Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Restricted Boltzmann machines for pre-training deep Gaussian networks

A Restricted Boltzmann Machine (RBM) is proposed with an energy function which we show results in hidden node activation probabilities which match the activation rule of neurons in a Gaussian synapse neural network. This makes the proposed RBM a potential tool in pre-training a Gaussian synapse network with a deep architecture, in a similar way to how RBMs have been used in a greedy layer wise pre-training procedure for deep neural networks with scalar synapses. Using experimental examples, we investigate the training characteristics of this form of RBM and discuss its suitability for pre-training of a deep Gaussian synapse network. While this is the most direct route to a deep Gaussian synapse network, we explain and discuss a number of issues found in using the proposed form of RBM in this way, and suggest possible soutions.
WEIGHTED QUANTUM PARTICLE SWARM OPTIMIZATION TO ASSOCIATION RULE MINING AND PSO TO CLUSTERING

In the area of association rule mining (ARM), the most major algorithms is Apriori algorithm. In the existing Apriori algorithm minimum support and confidence are determined subjectively or through trial and error method so, the algorithm lacks the objectiveness and efficiency. To improve the efficiency of association rules, Particle Swarm Optimization (PSO) algorithm is projected, which gives feasible threshold values for minimum support and confidence. In the PSO algorithm, initially it looks for the optimum fitness value of each particle and then finds their corresponding support and confidence as minimum threshold values. The difficulty of PSO algorithm is that, it guesses that the items have the same implication without taking into account of their weight/attributes within a transaction or within the whole item space. To overcome this drawback, this paper proposes a weighted quantum particle swarm optimization algorithm (WQPSO) with weighted mean best position according to fitness values of the particles. WQPSO algorithm provides faster local convergence, fallout in better balance between the global and local searching of the algorithm, so it generates good performance. The proposed WQPSO algorithm is experienced with several benchmark functions and compared with standard PSO. The experimental result shows the supremacy of WQPSO and it is verified by applying the FoodMart2000 database of Microsoft SQL Server 2000. Likewise, in clustering, there are many unsupervised clustering algorithms have been developed one such algorithm is K-means which is simple and straightforward. The main drawback of the K-means algorithm is that, the result is sensitive to the selection of the initial cluster centroids and may converge to the local optima. This is solved by PSO as it performs globalized search and produces clusters with high intra class similarity.
A document retrieval system for man-machine interaction

An automatic document retrieval system, programmed for the IBM 7094, is described. The system is designed to process English texts and search requests, and uses statistical, syntactic and semantic procedures for the analysis of information and the identification of relevant items. The operations are planned around a central supervisor, which in turn calls on the various subroutines, as desired. This organization makes it possible to alter both the processing sequences and the matching criteria between stored information and search requests, thus producing a variable amount of information in response to a given search request. The system therefore lends itself to interaction with the user by enabling the latter continuously to change his search requirements. Furthermore, the various analytical procedures may be evaluated by comparing the retrieval results obtained under different processing conditions.
Mining Spatial-Temporal Semantic Trajectory Patterns from Raw Trajectories

With the development of GPS and the popularity of smart phones and wearable devices, users can easily log their daily trajectories. Prior works have elaborated on mining trajectory patterns from raw trajectories. However, trajectory patterns do not have explicit time information or semantic information. To enrich trajectory patterns, we propose STS-TPs (standing for Spatial-Temporal Semantic Trajectory Patterns) which refer to the moving patterns with spatial, temporal, and semantic attributes. Given a set of user trajectories, we aim at mining STS-TPs. Explicitly, we extract the three attributes from raw trajectories, and convert these trajectories into semantic trajectory sequences. Given a set of such semantic trajectory sequences, STS-TPs could be viewed as sequential patterns with multiple attributes. To fully explore the efficiency of PrefixSpan on sequential pattern mining, we propose a PrefixSpan-based algorithm (abbreviated as PS) to discover STS-TPs. Note that the input for PrefixSpan is a set of sequences consisting of items. However, each item of semantic trajectory sequences contains three attributes, and we need to further transform these sequences into symbolized sequences before using PrefixSpan. Therefore, we propose two algorithms of Sequence Symbolization (SS) and Advanced Sequence Symbolization (ASS) to achieve this purpose. In light of STS-TPs, we further propose query tasks to predict users' behaviors. To evaluate our proposed algorithms, we conducted experiments on the real datasets of Google Location History, and the experimental results show the effectiveness and efficiency of our proposed algorithms.
Conservation of RNA chaperone activity of the human La-related proteins 4, 6 and 7

The La module is a conserved tandem arrangement of a La motif and RNA recognition motif whose function has been best characterized in genuine La proteins. The best-characterized substrates of La proteins are pre-tRNAs, and previous work using tRNA mediated suppression in Schizosaccharomyces pombe has demonstrated that yeast and human La enhance the maturation of these using two distinguishable activities: UUU-3′OH-dependent trailer binding/protection and a UUU-3′OH independent activity related to RNA chaperone function. The La module has also been identified in several conserved families of La-related proteins (LARPs) that engage other RNAs, but their mode of RNA binding and function(s) are not well understood. We demonstrate that the La modules of the human LARPs 4, 6 and 7 are also active in tRNA-mediated suppression, even in the absence of stable UUU-3′OH trailer protection. Rather, the capacity of these to enhance pre-tRNA maturation is associated with RNA chaperone function, which we demonstrate to be a conserved activity for each hLARP in vitro. Our work reveals insight into the mechanisms by which La module containing proteins discriminate RNA targets and demonstrates that RNA chaperone activity is a conserved function across representative members of the La motif-containing superfamily.
A Novel Image Fusion Method Using Curvelet Transform Based on Linear Dependency Test

Because of the benefits of image fusion, although higher resolution remote sensing data are available now, image fusion is still a popular method for better interpreting image data. This paper focuses on a novel region-based image fusion method which facilitates increased flexibility with the definition of a variety of fusion rules. To do that, we use the curvelet transform to merge the details of images. Also, we introduce a fusion rule decision based on the linear algebra that helps to do a better fusion of detail coefficients of the curvelet transform. The experimental results show improvement of the proposed method compared with the well-known methods.
Movements and Habitat Use of an Endangered Snake, Hoplocephalus bungaroides (Elapidae): Implications for Conservation

A detailed understanding of how extensively animals move through the landscape, and the habitat features upon which they rely, can identify conservation priorities and thus inform management planning. For many endangered species, information on habitat use either is sparse, or is based upon studies from a small part of the species’ range. The broad-headed snake (Hoplocephalus bungaroides) is restricted to a specialized habitat (sandstone outcrops and nearby forests) within a small geographic range in south-eastern Australia. Previous research on this endangered taxon was done at a single site in the extreme south of the species’ geographic range. We captured and radio-tracked 9 adult broad-headed snakes at sites in the northern part of the species’ distribution, to evaluate the generality of results from prior studies, and to identify critical habitat components for this northern population. Snakes spent most of winter beneath sun-warmed rocks then shifted to tree hollows in summer. Thermal regimes within retreat-sites support the hypothesis that this shift is thermally driven. Intervals between successive displacements were longer than in the southern snakes but dispersal distances per move and home ranges were similar. Our snakes showed non-random preferences both in terms of macrohabitat (e.g., avoidance of some vegetation types) and microhabitat (e.g., frequent use of hollow-bearing trees). Despite many consistencies, the ecology of this species differs enough between southern and northern extremes of its range that managers need to incorporate information on local features to most effectively conserve this threatened reptile.
Reliability Based Web Information Ranking System

In this paper, we propose a reliability based Web information ranking system which enables searching useful and reliable knowledge information. The proposed system will contain subsystems for reliability ranking, information clustering based on reliability. The reliability ranking system will estimate the likelihood that a statement on the Web can be trusted using standards developed by information scientists, and the link structure of associated Web pages. The clustering will cluster relevant and reliable information based on whether or not they can be trusted or not. We test these models on an academic search engine and show how the reliability information ranks can be used as a useful knowledge.
Real-time pose estimation of rigid objects using RGB-D imagery

Using full scale (480×640) RGB-D imagery, we here present an approach for tracking 6d pose of rigid objects at runtime frequency of up to 15fps. This approach is useful for robotic perception systems to efficiently track object's pose during camera movements in tabletop manipulation tasks with high detection rate and real-time performance. Specifically, appearance-based feature correspondences are used for initial object detection. We make use of Oriented Brief (ORB) feature key-points to perform fast segmentation of object candidates in the 3d point cloud. The task of 6d pose estimation is handled in the Cartesian space by finding an interest window around the segmented object and 3d geometry operations. The interest window is later used for feature extraction in the subsequent camera frames to speed up the object detection process. This also allows for an efficient pose tracking of scenes where there are significantly large false matches between feature correspondences due to scene clutter. Our approach was tested using an RGB-D dataset comprising of scenes from video sequences of tabletops with multiple objects in household environments. Experiments show that our approach is capable of performing 3d segmentation followed by 6d pose tracking at higher frame rates compared to existing techniques.
Role of female sex hormones, estradiol and progesterone, in mast cell behavior

Female sex hormones have long been suspected to have an effect on mast cell (MC) behavior. This assumption is based on the expression of hormone receptors in MCs as well as on the fact that many MC-related pathophysiological alterations have a different prevalence in females than in males. Further, serum IgE levels are much higher in allergic female mice compared to male mice. Ovariectomized rats developed less airway inflammation compared to sham controls. Following estrogen replacement ovariectomized rats re-established airway inflammation levels’ found in intact females. In humans, a much higher asthma prevalence was found in women at reproductive age as compared to men. Serum levels of estradiol and progesterone have been directly correlated with the clinical and functional features of asthma. Around 30–40% of women who have asthma experienced worsening of their symptoms during the perimenstrual phase, the so-called perimenstrual asthma. Postmenopausal women receiving hormone replacement therapy have an increased risk of new onset of asthma. Beside, estrus cycle dependent changes on female sex hormones are related to changes on MC number in mouse uterine tissue and estradiol and progesterone were shown to induce uterine MC maturation and degranulation. We will discuss here the currently available information concerning the role of these female sex hormones on MC behavior.
Evolution of UV - NIR Structural Properties of Cluster Galaxies ⋆

We study the structure and the internal colour gradients of cluster galaxies from UV to NIR restframe, in the redshift range $z=0.21{-}0.64$. Structural parameters (half light radius ${r_{\rm e}}$, mean surface brightness $ _{\rm e}$ and Sersic index ${n}$) are derived for galaxies in the clusters ${\rm A\,209}$ at ${z = 0.21}$ and ${\rm EIS\,0048}$ at ${z = 0.64}$. This data set, together with previous data for the cluster ${\rm AC\,118}$ at ${z=0.31}$, constitutes the first large (${N \sim 270}$) sample of cluster galaxies whose internal structure in UV, optical (OPT) and NIR ( U -, V - and H -band restframe) can be investigated up to a look-back time of ${\sim }6~\rm Gyr$ ($\Omega_m=0.3$, $\Omega_\Lambda=0.7$ and ${ H_0= 70~\rm km~s^{-1}~ Mpc^{-1} }$). Galaxies are classified as spheroids or disks according to the shape of the light profile, and the evolution of the two populations are investigated separately. On average, both spheroids and disks are more concentrated at longer wavelengths: the galaxy sizes become smaller from UV to NIR, while Sersic indices increase. This trend shows an evolution in disks, where the mean ratio of optical to NIR Sersic indices decreases from ${z=0.31}$ to ${z=0.64}$. Colour gradients are on average negative at all redshifts and are stronger in disks than in spheroids. But while for spheroids both ${\rm grad\,(UV{-}OPT)}$ and ${\rm grad\,(OPT{-}NIR)}$ are only weakly dependent on redshift, the optical-NIR gradients of disks become significantly smaller at ${z=0.64}$. Colour gradients and central colours are compared with models of metallicity, age, and dust extinction gradients. Metallicity turns out to be the primary driver of colour gradients in spheroids, the age gradient being constrained to be smaller than ${\sim} 25\%$. For disks, two kinds of models fit the present data: (i) age gradients (in the range [30, 50]%) with significant dust extinction, and (ii) “pure” dust models, in which the gradients of colour excess are a factor of two higher in ${\rm EIS\,0048}$ than in the other clusters. Since colour gradients of disks seem not to correlate significantly with inclination, we argue that age gradient models could represent a more likely explanation of the present data, in agreement with what expected on the basis of hierarchical merging scenarios.
Functional Electrical Stimulation Therapy Improves Grasping in Chronic Cervical Spinal Cord Injury: Two Case Studies

OBJECTIVE AND IMPORTANCE: To present case studies of two individuals with chronic cervical spinal cord injury (SCI) who participated in functional electrical stimulation (FES) therapy with the objective to restore voluntary grasp function. CLINICAL PRESENTATION: Both individuals (right hand dominant males, age 24 and 31) had a sustained a cervical SCI (C6 and C4-5, respectively) at least 8 years prior to participation in this study. INTERVENTION: Both individuals participated in an individualized FES therapy program for 6 weeks. FES therapy was administered through a regimen of three, one-hour sessions, per week for three months. A single arm of each participant (n = 2) was treated. FES therapy is an integrative intervention strategy combining muscle strengthening, functional movement training and stretching. The participant's hand movement abilities were assessed pre and post FES therapy using the Manual Muscle Test (MMT), a modified Sollerman Hand Function Test (mSHFT), and the Reach, Grasp, Transport and Release Task (RGTR). DISCUSSION: As the injuries of participants in the current study were chronic and thus neurologically stable, no spontaneous improvements/recovery in hand function was expected. However, FES as part of an integrated therapeutic approach affected restoration and improvement of hand function in both participants. CONCLUSION: The concurrent improvement in strength, integrated motor function and object contact following FES therapy, demonstrated that there is potential for affecting change in hand function of individuals with chronic SCI.
A GPGPU Implementation of Approximate String Matching with Regular Expression Operators and Comparison with Its FPGA Implementation

In this paper, we propose an efficient GPGPU implementation of an algorithm for approximate string matching with regular expression operators, originally implemented on an FPGA, and compare the GPGPU, FPGA and CPU implementations by experiments. Approximate string matching with regular expression operators is used in various applications, such as full text database search and DNA sequence analysis. To efficiently handle a long text in the matching, a hardware algorithm for FPGA implementation has been proposed. However, due to the limitation of FPGAs’ capacity, it cannot handle long patterns. In contrast, our proposed GPGPU implementation is able to handle long patterns efficiently, utilizing the scalability of GPGPU programming. Experimental results showed that the GPU implementation is more than 18 times as fast as the CPU one when the pattern length is greater than 3200, while the FPGA one could not handle such a long pattern.
Ear Localization from Side Face Images using Distance Transform and Template Matching

The paper presents an efficient distance transform and template based technique for automatic ear localization from a side face image. The technique first segments skin and non-skin regions in the face and then uses template based approach to find the ear location within the skin regions. Ear detection proceeds as follows. First, edge map of the skin regions is computed and further processed to eliminate the spurious edges based on length and curvature based criterion. After getting the clean edge map, its distance transform is obtained on which ear localization process is carried out. Distance transform image of the edge map of an off-line created ear template is employed for ear localization. A Zernike moment based shape descriptor is used to verify the detections. The technique is tested on IIT Kanpur ear database which contains around 150 ear images and found to be giving 95.2% accuracy.
Intelligent Control of Modular Robotic Welding Cell

Although robotic machines are routinely used for welding, such machines do not normally incorporate intelligent capabilities. We are studying the general problem of formulating usable levels of intelligence into welding machines. From our perspective, an intelligent machine should: incorporate knowledge of the welding process, know if the process is operating correctly, know if the weld it is making is good or bad, have the ability to learn from its experience to perform welds, and be able to optimize its own performance. To this end, we are researching machine architecture, methods of knowledge representation, decision making and conflict resolution algorithms, methods of learning and optimization, human/machine interfaces, and various sensors. This paper presents work on the machine architecture and the human/machine interface specifically for a robotic, gas metal arc welding cell. Although the machine control problem is normally approached from the perspective of having a central body of control in the machine, we present a design using distributed agents. A prime goal of this work is to develop an architecture for an intelligent machine that will support a modular, plug and play standard. A secondary goal of this work is to formulate a human/machine interface that treats the human as anmore » active agent in the modular structure. « less
Cross-group friendships, social dominance orientation and secondary transfer effect

Despite the impressive supportive evidence, the contact hypothesis (Allport, 1954) does not specify whether the positive effects following contact with a primary outgroup generalize to attitudes toward a secondary outgroup uninvolved in the contact situation. This type of generalization has been referred to as “secondary transfer effect” (Pettigrew, 2009). Participants were Italian high-school students (N = 140). We tested whether friendship with immigrants was associated with more positive attitudes toward both immigrants and disabled people, over and above the effects of Social Dominance Orientation (SDO; Sidanius & Pratto, 1999). Results revealed that cross-group friendships and SDO were related (positively and negatively, respectively) with the willingness to engage in contact behaviors with immigrants. In addition, the effects of friendship with immigrants and SDO generalized to attitudes toward the disabled, assessed with an evaluation thermometer, via perspective-taking and desired closeness to immigrants. We discuss the theoretical and practical implications of the findings.
Factors Associated with Complete Home Smoking Ban among Chinese Parents of Young Children

(1) Background: The home environment is a major source of Environmental Tobacco Smoke (ETS) exposure among children especially in early childhood. ETS exposure is an important health risk among children and can cause severe and chronic diseases, such as asthma, bronchitis, and premature death. However, ETS exposure at home has often been neglected in the Chinese families. Identification of factors that facilitate or otherwise hamper the adoption of home smoking ban will help in the design and implementation of evidence-based intervention programs. This study identifies factors correlated with home smoking bans in Chinese families with children. (2) Methods: A cross-sectional survey of parents living in Nanning city, Guangxi Province, China with at least one smoker and a child in the household was conducted between September, 2013 and January, 2014. A Chi-square test was used to compare categorical variables differences between the parents who had home smoking bans and those with no home smoking ban. Multiple logistic regression analyses were used to identify factors correlated with home smoking bans. (3) Results: 969 completed questionnaires were collected with a response rate of 92.29% (969/1050). Of the respondents (n = 969), 14.34% had complete home smoking bans. Factors that were associated with home smoking bans were: having no other smokers in the family (OR = 2.173), attaining education up to high school (OR = 2.471), believing that paternal smoking would increase the risk of lower respiratory tract illnesses (OR = 2.755), perceiving the fact that smoking cigarettes in the presence of the child will hurt the child’s health (OR = 1.547), believing that adopting a no smoking policy at home is very important (OR = 2.816), and being confident to prevent others to smoke at home (OR = 1.950). Additionally, parents who perceived difficulty in adopting a no smoking policy at home would not have a home smoking ban (OR = 0.523). (4) Conclusions: A home smoking ban is not widely adopted by families of hospitalized children in Guangxi Province, China. To protect the health of children, there is a need to develop and test interventions to promote home smoking bans. Factors identified as predictors of home smoking ban should be considered in the design of interventions.