Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Backoff inspired features for maximum entropy language models

Maximum Entropy (MaxEnt) language models [1, 2] are linear models that are typically regularized via well-known L1 or L2 terms in the likelihood objective, hence avoiding the need for the kinds of backoff or mixture weights used in smoothed ngram language models using Katz backoff [3] and similar techniques. Even though backoff cost is not required to regularize the model, we investigate the use of backoff features in MaxEnt models, as well as some backoff-inspired variants. These features are shown to improve model quality substantially, as shown in perplexity and word-error rate reductions, even in very large scale training scenarios of tens or hundreds of billions of words and hundreds of millions of features. Index Terms: maximum entropy modeling, language modeling, n-gram models, linear models
On Why Male Foragers Hunt and Share Food

La premiere partie est consacree a la critique des conclusions de Kristen Hawkes quant au partage des produits de la chasse et au role de l'homme dans les activites d'approvisionnement, de controle des ressources et de prise de decision quant a la redistribution, sa critique du modele reciprocite-altruisme. La deuxieme partie est la reponse de K. Hawkes a ces critiques. Les notions de modele de partage de la nourriture, de redistribution, de controle alimentaire, de vol tolere, de reciprocite, d'altruisme, les roles feminin et masculin, de circulation de la nourriture entre parents et enfants et les benefices sociaux des partages sont etudies en fonction du contexte (ecologique, taille de la tribu et du groupe familial, statut de producteur de nourriture) dans six tribus amerindiennes
Sustained attention can create an (illusory) experience of seeing dynamic change

Recent studies speculated that two types of change detection exist, one involving the experience of seeing dynamic change (change over brief interval), the other involving detecting a completed change (change over long interval), with only the former requiring sustained attention. To examine this supposition, a flicker change detection task was conducted in which the spatial location of objects was manipulated (shift, no-shift). In shift conditions, changed image display appeared in different locations than they did in the original display. The time interval separating images was manipulated (200 or 1000 ms). Results showed that a shift led to poor change detection only in the short interval condition. The performance decline by the image shift was not attenuated even when participants knew beforehand whether or not a shift would occur. Results indicate that sustained attention, which is sustained for a brief time, is related to the experience of seeing dynamic change.
Eliminating a framing bias by using simple instructions to 'think harder' and respondents with managerial experience: comment on breaking the frame.

This paper shows that, in terms of experimental design and ecological validity, the recent study by Hodgkinson et al. (1999) does not ‘indicate that the framing bias is likely to be an important factor in strategic decision making. ’ Nor does it suggest that ‘cognitive mapping provides an effective means of limiting the damage accruing from this bias. ’ We show that the framing bias demonstrated b yHodgkinson et al. can be removed by a simpler ‘think-harder’ manipulation with undergraduate respondents and, further, show that the bias is not present in the decisions of experienced respondents. We also demonstrate that, for experienced respondents, factors such as avoidance of risk and the creation of new strategies also characterize strategic decision making. Such components were not captured by Hodgkinson et al.'s experimental tasks. Copyright © 2002 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
A Multiple Evolutionary Neural Network Classifier Based on Niche Genetic Algorithm

Classification is important in data mining. In this paper, a multiple evolutionary neural network classifier based on niche genetic algorithm (MNC-NG) is presented, which establishes classifiers by a group of three-layer feed-forward neural networks with high accuracy and good diversity. The neural networks are trained by niche genetic algorithm based on clustering. The class label of the identifying data can first be evaluated by each neural network, and the final classification result is obtained according to the dynamic voting rule. Experimental results on 6 data sets show that MNC-NG increases the predictive accuracy by 5.6%, 5.5% and 8.5% respectively compared with BP, GA and LM training methods and by 6.0%, 6.1% and 4.0% compared with Naive Bayesian classifier, C4.5 and SVM.
A Reinforcement Learning-Based Data Storage Scheme for Vehicular Ad Hoc Networks

Vehicular ad hoc networks (VANETs) have been attracting interest for their potential roles in intelligent transport systems (ITS). In order to enable distributed ITS, there is a need to maintain some information in the vehicular networks without the support of any infrastructure such as road side units. In this paper, we propose a protocol that can store the data in VANETs by transferring data to a new carrier (vehicle) before the current data carrier is moving out of a specified region. For the next data carrier node selection, the protocol employs fuzzy logic to evaluate instant reward by taking into account multiple metrics, specifically throughput, vehicle velocity, and bandwidth efficiency. In addition, a reinforcement learning-based algorithm is used to consider the future reward of a decision. For the data collection, the protocol uses a cluster-based forwarding approach to improve the efficiency of wireless resource utilization. We use theoretical analysis and computer simulations to evaluate the proposed protocol.
Mathematical modeling of venous ulcer healing rates after implantation of keratinocytes: New ways to predict the efficacy of wound healing after regenerative methods

The treatment of patients with leg ulcers is both time consuming as well as costly. We found predictable and objective parameters with a mathematical model, which will help to assess wound healing in an individual. The basic principle of our mathematic model is that cells of the neoepithelium are under the influence of different stress factors. We identified correlations between the parameters of our equation and the ulcer area and ulcer duration, based on wound size reduction by a new epithelial layer, and we estimated the survival rates of the transplanted keratinocytes. Our model is consistent with our clinical data and seems applicable for analogous situations, e.g., transplantations of cells to wounds. By this method, we are able to compare qualitatively different treatments and different materials for wound healing even in small groups of patients in an objective way.
Effects of clinical stage and immunological status on semen analysis results in human immunodeficiency virus type 1‐seropositive men

Summary. Complete semen analyses including computer‐assisted sperm motility and morphology assessments were performed to determine if semen and sperm differed between HIV‐seropositive men and fertile controls, or differed with symptoms, or CD4+ peripheral cell count categories. Previous studies included small numbers of men and presented conflicting conclusions. Two hundred and fifty non‐vasectomized HIV‐seropositive men and 38 fertile controls each provided one semen sample. Non‐parametric statistics were used to analyse both continuous and nominal data. Fertile men had significantly greater semen volume, sperm concentration, percent motility, percent rapid and linear motility and total strictly normal spermatozoa than HIV seropositive men. Neither total number nor subtypes of leukocytes in semen differed between the two groups. Among the HIV seropositive men, significant differences in semen analyses were found between CD4+ cell count, clinical, and AIDS categories. Lower CD4+ cell counts (<200 mm−3) were associated with significantly lower percent motility, percent normal sperm morphology by strict criteria, significantly more spermatids in semen, and higher percentages of teratozoospermia, oligoasthenoteratozoospermia and leukocytospermia. Healthier men, based on clinical categories, had significantly more normal shaped spermatozoa and fewer had azoospermia, oligoasthenoteratozoospermia or leukocytospermia. Many HIV‐seropositive men have normal semen analyses, but as the disease progresses more defects are found, particularly in strict criteria sperm morphology.
Thymio II, a robot that grows wiser with children

Thymio II is a small robot developed for education. It aims at offering a wide public the possibility to understand the basics of robotics and programming. To achieve this, it aims at being appealing to a large age range and serve as a medium for several types of activities. In this study, we tested it in five different workshops of the EPFL Robotics Festival with various activities. The workshops target different age groups and the participants can control the robot via different means: built-in buttons, graphical programming and text programming. At the end of the activities, participants were asked to fill a short survey to give their impressions about the robot, their appreciation of the tasks and their motivations to take part. We could show through this feedback that Thymio II appeals to young children as much as to teenagers, to both girls and boys, and allows them to have fun and learn new things.
International Findings on the Impact of Terrorism

Summary This article highlights findings on terrorism's impacts in countries outside of the United States. It reviews preceding articles and other published reports, and describes interventions and programs. It introduces the topic of “medically unexplained symptoms” that arise after terrorist attacks to explain some of the wide cultural variation in responses to terrorism. The article concludes with recommendations to expand our understanding of the impacts of terrorism: (a) adopt a broader framework, (b) increase emphases on studies of intervention and program development, and (c) recognize and seek to enhance resilience and the potential for growth in the aftermath of terrorism.
Attachment to Sports Conferences

This study examined points of attachment (POA), or how sports fans experience multiple types of identification beyond team allegiance (e.g., identification with players, coaches, levels of sport, the sport itself, and university/region) at different levels of fandom. More specifically, high school, collegiate (i.e., National Collegiate Athletic Association), and professional (i.e., National Football League) football fans (N = 698) were asked to respond to items that have been associated with six POA in previous studies, as well as items that tested a new point of attachment to conference/division of a fan's favorite team. A confirmatory factor analysis indicated that this revised seven-factor, 21-item points of attachment index demonstrated adequate overall fit. Our findings also indicated that multiple POA differed significantly among high school, collegiate, and professional football fans. Theoretical implications, future research, and limitations are also discussed.
miR-15b and miR-21 as Circulating Biomarkers for Diagnosis of Glioma

Malignant gliomas are lethal primary intracranial tumors. To date, little information on the role of deregulated genes in gliomas have been identified. As the involvement of miRNAs in the carcinogenesis is well known, we carried out a pilot study to identify, as potential biomarkers, differentially expressed microRNAs in blood samples of patients affected by glioma. We studied the miRNAs’ expression, by means of microarray and Real-Time PCR, in 30 blood samples from glioma patients and in 82 blood samples of patients suffering from: (a) various neurological disorders (n=30), (b) primary B-lymphoma of the Central Nervous System (PCNSL, n=36) and (c) secondary brain metastases (n=16). By quantitative real time reverse-transcriptase polymerase chain reaction (qRT-PCR), we identified significantly increased levels of two candidate biomarkers, miR-15b and miR-21, in blood of patients affected by gliomas. ROC analysis of miR-15b biomarker levels allowed to differentiate patients with tumour from patients without glioma. Furthermore, combined expression analyses of miR15b and miR-21 distinguished between patients with and without glioma (90% sensitivity and 100% specificity). In addition, a decrement in the expression levels of miR-16 characterized glioblastomas compared to low grade and anaplastic gliomas. In conclusion, this pilot study suggest that it’s possible to identify the disease state by meaning miR-15b and miR-21 markers in blood, while miR-16 can be used to distinguish glioblastoma from other grade gliomas. They can potentially be used as biomarkers for non-invasive diagnosis of gliomas; further studies are mandatory to confirm our preliminary findings.
THE RHEOLOGY OF WORM-LIKE MICELLAR FLUIDS

This article reviews what has been published on the rheology of worm-like micellar fluids (WLMFs). It is written primarily for those interested in continuum (non-Newtonian fluid) mechanics: it covers the bulk rheological behaviour of typical WLMFs and rheological equations of state (REoS) that reflect this bulk behaviour; it also covers molecular dynamics and Brownian dynamics models that aim to predict observed behaviour. It is concluded that experimental measurements have been restricted to a limited range of flow kinematics only, and so agreement with particular (suitably parametrised) theoretical models for REoS has not been conclusively validated. It also raises the question of whether WLMFs can be treated as “simple fluids” once shear banding and rheological chaos ensue, as have been observed.
Qualitative characteristics, type materialism and the circularity of analytic functionalism

CF, however, is a nonstarter: "A crucial feature of classical functionalism is that it offers no story at all about how a person decides what mental state he is in" (sect. 6, para. 5). CR leaves categorization "a complete mystery. There must be some way a system decides to say (or believe) that it is now in a thirst state rather than a hunger state, that it is hoping for a rainy day rather than expecting a rainy day" (sect. 6, para. 6). I am skeptical that a rejection of Goldman's model of categorization has the disastrous results he thinks it does. Kahneman and Miller (1986), for example, sketch an alternative conception according to which CRs are constructed ad hoc. Such a model is, on the face of it, compatible with CF. I shall not argue that here, however; I will instead focus on two general points. First, consider our commonsense conception of mentality. On that conception, it does indeed appear that, ceteris paribus, being in a given mental state, M, itself involves a capacity to recognize that one is in state M (see Heil 1992, Chapter 5). Your belief that you are (now) in state M appears not (typically) to be based on beliefs about anything else, in particular not on a belief or decision that M satisfies a certain criterion. Suppose you announce that you have a headache or that you believe it will rain. I reply: "How do you know? " In the absence of some special provocation, my question would be regarded as a joke by anyone other than a cognitive scientist with a theory. Second, imagine that you are in state M. According to Goldman, in forming a belief that you are in state M you (or some part of you) must compare M (or an IR of Af) to a stored CR, and decide that you are in state M. "Categorization occurs when a match is effected between (1) a category representation and (2) either (a) a suitable representation of a state or (b) a state itself. Alternative (b) is especially plausible in the case of sensations, because it is easy to suppose that CRs for sensations are simply memory "traces' of those sensations, which are easily activated by reoccurrences of these same (or similar) sensations" (sect. 5, para. 10). This is the model aimed at avoiding the mysterymongering inherent in CF. How does it work? You go into M. This activates a trace of some past M-like state. The state and the trace are compared and a verdict is issued. But what is the trace contributing? What enables you to decide that the trace is an M-type trace? Or is this another "complete mystery"? An obvious line of response here is to appeal to unmentioned causal features of the mechanism: When an M-type trace is activated, you are caused to believe that it is an M-type trace. But if Goldman is allowed this maneuver, he is in no position to question its use by his opponents.
Clinical pharmacokinetics and pharmacodynamics of anticancer agents in pediatric patients (review).

The pharmacokinetics of several important anticancer agents used in pediatric oncology are reviewed. Many of the anticancer agents described showed age-dependent pharmacokinetics, the disposition in children being different compared to the adult pharmacokinetics. These age-dependent pharmacokinetics imply that it is inappropriate to extrapolate pharmacokinetic data from studies in adult patients. Interpatient pharmacokinetic variability in pediatric patients was large, and of a greater magnitude compared to the variability observed in adult patients. This variability in pharmacokinetics resulted in similar large variability in systemic exposure after administration of standardized doses (e.g. the maximum tolerated dose) of these anticancer agents. The variability of some of these agents is correlated with their clinical effects (either tumor response or toxicity). It is possible, using these anticancer agents, to monitor pediatric patients, identifying those patients at risk of severe toxicity (high systemic exposure) or those patients who may not benefit from treatment (Low systemic exposure). These pharmacodynamic relationships are described in this paper, since such correlations may contribute to further optimization of chemotherapy in pediatric patients.
Implications of childhood sexual abuse for adult borderline personality disorder and complex posttraumatic stress disorder.

OBJECTIVE This study examined whether women with a history of early-onset sexual abuse or those with late-onset sexual abuse were more likely to meet diagnostic criteria for both borderline personality disorder and complex posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). METHOD The Revised Diagnostic Interview for Borderlines and the Trauma Assessment Package were administered to 65 women from three outpatient clinics in a metropolitan area. Thirty-eight subjects met criteria for early-onset abuse, while 27 subjects met criteria for late-onset abuse. RESULTS The diagnoses of both borderline personality disorder and complex PTSD were significantly higher in women reporting early-onset abuse than in those with late-onset abuse. The trauma variables sexual abuse and paternal incest were significant predictors of both diagnoses. CONCLUSIONS In contrast to those with comorbid diagnoses, some women with a history of childhood sexual abuse may be extricated from the diagnosis of borderline personality disorder and subsumed under that of complex PTSD.
Watermark template attack

This paper presents a new attack, called the watermark template attach, for watermarked images. In contrast to the Stirmark benchmark, this attack does not severely reduce the quality of the image. This attack maintains, therefore, the commercial value of the watermarked image. In contrast to previous approaches, it is not the aim of the attack to change the statistics of embedded watermarks fooling the detection process but to utilize specific concepts that have been recently developed for more robust watermarking schemes. The attack estimates the corresponding template points in the FFT domain and then removes them using local interpolation. We demonstrate the effectiveness of the attack showing different test cases that have been watermarked with commercial available watermark products. The approach presented is not limited to the FFT domain. Other transformation domains may be also exploited by very similar variants of the described attack.
The Control of Appetitive Instrumental Responding does not Depend on Classical Conditioning to the Discriminative Stimulus

In Experiment I, rats were exposed to a classical relationship between a clicker-light compound and response-independent food. Conditioning to the light was blocked if the clicker had previously served as a classical signal for food, but not if it had been established as a discriminative stimulus for food-reinforced lever pressing. In Experiment II, a tone-light compound served as a discriminative stimulus for lever pressing. Control by the light was blocked if the tone was independently trained as a discriminative stimulus, but not if it was trained as a classical signal for response-independent food. These results suggest that discriminative stimuli do not come to control appetitive instrumental responding by virtue of their implicit classical relationship to the instrumental reinforcer.
Predictors of Latino men's paternity in teen pregnancy: Test of a mediational model of childhood experiences, gender role attitudes, and behaviors.

In addressing teen pregnancy, researchers have given scant attention either to the male partners or to psychological variables that might affect incidence rates. This study examined the contribution of developmental and psychosocial factors to the number of teen pregnancies for which young Latino men had been responsible. Data from a community sample of 307 Latino men were used to test a mediated model that incorporated 5 classes of variables: (a) developmental, family-of-origin variables, including indicators of quality of childhood experience; (b) gender-related attitudes and emotionality, including masculine ideology and alexithymia; (c) dating characteristics; (d) sexual behavior; and (e) the number of teen pregnancies for which a Latino man had been responsible. Results indicated that men's involvement in teen pregnancy was mediated not only by sexual activity, but that it was also affected by both developmental factors and gender-related attitudes and emotionality. Implications for teen pregnancy prevention, intervention, and research are discussed.
Eb‐virus associated serology in malignant disease: antibody levels to viral capsid antigens (vca), membrane antigens (ma) and early antigens (ea) in patients with various neoplastic conditions

Two hundred and forty‐nine sera derived from African donors suffering from a variety of malignant diseases were examined for EBV‐related antibody levels. When divided into three major subgroups (lymphoproliferative tumours, carcinoma and sarcoma) none of the mean titres approached the high anti‐VCA, anti‐MA or anti‐EA levels characteristic for Burkitt's lymphoma (BL) or nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC). On breaking down the material further into specific diagnostic or pathological subgroups, similar low mean values were found, except for small groups of plasma cell tumours and carcinomas of the palate (with high anti‐VCA and anti‐MA) and osteogenic sarcoma (with moderately high anti‐MA). The data do not support a regular association of high anti‐EBV titres with malignant disease in general and thus reaffirm the special position of BL and NPC in this respect.
Help-Seeking Patterns of Chinese Parents in Hong Kong

Help-seeking attitude, knowledge and behaviour of 751 Chinese parents were examined. Roughly 20% of the parents negatively viewed help-seeking and 56.6% of them seldom sought help when needed. Most of them had weak understanding of family services and they rarely participated in family-life education programmes. The interrelationships between help-seeking attitude, knowledge and behaviour were not strong.