Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Quantifying and Defending against Privacy Threats on Federated Knowledge Graph Embedding

Knowledge Graph Embedding (KGE) is a fundamental technique that extracts expressive representation from knowledge graph (KG) to facilitate diverse downstream tasks. The emerging federated KGE (FKGE) collaboratively trains from distributed KGs held among clients while avoiding exchanging clients’ sensitive raw KGs, which can still suffer from privacy threats as evidenced in other federated model trainings (e.g., neural networks). However, quantifying and defending against such privacy threats remain unexplored for FKGE which possesses unique properties not shared by previously studied models. In this paper, we conduct the first holistic study of the privacy threat on FKGE from both attack and defense perspectives. For the attack, we quantify the privacy threat by proposing three new inference attacks, which reveal substantial privacy risk by successfully inferring the existence of the KG triple from victim clients. For the defense, we propose DP-Flames, a novel differentially private FKGE with private selection, which offers a better privacy-utility tradeoff by exploiting the entity-binding sparse gradient property of FKGE and comes with a tight privacy accountant by incorporating the state-of-the-art private selection technique. We further propose an adaptive privacy budget allocation policy to dynamically adjust defense magnitude across the training procedure. Comprehensive evaluations demonstrate that the proposed defense can successfully mitigate the privacy threat by effectively reducing the success rate of inference attacks from to on average with only a modest utility decrease.
FedBot: Enhancing Privacy in Chatbots with Federated Learning

Chatbots are mainly data-driven and usually based on utterances that might be sensitive. However, training deep learning models on shared data can violate user privacy. Such issues have commonly existed in chatbots since their inception. In the literature, there have been many approaches to deal with privacy, such as differential privacy and secure multi-party computation, but most of them need to have access to users' data. In this context, Federated Learning (FL) aims to protect data privacy through distributed learning methods that keep the data in its location. This paper presents Fedbot, a proof-of-concept (POC) privacy-preserving chatbot that leverages large-scale customer support data. The POC combines Deep Bidirectional Transformer models and federated learning algorithms to protect customer data privacy during collaborative model training. The results of the proof-of-concept showcase the potential for privacy-preserving chatbots to transform the customer support industry by delivering personalized and efficient customer service that meets data privacy regulations and legal requirements. Furthermore, the system is specifically designed to improve its performance and accuracy over time by leveraging its ability to learn from previous interactions.
DiffMimic: Efficient Motion Mimicking with Differentiable Physics

Motion mimicking is a foundational task in physics-based character animation. However, most existing motion mimicking methods are built upon reinforcement learning (RL) and suffer from heavy reward engineering, high variance, and slow convergence with hard explorations. Specifically, they usually take tens of hours or even days of training to mimic a simple motion sequence, resulting in poor scalability. In this work, we leverage differentiable physics simulators (DPS) and propose an efficient motion mimicking method dubbed DiffMimic. Our key insight is that DPS casts a complex policy learning task to a much simpler state matching problem. In particular, DPS learns a stable policy by analytical gradients with ground-truth physical priors hence leading to significantly faster and stabler convergence than RL-based methods. Moreover, to escape from local optima, we utilize a Demonstration Replay mechanism to enable stable gradient backpropagation in a long horizon. Extensive experiments on standard benchmarks show that DiffMimic has a better sample efficiency and time efficiency than existing methods (e.g., DeepMimic). Notably, DiffMimic allows a physically simulated character to learn Backflip after 10 minutes of training and be able to cycle it after 3 hours of training, while the existing approach may require about a day of training to cycle Backflip. More importantly, we hope DiffMimic can benefit more differentiable animation systems with techniques like differentiable clothes simulation in future research.
Alternances de voisement et processus de lénition et de fortition : une étude automatisée de grands corpus en cinq langues romanes [Voicing alternations in relation with lenition and fortition phenomena: an automated study of large corpora in five Romance languages]

RÉSUMÉ. Cette étude porte sur l’analyse des alternances de voisement en relation avec les processus de lénition et de fortition dans cinq langues romanes : le français, l’espagnol, l’italien, le portugais et le roumain. Nous mobilisons près de mille heures de données orales et nous faisons appel à des systèmes de transcription automatique spéciﬁques à chaque langue. La méthode consiste en l’alignement de variantes de prononciation non canoniques qui permet d’examiner la propension des occlusives sourdes canoniques /ptk/ à être réalisées en tant que segments sonores (lénition) et inversement, des occlusives sonores /bdg/ à être réalisées comme sourdes (fortition). Les résultats montrent que la position médiane est un site privilégié de la lénition, tandis que l’initiale de mot est propice à la fortition. ABSTRACT. This study focuses on the analysis of voicing alternations as predictors of lenition and fortition phenomena, in ﬁve Romance languages : French, Spanish, Italian, Portuguese and Romanian. We use about 1k hours of oral data and language dependent speech recognition systems to explore voicing alternations. The method consists of the alignment of non canonical pronunciation variants that allows to examine the propensity of canonical voiceless stops /ptk/ to be realized as voiced segments (lenition), and of voiced stops /bdg/ to be realized as voiceless (fortition). Results show that word-internal stops are likely to undergo lenition, whereas word initial ones are rather prone to fortition.
Dialogue management with linear logic: the role of metavariables in questions and clarifications

In this paper, we study the formalisation of a dialogue management system using proof-search on top of a linear logic. We argue that linear logic is the natural formalism to implement information-state dialogue management. We give particular attention to modelling question-answering sequences, including clariﬁcation requests, and argue that metavariables, arising from uniﬁcation in the proof search, play a decisive role in providing a natural formalisation. We show that our framework is not only well suited from a theoretical perspective, but it is also suitable for implementation which we exemplify with a small scale implementation. RÉSUMÉ. Cet article propose une formalisation de la gestion de dialogue via la recherche de preuves de formules de la logique linéaire. C’est-à-dire que nous proposons que la logique linéaire constitue une base naturelle de la formalisation de systèmes de gestion de dialogue basé sur un état d’information. Nous prêtons une attention particulière à la modelisation des séquences de questions-reponses (y compris les demandes de clariﬁcation), et nous arguons que les métavariables, résultant des uniﬁcations issue de la recherche de preuves, jouent un rôle décisif dans la formalisation. Nous montrons que notre système est non seulement adéquat d’un point de vue théorique, mais également d’un point de vue pratique. Ainsi, nous complétons notre argument d’une implementation d’un système de recherche de preuve générique, ainsi que d’un exemple de gestion de dialogue l’utilisant.
L’analyse et l’annotation à base de FrameNet : contribution à l’étude contrastive des événements de mouvement en arabe et en anglais [FrameNet-based analysis and annotation: contribution to the constrastive study of motion events in Arabic and English]

RÉSUMÉ . Dans cet article, nous présentons une nouvelle approche computationnelle d’analyse et d’annotation de la langue arabe. L’approche proposée est fondée sur la théorie des frames sémantiques de Fillmore (Frame Semantics). Nous abordons la question de l’applicabilité de cette théorie à la langue arabe qui diffère typologiquement de l’anglais, langue sur laquelle la théorie a été fondée à l’origine. Nous allons aussi explorer l’utilisation de cette approche pour l’analyse sémantique de l’arabe, notamment, l’annotation en rôles sémantiques et son application à l’analyse contrastive des événements de mouvement et de déplacement en arabe et en anglais, en utilisant un outil développé spécialement afin de répondre aux spécificités de l’arabe et de satisfaire les principes du projet FrameNet. En dépit des différences entre l’arabe et l’anglais sur plusieurs aspects, allant du type d’écriture à la typologie de langue, les résultats de notre projet confirment, une fois de plus, la nature cross-langues de la théorie des frames sémantiques. Les résultats de ce travail sont fondés sur l’analyse d’un
Comparaison linguistique et neuro-physiologique de conversations humain humain et humain robot [Linguistic and neuro-physiological comparison of human-human and human-robot conversations]

RÉSUMÉ. Nous décrivons l’analyse d’un corpus de conversations humain-humain et humain-robot. Vingt et un participants ont été scannés en imagerie par résonance magnétique fonctionnelle (IRMf) pendant qu’ils discutaient soit avec un humain, soit avec un robot. En s’inspirant de ce qui est communément utilisé pour étudier les conversations, huit variables linguistiques adaptées aux spéciﬁcités du corpus ont permis de mettre en évidence les compétences linguistiques limitées du système de magicien d’Oz utilisé pour contrôler le robot. Nous avons également adapté une variable d’alignement lexical qui nous permet d’étudier l’alignement conversationnel, plus important dans les interactions avec le robot qu’avec l’humain. Enﬁn, nos résultats de neuro-imagerie suggèrent une réduction du contrôle cognitif associée à l’augmentation de l’alignement lexical du participant sur l’interlocuteur. ABSTRACT. Here we describe the analysis of a unique corpus of conversations with a human or a robot. Twenty-one participants were scanned with functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (fMRI) while talking either with a human or with a robot. Inspired by what is commonly studied in natural conversations, eight linguistic variables adapted to the speciﬁcs of the corpus high-light the limited linguistic skills of the Wizard of Oz system used to control the robot. We also calculate a lexical alignment variable which allows us to study the phenomenon of conversational alignment, increased with the robot compared to the human. Finally, our neuroimaging results suggest a reduction in cognitive control associated with an increase in the participant’s lexical alignment with the interlocutor.
Situated Meaning in Multimodal Dialogue: Human-Robot and Human-Computer Interactions

The demand for more sophisticated natural human-computer and human-robot interactions is rapidly increasing, as users become more accustomed to conversation-like interactions with their devices. This requires not only the robust recognition and generation of expressions through multiple modalities (language, gesture, vision, action), but also the encoding of situated meaning: (a) the situated grounding of expressions in context; (b) an interpretation of the expression contextualized to the dynamics of the discourse; and (c) an appreciation of the actions and consequences associated with objects in the environment. In this paper, we introduce VoxWorld, a multimodal simulation platform for modeling human-computer interactions. It is built on the language VoxML
Hypoxia and Anoxia Tolerance in Diploid and Triploid Eastern Oysters at High Temperature

ABSTRACT Increasing reliance on the use of triploid oysters to support aquaculture production relies on their generally superior growth rate and meat quality over that of diploid oysters. Reports of elevated triploid mortality have generated questions about potential trade-offs between growth and tolerance to environmental stressors. These questions are particularly relevant as climate change, coastal activities, and river management impact water salinity, temperature, nutrients, pH, and oxygen levels within key estuarine oyster growing areas. In particular, the co-occurrence of warm water temperatures and low dissolved oxygen concentration (DO) events are increasingly reported in estuaries, with potentially lethal impacts on sessile, oyster resources. To investigate potential differences in DO tolerance, diploid and triploid market-sized or seed oysters were exposed to continuous normoxia (DO > 5.0 mg L–1), hypoxia (DO < 2.0 mg L–1), and anoxia (DO < 0.5 mg L–1) at 28°C and their mortalities were monitored. The hemolymph of the market-sized oysters was collected to measure cellular and biochemical changes in response to hypoxia and anoxia, whereas their valve movements were also measured. In general, about half of market-sized oysters died within about 1 wk under anoxia (LT50: 5.7–8.9 days) and within about 2 wk under hypoxia (LT50: 11.9–19.4 days) with diploid oysters tending to die faster than triploid oysters. Seed oysters took longer to die than market-sized oysters under both anoxia (LT50: 9.5–12.1 days) and hypoxia (LT50: 21.8–25.0 days) with diploid oysters (LT50: 9.5–11.8 days) dying slightly faster than triploid oysters (LT50: 11.8–12.1 days) under anoxia. Hemolymph pH decreased and plasma calcium and glutathione concentrations increased with decreasing DO, with values under anoxia being different than those under normoxia. Hemocyte density was also lower under anoxia than under either normoxia or hypoxia. Overall, few differences in physiological responses to hypoxia and anoxia were found between diploid and triploid oysters suggesting that ploidy (2N versus 3N) had limited effect on the tolerance and response of eastern oysters to low DO.
Fitness of Wild and Selected Eastern Oyster (Crassostrea virginica) Larvae under Different Conditions

ABSTRACT The eastern oyster, Crassostrea virginica, has been an important fishery species in the United States for hundreds of years. The emergence of population devastating diseases such as MSX and Dermo was met with the development of disease-resistant lines. Although selectively bred oysters have shown improved survival and growth under diseases in the field, it is unknown if long-term selection has altered larval fitness. In this study, the larval fitness of a selected line (DBX) was studied and compared with that of the Delaware Bay wild (Wild) population under hatchery and natural conditions with the latter using untreated seawater, 50% feeding, and declining salinity. No difference in growth was observed between DBX and Wild larvae under either condition, but DBX exhibited a higher survival under hatchery conditions (P = 0.090), whereas the Wild performed equally well under both conditions. Under natural conditions, the DBX larvae had higher survival during the first week when the salinity was high, but lower survival later under low salinity. The DBX larvae had a much higher setting success and a preference for oyster shells as substrate compared with the Wild larvae. Results of this study indicate that selective breeding has unintentionally altered larval fitness of DBX and led to adaptation to hatchery and high salinity conditions with greater setting success, and the Wild larvae have wider adaptability to different conditions. These findings suggest that careful evaluation is needed to fully assess the recruitment potential of selected stocks used in aquaculture and restoration.
Using the Pumped Area Method for the Assessment of Recreational Razor Clam, Siliqua patula Populations in Washington State

ABSTRACT Since 1898, the Pacific razor clam, Siliqua patula has represented an important resource for commercial and recreational diggers and has been an important source of economic revenue to coastal communities in the Pacific Northwest from central California to southern Alaska. In 1996, Washington State adopted the Pumped Area Method as the preferred method to accurately assess populations of razor clams on coastal beaches. The Pumped Area Method utilizes a water pump and a series of hoses to draw water out of the surf to liquefy the clam bed exposing clams so they can be measured and recorded. This method relies on a fixed stratified random sampling of transects across all managed beaches to produce a robust estimate of the total population of clams. The Pumped Area Method has been adopted by state and tribal management agencies along the west coast to determine the total allowable catch in each management area but never been formally described. This method in conjunction with a biweekly sampling of toxic algae abundance supports the sustainable harvest of razor clams, providing up to 40 million dollars annually in economic income to the state of Washington for the last 25 y.
Life History Traits of the Herbivorous Marine Gastropods Turbo castanea and Lithopoma americanum, Harvested for the Florida Ornamental Aquarium Trade

ABSTRACT Florida is one of the largest exporters of aquarium ornamental species in the world, but trade is expanding to include harvest of herbivorous invertebrates that play important ecological roles in nature, such as grazing algae from seagrass and corals. Here, stable isotope sclerochronology is used to document life history traits of two of the most intensely harvested herbivorous gastropod species in Florida, the turbinids Lithopoma americanum and Turbo castanea. Such information is critical to assessing whether current harvest intensities are sustainable. Populations of L. americanum and T. castanea in Florida consist of rapidly maturing individuals that reach maximum sizes within 2 y and 1 y, respectively. Rapid maturation should allow these populations to recover rapidly from intense harvest, but short-lived species are also intrinsically susceptible to population collapse from recruitment failure, complicating effective management of the fishery. In addition, the short lifespans of these turbinids suggest that hobbyists may purchase replacement animals frequently, increasing fisheries pressure on natural ecosystems.
Communication for Rural Innovation: Rethinking Agricultural Extension

Preface. The CTA. PART 1. RETHINKING EXTENSION. 1. Introduction. 2. From Extension to Communication for Innovation. 3. The Ethics and Politics of Communication for Innovation. 4. The Role of Communicative Intervention in Policy Planning: Instrumental and Interactive Approaches. PART 2. THE RELATIONS BETWEEN HUMAN PRACTICE, KNOWLEDGE AND COMMUNICATION. 5. Understanding Human Practices: The Example of Farming. 6. Knowledge and Perception. 7. Communication and the Construction of Meaning. PART 3. INNOVATION AS A PROCESS OF NETWORK BUILDING SOCIAL LEARNING AND NEGOTIATION. 8. Changing Perspectives on Innovation. 9. Social and Individual Learning. 10. Negotiation Within Interactive Processes. 11. The Role of Outsiders and Different Intervention Approaches. PART 4. MEDIA, METHODS AND PROCESS MANAGEMENT. 12. The Potential of Basic Communication Forms and Media. 13. Communication for Innovation Methods. 14. The Management of Interactive Innovation Processes. 15. The Planning of Individual Activities. PART 5. ORGANISATIONAL AND INTERORGANISATIONAL ISSUES. 16. Organisational Management, Learning and Research. 17. Agricultural Knowledge and Information Systems. 18. Privatisation and the emergence of 'Knowledge Markets'. 19. Co--operation Across Scientific Disciplines and Epistemic Communities. PART 6. EPILOGUE. 20. Approaches and Issues for Further Conceptual Research. References.Index.
The effect of post-wildfire management practices on vegetation recovery: Insights from the Sapadere fire, Antalya, Türkiye

Post-wildfire management actions mainly targeting the removal of salvage logs and burned trees is a common but controversial practice. Although it aims to regain some of the natural and economic value of a forest, it also requires disturbing burned areas, which may have some negative consequences affecting, for instance, the carbon cycle, soil erosion, and vegetation cover. Observations from different geographic settings contribute to this scientific debate, and yet, the spatiotemporal evolution of the post-fire road network developed as part of fire management practices and its influence on vegetation recovery has been rarely examined. Specifically, we still lack observations from Türkiye, though wildfires are a common event. This research examined the evolution of the vegetation cover in relation to post-fire road constructions and the resultant debris materials in areas affected by the 2017 Sapadere fire in Antalya, Türkiye. We used multi-sensor, multi-temporal optical satellite data and monitored the variation in both vegetation cover and road network from the pre-to post-fire periods between 2014 and 2021. Our results showed that fire management practices almost doubled the road network in the post-fire period, from 487 km to 900 km. Overall, 7% of the burned area was affected by these practices. As a result, vegetation cover in those areas shows only ∼50% recovery, whereas undisturbed areas exhibit ∼100% recovery 5 years after the event. Notably, such spatiotemporal analysis carried out for different burned areas would provide a better insight into the most suitable post-fire management practices. Our findings, in particular, show that the current practices need to be revisited as they cause a delay in vegetation recovery.
JAZF1: A metabolic actor subunit of the NuA4/TIP60 chromatin modifying complex

The multisubunit NuA4/TIP60 complex is a lysine acetyltransferase, chromatin modifying factor and gene co-activator involved in diverse biological processes. The past decade has seen a growing appreciation for its role as a metabolic effector and modulator. However, molecular insights are scarce and often contradictory, underscoring the need for further mechanistic investigation. A particularly exciting route emerged with the recent identification of a novel subunit, JAZF1, which has been extensively linked to metabolic homeostasis. This review summarizes the major findings implicating NuA4/TIP60 in metabolism, especially in light of JAZF1 as part of the complex.