Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
DogMate: Intent Recognition through Anticipation (Extended Abstract)

Autonomous virtual agents generally lack the support to understand a fundamental character in their world — the user’s avatar. This has a negative impact on their behavioural be-lievability. In this paper, we present an approach to detect the intent underlying certain actions of the user. We begin by introducing the relation between intention and action, then proceed on elaborating a framework that can interpret the intent of an action based on the matching and mismatching of anticipated behaviour. We then present a test-case in which our framework is used to create an agent architecture controlling a virtual dog that interacts with the user within a virtual world. Finally, we discuss three aspects of our evaluation: the user’s intent recognition, its interpretation and the solution’s eﬃciency. Our results suggest that our solu-tion can be used to detect certain intents and, in such cases, perform similarly to a human observer, with no impact on computational performance.
Fingerpointer-Pointing Gestures for Collaborative Robots

With the increase of electronic gadgets that allow more natural interactions, there is a growing need to improve the use of these capabilities. The iCub, is a widely used humanoid robot, and our aim is to train it to identify if a user is pointing to something. This is a very useful ability, since it allows gestural communication with the robot, enabling it to execute joint tasks, such as picking up objects, etc. We divide it into 5 parts: 1) Video Synchronization, 2) Hand Detection, 3) Hand Segmentation, 4) Hand Gesture Classification, 5) Finger Direction and Orientation Detection. We study, test and evaluate several techniques and settings for each part, and we present our proposed solution for the problem as a whole. The best solution found was not as robust as desired, specially in detecting the correct hand gesture, but achieved 74% accuracy in correctly detecting the fingertip in the images identified as containing the pointing gesture, and calculating the respective pointing vector.
Poisoning Attacks on Federated Learning-based IoT Intrusion Detection System

—Federated Learning (FL) is an appealing method for applying machine learning to large scale systems due to the privacy and efﬁciency advantages that its training mechanism provides. One important ﬁeld for FL deployment is emerging IoT applications. In particular, FL has been recently used for IoT intrusion detection systems where clients, e.g., a home security gateway, monitors trafﬁc data generated by IoT devices in its network, trains a local intrusion detection model, and send this model to a central entity, the aggregator, who then computes a global model (using the models of all gateways) that is distributed back to clients. This approach protects the privacy of users as it does not require local clients to share their potentially private IoT data with any other parties, and it is in general more efﬁcient than a centralized system. However, FL schemes have been subject to poising attacks, in particular to backdoor attacks. In this paper, we show that FL-based IoT intrusion detection systems are vulnerable to backdoor attacks. We present a novel data poisoning attack that allows an adversary to implant a backdoor into the aggregated detection model to incorrectly classify malicious trafﬁc as benign. We show that the adversary can gradually poison the detection model by only using compromised IoT devices (and not gateways/clients) to inject small amounts of malicious data into the training process and remain undetected. Our extensive evaluation on three real-world IoT datasets generated from 46 IoT devices shows the effectiveness of our attack in injecting backdoors and circumventing state of the art defenses against FL poisoning. Finally, we discuss shortly possible mitigation approaches.
Therapeutic Applications for Many Chronic and Genetic Diseases

Nanoparticle is an artificial cell-like particle (antigen-presenting artificial cell that can be tuned to target a specific disease or infections). The outer surface of each particle is covered with universal adaptor molecules having attachment points for antigens, specific molecules on specific cells, and fight off the targeted disease. Inside of each particle, there is either cytokines, cytotoxic drugs, antimicrobial drugs, genetic material, iron, gold, herbs, and others; each for different curative purpose, yet all of them act locally with high specificity to avoid devastating side effects of the contents if given systemically or to target certain tissue for curing diseases due to genetic deletions, or as a vaccine. Different nanoparticles differ in size, shape, contents, material of the outer shell, and purpose (i.e. for diagnosis of cancer, fighting that cancer, dealing locally with autoimmune diseases, treating a disease with genetic deletion mutations, fighting an infection, monitoring, and control of biological systems.
Exploring Physiological Multimodality for Emotional Assessment

Many emotion recognition schemes have been proposed in the state-of-the-art. They generally diﬀer in terms of the emotion elicitation methods, target emotional states to recognize, data sources or modalities, and classiﬁcation techniques. In this work several biosignals are explored for emotion assessment during immersive video visualization, collecting multimodal data from Electrocardiography (ECG), Electrodermal Activity (EDA), Blood Volume Pulse (BVP) and Respiration sensors. Participants reported their emotional state of the day (baseline), and provided self-assessment of the emotion experienced in each video through the Self-Assessment Manikin (SAM), in the valence-arousal space. Multiple physiological and statistical features extracted from the biosignals were used as input to an emotion recognition workﬂow, targeting both user-dependent and user-independent classiﬁcations with three and two classes per dimension, respectively. Support vector machines (SVM) were used, as it is considered one of the most promising classiﬁers in the ﬁeld. The proposed approach led to accuracies of 51.07% for arousal and 67.68% for valence in the user-dependent approach, and 69.13% for arousal and 67.75% for valence in the user-independent approach, which are encouraging for further research with a larger training dataset and population.
Parameter estimation in conditionally Gaussian pairwise Markov switching models and unsupervised smoothing

Automatic identification of jump Markov systems (JMS) is known to be an important but difficult problem. In this work, we propose a new algorithm for the unsupervised estimation of parameters in a class of linear JMS called “conditionally Gaussian pairwise Markov switching models” (CGPMSMs), which extends the family of classic “conditionally Gaussian linear state-space models” (CGLSSMs). The method makes use of a particular CGPMSM called “conditionally Gaussian observed Markov switching model” (CGOMSM). The algorithm proposed consists in applying two EM algorithms sequentially: the first one is used to estimate the parameters and switches of the discrete pairwise Markov chain (PMC), which is a part of CGOMSM. Once estimated, it is used to sample switches and then the second one, called switching EM, is used to estimate the parameters of the distribution driving hidden states given the observations and the switches. The entire algorithm is evaluated with respect to data simulated according to CGPMSMs, and comparisons with several supervised methods attest its good efficiency.
Prophylactic cranial irradiation in non-small cell lung cancer: the debate is open.

Non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) is diagnosed in about 30% of patients as locally advanced disease (stage III) which is defined as a tumour that exceeds the structures of the lung itself, but without clinical evidence of distant spreading. These patients form a highly heterogeneous group with controversial treatment based on the combination of surgery, chemotherapy and radiotherapy (1).
Storage potential of onion seeds hermetically packaged at low moisture content

The objective of this study was to determine the storage potential of onion seeds stored in hermetic cans with low moisture content under environmental temperature conditions at Pelotas-Brazil. The Ellis and Robert (1980) seed viability equation was also used to determine whether it could be used to predict changes in onion seed germination in the variable temperatures encountered during warehouse storage. Moisture content, germination and vigour tests were determined on 154 commercial seed lots, stored for one to ten years. Each seed lot consisted of two cans of 0.5 kg, which were left over from larger lots after commercialization. The seed lots were analyzed according to the storage period and seed moisture content intervals of: 5.5%; 5.5-6.5%; 6.5-7.0%; 7.0 to 7.5%. For onion seeds with minimum of 90% germination, hermetically packaged, with no more than 7.5% moisture content, and at a annual average temperature of 17.6-18.3 °C, it was concluded that: 1) as moisture content and storage period increases the viability equation becomes less accurate, being practically useful up to three years; 2) physiological quality determined by the germination test only is not enough to predict the storage potential of the onion seed lots and possible alternatives are discussed; 3) some onion seed lots can be stored for 10 years and retain high physiological quality, although some may lose their quality after two years of storage.
BCaR: Blockchain in Car Registration

—Blockchain technology enables the development of decentralized business models but centralized organizations, as governments, can adopt this technology to improve safety and security of critical data. In this document we present a solution, based on Hyperledger Fabric, to implement a car registration system which can improve interoperability between government entities and might be extended to a cross-borders system, extending the cooperation efforts in the European Union. The system handles the processes related to car registration, from registering a vehicle, changing ownership status or registering a leasing contract between a lessor and a lessee. This system can ease the information exchange among multiple states as the car registration information is distributed to each government entity in a single decentralized system. We latter analyze the beneﬁts and implications of a blockchain technology application and present an overview of the system’s performance.
Effective classroom management strategies and classroom management programs for educational practice: A meta-analysis of the effects of classroom management strategies and classroom management programs on students’ academic, behavioural, emotional, and motivational outcomes.

Citation for published version (APA): Korpershoek, H. , Harms, T. , de Boer, H. , van Kuijk, M. , & Doolaard, S. (2014). Effective classroom management strategies and classroom management programs for educational practice: A meta-analysis of the effects of classroom management strategies and classroom management programs on students’ academic, behavioural, emotional, and motivational outcomes. RUG/GION.
Cluster Oriented Ensemble Classifier for Multiclustering in Unsupervised Learning

: A cluster oriented ensemble classifier is conventionally constructed from a set of base classifiers that separately learn the cluster boundaries over the patterns in the training set. The data set is classified into multiple clusters. Clusters can contain overlapping patterns from multiple classes. COEC can train the base classifiers to learn the cluster boundaries of overlapping class patterns on different subsets of training data and produces individual decisions as cluster confidence values. A fusion classifier can be trained to predict the class of a pattern from the predicted cluster. The decisions of the base classifiers are fused into a single decision and produce class confidence values. The proposed cluster oriented ensemble classifier aims to create multiple boundaries through data clustering, training the base classifiers on easy to learn cluster boundaries, and handling the cluster to class mapping process by a fusion classifier. Altogether the ensemble of base and fusion classifiers aims better learning leading to higher classification accuracy.
Childhood Obesity

Definitions of childhood obesity generally include term/phrases such as excess body weight for a particular height, disproportionate body fat, or body mass index at or above the ninety-fifth percentile. According to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS; 2011), a 12% increase in obesity in children ages 6 to 19 has occurred between 1963 and 1999. In addition, The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (2011) states childhood obesity has tripled within the past 20 years. The risk obesity poses is undeniable. Obesity early in life can facilitate pathologies such as hypertension, diabetes, high cholesterol, depression, orthopedic problems, stroke, certain cancers, and osteoarthritis (DHHS, 2011). Costs of childhood obesity were estimated by the DHHS to cost approximately $127 million during 1997–1999. These costs are more than a decade old, and childhood obesity continues to be a global concern. There are a number of potential causes contributing to childhood obesity such as lack of physical exercise, unhealthy eating habits, genetics, socioeconomic status, race/ethnicity, media/marketing, and the general environment (DHHS, 2011). This epidemic, as it has been called, shows no signs of slowing down. In addition to potential individual consequences, this issue poses a significant probable financial burden to the American health care system. This column will take an in-depth look at the current risk factors contributing to childhood obesity, review existing research, highlight ample resources available to the public, and suggest potential interventions in multiple settings to reverse the current obesity trend.
Evidence for the Use of Telehealth in Pediatric Occupational Therapy

Telehealth is becoming an increasingly used service delivery model in rehabilitation services. There are a myriad of reasons for its use. Telehealth has the potential to alleviate provider shortages, decrease costs associated with providing therapy, and allow for treatment within a client's natural environment. The purpose of this evidence-based practice review was to answer the question, “Are web-based rehabilitation services effective for children under the age of 16, as measured by discipline specific outcomes and/or satisfaction with services provided? ” In regard to satisfaction with telehealth services, it appears there is evidence to support the use of telehealth in pediatric OT.
Risk factors and poor prognostic factors of preeclampsia in Ibn Rochd University Hospital of Casablanca: about 401 preeclamptic cases

Preeclampsia is a gestational pathology that complicates 2 to 8% of pregnancies and is one of the major causes of maternal and fetal morbidity and mortality worldwide. The aim of this work was to study the epidemiological profile of preeclampsia in Casablanca and to identify risk factors as well as factors of poor maternal and fetal prognosis. 401 preeclamptic cases were collected in the gynecology-obstetrics “C” Service of Lalla Meryem Maternity of Ibn Rochd University Hospital of Casablanca (2010-2011) were included in this study and a statistical analysis with the SPSS software version (16.0) was performed. We used the Chi-2 test to analyze qualitative variables and Student's test and ANOVA (analysis of variance) for quantitative variables. The incidence of preeclampsia was (7.1%). The epidemiological profile was that of a primipara (57.6%), average age 30 years and (66.8%) of pregnancies were not followed. Multiparity was a factor of poor maternal prognosis (p = 0.007). The low gestational age and no prenatal care were factors of maternal as well as fetal prognosis. Risk factors frequently found in our patients were obesity (15.21%) and chronic hypertension (5.73%) as vascular-renal history; abortion (16.46%) and perinatal death (5.24%) as obstetric history. Preeclampsia is a common obstetric pathology in our context. Better prenatal care and early diagnosis could reduce its incidence.
Development of the Russian version of the Work Rehabilitation Questionnaire. Preliminary evaluation of the social and vocational status of patients with traumatic spinal cord injury

Introduction: spinal cord injury is a damaging event that affects person's wellbeing and represents a significant societal problem. Traumatic spinal cord injury (TSCI) occurs mostly among young adults and causes severe impairments in daily living activities and functioning. The Work Rehabilitation Questionnaire (WORQ) based on the International Classification of Functioning, Disability and Health was developed recently as an instrument to evaluate functioning in vocational rehabilitation. The evidence of work activities and vocational status of disabled persons in Russia remains almost unstudied, Therefore, the need for Russian version of WORQ has emerged to investigate the social and vocational status of TSCI-patients. Objectives: cross-cultural adaptation of WORQ into Russian; preliminary evaluation of the social and vocational status of patients with TSCI. Material and methods: Russian WORQ (self-reported version) was used to investigate the social and vocational status of the patients with TSCI. Results: more than 80% of participants are not vocationally active; Conclusions: the most severe degree of impairment is not associated with lower rates of employment; female patients with TSCI are more likely to have an active working status.
Introduction

Marketing is under fire. The challenges fall into several categories but include questions about the costs of marketing and the consumerist values that marketing is perceived to promote. Calls for legislation and regulation to counter alleged marketing “abuses” are becoming more strident (Day and Montgomery, 1999). Marketers must address these issues and articulate more effectively the discipline’s multi-faceted contributions to society. Ironically it is now more than three decades since Kotler and Levy (1969) advanced the then-controversial propositions that all organizations must develop a marketing function to fulfil their responsibilities to stakeholders and that commercial marketing methods and concepts are transferable to the nonprofit sector. Most marketing theorists and practitioners have long since accepted the notion of social marketing but we have been less than adept at communicating the concept to others. When asked What does marketing contribute to society? emphasizing the role of social marketing should be our primary response. Social marketing is generally understood to involve the planning and implementation of programs designed to bring about social change using concepts from commercial marketing. As a rapidly emerging discipline, social marketing is demonstrating considerable success in tapping the ideas and talents of commercial marketers to challenge major social problems through partnerships of mutual interest. Social marketers are achieving results for a myriad of philanthropic organizations, community groups, and government agencies around the world engaged in solving social problems. Allied to (or a sub-set of) social marketing is a fairly recent phenomenon known as “Cause Related Marketing” (see for example
Employing Strategic Campus–Community Partnerships to Address Nonmedical Prescription Drug Use on College and University Campuses

Although a distant fourth to alcohol, tobacco, and marijuana use, nonmedical prescription drug use (NMPDU) far exceeds all other illicit drug use on college and university campuses. Campus officials might be unaware of the impact of NMPDU on student health, including drug-related emergency room visits, sexual assault, violent behavior, and academic misconduct. The authors collaborated as scholar-practitioners, representing the nonprofit sector, the public sector, and university life, to understand the needs of campus practitioners in preventing and responding to NMPDU. As a result of a collaborative needs assessment, the authors recommend a number of key elements necessary for strategic campus–community partnerships to reduce the prevalence and harm associated with NMPDU. The role of social workers in this framework is discussed.
Book Reviews

This special edition focuses on adolescent sexual offending and so it seemed appropriate that the focus of the five books reviewed was working with adolescent sexual offenders and surviving the impact of abuse. First, Kevin Epps considers Tim Chapman’s manual on working with adolescent offenders and young people at risk. In his excellent review, Kevin highlights the important point that this manual is not exclusively considering sexual offending, but focuses on young people who commit a variety of crimes (including sexual). He concludes that this textbook and manual-in-one is likely to be of interest to readers of this journal working with sexually abusive adolescents. Second, Erica Bowen reviews Martin Calder’s frameworks for assessing juveniles and children who sexually abuse. Erica highlights the important point that this is a large book designed to be dipped into, not read in one go. With a wide focus from reviewing various theoretical approaches through to assessments and interventions, she concludes that this is a useful resource, particularly for those not familiar with the area of juvenile sexual abusers. The next three reviews consider the issue of the impact of sexual abuse on the victims, but aimed at different audiences. Sarah Stott’s book is for male victims of sexual abuse. Alan Jenkins makes the point that this ‘concise and readable’ book also considers abuse within the wider political context, but fails somewhat to fully explore the concept of resilience and strengths. The fourth book reviewed in this edition, again about surviving sexual abuse, is written for professionals with a focus on the development of addictive or compulsive behaviour. Eileen Vizard presents a balanced review of Sandra Knauer’s book, concluding that this would be a useful resource for practitioners working with survivors of child sexual abuse. Finally, Judy Wenban-Smith’s review of Andrew Durham’s book again highlights both the positive features and drawbacks to this volume. Judy’s main conclusion is that although aspects of the book are very academic and somewhat difficult to get through, the case histories and interviewing techniques are well worth considering. Overall, Louise, Tony and I feel that (as always) our reviewers have done a great job summarising and evaluating these books. We hope that these reviews will be of use in bringing to your awareness new resources to support your work with victims and/or perpetrators of sexual abuse.