Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
An Evaluation And Comparison Of Techniques For Extracting And Refining Rules From Artificial Neural Networks

It is becoming increasingly apparent that without some form of explanation capability, the full potential of trained Artificial Neural Networks (ANNs) may not be realised. The primary purpose of this report is to survey techniques which have been developed to redress this situation. Specifically the survey focuses on mechanisms, procedures, and algorithms designed to insert knowledge into ANNs (knowledge initialisation), extract rules from trained ANNs (rule extraction), and utilise ANNs to refine existing rule bases (rule refinement). The survey also introduces a new taxonomy for classifying the various techniques, discusses their modus operandi, and delineates criteria for evaluating their efficacy. An additional facet of the report is a comparative evaluation of the performance of a set of techniques developed at the NeuroComputing Research Centre at the QUT to extract knowledge from trained ANNs as a set of symbolic rules.
A Case Study of Early Acquisition of Chinese Modals

The present study investigates the emergence and early development of Chinese modals of a single child from 1; 8 to 2; 7 from the lexical, semantic, syntactic and pragmatic perspectives. The results show that: 1) Chinese modals emerge gradually between 1; 8 2; 5, and modal forms that are acquired early tend to occur more frequently; 2) compared to dynamic and deontic modals, epistemic modals are later acquired and the use frequency is low; 3) the syntactic structures of modal utterances present a gradual trend from simple to complex; 4) modal utterances indicate the correspondence between semantic interpretation and syntactic distribution. Keywords—Chinese modals; early acquisition; case study
Speaker verification with data fusion and model adaptation

This paper presents methods for adapting models in a data fusion-based speaker verification system. The models that are used in the data fusion system are the neural tree network (NTN), dynamic time warping (DTW), and hidden Markov model (HMM). The models provide information based on discriminant information, distortion measurements, and probabilistic evaluation, respectively. The parameters of these models are updated during the adaptation process using verification data. This allows the models to track changes in the users voice over time and additionally allows the technology to supplement the typically limited data obtained at enrollment. Experiments are performed on voice data collected within landline telephony, wireless telephony, and multimedia environments. Additionally, the adaptation algorithms are evaluated for both cases where the data is known to come from the correct user (supervised) and not known to come from the correct user (unsupervised). For the case where the adaptation data is not known to come from the correct user, threshold criteria is used for determining if the adaptation should occur or not. The adaptation leads to a 20% relative reduction on the equal error rate for the unsupervised scenario and a 40% relative reduction in equal error rate for the supervised scenario.
Remarks Concerning Lubotzky's Filtration

A discrete group which admits a faithful, finite dimensional, linear representation over a field $\mathbb F$ of characteristic zero is called linear. This note combines the natural structure of semi-direct products with work of A. Lubotzky on the existence of linear representations to develop a technique to give sufficient conditions to show that a semi-direct product is linear. Let $G$ denote a discrete group which is a semi-direct product given by a split extension $1 \to \pi \to G \to \Gamma \to 1$. This note defines an additional type of structure for this semi-direct product called a stable extension below. The main results are as follows: 1. If $\pi$ and $\Gamma$ are linear, and the extension is stable, then $G$ is also linear. Restrictions concerning this extension are necessary to guarantee that $G$ is linear as seen from properties of the Formanek-Procesi "poison group". 2. If the action of $\Gamma$ on $\pi$ has a "Galois-like" property that it factors through the automorphisms of certain natural "towers of groups over $\pi$" (to be defined below), then the associated extension is stable and thus $G$ is linear. 3. The condition of a stable extension also implies that $G$ admits filtration quotients which themselves give a natural structure of Lie algebra and which also imply earlier results of Kohno, and Falk-Randell on the Lie algebra attached to the descending central series associated to the fundamental groups of complex hyperplane complements. The methods here suggest that a possible technique for obtaining new linearity results may be to analyze automorphisms of towers of groups.
Comparative research on image inpainting techniques

Image inpainting technique has been widely used for restoring damaged old photographs and removing unwanted objects from images. Now many inpainting algorithms are introduced because of better filling results. However, there always exists a shortcoming, i.e. long filling time. In this paper a new method is presented based on TV model. By a large amount of experiment research, the running result with shorter time is achieved.
A CUDA-Based Cooperative Evolutionary Multi-Swarm Optimization Applied to Engineering Problems

This paper presents a variation of Evolutionary Particle Swarm Optimization applied to the concept of master/slave swarm with mechanism of sharing data for the acceleration of convergence. The implementation called Cooperative Evolutionary MultiSwarm Optimization on Graphics Processing Units (CMEPSOGPU) consists in using thousands of threads in various slave swarms on the CUDA parallel architecture, where each one works in a parallel and cooperative way in order to improve the search for best result and reduce the number of iterations. The use of CMEPSO-GPU applied to engineering problems showed superior results when compared to other implementations found in the scientific literature.
Simple Loose Ownership Domains

Ownership Domains generalize ownership types. They support programming patterns like iterators that are not possible with ordinary ownership types. However, they are still too restrictive for cases in which an object X wants to access the public domains of an arbitrary number of other objects, which often happens in observer scenarios. To overcome this restriction, we developed so-called loose domains which abstract over several precise domains. That is, similar to the relation between supertypes and subtypes we have a relation between loose and precise domains. In addition, we simplified ownership domains by reducing the number of domains per object to two and hard-wiring the access permissions between domains. We formalized the resulting type system for an OO core language and proved type soundness and a fundamental accessibility property.
Fathers Are Parents, Too! Widening the Lens on Parenting for Children's Development

— Why do fathers matter? Recent conceptual and theoretical advances regarding father – child relationships have demonstrated that fathers affect children’s outcomes both directly and indirectly. To attain a complete developmental account of the ecologically rich contexts of child development, in this article, we recommend best practices regarding the conceptualization and assessment of father – child relationships that reﬂect contemporary family life. We also discuss conceptual and measurement issues pertaining to father – child relationships in different family conﬁgurations, including those with resident and nonresident fathers. We conclude with recommendations that can help developmental researchers advance our understanding of fathering, parenting, and children’s development.
The role of clonal selection in the pathogenesis of an autoreactive human B cell lymphoma

To study the association of autoimmunity and human B cell neoplasia, we have established a model of a B cell lymphoma which expresses a pathogenic autoantibody of defined specificity. The Ig VH gene expressed in this neoplasm was analyzed longitudinally using clinical specimens taken from the splenic lymphoma (S) at diagnosis and from lymph node relapses 3 and 4 yr later (N3 and N4). Southern analysis and oligonucleotide hybridization experiments demonstrated that clonally related predominant and minor tumor cell populations were present in S at diagnosis, and that the minor population became the predominant population in the relapse specimens, N3 and N4. Although the Ig specificity and idiotype were the same at diagnosis and at both relapses, analysis of the expressed VH gene sequences showed 14 base changes between S and N3, and 2 further changes at N4. Little sequence heterogeneity was observed at each sampling time, indicating that the ongoing mutation frequency was low. The relevant germline precursor VH gene was determined from autologous germline DNA and compared to the expressed genes. Based on the pattern of shared and unshared mutations, we were able to establish the genealogic relationship of the germline VH gene and the expressed clonotypes of S, N3 and N4. Taken together, the findings from Southern blotting, oligonucleotide hybridization, and sequence analysis permit us to describe a molecular aspect of tumor progression, "clonotypic shift", wherein subpopulations of the malignant clone, marked by different V gene clonotypes, emerge and predominate at different time points in the evolution of the lymphoma. Furthermore, the sequential and nonrandom pattern of the VH mutations, correlated with the observed conservation of autospecificity and idiotype, implies that clonal selection may have influenced the pathogenesis of the lymphoma.
Parasitic communication system via relaying

In this paper, we propose a concept of parasitic communication system via relaying. The proposed system is suitable for improving the throughput of some users who are far from the base station or have numerous obstructions in their communication links. In the parasitic communication system, the users communicate to the base station by following the original setting of the standards. Only a slight modification at the retransmission mode is required. Therefore, the proposed approach is backward compatible to several existing systems.
Development of MorphHand: Design of an underactuated anthropomorphic rubber finger for a prosthetic hand using compliant joints

This paper describes the design of a 3D-printed rubber finger with simple compliant joints for an anthropomorphic prosthetic hand. This hand, called MorphHand, is developed to test a new manufacturing method that combines the ideas of morphological computation, compliant mechanisms, biomimetics, personalization, and rapid manufacturing. In this paper, the essential features and parameters for the design of the finger were investigated with the goal of achieving inherent flexibility and similar, smooth and natural trajectories as the human hand. Five two-joint rubber fingers with nine different structural and material configurations were 3D-printed and tested. Trajectory, joint angle, and force data were acquired by using a motion capture system and a force gauge. Finally, the results were compared to a real finger. The chosen morphological parameters had the expected effects on the fingers' response and three of the configurations resulted in a close to natural response. Also, one of the fingers had closed air pockets behind its joints. This made the finger's extension faster and its cosmesis better, making the structure interesting for further development.
A chunk-based reordering model for phrase-based SMT systems

This paper proposed a novel reordering model based on the reordering of source language chunks. This model is used as a preprocessing step of phrase-based translation models and could be well integrated with them. At the same time, as a chunk-based model, syntax information could be concerned in the process of reordering while the entire parsing of the source sentence is not required. Two experiments were carried out and the results showed that the proposed model could improve the performance of a phrase-based statistical machine translation (SMT) system greatly.
Kritische Lebensereignisse und Alltagsstress bei Depressiven und Remittierten

Stress seems to be meaningful in the context of depression especially in terms of critical life events. Several studies have outlined the connection between this type of stress and depression. However, few studies have been conducted in order to explore the significance of stress in a broader sense, mainly by including daily hassles. In our study three aspects of stress were addressed: (a) critical life events in the last year, (b) dairy hassles and (c) the current stress level in several life domains such as marriage, profession, leisure time, child rearing, psychological and physical well-being, social contacts etc. 21 subjects with low depression scores (BDI 12-19), 18 depressed persons with BDI-scores above 20 and 21 remitted patients (BDI-score below 11), all subjects suffering from current or former major depression, administered questionnaires assessing their stress appraisal in regard to the above mentioned stressors. The results reveal that the depressed patients experienced more stress in all different areas and reported especially higher frequencies of critical life events concerning health problems and social conflicts than remitted or controls. Within daily hassles the depressed scared significantly higher than controls and it was evident that more life domains were contaminated by strains in this group. Our findings are discussed in regard to their clinical implications for therapy.
THE LUNAR OPPOSITION SURGE : OBSERVATIONS BY CLEMENTINE

Abstract The Clementine mission to the Moon in 1994 provided the first multispectral observations of the lunar opposition surge below a few degrees. The brightness of the Moon increases more than 40% between solar phase angles of 4° and 0°. The opposition effect exhibits a small wavelength dependence: the surge is ∼3–4% larger at 0.41 μm than at 1.00 μm. This result suggests that the principal cause of the lunar opposition surge is shadow hiding, while coherent backscatter, if present, makes only a minor contribution. The amplitude of the effect depends significantly on terrain: the surge is about 10% greater in the lunar highlands. This difference is attributed to textural variations between the two terrains. The Clementine measurements provide a new basis for deriving spectral geometric albedos, phase integrals, and Bond albedos. A value of 0.11 ± 0.01 was found for the lunar bolometric Bond albedo. This value is at the low end of the historical published values, but not as low as the recent result of 0.080 ± 0.002.
Parity and Carotid Atherosclerosis in Men and Women: Insights Into the Roles of Childbearing and Child-Rearing

Background and Purpose— Parity appears to be associated with carotid atherosclerosis in women aged 45 years and older. Studying this association among younger women and men may provide insight into whether this association relates predominantly to childbearing or child-rearing. Methods— The association between parity and carotid atherosclerosis (intima-media thickness and presence of plaques) was assessed in a cohort consisting of 750 women and 1164 men, all with at least one traditional cardiovascular risk factor, aged 18 to 80 years of age. Traditional cardiovascular risk factors were also assessed, and the Framingham Risk Score calculated. Results— In age-adjusted analyses, the number of children was associated with adiposity, fasting glucose, 2-hour glucose, Framingham risk score, and carotid atherosclerosis in women, but not in men. Multivariate linear regression models indicate that the prevalence of plaques was increased by 15% (95% CI, 2 to 29) per child among women, and 0% (95% CI, −10 to 11) among men, after adjustment for age, socioeconomic and lifestyle factors (including waist circumference). The association between parity and carotid intima-media thickness was similar in younger and older women (PHeterogeneity=0.20). Conclusions— A higher number of children is associated with increased carotid atherosclerosis in both younger and older women, but not among men. These findings indicate that childbearing, but not child-rearing, may be a risk factor for atherosclerosis, and suggest the potential importance of considering the number of children when assessing the level of cardiovascular risk in women.
Gene Therapy for Muscular Dystrophies: Progress and Challenges

Muscular dystrophies are groups of inherited progressive diseases of the muscle caused by mutations of diverse genes related to normal muscle function. Although there is no current effective treatment for these devastating diseases, various molecular strategies have been developed to restore the expressions of the associated defective proteins. In preclinical animal models, both viral and nonviral vectors have been shown to deliver recombinant versions of defective genes. Antisense oligonucleotides have been shown to modify the splicing mechanism of mesenger ribonucleic acid to produce an internally deleted but partially functional dystrophin in an experimental model of Duchenne muscular dystrophy. In addition, chemicals can induce readthrough of the premature stop codon in nonsense mutations of the dystrophin gene. On the basis of these preclinical data, several experimental clinical trials are underway that aim to demonstrate efficacy in treating these devastating diseases.
Human Dispersal from Siberia to Beringia

With genetic studies showing unquestionable Asian origins of the first Americans, the Siberian and Beringian archaeological records are absolutely critical for understanding the initial dispersal of modern humans in the Western Hemisphere. The genetics-based Beringian Standstill Model posits a three-stage dispersal process and necessitates several expectations of the archaeological record of northeastern Asia. Here we present an overview of the Siberian and Beringian Upper Paleolithic records and discuss them in the context of a Beringian Standstill. We report that not every expectation of the model is met with archaeological data at hand.
Specificity of plant – enemy interactions Specialist versus generalist insect herbivores and plant defense

Insect herbivores have been conventionally grouped into categories based on their degree of dietary specialization. When limited to only one or a few closely related plant taxa, often a single genus, herbivores are considered monophagous (or highly specialized). Insect herbivores that feed on several plant species, usually within one botanical family, are designated oligophagous. Finally, polyphagous (or highly generalized) species are insects that feed on species in more than one plant family. Although these terms are helpful for generalizing broad groups of herbivores into simpler categories, their basis is drawn on fairly arbitrary observations and may lead to inherit limitations in their use. Nonetheless, some groups of herbivores, such as aphids, leaf hoppers and leaf miners are dominated (>75%) by monophages [71]. Across all herbivorous insects, it is estimated that <10% feed on plants in more than three different plant families [72]. The distribution of feeding on one plant species to a diversity of plants is truly a graded continuum. We also recognize that polyphagous individuals can show preferences over their distribution of hosts, where herbivores may be more limited than we predict. Here we have adopted the terms specialists and generalists to focus on the extremes, usually meaning species that consume a few related species to species in several plant families, respectively. Nonetheless, the comparison is a relative one and the specific contrast of a specialist and generalist should be explained as fully as There has been a long-standing hypothesis that specialist and generalist insects interact with plants in distinct ways. Although many tests exist, they typically compare only one species of each, they sometimes confound specialization and feeding guild, and often do not link chemical or transcriptional measures of the plant to actual resistance. In this review, we synthesize current data on whether specialists and generalists actually differ, with special attention to comparisons of their differential elicitation of plant responses. Although we find few consistencies in plant induction by specialists versus generalists, feeding guilds are predictive of differential plant responses. We outline a novel set of predictions based on current coevolutionary hypotheses and make methodological suggestions for improved comparisons of specialists and generalists.
Same or Different: How Bilingual Readers Can Help Us Understand Bidialectal Readers

Reading achievement gaps are prominent in U.S. schools, most notably when comparing the performance of African American and Latino/Hispanic children to their White peers. Among the many reasons offered to explain and address these achievement gaps, language differences and language proficiency are primary considerations because many African American children are bidialectal and many Latino/Hispanic children are bilingual. A review of research findings on the relations between language and reading development and performance in these two distinct student populations suggests that bidialectalism and bilingualism are not risks to be remedied. Rather, they are unique language experiences that have different implications for children's English language knowledge and, therefore, reading development and achievement. Moreover, there is evidence that, when provided with rich and robust language interactions, bidialectalism and bilingualism can be leveraged as strengths to support literacy learning.
Combating Fake News on Social Media with Source Ratings: The Effects of User and Expert Reputation Ratings

Abstract As a remedy against fake news on social media, we examine the effectiveness of three different mechanisms for source ratings that can be applied to articles when they are initially published: expert rating (where expert reviewers fact-check articles, which are aggregated to provide a source rating), user article rating (where users rate articles, which are aggregated to provide a source rating), and user source rating (where users rate the sources themselves). We conducted two experiments and found that source ratings influenced social media users’ beliefs in the articles and that the rating mechanisms behind the ratings mattered. Low ratings, which would mark the usual culprits in spreading fake news, had stronger effects than did high ratings. When the ratings were low, users paid more attention to the rating mechanism, and, overall, expert ratings and user article ratings had stronger effects than did user source ratings. We also noticed a second-order effect, where ratings on some sources led users to be more skeptical of sources without ratings, even with instructions to the contrary. A user’s belief in an article, in turn, influenced the extent to which users would engage with the article (e.g., read, like, comment and share). Lastly, we found confirmation bias to be prominent; users were more likely to believe — and spread — articles that aligned with their beliefs. Overall, our results show that source rating is a viable measure against fake news and propose how the rating mechanism should be designed.