Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Reading between the tags to predict real-world size-class for visually depicted objects in images

Multimedia information retrieval stands to benefit from the availability of additional information about tags and how they relate to the content visually depicted in images. We propose a generic approach that contributes to improving the informativeness of image tags by combining generalizations about the distributional tendencies of physical objects in the real world and statistics of natural language use patterns that have been mined from the Web. The approach, which we refer to as 'Reading between the Tags,' provides for each tag associated with an image, first, a prediction concerning corporeality, i.e., whether or not the tag denotes a physical entity, and, then, concerning the real-world size of that entity, i.e., large, medium or small. Mining takes place using a set of Language Use Frames (LUFs) that are composed of natural language neighborhoods characteristic of tag classes. We validate our approach with a series of experiments on a set of images from the MIRFLICKR data set using ground truth created with standard crowdsourcing techniques. The main experiments demonstrate the effectiveness of our approach for size-class prediction. A further experiment shows that size-class prediction can be improved and made image-specific using general and relatively small sets of visual concepts. A final experiment confirms that the set of LUFs can also be chosen automatically via statistical feature selection.
Roughness Encoding for Discrimination of Surfaces in Artificial Active-Touch

A 2 × 2 array of four microelectromechanical system (MEMS) tactile microsensors is integrated with readout electronics in the distal phalanx of an anthropomorphic robotic finger. A total of 16 sensing elements are available in a 22.3-mm area (i.e., 72 units/cm ) of the artificial finger, thus achieving a density comparable with human Merkel mechanoreceptors. The MEMS array is covered by a polymeric packaging with biomimetic fingerprints enhancing the sensitivity in roughness encoding. This paper shows the ability of the sensor array to encode roughness for discrimination of surfaces, without requiring dedicated proprioceptive sensors for end-effector velocity. Three fine surfaces with 400-, 440-, and 480- μm spatial periods are quantitatively evaluated. Core experiments consisted in active-touch exploration of surfaces by the finger executing a stereotyped human-like movement. A time-frequency analysis on pairs of tactile array outputs shows a clustering of the fundamental frequency, thus yielding 97.6% worst-case discrimination accuracy with a k -nearest-neighbor (k-NN) classifier. Hence, surfaces differing down to 40 μm are identified in active-touch by both hardware and processing methods based on exteroceptive tactile information. Finally, active-touch results with five textiles (which differ in texture or orientation) are shown as a preliminary qualitative assessment of discrimination in a more realistic tactile-stimulation scenario.
Authorship attribution via combination of evidence

Authorship attribution is a process of determining who wrot e a particular document. We have found that di fferent systems work well for particular sets of authors but not others. In this paper, we propose thre authorship attribution systems, based on di fferent ways of combining existing methodologies. All systems show better e ff ctiveness than the state-of-art methods.
Genes expression and stress in depressive patients and healthy

One of the genetic factors that can affect the incidence of depression, is energy insufficiency of oxygen, leading to general weakness. The symptom that are widely develop in depressed patients. This research is aimed to make a compare expression of the genes related to energy cycle and stress in patients suffering from depression and healthy persons and to determine the relationship between the genes related to energy cycle and stress and intensity of depression symptoms in depressed patients. The research sample was 30 depressed outpatients in psychiatric clinic. They were selected using convenience sampling method. Also 30 healthy persons were selected as the control group. Data were collected using Beck Depression Inventory, Mimura and Griffith received stress scale and tracking the genes in Real Time PCR instrument by Syber Green Florescent. The research data were analyzed using Multivariate Analysis of Variance (MANOVA) and multivariate regression analysis. The results indicated that there is a meaningful difference between stress and COX5b in patients and healthy persons. But no meaningful difference was observed in COX2 between patients and healthy persons. The results of regression analysis showed that stress and COX5b gene expression meaningfully predict the intensity of depression symptoms. These findings state that stress and COX5b are among the important factors in depression, so it is suggested that the role of these factors be considered in the etiology of depression.
HIV and HCV infection among injecting drug users.

BACKGROUND Human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) and hepatitis C virus (HCV) are the two blood-borne pathogens most commonly transmitted among injection drug users via multi-person use of syringes and other injection equipment. However, important differences exist in the epidemiology of HIV and HCV within different populations of intravenous drug users. METHOD A literature review was carried out to summarize publications describing the epidemiology and natural history of HIV and HCV in injection drug users. RESULTS Among injection drug users worldwide, HIV prevalence varies from <5% to >80%, with annual HIV incidence between <1% and 50%. More consistency is shown in HCV prevalence (50-90%) and incidence (10-30% per year). Host, environmental and viral factors that favor rapid spread of HCV among IDUs suggest that HCV infection in a population of injection drug users may become endemic over a relatively short period of time. Lower transmission efficiency for HIV also indicates that its spread among injection drug users may be somewhat slower. CONCLUSIONS Successful efforts to prevent transmission of blood-borne viruses among IDUs typically result in risk reduction; however, no intervention has resulted in elimination of risk behavior. To reduce HIV transmission, risk reduction may be sufficient, whereas control of HCV may necessitate the use of injection practices that guarantee elimination of exposure to equipment contaminated with even small amounts of blood.
Negative consequences of uncorrected hearing loss—a review

Hearing loss gives rise to a number of disabilities. Problems in recognizing speech, especially in difficult environments, give rise to the largest number of complaints. Other kinds of disabilities may concern the reduced ability to detect, identify and localize sounds quickly and reliably. Such sounds may be warning or alarm signals, as well as music and birds singing. The communicative disability affects both hearing-impaired people and other people in their environment—family members, fellow workers, etc. Hearing-impaired people arc not always aware of all the consequences of the impairment; they do not always know what they are missing. Several studies have shown that uncorrected hearing loss gives rise to poorer quality of life, related to isolation, reduced social activity, and a feeling of being excluded, leading to an increased prevalence of symptoms of depression. These findings indicate the importance of early identification of hearing loss and offers of rehabilitative support, where the fitting of hearing aids is usually an important component. Several studies also point to a significant correlation between hearing loss and loss of cognitive functions. Most of these studies show such a correlation without being able to show whether the hearing loss caused the reduction in cognitive performance or if both the hearing loss and the cognitive decline are parts of a common, general age-related degeneration. A couple of these studies, however, indicate that the uncorrected hearing loss may be the cause of cognitive decline. Whichever alternative is true, the correlation should be seen as a clear indication for early hearing aid fitting for those needing it. Monaural hearing aid fitting in subjects with bilateral hearing loss may give rise to a reduced ability to recognize speech presented to the unaided ear, the so-called late-onset auditory deprivation effect. This functional decline is reversible in some but not all subjects after fitting of a hearing aid also on the previously unaided ear.
Fibroblast Growth Factor-2 Failed to Induce Angiogenesis in Junctional Adhesion Molecule-A–Deficient Mice

Objective—We have previously shown that JAM-A regulates fibroblast growth factor-2 (FGF-2)–induced endothelial cell morphology, proliferation, and migration. Whether JAM-A is involved in FGF-2–induced angiogenesis in vivo is not known. We used JAM-A null mice to conclusively determine the role of JAM-A in FGF-2–induced neovascularization. Methods and Results—We generated JAM-A null (JAM-A−/−) mice using gene trap technology. These mice, although viable and fertile, exhibited distorted Mendelian and sex ratios, suggesting partial embryonic lethality. Retinal fluorescein angiogram did not reveal any significant morphological differences in the vasculature of JAM-A−/− mice compared with wild-type (JAMA-A+/+) littermates. To evaluate the role of JAM-A in angiogenesis, we performed an aortic ring assay. FGF-2–induced microvessel growth was evident in aortic rings from JAM-A+/+ mice, but FGF-2 failed to induce microvessel sproutings in aortic rings from JAM-A−/− mice. In a Matrigel plug assay, a known in vivo model for angiogenesis, we found that FGF-2 induced a robust vessel growth in JAM-A+/+ mice, whereas FGF-2 failed to induce blood vessel formation in plugs from JAM-A−/− mice. Conclusions—Our results using JAM-A−/− mice presented here conclusively establish an essential role for JAM-A in FGF-2–induced angiogenesis.
Performance analysis of packet bursting scheme in IEEE 802.11e WLANs under slow rayleigh fading with non markovian stochastic petri nets

Although enhanced distributed coordination function EDCF mechanism brings service differentiation between different access categories, Quality of service is not guaranteed for delay sensitive applications such as voice unless further open parameters of the amendment may be supported in the implementation phase. Among these parameters we focus in this paper on packet bursting scheme. We examine Packet Bursting scheme impact on service differentiation in IEEE 802.11e enhanced distributed channel access EDCF using SPN model. Performance analysis of throughput and mean access delay versus virtual load are investigated. Numerical results investigated show how packet bursting scheme can counteract the inherent QoS limitation of service differentiation by bringing efficiency improvement. Additionally results show advantages and limitations of Packet Bursting scheme with respect to virtual load in wireless varying environment characterized by a slow Rayleigh fading.
The Flexible Approach Hypothesis: Unification of Effort and Cue-Responding Hypotheses for the Role of Nucleus Accumbens Dopamine in the Activation of Reward-Seeking Behavior

Dopamine released in the nucleus accumbens is thought to contribute to the decision to exert effort to seek reward. This hypothesis is supported by findings that performance of tasks requiring higher levels of effort is more susceptible to disruption by manipulations that reduce accumbens dopamine function than tasks that require less effort. However, performance of some low-effort cue-responding tasks is highly dependent on accumbens dopamine. To reconcile these disparate results, we made detailed behavioral observations of rats performing various operant tasks and determined how injection of dopamine receptor antagonists into the accumbens influenced specific aspects of the animals' behavior. Strikingly, once animals began a chain of operant responses, the antagonists did not affect the ability to continue the chain until reward delivery. Instead, when rats left the operandum, the antagonists severely impaired the ability to return. We show that this impairment is specific to situations in which the animal must determine a new set of approach actions on each approach occasion; this behavior is called “flexible approach. ” Both high-effort operant tasks and some low-effort cue-responding tasks require dopamine receptor activation in the accumbens because animals pause their responding and explore the chamber, and accumbens dopamine is required to terminate these pauses with flexible approach to the operandum. The flexible approach hypothesis provides a unified framework for understanding the contribution of the accumbens and its dopamine projection to reward-seeking behavior.
Pessimistic Bilevel Optimization

We study a variant of the pessimistic bilevel optimization problem, which comprises constraints that must be satisfied for any optimal solution of a subordinate (lower-level) optimization problem. We present conditions that guarantee the existence of optimal solutions in such a problem, and we characterize the computational complexity of various subclasses of the problem. We then focus on problem instances that may lack convexity, but that satisfy a certain independence property. We develop convergent approximations for these instances, and we derive an iterative solution scheme that is reminiscent of the discretization techniques used in semi-infinite programming. We also present a computational study that illustrates the numerical behavior of our algorithm on standard benchmark instances.
Cortical Correlates of the Simulated Viewpoint Oscillation Advantage for Vection

Behavioural studies have consistently found stronger vection responses for oscillating, compared to smooth/constant, patterns of radial flow (the simulated viewpoint oscillation advantage for vection). Traditional accounts predict that simulated viewpoint oscillation should impair vection by increasing visual–vestibular conflicts in stationary observers (as this visual oscillation simulates self-accelerations that should strongly stimulate the vestibular apparatus). However, support for increased vestibular activity during accelerating vection has been mixed in the brain imaging literature. This fMRI study examined BOLD activity in visual (cingulate sulcus visual area — CSv; medial temporal complex — MT+; V6; precuneus motion area — PcM) and vestibular regions (parieto-insular vestibular cortex — PIVC/posterior insular cortex — PIC; ventral intraparietal region — VIP) when stationary observers were exposed to vection-inducing optic flow (i.e., globally coherent oscillating and smooth self-motion displays) as well as two suitable control displays. In line with earlier studies in which no vection occurred, CSv and PIVC/PIC both showed significantly increased BOLD activity during oscillating global motion compared to the other motion conditions (although this effect was found for fewer subjects in PIVC/PIC). The increase in BOLD activity in PIVC/PIC during prolonged exposure to the oscillating (compared to smooth) patterns of global optical flow appears consistent with vestibular facilitation.
It’s not all about guns and gangs: role overload as a source of stress for male and female police officers

ABSTRACT This research uses male (n = 1169) and female (n = 300) samples of police officers and multivariate techniques to test a model which hypothesises: (1) work-role overload and family-role overload will predict stress, (2) objective (i.e. hours employed) and subjective (i.e. non-supportive culture, pressures to perform work outside their mandate, competing demands) work demands will predict work-role overload, (3) objective (i.e. dependent care hours) family demands will predict family-role overload and (4) gender differences across all paths. Results showed the relationship between work-role overload and stress was stronger for male police officers, whereas the relationship between family-role overload and stress was stronger for female police officers. Hours employed, performing work outside one’s mandate, and perceptions of the work culture as non-supportive were stronger predictors of work-role overload for the female officers in our sample than for their male counterparts. The path between hours in dependent care hours and family-role overload was also stronger for female than male police officers. Competing work demands, on the other hand, was a stronger predictor of work- role overload for male than female police officers.
Encoding Sequential Information in Semantic Space Models: Comparing Holographic Reduced Representation and Random Permutation

Circular convolution and random permutation have each been proposed as neurally plausible binding operators capable of encoding sequential information in semantic memory. We perform several controlled comparisons of circular convolution and random permutation as means of encoding paired associates as well as encoding sequential information. Random permutations outperformed convolution with respect to the number of paired associates that can be reliably stored in a single memory trace. Performance was equal on semantic tasks when using a small corpus, but random permutations were ultimately capable of achieving superior performance due to their higher scalability to large corpora. Finally, “noisy” permutations in which units are mapped to other units arbitrarily (no one-to-one mapping) perform nearly as well as true permutations. These findings increase the neurological plausibility of random permutations and highlight their utility in vector space models of semantics.
On the comparison of catalan-Spanish intonation systems using statistical corpus modeling and objective metrics

This communication presents an ongoing research on the definition of a methodology to compare the intonation of two different corpora. The two corpora that we compare here, try to be representative of the Spanish and Catalan intonation respectively. As a consequence, the comparison reported here, projects the most relevant differences between the Catalan and Spanish intonation systems. First we model the intonation of the corpora using the MEMOInt methodology and we confront the models obtained by confronting the F0 patterns that share its prosodic function. An objective metric guides the identification of the most distant F0 patterns. The differences can be visualized and listened in perceptual tests. Finally we discuss about the weakness of this ongoing research and about future applications. Index Terms: comparing prosody, modeling intonation, Catalan intonation, Spanish intonation.
Spatially coupled turbo codes

In this paper, we introduce the concept of spatially coupled turbo codes (SC-TCs), as the turbo codes counterpart of spatially coupled low-density parity-check codes. We describe spatial coupling for both Berrou et al. and Benedetto et al. parallel and serially concatenated codes. For the binary erasure channel, we derive the exact density evolution (DE) equations of SC-TCs by using the method proposed by Kurkoski et al. to compute the decoding erasure probability of convolutional encoders. Using DE, we then analyze the asymptotic behavior of SC-TCs. We observe that the belief propagation (BP) threshold of SC-TCs improves with respect to that of the uncoupled ensemble and approaches its maximum a posteriori threshold. This phenomenon is especially significant for serially concatenated codes, whose uncoupled ensemble suffers from a poor BP threshold.
Stress induced degradation dynamics in complex networks

Wide-area breakdowns of infrastructure networks often result from an initial, relatively slow system degradation that eventually evolves into a fast and uncontrollable failure propagation sequence, as has been observed on cascading line outages within electric power grids. In order to study the global dynamics of such failure processes in complex networks we introduce a generic model which considers two stress induced component outage types differing from each other in their time-scale. In the first case the failure is due to an increase in the nodal stress above a critical level and occurs after a small time delay. In analogy to an accelerated ageing process, the second failure type takes the whole history of stress into account. The two failure modes are coupled by simple differential equations. The focus of this paper is set on the influence of different topologies on the progression of the two failure types in time and on the resulting node outage sequence leading to network collapse. Furthermore, the importance of the different model parameters are discussed.
On the convergence of core technologies for knowledge management and organisational memories: ontologies and experience factories

In this paper we argue for the convergence of core technologies for knowledge management and organisational memories. Most of the work reported in the literature regards knowledge management and organisational memories as intertwined areas. However, the technologies used to implement and support them are not treated in the same fashion. Usually, they are conceived, developed, and deployed separately. This prevents us from fully exploiting their strength. We identify two such technologies in this paper: ontologies and experience factories, originating in these different communities. We elaborate on their strengths as potential core technologies and show, through an example case, how their convergence could be of mutual benefit. We generalise the approach and speculate on the impact of such convergence in the broader context of knowledge management and organisational memories.