Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Interplay between Narrative and Bodily Self in Access to Consciousness: No Difference between Self- and Non-self Attributes

The construct of the “self” is conceived as being fundamental in promoting survival. As such, extensive studies have documented preferential processing of self-relevant stimuli. For example, attributes that relate to the self are better encoded and retrieved, and are more readily consciously perceived. The preferential processing of self-relevant information, however, appears to be especially true for physical (e.g., faces), as opposed to psychological (e.g., traits), conceptions of the self. Here, we test whether semantic attributes that participants judge as self-relevant are further processed unconsciously than attributes that were not judged as self-relevant. In Experiment 1, a continuous flash suppression paradigm was employed with “self” and “non-self” attribute words being presented subliminally, and we asked participants to categorize unseen words as either self-related or not. In a second experiment, we attempted to boost putative preferential self-processing by relation to its physical conception, that is, one’s own body. To this aim, we repeated Experiment 1 while administrating acoustic stimuli either close or far from the body, i.e., within or outside peripersonal space. Results of both Experiment 1 and 2 demonstrate no difference in breaking suppression for self and non-self words. Additionally, we found that while participants were able to process the physical location of the unseen words (above or below fixation) they were not able to categorize these as self-relevant or not. Finally, results showed that sounds presented in the extra-personal space elicited a more stringent response criterion for “self” in the process of categorizing unseen visual stimuli. This shift in criterion as a consequence of sound location was restricted to the self, as no such effect was observed in the categorization of attributes occurring above or below fixation. Overall, our findings seem to indicate that subliminally presented stimuli are not semantically processed, at least inasmuch as to be categorized as self-relevant or not. However, we do demonstrate that the distance at which acoustic stimuli are presented may alter the balance between self- and non-self biases.
Evaluating Scalability of Emerging Multithreaded Applications on Commodity Multicore Server

The performance of multithreaded applications is often limited by resources such as shared cache and memory bandwidth. Several prior studies have examined this issue, but most of them have been constrained by the use of simulators and out-of-date benchmarks. In this work, we conduct an experiment on real commodity CMP machines, using a recently released CMP benchmark suite, PARSEC, to investigate the influence of cache sharing and memory bandwidth on the scalability of emerging parallel applications. The results reveal that the behavioral characteristics of these benchmarks. We find that the shared cache and memory bandwidth are indeed the bottlenecks for some of these applications. The conclusion provides implications for hardware manufacturers and system software designers to build scalable parallel system.
Valuing and revaluing education: what can we learn about measurement from the South African poor?

ABSTRACT This paper reflects on the identification of relevant aspects of education for measurement purposes. It begins by reviewing some detailed lists of educational capabilities from disparate literatures. It then considers how ordinary South Africans perceive education by drawing on two open-ended surveys, and attempts to reconcile their views with different education lists. The main finding is that most abstract lists need to say more about the practical side of education (skills, information and knowledge for everyday living). They also need to embrace a more joined-up view of education that can incorporate linkages between different aspects of education and between education and other aspects of well-being (including mental states and material things). The final part of the paper makes the case for embracing the complexity and imprecision involved in measuring education and briefly sketches a methodological framework that can achieve this end.
SUPE-Net: An Efficient Parallel Simulation Environment for Large-Scale Networked Social Dynamics

Many social systems can be described in terms of complex networks of interacting dynamic entities. The research on social system's dynamics, such as epidemic or rumor spreading, are often suffered from constraints of relatively small to medium scale networks, or dependence on the underlying network assumptions, resulting in limited capacity for dynamics prediction. This paper proposes SUPE-Net, an efficient parallel simulation environment for large-scale social networks. Built on parallel discrete event simulation engine, the SUPE-Net enables high fidelity modeling of social networks with different topologies and complex dynamics protocols. SUPE-Net automatically maps large-scale social networks onto multi-processors and adopts the discrete event fashion to study the complex network dynamics. Different network topologies, including random, small-world, scale-free, and real networks, can be easily constructed and plugged in for comparative study. The execution efficiency of SUPE-Net is demonstrated by simulation experiments of gossip dynamics on the actor networks with millions of entities.
A FINITE ELEMENT METHOD FOR NON-LINEAR HYPERELASTICITY APPLIED FOR THE SIMULATION OF OCTOPUS ARM MOTIONS

An implicit non-linear finite element (FE) numerical procedure for the sim- ulation of biological muscular tissues is presented. The method has been developed for studying the motion of muscular hydrostats, such as squid and octopus arms and its gen- eral framework is applicable to other muscular tissues. The FE framework considered is suitable for the dynamic numerical simulations of three-dimensional non-linear nearly in- compressible hyperelastic materials that undergo large displacements and deformations. Human and animal muscles, consisting of fibers and connective tissues, belong to this class of materials. The stress distribution inside the muscular FE model is considered as the superposition of stresses along the muscular fibers and the connective tissues. The stresses along the fibers are modeled as the sum of active and passive stresses, according to the muscular model of Van Leeuwen and Kier (1997) Philos. Trans. R. Soc. Lon- don, 352: 551-571. Passive stress distribution is an experimentally-defined function of fibers' deformation; while active stress distribution is the product of an activation level time function, a force-stretch function and a force-stretch ratio function. The mechanical behavior of the surrounding tissues is determined adopting a Mooney-Rivlin constitutive model. The incompressibility criterion is met by enforcing large bulk modulus and by introducing modified deformation measures. Due to the non-linear nature of the problem,
Multi arms quasi-yagi antenna for millimeter-wave applications

The design and development of broadband multi arms quasi-Yagi antenna for ka-band and MM-wave wireless communications applications is introduced. The proposed antenna consists of 50 Q microstrip line feed terminated by balun for good impedance matching, printed multi arms of dipole, and a short strip with finite ground plane. The antenna structures, together with the parasitic elements are designed to achieve broad dual-band extended from 23 GHz to 32 GHz and from 43 GHz to 80 GHz. The antenna has been designed to meet the requirement of ISM band 60 GHz, WLANs, WPANs, W-band, 5th generation cellular (28/38) GHz and 80 GHz automotive radar. Antenna design was first simulated using HFSS ver.14, and obtained results were compared with experimental measurements on a prototype developed of a single printed circuit board.
Older Adults with HIV/AIDS in Rural China

Although the number of older people living with HIV/AIDS (PLWHA) has increased substantially, few studies have focused on older PLWHA in developing countries. Based on a sample of 866 rural PLWHA in Henan, Anhui and Yunnan provinces in China, this study compares the characteristics of PLWHA aged 50 or older (n=185) with younger PLWHA (n=681). Most of the older PLWHA were female (n=112), illiterate, married and at the clinical stage of HIV. Over 90% of older people with HIV/AIDS lived in Henan and Anhui provinces. The severe epidemic in Henan and Anhui provinces was caused by commercial blood and plasma donation. Older PLWHA were less educated, received less social support and were more likely to live alone than younger PLWHA. The results underline the importance of developing programs and policy initiatives targeted at older people infected with HIV/AIDS. The policy and program recommendations include using a gender sensitive strategy, designing specific AIDS education and prevention programs suitable for low-literacy older adults and social support interventions for older PLWHA.
Sensory impairments in quiet standing in subjects with multiple sclerosis

Balance disorders and falls are frequently observed in subjects with multiple sclerosis (MS). Along with motor impairment, sensory disorders and integration deficits of sensory inputs lead to inadequate motor responses. The assessment of these sensory disorders in an every day tasks, such as upright stance, increases our knowledge of postural control in this pathology, thus promoting more effective treatments. The aim of the study was to describe sensory impairments and sensory strategies in different sensory conditions. A stabilometric assessment was carried out in a consecutive convenience sample of 53 subjects. The age of the sample was 52.7 (21.1) years; the onset of pathology was 27.20 (14.5) years before the assessment. Balance was assessed in six sensory conditions. The impact of pathology on balance control was shown by the high percentage of abnormal scores: 75% of subjects with MS showed abnormal scores even in the eyes open condition. The alteration of a single sensory input led to an increase of abnormal scores in up to 82% of subjects. Almost all subjects showed abnormal scores in the vestibular conditions where 22% of them fell. The pattern of the subjects’ performance in the six sensory conditions suggests that balance control may be more correlated to the number of reliable sensory inputs than the nature of the sensory input itself.
A People-Localization Method for Multi-Robot Systems First Approach for Guiding-Tours

Throughout this article we present a methodology to localize multiple people in a group by a multi-robot system (MRS). The aim of the MRS is to conduct people through hallways in indoors as a guided-tour service task. However, further than guidance process, we detail a method for humans' localization by sharing distributed sensor data arising from the team of robots instrumented with stereo vision. The robustness of the method is presented, and by matching the real environment against the computed results, error in human localization is showed as well. As a first approach of the entire MRS goal, this paper explains from a task approach the way for environment ranging, spatial noise filtering, distributed sensor data fusion and clustering based segmentation. Likewise, through the paper experimental results are shown to verify the feasibility of the method.
Low Vision Affects the Reading Process Quantitatively But Not Qualitatively

In this article, the authors compare the reading behavior of students with low vision to that of two groups of students with normal vision (reading-match and age-match students). In Experiment 1, students identified the first letter in words and nonwords and the researchers measured latency and accuracy. No group differences were found for latency, but the reading-match group differed from the other two groups on accuracy. All three groups identified the first letter of words faster than they did for nonwords. In Experiment 2, students named words with typical and atypical letter—sound relationships; the researchers measure latency and accuracy. Both the low-vision and the reading-match groups were slower than the age-match group; only the reading-match group made more errors on typical stimuli than on atypical stimuli. The absence of significant interactions between group and any experimental-word variable justified the conclusion that low vision affects the reading process quantitatively but not qualitatively.
SEARCH AND RETRIEVAL OF 3 D PROTEIN STRUCTURES

In this paper a 3D shape-based approach is presented for the efficient search and retrieval of protein molecules. The method primarily relies on the geometric 3D appearance of the proteins, which is produced from the corresponding PDB files and secondarily on their primary and secondary structure. After proper positioning and alignment of the 3D proteins, a variation of the Generalized Radon Transform is applied to the 3D structures so as to produce descriptor vectors, which describe their shape. Further, descriptor vectors that characterize the primary and the secondary structure of the proteins are extracted. Then, different weight factors are assigned to each descriptor vector, which are introduced in a matching algorithm so as to retrieve the proteins with highest geometric similarity. A part of the FSSP/DALI database was used as ground truth in order to measure the efficiency of the proposed method.
predatory behaviour of white sharks (carcharodon carcharias) at seal island, south africa

between 1997 and 2003, there were 2088 natural predations by white sharks (carcharodon carcharias) on cape fur seals (arctocephalus pusillus pusillus) and 121 strikes on towed seal-shaped decoys were documented from observation vessels at seal island, south africa. white sharks at seal island appear to selectively target lone, incoming young of the year cape fur seals at or near the surface. most attacks lasted <1 min and consisted of a single breach, with predatory success rate decreasing rapidly with increasing duration and number of subsequent breaches. a white shark predatory ethogram, composed of four phases and 20 behavioural units, is presented, including four varieties of initial strike and 11 subsequent behaviour units not previously defined in the literature. behaviour units scored from 210 predatory attacks revealed that, for both successful and unsuccessful attacks, polaris breach was the most commonly employed initial strike, while surface lunge was the most frequent second event, closely followed by lateral snap. examination of video footage, still images, and tooth impressions in decoys indicated that white sharks at seal island bite prey obliquely using their anterolateral teeth via a sudden lateral snap of the jaws and not perpendicularly with their anterior teeth, as previously supposed. analysis of white shark upper tooth morphology and spacing suggest the reversed intermediate teeth of white sharks occur at the strongest part of the jaw and produce the largest wound. white shark predatory success at seal island is greatest (55%) within one hour of sunrise and decreases rapidly with increasing ambient light; the sharks cease active predation on seals when success rate drops to ±40%; this is the first evidence of cessation of foraging at unproductive times by any predatory fish. at seal island, white shark predatory success is significantly lower at locations where frequency of predation is highest, suggesting that white sharks may launch suboptimal strikes in areas of greatest intraspecific competition; this is the first evidence of social influence on predation in any elasmobranch. idiosyncratic predatory behaviours and elevated success rates of known individual white sharks at seal island suggest some degree of trial-and-error learning. a hypothetical decision tree is proposed that models predatory behaviour of white sharks attacking cape fur seals at the surface.
Clamp stepper piezoelectric linear motor with composite of two amplifications

This study presents a new type of linear motor based on the micro-vibration of piezoelectric stacks. The working mechanism of the motor was analyzed. Then the clamping structure and overall structure of motor was designed. Further, the best size of the flexible structures was obtained by means of finite element analysis method on the clamping structure. The prototype was manufactured and tested. Then the speed characteristic curve of motor is analyzed. The experimental results on the prototype verify the feasibility of the scheme, by applying voltage signal of peak to peak value 100V and frequency of 150 Hz, the no-load speed is 1.23 mm/s and the thrust is 1.6 N, and it meets the basic requirement of the precision of linear feed system.
Teoria historii życia a zachowania przestępcze

The aim of the present article is to show the violent crime phenomenon from a life history theory perspective, which is drawn on evolutionary biology but more and more often is being employed in the area of psychology. In recent years there has been increasing interest in the explanations of criminality, which are linked with ecology and evolutionary psychology. This is a review article which draws attention to the possibilities to analyze causes of crime in the context of life history theory.
Adapting Human Well-being Frameworks for Ecosystem Service Assessments across Diverse Landscapes

There is broad support for the notion that ecosystem services influence human well-being (HWB), however, the means to measure such an effect are elusive. Measures of HWB are commonly used within the fields of psychology, economics, and international development, but thus far have not been integrated fully into ecosystem service assessments. We examine the multidimensional nature of HWB and discuss the need for a robust framework that captures its complex relationship with ecosystem services. We review several well-known HWB indices and describe the adaptation of two frameworks—the Economist Intelligence Unit’s Quality of Life Index and the Sustainable Livelihoods Framework—to evaluate county-level HWB within the Albemarle–Pamlico Basin (Virginia and North Carolina, USA) using a stakeholder-engaged approach. We present maps of HWB that illustrate the results of both frameworks, discuss the feedback from stakeholders that guided indicator and data selection, and examine the observed differences in HWB throughout the basin. We conclude with suggestions for enhancing the role of ecosystem services in HWB indices.
BioScout: a life-science query monitoring system

Scientific data are available through an increasing number of heterogeneous, independently evolving, sources. Although the sources themselves are independently evolving, the data stored in them are not. There exist inherent and intricate relationships between the distributed data-sets and scientists are routinely required to write distributed queries in this setting. Being non-experts in computer science, the scientists are faced with two major challenges: (i) How to express such distributed queries. This is a non-trivial task, even if we assume that scientists are familiar with query languages like SQL. Such queries can get arbitrarily complex as more sources are considered; (ii) How to efficiently evaluate such distributed queries. An efficient evaluation must account for batches of hundreds (or even thousands) of submitted queries and must optimize all of them as a whole. In this demo, we focus on the biological domain for illustration purposes (our solutions are applicable to other scientific domains) and we present a system, called BioScout, that offers solutions in both of the above challenges. In more detail, we demonstrate the following functionality: (i) in BioScout, scientists draw their queries graphically, resulting in a query graph. The scientist is unaware of the query language used or of any optimization issues. Given the query graph, the system is able to generate, as a first step, an optimal query plan for the submitted query; (ii) BioScout uses four different strategies to combine the optimal query plans of individual queries to generate a global query plan for all the submitted queries. In the demo, we illustrate graphically how each of the four strategies works.
Biological motion perception and the animate-inanimate distinction in typically-developing children and children with Autism Spectrum Disorder

The present dissertation had two main objectives. The first objective was to investigate the development of naive biological reasoning among typically-developing (TD) children and children with high-functioning Autism Spectrum Disorder (HF-ASD). Secondly, the potential link between biological motion understanding and the ability to form the animate-inanimate (A-I) distinction in both TD and HF-ASD children was evaluated. The first study examined the development of the A-I distinction among typically-developing 4- and 5- year-old children, and established that around 5 years of age children are able to form taxonomic A-I categories. Interestingly, when given the opportunity to form categories based on either taxonomic or thematic rules many children switched to categorizing thematically. The second study examined another aspect of naive biology, namely the ability to identify biological motion among TD children and children with HF-ASD. This study was the first to compare point-light and schematic presentations of biological motion. The point-light biological motion task required children to identify degraded motion of a human, a cat, a bicycle, and a truck. The schematic biological motion task tested whether children associate expansion-contraction motion with the animate category. Across both motion identification tasks children with HF-ASD were unimpaired in identifying biological motion. The final study investigated the development of naive biology among children with HF-ASD and also sought to determine whether motion perception is linked to the formation of A-I concepts. Children with HF-ASD were unimpaired in their ability to form broad A-I categories. In contrast to what has been found during the infancy period, TD preschool children did not prioritize motion cues when forming A-I categories. Rather, it is hypothesized that pre-school children rely on more global representations of naive biology that include other non-obvious attributes of animates. Similarly, among children with HF-ASD no relationship between prioritization of attention to biological motion and children’s ability to form the A-I distinction was found. However, children with HF-ASD who engaged more in the active process of visually comparing biological and non-biological motion were better at forming A-I categories. Taken together, the results of these studies indicate that children with HF-ASD were unimpaired on multiple aspects of naive biological reasoning, specifically, A-I taxonomic category formation and the identification of biological motion. Additionally, the results of this research also suggest that while TD infants rely on motion cues to guide the formation of A-I categories, school-aged children use more global representations of naive biology that include other perceptual cues and features.
Using Hybrid Particle Swarm Optimization for Process Planning Problem

In this paper, a hybrid particle swarm optimization (PSO) incorporating local search algorithm is reported to handle the process planning problem. From modeling perspective, the process planning problem is considered as deciding the operation methods, including selection of machine, tool and tool approach direction, and operation sequencing in a concurrent way, which is a non-deterministic polynomial-time (NP) hard combinatorial problem. To solve this discrete optimization problem, a hybrid PSO approach is proposed using a specific solution representation, update and search. The presented case study has shown the capability of the proposed algorithm to gain a good quality of solution.