Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Learning Sign Language from a Sanbot Robot

People with communication impairments, e.g., those with hearing loss or non-verbal autistic people, are a non-irrelevant number in modern society, so their inclusion is a very important issue. Different approaches can be used to achieve this, and in this paper we consider the use of sign language as a bridge to connect them with the rest of the world. To this aim, we propose an enjoyable and playful approach based on the use of an Elf Sanbot robot. We thus introduce two new applications that we have developed to interface with the robot. They can be installed in a smartphone or in a tablet, and can be used to remotely control the robot via Bluetooth or WiFI connection. The first application, called Sanbot Manager, is used to regulate the movements of the robot in the space and of the head. The second one, called Sanbot Server application, allows for interfacing the robot with a human, that proposes vocal or textual words or sentences, and the robot reacts by showing the corresponding video in sign languages on the robot's screen. We think that these two applications, and in particular the Sanbot Server application, could be used to stimulate a person with a communication impairment, therapists, relatives, friends, to learn a sign language in an enjoyable way.
Discrimination of draglines from potential mates by Evarcha culicivora, an East African jumping spider

ABSTRACT Previous research has shown that Evarcha culicivora, using only olfaction (i.e. airborne volatile compounds), discriminates between opposite-sex and same-sex conspecific individuals and also discriminates between opposite-sex conspecific and heterospecific individuals. However, there has been no evidence to date of E. culicivora also using olfaction alone to discriminate between virgin and previously mated opposite-sex conspecifics. Results from the present study suggest that males of E. culicivora may gain this information from contacting draglines and show a preference for virgin females. Males displayed significantly more often when they contacted the draglines from a virgin female instead of from a previously mated female. Males also escalated conflict with a same-sex rival (their own mirror image) significantly more often when in the presence of draglines from virgin females than when in the presence of draglines from previously mated females.
IL-17A Neutralization Improves the Neurological Outcome of Mice With Ischemic Stroke and Inhibits Caspase-12-Dependent Apoptosis

We previously reported that the levels of astrocyte-derived interleukin-17A (IL-17A) increased both in the peri-infarct region and cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) of mice with 1-h middle cerebral artery (MCA) occlusion/12-h reperfusion (1-h MCAO/R 12 h)-induced ischemic stroke. However, the effects of IL-17A neutralization on the neurological outcome of mice with ischemic stroke and its underlying molecular mechanism are unclear. In this study, we found that the intracerebroventricular injection of IL-17A-neutralizing monoclonal antibody (mAb; 2.0 μg) could reduce the infarct volume, alleviate neuron loss, and improve the neurological outcomes of mice with 1-h MCAO/R 24-h- or 3-day-induced ischemic-stroke mice. The IL-17A neutralization could also significantly inhibit the increase of pro-caspase-3 cleavage through caspase-12-dependent cell apoptosis, as well as preventing the decrease of antiapoptotic factor B-cell lymphoma 2 (Bcl-2) and the increase of proapoptotic Bcl-2-associated X protein (Bax) in the peri-infarct region of mice following ischemic stroke. In addition, we confirmed that the recombinant mouse (rm) IL-17A could significantly aggravate 1-h oxygen–glucose deprivation/24-h reoxygenation (1-h OGD/R 24 h)-induced ischemic injuries in cortical neurons in a dose-dependent manner, and the rmIL-17A could also exacerbate neuronal apoptosis through caspase-12 (not caspase-8 or caspase-9)-dependent pathway. These results suggest that IL-17A neutralization could improve the neurological outcome of mice with ischemic stroke through inhibiting caspase-12-dependent neuronal apoptosis.
Word saber: an effective and fun VR vocabulary learning game

In this paper, we introduce Word Saber, a virtual reality (VR) edu-game for vocabulary learning. The game design and game mechanics are inspired by Beat Saber, where players have to cut virtual cubes from predefined directions by using bi-manual interactions with two lightsabers. Word Saber uses a similar concept, but players have to cut the corresponding object to the presented word. We evaluated the effects of Word Saber on learning efficiency and enjoyment in comparison to a traditional vocabulary learning method. The results show that Word Saber is effective for vocabulary learning. However, as Word Saber presented significantly lower scores in terms of recognition and recall rate compared to a flashcard method, it has lower efficiency. Regarding subjective preferences, our findings suggest that VR edu-games can be fun and useful for language learning in the long run as participants reported to be more motivated to use Word Saber afterward.
Usability guidelines and evaluation criteria for conversational user interfaces: a heuristic and linguistic approach

Even though conversational user interfaces (CUI) have been studied since the 1950s, it is not yet fully understood what makes them feel natural, intuitive and usable. As a result, their design and evaluation poses major challenges. In this paper, we discuss how CUIs are different from other forms of human computer interaction, and what challenges and opportunities arise from these differences. We provide an overview of relevant linguistic principles for a natural language conversation and look at established high-level usability heuristics to derive a set of 53 technology-agnostic checkpoints specifically for text-based CUIs (a.k.a chatbots). These checkpoints have been evaluated with 15 professionals and academics from the fields of User Experience, Natural Language Processing, Conversation Analysis and linguistics to examine content validity. The resulting list of checkpoints provides both guidelines for the design and criteria for the evaluation of chatbots.
A Multilevel Fire Detection Platform Based on Multi-Source Heterogeneous Information Fusion

Photovoltaic power generation is an important part of the current new energy sources. With the development of photovoltaic power generation technology, the corresponding security operation technology has become a new research topic. In this paper, a multi-level fire detection platform based on multi-source heterogeneous information fusion is proposed. The platform includes two levels of detection, level 1 is smoke detection through video monitoring data. Level 2 is the fire detection of data collected by meteorological monitoring. Through the two-level detection, the fire hazard situation and fire hazard location can be accurately located.
Influencing factors for acceptance of digital tools in the humanities

Within the framework of the User Centered Design process, UX research is constantly exploring new fields of application and user groups. Especially in professional contexts, the question arises why certain user groups find it particularly difficult to integrate digital tools into their everyday work. The present study addresses this question by analysing the acceptance faktors, based on the Technology Acceptance Model, for the target group of often digitally inactive humanities scholars. In the humanities, digital tools are used to support research work, but the acceptance of using digital tools is relatively low or falls short of expectations despite the wide range of tools available. Therefore, the question arises what causes the lack of user acceptance and how this can be counteracted. This question is located at the intersection of the two disciplines Business Information Systems (BIS) and Human Computer Interaction (HCI). The present study contributes to answering this question by empirically determining the factors that influence the acceptance of use. In the present study, humanities scholars were familiarized with several digital tools in workshops and subsequently interviewed about them. Based on the collected data a model for usage acceptance was developed using the PLS-SEM procedure. The most important factors for this target group are the perceived usefulness, which can be influenced by the social environment and the output quality of the tool, as well as the perceived ease of use, which can be influenced by positive user experiences.
The Ecology and Evolution of Partial-Clutch Cannibalism by Paternal Cortez Damselfish

Custodial male Stegastes rectifraenum frequently take bites from the clutches they guard. Although the function of this type of behavior (i.e., filial cannibalism) is unclear, an increasing number of studies have documented this behavior in fishes. Two distinct forms of filial cannibalism are recognized: whole-clutch cannibalism and partial-clutch cannibalism. The goals of this study were to establish (1) whether foraging is a function of partial-clutch filial cannibalism in S. rectifraenum, (2) whether it provides males with appreciable energetic benefits, and (3) whether feeding on embryos affects male behavior and subsequent reproductive success
Influence of personality, affinity for technology and risk awareness on technology acceptance using the example of voice control

This article deals with factors influencing the development of technology acceptance using the example of voice control in televisions. The focus lies on three user-specific factors: personality (big five), affinity for technology and risk awareness. The research question is whether the inclusion of these three user-specific factors provides an added value compared to existing models. A representative quantitative online survey was conducted (N=439) to determine user-specific criteria and their individual level of acceptance. By using a hierarchical regression analysis two important results occurred: On the one side, it became apparent that the emergence of acceptance of voice control depends on the level of risk awareness as well as the openness for new experiences and the conscientiousness of the respondents. Whereby, the affinity for technology had no significant influence on acceptance. On the other side, the postulated user-specific factors contribute only marginally (5.2%) to the explanation of variance of the model, whereas the benefit expectation could explain a significantly higher variance share (54.9%). This is in line with previous research results and supports the assumption that user-specific factors provide added value in acceptance research, but it is not very large.
A Multistage Ranking Strategy for Personalized Hotel Recommendation with Human Mobility Data

To increase user satisfaction and own income, more and more hotel booking sites begin to pay attention to personalized recommendation. However, almost all user preference information only comes from the user actions in the hotel reservation scenario. Obviously, this approach has its limitations in particular in situation of user cold start, i.e., when only little information is available about an individual user. In this paper, we focus on the hotel recommendation in mobile map applications, which has abundant human mobility data to provide extra personalized information for hotel search ranking. For this purpose, we propose a personalized multistage pairwise learning-to-ranking model, which can capture more personalized information by utilizing full scenarios hotel click data of users in map applications. At the same time, the multistage model can effectively solve the problem of cold start. Both offline and online evaluation results show that the proposed model significantly outperforms multiple strong baseline methods.
Bathing in lightness: an interactive light and sound installation

Bathing in Lightness is an interactive light and sound installation that seems to be enlivened by a swarm entity trying to explore its inner world and communicate with the outer one. Consisting of 52 filament light bulbs it visualizes the movement of a particle swarm that is driven by the presence of the viewer and its own inner urge. Visitors can interact with the installation by moving in front of it while their movement is followed by the swarm and thus being translated into light and sound - visible inside the cluster of light bulbs and audible via nearby speakers or headphones.
Speech-based interaction for map editing on mobile devices: a scenario-based study

Speech-based interfaces on mobile phones are growing in popularity, yet mostly limited to helping users retrieve information. There is an untapped potential for using speech to help users contribute new information. This work discusses opportunities and challenges of map editing on mobile devices. It also presents results from a study (N=20) that evaluated 11 speech-based commands for map data enriching and urban fault reporting on mobile devices. Feedback from the users indicated that speech-based information editing is feasible: usability was rated as `good', while user experience ratings produced slightly mitigated results.
Construction of UEQ+ scales for voice quality: measuring user experience quality of voice interaction

The UEQ+ is a modular framework for the construction of UX questionnaires. The researcher can pick those scales that fit his or her research question from a list of 16 available UX scales. Currently, no UEQ+ scales are available to allow measuring the quality of voice interactions. Given that this type of interaction is increasingly essential for the usage of digital products, this is a severe limitation of the possible products and usage scenarios that can be evaluated using the UEQ+. We describe in this paper the construction of three specific scales to measure the UX of voice interactions. Besides, we discuss how these new scales can be combined with existing UEQ+ scales in evaluation projects.
Multi-task Scheduling for PIM-based Heterogeneous Computing System

Processing-in-Memory (PIM) or Near-Data Processing has been recognized as the most potential solution to resolve the ever-aggravating memory wall especially as the thrive of memory-intensive scale-out workloads such as graph computing and data analytics. However, when the future computing system becomes more and more likely to adopt PIM architectures as a type of the storage and processing component, there is a lack of literature and research work on the general scheduling framework with the emerging heterogeneous system except for some ad-hoc task partitioning methods with specialized PIM designs. This work is the first to propose a formalized model to quantitatively describe the multi-task scheduling problem in PIM+CPU platform without loss of generality, and also an optimized task mapping-and-scheduling algorithm to boost the hardware utility for these novel heterogeneous systems. The proposed scheduling framework is fully aware of the data access bandwidth and processing capability distinction between the CPU and PIM devices, and also the implications of task mapping on the bandwidth contention, data communication intensity and hardware utility for the concurrent workloads. Experimental results show that, compared to the traditional scheduling algorithm for heterogeneous system, the proposed method is able to improve the system performance by over 10% and the energy efficiency by almost 10% for multi-core scale-out applications.
An In-memory Highly Reconfigurable Logic Circuit Based on Diode-assisted Enhanced Magnetoresistance Device

In the post-Moore era, in order to solve the problem of von Neumann bottleneck and memory wall caused by separation of memory and processor, in-memory-processing (IMP) technique has aroused great attention. Novel non-volatile memory (NVM) based on spintronic devices shows promise for satisfying the needs of low-power consumption and high speed for IMP. However, most spintronic memories based on magnetic tunnel junctions (MTJs) can only implement simple and specific logic functions due to the limits of single device and circuit structure. Otherwise, performing logic functions in memory generates vast dynamic power consumption during frequent reading and writing processes because of the high resistance of miniaturized MTJ. In this paper, we propose an in-memory highly reconfigurable logic circuit based on diode-assisted enhanced magnetoresistance (DEMR) device. Our circuit can realize 16 different logic functions with extremely limited circuit area benefiting from the special structure of DEMR device. With appropriate adjustment of control bit and current, the proposed circuit can further implement complex functions like full adder. The proposed reconfigurable circuit can flexibly meet the performance requirements in different scenarios and will contribute a lot for future in-memory chip design.
How to design and evaluate a serious game aiming at awareness of therapy skills associated with social anxiety disorder

This study's aim was to design and evaluate a serious game to raise awareness of cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) skills associated with social anxiety disorder. The target group was university students, as 10-25% within this group have impaired functioning due to social anxiety. The game was designed in Unity with implementation of different CBT skills within three different scenarios. The scenarios were designed based on psychophysiological pilots testing, and external psychiatrist expertise. There were two evaluation stages. Using self-reports (questionnaires and interviews), evaluation 1 identified how engaging the game was. Evaluation 2 took place one week after the first evaluation, and used an online questionnaire to identify if the intended learning of CBT skills could be recalled by the participants. The game was successful in terms of focused attention, attentional focus, aesthetic appeal, and narrative understanding. The designed elements for emotional engagement could be improved by allowing further ingame personalization. The participants were able to recall information from the game with less than 50% correct answers. This accuracy score could be improved by a better game design with focus on the specific information that should be recalled.
Genetic relationships of body measurements at registration to a couple of reproductive traits in Japanese black cows

黒毛和種雌牛の種牛能力の育種価評価ならびに合理的な体測定に関する基礎的知見を得ることを目的として,平成3,4年度に宮崎県で登録検査を受けた14,881頭の黒毛和種雌牛の基本•本原登録時体測定値と繁殖性の遺伝率と遺伝相関を多形質REML法によって推定した. 推定対象形質としては,体測定値として体高,胸囲,胸深,尻長,かん幅および体重の6形質,繁殖性として初産月齢,初産と2産の間の分娩間隔および初産と2産の平均妊娠期間の3形質とした. 体測定の遺伝率は体高0. 45,胸囲0. 33,胸深0. 35,尻長0. 39,かん幅0. 34および体重0. 39と中位の推定値が得られたが,体高が最も高い値を示した. また,体高は他の体測定部位との間に0. 50から0. 87の高い正の遺伝相関を示した. これらの結果は,現行の黒毛和種雌牛の体型審査においては,体高が発育の指標として広く使われているにとの妥当性を支持するものであること,牛体の発育に関しては,体高を測定することによって,他の部位の測定を一部省略できる可能性のあることを示唆するものであると思われた. 繁殖形質の遺伝率は,初期月齢0. 04,分娩間隔0. 05および妊娠期間0. 17とそれぞれ低い値であった. 体測定値はこれらの繁殖形質と負の遺伝相関を示すものが多かった. とくに後躯のかん幅が初産月齢と-0. 38と,尻長が分娩間隔と-0,34とそれぞれ最も密接な遺伝相関を示したことは,体高が妊娠期間と高い負の遺伝相関(-0.48)を示したこととともに注目された. 以上の結果,黒毛和種雌牛の登録時に行われている体測定は,必ずしもそのすべてが当該雌牛の発育性や繁殖性などに関わる評価に適した指標とはいえず,今後雌牛の初産月齢や公娩間隔などの繁殖形質にかかわる育種価を予測するためには,より合理的かつ効率的な体測定法を発展させる必要があると思われた.
Dual-Plane Switch Architecture for Time-Triggered Ethernet

Time-triggered Ethernet (TTE) technology introduces the concept of time-triggered on the basis of traditional Ethernet, so that it can achieve conflict-free and deterministic service forwarding without sacrificing compatibility. However, storage resources in industrial, aviation, aerospace and other equipment are limited. Therefore, it is important for TTEthernet to develop switching technologies with high storage efficiency and scalability. This paper proposes a dual plane switching (DPS) architecture for TTEthernet, which divides time-triggered services and event-triggered services into two planes for data forwarding. Experimental results show that using the TTE switch of this architecture has the advantages of high clock synchronization accuracy, high throughout, low transmission delay and small jitter of TTE service.
Consecutive Hypoxia Decreases Expression of NOTCH3, HEY1, CC10, and FOXJ1 via NKX2-1 Downregulation and Intermittent Hypoxia-Reoxygenation Increases Expression of BMP4, NOTCH1, MKI67, OCT4, and MUC5AC via HIF1A Upregulation in Human Bronchial Epithelial Cells

Previous studies have shown that the experimental models of hypoxia-reoxygenation (H/R) mimics the physiological conditions of ischemia-reperfusion and induce oxidative stress and injury in various types of organs, tissues, and cells, both in vivo and in vitro, including human lung adenocarcinoma epithelial cells. Nonetheless, it had not been reported whether H/R affected proliferation, apoptosis, and expression of stem/progenitor cell markers in the bronchial epithelial cells. In this study, we investigated differential effects of consecutive hypoxia and intermittent 24/24-h cycles of H/R on human bronchial epithelial (HBE) cells derived from the same-race and age-matched healthy subjects (i.e., NHBE) and subjects with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) (i.e., DHBE). To analyze gene/protein expression during differentiation, both the NHBE and DHBE cells at the 2nd passage were cultured at the air-liquid interface (ALI) in the differentiation medium under normoxia for 3 days, followed by either culturing under hypoxia (1% O2) for consecutively 9 days and then returning to normoxia for another 9 days, or culturing under 24/24-h cycles of H/R (i.e., 24 h of 1% O2 followed by 24 h of 21% O2, repetitively) for 18 days in total, so that all differentiating HBE cells were exposed to hypoxia for a total of 9 days. In both the normal and diseased HBE cells, intermittent H/R significantly increased HIF1A, BMP4, NOTCH1, MKI67, OCT4, and MUC5AC expression, while consecutive hypoxia significantly decreased NKX2-1, NOTCH3, HEY1, CC10, and FOXJ1 expression. Inhibition of HIF1A or NKX2-1 expression by siRNA transfection respectively decreased BMP4/NOTCH1/MKI67/OCT4/MUC5AC and NOTCH3/HEY1/CC10/FOXJ1 expression in the HBE cells cultured under intermittent H/R to the same levels under normoxia. Overexpression of NKX2-1 via cDNA transfection caused more than 2.8-fold increases in NOTCH3, HEY1, and FOXJ1 mRNA levels in the HBE cells cultured under consecutive hypoxia compared to the levels under normoxia. Taken together, our results show for the first time that consecutive hypoxia decreased expression of the co-regulated gene module NOTCH3/HEY1/CC10 and the ciliogenesis-inducing transcription factor gene FOXJ1 via NKX2-1 mRNA downregulation, while intermittent H/R increased expression of the co-regulated gene module BMP4/NOTCH1/MKI67/OCT4 and the predominant airway mucin gene MUC5AC via HIF1A mRNA upregulation.
Litho-NeuralODE: Improving Hotspot Detection Accuracy with Advanced Data Augmentation and Neural Ordinary Differential Equations

The use of deep neural networks in pattern matching has tremendously improved the accuracy of the lithographic hotspot detection, preventing any catastrophic chip failure. In this paper, we propose three data augmentation techniques ("Translation", "Gaussian noise", and "Fill shapes") to deal with the imbalance outlier lithographic hotspot problem and adopt the neural ordinary differential equations networks (Litho-NeuralODE) to improve the detection accuracy. Our architecture uses 28x28 pixel clips to perform the hotspot classification. Experimental result on ICCAD 2012 Contest benchmarks shows that our proposed framework achieves the overall highest accuracy of 98.7% and the lowest misses of 10 on average, outperforming the state-of-the-art works.