Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Can Machines Be Artists? A Deweyan Response in Theory and Practice

To speak comfortably of the machine artist (as outlined in the call for papers for this Special Issue) makes key assumptions about what it is to be an artist. It assumes, for instance, that the experience of living as an artist, which includes the socialisation, hard work, single-mindedness, and focused energy of creative activity, is incidental rather than essential since these aspects are not comfortably applicable to machines. Instead, it supposes that what is essential is the artistic product, and it is the similarity of human and machine products that makes it possible to speak of machine artists. This definition of art in terms of products is supported by modern psychological theories of creativity, defined as the generation of novel ideas which give rise to valuable products. These ideas take place in the mind or brain, regarded as a closed system within whose workings the secret of creativity will eventually be revealed. This is the framework of what is widely referred to as “cognitivism”. This definition in terms of novel ideas and valuable products has been widely assumed by artificial intelligence (AI) and computational creativity (CC), and this has been backed up through a particular version of the Turing Test. In this, a machine can be said to be a creative artist if its products cannot be distinguished from human art. However, there is another psychological view of creativity, that of John Dewey, in which a lived experience of inquiry and focus is essential to being creative. In this theory, creativity is a function of the whole person interacting with the world, rather than originating in the brain. This makes creativity a Process rather than a Cognitivist framework. Of course, the brain is crucial in a Process theory, but as part of an open system which includes both body and environment. Developments in “machine art” have been seen as spectacular and are widely publicised. But there may be a danger that these will distract from what we take to be the most exciting prospect of all. This is the contribution of computer technology to stimulate, challenge, and provoke artistic practice of all forms.
2 nd Amino Acid Workshop Plasma Protein Synthesis Measurements Using a Proteomics Strategy 1

The analysis of the synthesis of proteins has been the subject of many studies in animals and humans. Plasma proteins can be used as an easy accessible source of specific proteins. In this paper, an innovative method to study the synthetic rate of plasma proteins is described. Thismethodology, based on the proteomics approach, enables the direct observation of the effects of posttranslational modifications of protein synthesis and/or degradation. The methodology is based on 1D or 2D electrophoresis and subsequent electrospray ionization liquid chromatography mass spectrometry (ESI-LC-MS). Protein synthesis is measured in isotopically labeled peptides of the identified proteins. This innovative method can be used to assess amino acid adequacy and safety by studying protein synthesis and posttranslational modification of plasma proteins in more detail. J. Nutr. 133: 2084S–2089S, 2003.
Three-dimensional simulations of plasma turbulence in the RFX-mod scrape-off layer and comparison with experimental measurements

The tokamak scrape-off layer (SOL) plasma dynamics is investigated in a circular limiter configuration with a low edge safety factor. Focusing on the experimental parameters of two ohmic tokamak inner-wall limited plasma discharges in RFX-mod [Sonato et al., Fusion Eng. Des. 74, 97 (2005)], nonlinear SOL plasma simulations are performed with the GBS code [Ricci et al., Plasma Phys. Controlled Fusion 54, 124047 (2012)]. The numerical results are compared with the experimental measurements, assessing the reliability of the GBS model in describing the RFX-mod SOL plasma dynamics. It is found that the simulations are able to quantitatively reproduce the RFX-mod experimental measurements of the electron plasma density, electron temperature, and ion saturation current density (jsat) equilibrium profiles. Moreover, there are indications that the turbulent transport is driven by the same instability in the simulations and in the experiment, with coherent structures having similar statistical properties. On the ot.
A Study on Molten Steel/Slag/Refractory Reactions during Ladle Steel Refining

The rate of dissolution of solid MgO-C into liquid CaO-Al2O3-SiO2-MgO slag at different temperatures was studied under conditions of forced convection by rotating cylindrical refractory specimens in a stationary crucible containing molten slag. The corrosion rate was calculated from the change in diameter of the cylindrical refractory specimens. The specimens were rotated for 15-120 min at a speed of 100-400 rpm in the molten slag. The rate of corrosion was found to increase with an increase in temperature and rod rotation speed, and to decrease when the slag was nearly saturated with MgO. The experimental results support the assumption that the diffusion of magnesium oxide through the slag-phase boundary layer controls the corrosion process. The corrosion mechanism seems to be the dissolution of refractory material into the slag followed by penetration of pores and grain boundaries and dispersion of the grains into the slag.
Opposite effects of vitamin C and vitamin E on the 1 antifungal activity of honokiol 2 3

24 The aim of the present study was to evaluate the effects of two well-known natural 25 antioxidants vitamin C (VC) and vitamin E (VE) on the antifungal activity of 26 honokiol against Candida albicans. The broth microdilution method was employed to 27 test the antifungal activities of honokiol with or without antioxidants in the medium 28 against C. albicans strain. Intracellular reactive oxygen species (ROS) and lipid 29 peroxidation were determined by fluorescence staining assay. Mitochondrial 30 dysfunction was assessed by detecting the mitochondrial DNA and the mitochondrial 31 membrane potential. We observed that VC could significantly potentiate the 32 antifungal activities of honokiol while VE reduced the effectiveness of honokiol 33 against C. albicans. In addition, VC accelerated honokiol-induced mitochondrial 34 dysfunction and inhibited glycolysis leading to a decrease in cellular ATP. However, 35 VE could protect against mitochondrial membrane lipid peroxidation and rescue 36 mitochondrial function after honokiol treatment. Our research provides new insight 37 into the understanding of the action mechanism of honokiol and VC combination 38 against C. albicans. 39 40
Submitted to the Annals of Statistics ON ESTIMATION OF ISOTONIC PIECEWISE CONSTANT SIGNALS By

Consider a sequence of real data points X1, . , Xn with underlying means θ∗ 1 , . , θ ∗ n. This paper starts from studying the setting that θ∗ i is both piecewise constant and monotone as a function of the index i. For this, we establish the exact minimax rate of estimating such monotone functions, and thus give a non-trivial answer to an open problem in the shape-constrained analysis literature. The minimax rate under the loss of the sum of squared error involves an interesting iterated logarithmic dependence on the dimension, a phenomenon that is revealed through characterizing the interplay between the isotonic shape constraint and model selection complexity. We then develop a penalized least-squares procedure for estimating the vector θ∗ = (θ∗ 1 , . . . , θ ∗ n) . This estimator is shown to achieve the derived minimax rate adaptively. For the proposed estimator, we further allow the model to be misspecified and derive oracle inequalities with the optimal rates, and show there exists a computationally efficient algorithm to compute the exact solution.
Economic Performance Optimization of a PV-BESS Power Generator: A Case Study La Reunion Island

This paper proposes an economic performance optimization strategy for a PV plant coupled with a battery energy storage system. The case study of La Reunion Island, a non-interconnected zone (NIZ) with a high level of renewable energy sources (RES), is considered. This last decade, to reach the ambitious target of electricity autonomy by 2030 set by the local authorities, local and national plans have been launched to promote renewable energy sources integration that led to a noticeable development of photovoltaic (PV) systems. To avoid a decrease of the grid reliability due to a large integration of intermittent energy sources into a non-interconnected grid, the authorities have introduced new regulatory rules for RES producers. The proposed optimization strategy relies on these new regulatory rules and takes into account the energy market data, the amount of PV production subject to penalties for imbalance, the batteries and the PV technological characteristics together with a PV production forecast model. Due to its high convergence rate to the true global minimum and its perfect suitability to practical engineering optimization problems, the recently developed Modified Cuckoo Search algorithm is used as optimization algorithm. The effectiveness and relevance of the proposed strategy are assessed on experimental data collected on a real PV power plant. An economical analysis demonstrates that the proposed optimization strategy is able to fulfill the new regulatory rules requirements while increasing the economic performance of the system.
Classification : T he Case of Multiple Labels

Analysis of subjectivity is the actively developed direction of research in text mining. The paper presents machine learning experiments on classification of sentiments in forum texts. We explore the difficult task of classification when texts are labeled by several sentiment labels and in this condition we reach the average F-measure equal to 0.805. Keywords–machine learning; natural language processing; text classification; sentiment analysis; multi-label classification.
anifeedsci ethane emissions by goats consuming Sericea lespedeza at different eeding frequencies

Twenty-four yearling Boer (87.5%) × Spanish wethers (32.5 ± 0.36 kg body weight) were used in a 32 d experiment to assess effects of frequency of feeding condensed tannin (CT)containing Sericea lespedeza (SL; Lespedeza cuneata) on ruminal methane emission. Fresh SL (153 g/kg CT) was fed at 1.3 times the metabolizable energy requirement for maintenance every day (1SL), other day (2SL), fourth day (4SL), and eighth day (8SL), with alfalfa (Medicago sativa) offered at the same level on other days. Ruminal fluid for microbial assays was collected 1 d after SL feeding and at the end of the feeding interval (short and long interval samples, respectively). Dry matter intake was not affected by frequency of SL feeding. Daily ruminal methane emissions increased at a decreasing rate (Linear and Quadratic; P<0.01) as frequency of SL feeding decreased (6.3, 7.4, 10.5, 12.0 g/d for 1SL, 2SL, 4SL, and 8SL, respectively), but emissions on days when SL was fed were not affected by SL feeding frequency (6.3, 6.4, 6.7, 7.0 g/d, respectively). There were carryover effects of feeding SL on ruminal methane emissions. For example, with 8SL ruminal methane emission did not reach a maximum until day 5–6, or 4–5 days after SL was first fed. Energy in ruminally emitted methane relative to digestible energy intake increased linearly (P<0.05) as frequency of SL feeding decreased (49, 48, 66, 81 kJ/MJ for 1SL, 2SL, 4SL, and 8SL, respectively). The number of protozoa in the short interval sample was not affected by frequency of feeding SL (5.2, 5.3, 5.7, 6.5 × 105/ml), whereas the number in the long interval sample increased at a decreasing rate (Linear P<0.01; Quadratic P=0.02) as frequency of SL feeding decreased (6.5, 10.4, 18.4, 20.5 × 105/ml for 1SL, 2SL, 4SL, and 8SL, respectively). In vitro methane emissions (3 wk incubation in serum bottles for methanogens; indicative of methanogen presence and activity in ruminal fluid) were lower for short than for long samples (19.0 and 24.2 ml, respectively) and increased linearly (P<0.05) as frequency of SL feeding decreased (19.3, 19.3, 23.0, 24.8 for 1SL, 2SL, 4SL, and 8SL, respectively). In conclusion, the influence of CT containing SL on ruminal methane emission was immediate and short-lived, and the effect appeared attributable to activity of methanogenic bacteria and possibly ciliate protozoa. © 2012 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved. Abbreviations: BW, body weight; CP, crude protein; CT, condensed tannins; DE, digestible energy; DM, dry matter; GE, gross energy; HE, heat energy; VTDMD, in vitro true DM; ME, metabolizable energy; NDF, neutral detergent fiber; OM, organic matter; PEG, polyethylene glycol; RE, recovered energy; L, Sericea lespedeza. ∗ Corresponding author. Tel. : +1 405 466 6164; fax: +1 405 466 6180. E-mail address: goetsch@langston.edu (A.L. Goetsch). 377-8401/$ – see front matter © 2012 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved. oi:10.1016/j.anifeedsci. 2012.03. 015 R. Puchala et al. / Animal Feed Science and Technology 175 (2012) 76– 84 77
A Passivity-Based Strategy for Manual Corrections in Human-Robot Coaching

In recent years, new programming techniques have been developed in the human-robot collaboration (HRC) field. For example, walk-through programming allows to program the robot in an easy and intuitive way. In this context, a modification of a portion of the trajectory usually requires the teaching of the path from the beginning. In this paper we propose a passivity-based method to locally change a trajectory based on a manual human correction. At the beginning the robot follows the nominal trajectory, encoded through the Dynamical Movement Primitives, by setting high control gains. When the human grasps the end-effector, the robot is made compliant and he/she can drive it along the correction. The correction is optimally joined to the nominal trajectory, resuming the path tracking. In order to avoid unstable behaviors, the variation of the control gains is performed exploiting energy tanks, preserving the passivity of the interaction. Finally, the correction is spatially fixed so that a variation in the boundary conditions (e.g., the initial/final points) does not affect the modification.
Automated and Efficient Extraction of Highway Tunnel Lining Cross-sections Using Terrestrial Laser Scanning ( TLS )

College of Geographic and Oceanographic Sciences, Nanjing University, No. 163 Xianlin Road, Qixia District, Nanjing 210023, Jiangsu Province, China College of Geographic and Biologic Information, Nanjing University of Posts and Telecommunications, No. 9 Wenyuan Road, Qixia District, Nanjing 210023, Jiangsu Province, China School of Earth Sciences and Engineering, Hohai University, No. 8 Fochengxi Road, Jiangning District, Nanjing 211100, Jiangsu Province, China
Volatile organic compounds profile of Lactobacillus casei and Streptococcus thermophilus in fermented mare milk of Kazakhstan

Fermented milk is a common beverage in many countries, but its flavor is highly variable from one region to another. The fermented mare milk, common beverage in Central Asia, has a typical flavor of koumiss, but those flavors were never described using aroma compound determination. In the present study, six lactic acid bacteria were identified in local koumiss. Due to the apparent technological advantage of Lactobacillus casei and Streptococcus thermophilus (notably their acidification speed), the main objective of this study was to compare their volatile compound profiles. 35 aromatic compounds were detected. To compare the aroma profiles of each strain, the ratio proportion strain/control was calculated for each strain and for each aroma showing significantly different profiles with predominance of 2-methyl-1-propanol and 2-undecanol in milk fermented with L. casei, and of 2,3-pentanedione in milk fermented with S. thermophilus. L. casei strain produced more aroma and its profile was significantly (P>0.03) different from S. thermophilus profile.
Factors Influencing Faculty Innovation and Adoption of Open Educational Resources in United States Higher Education

This study examined the adoption and use of Open Educational Resources (OER) by faculty in higher education in the United States. The connection between the creation and continued adoption of OER, aspects such as the characteristics of OER, the innovation-decision process, and institutional supports have been investigated. The study used a mixed methods design. Five themes emerged from the three research questions that guide this study. First off, the attributes that faculty believe constitute a valuable and sustainable OER are cost effective and focus on improving student learning and success. Secondly, the ability to customize, remix, and share OER contributes to faculty adoption of OER. Finally, resources from home institutions, as well as projects and grants with funding are the supports that faculty identify as meaningful to the innovation and adoption of OER. These five themes explain and reinforce the process of innovation and adoption of OER by faculty.
Kinetic electron and ion instability of the lunar wake simulated at physical mass ratio

The solar wind wake behind the moon is studied with 1D electrostatic particle-in-cell (PIC) simulations using a physical ion to electron mass ratio (unlike prior investigations); the simulations also apply more generally to supersonic flow of dense magnetized plasma past non-magnetic objects. A hybrid electrostatic Boltzmann electron treatment is first used to investigate the ion stability in the absence of kinetic electron effects, showing that the ions are two-stream unstable for downstream wake distances (in lunar radii) greater than about three times the solar wind Mach number. Simulations with PIC electrons are then used to show that kinetic electron effects can lead to disruption of the ion beams at least three times closer to the moon than in the hybrid simulations. This disruption occurs as the result of a novel wake phenomenon: the non-linear growth of electron holes spawned from a narrow dimple in the electron velocity distribution. Most of the holes arising from the dimple are small and quickly.
The Integration of Albanian Immigrants in Greece . A comparative approach in three specific regions : Thessaloniki , Chalkidiki and Crete

This paper examines the level of integration of Albanian immigrants in three Greek regions: Thessaloniki, Chalkidiki and Crete. The study focuses only on the period of massive post-communist emigration wave from Albania to Greece, between 1990 and 2010. The study is based on literature on Albanian immigration into Greece between 1990 and 2010, on the examination of the Greek legislation on immigration from 1929 to date, on various theories of integration of immigrants into the society of the host country and on a survey carried out through questionnaires and interviews of Albanian immigrants residing in Greece and more specifically in Thessaloniki, Chalkidiki and Crete. The survey was designed to manifest the levels of integration of Albanian immigrants into the Greek society.
UvA-DARE (Digital Academic Repository) A neural click model for web search

Understanding user browsing behavior in web search is key to improving web search effectiveness. Many click models have been proposed to explain or predict user clicks on search engine results. They are based on the probabilistic graphical model (PGM) framework, in which user behavior is represented as a sequence of observable and hidden events. The PGM framework provides a mathematically solid way to reason about a set of events given some information about other events. But the structure of the dependencies between the events has to be set manually. Different click models use different hand-crafted sets of dependencies. We propose an alternative based on the idea of distributed representations: to represent the user’s information need and the information available to the user with a vector state . The components of the vector state are learned to represent concepts that are useful for modeling user behavior. And user behavior is modeled as a sequence of vector states associated with a query session: the vector state is initialized with a query, and then iteratively updated based on information about interactions with the search engine results. This approach allows us to directly understand user browsing behavior from click-through data, i.e., without the need for a predeﬁned set of rules as is customary for PGM-based click models. We illustrate our approach using a set of neural click models . Our experimental results show that the neural click model that uses the same training data as traditional PGM-based click models, has better performance on the click prediction task (i.e., predicting user click on search engine results) and the relevance prediction task (i.e., ranking documents by their relevance to a query). An analysis of the best performing neural click model shows that it learns similar concepts to those used in traditional click models, and that it also learns other concepts that cannot be designed manually.
Apoplastic hydrogen peroxide in the growt zone of the aize pr mary root under water stress . I . Increased levels are specific to the apical region of growth maintenance

In mammals, cadmium is widely considered as a non-genotoxic carcinogen acting through a methylation-dependent epigenetic mechanism. Here, the effects of Cd treatment on the DNA methylation patten are examined together with its effect on chromatin reconfiguration in Posidonia oceanica. DNA methylation level and pattern were analysed in actively growing organs, under short(6 h) and long(2 d or 4 d) term and low (10 mM) and high (50 mM) doses of Cd, through a Methylation-Sensitive Amplification Polymorphism technique and an immunocytological approach, respectively. The expression of one member of the CHROMOMETHYLASE (CMT) family, a DNA methyltransferase, was also assessed by qRT-PCR. Nuclear chromatin ultrastructure was investigated by transmission electron microscopy. Cd treatment induced a DNA hypermethylation, as well as an up-regulation of CMT, indicating that de novo methylation did indeed occur. Moreover, a high dose of Cd led to a progressive heterochromatinization of interphase nuclei and apoptotic figures were also observed after long-term treatment. The data demonstrate that Cd perturbs the DNA methylation status through the involvement of a specific methyltransferase. Such changes are linked to nuclear chromatin reconfiguration likely to establish a new balance of expressed/repressed chromatin. Overall, the data show an epigenetic basis to the mechanism underlying Cd toxicity in plants.
Simulated moving bed separation of tocopherol homologues: simulation and experiments

Chromatograms of tocopherol homologues were obtained by a column of analytical size (inner diameter (ID) 0.46 cm cm×10 cm) packed with silica gel. Adsorption isotherms and film mass-transfer coefficient were estimated from the chromatograms by using a general rate model, which considers axial dispersion, external mass-transfer and intraparticle diffusion. Based on the obtained isotherms and mass-transfer coefficient, the separation process of tocopherol homologues on simulated moving bed (SMB) was simulated using the same model. According to the simulated results, a mixture of α-, γ-, δ-tocopherols and other impurities was separated on an SMB equipment. The SMB equipment was composed of 8 columns of ID 2 cm×10 cm, with 2 columns in each section. The solid phase was silica gel, and the mobile phase was n-hexane/2-propanol (99/1 by volume). γ- and δ-tocopherols of purity greater than 98% were obtained with recovery greater than 98%. The effects of operating conditions (flow rates and switching time) on the performance of SMB were studied by both simulation and experiments. It was found that all the simulation results were quite close to the experimental results. We conclude that process development and optimization of operating conditions of SMB by simulation are feasible.