Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
EMCC: Enhancement of Motion Chain Code for Arabic Sign Language Recognition

In this paper, an algorithm for Arabic sign language recognition is proposed. The proposed algorithm facilitates the communication between deaf and non-deaf people. A possible way to achieve this goal is to enable computer systems to visually recognize hand gestures from images. In this context, a proposed criterion which is called Enhancement Motion Chain Code (EMCC) that uses Hidden Markov Model (HMM) on word level for Arabic sign language recognition (ArSLR) is introduced. This paper focuses on recognizing Arabic sign language at word level used by the community of deaf people. Experiments on real-world datasets showed that the reliability and suitability of the proposed algorithm for Arabic sign language recognition. The experiment results introduce the gesture recognition error rate for a different sign is 1.2% compared to that of the competitive method.
Would a Rational Lucy Take Off without Assessing the Probability of a Crash Landing

A random life expectancy and a positive relationship between the probability of dying and the degree of addiction are incorporated into a rational addiction model. The Becker-Murphy equality between the addictive commodity's full price and marginal utility is modified by discounting the market price and marginal utility of the addictive commodity by the probability of survival. The individual's negative appreciation of the addictive stock is reinforced by the diminishing survival prospects. The rate of change of the consumption of the addictive commodity is lower than that obtained when the effect of addiction on the probability of dying is ignored.
BURIED BUMPER SYNDROME : A RARE COMPLICATION OF PERCUTANEOUS ENDOSCOPIC GASTROSTOMY

Percutaneous endoscopic gastrostomy (PEG), is thought to be a, relatively safe and effective procedure of providing nutrition to patients with neurologic deficits with irreversible swallowing problems or proximal esophageal pathology. Although considered as a safe method, PEG may be complicated by “buried bumper syndrome”, in which the internal fixation device of PEG (bumper) migrates alongside the tract of the stoma outside the stomach, usually an infrequent and late complication with lethal results. In this article, we report a case of BBS that presented in a 76-year-old female, five months after having a PEG tube placed.
Direct Evidence for Calcineurin Binding to the Exon-7 Loop of the Sodium-Bicarbonate Cotransporter NBCn1

The NaHCO3 cotransporter NBCn1 plays a role in neutralizing intracellular acid loads at the basolateral membrane in cells of the medullary thick ascending limb (mTAL). Calcineurin inhibitors (Cn-Is) are known to both downregulate NBCn1 expression in the distal nephron and cause renal tubular acidosis (RTA), a risk factor for nephrocalcinosis and nephrolithiasis. In this report, we provide a new perspective on concurrent studies of NBCn1 in various tissues by using cell-free binding assays to investigate the interaction of NBCn1 with the calcineurin (Cn) isoform PPP3CA. Surface plasmon resonance (SPR) analyses show that the protein domain Exon 7 (translated from cassette II of NBCn1) binds Cn with an equilibrium dissociation constant (KD) of 30 +/- 15 nm. Linked-reaction tests suggest that the binding involves a conformational change. Nested PCR reactions were used to show that NBCn1-Exon 7 splice variants with alternative N-termini regions are expressed in the kidney, as well as other tissues. Additionally, we discuss NBCn1-Exon 7 implication in acid-base balance and calcium crystallization in the kidney.
A metacognitive illusion in monkeys

Like humans, monkeys can make accurate judgements about their own memory by reporting their confidence during cognitive tasks. Some have suggested that animals use associative learning to make accurate confidence judgements, while others have suggested animals directly access and estimate the strength of their memories. Here we test a third, non-exclusive possibility: perhaps monkeys, like humans, base metacognitive inferences on heuristic cues. Humans are known to use cues like perceptual fluency (e.g. how easy something is to see) when making metacognitive judgements. We tested monkeys using a match-to-sample task in which the perceptual fluency of the stimuli was manipulated. The monkeys made confidence wagers on their accuracy before or after each trial. We found that monkeys' wagers were affected by perceptual fluency even when their accuracy was not. This is novel evidence that animals are susceptible to metacognitive illusions similar to those experienced by humans.
Os Novos Media no Universo Político: Sociedade Civil e Participação Política The New Media in the Political Universe: Civil Society and Political Participation

RESUMO Com este artigo, pretende-se alcancar um contributo esclarecedor do papel dos novos media, na relacao entre a sociedade civil e o universo politico, em Portugal. Se ha quem defenda que a internet fomenta a participacao democratica dos eleitores, outros ha que a veem como potenciadora dos problemas da democracia. O certo e que se assiste a um alargamento da esfera publica, nomeadamente da sua dimensao interacional. A possibilidade de contra poder dos mass self-communication causa dilemas as estruturas da democracia representativa, desembocando na mobilizacao de grupos civis, a margem dos partidos politicos. Qual o comportamento adotado pelos cidadaos internautas, na procura de conteudos politicos? Quais as plataformas da web mais utilizadas para aceder a informacao politica? A informacao politica veiculada na internet e suficiente ou os cidadaos sentem necessidade de consultar os meios de comunicacao tradicionais? Estas constituem algumas das questoes de partida da pesquisa em apreco. Palavras-chave: Internet; Cidadaos; Esfera Publica Global; Novos Media; Participacao Politica.
Distinct Responses of Interleukin-6 and Other Laboratory Parameters to Treatment in a Patient with Polyarteritis Nodosa—A Case Report

The authors describe a patient in whom the serum levels of interleukin-6 (IL-6) and other laboratory parameters were monitored. The IL-6 and C-reac tive protein (CRP) levels, which were extremely high before treatment, declined rapidly with administration of prednisolone. Rheumatoid factor, IgG, and platelets count declined more gradually. Thus, determination of the serum IL-6 level might be useful in diagnosing and monitoring polyarteritis nodosa.
Local Causal and Markov Blanket Induction for Causal Discovery and Feature Selection for Classification Part II: Analysis and Extensions

In part I of this work we introduced and evaluated the Generalized Local Learning (GLL) framework for producing local causal and Markov blanket induction algorithms. In the present second part we analyze the behavior of GLL algorithms and provide extensions to the core methods. Specifically, we investigate the empirical convergence of GLL to the true local neighborhood as a function of sample size. Moreover, we study how predictivity improves with increasing sample size. Then we investigate how sensitive are the algorithms to multiple statistical testing, especially in the presence of many irrelevant features. Next we discuss the role of the algorithm parameters and also show that Markov blanket and causal graph concepts can be used to understand deviations from optimality of state-of-the-art non-causal algorithms. The present paper also introduces the following extensions to the core GLL framework: parallel and distributed versions of GLL algorithms, versions with false discovery rate control, strategies for constructing novel heuristics for specific domains, and divide-and-conquer local-to-global learning (LGL) strategies. We test the generality of the LGL approach by deriving a novel LGL-based algorithm that compares favorably to the state-of-the-art global learning algorithms. In addition, we investigate the use of non-causal feature selection methods to facilitate global learning. Open problems and future research paths related to local and local-to-global causal learning are discussed.
On Computing Connected Components of Line Segments

It is shown that given a set of n line segments, their connected components can be computed in time O(n/sup 4/3/log/sup 3/n). A bound of o(n/sup 4/3/) for this problem would imply a similar bound for detecting, for a given set of n points and n lines, whether some point lies on some of the lines. This problem, known as Hopcroft's problem, is believed to have a lower bound of /spl Omega/(n/sup 4/3/). For the special case when for each segment both endpoints fall inside the same face of the arrangement induced by the set of segments, we give an algorithm that runs in O(nlog/sup 3/n) time. >
Genomic Evolution of Vesicular Stomatitis Virus Strains with Differences in Adaptability

ABSTRACT Virus strains with a history of repeated genetic bottlenecks frequently show a diminished ability to adapt compared to strains that do not have such a history. These differences in adaptability suggest differences in either the rate at which beneficial mutations are produced, the effects of beneficial mutations, or both. We tested these possibilities by subjecting four populations (two controls and two mutants with lower adaptabilities) to multiple replicas of a regimen of positive selection and then determining the fitnesses of the progeny through time and the changes in the consensus, full-length sequences of 56 genomes. We observed that at a given number of passages, the overall fitness gains observed for control populations were larger than fitness gains in mutant populations. However, these changes did not correlate with differences in the numbers of mutations accumulated in the two types of genomes. This result is consistent with beneficial mutations having a lower beneficial effect on mutant strains. Despite the overall fitness differences, some replicas of one mutant strain at passage 50 showed fitness increases similar to those observed for the wild type. We hypothesized that these evolved, high-fitness mutants may have a lower robustness than evolved, high-fitness controls. Robustness is the ability of a virus to avoid phenotypic changes in the face of mutation. We confirmed our hypothesis in mutation-accumulation experiments that showed a normalized fitness loss that was significantly larger in mutant bottlenecked populations than in control populations.
Cardiac Arrhythmias Classification Method Based on MUSIC, Morphological Descriptors, and Neural Network

An electrocardiogram (ECG) beat classification scheme based on multiple signal classification (MUSIC) algorithm, morphological descriptors, and neural networks is proposed for discriminating nine ECG beat types. These are normal, fusion of ventricular and normal, fusion of paced and normal, left bundle branch block, right bundle branch block, premature ventricular concentration, atrial premature contraction, paced beat, and ventricular flutter. ECG signal samples from MIT-BIH arrhythmia database are used to evaluate the scheme. MUSIC algorithm is used to calculate pseudospectrum of ECG signals. The low-frequency samples are picked to have the most valuable heartbeat information. These samples along with two morphological descriptors, which deliver the characteristics and features of all parts of the heart, form an input feature vector. This vector is used for the initial training of a classifier neural network. The neural network is designed to have nine sample outputs which constitute the nine beat types. Two neural network schemes, namely multilayered perceptron (MLP) neural network and a probabilistic neural network (PNN), are employed. The experimental results achieved a promising accuracy of 99.03% for classifying the beat types using MLP neural network. In addition, our scheme recognizes NORMAL class with 100% accuracy and never misclassifies any other classes as NORMAL.
Adaptive Navigation Support in Educational Hypermedia : An Evaluation of the ISIS-Tutor

Adaptive navigation support (ANS) is a new direction of research within the area of adaptive interfaces. The goal of ANS techniques is to help users find an appropriate path in the learning and information space by adapting link presentation to the goals, knowledge, and other characteristics of an individual user. This paper is devoted to evaluation of adaptive navigation support in educational context. We present an educational hypermedia system ISIS-Tutor that applies several ANS technologies -adaptive annotation, adaptive hiding, and direct guidance -and describe a study, which evaluates the first two technologies. The results show that adaptive navigation support is helpful and can reduce user navigation efforts.
Culture of Preimplantation Mouse Embryos Affects Fetal Development and the Expression of Imprinted Genes1

Abstract Culture of preimplantation mammalian embryos and cells can influence their subsequent growth and differentiation. Previously, we reported that culture of mouse embryonic stem cells is associated with deregulation of genomic imprinting and affects the potential for these cells to develop into normal fetuses. The purpose of our current study was to determine whether culture of preimplantation mouse embryos in a chemically defined medium (M16) with or without fetal calf serum (FCS) can affect their subsequent development and imprinted gene expression. Only one third of the blastocysts that had been cultured from two-cell embryos in M16 medium complemented with FCS developed into viable Day 14 fetuses after transfer into recipients. These M16 + FCS fetuses were reduced in weight as compared with controls and M16 fetuses and had decreased expression of the imprinted H19 and insulin-like growth factor 2 genes associated with a gain of DNA methylation at an imprinting control region upstream of H19. They also displayed increased expression of the imprinted gene Grb10. The growth factor receptor binding gene Grb7, in contrast, was strongly reduced in its expression in most of the M16 + FCS fetuses. No alterations were detected for the imprinted gene Mest. Preimplantation culture in the presence of serum can influence the regulation of multiple growth-related imprinted genes, thus leading to aberrant fetal growth and development.
Imitation and Social Learning in Robots, Humans and Animals: Behavioural, Social and Communicative Dimensions

Introduction: The constructive interdisciplinary viewpoint for understanding mechanisms and models of imitation and social learning Kerstin Dautenhahn and Chrystopher L. Nehaniv Part I. Correspondence Problems and Mechanisms: 1. Imitation: thoughts about theories Geoffrey Bird and Cecilia Heyes 2. Nine billion correspondence problems Chrystopher L. Nehaniv 3. Challenges and issues faced in building a framework for conducting research in learning from observation Darrin Bentivegna, Christopher Atkeson and Gordon Cheng Part II. Mirroring and 'Mind-Reading': 4. A neural architecture for imitation and intentional relations Marco Iacoboni, Jonas Kaplan and Stephen Wilson 5. Simulation theory of understanding others: a robotics perspective Yiannis Demiris and Matthew Johnson 6. Mirrors and matchings: imitation from the perspective of mirror-self-recognition and the parietal region's involvement in both Robert W. Mitchell Part III. What to Imitate: 7. The question of 'what to imitate': inferring goals and intentions from demonstrations Malinda Carpenter and Josep Call 8. Learning of gestures by imitation in a humanoid robot Sylvain Calinon and Aude Billard 9. The dynamic emergence of categories through imitation Tony Belpaeme, Bart de Boer and Bart Jansen Part IV. Development and Embodiment: 10. Copying strategies by people with autistic spectrum disorder: why only imitation leads to social cognitive development Justin H. G. Williams 11. A bayesian model of imitation in infants and robots Rajesh P. N. Rao, Aaron P. Shon and Andrew N. Meltzoff 12. Solving the correspondence problem in robotic imitation across embodiments: synchrony, perception and culture in artefacts Aris Alissandrakis, Chrystopher L. Nehaniv and Kerstin Dautenhahn Part V. Synchrony and Turn-Taking as Communicative Mechanisms: 13. How to build an imitator? Arnaud Revel and Jacqueline Nadel 14. Simulated turn-taking and development of styles of motion Takashi Ikegami and Hiroki Iizuka 15. Bullying behaviour, empathy and imitation: an attempted synthesis Kerstin Dautenhahn, Sarah N. Woods and Christina Kaouri Part VI. Why Imitate? Motivations: 16. Multiple motivations for imitation in infancy Mark Nielsen and Virginia Slaughter 17. The progress drive hypothesis: an interpretation of early imitation Frederic Kaplan and Pierre-Yves Oudeyer Part VII. Social Feedback: 18. Training behaviour by imitation: from parrots to people . to robots? Irene M. Pepperberg and Diane V. Sherman 19. Task learning through imitation and human-robot interaction Monica N. Nicolescu and Maja J. Mataric Part VIII. The Ecological Context: 20. Emulation learning: the integration of technical and social cognition Ludwig Huber 21. Mimicry as deceptive resemblance: beyond the one-trick ponies Mark D. Norman and Tom Tregenza.
On pioneering nanometer-era routing problems

In this paper, we present a tribute to Professor C. L. (David) Liu for his numerous contributions in the field of the physical design of VLSI circuits by highlighting some of his work in the area of routing in general, and performance-driven routing in particular. We point out how he pioneered several important problem formulations along with elegant algorithmic solutions for them, often 5-10 years ahead of the time when they would become important in the semiconductor industry. More specifically, we present a brief discussion of his work on the problems of interconnect crosstalk optimization and performance-driven layer assignment, showing how it influenced subsequent academic research as well as the evolution of industrial layout tools, as an illustration of his visionary and transformative approach to physical design.
High-Performance Stateful Intrusion Detection System

This paper is related with a stateful intrusion detection technology which is based on session state tracking in network intrusion detection systems (NIDSs). Today's network security systems are required high-performance as well as good functionality since the speed of the Internet is increasing. But most of the software-based NIDSs (e.g. Snort) show inefficiency and even fail to perform for the faster Internet. In this paper, we provide hardware-based stateful intrusion detection module to overcome these shortcomings of software-based solutions. By implementing stateful intrusion detection module in FPGA, we can solve the problem of performance and has capability of intrusion detection in future multi-gigabit network environment. In addition, we can improve the accuracy of intrusion detection with reducing false positive alerts
Combinatorial Source Inversion from Displacement and Tilt Measurements at Soufriere Hills Volcano Using a Self-Adapting Evolution Strategy

A method is proposed to invert displacement and tilt measurements from a single monitoring location to constrain the nature of a volcanic pressure source. Evolutionary strategy is applied to a sequence of Mogi solutions and the program is shown capable of distinguishing between depth and volume increment of the magma source, in addition to its 3-dimensional spatial coordinates. The mechanism is applied to Soufriere Hills Volcano to constrain the nature of its single pressure source. Expansion to a two source scenario is also sought, but only one of the sources may be correctly constrained while the second is narrowed to several equally valid possibilities. The program is shown incapable of distinguishing between source pressure and radius for single or multiple sources.
Performance Assessment using ACM in DVB-S2/Advanced DVB-RCS Satellite Systems

This paper presents the benefits of using adaptive coding and modulation in DVB-S2/advanced DVB-RCS satellite systems. The results are based on a satellite system simulator which was developed during an ESA study. Such a simulator aims at making performance assessments before implementing a system, at developing and evaluating new algorithms like schedulers, encapsulators or resource managers. The simulator is capable of reproducing DVB-S2 and advanced DVB-RCS standards and techniques so that system performance can be analysed and optimized without the need of using a real satellite system.
Effect of Principal and Student Gender on New York City High School Performance Outcomes

A mixed-methods study enabled the exploration of New York City high school data, analyzing performance/demographic scores based on principal and/or student gender, boroughs, and other factors found the following: Significant differences in boroughs’ college and career readiness scores, χ2(4, N = 369) = 26.830, p = . 00, with (a) the highest mean rank of 251 for Staten Island, and the lowest mean rank of 156 for Brooklyn; (b) larger socioeconomically integrated schools more successful; (c) failure in small Manhattan and Bronx segregated/poverty female-majority schools; and (d) male students, F(4, 359) = 2.49, p = . 043, partial η2 = . 027, attained significantly lower scores. Enrollment was significant, F(1, 457) = 7.215, p < . 05 partial η2 = . 940, with male principals (M = 746.40, SD = 903.58) leading larger schools. Recommendations include the following: gifted vocational education school, gauging for feminization, more Black/Hispanic principals; and assurance of licensed vocational educators.
Post-breakup Emotion and Obsessive Relational Intrusion in the Mediated World

The present study focused on those who had recently been involved in a romantic relationship that ended in a breakup. Data was coll e ted from 326 participants using an online questionnaire. Participants were asked quest ions about goal linking, rumination, self-efficacy, Facebook ORI behaviors, and emotiona l response questions. The results indicated that there were two types of Facebook ORI behaviors: explicit and covert. Explicit ORI was predicted by self-efficacy among t hose whose partner ended the relationship, as well as goal linking when the brea kup was self-initiated. Covert ORI was predicted by rumination across all levels of breaku p initiator (self, partner, or mutual). Moreover, only general negative emotions predicted Covert ORI, but general negative emotion and positive emotion predicted Explicit ORI . Finally, the results showed that those who were broken up with engaged in more Cover t ORI behaviors than those who ended the relationship themselves or who mutually e nded the relationship. These results suggest that Relational Goal Pursuit theory, which is commonly used to explain ORI behavior, be reconceptualized.