Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Network properties of folksonomies

Social resource sharing systems like YouTube and del.icio. us have acquired a large number of users within the last few years. They provide rich resources for data analysis, information retrieval, and knowledge discovery applications. A first step towards this end is to gain better insights into content and structure of these systems. In this paper, we will analyse the main network characteristics of two of these systems. We consider their underlying data structures - so-called folksonomies - as tri-partite hypergraphs, and adapt classical network measures like characteristic path length and clustering coefficient to them. Subsequently, we introduce a network of tag co-occurrence and investigate some of its statistical properties, focusing on correlations in node connectivity and pointing out features that reflect emergent semantics within the folksonomy. We show that simple statistical indicators unambiguously spot non-social behavior such as spam.
The assessment of scales of frailty and physical performance improves prediction of major adverse cardiac events in older adults with acute coronary syndrome.

BACKGROUND The number of older adults admitted to hospital for acute coronary syndrome (ACS) have increased worldwide. The aim of this study is to determine which scale of frailty or physical performance provides incremental improvements in risk-stratification of older adults after ACS. METHODS A prospective cohort of 402 older (≥70 years) ACS patients were enrolled. Data about baseline characteristics, Global Registry of Acute Coronary Events (GRACE) and Thrombolysis in Myocardial Infarction (TIMI) risk scores were collected. Before hospital discharge, 7 scales of frailty and physical performance were measured. The one-year occurrence of adverse events (cardiac death, reinfarction and cerebrovascular accident [MACCE] and all-cause mortality) were recorded. RESULTS Out of the 402 patients, 43 (10.5%) had a MACCE and 35 (8.7%) died. Following adjustment for confounding factors, scales of frailty and physical performance were associated with adverse events. Among the scales, the addition of SPPB produced the highest incremental value over the initial model generated by baseline characteristics both for MACCE (ΔC-statistic 0.043, p=0.04; IDI 0.054, p=0.001; NRI 0.752, p<0.001) and all-cause mortality (ΔC-statistic 0.063, p=0.02; IDI 0.061, p<0.001; NRI 1.022, p<0.001). The addition of SPPB scale on top of GRACE or TIMI risk scores led to a considerable improvement in the prediction of MACCE and all-cause mortality (about 15% and 20%, respectively). CONCLUSIONS The assessment of the physical performance with SPPB scale before hospital discharge increases the ability to predict adverse events in older ACS patients and may be useful in the clinical decision-making process. CLINICAL TRIAL REGISTRATION www.clinicaltrials. gov NCT02386124.
Dairy Food Consumption is Inversely Associated with the Prevalence of Periodontal Disease in Korean Adults

Dairy food consumption is known to be inversely associated with periodontal disease. However, there are conflicting results depending on the type of dairy foods. The aim of this study was to determine the relationship between individual dairy food consumption and periodontal disease. A total of 9798 Korean adults, aged ≥30 years, who participated in the fifth and sixth Korea National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey were included in this study’s analysis. Dairy food consumption was measured by the semi-quantitative food frequency questionnaire. Periodontal disease was defined as Community Periodontal Index score ≥3 in more than one of six sextants. Frequent intake of dairy foods (≥7 servings/week) was associated with a 24% lower prevalence of periodontal disease compared with never consumers after adjustment for age, gender, income, education, smoking, alcohol consumption, body mass index, diabetes mellitus status, calcium intake, tooth brushing frequency, and use of dental floss (Odds ratio (OR)= 0.76, 95% CI = 0.63–0.91, p for trend = 0.052). Also, frequent intake of milk (≥7 servings/week) was associated with a 26% lower prevalence of periodontal disease after adjustment for potential confounders (OR = 0.74, 95% CI = 0.61–0.89, p for trend = 0.022). Frequent consumption of dairy food including milk may have a beneficial effect on periodontal disease in the Korean adult population.
Field Emission Characterization of MoS2 Nanoflowers

Nanostructured materials have wide potential applicability as field emitters due to their high aspect ratio. We hydrothermally synthesized MoS2 nanoflowers on copper foil and characterized their field emission properties, by applying a tip-anode configuration in which a tungsten tip with curvature radius down to 30–100 nm has been used as the anode to measure local properties from small areas down to 1–100 µm2. We demonstrate that MoS2 nanoflowers can be competitive with other well-established field emitters. Indeed, we show that a stable field emission current can be measured with a turn-on field as low as 12 V/μm and a field enhancement factor up to 880 at 0.6 μm cathode–anode separation distance.
The quality framework of e-government development

e-Government is employed as a tool for supporting better government administration and public services. The success of e-Government is depending on its quality and usage. The higher e-Government quality, then better administration and services are provided. However, many e-Governments are developed without fully supporting the real government needs and sufficient quality. This paper pointes out three well-known quality aspects, i.e. process quality, information quality and service quality that can be embedded into e-Government. The imperial work on proving e-Government quality is addressed. In addition, the sustainable e-Government development containing four main components, i.e. stakeholder, development methodology, information and communication technology, and environment, is discussed. Integrating the above concepts, the quality framework of e-Government development to guarantee governmental and citizens' usage and satisfaction is established.
Leveling the Organizational Playing Field—Virtually

One of the most heralded features of group support systems (GSSs) is their ability to democratize group processes. Through minimizing barriers to communication, GSSs are proposed to create greater opportunities for member influence than those created in groups meeting face-to-face. To test this notion, a meta-analysis was conducted examining the aggregate impact of GSS use on six influence variables across 48 experiments. Results indicate that groups using a GSS experience greater participation and influence equality, generate a larger amount of unique ideas, and experience less member dominance than do groups meeting face-to-face. The impact of GSS use on decision shifts is moderated by the national culture of participants. The implications of these findings for research on GSS use are examined, and directions for future research are offered.
Innovation and economic growth

This paper illustrates why technological innovation is considered as a major force in economic growth and focuses on some of the most distinctive features of innovation in the highly industrialized economies of the OECD area. In particular, the paper attempts to examine a primary single feature, “uncertainty” that dominates the search for new technologies by drawing several cases on the American experience. It also touches on the impact of technological innovation in the tourism industry and how it is transforming the tourism business model. Technological innovation, a major force in economic growth It is taken as axiomatic that innovative activity has been the single, most important component of long-term economic growth and this paper will start by drawing upon the findings of a very influential paper published by my colleague at Stanford, Prof. Abramovitx, back in the mid-1950s. In the most fundamental sense, there are only two ways of increasing the output of the economy: (1) you can increase the number of inputs that go into the productive process, or (2) if you are clever, you can think of new ways in which you can get more output from the same number of inputs. And, if you are an economist you are bound to be curious to know which of these two ways has been more important and how much more important. Essentially what Abramovitz did was to measure the growth in the output of the American economy between 1870 and 1950. Then he measured the growth in inputs (of capital and labor) over the same time period. He then made what were thought to be reasonable assumptions about how much a growth in a unit of labour and how much a growth in a unit of capital should add to the output of the economy. It turned out that the measured growth of inputs (i.e., in capital and labor) between 1870 and 1950 could only account for about 15% of the actual growth in the output of the economy. In a statistical sense, then, there was an unexplained residual of no less than 85%. Surprisingly enough, no economist had ever undertaken this exercise before partly because it was only after the Second World War that reasonably accurate estimates of inputs and outputs for the American economy, over some very long time period, became available. Now, in any statistical exercise in which you are trying to tease out the relative importance of some variable, and you find yourself with a residual of 85%, you know you are in big trouble! Yet a number of other economists in the late 1950s and 1960s undertook similar exercises, using different methodologies, different time periods, and different sectors of the economy, with roughly similar results – they found themselves left with a very large residual that could not be accounted for. Robert Solow, who later won a Nobel Prize in Economics, was one of those other economists who discovered a very large residual, using a very different methodology and different time period. As it happened, he got the same result for the size of the residual – 85%. It was precisely the size of this residual that persuaded most economists that
Watercolor inspired non-photorealistic rendering for augmented reality

Non-photorealistic rendering (NPR) is an attractive approach for seamlessly blending virtual and physical content in Augmented Reality (AR) applications. Simple NRP techniques, that use information from a single rendered image, have been demonstrated in real-time AR systems. More complex NRP techniques require visual coherence across multiple frames of video, and typical offline algorithms are expensive and/or require global knowledge of the video sequence. To use such techniques in real-time AR, fast algorithms must be developed that do not require information past the currently rendered frame. This paper presents a watercolor-like NPR style for AR applications with some degree of visual coherence.
Submillimetre observations and modelling of Vega-type stars

We present new submillimetre observations of Vega-excess stars, and consistent modelling for all known Vega-excess stars with submillimetre data. Our analysis uses dust grain models with realistic optical properties, with the aim of determining physical parameters of the unresolved discs from just their spectral energy distributions (SEDs). For the resolved targets, we find that different objects require very different dust grain properties in order to fit the image data and SED simultaneously. Fomalhaut and Vega require solid dust grains, while HR 4796 and HD 141569 can only be fitted using porous grains. The older stars tend to have grains which are less porous than the younger stars, which may indicate that collisions in the discs have reprocessed the initially fluffy grains into a more solid form. e Eri appears to be deficient in small dust grains compared with our best-fitting model. This may show that it is important to include all the factors that cause the size distribution to depart from a simple power law for grains close to the radiation pressure blow-out limit. Alternatively, this discrepancy may be due to some external influence on the disc (e.g. a planet). When the model is applied to the unresolved targets, an estimate of the disc size can be made. However, the large diversity in dust composition for the resolved discs means that we cannot make a reliable assumption as to the composition of the grains in an unresolved disc, and there is corresponding uncertainty in the disc size. In addition, the poor fit for e Eri shows that the model cannot always account for the SED even if the disc size is known. These two factors mean that it may not be possible to determine the size of a disc without actually resolving it.
Matrix-based test vector decompression using an embedded processor

This paper describes a new compression/decompression methodology for using an embedded processor to test the other components of a system-on-a-chip (SoC). The deterministic test vectors for each core are compressed using matrix-based operations that significantly reduce the amount of test data that needs to be stored on the tester. The compressed data is transferred from the tester to the processor's on-chip memory. The processor executes a program which decompresses the data and applies it to the scan chains of each core-under-test. The matrix-based operations that are used to decompress the test vectors can be performed very efficiently by the embedded processor thereby allowing the decompression program to be very fast and provide high throughput of the test data to minimize test time. Experimental results demonstrate that the proposed approach provides greater compression than previous methods.
SEPTIC B-SPLINE COLLOCATION METHOD FOR SIXTH ORDER BOUNDARY VALUE PROBLEMS

In this paper sixth order boundary value problems is solved numerically by collocation method. The solution is approximated as a linear combination of septic B-spline functions. The septic B-splines constitute a basis for the space of septic polynomial splines. In the method, the basis functions are redefined into a new set of basis functions which in number match with the number of selected collocation points. To test the efficiency of the method, several numerical examples of sixth order linear and nonlinear boundary value problems are solved by the proposed method. Numerical results obtained by the proposed method are in good agreement with the exact solutions available in the literature.
No Regret Bound for Extreme Bandits

Algorithms for hyperparameter optimization abound, all of which work well under different and often unverifiable assumptions. Motivated by the general challenge of sequentially choosing which algorithm to use, we study the more specific task of choosing among distributions to use for random hyperparameter optimization. This work is naturally framed in the extreme bandit setting, which deals with sequentially choosing which distribution from a collection to sample in order to minimize (maximize) the single best cost (reward). Whereas the distributions in the standard bandit setting are primarily characterized by their means, a number of subtleties arise when we care about the minimal cost as opposed to the average cost. For example, there may not be a well-defined "best" distribution as there is in the standard bandit setting. The best distribution depends on the rewards that have been obtained and on the remaining time horizon. Whereas in the standard bandit setting, it is sensible to compare policies with an oracle which plays the single best arm, in the extreme bandit setting, there are multiple sensible oracle models. We define a sensible notion of "extreme regret" in the extreme bandit setting, which parallels the concept of regret in the standard bandit setting. We then prove that no policy can asymptotically achieve no extreme regret.
The Mckinnon-Shaw Hypothesis: Thirty Years on: A Review of Recent Developments in Financial Liberalization Theory

The Mckinnon-Shaw Hypothesis, in its’ various forms, is now thirty years old. Over that period literally hundreds of empirical studies have been completed examining the hypothesis in many different contexts. Initially, the hypothesis focused on the effects of so-called “Financial Repression” (low or negative real interest rates) on savings and investment levels in developing countries. In more recent times, researchers have extended the debate to consider other effects of financial repression on: economic growth; financial crises and poverty (for example the effects of overvalued exchange rates). Currently, significant research is being conducted on the potentially destabilizing effects of financial liberalization (the converse of financial repression) on global financial markets.
Minimally Audible Noise Shaping

Normal quantization or requantization noise is white, but the ear's sensitivity to low-level broad-band noise is not uniform with frequency. By adopting a suitable weighting curve to represent low-level noise audibility, one can design dithered requantizing noise shapers to approximate the inverse of the audibility curve and hence achieve the least audible noise penalty. If Fielder's modified E-weighting curve is adopted as a model of the 15-phon audibility curve, a reduction of 10.9 dB in perceived noise is possible by the use of a simple second-order noise shaper. This result is already within 0.6 dB of the theoretical minimum set by information theory, and almost a 2bit gain in apparent signal-to-noise ratio. Even greater perceived noise reductions are possible if one adopts an audibility weighting curve which more closely approximates the ear's precipitous high-frequency rolloff, and incorporates a higher order filter into the noise shaper's feedback loop. In fact, a 20-dB apparent reduction in the requantizing noise is then possible with filters of modest order, but the penalty is a significant increase in the total noise power. These questions are explored and some of the available options illustrated. Such noise shaping will soon be advantageous in order to preserve on the 16-bit Compact Disc the lower noise floor of an original 18or 20-bit master recording.
The Venus Tablet and Refraction

It is shown that the refraction near the horizon is introducing an additional bias into the Venus Tablet of Ammisaduqa, which is able to influence the interpretation of the data. We then discuss the attempts to link certain solar eclipses to the birth of Shamshi-Adad and conclude that a record of a single solar eclipse without description of details and/or unambiguous historical links, can hardly act as a reliable anchor.
The evolution of the cluster X-ray scaling relations in the Wide Angle ROSAT Pointed Survey sample at 0.6 < z < 1.0

The X-ray properties of a sample of 11 high-redshift (0.6 < z < 1 .O) clusters observed with Chardm and/or XMM-Newton are used to investigate the evolution of the cluster scaling relations. The observed evolution in the normalization of the L-T, M-T, M(sub 2)-T and M-L relations is consistent with simple self-similar predictions, in which the properties of clusters reflect the properties of the Universe at their redshift of observation. Under the assumption that the model of self-similar evolution is correct and that the local systems formed via a single spherical collapse, the high-redshift L-T relation is consistent with the high-z clusters having virialized at a significantly higher redshift than the local systems. The data are also consistent with the more realistic scenario of clusters forming via the continuous accretion of material. The slope of the L-T relation at high redshift (B = 3.32 +/- 0.37) is consistent with the local relation, and significantly steeper than the self-similar prediction of B = 2. This suggests that the same non-gravitational processes are responsible for steepening the local and high-z relations, possibly occurring universally at z is approximately greater than 1 or in the early stages of the cluster formation, prior to their observation. The properties of the intracluster medium at high redshift are found to be similar to those in the local Universe. The mean surface-brightness profile slope for the sample is Beta = 0.66 +/- 0.05, the mean gas mass fractions within R(sub 2500(z)) and R(200(z)) are 0.069 +/- 0.012 and 0.11 +/- 0.02, respectively, and the mean metallicity of the sample is 0.28 +/- 0.11 Z(sub solar).
A Novel Access Point Placement Approach for WLAN-Based Location Systems

This paper presents a novel approach to placing access points (APs) in wireless local area networks (WLAN). Unlike the traditional methods focusing on coverage maximization, we investigate how to place APs from the perspective of an indoor location system. We present a framework for linking the placement of APs and the positioning performance. Our algorithm, namely maximizing SNR (signal-to-noise ratio), aims at choosing a proper set of APs' locations so that the signal is maximized and the noise is minimized simultaneously. The proposed algorithm regards the location discriminant information as the signal and the degree of unstable measurements as the noise. Such numerical values provide a good theoretical formulation to measure the influence of the AP deployment. In our location system, we utilize such SNR ratio to deploy APs so as to reduce the positioning errors. Our location system is developed in a real-world WLAN environment, where the realistic measurements were collected. The experimental results show that the positioning accuracy is improved based on our deployment approach in different scenarios.
The effect of perceived organisational politics on organisational silence through organisational cynicism: Moderator role of perceived support

This study examines the effect of perceived organisational politics on organisational silence through the mediating role of organisational cynicism. In addition, it tests the effect of perceived support on this relationship. A quantitative (questionnaire survey) design was used to gather data from 346 employees in three public hospitals in Iraq. The structural equation model was used for data analysis. The results demonstrate that all the major hypotheses were accepted, and important role of perceived support in reversing the positive relationship between perceived organisational politics and organisational cynicism was also highlighted. Furthermore, the mediating role was clear in terms of organisational cynicism and the relationship between perceived organisational politics and organisational silence.