Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
The PEAK Project

The PEAK project at the University of Alberta is a radical attempt to understand world knowledge in terms of a minimal ontology of sensori-motor experience. Experience is defined as the time sequence of low-level signals passing back and forth between the AI agent and its world at some relatively fast rate, say 100 times a second. The signals passing from the world to the agent are termed sensations and from the agent to the world are termed actions. For concreteness, time is taken to be discrete. The minimal ontology is then exactly these three things: sensations, actions, and time steps. The PEAK project explores the hypothesis that all empirical knowledge can be precisely characterized as predictions about the relationships among these three things, without reference to any other concepts or entities except insofar as they themselves can be precisely characterized in terms of the minimal ontology. The primary challenge to the PEAK hypothesis is the mismatch between low-level experience and human-level world knowledge as we normally think of it. The gap between even relatively simple concepts, such as that of a book or a chair, and low-level 100-times-a-second experience can seem immense. Thus the PEAK project is appropriately focused on the issue of abstraction. Its primary objective is to stretch our imagination through examples and implemented systems until bridging the abstraction gap seems possible and plausible. The acronym PEAK stands for Predictive Empirical Abstract Knowledge. Grounding knowledge in experience is extremely challenging, but may bring an equally extreme benefit. Representing knowledge in terms of experience enables it to be compared with experience. Knowledge imparted by human experts can be verified or disproved by this comparison. Existing knowledge can be tuned and new knowledge can be created (learned). The overall effect is that the AI agent may be able to take much more responsibility for maintaining and organizing its knowledge. The ability of an AI system to self-verify its knowledge is indeed a substantial benefit. While large amounts of knowledge is a great strength of AI systems, it is also a great weakness. The problem is that as knowledge bases grow they become brittle and difficult to maintain. There arise inconsistencies in the terminology used by different people or at
Lutein, zeaxanthin and meso-zeaxanthin content of eggs laid by hens supplemented with free and esterified xanthophylls

Abstract The xanthophyll carotenoids lutein (L), zeaxanthin (Z) and meso-zeaxanthin (MZ) are found at the macula, the central part of the retina, where they are referred to as macular pigment (MP). MP is studied in human subjects because of its proven role in enhancing visual function and its putative role in protecting against age-related macular degeneration. These benefits are probably due to the antioxidant and short-wavelength filtering properties of MP. It is known that eggs are a dietary source of L and Z. This experiment was designed to measure the egg yolk carotenoid response to hen supplementation with L, Z and MZ. A total of forty hens were used in the trial and were divided into eight groups of five hens. Each group was supplemented (with about 140 mg active xanthophylls/kg feed) with one of the following oil-based carotenoid formulations for 6 weeks: unesterified L (group 1); L diacetate (group 2); unesterified Z (group 3); Z diacetate (group 4); unesterified MZ (group 5); MZ diacetate (group 6); L–MZ (1:1) diacetate mixture (group 7); L–MZ diacetate (1:3) mixture (group 8). Yolk carotenoid content was analysed weekly (in four randomly selected eggs) by HPLC. We found that hens supplemented with Z diacetate and MZ diacetate produced eggs with significantly greater carotenoid concentrations than their free form counterparts. This finding potentially represents the development of a novel food, suitable to increase MP and its constituent carotenoids in serum.
Relevance Meets Coverage

Collaborative filtering (CF) models offer users personalized recommendations by measuring the relevance between the active user and each individual candidate item. Following this idea, user-based collaborative filtering (UCF) usually selects the local popular items from the like-minded neighbor users. However, these traditional relevance-based models only consider the individuals (i.e., each neighbor user and candidate item) separately during neighbor set selection and recommendation set generation, thus usually incurring highly similar recommendations that lack diversity. While many researchers have recognized the importance of diversified recommendations, the proposed solutions either needed additional semantic information of items or decreased accuracy in this process. In this article, we describe how to generate both accurate and diversified recommendations from a new perspective. Along this line, we first introduce a simple measure of coverage that quantifies the usefulness of the whole set, that is, the neighbor userset and the recommended itemset as a complete entity. Then we propose a recommendation framework named REC that considers both traditional relevance-based scores and the new coverage measure based on UCF. Under REC, we further prove that the goals of maximizing relevance and coverage measures simultaneously in both the neighbor set selection step and the recommendation set generation step are NP-hard. Luckily, we can solve them effectively and efficiently by exploiting the inherent submodular property. Furthermore, we generalize the coverage notion and the REC framework from both a data perspective and an algorithm perspective. Finally, extensive experimental results on three real-world datasets show that the REC-based recommendation models can naturally generate more diversified recommendations without decreasing accuracy compared to some state-of-the-art models.
Prediction, sequences and the hippocampus

Recordings of rat hippocampal place cells have provided information about how the hippocampus retrieves memory sequences. One line of evidence has to do with phase precession, a process organized by theta and gamma oscillations. This precession can be interpreted as the cued prediction of the sequence of upcoming positions. In support of this interpretation, experiments in two-dimensional environments and on a cue-rich linear track demonstrate that many cells represent a position ahead of the animal and that this position is the same irrespective of which direction the rat is coming from. Other lines of investigation have demonstrated that such predictive processes also occur in the non-spatial domain and that retrieval can be internally or externally cued. The mechanism of sequence retrieval and the usefulness of this retrieval to guide behaviour are discussed.
Geospatial Assessment of the Impact of Urban Sprawl in Akure, Southwestern Nigeria

This study analyzed trend and examined the factors responsible for urban sprawl in Akure with a view to develop a user-friendly geospatial database for monitoring urban sprawl in the study area. Medium resolution satellite imageries derived from Landsat (TM) and (ETM+) comprising of four dates (1986, 1991, 2002 and 2011) were analyzed. The results revealed that built-up area increased rapidly by 43.31% from 5857.54 hectares in 1986 to 8394.21 hectares in 1991. It further increased by 72.02% from 8762.76 hectares to 15073.7 hectares in 2011. Field study conducted in 2013 involved in-depth interviews and questionnaires to stakeholders and residence respectively. The analysis showed that there was a weak negative relationship (r = -0.189, p < 0.01) between gender and “house ownership”, a weak positive relationship (r = 0.343, p < 0.01) between marital status and “house ownership” and a weak negative relationship (r = -0.159, p < 0.05) between “number of children” and “house ownership” in the sprawl location. Geo-spatial database modeled was tested by subjecting it to spatial analysis to show its capability to answer question pertaining to all the entities of the database. The study concluded that urban sprawl increased and if not reversed, might constitute greater social and environmental problems in the future.
Uncovering Buffered Pleiotropy: A Genome-Scale Screen for mel-28 Genetic Interactors in Caenorhabditis elegans

mel-28 (maternal-effect-lethal-28) encodes a conserved protein required for nuclear envelope function and chromosome segregation in Caenorhabditis elegans. Because mel-28 is a strict maternal-effect lethal gene, its function is required in the early embryo but appears to be dispensable for larval development. We wanted to test the idea that mel-28 has postembryonic roles that are buffered by the contributions of other genes. To find genes that act coordinately with mel-28, we did an RNA interference−based genetic interaction screen using mel-28 and wild-type larvae. We screened 18,364 clones and identified 65 genes that cause sterility in mel-28 but not wild-type worms. Some of these genes encode components of the nuclear pore. In addition we identified genes involved in dynein and dynactin function, vesicle transport, and cell-matrix attachments. By screening mel-28 larvae we have bypassed the requirement for mel-28 in the embryo, uncovering pleiotropic functions for mel-28 later in development that are normally provided by other genes. This work contributes toward revealing the gene networks that underlie cellular processes and reveals roles for a maternal-effect lethal gene later in development.
On the higher efficiency of parallel Reed-Solomon turbo-decoding

In this paper, we demonstrate the higher hardware efficiency of Reed-Solomon (RS) parallel turbo decoding compared with BCH parallel turbo decoding. Based on an innovative architecture, this is the first implementation of fully parallel RS turbo decoder. A performance analysis is performed showing that RS block turbo codes (RS-BTC) have decoding performance equivalent to Bose Ray-Chaudhuri Hocquenghem-block turbo codes (BCH-BTC). A ratio between the decoder throughput and the decoder area is used to show the higher efficiency of the RS full parallel turbo decoder. Finally an implementation of a (31,29)2 RS block turbo decoder on a high performance board including 6 Xilinx Virtex5 FPGAs is detailed. The resulting turbo decoder has an information throughput above 6 Gb/s while the working frequency is only 45 MHz. It shows that RS BTC are an attractive solution for low cost Gb/s fiber optical communications.
Omega-6/omega-3 ratio and brain-related functions.

While the general public typically perceives lipids and fats as ‘harmful’ components of the diet (as in the popular slogan: ‘fat kills’), the scientific story is in fact very different. Among the major scientific research efforts of the recent period, in the area of neuroscience, we find the recognition of the ‘essential fatty acids’ (EFA). The profound effects of various fatty acids, and equally profound effects of their deficits, are appreciated by a variety of disciplines, including (but not necessarily limited to) lipid biochemistry, physiology, nutrition, psychology, psychiatry, and neurosciences at large. Recently, the issue of lipids, and fatty acids ratio in diets, became an important issue. Simopoulos [1] showed the historical shift from a ‘balanced’ omega–6 and omega–3 ratio diet, towards a marked and significant reduction in the omega–3 intake, and explained that the general ‘Western diet’ of today can in actual fact be considered an omega–3deficient diet. Her concern is that this ‘deficiency’ may lead to coronary heart disease and high cancer mortality. Linoleic acid (LA; omega–6; 6; 18:26) is the parent fatty acid of the omega–6 group. Linoleic acid must be supplied to the body by the diet, because the body is unable to synthesize it. All other members of the omega–6 group are derivatives of LA. Similarly, the parent compound of the omega–3 group is alpha-linolenic acid (ALA, omega–3, 3, 18:33). All other members of the omega–3 group are merely derivatives of ALA, and together they form the polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFA). In each group, the derivatives can convert to longer chain fatty acids by using two mechanisms: desaturation and elongation.
Sensus: a security-conscious electronic polling system for the Internet

Presents the design and implementation of Sensus, a practical, secure and private system for polling (conducting surveys and elections) over computer networks. Expanding on the work of Fujioka, Okamoto and Ohta (1993), Sensus uses blind signatures to ensure that only registered voters can vote and that each registered voter only votes once, while at the same time maintaining voters' privacy. Sensus allows voters to verify independently that their votes were counted correctly and to anonymously challenge the results should their votes be miscounted. We outline seven desirable properties of voting systems and show that Sensus satisfies these properties well, in some cases better than traditional voting systems.
Comparison of Trunk Activity during Gait Initiation and Walking in Humans

To understand the role of trunk muscles in maintenance of dynamic postural equilibrium we investigate trunk movements during gait initiation and walking, performing trunk kinematics analysis, Erector spinae muscle (ES) recordings and dynamic analysis. ES muscle expressed a metachronal descending pattern of activity during walking and gait initiation. In the frontal and horizontal planes, lateroflexion and rotation occur before in the upper trunk and after in the lower trunk. Comparison of ES muscle EMGs and trunk kinematics showed that trunk muscle activity precedes corresponding kinematics activity, indicating that the ES drive trunk movement during locomotion and thereby allowing a better pelvis mobilization. EMG data showed that ES activity anticipates propulsive phases in walking with a repetitive pattern, suggesting a programmed control by a central pattern generator. Our findings also suggest that the programs for gait initiation and walking overlap with the latter beginning before the first has ended.
Three Maize Leaf Ferredoxin:NADPH Oxidoreductases Vary in Subchloroplast Location, Expression, and Interaction with Ferredoxin1[w]

In higher plants, ferredoxin (Fd):NADPH oxidoreductase (FNR) catalyzes reduction of NADP+ in the final step of linear photosynthetic electron transport and is also implicated in cyclic electron flow. We have identified three leaf FNR isoenzymes (LFNR1, LFNR2, and LFNR3) in maize (Zea mays) chloroplasts at approximately equivalent concentrations. Fractionation of chloroplasts showed that, while LFNR3 is an exclusively soluble enzyme, LFNR1 is only found at the thylakoid membrane and LFNR2 has a dual location. LFNR1 and LFNR2 were found to associate with the cytochrome b6f complex following its partial purification. We cloned LFNR3 and produced all three isoenzymes as stable, soluble proteins. Measurement of Fd reduction ability showed no significant differences between these recombinant enzymes. Column chromatography revealed variation between the interaction mechanisms of LFNR1 and LFNR2 with Fd, as detected by differential dependence on specific intermolecular salt bridges and variable sensitivity of interactions to changes in pH. A comparison of LFNR transcripts in leaves of plants grown on variable nitrogen regimes revealed that LFNR1 and LFNR2 transcripts are relatively more abundant under conditions of high demand for NADPH. These results are discussed in terms of the functional differentiation of maize LFNR isoenzymes.
Distribution of epidermal growth factor receptors in rabbit lens epithelial cells.

PURPOSE This study examined the growth-promoting effect of epidermal growth factor (EGF) on rabbit lens epithelial cells and the distribution of EGF receptors in these cells. METHODS Rabbit lens epithelial cells were cultured in TC-199 medium containing 0.5% fetal bovine serum and EGF for 1 to 5 days, and the growth-promoting effects of EGF were calculated with absorbance of methylene blue staining method. EGF receptors in the cells were analyzed by Scatchard plots using 125I-EGF in serum-free culture. RESULTS EGF, which enhanced the cell growth in a dose-dependent manner, was stimulatory at 0.1-100 ng/ml and maximal (328.2%) with 10 ng/ml on day 5. The cells had two different affinity receptors. The number and the dissociation constant of the low affinity receptors were 5.81 x 10(4)/cell and 1.488 nM, respectively, and those of the high affinity receptors were 1.53 x 10(4)/cell and 0.159 nM, respectively. CONCLUSION EGF may contribute to the development of living lenses.
Indigenous Organic‐Oxidized Fluid Interactions in the Tissint Mars Meteorite

The observed fall and rapid recovery of the Tissint Mars meteorite has provided minimally contaminated samples of the Martian surface. We report analyses of Tissint for organic compounds by pyrolysis‐gas chromatography‐mass spectrometry and for soluble salts by ion chromatography. Pyrolysis‐gas chromatography‐mass spectrometry analysis shows the presence of organic compounds similar to those in the Mars EETA79001 and Nakhla meteorites. The organic profile is dominated by aromatic hydrocarbons, including oxygen and nitrogen‐containing aromatics, and sulfur‐containing species including thiophenes. The soluble salts in Tissint are dominated by sulfate and various oxidation states of chlorine, including perchlorate. The organic compounds and salts in the soils from the Tissint recovery strewn field differ significantly from those found in Tissint suggesting minimal terrestrial contamination. Our results support the hypothesis that the soluble inorganic components of Tissint are most likely a result of indigenous fluid inclusion, thus providing a glimpse into the composition of early Martian fluids.
International Journal of Evaluation and Research in Education (IJERE)

Received Jun 7, 2021 Revised Jan 2, 2022 Accepted Feb 4, 2022 Comprehensive monitoring in virtual laboratory learning needs a task model. This model was design based on inquiry skills, social and scientific communication of prospective physics teachers. The development of these three skills is still a problem in recent research on virtual laboratory learning. This research was research and development (RD) using a preliminary study (literature studies, field surveys, and preparation of the initial product) and development of the model (within limited testing). Respondents were 54 prospective physics teachers and five physics lecturers from several universities in Indonesia. The analysis was done by descriptive qualitative, and quantitative. There are two essential parts of the task model. The first part consists of six inquiry steps, which describe the interactions between students with their virtual experiments. The second part consists of three inquiry steps that analyze how students communicate their virtual experiments through verbal, picture, and diagrammatic representations. Based on these findings, the task model's design is essential to develop inquiry skills, social and scientific communication for prospective physics teachers. The researcher can use this task model in the next step of RD.
Neural Correlates of Stress- and Food Cue–Induced Food Craving in Obesity

OBJECTIVE Obesity is associated with alterations in corticolimbic-striatal brain regions involved in food motivation and reward. Stress and the presence of food cues may each motivate eating and engage corticolimibic-striatal neurocircuitry. It is unknown how these factors interact to influence brain responses and whether these interactions are influenced by obesity, insulin levels, and insulin sensitivity. We hypothesized that obese individuals would show greater responses in corticolimbic-striatal neurocircuitry after exposure to stress and food cues and that brain activations would correlate with subjective food craving, insulin levels, and HOMA-IR. RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODS Fasting insulin levels were assessed in obese and lean subjects who were exposed to individualized stress and favorite-food cues during functional MRI. RESULTS Obese, but not lean, individuals exhibited increased activation in striatal, insular, and hypothalamic regions during exposure to favorite-food and stress cues. In obese but not lean individuals, food craving, insulin, and HOMA-IR levels correlated positively with neural activity in corticolimbic-striatal brain regions during favorite-food and stress cues. The relationship between insulin resistance and food craving in obese individuals was mediated by activity in motivation-reward regions including the striatum, insula, and thalamus. CONCLUSIONS These findings demonstrate that obese, but not lean, individuals exhibit increased corticolimbic-striatal activation in response to favorite-food and stress cues and that these brain responses mediate the relationship between HOMA-IR and food craving. Improving insulin sensitivity and in turn reducing corticolimbic-striatal reactivity to food cues and stress may diminish food craving and affect eating behavior in obesity.
Context aware sensing for health monitoring

Health Monitoring systems with textile sensors offer more comfort compared to gel electrodes, however they tend to suffer from poor skin contact and motion artifacts. In order to improve the monitoring reliability, we propose to apply multiple sensors and context aware sensing. A context aware monitoring system can adapt monitoring according to changes in the environment and the behavior of people. In this paper, we propose a method with a Context Aware Selection Algorithm (CASA) to select the best signals obtained from multiple textile sensors, and thereby enhancing the reliability of electrocardio-gram (ECG) monitoring. In experiments with adult participants we found that CASA indeed enhances continuous monitoring by selecting the best quality ECG derivation which varies with the context, in this case the posture of the participant. CASA is suitable for embedding in the smart jacket, which is a comfortable monitoring system for babies admitted to the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU).
Image compensation for improving extraction of driver's facial features

Extracting driver's facial feature helps to identify the vigilance level of a driver. Some research about facial feature extraction also has been developed for controlled interface of vehicle. To acquire facial feature of drivers, research using various visual sensors have been reported. However, potential challenges to such a work include rapid illumination variation resulting from ambient lights, abrupt lighting change (e.g., entering/exiting tunnels and sunshine/shadow), and partial occlusion. In this paper, we propose an image compensation method for improve extraction of a driver's facial features. This method has the advantages of fast processing and high adaptation. Our experiments show that the extraction of driver's facial features can be improved significantly.
Book review: The Creative Destruction of New York City: Engineering the City for the Elite

Bridge G, Butler T and Lees L (2011) Mixed Communities: Gentrification by Stealth? Bristol: The Policy Press. Burnier D (2006) Encounters with self in social science research: A political scientist looks at autoethnography. Journal of Contemporary Ethnography 35(4): 410–418. Lees L, Shin HB and Lopes-Morales E (2016) Planetary Gentrification. Cambridge: Polity Press. Lees L, Slater T and Wyly E (2008) Gentrification. New York: Routledge. Slater T (2002) Looking at the ‘North American city’ through the lens of gentrification discourse. Urban Geography 23(2): 131–153. Slater T (2004) North American gentrification? Revanchist and emancipator perspectives explored. Environment and Planning A 36: 1191–1213. Slater T (2014) ‘Broken Britain’: Welfare reform and the production of ignorance. Antipode 46(4): 948–969. Slater T (2015) Planetary rent gaps. Antipode 49 (Suppl 1): 114–137. Smith N (1996) The New Urban Frontier: Gentrification and the Revanchist City. London: Routledge. Wacquant L (2007) Territorial stigmatization in the age of advanced marginality. Thesis Eleven 91(1):66–77. Wacquant L (2008) Urban Outcasts: A Comparative Sociology of Urban Marginality. Cambridge: Polity Press.