Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Cross View Gait Recognition Using Joint-Direct Linear Discriminant Analysis

This paper proposes a view-invariant gait recognition framework that employs a unique view invariant model that profits from the dimensionality reduction provided by Direct Linear Discriminant Analysis (DLDA). The framework, which employs gait energy images (GEIs), creates a single joint model that accurately classifies GEIs captured at different angles. Moreover, the proposed framework also helps to reduce the under-sampling problem (USP) that usually appears when the number of training samples is much smaller than the dimension of the feature space. Evaluation experiments compare the proposed framework’s computational complexity and recognition accuracy against those of other view-invariant methods. Results show improvements in both computational complexity and recognition accuracy.
Finding recurrent copy number alterations preserving within-sample homogeneity

MOTIVATION Copy number alterations (CNAs) represent an important component of genetic variation and play a significant role in many human diseases. Development of array comparative genomic hybridization (aCGH) technology has made it possible to identify CNAs. Identification of recurrent CNAs represents the first fundamental step to provide a list of genomic regions which form the basis for further biological investigations. The main problem in recurrent CNAs discovery is related to the need to distinguish between functional changes and random events without pathological relevance. Within-sample homogeneity represents a common feature of copy number profile in cancer, so it can be used as additional source of information to increase the accuracy of the results. Although several algorithms aimed at the identification of recurrent CNAs have been proposed, no attempt of a comprehensive comparison of different approaches has yet been published. RESULTS We propose a new approach, called Genomic Analysis of Important Alterations (GAIA), to find recurrent CNAs where a statistical hypothesis framework is extended to take into account within-sample homogeneity. Statistical significance and within-sample homogeneity are combined into an iterative procedure to extract the regions that likely are involved in functional changes. Results show that GAIA represents a valid alternative to other proposed approaches. In addition, we perform an accurate comparison by using two real aCGH datasets and a carefully planned simulation study. AVAILABILITY GAIA has been implemented as R/Bioconductor package. It can be downloaded from the following page http://bioinformatics.biogem. it/download/gaia. CONTACT ceccarelli@unisannio.it; morganella@unisannio.it. SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION Supplementary data are available at Bioinformatics online.
Rubber hand illusion induced by touching the face ipsilaterally to a deprived hand: evidence for plastic “somatotopic” remapping in tetraplegics

Background: Studies in animals and humans indicate that the interruption of body-brain connections following spinal cord injury (SCI) leads to plastic cerebral reorganization. Objective: To explore whether inducing the Rubber Hand Illusion (RHI) via synchronous multisensory visuo-tactile bodily stimulation may reveal any perceptual correlates of plastic remapping in SCI. Methods: In 16 paraplegic, 16 tetraplegic and 16 healthy participants we explored whether RHI may be induced by tactile stimuli involving not only the left hand but also the left hemi-face. Touching the participants actual hand or face was either synchronous or asynchronous with tactile stimuli seen on a rubber hand. We assessed two components of the illusion, namely perceived changes in the real hand in space (indexed by proprioceptive drift) and ownership of the rubber hand (indexed by subjective responses to an ad-hoc questionnaire). Results: Proprioceptive drift and ownership were found in the healthy group only in the condition where the left real and fake hand were touched simultaneously. In contrast, no drift was found in the SCI patients who, however, showed ownership after both synchronous and asynchronous hand stroking. Importantly, only tetraplegics showed the effect also after synchronous face stroking. Conclusions: RHI may reveal plastic phenomena in SCI. In hand representation-deprived tetraplegics, stimuli on the face (represented contiguously in the somatic and motor systems), drive the sense of hand ownership. This hand-face remapping phenomenon may be useful for restoring a sense of self in massively deprived individuals.
Optical communication using subcarrier intensity modulation through generalized turbulence channels

A generic propagation model has been proposed recently and, from it, a new unifying statistical model has been obtained for the irradiance fluctuations due to a turbulent atmosphere. The statistical model presented, termed M distribution, can be written in a closed-form expression, and it contains most of the statistical models for the irradiance fluctuations that have been proposed in the literature. Relying on this generic model, in this paper, the performance of a subcarrier intensity-modulated free-space optical (SIM-FSO) communication system is investigated, and a novel closed-form analytical expression is derived for the average bit error rate of the system. Since the turbulence-induced fading is modeled by a generic distribution, the expression presented can be applied for performance analysis of SIM-FSO communication systems over most of the proposed statistical models derived so far.
Evolutionary Hierarchical Time Series Clustering

Time series clustering is an important topic, particularly for similarity search amongst long time series such as those arising in bioinformatics. In this paper a new evolutionary algorithm for detecting the hierarchical structure of an input time series data set is proposed. A new linear representation of the cluster structure within the data set is used. Proposed algorithm uses mutation and crossover as (search) variation operators. A new fitness function is proposed
On the path integral representation for spin systems

We propose a classical constrained Hamiltonian theory for the spin. After the Dirac treatment we show that due to the existence of second-class constraints the Dirac brackets of the proposed theory represent the commutation relations for the spin. We show that the corresponding partition function, obtained via the Fadeev - Senjanovic procedure, coincides with that obtained using coherent states. We also evaluate this partition function for the case of a single spin in a magnetic field.
Equity and Well-Being: Measurement and Policy Practice

1. What is Well-Being? 2. What Is an Equitable Distribution? 3. On the Concept of Equity in Opportunity 4. What Is Equitable Growth? 5.Equity in Health and Education Services in the Philippines 6. Assessing Fiscal Policy from an Equity Perspective 7. A New Approach to Evaluating and Designing Targeted Social Protection 8. Ex-ante Impact of Conditional Cash Transfer Program on School Attendance and Poverty 9. A Multi-Country Analysis of Achievements and Inequalities in Economic Growth and Standards of Living 10. Equity in Education and Health Services in Nepal 11. Equitability in Education and Health Services in Sri Lanka
Attachment behaviours and parent fixation in people with dementia: The role of cognitive functioning and pre-morbid attachment style

This study replicates and extends exploratory research into the occurrence of attachment behaviours and parent fixation amongst people with dementia. Relationships between cognitive functioning, pre-morbid attachment style, attachment behaviours and parent fixation were examined. Fifty-three people with dementia, living in residential or nursing homes, completed the Standardised Mini-Mental State Examination and were interviewed about their parents. A family member or friend rated pre-morbid attachment style and care staff made observations of attachment behaviour. Results indicated that parent fixation occurred more often in participants with lower levels of cognitive functioning. Parent fixation was not related to pre-morbid attachment style. The occurrence of overt attachment behaviour was inconsistently associated with both high and low levels of cognitive functioning, at different times of the day. Participants with an avoidant attachment style exhibited more overt attachment behaviour than participants with a secure attachment style. Findings are interpreted in terms of attachment theory and the clinical and research implications of the study are discussed.
Selectivity Estimation Using Neural Networks

In this paper, we investigate a novel method for database selectivity estimation. This method is based on neural networks and is similar to the curve fitting approach. A neural network is trained until it l earns an attribute distribution over a given domain. After this learning phase, the network is used to estimate the selectivity of a predicate. The usefulness of neural networks in selectivity estimation relies on the proof that these are “universal approximators” . A comprehensive experimental study is reported for several real, statistical, and highly irregular synthetic distributions. A comparison between the performance of neural networks, polynomials, and equi-height histograms for selectivity estimation is reported. The results show the proposed method to perform at least as well as the best of the other two for most tested distributions but the very irregular ones.
Emerging sales and marketing challenges in the global hospitality industry: A thematic analysis of customer reviews from the world's top two tourist destinations

Purpose – This paper attempts to identify the emerging themes that can shed light on the sales and marketing issues and challenges being faced by global hospitality organizations.Design/methodology/approach – The paper utilizes a multi‐method approach for data collection. A thorough literature review, a focus group and personal interviews were conducted to explore the themes and construct a tentative thematic web. Publicly accessible secondary data in the form of customer reviews were drawn from world's leading web site – Tripadvisor.com. A total of 702 reviews of the customers of luxury hotels from the world's top two tourist destinations – France and USA – were analyzed, using thematic analysis. Customers' perspective is juxtaposed with industry's perspective to offer insights on the sales and marketing issues and challenges being faced by hospitality organizations globally.Findings – Marketing challenges, namely personalization/customization of services, service management, creating a strong parent bra.
A Method Using Morphology and Histogram for Object-based Retrieval in Image and Video Databases

Summary We propose a method for object-based retrieval in image and video databases. In doing so, both color and shape information is taken into account to enrich the querying capabilities for object-based retrieval. The morphological operations are performed on each uniform color region. We use three kinds of histograms: color histogram, distance histogram, and angle histogram. It is shown that the proposed approach is invariant to scaling, rotation, and translation. Finally, performance experiments are carried out by the evaluation of the effectiveness and the robustness of the proposed method.
A Specific Survival Response in Dopamine Neurons at Most Risk in Parkinson's Disease

The specific expression of fibroblast growth factor 20 (FGF-20) in the adult substantia nigra and the association between FGF-20 mutations and Parkinson's disease provoked exploration of the function of this growth factor. We show by gain- and loss-of-function in vitro experiments that FGF-20 promotes survival and stimulates dopamine (DA) release in a calbindin-negative subset of cells that are preferentially lost in Parkinson's disease. FGF-20 selectively activates tyrosine hydroxylase in calbindin-negative neurons. In the adult substantia nigra, calbindin-negative neurons specifically express high levels of FGFR1 (FGF receptor 1). These data show that FGF signals to elevate DA levels and protect the specific midbrain neuron type at most risk in Parkinson's patients.
On self-propulsion of micro-machines at low Reynolds number: Purcell's three-link swimmer

Using slender-body hydrodynamics in the inertialess limit, we examine the motion of Purcell's swimmer, a planar, fore–aft-symmetric three-link flagellum or propulsive mechanism that translates by alternately moving its front and rear segments. Purcell (1976) concluded via symmetry arguments that the net displacement of such a swimmer must follow a straight line, but the direction and other details of the motion have never been investigated. Numerical results indicate that the direction of net translation and the speed of Purcell's swimmer depend on the angular amplitude of the swimming strokes as well as on the relative length of the links. Analytical results are presented for small rotations about the straightened configuration, and physical arguments are given to qualitatively explain the propulsive dynamics. The optimal swimmer configurations under the conditions of constant forcing and of minimum mechanical work are determined. We use a definition of efficiency based on the straightened configuration as a reference state to compare Purcell's swimmer with the previously treated swimming motions of an undulating rod and a rotating helix. Finally, we demonstrate the importance of the anisotropy in the local hydrodynamic slender-body drag to swimming motions at low Reynolds number by showing that, in general, any inextensible swimmer in an otherwise quiescent fluid cannot alter its average position under conditions of locally isotropic drag.
Emotion recognition in children with profound and severe deafness: Do they have a deficit in perceptual processing?

Findings from several studies have suggested that deaf children have difficulties with emotion identification and that these may impact upon social skills. The authors of these studies have typically attributed such problems to delayed language acquisition and/or opportunity to converse about personal experiences with other people (Peterson & Siegal, 1995, 1998). The current study aimed to investigate emotion identification in children with varying levels of deafness by specifically testing their ability to recognize perceptual aspects of emotions depicted in upright or inverted human and cartoon faces. The findings from the study showed that, in comparison with both chronological- and mental-age-matched controls, the deaf children were significantly worse at identifying emotions. However, like controls, their performance decreased when emotions were presented on the inverted faces, thus indexing a typical configural processing style. No differences were found across individuals with different levels of deafness or in those with and without signing family members. The results are supportive of poor emotional identification in hearing-impaired children and are discussed in relation to delays in language acquisition and intergroup differences in perceptual processing.
Theory of dimension for large discrete sets and applications

We define two notions of discrete dimension based on the Minkowski and Hausdorff dimensions in the continuous setting. After proving some basic results illustrating these definitions, we apply this machinery to the study of connections between the Erd˝ os and Falconer distance problems in geometric combinatorics and geometric measure theory, respectively.
Use of information technologies in shipping logistics : a case study of Singapore.

This project endeavours to investigate the current status of IT adoption in Singapore’s shipping logistics and seafreight forwarding industry. It is found that the level of adoption of IT applications in Singapore’s shipping logistics industry is considerably comprehensive. The observed perceived usefulness and perceived ease of use of IT applications are high across the industry, particularly for web-based IT applications. The most significant perceived benefits brought by IT implementation are found to be faster information response and access, improvement of efficiency and streamlining of logistics processes, whereas the most significant perceived barrier to IT adoption is the high cost of implementation. Lastly, it is revealed that more R&D efforts focusing on the provision of real-time information are warmly anticipated by the industry. Keywords—information technology, shipping logistics
Environmental amenities as a source of market power.

Site-specific environmental amenities can provide a source of product-differentiating market power. Using estimates from hedonic-price equations and residual-demand models, our analysis recovers firm-specific estimates of price markups as measures of market power, and uses these markups to estimate the implied marginal value for access to coastal beaches. The application involves rental price and occupancy data for several thousand beach properties along a portion of the North Carolina coastline during the 1987 to 1992 rental seasons.
The Statistical Analysis of Morphosyntactic Distributions

This paper describes methods for the statistical analysis of quantitative data on the distribution of morphosyntactic features. A key problem is the large amount of ambiguity in automatically extracted data. In the paper, I argue for a conservative approach that treats ambiguous instances as counter-evidence. It is nonetheless possible to obtain detailed morphosyntactic information from the corpus data with the help of partial disambiguation and by exploiting systematic ambiguity classes.
AUTOMATICALLY GENERATED WIN32 HEURISTIC VIRUS DETECTION

Heuristic classifiers which distinguish between uninfected and infected members of some class of program objects have usually been constructed by hand. We automatically construct multiple neural network classifiers which can detect unknown Win32 viruses, following a technique described in previous work (Kephart et al, 1995) on boot virus heuristics. These individual classifiers have a false positive rate too high for real-world deployment. We find that, by combining the individual classifier outputs using a voting procedure, the risk of false positives is reduced to an arbitrarily low level, with only a slight increase in the false negative rate. Regular heuristics retraining on updated sets of exemplars (both infected and uninfected) is practical if the false positive rate is low enough.
Building NLP resources for Dzongkha: A Tagset and A Tagged Corpus

This paper describes the application of probabilistic part of speech taggers to the Dzongkha language. A tag set containing 66 tags is designed, which is based on the Penn Treebank. A training corpus of 40,247 tokens is utilized to train the model. Using the lexicon extracted from the training corpus and lexicon from the available word list, we used two statistical taggers for comparison reasons. The best result achieved was 93.1% accuracy in a 10-fold cross validation on the training set. The winning tagger was thereafter applied to annotate a 570,247 token corpus.
From snowflake formation to growth of bacterial colonies II: Cooperative formation of complex colonial patterns

In nature, bacterial colonies must often cope with hostile environmental conditions. To do so they have developed sophisticated cooperative behaviour and intricate communication capabilities, such as direct cell- cell physical interactions via extra-membrane polymers, collective production of extracellular 'wetting' fluid for movement on hard surfaces, longrange chemical signalling such as quorum sensing and chemotactic (bias of movement according to gradient of chemical agent) signalling, collective activation and deactivation of genes and even exchange of genetic material. Utilizing these capabilities, the bacterial colonies develop complex spatio-temporal patterns in response to adverse growth conditions. We present a wealth of beautiful patterns formed during colonial development of various bacterial strains and for different environmental conditions. Invoking ideas from pattern formation in non-living systems and using generic modelling we are able to reveal novel bacterial strategies which account f.
Endogenous Volatility, Endogenous Growth, and Large Welfare Gains from Stabilization Policies

This paper shows that (i) fluctuations driven by self-fulfilling expectations can negatively affect long-run growth and (ii) the welfare gain from further stabilizing the U.S. economy can be several orders larger than that calculated by Lucas (1987) because policies designed to reduce fluctuations can generate permanently higher rates of growth. Self fulfilling expectations arise from incomplete information for price setting firms. ; Previously titled: Volatility, growth, and large welfare gains from stabilization policies
A Hierarchical and Heterogeneous P2P-SIP Architecture

In this paper, we propose a hierarchical and heterogeneous P2P-SIP architecture, which is independent of the underlying DHT overlay and makes the combination of P2P and SIP practical. Peers who work in heterogeneous overlays, i.e. Chord, Kademlia and Pastry, can intercommunicate with other peers who are in different overlay via a decentralized manner provided by the hierarchical P2P-SIP architecture. Some nodes in the overlay are proposed to be stateful to improve the reliability of the overlay. Finally, a session initial example is presented to illustrate this architecture.
A single deck 2D magnet levitation platform

This paper investigates the use of single deck design to achieve 2 dimensional magnetic levitation motion. The concept is use simple and repeated stator coil designs so that the stator can be extended to enlarge the traveling range of the motion stage. In this paper, a novel design for the stage/platform configuration enables the stator platform to not only levitate but also actively maintain constant position and orientation of the moving stage. The design is based on an array of vertically oriented solenoids. The permanent magnet stage design allows for both the levitation force and the lateral compensation forces. We used ANSOFT simulation to help the lateral force design consideration and used experimental setup to verify the concept.
UB at TREC 13: Genomics Track

This paper describes the experiments of the State University of New York at Bu(cid:11)alo in TREC 13. We participated in the Genomics track and submitted o(cid:14)cial runs to the Adhoc retrieval task. Our approach uses a language model IR system developed in house. We also present uno(cid:14)cial results for the triage sub-task of categorization task.
Flux observer with online tuning of stator and rotor resistances for induction motors

This paper proposes an adaptive flux observer for induction motors, where stator and rotor resistances are estimated in online environments. The variation of motor parameters during operation degrades the performance of the controller and the flux observer. Among the parameters of induction motors, rotor resistance is a crucial one for flux estimation, and stator resistance also becomes critical in the low-speed region. Under the persistent excitation condition, the proposed method estimates the actual values of stator and rotor resistances simultaneously, which guarantees the exact estimation of the rotor flux. The persistent excitation condition is not satisfied when the electric torque of an induction motor is absent due to the lack of rotor currents. Even in this case, the proposed method achieves the correct estimation of the rotor flux. Simulations and actual experiments show that the rotor flux is estimated in all operating conditions and that both resistances converge to their actual values when the electrical motor torque exists.