Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Confidence-based robot policy learning from demonstration

The problem of learning a policy, a task representation mapping from world states to actions, lies at the heart of many robotic applications. One approach to acquiring a task policy is learning from demonstration, an interactive technique in which a robot learns a policy based on example state to action mappings provided by a human teacher. This thesis introduces Confidence-Based Autonomy, a mixed-initiative single robot demonstration learning algorithm that enables the robot and teacher to jointly control the learning process and selection of demonstration training data. The robot to identifies the need for and requests demonstrations for specific parts of the state space based on confidence thresholds characterizing the uncertainty of the learned policy. The robot's demonstration requests are complemented by the teacher's ability to provide supplementary corrective demonstrations in error cases. An additional algorithmic component enables choices between multiple equally applicable actions to be represented explicitly within the robot's policy through the creation of option classes. Based on the single-robot Confidence-Based Autonomy algorithm, this thesis introduces a task and platform independent multi-robot demonstration learning framework for teaching multiple robots. Building upon this framework, we formalize three approaches to teaching emergent collaborative behavior based on different information sharing strategies. We provide detailed evaluations of all algorithms in multiple simulated and robotic domains, and present a case study analysis of the scalability of the presented techniques using up to seven robots.
Uniform Service Description With Semantics for Search and Composition

Dynamic service composition provides the potential for future applications to adapt to various user preferences and contexts. Dynamic service composition involves dynamic search and dynamic composition phases. However, most of existing service description methods only focus on search or composition individually. Also some service descriptions lack the expression of domain knowledge. To overcome these problems, this paper proposes a new service description model called business process oriented service semantic description model, or SeSDeM. SeSDeM resolves the problems of the existing description methods by applying ontologies and facets from the point of the view of business process. This paper describes the structure of SeSDeM and shows how to support searching and composing services simultaneously using SeSDeM
Acute exercise and executive function in young adults with ADHD

Acute exercise and executive function in young adults with ADHD. " PhD (Doctor of Philosophy) thesis, iv ACKNOWLEDGMENTS I would first like to extend my deepest gratitude to my supervisor, Dr. Stewart Ehly. His tireless support and unwavering belief in my abilities has sustained me these last six years. Thanks to his mentorship, I am completing graduate school with the skills, maturity and confidence required for the next stage of my career. I would also like to thank my committee members Dr. Wood for their insight and support in this process. I am grateful for your service on my committee and the role you played in my education. Special thanks are also necessary to Bill Knabe for statistical guidance in this project and projects prior as well as Dr. Timothy Ansley and Dr. Volker Thomas for their insights on this project. I would also like to acknowledge the Michelle Harder and the rest of the staff at the University of Iowa Campus Recreation and Wellness Center for their support in recruitment as well as the undergraduate and graduate students for their participation in this project. The combined efforts of these individuals facilitated timely completion of this project Finally, I would be remiss if I did not thank my partner, Amanda Berns for her support throughout this entire grad school adventure. I cannot express deeply enough how much I appreciate you. I look forward to a lifetime of adventures. v ABSTRACT The purpose of the study was to identify the effect of a single bout of moderately intense aerobic exercise on measures of executive function in young adults with ADHD. Thirty-two young adults between the ages of 18 and 25 years old were randomly assigned to either an acute exercise group or a control group. The exercise protocol was designed to address the methodological shortcomings in the exercise and executive function literature, and involved cycling on a stationary bike at moderate intensity for 30 minutes. Participants completed executive function tasks related to set shifting, working memory, and inhibition prior to and immediately following the treatment session. Results of the study reveal that acute exercise facilitated performance on the Stroop Color-Word task when compared to sedentary controls. However, unlike previous research on healthy adults, no improvements on the other measures of executive function were observed. These findings suggest that young adults with ADHD may specifically benefit from acute exercise on aspects of executive …
On Incremental Condition Estimators in the 2-Norm

This paper deals with estimating the condition number of triangular matrices in the Euclidean norm. The two main incremental methods, based on the work of Bischof and the later work of Duff and Vomel, are compared. The paper presents new theoretical results revealing their similarities and differences. As typical in condition number estimation, there is no universal always-winning strategy, but theoretical and experimental arguments show that the clearly preferable approach is the algorithm of Duff and Vomel when appropriately applied to both the triangular matrix itself and its inverse. This leads to a highly accurate incremental condition number estimator.
Sentibase: Sentiment Analysis in Twitter on a Budget

Like SemEval 2013 and 2014, the task Sentiment Analysis in Twitter found a place in this year’s SemEval too and attracted an unprecedented number of participations. This task comprises of four sub-tasks. We participated in subtask 2 — Message polarity classification. Although we lie a few notches down from the top system, we present a very simple yet effective approach to handle this problem that can be implemented in a single day!
Impact of a national campaign on hospital readmissions in home care patients.

OBJECTIVE Assess impact of nationwide home health quality improvement campaign to reduce acute care hospitalization of home health recipients. DESIGN Observational pre-post comparison of self-selected participating and non-participating agencies' quality performance; survey to determine uptake of program materials. SETTING US home health care agencies. PARTICIPANTS A total of 147 agencies with 147 non-participating agencies matched on patient length of service, pre-intervention hospitalization rate and pre-intervention rate of change in hospitalization rate. INTERVENTION(S) Public events; provision of educational packages and technical assistance; quality measure feedback. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURE(S) Post-intervention difference in risk-adjusted acute care hospitalization rate between participants and non-participants; difference in self-reported campaign material use between agencies whose hospitalization rate declined 2% or more and those whose rates increased by 2% or more. RESULTS Hospitalization rate had a negative trend beginning before the campaign. In the matched pairs studied, it did not differ significantly between participants and non-participants, or from pre- to post-intervention period (28% in every case). Agencies that improved were more likely to report activities consistent with the campaign and using campaign interventions than those not improving (P < 0.001), regardless of participation status. CONCLUSIONS Merely agreeing to participate in the campaign did not improve performance, but effective participation through adoption of campaign methods did.
A Two Formal Languages Based Model for Representing Human Activities

Within this paper, we present a novel method for view-independent simple human activity recognition from video frames. In order to tackle the problem, we are going to reduce the number of frames produce by a video sequence, since we are positive that we can identify activities from sparsely sampled sequence of body poses. Then we will use a cooperative set of formal languages. Named SOMA and KINISIS language respectively. SOMA language represents various information regarding the human body (state) in a frame and will assign to it a unique timestamp. While KINISIS language is a sequence based formal language that is going to use the information extracted from SOMA language and segment simple activities into separate actions and then correctly identify each one of them.
Competing Devotions: Career and Family among Women Executives

Competing Devotions: Career and Family Among Women Executives. Mary Blair-Loy. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press. 2003. 269 pp. ISBN 0-674-01089-2. $39.95 (cloth). Despite the rapid increase in women's educational attainment and enhanced labor force opportunities, women continue to lag behind men in career success. Goldin (2004) estimates that only 21%-27% of recent cohorts of college-educated women achieve "work and family" success (babies and well-paid careers) by midlife; Mary Blair-Loy, in Competing Devotions, helps us understand why. Based on in-depth interviews with 56 women in top executive positions in the finance industry and with 25 women who left these high-powered careers to focus on children and family, she illuminates the factors that impede gender equality in the labor market and the home even among those with the greatest resources and ability. According to Blair-Loy, two powerful schema help define the options of high-achieving women: the schema of "devotion to work" and "devotion to family. " Schema operate at both the social and individual level: They are powerful not only because they offer shared understanding about how the world works and how it should work but also because they become internalized by the individual. The dilemma for high-achieving women is that they are caught between the widely shared belief that their profession is a calling, but so is motherhood. Under the devotion to work schema, market work is more than a job, it is a vocation. Work in these high-powered finance jobs requires single-minded devotion. In its extreme, only those who devote themselves totally to the job are worthy of the rise to the top. On the other hand, an equally powerful devotion to family schema sees motherhood in much the same light, as a life's work to which a woman must give herself over. One cannot be a "good mother" part time, and it is assumed that biology makes women, not men, the best caregivers of children. Because time is finite, it is difficult-indeed impossible for the most zealous adherents of both-to combine work and family. Fully two thirds of the 56 women in Blair-Loy's sample of top finance executives do not have children. Blair-Loy sees these women as conformists; they do not challenge the devotion to work schema by trying to combine highpowered careers with childrearing. Instead, they forego becoming mothers. On the other side, the women who have completely given up careers to rear children also do not challenge either schema but rather reinforce the notion that occupational achievement and good mothering are incompatible. Interestingly, views of what children need differ for those who devote themselves to family versus those who continue in high-powered careers while also rearing children. …
Pooled RNAi screen identifies ubiquitin ligase Itch as crucial for influenza A virus release from the endosome during virus entry

Significance Seasonal epidemics and recurring pandemics of influenza viruses threaten public health and the global economy severely. Host factors that are essential for viral growth provide potential drug targets and are crucial for understanding the mechanism of viral infection. This paper presents a unique genetic screening approach to identify such host factors. A cellular enzyme termed Itch ubiquitin ligase was identified and found to be essential for influenza viral entry into cells. It allows the viral genome to escape from the trapping of the cells to initiate infection. This host factor fills the critical gap in our understanding of the beginning event of influenza viral infection. Influenza viruses, like other viruses, rely on host factors to support their life cycle as viral proteins usually “hijack,” or collaborate with, cellular proteins to execute their functions. Identification and understanding of these factors can increase the knowledge of molecular mechanisms manipulated by the viruses and facilitate development of antiviral drugs. To this end, we developed a unique genome-wide pooled shRNA screen to search for cellular factors important for influenza A virus (IAV) replication. We identified an E3 ubiquitin ligase, Itch, as an essential factor for an early step in the viral life cycle. In Itch knockdown cells, the incorporation of viral ribonucleoprotein complex into endosomes was normal, but its subsequent release from endosomes and transport to the nucleus was retarded. In addition, upon virus infection, Itch was phosphorylated and recruited to the endosomes, where virus particles were located. Furthermore, Itch interacted with viral M1 protein and ubiquitinated M1 protein. Collectively, our findings unravel a critical role of Itch in mediating IAV release from the endosome and offer insights into the mechanism for IAV uncoating during virus entry. These findings also highlight the feasibility of pooled RNAi screening for exploring the cellular cofactors of lytic viruses.
Distinct Features of Doublecortin as a Marker of Neuronal Migration and Its Implications in Cancer Cell Mobility

Neuronal migration is a critical process in the development of the nervous system. Defects in the migration of the neurons are associated with diseases like lissencephaly, subcortical band heterotopia (SBH), and pachygyria. Doublecortin (DCX) is an essential factor in neurogenesis and mutations in this protein impairs neuronal migration leading to several pathological conditions. Although, DCX is capable of modulating and stabilizing microtubules (MTs) to ensure effective migration, the mechanisms involved in executing these functions remain poorly understood. Meanwhile, there are existing gaps regarding the processes that underlie tumor initiation and progression into cancer as well as the ability to migrate and invade normal cells. Several studies suggest that DCX is involved in cancer metastasis. Unstable interactions between DCX and MTs destabilizes cytoskeletal organization leading to disorganized movements of cells, a process which may be implicated in the uncontrolled migration of cancer cells. However, the underlying mechanism is complex and require further clarification. Therefore, exploring the importance and features known up to date about this molecule will broaden our understanding and shed light on potential therapeutic approaches for the associated neurological diseases. This review summarizes current knowledge about DCX, its features, functions, and relationships with other proteins. We also present an overview of its role in cancer cells and highlight the importance of studying its gene mutations.
A Primal-dual Three-operator Splitting Scheme

In this paper, we propose a new primal-dual algorithm for minimizing f(x) + g(x) + h(Ax), where f , g, and h are convex functions, f is differentiable with a Lipschitz continuous gradient, and A is a bounded linear operator. It has some famous primal-dual algorithms for minimizing the sum of two functions as special cases. For example, it reduces to the Chambolle-Pock algorithm when f = 0 and a primal-dual fixed-point algorithm in [P. Chen, J. Huang, and X. Zhang, A primal-dual fixed-point algorithm for convex separable minimization with applications to image restoration, Inverse Problems, 29 (2013), p.025011] when g = 0. In addition, it recovers the three-operator splitting scheme in [D. Davis and W. Yin, A three-operator splitting scheme and its optimization applications, arXiv:1504.01032, (2015)] when A is the identity operator. We prove the convergence of this new algorithm for the general case by showing that the iteration is a nonexpansive operator and derive the linear convergence rate with additional assumptions. Comparing to other primal-dual algorithms for solving the same problem, this algorithm extends the range of acceptable parameters to ensure the convergence and has a smaller per-iteration cost. The numerical experiments show the efficiency of this new algorithm by comparing to other primal-dual algorithms.
Improvement of carrier capacity for scalable scrambling method with reversible information insertion functionality

This paper proposes a scalable data representation scheme to improve the carrier capacity of a data hiding method called ScaScraIH [1] in the DCT compressed domain. Though ScaScraIH can scalably scramble a DCT compressed content such as JPEG image and MPEG/H.26x video while inserting external information into it, the manipulated content suffers from consistent bitstream size increment. To better justify the inevitable bitstream size increment, we propose a data representation scheme called virtual queue decomposition to scalably increase the carrier capacity of ScaScraIH without further increasing bitstream size of the output product. Virtual queue decomposition puts zerorun-value pairs into a fixed number of sub-queues, where the cardinality of each sub-queue together form a unique decomposition that encodes a segment of the external information. Carrier capacity is increased by simply increasing the number of sub-queues, but at the expense of higher computational complexity. Analysis is carried out to compute the theoretical upper bound for carrier capacity with respect to ScaScraIH. Experiments are also carried out to verify the proposed improvement.
A Personal Counseling Experience for Master's Level Counseling Students: Practices and Perceptions of Counselor Education Program Directors

There exists a strong endorsement in the literature of the effectiveness of an individual counseling experience as an influence in the personal and professional development of counseling students, yet few counselor education programs seem to require that students complete such an experience. Thus, the question arises as to why the required individual counseling experience as a client is not being required by a large proportion of counseling programs. The purposes of this descriptive, exploratory study were to determine the prevalence of the required experience as a client in individual counseling, examine the opinions of counselor education program leaders regarding the risks and benefits of experiential training components, determine the modalities used to deliver experiential training components, obtain counselor education program coordinators’ views on the various modalities, and explore policies and procedures used in counselor education programs with respect to experiential training components. Finally, this study attempted to determine the level of satisfaction of those program directors who do utilize a required individual counseling experience, as well as their policies and procedures with regard to outcome measurement. Results of the study showed that there were some significant inverse relationships between counselor education program directors’ opinions regarding potential benefits for counseling students and their policies regarding a required individual counseling experience. Additionally, although respondents did not strongly endorse the potential risks associated with the exercise, it is still not required by the majority of the counselor education programs surveyed. However, those program directors who do endorse a required individual
Degradation of unassembled soluble Ig subunits by cytosolic proteasomes: evidence that retrotranslocation and degradation are coupled events

Many aberrant or unassembled proteins synthesized in the endoplasmic reticulum (ER) are degraded by cytosolic proteasomes. To investigate how soluble glycoproteins destined for degradation are retrotranslocated across the ER membrane, we analyzed the fate of two IgM subunits, μ and J, retained in the ER by myeloma cells that do not synthesize light chains. Degradation of μ and J is prevented by proteasome inhibitors, suggesting that both chains are retrotranslocated to be disposed of by proteasomes. Indeed, when proteasomes are inhibited, some deglycosylated J chains that no longer contain intrachain disulfide bonds accumulate in the cytosol. However, abundant glycosylated J chains are still present in the ER at time points in which degradation would have been almost complete in the absence of proteasome inhibitors, suggesting that retrotranslocation and degradation are coupled events. This was confirmed by protease protection and cell fractionation assays, which revealed that virtually all μ chains are retained in the ER lumen in a glycosylated state when proteasomes are inhibited. Association with calnexin correlated with the failure of μ chains to dislocate to the cytosol. Taken together, these results suggest that active proteasomes are required for the extraction of Ig subunits from the ER, though the requirements for retrotranslocation may differ among individual substrates. —Mancini, R. , Fagioli, C. , Fra, A. M,. Maggioni, C. , Sitia, R. Degradation of unassembled soluble Ig subunits by cytosolic proteasomes: evidence that retrotranslocation and degradation are coupled events. FASEB J. 14, 769–778 (2000)
Lipid peroxidation and total antioxidant capacity in vitreous, aqueous humor, and blood samples from patients with diabetic retinopathy

Purpose To evaluate levels of malondialdehyde and the total antioxidant capacity (TAC) in the blood, aqueous humor, and vitreous bodies of diabetic and nondiabetic patients. We also measured the blood energy charge potential (ECP). Methods We examined 19 patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus and diabetic retinopathy. Ten were scheduled for cataract surgery and pars plana vitrectomy because of proliferative diabetic retinopathy (PDR). The other nine, with mild nonproliferative PDR (NPDR), and fourteen nondiabetic, age-matched subjects enrolled as a control group were scheduled for cataract surgery and vitrectomy because of epiretinal membranes. Blood, aqueous humor and vitreous body samples were collected at the time of surgery. Malondialdehyde concentrations and blood ECP were measured with high-performance liquid chromatography. The TAC of the samples was estimated with the oxygen radical absorbance capacity method. Results The level of blood and vitreous malondialdehyde in the PDR group was significantly higher compared to controls and to NPDR patients. PDR patients also had lower levels of TAC at the vitreous body and aqueous humor level, but not at the blood level, compared to controls and with NPDR patients. In all diabetic patients, the blood ECP values were significantly lower, compared to control subjects. Conclusions Our data support the hypothesis that oxidative stress and the decrease of antioxidant defenses are associated with the progression of diabetic retinopathy to its proliferative form. Antioxidant supply may have the effect of correcting oxidative stress and inhibiting disease progression.