nils-herrmann/clean_scirepeval huggingface dataset:
Scene text extraction using stroke width transform for tourist translator on android platform
Venue: 2016 International Conference on Automatic Control and Dynamic Optimization Techniques (ICACDOT)

Scene text extraction is recent research area in the field of Computer Vision. Text component in an image is of particular interest, as it is easy to understand by both humans as well as machines and can be used in variety of applications like content based image retrieval, aids for visually impaired people, translator for tourists. Although there exists a lot of research activities in this field, it is still remained as a challenging problem, mainly due to two issues: different variety of text patterns like fonts, colors, sizes, orientations; and presence of background outliers similar to text characters, such as windows, bricks. In this paper, an android application named as TravelMate is developed, which is a user friendly application to assist the tourist navigation, while they are roaming in foreign countries. Proposed application is able to extract text from an image, which is captured by an android mobile camera. Extraction is performed using stroke width transform (SWT) approach and connected component analysis. Extracted texts are recognized using Google's open source optical character recognition (OCR) engine 'Tesseract' and translated to a target language using Google's translation. The entire result is displayed back onto the screen of the mobile Phone.
Paying the Price: College Costs, Financial Aid, and the Betrayal of the American Dream

5. Financial aid policy is designed by people far removed from student life, who have little idea of what it's like today and that shows in everything from how complicated the process is to how poorly aid packages t with what students actually need. To what extent do you agree or disagree with this contention? What evidence is there in support of your perspective that existing policies are either aligned or misaligned with students' needs?  College Costs, Financial Aid, and the Betrayal of the American Dream
Reducing Income Inequality in Educational Attainment: Experimental Evidence on the Impact of Financial Aid on College Completion1
Venue: American Journal of Sociology

Income inequality in educational attainment is a long standing concern, and disparities in college completion have grown over time. Need based financial aid is commonly used to promote equality in college outcomes, but its effectiveness has not been established, and some are calling it into question. A randomized experiment is used to estimate the impact of a private need based grant program on college persistence and degree completion among students from low income families attending 13 public universities across Wisconsin. Results indicate that offering students additional grant aid increases the odds of bachelor's degree attainment over four years, helping to diminish income inequality in higher education.
New Evidence for Middle Bronze Age Chronology and Synchronisms in the Levant: Radiocarbon Dates from Tell el Burak, Tell el Dab'a, and Tel Ifshar Compared
Venue: Bulletin of the American Schools of Oriental Research

We report a set of radiocarbon data for the Middle Bronze Age monumental building at Tell el Burak in Lebanon, dating it to the 19th century b.c. and summarize the relevant archaeological information concerning the stratigraphy and dating of the building. The radiocarbon data from Tell el Burak is consistent with the high Middle Bronze Age radiocarbon dates recently reported for Tell el Dab'a in the eastern Nile Delta and with radiocarbon dates for Middle Bronze Age Tel Ifshar in the coastal plain of Israel. A comparison of these radiocarbon dates questions the current (low) Middle Bronze Age absolute chronology of the southern Levant, which is largely based on the stratigraphic sequence of Tell el Dab'a. Due to open questions in the archaeological dating of Tell el Dab'a, we argue against using a single site as a main reference for dating the Middle Bronze Age in the Levant and argue for adopting a comprehensive and independent approach based on archaeological, historical, and radiocarbon evidence from all relevant sites.
Self adaptive polygon mesh reconstruction based on ball pivoting algorithm
Venue: Int. J. Comput. Appl. Technol.

Accurate polygon mesh reconstruction from point cloud data is a key technique in many application domains, such as reverse engineering, computer vision, industrial inspection, and pattern recognition. In this paper, we propose a new method for reconstructing the polygon mesh from point cloud data based on the ball pivoting algorithm. The core idea of the proposed method is to determine a suitable radius of the pivoting ball according to the principles of density self adaption and balance distribution, which will greatly improve the accuracy and efficiency of the polygon mesh reconstruction from point cloud data, especially from uneven point cloud data. The proposed method is evaluated and compared with other existing methods in the experiments with several real point cloud datasets. The experimental results show that the proposed method has good performance, and it is robust to the uneven distribution of point cloud.
Deep Learning for Ransomware Detection

Ransomware is a kind of malware that installs covertly on a victim's computer or smartphone, executes a cryptovirology attack and demands a ransom payment to restore it. Ransomwares have been the most serious threat in 2016, and this situation continues to worsen. Because of high reward for Ransomwares, more and more Ransomware families appear, and it makes us more difficult to detect them. There are different signatures or behaviors among different families (i.e. Locky, Cerber, Cryptowall to name a few) or versions (i.e. CryptXXX2.0, CryptXXX3.0) of Ransomwares. It will be wonderful if there is a way that can detect potential Ransomware threats. In this paper, we will use deep learning method to detect Ransomwares. At first, we will introduce how we label the data with different behaviors and what features we choose. Afterwards, we will present our model for detecting various Ransomwares and prevent them from encrypting victim's data. Experimental evaluation demonstrates that our deep learning model can detect the latest Ransomwares in high speed network timely.
Women's representation in Majlis al Shura in Oman: How do gender ideology, Islam, and tribalism matter?

Little work examines women's representation in elected office in non Western countries, especially in the Arab region. Cross national studies considering Arabic countries have argued that Islam and culture are the main reasons the Arab region has the lowest rate of women's representation in the world. However, this topic cannot be fully understood without taking into account informal politics, especially tribalism and the practices of social elites in this region. This study investigates the determinants of voting for female candidates using data from the first electoral survey ever conducted in Oman, prior to the October 2015 elections for Majlis al Shura (the elected consultative council) It incorporates crossnationally recognized factors (gender ideology and religion) with a factor heretofore largely unexplored (tribalism) The analysis shows the strong effect of cultural factors in explaining women's legislative representation, as suggested in previous cross national studies. Individuals with high religiosity and traditional attitudes toward women are less supportive for women in the council. In contrast to what this researcher had expected, tribalism has no direct effect on self reported likelihood of supporting women candidates. However, there is an indication of its importance; tribal nomination is associated with traditional gender attitudes more generally. The more important tribal nomination is to an individual in selecting a candidate, the less egalitarian attitudes toward women an individual has. Implications of these findings and suggestion for further research are discussed.
From 1.0 to 2.0: Swedish municipalities online

The current study examines the social media use of Swedish municipalities, detailing the potential relationship between traditional forms of e government initiatives and social media engagement of municipal bodies. By bringing these two forms of digital politics together, a more valid measurement of the supply of online democratic tools for citizen engagement is suggested. Moreover, the potential variation in determinants influencing these two concepts is examined as well. The main results indicate that municipalities' adoption of social media is related to the procuration of more traditional services through their Web sites. Hence, a tendency of a "rich get richer" effect is indicated. In this respect, drivers of the different types of government use of digital services are to some extent similar. According to previous research, population size has a positive effect on the studied phenomena. Somewhat surprisingly, however, other explanatory factors differ. For example, although socioeconomic factors appear to have a positive influence on more traditional forms of online services, previous ambitions of e government development appear as important for social media adoption by municipalities.
Emotion detection and recognition using HRV features derived from photoplethysmogram signals
Venue: ERM4CT@ICMI

Detection of true human emotions has attracted a lot of interest in the recent years. The applications range from e retail to health care for developing effective companion systems with reliable emotion recognition. This paper proposes heart rate variability (HRV) features extracted from photoplethysmogram (PPG) signal obtained from a cost effective PPG device such as Pulse Oximeter for detecting and recognizing the emotions on the basis of the physiological signals. The HRV features obtained from both time and frequency domain are used as features for classification of emotions. These features are extracted from the entire PPG signal obtained during emotion elicitation and baseline neutral phase. For analyzing emotion recognition, using the proposed HRV features, standard video stimuli are used. We have considered three emotions namely, happy, sad and neutral or null emotions. Support vector machines are used for developing the models and features are explored to achieve average emotion recognition of 83.8% for the above model and listed features.
5.3 A 2x70W monolithic five level Class D audio power amplifier
Venue: 2016 IEEE International Solid State Circuits Conference (ISSCC)

The consumer electronics trends of miniaturization and portability have been pushing the integrated Class D audio power amplifier (PA) market for a number of years. This creates opportunities for new players in the market, through reduction of output LC filter size and reduction of power losses. In battery powered applications, near idle power loss is of particular interest, since the audio PA will typically run almost idle.
A $2 \times 70$ W Monolithic Five Level Class D Audio Power Amplifier in 180 nm BCD
Venue: IEEE Journal of Solid State Circuits

A 2 x 70 W from 24 V into 4 O class D audio power amplifier in 30/40 V 180 nm bipolar CMOS DMOS is presented. The device employs a flying capacitor (FC) three level half bridge topology to reduce switching frequency and filter/load power losses in near idle operation. This is combined with a fourth order analog feedback system for shaping noise introduced by the digital FC voltage control loop. A power efficient gate drive scheme suitable for power converters with multiple floating switching devices is also presented, including a compact fast low power dV/dt robust high voltage level shifter circuit. Power efficient operation from idle to full power operation is demonstrated along with a very high audio performance of 0.003% THD N at 10 W/1 kHz into 4 O.
The potential of venetoclax (ABT 199) in chronic lymphocytic leukemia
Venue: Therapeutic advances in hematology

Venetoclax (VEN, ABT 199/GDC 0199) is an orally bioavailable BH3 mimetic that specifically inhibits the anti apoptotic B cell lymphoma/leukemia 2 (BCL2) protein. Although BCL2 overexpression is not genetically driven in chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) it is nearly universal and represents a highly important and prevalent mechanism of apoptosis evasion, making it an attractive therapeutic target. This review summarizes the role of BCL2 in CLL pathogenesis, the development path targeting its inhibition prior to VEN, and the preclinical and clinical data regarding the effectiveness and safety of VEN. We further strive to contextualize VEN in the current CLL treatment landscape and discuss potential mechanisms of resistance.
M Health Solutions Using 5G Networks and M2M Communications
Venue: IT Professional

Efforts to improve the potential of 5G networks and machine to machine (M2M) communications in a way that could help to develop and evolve mobile health (m health) applications are still in preliminary stages. This is mainly because the specifications and technical solutions for these technologies are still being defined and are under extensive discussion. Thus, this is an excellent opportunity to establish the needs and requirements that future 5G networks must achieve to improve healthcare solutions. Ideally, future m health solutions should provide services with near zero latency, advanced quality of service capabilities, and data rates on the order of Gbps. This article presents recent research linking the growing m health field with the need for 5G and M2M technologies. Moreover, this work explores the multiple benefits that these emerging technologies could bring to enable the broad expansion of m health solutions.
Trends in wireless communications towards 5G networks The influence of e health and IoT applications

It is expected that the fifth generation (5G) of mobile networks will be standardized in 2020. For this new generation, there are several new performance requirements in addition to higher data rates. E health and the Internet of Things (IoT) are two important applications that define the new requirements. In this paper, we discuss several technological trends in wireless communications towards 5G networks, highlighting the influence of e health and IoT applications.
Mindful awareness of feelings increases neural performance monitoring
Venue: Cognitive, affective behavioral neuroscience

Mindfulness has been associated with enhanced performance monitoring; however, little is known about the processes driving this apparent neurocognitive benefit. Here, we tested whether focusing present moment awareness toward the nonjudgmental experience of emotion facilitates rapid neural responses to negative performance outcomes (i.e. mistakes) In particular, we compared whether directing present moment awareness toward emotions or thoughts would enhance the neurophysiological correlates of performance monitoring: the error related negativity (ERN) and the error positivity (Pe) Participants were randomly assigned to either a thought focused or an emotion focused group, and first they completed a preinduction go/no go task. Subsequently, the groups followed inductions that promoted mindful attention toward either thoughts or emotions, before completing a final postinduction go/no go session. The results indicated that emotion focused participants demonstrated higher neural sensitivity to errors in the time course of the ERN, whereas focusing on thoughts had no effect on performance monitoring. In contrast, neither induction procedure altered the amplitude of the later Pe component. Although our manipulations also induced changes in behavior, the ERN effects remained significant after controlling for performance. Thus, our results suggest that mindfulness meditation boosts early neural performance monitoring (ERN amplitude) specifically through meditation's influence on affective processing.
Effects of pH, molar ratios and pre treatment on phosphorus recovery through struvite crystallization from effluent of anaerobically digested swine wastewater

Struvite precipitation has been proven to be an effective method in removing and recovering ammonia nitrogen (N) and phosphate phosphorus (P) from wastewater. In this study, effects of pH, molar ratios and pre treatment of effluent of anaerobically digested swine wastewater were investigated to improve struvite crystallization. The magnesium ammonium phosphate ratio of 1.2 1.0 1.0 was found to be optimal, yet the molar ratio in the wastewater was 1 74.9 1.8. From the analysis, the optimum pH was between 8.0 and 9.0 for maximal phosphate P release and from 8.0 to 10.0 for maximal ammonia N and phosphate P removal from real wastewater. Analysis from Visual MINTEQ predicted the pH range of 7 11 for ammonia N and phosphate P removal and recovery as struvite. For pre treatment, microwave pre treatment was ineffective for phosphate P release but ultrasound pre treatment showed up to 77.4% phosphate P release at 1,000 kJ/L of energy dose. Precipitates analysis showed that phosphorus and magnesium in the collected precipitate had almost same values as theoretical values, but the ammonia content was less than the theoretical value.
Social support mediates loneliness and depression in elderly people
Venue: Journal of health psychology

This study investigated the effect of loneliness on depression and further tested the mediating effect of social support. A total of 320 elderly persons completed the Emotional and Social Loneliness Scale, Multidimensional Scale of Perceived Social Support, and Self Rating Depression Scale. Results revealed that loneliness and social support significantly correlated with depression.  Modeling indicated that social support partially mediates loneliness and depression. The final model illustrated a significant path from loneliness to depression through social support. This study sheds light on the concurrent effects of loneliness and social support on depression, providing evidence on how to reduce depression among the elderly.
Gender Trouble in Conan Doyle's "The Adventure of the Solitary Cyclist"

Although the Victorian period was a time when the sexes were assigned distinct and complementary roles, these rigid gender role divisions between the two sexes were beginning to dissolve as the nineteenth century was drawing to its close. Among the various factors that contributed to bringing the two genders closer was the cycling boom of the 1890s, and the first wave feminists embraced the bicycle as a freedom machine and symbol of emancipation. Despite the fact, though, that cycling functioned at first as a gender equaliser, it eventually segregated the sexes, as social norms promoted the idea of gendered cycling and enforced a model of domesticated or feminised cycling for women. This essay aims to explore how Arthur Conan Doyle's 1895 story "The Adventure of the Solitary Cyclist" reflects this complicated impact that cycling had on gender segregation and the possibilities it offered for gender fusion as well as the alternative expressions of sexuality it enabled.
A cluster randomized controlled trial of the Promoting Alternative Thinking Strategies (PATHS) curriculum
Venue: Journal of school psychology

This randomized controlled trial (RCT) evaluated the efficacy of the Promoting Alternative Thinking Strategies curriculum (PATHS; Kusche Greenberg, 1994) as a means to improve children's social emotional competence (assessed via the Social Skills Improvement System (SSIS) Gresham Elliot, 2008) and mental health outcomes (assessed via the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ) Goodman, 1997) Forty five schools in Greater Manchester, England, were randomly assigned to treatment and control groups. Allocation was balanced by proportions of children eligible for free school meals and speaking English as an additional language via minimization. Children (N 4516) aged 7 9 years at baseline in the participating schools were the target cohort. During the two year trial period, teachers of this cohort in schools allocated to the intervention group delivered the PATHS curriculum, while their counterparts in the control group continued their usual provision. Teachers in PATHS schools received initial training and on going support and assistance from trained coaches. Hierarchical linear modeling of outcome data was undertaken to identify both primary (e.g. for all children) and secondary (e.g. for children classified as "at risk" intervention effects. A primary effect of the PATHS curriculum was found, demonstrating increases in teacher ratings of changes in children's social emotional competence. Additionally, secondary effects of PATHS were identified, showing reductions in teacher ratings of emotional symptoms and increases in pro social behavior and child ratings of engagement among children identified as at risk at baseline. However, our analyses also identified primary effects favoring the usual provision group, showing reductions in teacher ratings of peer problems and emotional symptoms, and secondary effects demonstrating reductions in teacher ratings of conduct problems and child ratings of co operation among at risk children. Effect sizes were small in all cases. These mixed findings suggest that social and emotional learning interventions such as PATHS may not be as efficacious when implemented outside their country of origin and evaluated in independent trials.
Dual band tunable perfect metamaterial absorber in the THz range.
Venue: Optics express

In this paper, a dual band perfect absorber, composed of a periodically patterned elliptical nanodisk graphene structure and a metal ground plane spaced by a thin SiO(2) dielectric layer, is proposed and investigated. Numerical results reveal that the absorption spectrum of the graphene based structure displays two perfect absorption peaks in the terahertz band, corresponding to the absorption value of 99% at 35mm and 97%at 59mm, respectively. And the resonance frequency of the absorber can be tunned by controlling the Fermi level of graphene layer. Further more, it is insensitive to the polarization and remains very high over a wide angular range of incidence around 60(0) Compared with the previous graphene dual band perfect absorption, our absorber only has one shape which can greatly simplify the manufacturing process.
Health Insurance Benefit Mandates and Firm Size Distribution

By 2010, the average US state had passed 37 health insurance benefit mandates (laws requiring health insurance plans to cover certain additional services) Previous work has shown that these mandates likely increase health insurance premiums, which in turn could make it more costly for firms to compensate employees. Using 1996 2010 data from the Quarterly Census of Employment and Wages and a novel instrumental variables strategy, we show that there is limited evidence that mandates reduce employment. However, we find that mandates lead to a distortion in firm size, benefiting larger firms that are able to self insure and thus exempt themselves from these state level health insurance regulations. This distortion in firm size away from small businesses may lead to substantial decreases in productivity and economic growth.