Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Learning visual cues of interaction for humanoid robots

One of the fundamental skills supporting safe and comfortable interaction between humans is their capability to understand intuitively each other’s actions and intentions. At the basis of this ability is a special-purpose visual processing that human brain has developed to comprehend human motion. Among the first “building blocks” enabling the bootstrapping of such visual processing is the ability to detect movements performed by biological agents in the scene, a skill mastered by human babies in the first days of their life. After, they refine the ability to understand actions until they get to the point of being able to interact in a correct way. In this thesis we present computational models based on the assumption that such visual abilities must be based on local low-level visual motion features which are independent of shape, such as the configuration of the body, and perspective. We first design a computational model to detect biological motion in the scene and we implement it on the humanoid robot iCub, embedding it into a software architecture that leverages the regularities of biological motion also to control robot attention and oculo-motor behaviors. In essence, we put forth a model in which the regularities of biological motion link perception and action enabling a robotic agent to follow a human-inspired sensory-motor behavior. We then take a step forward towards action understanding, by building a system that can segment actions into motion primitives and use them to individuate similarities among different actions and among different visual perspectives. As a result we propose a computational model of the perceptual primitives supporting infants’ social skills development, designed to be implemented on a robotic platform in order to facilitate mutual understanding, safety and goal prediction during human-robot interaction.
EVALUATION OF FOUR CHEMICAL INSECTICIDES REGISTERED FOR CONTROL OF THE DOUGLAS-FIR CONE GALL MIDGE, CONTARINIA OREGONENSIS (DIPTERA: CECIDOMYIIDAE), AND THE DOUGLAS-FIR SEED CHALCID, MEGASTIGMUS SPERMOTROPHUS (HYMENOPTERA: TORYMIDAE), IN DOUGLAS-FIR SEED ORCHARDS

Abstract Oxydemeton-methyl, azinphosmethyl, dimethoate, and acephate were evaluated in Douglas-fir seed orchards for control of Douglas-fir cone gall midge, Contarinia oregonensis Foote, and Douglas-fir seed chalcid, Megastigmus spermotrophus Wachtl. Results varied with infestation levels and specific chemicals. There was no significant reduction of infestation levels of either insect with the application of acephate. Oxydemeton-methyl injections, oxydemeton-methyl spray, and dimethoate significantly reduced cone gall midge damage. All four chemicals were ineffective against the seed chalcid for infestations of less than 10% of extractable seed. Oxydemeton-methyl injections, azinphosmethyl, and dimethoate significantly reduced the incidence of seed chalcid when the infestation was high (61%). There was no statistically significant difference (α = 0.05) for pairwise comparisons between chemicals which significantly reduced the infestation levels of either insect. Résumé On a testé l’oxydéméton-méthyle, l’azinphosméthyle, le diméthoate et l’acéphate dans des plantations de semence du sapin Douglas, contre la cécidomie des cônes du Douglas, Contarinia oregonensis Foote, et le chalcis du Douglas, Megastigmus spermotrophus Wachtl. Les résultats ont varié selon les niveaux d’infestation et les produits utilisés. Aucune réduction significative des niveaux d’infestation de l’un ou l’autre nuisible n’a été observée avec l’acéphate. Des injections d’oxydéméton-méthyle, un arrosage à l’oxydéméton-méthyle, et le diméthoate ont réduit significativement les dommages causés par la cécidomie des cônes du Douglas. Les quatre produits se sont avérés inefficaces contre le chalcis aux niveaux d’infestation inférieurs à 10% des graines extractibles. Des injections d’oxydéméton-méthyle, l’azinphosméthyle et le diméthoate ont réduit significativement l’incidence du chalcis lorsque l’infestation était sévère (61%). On n’a pas observé de différence significative (α = 0.05) entre les produits qui ont réduit significative ment les infestations de l’un ou l’autre insecte, sur la base de comparaisons pairées.
Does Reciprocity Affect Information Production? Evidence from Syndication Relationships in Securiti es Underwriting

Reciprocity is a subtle but influential element in maintaining relationships in business dealings. However, empirical research on the effects of recip ro ity is scarce due to the challenge of data availability. In this paper, we fill the gap by exa mining the stock recommendations issued by “dependent” analysts affiliated with securities und erwriters who rely on other major underwriters’ invitations to be in syndicates. We f ind that dependent analysts delay releasing negative information of other major underwriters’ c lients, despite the fact that these dependent analysts’ affiliated underwriters do not received f es from those clients. We also document temporary retaliation by major underwriters when de pendent analysts deviate from such expected reciprocity. JEL classification: D74; D82; D85; G24; G28; K22
The role of moist-chilling and thermo-priming on the germination characteristics of white spruce (Picea glauca) seed

The individual and combined effect of moist-chilling and thermo-priming on germination parameters (capacity, speed, lag and dormancy index) were evaluated using seed lots representing British Columbia's five white spruce (Picea glauca) seed planning zones. The combined effect of moist-chilling followed by a 3-day priming at 15 or 20°C, stimulated seed germination across all seed lots. These combined treatments resulted in substantial improvement of all germination parameters including reducing the dormancy index (14 vs. 25). Generally, three days of priming at 20°C yielded a higher percent germination than priming for the same period at 15°C, irrespective of whether or not seeds had received a previous moist-chilling treatment. Thermo-priming alone led to some improvement in germination characteristics such as reducing the time to germination onset (lag) and increasing germination speed. These results indicate that the combined application of moist-chilling and thermo-priming could improve container nursery practices for commercial seedling production of white spruce. The positive combined effect of moist-chilling and thermo-priming on seed germination offer great potential for generalised application to other conifers; however, species-specific treatment adjustment is required.
Application and Treatment Mechanism of Storytelling in Sandplay Therapy

Sandplay therapy, named Sandspiel therapy, gradually became an effective psychological therapy, it plays a pivotal role in psychological counseling. This review summarized the cure factors for individual treatment in the Sandplay therapy, based on the treatment hypothesis proposed by Kalff and Zhang Risheng’s proposal including the relationship of consultant and client, self-healing power, general unconscious images, symbolic meaning of toys and the usage of sand and water, in sandplay in the case of the treatment. Meanwhile, this paper also complemented the effects of sandplay storytelling therapy on individual psychological development and healing in perspective of post modernism psychotherapy. In addition, to show the positive role of individual cognitive restructuring during treatment, this review innovatively introduced storytelling pattern into treatment hypothesis of sandplay therapy, which will enrich the theoretical basis of the sandplay therapy and also improve the application value of sandplay therapy in clinical practice.
To Integrate Heterogeneous devices to provide Astroinformatics Data

- The domain of astronomy is now explored by armatures, hobbyist and professionals alike. One of the requirement is to view, analyses and compute astroinformatic parameters is to access data from device such as smart photos, computing tabs or books. The work implemented here and the outcomes of the performance of the mobile and android TV app shows that rendering of the large size astroinformatics data is not much a issues. The 472 second performance profile recorded shows that the loading time for all these five files is around 307.4 milliseconds and rendering time 1700 milliseconds. Which means that for each fits file the average loading time is about 60 milliseconds and 340 milliseconds is the rendering time. The scripting tasks took maximum time (average 12960 milliseconds) for all files to be processed on the client side. It should be noted that the series of function calls on the Astro Server Engine does not reveal much difference in the performance of the API while rendering on android TV or android device.
Fluorescence imaging of tumour hypoxia in xenograft tumour models

Hypoxic cells in solid tumours are known to resist radiotherapy as well as forms of chemotherapy. Hypoxia is also believed to promote tumour aggressiveness and metastasis. It is therefore important to develop a practical method to identify hypoxic tumour cells in order to assess which patients could benefit from hypoxic cell-targeted therapies. The goal of this study was to develop an immunohistochemical approach to the detection of hypoxia in xenograft models that may be applied to clinical samples. The hypotheses to be tested were that areas of chronic or transient hypoxia could be distinguished based on specific patterns of hypoxia markers, and that HEF-la could be comparable as a hypoxia marker to pimonidazole. The objectives were: 1) to characterise the kinetics of development under anoxia and loss upon reoxygenation of the exogenous hypoxia marker pimonidazole and the endogenous hypoxia marker HIF-la, 2) to use quantitative fluorescence image analysis to compare patterns of pimonidazole binding and HIF-la expression in WiDr, SiHa and M006 human tumour xenografts, and to measure marker response under various oxygenbreathing conditions, and 3) to compare hypoxia marker patterns in xenograft tumours with patterns observed in cervical cancer
Participatory Designs and Epistemic Authority in Knowledge Platforms for Sustainability

Expert organizations increasingly adopt participatory strategies to strengthen their knowledge claims. We introduce the notion of knowledge platforms for sustainability to conceptualize expert organizations that not only rhetorically embrace but also actively attempt to institutionalize the norm of stakeholder participation in seeking authority in sustainability governance. In doing so, they encounter a tension between the ambition of stakeholder participation and conventional foundations of epistemic authority, such as scientific autonomy and consensus. Taking this tension as a starting point, we utilize a dynamic perspective on epistemic authority to investigate the contestations over institutional designs. We compare the institutionalization of participation in two knowledge platforms for sustainability—the Intergovernmental Platform for Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services, and the research platform Future Earth: Research for Global Sustainability. Our comparison reveals that institutional designs for participation open up the process of knowledge creation and evaluation. Yet, in seeking epistemic authority, knowledge platforms also reinforce existing power structures by redrawing boundaries that protect scientific autonomy and privilege relationships with elite actors.
Source Rock Characterization of Silurian Tanezzuft and Devonian Awaynat Wanin Formations the Northern Edge of the Murzuq Basin, South West Libya

Drill cutting samples (n = 92) from the Devonian Awaynat Wanin Formation and Silurian Tanezzuft Formation, sampled from three wells F1, G1 and H1, locate in the northern edge of the Murzuq basin (approximately 700 kilometers south of Tripoli). The studied samples were analyzed in the objective of their organic geochemical assessment such as the type of organic matter, depositional conditions and thermal maturity level. A bulk geochemical parameters and precise biomarkers were estimated, using chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS) to reveal a diversity of their geochemical characterizations. The rock formations are having varied organic matter contents, ranged from fair to excellent. The total organic carbon (TOC) reached about 9.1 wt%, ranging from 0.6 to 2.93 wt% (Awaynat Wanin), 0.5 to 2.54 wt% (Tanezzuft) and 0.52 to 9.1 wt% (Hot Shale). The cutting samples are ranged oil-prone organic matter (OM) of hydrogen index (HI) ranged between 98 –396 mg HC/g TOC, related kerogen types are type II and II/III, with oxygen index (OI): 6 - 190 with one sample have value of 366 mg CO2/g. Thermal maturity of these source rocks is different, ranging from immature to mature and oil window in the most of Tanezzuft Formation and Hot Shale samples, as reflected from the production index data (PI: 0.08 - 034). Tmax and vitrinite reflectance Ro% data (Tmax: 435 – 454 & Ro%: 0.46 - 1.38) for the Awaynat Wanin. Biomarker ratios of specific hydrocarbons extracted from represented samples (n = 9), were moreover used to study thermal maturity level and depositional environments. Pristine/Phytane (Pr/Ph) ratios of 1.65 - 2.23 indicated anoxic to suboxic conditions of depositional marine shale and lacustrine source rock.
Nursing Satisfaction with the Electronic Medical Record: Implementing Meaningful Change at Seattle Children's Hospital

3 Background . 4 Purpose . 5 Review of Literature . 6 Synthesis . 15 Critique . 16 Conceptual Framework . 16 Methodology . 17 Results / Outcomes . 21 Discussion . 26 Recommendations . 29 References . 31 Appendix . 35 Appendix A . 35 Appendix B . 36 Appendix C . 38 3 NURSING SATISFACTION WITH THE EMR
ON THE REPRESENTATION OF DROPLET COALESCENCE AND AUTOCONVERSION FOR REALISTIC CLOUD SIZE DISTRIBUTIONS

W. C. Hsieh, H. Jonsson, G. Buzorius, R. C. Flagan , J. H. Seinfeld , and A. Nenes 6 1 Earth and Atmospheric Sciences, Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, GA CIRPAS, Naval Postgraduate School, Monterey, CA Meteorology, Naval Postgraduate School, Monterey, CA Environmental Science and Engineering, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA 5 Chemical Engineering, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, GA
Physical and chemical properties of aerosol particles and cloud residuals on Mt. Åreskutan in Central Sweden during summer 2014

Abstract The size distribution, volatility and hygroscopicity of ambient aerosols and cloud residuals were measured with a differential mobility particle sizer (DMPS) and a volatility–hygroscopicity tandem differential mobility analyser (VHTDMA) coupled to a counterflow virtual impactor (CVI) inlet during the Cloud and Aerosol Experiment at Åre (CAEsAR) campaign at Mt. Åreskutan during summer 2014. The chemical composition of particulate matter (PM) and cloud water were analysed offline using thermo-optical OC/EC analysis and ion chromatography. The importance of aerosol particle size for cloud droplet activation and subsequent particle scavenging was clearly visible in the measured size distributions. Cloud residuals were shifted towards larger sizes compared to ambient aerosol, and the cloud events were followed by a size distribution dominated by smaller particles. Organics dominated both PM (62% organic mass fraction) and cloud water (63% organic mass fraction) composition. The volatility and hygroscopicity of the ambient aerosols were representative of homogeneous aged aerosol with contributions from biogenic secondary organics, with median volume fraction remaining (VFR) of 0.04–0.05, and median hygroscopicity parameter κ of 0.16–0.24 for 100–300 nm particles. The corresponding VFR and κ for the cloud residuals were 0.03–0.04 and 0.18–0.20. The chemical composition, hygroscopicity and volatility measurements thus showed no major differences between the ambient aerosol particles and cloud residuals. The VFR and κ values predicted based on the chemical composition measurements agreed well with the VHTDMA measurements, indicating the bulk chemical composition to be a reasonable approximation throughout the size distribution. There were indications, however, of some more subtle changes in time scales not achievable by the offline chemical analysis applied here. Further, online observations of aerosol and cloud residual chemical composition are therefore warranted.
An Event Driven Sentiment Detection Method for Correlation Analysis of Bitcoin Market

- Like the stock market, cryptocurrency prices can be affected by world events such as war, trade wars, natural disasters and terrorism. Due to the rapid and large-scale dissemination of Twitter messages, the collective mood associated with cryptocurrency investments is generated by a large number of personal sentiments in the messages. In particular, for cryptocurrency such a sentiment is not only representing the common investment flavor in the market, but also affecting individual investment behavior and, even the entire cryptocurrency marketing performance. Motivated by this, in this work we utilized the collected Twitter big-data in recent years to develop a machine learning approach and algorithm for exploring the dynamics of Bitcoin price. Our goal is to find the correlation between the social sentiments related specific world events and the trends of Bitcoin price fluctuations. Hence, in this work we have established an event-driven Bitcoin investment model and conducted empirical research in a case study to analyze the impact of major global events on bitcoin price volatility.
Fungal Associations with Isoetes Species

The fungal associations present in the roots and corms of four species of Isoetes found in Rajasthan, India, are described. Fungal fruiting bodies and chlamydospores are assigned to the mycorrhizal genus Glomus, and the septate branched intracellular mycelium is assigned to the genus Rhizoctonia of the Deuteromycotina.
Using Digital Textbooks as Knowledge Base to Detect Student Idea Development in Collaborative Discourse

This paper presents a novel framework to monitor idea progression and novelty from learners’ discourse by using digital textbooks as the knowledge base by means of knowledge graphs. A knowledge graph depicts an idea in a tripartite consisting of two concepts and their relations extracted from students’ discourse and digital textbooks. A progressive mapping between the knowledge graphs extracted from the digital textbooks and the ones continuously collected from the students’ discourse can be used to monitor the idea progression and detect idea novelty, which can greatly improve the teachers’ and the students’ awareness of learning outcome.
CONTRAILS AND INDUCED CIRRUS

C loud radiative forcing, the difference between the top-of-atmosphere radiative fluxes for all sky and clear skies, is a straightforward metric to gauge the climate impacts of contrails and contrail cirrus, which constitute a potentially serious long-term environmental issue associated with aviation (Minnis et al. 2004; Wuebbles et al. 2010). The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) Special Report on Aviation and the Global Atmosphere (Penner et al. 1999) reported a best estimate of the global mean contrail radiative forcing of approximately 0.02 W m−2 based on the study of Minnis et al. (1999), albeit a highly uncertain value. Even if the global mean radiative forcing is that small, regional effects may be much larger. Studies of the radiative effects of contrails have made use of various datasets, models, and methods and have examined satellite images of both contrails and contrail clusters. Duda et al. (2001) used satellite data to investigate the evolution of radiative properties of contrail clusters over the United States and suggested that ice crystal shape may exert important effects on contrail radiative forcing. To better estimate the radiative forcings of contrails and contrail cirrus, it is necessary to improve our knowledge about their fundamental optical and radiative properties. This study, based on two subject-specific white papers (Ou and Liou 2008; Yang et al. 2008) for the Aviation Climate Change Research Initiative undertaken by the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration, assesses the present state of knowledge and identifies areas of uncertainty with recommendations for future action. Contrails and contrail cirrus consist mainly of nonspherical ice crystals. The aircraft-generated ice crystal habits (i.e., shapes) may be similar to those in natural cirrus, but their distributions (i.e., the percentage of various habits) may be different from those in natural ice clouds. For example, in situ samples of contrail ice crystals taken at −61°C revealed several ice habits: hexagonal plates (75%), columns (20%), and a few triangular plates (<5%; see Goodman et al. 1998), whereas quite a different habit distribution, inferred from in situ observations, has been reported for natural ice clouds (Baum et al. 2005) that have been assumed to consist of droxtals (100%) for Dmax < 60 μm, where Dmax denotes the maximum dimensions of the ice particles; 3D bullet rosettes (15%), solid columns (50%), and hexagonal plates (35%) for 60 < Dmax< 1000 μm; hollow columns (45%), solid columns (45%), and aggregates (10%) for 1000 < Dmax < 2000 μm; and 3D bullet rosettes (97%) and aggregates (3%) for Dmax > 2000 μm. The nonsphericity of CONTRAILS AND INDUCED CIRRUS Optics and Radiation
Voice Quality Modelling with the Wide-Band Harmonic Sinusoidal Modelling Algorithm

iii List of Figures . ix List of Tables . ix Acronyms . x
MODULAR AND DEMOGRAPHIC ANALYSIS OF PLANT LEAF AREA IN SWARD AND WOODLAND POPULATIONS OF DACTYLIS GLOMERATA AND BROMUS ERECTUS

SUMMARY (1) Dactylis glomerata and Bromus erectus, two perennial grasses, were studied in two contrasted habitats: an open sward where D. glomerata is more frequent, and an adjacent Quercus pubescens woodland where B. erectus is more frequent. (2) A modular demographic analysis of the growth of above-ground plant parts was used as a non-destructive method to follow the seasonal evolution of leaf photosynthetic area and its age structure. (3) The four populations had similar seasonal changes in total photosynthetic area per plant, with two production peaks occurring in autumn and spring. The increase in tiller and leaf numbers occurred before the peaks of total leaf area per plant which resulted from leaf elongation. As the mean temperature of the air decreased, the rate of leaf emergence decreased but the longevity of the leaves increased, resulting in an increased proportion of older age-classes of photosynthetic area in winter. A similar shift towards older age-classes occurred during the summer drought. (4) The tree canopy affected the water status of the plants, as measured by leaf water potential, leading to increased leaf longevity and leaf length during the summer in the woodland compared to the sward. Except during summer, plants of each species had a similar total photosynthetic area in both habitats, but with a different combination of shoot and leaf components: in the woodland, individuals had fewer tillers but a higher photosynthetic area per tiller than in the sward. (5) B. erectus had a larger leaf area per plant than D. glomerata in both habitats from a higher number of tillers per plant, an increased number of leaves per tiller and a larger leaf size. Leaf longevity was longer in B. erectus. The decrease in the rate of leaf emergence in winter was more pronounced for B. erectus than for D. glomerata. (6) The effect of the environment on the size and components of the leaf area was similar for D. glomerata and B. erectus despite the contrasted frequency of the species in open and shady habitats.