Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
A MULTIPLE CHANCE EFFECT IN HUMAN PERFORMANCE ? A PRELIMINARY STUDY OF EXPECTED OPPORTUNITY

Extrapolating from scarcity and dissonance principles of social cognition, the effect of expected opportunity was explored with N = 48 male, introductory psychology students told the study involved a test of motor coordination. First and only trial dart-throwing accuracy was found to be significantly better for participants told they would have only one try at the task, than for those told their recorded score would be based on the higher of two attempts. Second trial scores for those given two tries, were not significantly different from first and only trial scores of those given only one chance to throw darts at a wall-mounted target. The results thus indicate that expectation of subsequent opportunity may inhibit first effort performance relative to circumstances where one chance is all you get. Potential facilitative effects on performance of a one-and-only-one chance mind set are discussed in terms of an attention hypothesis based on scarcity and dissonance principles, along with the cue utilization statement of the Yerkes-Dodson Law proposed by Easterbrook. Limitations on inferences from these data are noted. Empirical questions for programmatic subsequent inquiry are considered. Current Research in Social Psychology (Vol. 13, No. 13) (Pellegrini, Hicks, & Lopez)
A Critical Review of Research on Reuse of Mechanically Recycled FRP Production and End-of-Life Waste for Construction

For the last three decades, fiber reinforced polymer (FRP) composite materials have been widely used in major engineering industries. Managing FRP waste is becoming an important issue due to the growth in the production of FRP composite materials. In this article, the issue of FRP waste management is discussed and the commonly used methods for the handling of FRP waste are reviewed. One potentially viable use of FRP waste is in the partial replacement of fillers or aggregates in cementitious materials (particularly portland cement mortar and concrete). A number of important prior investigations performed on the use of FRP waste in concrete and mortar are reviewed. The results from most of those investigations suggest that FRP aggregates significantly reduce the strength of cementitious materials with little significant effect on durability. Recommendations for future research in this area are provided for producing stronger mortars and concretes incorporating FRP production and end-of-life waste.
Effect of ASP2151, a Herpesvirus Helicase-Primase Inhibitor, in a Guinea Pig Model of Genital Herpes

ASP2151 is a herpesvirus helicase-primase inhibitor with antiviral activity against varicella zoster virus and herpes simplex virus types 1 (HSV-1) and 2 (HSV-2). Here, we examined the potency and efficacy of ASP2151 against HSV in vitro and in vivo. We found that ASP2151 was more potent in inhibiting the replication of HSV-1 and HSV-2 in Vero cells in the plaque reduction assay and had greater anti-HSV activity in a guinea pig model of genital herpes than did acyclovir and valacyclovir (VACV), respectively. Oral ASP2151 given from the day of infection reduced peak and overall disease scores in a dose-dependent manner, resulting in complete prevention of symptoms at the dose of 30 mg/kg. The 50% effective dose (ED50) values for ASP2151 and VACV were 0.37 and 68 mg/kg, respectively, indicating that ASP2151 was 184-fold more potent than VACV. When ASP2151 was administered after the onset of symptoms, the disease course of genital herpes was suppressed more effectively than by VACV, with a significant reduction in disease score observed one day after starting ASP2151 at 30 mg/kg, whereas the therapeutic effect of VACV was only evident three days after treatment at the highest dose tested (300 mg/kg). This indicated that ASP2151 possesses a faster onset of action and wider therapeutic time window than VACV. Further, virus shedding from the genital mucosa was significantly reduced with ASP2151 at 10 and 30 mg/kg but not with VACV, even at 300 mg/kg. Taken together, our present findings demonstrated the superior potency and efficacy of ASP2151 against HSV.
Motion Differential SPIHT for Image Sequence Coding

Ef cient image sequence coding exploits both intraand interframe correlations. SPIHT is ef cient in intra-frame decorrelation for still images. Based on SPIHT, differential-SPIHT removes inter-frame redundancy by reusing the signi cance map of a SPIHT coded frame. The motion differential SPIHT (MD-SPIHT) automatically decides the coding methods for each frame, according to the inter-frame correlations in terms of PSNR. From the simulation results of hyperspectral images, 3D/4D medical images, and video, MD-SPIHT is more ef cient, compared with conventional 2D SPIHT and motion JPEG2000, while retaining the desirables features of rate scalability, random frame access, and computational simplicity. Index Terms Compression, SPIHT, signi cance map, hyperspectral image, volumetric medical image.
Fault Tolerance Methods for Computing the Transitive Closure of a Database Relation

In this paper, we introduce a novel approach which is capable of computing transitive closure optimally for relations with varying properties. The new approach is derived from two classical software fault tolerance methods, namely N-Version Programming and Recovery Blocks. We show how these methods are used to optimise the computation of transitive closure for database relations. The performance study given in this paper clearly exhibits the usefulness of this new approach.
Efficient Thermal Simulation for 3-D IC With Thermal Through-Silicon Vias

A novel virtual power source (VPS) method is proposed that can significantly speedup 3-D integrated circuit (IC) thermal simulation with sparely deployed thermal TSVs leveraging Green function-based analytical spectral method. Specifically, it is shown that the impact of TSVs with nonhomogeneous thermal conductivity on thermal simulation may be modeled as VPSs located at mesh grids inside the thermal TSVs. Using this VPS model, the temperature distribution over the entire 3-D IC may be obtained by solving for the thermal distribution of a thermally homogeneous substrate in the presence of these VPSs. As such, the fast spectral method may be applied to accelerate the simulation. Significant (3-100 times) speedup over a baseline finite difference method implementation has been observed in preliminary simulations.
An iterative fixed-point method for solving large complementarity problems in multibody systems

Aiming at a fast and robust simulation of large multibody systems with contacts and friction, this work presents a novel solution method which can solve large complementarity problems by means of a fixed-point iteration. When thousands of unilateral constraints are added to the system, our method performs like a Banach contractive mapping, providing a fast monotonic approximation to the exact LCP solution.
Reinforcement Learning for Topographic Mappings

We utilise reinforcement learning in the context of unsupervised exploratory data analysis. We first extend a reinforcement learning algorithm which has previously been shown to cluster data. Our first extension involves creating an underlying latent space with some pre-defined structure which enables us to create a topology preserving mapping. We illustrate two different forms of the underlying mapping on artificial data before showing one visualisation of a real data set. We then combine temporal difference learning with the so-called "cross entropy method" and show how the resulting hybrid too can perform unsupervised data analysis.
Survivin – biology and potential as a therapeutic target in oncology

Survivin is a member of the inhibitor-of-apoptosis proteins (IAPs) family; its overexpression has been widely demonstrated to occur in various types of cancer. Overexpression of survivin also correlates with tumor progression and induces anticancer drug resistance. Interestingly, recent studies reveal that survivin exhibits multiple pro-mitotic and anti-apoptotic functions; the differential functions of survivin seem to be caused by differential subcellular localization, phosphorylation, and acetylation of this molecule. In this review, the complex expression regulations and post-translational modifications of survivin are discussed. This review also discusses how recent discoveries improve our understanding of survivin biology and also create opportunities for developing differential-functioned survivin-targeted therapy. Databases such as PubMed, Scopus® (Elsevier, New York, NY, USA), and SciFinder® (CAS, Columbus, OH, USA) were used to search for literature in the preparation of this review.
Lossy Hyperspectral image compression on NVidia TM Graphics Processing Units

Hyperspectral imaging instruments are capable of collecting hundreds of images, corresponding to different wavelength channels, for the same area on the surface of the Earth. For instance, NASA is continuously gathering imagery data with instruments such as the Jet Propulsion Laboratory’s Airborne Visible-Infrared Imaging Spectrometer (AVIRIS), able to record the visible and near-infrared spectrum (wavelength region from 0.4 to 2.5 micrometers) of the reflected light of an area 2 to 12 kilometers wide and several kilometers long, using 224 spectral bands. The resulting multidimensional data volume typically comprises several GBs per flight. We have developed a computationally efficient approach for lossy compression of remotely sensed hyperspectral images that retains the relevant information for analyzing the hyperspectral data with sub-pixel precision. The proposed methodology has been implemented, using the compute unified device architecture (CUDA), on an NVidia GeForce 8800 GTX GPU, achieving speedups in the order of 26x when compared to an optimized implementation of the same code in a dual-core CPU.
Programming a VG-RAM based Neural Network Computer

We propose a Virtual Generalizing Random Access Memory (VG-RAM) Weightless Neural Network (WNN) Computer (V'Ger Computer for short). VG-RAM WNNs are very effective pattern recognition tools, offering fast training (one shot training) and competitive recognition performance, if compared with other current techniques. The V'Ger Computer architecture was inspired on the organization of the human neocortex and is composed of hierarchically organized and recurrently interconnected layers of VG-RAM WNN neurons. One layer is connected to another in a way similar to cortico-cortical feed-forward and feedback connections between functionally adjacent and hierarchically organized areas. We have "programmed" the V'Ger Computer for counting from 0 to 9 three times. Our preliminary experimental results showed that V'Ger is capable of executing this sequence of actions in spite of strong interferences.
Fingerprint databases for theorems

We discuss the advantages of searchable, collaborative, language-independent databases of mathematical results, indexed by "fingerprints" of small and canonical data. Our motivating example is Neil Sloane's massively influential On-Line Encyclopedia of Integer Sequences. We hope to encourage the greater mathematical community to search for the appropriate fingerprints within each discipline, and to compile fingerprint databases of results wherever possible. The benefits of these databases are broad - advancing the state of knowledge, enhancing experimental mathematics, enabling researchers to discover unexpected connections between areas, and even improving the refereeing process for journal publication.
User-sensitive scheduling of home appliances

Demand response (DR) programs encourage end-use customers to alter their power consumption in response to DR events such as change in real-time electricity prices. Facilitating household participation in DR programs is essential as the residential sector accounts for a sizable portion of the total energy consumed. However, manually tracking energy prices and deciding on how to schedule home appliances can be a challenge for residential consumers who are accustomed to fixed price electricity taris. In this work, we present Yupik, a system that helps users respond to real-time electricity prices while being sensitive to their context and lifestyle. Yupik combines sensing, analytics, and optimization to generate appliance usage schedules that may be used by households to minimize their energy bill as well as potential lifestyle disruptions. Yupik uses jPlugs, appliance level energy metering devices, to continuously monitor the power usage by various home appliances. The consumption patterns as well as data from external sources are analyzed using data mining algorithms to infer user's preferred usage profile. Using the preferred profile as a reference, Yupik's optimization engine generates multiple usage plans that attempt to minimize energy and inconvenience costs. Some of Yupik's capabilities are demonstrated with the help of preliminary data collected from a home that was instrumented with jPlugs to monitor the power usage of a few devices.
Phenotypic variation between naturally co-existing genotypes of a Lepidopteran baculovirus

There is increasing evidence that populations of microparasites vary genotypically at a variety of spatial scales, including within host individuals. Understanding this fine-scale structuring of microparasite populations requires descriptions of the relative fitness of individual genotypes isolated from natural mixed infections. Here we examine whether differences between virus genotypes isolated from a single host individual translate into phenotypic differences, and discuss the processes by which such variation might be maintained. Twenty-five genotypic variants of a nucleopolyhedrovirus (Baculoviridae) have been identified and purified from a single pine beauty moth (Panolis flammea) larva. The phenotypes of four genotypes were compared. Genotypes differed in three phenotypic traits, each predicted to be an important component of fitness: pathogenicity, speed of kill and yield. Variation in pathogenicity was described by seven-fold differences in LD50 and by differences in the slopes of the fitted dose– response curves. Mean speed of kill of the genotypes differed by up to 36 h. Two genotypes produced 65% higher yields, over and above any differences predicted by a significant intra-genotypic relationship between yield and speed of kill. Inter-genotypic trade-offs between virus phenotypic traits, which could promote the co-existence of genotypes, were not found. Mechanisms that may promote the co-existence of competing virus genotypes are discussed.
H i OBSERVATIONS OF THE SUPERMASSIVE BINARY BLACK HOLE SYSTEM IN 0402+379

We have recently discovered a supermassive binary black hole system with a projected separation between the two black holes of 7.3 pc in the radio galaxy 0402+379 (Rodriguez et al. 2006). This is the most compact supermassive binary black hole pair yet imaged by more than two orders of magnitude. We present Global VLBI observations at 1.3464 GHz of this radio galaxy, taken to improve the quality of the H i data. Two absorption lines are found toward the southern jet of the source, one redshifted by 370 ± 10 km s−1 and the other blueshifted by 700 ± 10 km s−1 with respect to the systemic velocity of the source, which, along with the results obtained for the opacity distribution over the source, suggests the presence of two mass clumps rotating around the central region of the source. We propose a model consisting of a geometrically thick disk, of which we only see a couple of clumps, that reproduces the velocities measured from the H i absorption profiles. These clumps rotate in circular Keplerian orbits around an axis that crosses one of the supermassive black holes of the binary system in 0402+379. We find an upper limit for the inclination angle of the twin jets of the source to the line of sight of θ = 66°, which, according to the proposed model, implies a lower limit on the central mass of ∼7 × 108M☉ and a lower limit for the scale height of the thick disk of ∼12 pc.
Information ecology of collaborations in educational settings: influence of tool

The information ecology perspective [2] helps to understand information spaces in terms of the creation, searching, and use (consumption) of information. An information ecology perspective of Computer-Supported Collaborative Learning (CSCL) environments describes the flow of information into the ecology (who writes notes? how many and when? ) and the use of that information (who reads? how many and when? ). From that perspective, use of two CSCL tools is compared to note similarities (e.g., notes written per student) and dissimilarities (e.g., thread length).
A Kind of Fog Visualization Methods in Three-Dimensional Geographic Information System

VRGIS is a production of combining Geographic Information System with virtual reality technology, and it is also a research hotspot in this two areas. However, the real-time features for Virtual Reality Geographic Information System have been seriously hindered in the development of practical application and popularization. If we simply add fog particles into the 3D Geographic Information System scene directly as used in virtual reality field, the real-time effect of fog rendering can't easily obtained. Therefore, a fog visualization algorithm in 3D GIS is presented which bases on image processing method, and the results show that realistic fog scenes are achieved with few time cost.
Comparing measures of semantic similarity

The aim of this paper is to compare different methods for automatic extraction of semantic similarity measures from corpora. The semantic similarity measure is proven to be very useful for many tasks in natural language processing like information retrieval, information extraction, machine translation etc. Additionally, one of the main problems in natural language processing is data sparseness since no language sample is large enough to seize all possible language combinations. In our research we experiment with four different measures of association with context and eight different measures of vector similarity. The results show that the Jensen-Shannon divergence and L1 and L2 norm outperform other measures of vector similarity regardless of the measure of association with context used. Maximum likelihood estimate and t-test show better results than other measures of association with context.
Enumeration Schemes for Restricted Permutations

Zeilberger's enumeration schemes can be used to completely automate the enumeration of many permutation classes. We extend his enumeration schemes so that they apply to many more permutation classes and describe the Maple package WilfPlus, which implements this process. We also compare enumeration schemes to three other systematic enumeration techniques: generating trees, substitution decompositions, and the insertion encoding.
Silicate Dust in Evolved Protoplanetary Disks: Growth, Sedimentation, and Accretion

We present the Spitzer IRS spectra for 33 young stars in Tr 37 and NGC 7160. The sample includes the high- and intermediate-mass stars with MIPS 24 μm excess, the only known active accretor in the 12 Myr old cluster NGC 7160, and 19 low-mass stars with disks in the 4 Myr old cluster Tr 37. We examine the 10 μm silicate feature, present in the whole sample of low-mass stars and in three of the high- and intermediate-mass targets, and we find that PAH emission is detectable only in the Herbig Be star. We analyze the composition and size of the warm photospheric silicate grains by fitting the 10 μm silicate feature and study the possible correlations between the silicate characteristics and the stellar and disk properties (age, SED slope, accretion rate, and spectral type). We find indications of dust settling with age and of the effect of turbulent enrichment of the disk atmosphere with large grains. Crystalline grains are only small contributors to the total silicate mass in all disks and do not seem to correlate with any other property, except maybe binarity. We also observe that spectra with very weak silicate emission are at least 3 times more frequent among M stars than among earlier spectral types, which may be evidence of inner disk evolution. Finally, we find that five of the high- and intermediate-mass stars have SEDs and IRS spectra consistent with debris disk models involving planet formation, which could indicate debris disk formation at ages as early as 4 Myr.
An optimized Java based software package for biomedical images and volumes processing

Digital image processing is fundamental for several biomedical applications. In this paper, we describe an efficient software package, developed in Java, for advanced visualization and processing of biomedical images and volumes. Actually, a great part of biomedical applications is covered by specific software packages: they have a lot of graphical and processing functions in common and not any has been really optimized. The novelty of our system, when compared to other software developed to deal with biomedical applications, is that it is designed to provide a unifying software solution for potentially all biomedical applications. Another important point is the accurate choice of the development tools which we used for our project: ImageJ and Visualization Toolkit. A detailed description of the usage of these tools into the project is reported. Moreover, a case study is presented and discussed.
Knowing Its Gender Without Knowing Its Name: Differential Access to Lexical Information in a Jargonaphasic Patient

Abstract According to recent models of word production, when we name a picture, we first retrieve the meaning of the object, and then we independently retrieve the written or sound form of the word corresponding to the picture. In languages like French, in which words have a gender, theoretical models disagree with respect to the moment at which this information is retrieved. The lemma model (Levelt et al ., 1999) posits that we access this information before the sound or written form of the word is retrieved. In contrast, the “Independent network” (IN) model (Caramazza, 1997) model posits that we access gender after retrieval of either the sound or written form of the word. This paper reports a single-case study of an aphasic patient, BA, who showed deficits affecting spoken and written production in the presence of largely preserved comprehension abilities. Experimental testing indicated that she presented with a deficit functionally localized in the access to lexical representations. Results in picture naming and in gender identification also revealed that BA identified the gender above chance level, whether she produced a correct response, a phonemic error, or a neologism. In contrast, when she was unable to produce a spoken or written response, she could not identify the gender. This pattern of performance is consistent with the lemma model in which access to lexical syntax is required before access to phonological form can take place.