Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Push Polling : The Effects of Hypothetical Questions on Decision Making

Levin for providing invaluable feedback on previous versions of this manuscript. The authors also wish to thank Scott and Carolyn Bonifield for agreeing to be part of brainstorming sessions in the early phases of this project, and Brice Ford and Judy Schreiber for their help in administering Experiment 2. Parts of Experiment 2 formed the basis of Brice Ford's honors thesis. Abstract Push polling, which often involves the use of hypothetical questions in survey instruments, is a tactic that is designed to influence respondents' decision making in the guise of research. In this article, we examine the effectiveness of this increasingly popular technique. Across several experiments carried out in both a voting context and a food choice context, we show that even though such questions are purely suppositional in nature, they can lead to significant changes in actual behavior. However, post-test respondents indicated that their behavior will not change based on responding to hypothetical questions, suggesting that the contaminative effects of such questions are probably unconscious and uncontrollable. We explore several moderating influences on this effect, including both processing capacity and the importance of the attributes that are the focus of hypothetical questions. Interestingly, we find that an increase in cognitive elaboration essentially increases the contaminative effects of hypothetical questions. Researchers have long known that the manner in which a question is asked can influence underlying psychological processes, and, consequently, affect the response shown that the act of asking a question can, in and of itself, go beyond biasing the response and actually change the respondent's behavior (Morwitz, Johnson, and Schmittlein 1993). In the present research, we examine the impact of asking purely suppositional or hypothetical questions about future behavior on respondents' subsequent actual behavior. Hypothetical questions are used very frequently in many consumer, marketing, and public policy settings as part of legitimate research programs, designed to act as information gathering tools. An alternative use of hypothetical questions, as techniques designed to influence the respondent's decision making, has seen a dramatic increase in recent years (see, e.g., Bowers 1996; Sabato and Simpson 1996). The focus of this paper is on the latter use of hypothetical questions, a technique that has come to be known as " push polling. " Sabato and Simpson (1996) define push polling as a survey instrument that often contains hypothetical questions designed to change the opinion of respondents, pushing them away from the opponent and pulling …
Scheduling with dynamic bandwidth allocation for DiffServ classes

The diverse service requirements of emerging Internet applications faster the need for flexible and scalable IP quality-of-service (QoS) schemes. Due to its simplicity and scalability, DiffServ is expected to be widely deployed across the Internet. Though DiffServ supporting scheduling algorithms for output-queueing (OQ) switches have been widely studied, there are few DiffServ scheduling algorithms for input-queueing (IQ) switches. In this paper, we propose the dynamic DiffServ scheduling (DDS) algorithm for IQ switches to provide dynamic bandwidth allocation for DiffServ classes. The basic idea of DDS is to schedule EF and AF traffic according to their minimum service rates with the reserved bandwidth and schedule AF and BE traffic fairly with the excess bandwidth. We evaluate the performance of DDS under bursty traffic arrivals and compare it with PQWRR, an existing scheduling algorithm suitable for supporting DiffServ for OQ switches. Simulations results show that DDS provides minimum bandwidth guarantees for EF and AF traffic and fair bandwidth allocation for BE traffic. DDS also achieves the delay and jitter performance for EF traffic close to that of PQWRR and the delay performance for AF traffic better than that of PQWRR at high loads. Using comparator-tree based arbitration components, it is feasible to implement DDS in hardware at high speed.
Photovoltaic Grid – connected Inverter Based MPPT Using PI Regulator

In this paper, an improved maximum power point (MPP) tracking (MPPT) with better performance based on voltage-oriented control (VOC) is proposed to solve a fastchanging irradiation problem. In VOC, a cascaded control structure with an outer dc link voltage control loop and an inner current control loop is used. The currents are controlled in a synchronous orthogonal d, q frame using a decoupled feedback control. The reference current of proportional– integral (PI) d-axis controller is extracted from the dc-side voltage regulator by applying the energy-balancing control. Furthermore, in order to achieve a unity power factor, the q-axis reference is set to zero. The MPPT controller is applied to the reference of the outer loop control dc voltage photovoltaic (PV). Without PV array power measurement, the proposed MPPT identifies the correct direction of the MPP by processing the d-axis current reflecting the power grid side and the signal error of the PI outer loop designed to only represent the change in power due to the changing atmospheric conditions. The robust tracking capability under rapidly increasing and decreasing irradiance is verified experimentally with a PV array emulator. Simulations and experimental results demonstrate that the proposed method provides effective, fast, and perfect tracking.
Which Robot Behavior Can Motivate Children to Tidy up Their Toys? Design and Evaluation of “Ranger”

We present the design approach and evaluation of our prototype called “Ranger”. Ranger is a robotic toy box that aims to motivate young children to tidy up their room. We evaluated Ranger in 14 families with 31 children (2-10 years) using the Wizard-of-Oz technique. This case study explores two different robot behaviors (proactive vs. reactive) and their impact on children’s interaction with the robot and the tidying behavior. The analysis of the video recorded scenarios shows that the proactive robot tended to encourage more playful and explorative behavior in children, whereas the reactive robot triggered more tidying behavior. Our findings hold implications for the design of interactive robots for children, and may also serve as an example of evaluating an early version of a prototype in a real-world setting. Categories and Subject Descriptors H.4 [Information Systems Applications]: Miscellaneous; I.2. 9 [Artificial Intelligence]: Robotics— Commercial robots and applications
The EGR family gene egrh-1 functions non-autonomously in the control of oocyte meiotic maturation and ovulation in C. elegans

Oocyte production, maturation and ovulation must be coordinated with sperm availability for successful fertilization. In C. elegans this coordination involves signals from the sperm to the oocyte and somatic gonad, which stimulate maturation and ovulation. We have found that the C. elegans early growth response factor family member EGRH-1 inhibits oocyte maturation and ovulation until sperm are available. In the absence of sperm, egrh-1 mutants exhibit derepressed oocyte maturation marked by MAPK activation and ovulation. egrh-1 mutants exhibit ectopic oocyte differentiation in the distal gonadal arm and accumulate abnormal and degraded oocytes proximally. These defects result in reduced brood size and partially penetrant embryonic lethality. We have found that endogenous EGRH-1 protein and an egrh-1::gfp reporter gene are expressed in the sheath and distal tip cells of the somatic gonad, the gut and other non-gonadal tissues, as well as in sperm, but expression is not observed in oocytes. Results of tissue-specific egrh-1(RNAi) experiments and genetic mosaic analyses revealed that EGRH-1 function is necessary in the soma and, surprisingly, this function is required in both the gut and the somatic gonad. Based on transformation rescue experiments we hypothesize that EGRH-1 in the somatic gonad inhibits oocyte maturation and ovulation.
Weighted Morphometric Shape Analysis of Diatoms

In this paper we present an approach for diatom classification on the basis of contour information. First an initial feature set is analysed. Then we present a method to reduce this initial feature space while preserving its discriminative power. Both results based on the initial feature space and the reduced one are compared and the classification method is discussed.
Beyond Gaussians: Spectral Methods for Learning Mixtures of Heavy-Tailed Distributions

We study the problem of learning mixtures of distributions, a natural formalization of clustering. A mixture of distributions is a collection of distributions D = { D 1 , . , D T } and weights w 1 , . , w T . A sample from a mixture is drawn by selecting D i with probability w i and then selecting a sample from D i . The goal, in learning a mixture, is to learn the parameters of the distributions comprising the mixture, given only samples from the mixture. In this paper, we focus on learning mixtures of heavy-tailed product distributions, which was studied by [DHKS05]. The challenge in learning such mixtures is that the techniques developed for learning mixture-models, such as spectral methods and distance concentration, do not apply. The previous algorithm for this problem was due to [DHKS05], which achieved performance comparable to the algorithms of [AM05, KSV05, CR08] given a mixture of Gaussians, but took time exponential in the dimension. We provide an algo-rithm which has the same performance, but runs in polynomial time. Our
Syntactic analysis of English by computer: a survey

A statement in a spoken language may be regarded as a one-dimensional string of symbols used to communicate an idea from the speaker to a listener. The dimensionality of the statement is limited by the need for presenting words in a single time sequence. However, evidence indicates that most information and ideas are not stored by people in one-dimensional arrays isomorphic to these linear strings. This implies that a speaker must use certain complex information manipulating processes to transform the stored information to a linear output string, and that a listener, in order to "understand" the speaker, must use another set of processes to decode this linear string. In order for communication to take place, the information map of both the listener and the speaker must be approximately the same, at least for the universe of discourse. Most important, the decoding process of the listener must be an approximate inverse of the encoding process of the speaker.
A Quantum Hamiltonian Identification Algorithm: Computational Complexity and Error Analysis

Quantum Hamiltonian identification (QHI) is important for characterizing the dynamics of quantum systems, calibrating quantum devices, and achieving precise quantum control. In this paper, an effective two-step optimization (TSO) QHI algorithm is developed within the framework of quantum process tomography. In the identification method, different probe states are input into quantum systems and the output states are estimated using the quantum state tomography protocol via linear regression estimation. The time-independent system Hamiltonian is reconstructed based on the experimental data for the output states. The Hamiltonian identification method has computational complexity <inline-formula><tex-math notation="LaTeX">$O(d^6)$</tex-math></inline-formula>, where <inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$d$</tex-math></inline-formula> is the dimension of the system Hamiltonian. An error upper bound <inline-formula><tex-math notation="LaTeX">$O(\frac{d^3}{\sqrt{N}})$</tex-math></inline-formula> is also established, where <inline-formula><tex-math notation="LaTeX">$N$</tex-math></inline-formula> is the resource number for the tomography of each output state, and several numerical examples demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed TSO Hamiltonian identification method.
Retrieving images by similarity of visual appearance

A system to retrieve images using a description of visual appearance is presented. A multi-scale invariant vector representation is obtained by first filtering images in the database with Gaussian derivative filters at several scales and then computing low-order differential invariants. The multi-scale representation is indexed for rapid retrieval. Queries are designed by the users from an example image by selecting appropriate regions. The invariant vectors corresponding to these regions are matched with those in the database both in feature space as well as in coordinate space, and a match score is obtained for each image. The results are then displayed to the user sorted by the match score. From experiments conducted with over 1500 images of objects embedded in arbitrary backgrounds, it is shown that images which are similar in appearance and whose viewpoint is within 25 degrees of the query image can be retrieved with an average precision of 57.4%
A mesh-based disparity representation method for view interpolation and stereo image compression

This paper proposes a mesh-based representation method for the disparity map of stereo images. The proposed method is designed to concentrate mainly on applications of view interpolation and stereo image compression. To obtain high image quality in the view interpolation and compression of stereo images, we formulate the view-interpolation error and prediction error. In the formulation, the view-interpolation and prediction errors depend not only on the accuracy of the disparity map, but also on the gradient of the stereo images. The proposed representation method for the disparity map is based on a triangular mesh structure, which minimizes the formulated interpolation and prediction errors. The experimental results show that the proposed method yields higher quality view-interpolated images and also has better performance in stereo image compression than the conventional methods.
Designing and Implementing Elastically Scalable Services - A State-of-the-art Technology Review

The prospect of fast and affordable on-demand service delivery over the Internet proceeds from the very notion of Cloud Computing. For service providers, the ability to afford those benefits to the user is contingent on attaining rapid elasticity in service design and implementation, which is a very open research goal as yet. With a view to this challenge, this paper draws a trajectory that, starting from a better understanding of the principal service design features, relates them to the microservice architectural style and its implications on elastic scalability, most notably dynamic orchestration, and concludes reviewing how well state-of-the-art technology fares for their implementation.
Active self-calibration of hand-mounted laser range finders

In this paper, we propose a method for self-calibration of robotic hand-mounted laser range finders by means of active motion of the robot. Through range-measuring a plane of unknown position and orientation, the mounting parameters of the range finders and the coordinates of the world planes are estimated. Systematic measurement errors can also be calibrated at the same time. The approach is fully autonomous, in that no initial guesses of the unknown parameters are to be provided from the outside by humans for the solution of a set of nonlinear equations. In fact, the initial values are all found in closed forms by the algorithm itself. Sufficient conditions for a unique solution are derived in terms of controlled motion sequences. Experimental results in both a simulated and a real environments are reported.
Following Assembly Plans in Cooperative, Task-Based Human-Robot Dialogue

The JAST dialogue system allows a human and a robot to jointly assemble construction toys on a common work area. Supporting this type of dialogue requires that the system have a representation of assembly plans that permits it both to discuss the details of the plan and to monitor its execution. We present a conceptual representation of assembly plans based on AND/OR graphs, and then describe how the dialogue manager uses these plans as the basis for a range of strategies for jointly carrying out the plans with the user.
Blocking or enhancing effects of some basic emollients in UVA penetration

Background Topical agents used in combination with phototherapy or photochemotherapy may have both blocking or enhancing effects in ultraviolet rays. Objective In this in vivo study, the effects of topical petrolatum, basis cream, glycerine, and olive oil on the transmission of ultraviolet A radiation were investigated. Methods A test was performed to determine the minimal phototoxic dose on 29 volunteers with only psoralen plus ultraviolet A (PUVA) and then the same test was repeated with white petrolatum, basis cream, glycerine, olive oil, and sunscreen (0.3cc/25cm2). The effects of each agent on the minimal phototoxic dose were determined after 72 h. Results When compared to pure PUVA, there was a statistically significant increase in the mean minimal phototoxic dose values by the application of white petrolatum (P = 0.011), but there was no significant increase or decrease in the mean minimal phototoxic dose values after the application of basis cream (P = 0.326), glycerine (P = 0.611) or olive oil (P = 0.799). Study limitations Low number of patients Conclusion The application of white petrolatum, which has a blocking effect, and also of basis cream immediately before PUVA therapy should not be recommended. Although we specify that glycerine and maybe olive oil can be used before photochemotherapy, there is a need for further research in larger series.
Undulatory swimming in sand: experimental and simulation studies of a robotic sandfish

A previous study of a sand-swimming lizard, the sandfish, revealed that it swims within granular media at speeds up to 0.4 body-lengths/cycle using body undulations (approximately a single period sinusoidal traveling wave) without limb use. Inspired by the organism, we develop a numerical model of a robot swimming in a simulated granular medium to guide the design of a physical device. Both in simulation and experiment the robot swims limblessly subsurface at speeds up to 0.3 body-lengths/cycle and, like the animal, increases its speed by increasing its oscillation frequency. The performance of the robot measured in terms of its wave efficiency η, the ratio of its forward speed to wave speed, is 0.34 ± 0.02, within 8% of the simulation prediction. Both in simulation and experiment, η increases with increasing particle—particle friction but decreases with increasing body—particle friction. On a flat, rigid surface the robot fails to move forward, as expected, due to the frictional isotropy between the interacting surfaces. However, the surface and subsurface performance of the robot on low friction particles are comparable. Our work provides a validated simulation tool and the design of a robot that can move on or within yielding terrestrial substrates.
Article; Agriculture and Environmental Biotechnology Frequent Problems and Their Resolutions by Using Thermal Asymmetric Interlaced Pcr (tail-pcr) to Clone Genes in Arabidopsis T-dna Tagged Mutants

T-DNA insertional mutagenesis is a powerful tool in Arabidopsis functional genomics research. Previous studies have developed thermal asymmetric interlaced polymerase chain reaction (TAIL-PCR) as an efficient strategy in isolation of DNA sequences adjacent to known sequences in T-DNA tagged mutants. However, a number of problems are encountered when attempts are made to clone flanking sequences in T-DNA tagged mutants. Therefore, it is necessary to improve the efficiency of cloning mutagenesis. Here, we present the most frequent problems and provide an improved method to increase TAIL-PCR efficiency. Even then, it is not always possible to successfully obtain flanking sequences; in such cases, we recommend using high-throughput sequencing to determine the mutations. Introduction Over the past years, different strategies have been developed to obtain mutant pools in plants, such as physical or chemical mutagenesis, homologous recombination and transposable element or T-DNA insertional mutagenesis. However, each method has its own characteristics. By physical or chemical mutagenesis, it is easier to get saturated mutant banks, but the mapping of mutation sites is labour intensive and time consuming. The frequency of homologous recombination in plants may be too low to cover the entire genome span. [1] Thus, as a classic mutagenesis method, Agrobacterium tumefaciens-mediated transformation is probably the most widely used method to introduce genes into plants. [2,3] Tumour-inducing plasmid encodes most of the major functions required for transferring an oncogenic segment of DNA, the transferred DNA (T-DNA), into the host cell. [4,5] The T-DNA itself does not include genes required for this transfer process. The distribution of T-DNA insertion sites in the genomes of transgenic plants is random, so transfer of T-DNA mediated by Agrobacterium can be highly efficient in plants and can be used to create mutations (for review, see [6]). To date, in the model plant Ara-bidopsis thaliana, whose whole genome sequence is known,[7] there is a large number of T-DNA tagged mutants created by laboratories all over the world, such as SALK,[8] GABI-Kat [9] and Weigel [10]. All of these pools represent near saturation of the entire Arabidopsis
An improved artificial bee colony algorithm for range image registration

Range image registration is an attractive topic in image processing field. It aims at finding an optimal transformation or correspondence between images captured from different views. Iterative closest point (ICP) algorithm is the most well-known method for registration. However, it needs a pre-alignment typically provided by the user. To overcome this drawback of ICP algorithm, many intelligent algorithms have been introduced to solve the registration problem. In this paper, we present an improved artificial bee colony (ABC) algorithm for range image registration. Inspired by particle swarm optimization algorithm, a new solution-updating strategy is proposed and introduced into the ABC. Consequently, the search ability of ABC algorithm is obviously enhanced while more precise results are obtained. Dozens of experiments are conducted to compare the performance of the proposed algorithm and other registration methods. The results demonstrate that the improved algorithm outperforms other algorithms.
Visualizing Mitochondrial FoF1-ATP Synthase as the Target of the Immunomodulatory Drug Bz-423

Targeting the mitochondrial enzyme FoF1-ATP synthase and modulating its catalytic activities with small molecules is a promising new approach for treatment of autoimmune diseases. The immunomodulatory compound Bz-423 is such a drug that binds to subunit OSCP of the mitochondrial FoF1-ATP synthase and induces apoptosis via increased reactive oxygen production in coupled, actively respiring mitochondria. Here, we review the experimental progress to reveal the binding of Bz-423 to the mitochondrial target and discuss how subunit rotation of FoF1-ATP synthase is affected by Bz-423. Briefly, we report how Förster resonance energy transfer can be employed to colocalize the enzyme and the fluorescently tagged Bz-423 within the mitochondria of living cells with nanometer resolution.