Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
UvA-DARE ( Digital Academic Repository ) Monotonicity and the Complexity of Reasoning with Quantifiers

We present a natural logic for reasoning with quantifiers that can predict human performance in appropriate reasoning tasks. The model is an extension of that in (Geurts, 2003) but allows for better fit with data on syllogistic reasoning and is extended to account for reasoning with iterated quantifiers. We assign weights to inference rules and operationalize the complexity of a reasoning pattern as weighted length of proof in our logic – this results in a measure of complexity that outperforms other models in their predictive capacity and allows for the derivation of empirically testable hypotheses.
Top-Down and Bottom-up Control of Large Herbivore Populations: A Review of Natural and Human-Induced Influences

The question whether animal populations are top-down and/or bottom-up controlled has motivated a thriving body of research over the past five decades. In this review I address two questions: 1) how do top-down and bottom-up controls influence large herbivore populations? 2) How do human activities and control systems influence the top-down and bottom-up processes that affect large herbivore population dynamics? Previous studies suggest that the relative influence of top-down vs. bottom-up control varies among ecosystems at the global level, with abrupt shifts in control possible in arid and semi-arid regions during years with large differences in rainfall. Humans as super-predators exert top-down control on large wild herbivore abundances through hunting. However, through fires and livestock grazing, humans also exert bottom-up controls on large wild herbivore abundances through altering resource availability, which influences secondary productivity. This review suggests a need for further research, especially on the human-induced top-down and bottom-up control of animal populations in different terrestrial ecosystems.
Irreversible Swelling Behavior and Reversible Hysteresis in Chemically Crosslinked Poly(vinyl alcohol) Gels

We report the swelling properties of chemically crosslinked poly(vinyl alcohol) (PVA) gels with high degrees of polymerization and hydrolysis. Physical crosslinking by microcrystallites was introduced in this chemical PVA gel by a simple dehydration process. The equilibrium swelling ratio was measured in several mixed solvents, which comprised two-components: a good solvent (water or dimethyl sulfoxide (DMSO)), and a poor organic solvent for PVA. In the case of aqueous/organic solvent mixtures subjected to a multiple-sample test, the swelling ratio decreased continuously when the concentration of the organic solvent increased, reaching a collapsed state in the respective pure organic solvents. In the case of DMSO, starting from a swollen state, the swelling ratio rapidly decreased by between 15 and 50 mol % when the concentration of the organic compound increased in a single-sample test. To understand the hysteresis phenomenon, the swelling ratio was measured in a DMSO/acetone mixed solvent, starting from a collapsed state in acetone. The reversibility of swelling in response to successive concentration cycles between DMSO and acetone was examined. As a result, an irreversible swelling behavior was observed in the first cycle, and the swelling ratio in acetone after the first cycle became larger than the initial ratio. Subsequently, the swelling ratio changed reversibly, with a large hysteresis near a specific molar ratio of DMSO/acetone of 60/40. The microstructures were confirmed by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy during the cycles. The irreversible swelling behavior and hysteresis are discussed in terms of the destruction and re-formation of additional physical crosslinking in the chemical PVA gels.
Effectiveness of Sparse Features : An Application of Sparse PCA

Principal Component Analysis (PCA) is one of the most widely used unsupervised learning techniques to extract features from unlabeled data and form a basis of uncorrelated features that can represent the original data with the minimum loss of information. Because of the reduced feature space dimension, PCA is also used simply for data compression. However, beyond the ability to reconstruct the original data with the minimum reconstruction error, these learned features can be useful in carrying out predictive tasks. Recently, many researchers have been investigating the effectiveness of enforcing sparsity on the learned features and proposed various optimization schemes and techniques to learn sparse features and applied them in different domains of tasks. In this paper, we present an overview of the concept of sparse PCA (SPCA) [11], and we apply it to the classification of handwritten digits. We demonstrate the effectiveness of SPCA by comparing our classification result to that attained by the standard PCA and other approaches. We further relate SPCA to other studies of sparse features in the field.
Road Safety Analysis in Győr

The project “Save our Lives – A Comprehensive Road Safety Strategy for Central Europe,” (SOL ) is supporting twelve pilot communities in eight countries in the region to strengthen their approaches to road safety and sustainable mobility in order to prevent death and injury caused by road crashes. Road safety and sustainable transport are community issues. Authors have participated in the project as researcher and describe the results of the project.
Which School Systems Sort Weaker Students into Smaller Classes? International Evidence

We examine whether the sorting of differently achieving students into differently sized classes results in a regressive or compensatory pattern of class sizes for a sample of national school systems. Sorting effects are identified by subtracting the causal effect of class size on performance from their total correlation. Our empirical results indicate substantial compensatory sorting within and especially between schools in many countries. Only the United States, a country with decentralized education finance and considerable residential mobility, exhibits regressive between-school sorting. Between-school sorting is more compensatory in systems with ability tracking. Within-school sorting is more compensatory when administrators rather than teachers assign students to classrooms.
Effect of foliar application of Cu, Zn, and Mn on yield and quality indicators of winter wheat grain

Micronutrients are part of many crucial physiological plant processes. The combined application of N and micronutrients helps in obtaining grain yield with beneficial technological and consumer properties. The main micronutrients needed by cereals include Cu, Mn, and Zn. The subject of this study was to determine yield, quality indicators (protein content and composition, gluten content, grain bulk density, Zeleny sedimentation index, and grain hardness), as well as mineral content (Cu, Zn, Mn, Fe) in winter wheat grain (Triticum aestivum L.) fertilized by foliar micronutrient application. A field experiment was carried out at the Educational and Experimental Station in Tomaszkowo, Poland. The application of mineral fertilizers (NPK) supplemented with Cu increased Cu content (13.0%) and ω, α/β, and γ (18.7%, 4.9%, and 3.4%, respectively) gliadins in wheat grain. Foliar Zn fertilization combined with NPK increased Cu content (14.9%) as well as high (HMW) and low molecular weight (LMW) glutenins (38.8% and 6.7%, respectively). Zinc fertilization significantly reduced monomeric gliadin content and increased polymeric glutenin content in grain, which contributed in reducing the gliadin:glutenin ratio (0.77). Mineral fertilizers supplemented with Mn increased Fe content in wheat grain (14.3%). It also significantly increased protein (3.8%) and gluten (4.4%) content, Zeleny sedimentation index (12.4%), and grain hardness (18.5%). Foliar Mn fertilization increased the content of ω, α/β, and γ gliadin fractions (19.9%, 9.5%, and 2.1%, respectively), as well as HMW and LMW glutenins (18.9% and 4.5%, respectively). Mineral NPK fertilization, combined with micronutrients (Cu + Zn + Mn), increased Cu and Zn content in grain (22.6% and 17.7%, respectively). The content of ω, α/β, and γ gliadins increased (20.3%, 10.5%, and 12.1%, respectively) as well as HMW glutenins (7.9%).
A study of slanted-edge MTF stability and repeatability

The slanted-edge method of measuring the spatial frequency response (SFR) as an approximation of the modulation transfer function (MTF) has become a well known and widely used image quality testing method over the last 10 years. This method has been adopted by multiple international standards including ISO and IEEE. Nearly every commercially available image quality testing software includes the slanted-edge method and there are numerous open-source algorithms available. This method is one of the most important image quality algorithms in use today. This paper explores test conditions and the impacts they have on the stability and precision of the slanted-edge method as well as details of the algorithm itself. Real world and simulated data are used to validate the characteristics of the algorithm. Details of the target such as edge angle and contrast ratio are tested to determine the impact on measurement under various conditions. The original algorithm defines a near vertical edge so that errors introduced are minor but the theory behind the algorithm requires a perfectly vertical edge. A correction factor is introduced as a way to compensate for this problem. Contrast ratio is shown to have no impact on results in an absence of noise.
SHH signaling mediates the effect of PPAR β / δ on angiogenesis following cerebral ischemia

Aims: This study aimed to investigate whether Sonic Hedgehog (SHH) mediates the effects of peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor beta/delta (PPAR β/δ) on angiogenesis following cerebral ischemia. Methods: A rat middle cerebral artery occlusion (MCAO) model was established. Ischemic stroke was stimulated in vitro by performing oxygen-glucose deprivation (OGD) on human umbilical vein endothelial cells (HUVECs). The activation of PPAR β/δ was induced by treatment with GW501516. The expression of von Willebrand factor (vWF), SHH, vascular endothelial growth factor A (VEGFA) and Notch1 were examined by western blot analysis. Cell proliferation, cell migration and tube length were determined by MTT, Transwell-migration and tube formation assays. SHH knockdown was achieved by transfection of SHH-siRNA. Results: PPAR β/δ activation induced angiogenesis in the infarct cerebral hemisphere following MCAO, as demonstrated by up regulated expression of vWF. PPAR β/δ activation also increased the expression of SHH, VEGFA and Notch1 in the MCAO rats. The results from in vitro studies showed that SHH expression was induced by GW501516 treatment in OGD-treated HUVECs. PPAR β/δ activation induced angiogenesis under OGD condition, as demonstrated by increased cell proliferation, cell migration and tube formation; however, these effects were attenuated by SHH knockdown. SHH knockdown also attenuated the effect of PPAR β/δ on VEGFA and Notch1 expression. Conclusion: This study firstly demonstrated that PPAR β/δ activates SHH signaling in cerebral ischemia, and SHH mediates the effect of PPAR β/δ on angiogenesis. The regulation of PPAR β/δ/ SHH/VEGFA/Notch1 pathway may be a novel therapeutic intervention for cerebral ischemia.
Automatic Phishing Detection vesus User Training, Is there a Middle Ground Using XAI?

Citation for published version: Albakry, S & Vaniea, K 2018, Automatic phishing detection versus user training, Is there a middle ground using XAI? in K Martin, N Wiratunga & LS Smith (eds), ReaLX 2018 Proceedings of the SICSA Workshop on Reasoning, Learning and Explainability. vol. 2151, CEUR Workshop Proceedings (CEUR-WS.org), Aberdeen, Scotland, The SICSA Reasoning, Learning and Explainability Workshop 2018, Aberdeen, United Kingdom, 27/06/18.
Linking Diversity and Disparity Measures

The purpose of this paper is to examine links between the diversity measures (Patil and Taillie 1982) and the disparity measures (Lindsay 1994), quantities apparently developed for somewhat different purposes. We demonstrate that numerous diversity measures satisfying all the desirable criteria mentioned by Patil and Taillie can be defined by the generating functions of certain disparities and the associated residual adjustment functions. This provides the statistician and the ecologist a wide class of flexible indices for the statistical measurement of diversity.
Rickettsia and Rickettsial Diseases

Rickettsia prowazekii and R. rickettsii are HHS and USDA select agents (http://biosafety.utk.edu/pdfs/salist.pdf), and R. prowazekii is a category B bioterrorism agent as determined by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) (http://www.bt.cdc.gov/agent/agentlist-category.asp). The criteria for CDC category B bioterrorism agents are that the organisms are moderately easy to disseminate, cause diseases with moderate morbidity and low mortality and require specific enhancements of diagnostic capacity and enhanced disease surveillance. However, the case fatality ratios of both R. prowazekii and R. rickettsii may exceed the CDC bioterrorism agent category B level. Epidemic typhus caused by R. prowazekii and Rocky Mountain spotted fever (RMSF) caused by R. rickettsii can reach up to 60% fatalities without antibiotic treatment and 4% even with antibiotic treatment (Raoult et al., 2004). Rickettsia had been explored for biowarfare use. The former Soviet Union developed R. prowazekii as a biologic weapon in the 1930s (Alibek K and Handelman S, 2009). During World War II, the Japanese performed human experiments with rickettsial agents for purposes of biologic weapon development during their occupation of China (Harris S, 1992).
The wolves of Isle Royale display scale-invariant satiation and ratio-dependent predation on moose

Summary 1 The importance of two features of the predator functional response (satiation and predator dependence) is investigated in the wolf–moose interaction on Isle Royale National Park (Michigan, USA). This is done by fitting and comparing nine different functional response models to the observed kill rates. 2 Three different observational scales (the whole island, the wolf packs, or a ‘mixed’ scale) are used to assess the sensitivity of the detected properties with respect to these spatial scales. 3 Independently of the observational scale and of statistical assumptions on data structure, strong predator dependence and satiation of the wolf functional response are found. The ‘mixed’ scale gives the most consistent results, suggesting that predation should be measured for each pack, but that packs share all moose on the island. On this scale, the functional response is clearly ratio-dependent.
Strategic Thinking and Iterated Dominance in Young Children

We investigate iterative reasoning in children from pre-kindergarten to first grade. We consider four games that have a unique Trembling Hand Perfect Equilibrium but vary in three key features: iterative complexity (the number of iterations required to reach the equilibrium), perspective requirement (the identity of the player with whom the iteration should start) and action symmetry. The beliefs of participants regarding the decision of their partners are elicited either before or after their own choices are made. We obtain the following findings. (1) Iterative complexity is not necessarily a cause of equilibrium failure. (2) Games where the equilibrium action is the same for both players are solved more often. (3) Starting a recursion by solving the problem of a different player is non-intuitive in all our age groups but it can be overcome by asking participants to think about their partner’s decision before making their own choices. (4) Such ex-ante belief elicitation is, however, detrimental in complex asymmetric games. We discuss these results in the context of the development of logical abilities and theory of mind abilities.
LSTM dependency parser performance and Universal Dependencies

A classifier is an important component of dependency parsers. The design of relevant features and the amount of training data are major challenges to achieve good parsing results. One aim of this project is to evaluate the performance of two kinds of LSTM parsers (word based and character based) that use simple features with a focus on how the size of the training data influences the results. Another aim is to compare the LSTM parsers with the Stanford Neural Network parser. The UD corpora for English, Swedish and Finnish are used as training, development and test data. I have shown that LSTM parsers with very simple features (coarse POS) have a reasonable performance when trained on UD corpora with limited size. There is clear evidence that the size of the UD English corpora affects the parsing accuracy. That is, the larger the training data, the better results. I have also shown that it is possible to use multi-language corpora as input for training in order to improve the parsing accuracy for the languages with short training corpora. When parsing Swedish UD corpus, the LSTM parsers have a better performance than the Stanford neural network parser.
Antioxidant and Free Radical Scavenging Properties of Twelve Traditionally Used Indian Medicinal Plants

The methanolic crude extracts of 12 traditionally used Indian medicinal plants were screened for their antioxidant and free radical scavenging properties using α-tocopherol and butylated hydroxy toluene (BHT) as standard antioxidants. Antioxidant activity was measured by ferric thiocyanate (FTC) assay and compared with the thiobarbituric acid (TBA) method. Free radical scavenging activity was evaluated using diphenyl picryl hydrazyl (DPPH) radicals. The overall antioxidant activity of Lawsonia inermis was the strongest, followed in descending order by Ocimum sanctum, Cichorium intybus, Piper cubeba, Punica granatum, Allium sativum, Delonix regia, Terminalia chebula, Terminalia bellerica, Mangifera indica, Camellia sinensis, and Trigonella foenum-graecum. Seven plants, namely Terminalia chebula, Mangifera indica, Terminalia bellerica, Punica granatum, Ocimum sanctum, Cichorium intybus, and Camellia sinensis, showed strong free radical scavenging activity with the DPPH method. Phytochemical analysis of plant extracts indicated the presence of major phytocompounds, including phenolics, alkaloids, glycosides, flavonoids, and tannins. The phenolic concentrations in the above plants ranged from 28.66 to 169.67 mg/g of dry plant extract. A fair correlation between antioxidant/free radical scavenging activity and phenolic content was observed among 9 plants; however, in 3 plants (Piper cubeba, Lawsonia inermis and Trigonella foenum-graecum), no such relationship was observed. The tested plant extracts showed promising antioxidant and free radical scavenging activity, thus justifying their traditional use.
IN VITRO EVALUATION OF HERB-DRUG INTERACTIONS: A REVIEW

Herbal medicinal products are used worldwide and have become important part of clinical medicine. Today with the increasing level of consumer acceptance, safety issues related to herbal drugs continue to be ignored by the public, neglected by manufacturers as well as under-researched by the medical professionals. Users of herbal medicines tend to believe that herbals are inherently safe and thus concomitantly use self-prescribed herbal and prescribed synthetic drugs. Thus, there is a high possibility of interactions between herbal and synthetic drugs. Interactions of several commonly used herbal medicines such as Gingko biloba, St. John’s wort with therapeutic drugs including Warfarine, Midazolam, and Nifedipine in humans have been reported. The combined use of herbs and drugs has increased the possibility of pharmacokinetic and pharmacodynamic interactions. Herb drug interactions (HDI) involve drug metabolizing enzymes Cytochrome P450 (CYP450) and drug transporters P-glycoprotein (P-gp). As the herb drug interactions significantly alter pharmacokinetic and pharmacodynamic properties of administered drugs, the drugs interacting with herbal medicines need to identified by appropriate in vitro and in vivo methods. In this review, we have summarized different mechanisms of herb-drug interactions mediated by CYPs and P-gp and in vitro methods to assess them.
SYNTHESIS OF ALUMINA BASED ON INDUSTRIAL WASTE MATERIAL

A hazardous waste generated in slag milling process by the aluminium industry was used as a raw material for the synthesis of alumina, α-Al2O3. This waste is considered as hazardous material in the European legislation due to the release of toxic gases (hydrogen, ammonia, methane and hydrogen sulphide) in the presence of water. The process developed in this work allows to obtaining 1 ton of alumina from 4 tons of hazardous waste and generates an inert solid residue consisting principally of spinel, corundum and quartz with possible uses in cements or glass industry. This process consisted of two steps: in the first one, nearly 90% of aluminium present in the waste is recovered as a nanocrystalline boehmite, γ-AlOOH by hydrothermal treatment of the waste. In the second step, the alumina is obtained by calcination of the boehmite at 1400oC in air. The chemical composition of the alumina obtained consisted of 95% Al2O3, 3.3% Fe2O3, 0.8% SiO2 and other minor oxides to balance.
Development of a Uniform Biomarker Signature in Calves Heart and Lung to Detect the Abuse of Different Anabolic Substances

Anabolic agents like steroid hormones or β-agonists are used in food-producing animals in order to increase muscle mass and reduce fat content [1,2]. The application of specific anabolic agents in animal husbandry is allowed and common in different countries, e.g. USA, Canada, South Africa, etc. Due to proven side effects of substance residues for the consumer, the use of all growth promoting agents is forbidden within the European Union (EU) (Directives 96/22/EC, 96/23 EC, 2008/97/EC). To monitor this ban, routine controls are performed in animal Abstract
Anthropogenic Impacts on Coral Reef Harpacticoid Copepods

The number of studies demonstrating the susceptibility of benthic reef communities to anthropogenic impacts is growing. However, for some of the components of reef fauna, such as meiobenthic harpacticoid copepods, information is still lacking. Here, different diversity and taxonomic distinctness indexes and multivariate analyses were used to test whether the assemblage of harpacticoid copepods colonizing Artificial Substrate Units (ASUs) is an appropriate tool for the identification of reefs subjected to different levels of anthropogenic pressure. Furthermore, we also evaluate if diffused, persistent, anthropogenic impacts generate the homogenization and simplification of Harpacticoida assemblages. Six reefs were organized into two groups along the coast, depending on their proximity to very large urban centers. ASUs were used for meiofauna colonization and, for each reef, 320 Harpacticoida individuals were separated for identification at the species level. Abiotic parameters were analyzed, and significant differences were found between the two groups of reefs, with an increase in dissolved inorganic nutrients found in areas near large urban centers. Both the multivariate analyses and the indexes of diversity showed a clear separation between the reefs closer to the urban zones and those further away, as a response to the anthropogenic pressure. As hypothesized, in the impacted reef areas, there was a strong simplification and homogenization of the harpacticoid copepod assemblages. However, the results of the indexes, based on taxonomic distinctness, suggest that there was no phylogenetic signal of anthropogenic impact on coral reef harpacticoid copepods.