Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
An affect-aware dialogue system for counseling

Emotions play a key role in human-human communication. Because of our emotional understanding, we communicate empathic cues to others that act as foundations for building relationships and gaining trust. This is especially important in the healthcare domain, where empathy has been linked to improved doctor-patient relationships and stronger therapeutic bonds. However, as we move towards developing automated healthcare solutions, this rich channel of information can be lost. To address this lack of emotional understanding by computational interfaces, researchers have developed techniques to detect and respond to the user’s emotional state in real time. While research in emotion detection has achieved positive outcomes, the question of how automated systems could effectively use this information for empathic communication remains largely unanswered. Simple techniques such as mirroring back a user’s emotions have been shown to be unsuccessful, and almost none of this work being done in the healthcare domain. In this dissertation, I present a novel approach that allows computers to automatically adapt and respond to a user’s emotional state. Informed by an analysis of empathic communication in the context of human-human counseling, I develop a theoretical framework that integrates empathy into automated healthcare systems. I demonstrate how this framework can be applied to develop an automated depression counseling system, and evaluate its efficacy in a series of evaluation studies. In a longitudinal evaluation study with 36 participants, I compare an affect-aware version of the system against a conventional counseling system. Results show that participants received improved therapeutic care and had higher levels of system engagement using the affectaware version.
The Key Role of Parents-Teachers Relationship and its Effects on Teachers’ Self-Efficacy

Being a teacher means not only to perform specific teaching tasks. Current school context characteristics require capabilities to handle different situations and relationships. Hence, communication and flow of information among involved informants become prior and worthy of attention. Integrated information of students’ parents and colleagues could facilitate teachers’ work. Existing research has found that parents-teachers active communication is a fundamental component to a child’s quality education [1], [2]. Up to date literature already recognized the importance of communication among teachers and children’s parents, but little has been done in relation with colleagues’ communication. This study aimed to explore the relationship between teachers’ communication with parents, teachers’ communication with colleagues and teachers' perceived general self-efficacy [3], [4]. Several researches showed positive effects of self-efficacy such as teacher’s well-being, good professional practices, and positive students’ outcomes [5]. Our focus was to analyze teachers effectiveness in dealing with complex situations. Participants: 562 teachers working in North-East Italy primary school, lower secondary school and upper secondary school. They completed an on-line questionnaire using a 7-point Likert scale including: i) measures related to how teachers perceived their students’ parents: features of the shared language between parents and teachers, relationship/collaboration, and two dimensions of mind's state perception [6]; ii) measures related to relationship among teachers: self-efficacy in verbal communication, trust and respect. Data were analyzed with SPSS.18 using descriptive and inferential statistics. The analysis of the data indicated that teachers communicated easily with parents (Average = 5.28; SD = 1.36), they established a good relationship with them (Average = 5.07; SD = 1.25) and they attributed Agency (Average = 4.38; SD = 1.05) and Experience (Average = 4.33; SD = 1.13) equally. Teachers’ level of self-efficacy in communication with colleagues was high (Average = 5.41; SD = 0.69); they share goals and interventions (Average = 5.91; SD = 1.00) and they have high level of confidence in their colleagues (Average = 5.30; SD = 1.17). General self-efficacy correlated positively with self-efficacy in communication with colleagues (r = ,580, p < .001), ability to establish a good relationship with parents (r = .360, p < .001), Agency (r = .280, p < .001) and Experience attribution to children's parents (r = .157, p < .005), perceived respect (r = .390, p <.001) and trust in colleagues (r = .365, p < .001). Our findings are aligned with literature: a good communication between teachers and children's parents as also trust among teachers increase teachers' perceived general self-efficacy.
Citizen science as a framework for secondary science teacher preparation

Science teacher preparation courses provide a foundation for many future science educators in educational theory and practice. This dissertation focuses on one pre-service science teacher education course which used citizen science as the pedagogical framework for instruction. Citizen science promotes the intersection between science, society, ecology, and students by allowing for knowledge acquisition to occur while participating in environmental and social action. Emphasizing citizen science as a pedagogical framework allowed the instructor to address ecojustice philosophy, reasoning that promotes the inherent connection between social and environmental justice, by encouraging knowledge and awareness of physical, spiritual, and emotional connections between humans and their environment. This research presents a detailed account of how the course was designed, why the focus was on citizen science pedagogy, and what issues unfolded over the semester. Hermeneutic ethnography was utilized as the methodological framework that allowed for action to be processed and meaning ascribed, with the awareness that the researcher played a large role in making sense of what was important. Extensive time spent as a participant observer, multiple interviews, selfreflection, and artifact analysis supported the use of thick descriptions and promoted hermeneutics as a theory of understanding. Findings from this research concentrate on three primary tensions. The first tension furthers the discussion of embodied learning, including the value participants placed on being in and a part of the process behind learning to teach science. A second tension addresses the structure of science teacher education as a theory to practice or practice to theory approach; participants faced challenges when both approaches were presented with equal emphasis, but a seemingly greater value ascribed to one. The final tension suggests developing intellectual communities of dialogue as especially valuable in helping participants understand how the course unfolded, the significance of its structure, and how their personal teaching philosophy developed. INDEX WORDS: Preservice science teacher education; secondary science teacher preparation; methods; instructional practice; course structure; citizen science; ecojustice; embodied learning; theory and practice; hermeneutic ethnography CITIZEN SCIENCE AS A FRAMEWORK FOR SECONDARY SCIENCE TEACHER PREPARATION: A HERMENEUTIC ETHNOGRAPHY
Neutrinos as the source of ultrahigh energy cosmic rays in extra dimensions

If the neutrinos are to be identified with the primary source of ultra-high energy cosmic rays(UHECR), their interaction on relic neutrinos is of great importance in understanding their long intergalactic journey. In theories with large compact dimensions, the exchange of a tower of massive spin-2 gravitons (Kaluza-Klein excitations) gives extra contribution to $\nu\bar{\nu} \longrightarrow f\bar{f}$ and $\gamma\gamma$ processes along with the opening of a new channel for the neutrinos to annihilate with the relic cosmic neutrino background $\nu\bar{\nu} \longrightarrow G_{kk}$ to produce bulk gravitons in the extra dimensions. This will affect their attenuation. We compute the contribution of these Kaluza-Klein excitations to the above processes and find that for parameters of the theory constrained by supernova cooling, the contribution does indeed become the dominant contribution above $\sqrt{s} \simeq 300$ GeV.
Combining Vocal Source and MFCC Features for Enhanced Speaker Recognition Performance Using GMMs

This work presents seven novel spectral features for speaker recognition. These features are the spectral centroid (SC), spectral bandwidth (SBW), spectral band energy (SBE), spectral crest factor (SCF), spectral flatness measure (SFM), Shannon entropy (SE) and Renyi entropy (RE). The proposed spectral features can quantify some of the characteristics of the vocal source or the excitation component of speech. This is useful for speaker recognition since vocal source information is known to be complementary to the vocal tract transfer function, which is usually obtained using the Mel frequency cepstral coefficients (MFCC) or linear predication cepstral coefficients (LPCC). To evaluate the performance of the spectral features, experiments were performed using a text-independent cohort Gaussian mixture model (GMM) speaker identification system. Based on 623 users from the TIMIT database, the spectral features achieved an identification accuracy of 99.33% when combined with the MFCC based features and when using undistorted speech. This represents a 4.03% improvement over the baseline system trained with only MFCC and DeltaMFCC features.
Persistent visual perceptual disorders after stroke: Associated factors

Introduction Visual perceptual disorders are common after stroke and often affect functional independence. Little is known about biopsychosocial variables related to these disorders. This study aimed to identify which variables best explain the persistence of visual perceptual disorders in seniors with stroke. Method Visual perception of 195 people aged 65 and over with stroke was assessed using the Motor-free Visual Perceptual Test – Vertical version, three weeks after returning home as well as three and six months later. Biopsychosocial and personal variables were also assessed three weeks after returning home. Correlation analyses were followed by bivariate linear regression analyses. Results Seventy participants still had visual perceptual disorders six months later. Many variables measured at the first test were found to be associated with visual perception at the six-month follow-up. Those best explaining the persistence of visual perceptual dysfunctions (R2 = 49.2%) were memory (Wechsler, delayed recall) (p < 0.001), verbal comprehension (Token Test) (p = 0.015), stroke severity (Canadian Neurological Scale) (p = 0.005) and sex (female) (p = 0.02). Conclusion Among many variables, four (memory, verbal comprehension, stroke severity and sex) were most strongly associated with persistent visual perceptual disorders. Other studies are needed to better understand the role of memory and verbal comprehension in visual perceptual disorders after stroke.
Assessment and Certification of Neonatal Incubator Sensors through an Inferential Neural Network

Measurement and diagnostic systems based on electronic sensors have been increasingly essential in the standardization of hospital equipment. The technical standard IEC (International Electrotechnical Commission) 60601-2-19 establishes requirements for neonatal incubators and specifies the calibration procedure and validation tests for such devices using sensors systems. This paper proposes a new procedure based on an inferential neural network to evaluate and calibrate a neonatal incubator. The proposal presents significant advantages over the standard calibration process, i.e., the number of sensors is drastically reduced, and it runs with the incubator under operation. Since the sensors used in the new calibration process are already installed in the commercial incubator, no additional hardware is necessary; and the calibration necessity can be diagnosed in real time without the presence of technical professionals in the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU). Experimental tests involving the aforementioned calibration system are carried out in a commercial incubator in order to validate the proposal.
Can a Spherical Model Substitute for a Realistic Head Model in Forward and Inverse MEG Simulations ?

Although the human head is not a sphere, models using spheres have been employed to simplify forward and inverse magnetoencephalographic (MEG) calculations. We compared the normal component of the magnetic field calculated at 61 detectors and the localization accuracy of 5 different spherical models to the results obtained using the finite element method (FEM) in a realistic head model. The spherical models used were an analytic equation for a single homogeneous sphere; a FEM single homogeneous sphere; concentric FEM spheres with skin, skull, and brain conductivity layers; concentric FEM spheres with skin, skull, CSF, gray, and white matter conductivity layers; and an overlapping sphere head model. No spherical model proved to be consistently the most accurate in determining forward magnetic field values or in localizing the 5 different dipoles used. Forward and inverse results for the spherical models tended to correspond more closely with the realistic model results for dipoles located near the surface of the head than for those deep inside the head. Large discrepancies in calculated magnetic field values and localization errors for some dipoles, however, limit at least these 5 spherical models as substitutes for the realistic head model in forward and inverse MEG calculations.
Cytokine Effector Functions in Tissues

Ahmadzai, H; Allen, K; Asma, A; Ellissa Baskind, N; Bernuzzi, F; Cummings, M; Datta, P; De Paepe, B; Dubovy, P; Field, SL; Ganss, R; Herbert, C; Hill, GR; Invernizzi, P; Kumar, RK; Kyurkchiev, D; Lacy, P; Mari´n-Delgado, C; Markey, KA; Marti´n-Izquierdo, E; Mohit, K; Moss, JWE; Mousa, HS; Navarro-Gonza´lez, JF; Orsi, NM; Pal, B; Ramji, DP; Rivero-Gonza´lez, A; Rodri´guez-Mun˜oz, A; Sharma, A; Thomas, PS; Wolowczuk, I
Auctions and shareholdings

This paper examines how shareholdings affect auctions' revenue and efficiency with independent private values. Two types of shareholdings are analyzed: Vertical (resp: horizontal) toeholds cover situations in which bidders own a fraction of the seller's profit (resp: a share of their competitor's profit). Expected revenue is an increasing (resp: decreasing) function of vertical (resp: horizontal) toeholds. With both types of toeholds, auction formats are not revenue equivalent. Expected revenue is affected to a greater extent by the presence of toeholds in the second price auction than in the first-price auction.
Content attribution ignoring content

Can we tell the author of a message, without reading the message? This work tackles authorship analysis through features that ignore the explicit content of a contribution -- informally, those that can be computed even if every character in the body of a message (but not metadata such as timing or "likes") is replaced by an X. Focusing on forum posts, we distil a case-study set of these content-agnostic features, and prove its viability for authorship verification and attribution, using data from four online forums (of different size, language, and topic). A simple classification testbed, relying exclusively on content-agnostic features, confirms the author of a message with 76% accuracy, and discriminates between two candidate authors with 94% accuracy. Being able to re-identify a user without looking at the content of her contributions poses a serious threat to common data anonymization practices.
Long-Term Post-Stroke Changes Include Myelin Loss, Specific Deficits in Sensory and Motor Behaviors and Complex Cognitive Impairment Detected Using Active Place Avoidance

Persistent neurobehavioral deficits and brain changes need validation for brain restoration. Two hours middle cerebral artery occlusion (tMCAO) or sham surgery was performed in male Sprague-Dawley rats. Neurobehavioral and cognitive deficits were measured over 10 weeks included: (1) sensory, motor, beam balance, reflex/abnormal responses, hindlimb placement, forepaw foot fault and cylinder placement tests, and (2) complex active place avoidance learning (APA) and simple passive avoidance retention (PA). Electroretinogram (ERG), hemispheric loss (infarction), hippocampus CA1 neuronal loss and myelin (Luxol Fast Blue) staining in several fiber tracts were also measured. In comparison to Sham surgery, tMCAO surgery produced significant deficits in all behavioral tests except reflex/abnormal responses. Acute, short lived deficits following tMCAO were observed for forelimb foot fault and forelimb cylinder placement. Persistent, sustained deficits for the whole 10 weeks were exhibited for motor (p<0.001), sensory (p<0.001), beam balance performance (p<0.01) and hindlimb placement behavior (p<0.01). tMCAO produced much greater and prolonged cognitive deficits in APA learning (maximum on last trial of 604±83% change, p<0.05) but only a small, comparative effect on PA retention. Hemispheric loss/atrophy was measured 10 weeks after tMCAO and cross-validated by two methods (e.g., almost identical % ischemic hemispheric loss of 33.4±3.5% for H&E and of 34.2±3.5% for TTC staining). No visual dysfunction by ERG and no hippocampus neuronal loss were detected after tMCAO. Fiber tract damage measured by Luxol Fast Blue myelin staining intensity was significant (p<0.01) in the external capsule and striatum but not in corpus callosum and anterior commissure. In summary, persistent neurobehavioral deficits were validated as important endpoints for stroke restorative research in the future. Fiber myelin loss appears to contribute to these long term behavioral dysfunctions and can be important for cognitive behavioral control necessary for complex APA learning.
rAAV Vectors as Safe and Efficient Tools for the Stable Delivery of Genes to Primary Human Chondrosarcoma Cells In Vitro and In Situ

Treatment of chondrosarcoma remains a major challenge in orthopaedic oncology. Gene transfer strategies based on recombinant adenoassociated viral (rAAV) vectors may provide powerful tools to develop new, efficient therapeutic options against these tumors. In the present study, we tested the hypothesis that rAAV is adapted for a stable and safe delivery of foreign sequences in human chondrosarcoma tissue by transducing primary human chondrosarcoma cells in vitro and in situ with different reporter genes (E. coli lacZ, firefly luc, Discosoma sp. RFP). The effects of rAAV administration upon cell survival and metabolic activities were also evaluated to monitor possibly detrimental effects of the gene transfer method. Remarkably, we provide evidence that efficient and prolonged expression of transgene sequences via rAAV can be safely achieved in all the systems investigated, demonstrating the potential of the approach of direct application of therapeutic gene vectors as a means to treat chondrosarcoma.
A high performance computing for AOM stock trading order matching using GPU

The task of trading orders matching in financial markets is a very challenging task since due to the speed of arriving request. In this paper, the GPUs technology and CUDA programming is explored as a potential technology to accelerate this task. The trading method in Automatic Order Matching (AOM) of Stock Exchange of Thailand (SET) is used as a case study. The code is developed and parallelized using GPU technology to speeding up the. The experimental results indicated that GPU can increase the performance for this process. In addition, the speedup of the work increases with the data size. Thus, the use of GPU can be substantially important when there is a need to handle massive data at a very high speed.
Presentation Framework – an Environment for Editing Metamodels

The growing complexity of the software systems made the model-based application development one of the most focused research fields. General purpose modeling languages, like UML are not always flexible enough to express domain specific features. Domain Specific Modeling Languages (DSMLs) are defined to model the special features, and the rules of these domains. One way to define DSMLS is metamodeling. Metamodeling techniques facilitate creating domain-specific modeling environment in an efficient and simple way. Although metamodeling techniques are capable of expressing the domain-specific constraint of visual languages, the presentation still cannot follow this flexibility. Editing frameworks are required that support customization with minimal programming effort. The Visual Modeling and Transformation System (VMTS) is a metamodeling environment that offers graphical metamodel editing features using the VMTS Presentation Framework (VPF). The goal of this paper is to present the metamodeling environment based on VPF with all of their metamodel specific features and compare the capabilities of VPF with other metamodeling environments.
Adaptation du modèle SCOR pour la spécificité des PMEs Marocaines : Etude de cas

L'evaluation d'une chaine logistique est une des priorites majeures des entreprises, une tâche qui demeure difficile etant donnee la complexite de ces systemes [1]. Cette evaluation passe par une selection des indicateurs de mesure de la performance appropries a la gestion de cette chaine. Il est alors necessaire d'avoir une demarche structuree et des outils methodologiques adequats [2]. Dans ce contexte, on propose dans ce papier une methode pratique qui permettra, dans un premier lieu de modeliser une chaine logistique marocaine selon le modele SCOR (Supply Chain Operations Reference), propose par le Supply Chain Council. Elle permettra ensuite d'identifier les indicateurs appropries a chaque niveau pour l'evaluation de la performance selon la vision strategique fixee. Dans ce cadre, s'inscrit notre problematique de recherche qui s'interesse a la contribution de la modelisation d'entreprise a l'amelioration de la performance logistique. Il s'agit d'une question qu'on peut formuler et representer comme suite : Comment peut-on adapter le modele SCOR pour evaluer et ameliorer la performance logistique des PMEs marocaines ? Cette etude s'appuie sur un cas d'application dans une PME du secteur automobile marocain.
Using JIRA and Redmine in requirement development for agile methodology

Today, Agile development has become popular due to the ability to deliver fast and hence reduce cost. It is expected that by 2012, Agile development method will be utilized in 80% of all software development projects. Since 2010, some of software projects in MIMOS have adopted agile methodology. Therefore, this paper will focus on how agile methodology applied in MIMOS has influenced the requirement process. The paper will discuss on the benefits and challenges that MIMOS faced using JIRA and Redmine in requirement development.
Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR) – Schritt für Schritt

Hase M. Fokussierung von Erinnerungsmaterial und Anwendung bilateraler Stimulation kennzeichnen die Arbeit mit EMDR, wobei die Bearbeitung dysfunktionaler Erinnerung eine zentrale Position einnimmt. Ziel ist die Nachverarbeitung nicht ausreichend verarbeiteter Erinnerung. Die Behandlung ist damit primär problemfokussiert, aber auch durch Integration bestimmter Techniken ressourcenaktivierend und durch die im Prozess der Verarbeitung oftmals entstehende Einsicht auch motivational klärend.