the type of material used (verbal or visuo-spatial). These data highlight the importance of considering the amount of active processing as the key variable when interpreting the decay in cognitive functions in the early stages of Alzheimer's disease.
Modular Architecture for Humanoid Walking Pattern Prototyping and Experiments

In this paper we describe the use of design patterns as a basis for creating humanoid walking pattern generator software having a modular architecture. This architecture enabled the rapid porting of several novel walking algorithms on a full-size humanoid robot, HRP-2. The body of work currently available allows extracting a general software architecture usable with inter-exchange between simulations and real experiments. The proposed architecture with the associated design patterns is described together with several applications: a pattern generator for a HRP-2 with passive toe joints, a pattern for dynamically stepping over large obstacles and a new quadratic problem (QP) formulation for the generation of the reference zero-momentum point. Thanks to the versatility and the modularity of the proposed framework, the QP method has been implemented and experienced within 4 days only.
Measuring sense of community in the military: cross-cultural evidence for the validity of the brief sense of community scale and its underlying theory.

This article presents a German Sense of Community (SOC) scale for use in military settings. The scale is based on the translation and field-testing of an existing U.S.-based measure of neighborhood SOC (Peterson, Speer, & McMillan, 2008). The methodological intricacies underlying cross-cultural scale development are highlighted, as are the strategies used to overcome them. Administered in a navy context (n = 270), the newly-developed German measure improves the psychometric credentials of the existing scale by confirming the principal theory of SOC and its applicability across borders and contexts. Future research is encouraged to build on the strength and flexibility of the existing U.S. instrument for further cross-cultural scale development, thus enabling SOC theory to attain its international potential.
History of psychotherapy: A century of change.

This text addresses the history, evolution, current trends and future prospects of psychotherapy. Leading authorities in this field discuss psychotherapy's European/Victorian rudiments, provide reviews of frameworks and present reports on the major US psychotherapy research centres. Also included are historic contributions of women and ethnic minority practitioners and material concerning psychotherapeutic work with both children and the elderly.
Power in the Classroom V: Behavior Alteration Techniques, Communication Training, and Learning.

This study examined the relationship between differential use of Behavior Alteration Techniques (BATs) by teachers trained or untrained in communication in instruction and learning of students of varying quality levels. Results indicated that increased use of Immediate Reward from Behavior, Deferred Reward from Behavior, Self‐Esteem, and Teacher Feedback as well as decreased use of Punishment from Teacher, Legitimate‐Teacher Authority, Debt, Responsibility to Class, and Peer Modeling were associated with increased student learning. Results also indicated that appropriate training in communication in instruction may lead to more appropriate choices of BAT usage and increased student learning. The results of this investigation were found to be generally consistent with previous studies in this series.
Modelling Hen Harrier Dynamics to Inform Human-Wildlife Conflict Resolution: A Spatially-Realistic, Individual-Based Approach

Individual-based models have gained popularity in ecology, and enable simultaneous incorporation of spatial explicitness and population dynamic processes to understand spatio-temporal patterns of populations. We introduce an individual-based model for understanding and predicting spatial hen harrier (Circus cyaneus) population dynamics in Great Britain. The model uses a landscape with habitat, prey and game management indices. The hen harrier population was initialised according to empirical census estimates for 1988/89 and simulated until 2030, and predictions for 1998, 2004 and 2010 were compared to empirical census estimates for respective years. The model produced a good qualitative match to overall trends between 1989 and 2010. Parameter explorations revealed relatively high elasticity in particular to demographic parameters such as juvenile male mortality. This highlights the need for robust parameter estimates from empirical research. There are clearly challenges for replication of real-world population trends, but this model provides a useful tool for increasing understanding of drivers of hen harrier dynamics and focusing research efforts in order to inform conflict management decisions.
Population Distribution of the Sagittal Abdominal Diameter (SAD) from a Representative Sample of US Adults: Comparison of SAD, Waist Circumference and Body Mass Index for Identifying Dysglycemia

Background The sagittal abdominal diameter (SAD) measured in supine position is an alternative adiposity indicator that estimates the quantity of dysfunctional adipose tissue in the visceral depot. However, supine SAD’s distribution and its association with health risk at the population level are unknown. Here we describe standardized measurements of SAD, provide the first, national estimates of the SAD distribution among US adults, and test associations of SAD and other adiposity indicators with prevalent dysglycemia. Methods and Findings In the 2011–2012 National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey, supine SAD was measured (“abdominal height”) between arms of a sliding-beam caliper at the level of the iliac crests. From 4817 non-pregnant adults (age ≥20; response rate 88%) we used sample weights to estimate SAD’s population distribution by sex and age groups. SAD’s population mean was 22.5 cm [95% confidence interval 22.2–22.8]; median was 21.9 cm [21.6–22.4]. The mean and median values of SAD were greater for men than women. For the subpopulation without diagnosed diabetes, we compared the abilities of SAD, waist circumference (WC), and body mass index (BMI, kg/m2) to identify prevalent dysglycemia (HbA1c ≥5.7%). For age-adjusted, logistic-regression models in which sex-specific quartiles of SAD were considered simultaneously with quartiles of either WC or BMI, only SAD quartiles 3 (p<0.05 vs quartile 1) and 4 (p<0.001 vs quartile 1) remained associated with increased dysglycemia. Based on continuous adiposity indicators, analyses of the area under the receiver operating characteristic curve (AUC) indicated that the dysglycemia model fit for SAD (age-adjusted) was 0.734 for men (greater than the AUC for WC, p<0.001) and 0.764 for women (greater than the AUC for WC or BMI, p<0.001). Conclusions Measured inexpensively by bedside caliper, SAD was associated with dysglycemia independently of WC or BMI. Standardized SAD measurements may enhance assessment of dysfunctional adiposity.
Learning Hidden Causes from Empirical Data

Models of complex phenomena often consist of hypothetical entities called "hidden causes", which cannot be observed directly and yet play a major role in understanding, communicating, and predicting the dynamics of those phenomena. This paper examines the cognitive and computational roles of these constructs, and addresses the question of whether they can be discovered from empirical observations. Causal models are treated as trees of binary random variables where the leaves are accessible to direct observation, and the internal nodes-representing hidden causes-account for inter-leaf dependencies. In probabilistic terms, every two leaves are conditionally independent given the value of some internal node between them. We show that if the mechanism which drives the visible variables is indeed tree-structured, then it is possible to uncover the topology of the tree uniquely by observing pair-wise dependencies among the leaves. The entire tree structure, including the strengths of all internal relationships, can be reconstructed in time proportional to nlogn, where n is the number of leaves.
EOSINOPHIL DIFFERENTIATION FACTOR IgE

Eosinophilia represents an important model for the study of the control of hemopoiesis because normal animals produce very few eosinophils, al though large numbers are produced under certain conditions. High production is associated especially with helminthic infections and allergic responses. Al though it is difficult to at tr ibute a specific role to a single type o f cell in a complex disease, the fact that eosinophils are present in large numbers and can kill parasitic helminths in vitro, suggests they may be important to the defense system against these infectious agents. Based on the demonstrat ion that experimentally induced T cell deficiency inhibits the development of eosinophilia (1, 2) and reports that athymic (nu/nu) mice do not develop a significant eosinophilia after infection with a number of different parasitic helminths (e.g., 3 and 4), it is reasonable to infer that the T cell system controls the development of eosinophilia. The possibility that this control is mediated by a lymphokine was first suggested by the ability of lymphocytes in diffusion chambers to induce eosinophilia (1) and, more recently (5-8), by observations that supernatants of antigenor mitogen-stimulated spleen cells can induce eosinophil differentiation in vitro. For these reasons we have sought a lymphokine activity in alloantigenand parasite ant igen-react ive T cell clones isolated from mice undergoing a parasiteinduced eosinophilia. Coordinate analysis of this eosinophil differentiation activity (EDA) with other lymphokine assays indicated that a lymphokine was being detected which was different from interleukin 2 (IL-2), IL-3, or colony-stimulating factors assayed by bone marrow proliferation activity (BMPA), al though in each case T cell clones produced one or more o f these lymphokines in addition to EDA. Since a source of EDA free of other lymphokines was desirable, we have
A committee of NNA classifiers for the prediction of the binding between miRNAs and the target genes using a novel coding method

We present a paper for the prediction of the bindings between microRNAs (miRNAs) and their target genes. A novel coding for the miRNAs, the binding sites (i.e. the target genes) and the flanking sequences of the binding sites is adopted to code the related information comprehensively. A feature selection method, Minimum Redundancy Maximum Relevance (mRMR), is used to filter out ineffective and redundant features. Because the data are severely imbalanced, a committee of NNA (Nearest Neighbor Algorithm) classifiers is applied to distribute the data more evenly between different classes. The final prediction results are gained through voting from the classifier committee. As a result, 83.33% positive samples are correctly identified with an overall correct prediction rate of 76.78%. The feature analysis, performed by mRMR feature selections using the classifier committee, shows that the seed region of miRNAs and the flanking sequences of the binding sites play a significant role in the regulation of miRNA binding.
Projections of Power: Framing News, Public Opinion, and U.S. Foreign Policy

Projections of Power: Framing News, Public Opinion, and U.S. Foreign Policy. By Robert M. Entman. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2003. 200p. $16.00. Which news frames prevail in the coverage of U.S. foreign policy? Robert Entman introduces a “cascading activation” model to explain news framing—“the process of selecting and enhancing some aspects of a perceived reality, and enhancing the salience of an interpretation and evaluation of that reality” (p. 5). According to the cascade model, news frames flow hierarchically, from the White House to Washington elites to the media—although they may also flow directly from the administration to the media—and then to the public. Whereas the “indexing” model holds that news reflects the homogeneity of Washington elites, Entman's model has political communication going both ways: Presidential administrations and Washington elites (congressmen, ex-government officials, lobbyists, academic experts) are guided and constrained by the news (actual or anticipated), just as news organizations tailor the news according to public opinion (actual or anticipated). Because different news frames activate different thoughts and feelings at each stage of the process (p. 9), some frames succeed better than others.
Immigrants, Refugees and Asylum Seekers

Abstract This article reviews policies and services related to immigrants, refugees and asylum seekers in the U.S. Definitions of immigration categories are provided to clarify the context in which services operate. Particular attention is given to issues that are unique to populations of the Southwest. Historical information on this region is offered; immigration trends and recent statistics are presented. The article is based on published data; field interviews with personnel in selected immigrant and refugee serving social agencies are used to compliment the literature. The authors highlight the social consequences of the global phenomenon of migration, whether motivated by economic or political realities. Recommendations for those who serve immigrants, refugees and asylum seekers are offered.
Theorizing Communication Orientations of Privilege: How White Discourses (De) Construct Australian Aboriginals

We conducted a discourse analysis of Australians' conversations about race, exploring communication that (re)produces and decenters whiteness. We identified 23 communication practices, organized into four orientations (unity, separation, monologue, and dialogue), describing how those with power talk about those without power and (fail to) balance tensions between similarity and difference. Orientations of unity, monologue, and separation serve antidialogic functions by obstructing transformative thinking, de-legitimizing Aboriginal experiences, and reifying whiteness. Findings suggest it is possible, but rare, for individuals to engage in intercultural dialogue about race. Understanding communication orientations of privilege is a step towards facilitating talk that disrupts whiteness.
Towards Semantic Analysis of Conversations: A System for the Live Identification of Speakers in Meetings

In the following article we present an application that enables online identification of who is currently speaking using a single farfield microphone in a meeting scenario. By leveraging techniques from both the field of speaker identification and speaker diarization, the system is able to recognize the current speaker after any two seconds of speech. An evaluation of the robustness of the algorithm using the AMI meeting corpus and the NIST speaker diarization development set resulted in a diarization error rate of 12.67%.
Knowing Audiences: ""Judge Dredd,"" Its Friends, Fans and Foes

""Such research is invaluable to academics, the industry and policy workers, and their findings are too important to ignore. "" -Annette Hill in Framework: The Journal of Cinema and Media Exploring the influence ""action"" films have on audiences, this book considers how people relate to and are influenced by such films as Judge Dredd. While a considerable amount of audience research has been done within the media studies tradition, the scope of the research has not previously been limited to the audiences of these types of film. This study delves specifically into audiences of this specific genre of film, which has been a mainstay of Hollywood since the mid-1970s.
Recent developments in the implementation of novel designs for early-phase combination studies.

ABSTRACT A recent article by Riviere et al. calls for more frequent practical implementation of innovative and efficient approaches in early-phase drug-combination studies. This letter describes our experience in using a novel combination method, one that is overlooked by Riviere et al., in several FDA-approved, ongoing studies at multiple institutions.
A 16 $\times$ 16 CMOS Capacitive Biosensor Array Towards Detection of Single Bacterial Cell

We present a 16 × 16 CMOS biosensor array aiming at impedance detection of whole-cell bacteria. Each 14 μm×16 μm pixel comprises high-sensitive passivated microelectrodes connected to an innovative readout interface based on charge sharing principle for capacitance-to-voltage conversion and subthreshold gain stage to boost the sensitivity. Fabricated in a 0.25 μm CMOS process, the capacitive array was experimentally shown to perform accurate dielectric measurements of the electrolyte up to electrical conductivities of 0.05 S/m, with maximal sensitivity of 55 mV/fF and signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) of 37 dB. As biosensing proof of concept, real-time detection of Staphylococcus epidermidis binding events was experimentally demonstrated and provides detection limit of ca. 7 bacteria per pixel and sensitivity of 2.18 mV per bacterial cell. Models and simulations show good matching with experimental results and provide a comprehensive analysis of the sensor and circuit system. Advantages, challenges and limits of the proposed capacitive biosensor array are finally described with regards to literature. With its small area and low power consumption, the present capacitive array is particularly suitable for portable point-of-care (PoC) diagnosis tools and lab-on-chip (LoC) systems.
The localization of persistent foot and mouth disease virus in the epithelial cells of the soft palate and pharynx.

After contact with foot and mouth disease virus (FMDV), cattle may become persistently infected, regardless of their pre-existing immune status or whether they develop clinical disease. The cellular sites of FMDV persistence have not previously been determined. The use of in-situ hybridization in combination with tyramide signal amplification (TSA) provided the first direct evidence that FMDV RNA is localized within the epithelial cells of the soft palate and pharynx during persistent infection, indicating that these cells remain persistently infected after contact with FMDV.
Moravian Geographical Reports

The symmetry and/or asymmetry in terms of cross-border openness of service providers is examined in this article, for the cases of two border twin towns: Cieszyn/Český Těšín at the Polish-Czech border, and Gubin/ Guben at the Polish-German border. To assess the level of openness of firms towards clients from the other side of the border, four trans-border categories were examined: neighbour’s language visible at store location; business offers in the language of the neighbour; the possibilities of payment in the neighbour’s currency; and the staff’s knowledge of the language. This enabled a comparison of both parts of the particular twin towns in relation to the character of cross-border openness, as well as an assessment of their symmetry/asymmetry. Comparisons of Gubin/Guben and Cieszyn/Český Těšín with respect to the analysed features were also carried out. The analysis shows significant variation in the level of cross-border openness towards clients from neighbouring countries. Whereas in the Polish-Czech town a relative symmetry was observed, in the PolishGerman case, significant asymmetry was noted.
Stigma, tensions, and apprehension: The academic writing experience of international students

Purpose – This paper examines the experiences of engaging with academic writing of international doctoral students in the schools of humanities and education at a UK university. The purpose of this paper is to uncover the real accounts of international students whose cultural and language backgrounds are often marginalised and considered, not as facilitators, but as barriers to academic writing in the western context of universities. Design/methodology/approach – Developed broadly within an interpretive post-positivistic paradigm, the study utilised Harre and van Lagenhove, 1999 Positioning theory and Goffman’s theory of Stigma to interrogate accounts of 12 students from the two schools in a year-long project involving three focus group discussions, questionnaire responses and personal reflective summaries by the students. Findings – The paper highlights the notions of stigma associated with their foreign writing conventions and how students experience tensions and apprehensions about their ability as the.
Multi-dimensional Medical Image Segmentation with Partial Voluming

The presented method addresses the problem of multi-spectral image segmentation through use of a model which takes into account the physical process of the medical image formation. In particular the method addresses the problem of partial volumes of tissues being present in a single voxel due to imaging process. The partial volume effect is evident at tissue boundaries and not accounting for it results in tissue misclassification. Multiple images of different modalities are used to improve segmentation, as better tissue separation can be achieved in a higher dimensional space. The parameters of the multidimensional model of pure tissues and their mixtures are iteratively adjusted using an Expectation Maximisation (EM) optimisation technique. Bayes theory is used to generate probability maps for each segmented tissue which estimates the most likely tissue volume fraction within each voxel as opposed to previous approaches which attempt to compute how likely a certain grey level would be generated by a particular tissue class.