Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Hybrid BiLSTM-Siamese network for FAQ Assistance

We describe an automated assistant for answering frequently asked questions; our system has been deployed, and is currently answering HR-related queries in two different areas (leave management and health insurance) to a large number of users. The needs of a large global corporate lead us to model a frequently asked question (FAQ) to be an equivalence class of actually asked questions, for which there is a common answer (certified as being consistent with the organization's policy). When a new question is posed to our system, it finds the class of question, and responds with the answer for the class. At this point, the system is either correct (gives correct answer); or incorrect (gives wrong answer); or incomplete (says "I don't know''). We employ a hybrid deep-learning architecture in which a BiLSTM-based classifier is combined with second BiLSTM-based Siamese network in an iterative manner: Questions for which the classifier makes an error during training are used to generate a set of misclassified question-question pairs. These, along with correct pairs, are used to train the Siamese network to drive apart the (hidden) representations of the misclassified pairs. We present experimental results from our deployment showing that our iteratively trained hybrid network: (a) results in better performance than using just a classifier network, or just a Siamese network; (b) performs better than state-of-the art sentence classifiers in the two areas in which it has been deployed, in terms of both accuracy as well as precision-recall tradeoff; and (c) also performs well on a benchmark public dataset. We also observe that using question-question pairs in our hybrid network, results in marginally better performance than using question-to-answer pairs. Finally, estimates of precision and recall from the deployment of our automated assistant suggest that we can expect the burden on our HR department to drop from answering about 6000 queries a day to about 1000.
Role of ductular bile water reabsorption in canine bile secretion.

To quantitate ductular and/or ductal bile water reabsorption and to define its role in hepatic bile formation, spontaneous and taurocholate-stimulated bile flow and composition were measured in anesthetized dogs postprandially (n = 4) and after a 24-hour (n = 4) and a 48-hour (n = 4) fasting period. Spontaneous bile flow in fed dogs (0.344 +/- 0.116 microliter/min/gm liver tissue) was significantly higher than that in 24-hour (0.179 +/- 0.046 microliter/min/gm) and 48-hour fasted animals (0.096 +/- 0.085 microliter/min/gm). One 48-hour fasted dog was virtually cholestatic (spontaneous bile flow 0.004 microliter/min/gm), and another 48-hour fasted animal had a mean bile flow rate as low as 0.036 microliter/min/gm. Calculated ductular bile water reabsorption (carbon 14-erythritol biliary clearance minus bile flow) was the same in the three groups of animals (0.166 +/- 0.056, 0.208 +/- 0.033, and 0.204 +/- 0.055 microliter/min/gm, respectively). Administration of sodium taurocholate (0.5 to 2.0 mumol/min/kg) revealed intact canalicular secretory capacity in all dogs, and no change in bile water reabsorption rate was observed during choleresis. Bile chloride and bicarbonate concentrations during spontaneous secretion were significantly lower in 48-hour fasted dogs when compared with fed animals. In the two 48-hour fasted dogs with a very low rate of spontaneous bile flow, chloride and bicarbonate concentrations in hepatic bile were as low as those seen in gallbladder bile (5 to 10 mEq/L) and increased during taurocholate choleresis. (ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)
Effects of alendronate on gastric and duodenal mucosa

Objectives:This single-center, double-blind, randomized study assessed the effect of alendronate 5 and 10 mg on the gastroduodenal mucosa.Methods:Overall, 95 postmenopausal women without a recent history of major upper gastrointestinal (GI) disease and not taking gastric-irritant drugs, were screened with an upper GI endoscopy. Fourteen women (15% of the total) were found to have baseline endoscopic gastric and/or duodenal abnormalities, including mucosal hemorrhages (n = 4), erosions (n = 11), and ulcers (n = 3). Two additional women had baseline esophageal abnormalities. Thus, 79 postmenopausal women (mean age 51 yr, range 41–64 yr), free of esophageal, gastric and/or duodenal erosions or ulcer, were enrolled. Subjects received placebo, alendronate 5 mg/day or 10 mg/day, or aspirin 650 mg q.i. d. for 14 days. Endoscopy was repeated on Day 8 and on Day 15. Gastric and duodenal mucosae were graded separately using a 5-point scale for erosive mucosal injury.Results:The proportions of subjects with a gastric or duodenal erosion score ≥ 2 (presence of at least one mucosal erosion) on either Day 8 or 15 were four of 22 (18.2%) in the placebo group; four of 22 (18.2%) in the alendronate 5 mg group; five of 21 (23.8%) in the alendronate 10 mg group; and 14 of 14 (100.0%) in the aspirin group. Thirty-five of 76 (46%) subjects were H. pylori-positive (Pyloritek test), and were equally distributed across treatment groups.Conclusions:Alendronate 5 and 10 mg/day for 2 wk was associated with a lower incidence of gastric erosions than aspirin. The incidence of gastric erosions in the alendronate groups did not differ significantly from the placebo group. In this study, unlike aspirin, alendronate did not induce gastric erosions.
Phenotypic and Aetiological Associations Between Psychopathic Tendencies, Autistic Traits, and Emotion Attribution

Some behavioural overlap exists between psychopathic tendencies and autistic traits, and both phenotypes are thought to be associated with problems in empathy. However, the broad behavioural profiles and the cognitive-affective deficits associated with the two conditions are at least partly separable. The main aim of this study was to assess the extent to which the aetiology of psychopathic tendencies is independent of autistic traits. A secondary aim was to study the aetiology of emotion attribution ability and its association with psychopathic tendencies and autistic traits. Based on data from a sample of 642 twin pairs, the genetic and nonshared environmental influences related to psychopathic tendencies were largely unique to each phenotype. Common environmental influences between psychopathic tendencies and autistic traits overlapped. Poorer emotion attribution ability was associated with increased psychopathic tendencies and autistic traits, and these associations were mainly explained by common genetic factors.
Taboos and the pragmatics of teaching HIV and AIDS at primary school: Views from selected primary school teachers in Chipadze, Bindura

This study was conducted in the context of Shona culture, where discourse on sex and sexuality is regarded as taboo. Sex and matters related to it cannot be mentioned freely, more so to primary school going pupils. HIV/AIDS being largely contacted through sex, it was theorized that classroom practitioners face problems in communicating about and teaching HIV/AIDS/STI information. The study, carried out in a number of Bindura Primary Schools in Zimbabwe, sought information on how educators develop and use linguistic strategies to inculcate HIV/AIDS knowledge to the young ones without breaching social expectations and taboo limits. Data were collected, through the use of a questionnaire, from a random sample of 60 teachers, selected from four primary schools. The study throws some insight into the strategies by which teachers teach about sex and sexuality without being offensive to social expectations. It also reveals the effect these strategies have on the meanings of the messages conveyed by teachers, in the effort to reduce the spread of the HIV/AIDS pandemic in our schools.
Trust Region Methods for the Estimation of a Complex Exponential Decay Model in MRI With a Single-Shot or Multi-Shot Trajectory

Joint estimation of spin density R*2 decay and OFF-resonance frequency maps is very useful in many magnetic resonance imaging applications. The standard multi-echo approach can achieve high accuracy but requires a long acquisition time for sampling multiple k-space frames. There are many approaches to accelerate the acquisition. Among them, single-shot or multi-shot trajectory-based sampling has recently drawn attention due to its fast data acquisition. However, this sampling strategy destroys the Fourier relationship between k-space and images, leading to a great challenge for the reconstruction. In this paper, we present two trust region methods based on two different linearization strategies for the nonlinear signal model. A trust region is defined as a local area in the variable space where a local linear approximation is trustable. In each iteration, the method minimizes a local approximation within a trust region so that the step size can be kept in a suitable scale. A continuation scheme is applied to reduce the regularization gradually over the parameter maps and facilitates convergence from poor initializations. The two trust region methods are compared with the two other previously proposed methods-the nonlinear conjugate gradients and the gradual refinement algorithm. Experiments based on various synthetic data and real phantom data show that the two trust region methods have a clear advantage in both speed and stability.
Prenatal development of functional connections in the cat's retinogeniculate pathway

The development of functional connections between the axons of retinal ganglion cells and the neurons of the dorsal lateral geniculate nucleus (LGNd) of fetal and neonatal cats was studied using an in vitro assay. Extracellular microelectrode recordings of single units were made from histologically identified sites in the LGNd of isolated diencephalon preparations between embryonic day 39 ( E39 ) and postnatal day 2 (P2). (Gestation is 65 days in the cat.) Postsynaptic units activated by electrical stimulation of one or both optic nerves were found at all ages tested from E39 onwards. Over 90% of the units studied in the fetal preparations received convergent excitation from both optic nerves, compared with roughly half of the units studied in the neonatal optic nerves, compared with roughly half of the units studied in the neonatal preparations. Inhibition was detected in the LGNd of the neonatal preparations, but in only the oldest of the fetal preparations ( E59 ). This physiological change from predominantly convergent excitation to an adult-like mixture of excitation and inhibition seen at birth coincides with the change from mixed to segregated afferent input from the two eyes seen anatomically ( Shatz , C. J. (1983) J. Neurosci . 3: 482–499). These results indicate that attainment of the adult pattern of retinogeniculate connectivity involves the elimination of already functional synapses.
Communication and the reflective practitioner: a shared perspective from sociolinguistics and organisational communication

This paper provides an overview of an interdisciplinary project which draws together sociolinguistic analyses of workplace discourse and recent work in the field of organisational studies. The starting point for this collaboration was a set of questions which arose from attempts to apply the findings of a large-scale sociolinguistic study into workplace language: (i) How can sociolinguistic tools and models generate useful feedback for practitioners and contribute to organisational learning? (ii) How can the understanding researchers have developed of workplace discourse help individuals and teams critically reflect on their own communication practices? (iii) What can the action research process add to our theoretical knowledge about workplace discourse? The authors explore these questions in the context of a number of current issues in the field of organisational studies, including an increasing interest in language and communication; emerging critical perspectives on the notion of competence in workplaces; and debates over the relationships between expert and practitioner knowledges. The concept of ‘reflective practice’ is presented as a framework to address these issues in the evaluation and development of workplace communication.
TCP Performance of MC-CDMA Systems with Partial Equalization in Correlated Fading Channels

This paper addresses the performance evaluation of multi-carrier code division multiple access systems both at physical and TCP levels. A partial equalization technique improving the performance at physical layer in the presence of interference is investigated and its impact on the performance at upper layer is studied. The results are obtained through an integrated simulation platform carefully reproducing all main aspects affecting the quality of service perceived by the final user. Works of this nature enable a deep investigation of the real gain perceived by the user provided by proper signal processing techniques at the physical level.
Motivation towards learning: a study of Alberni District Secondary School's project based learning Grade 9 program

The purpose of the current study was to determine if participation in Alberni District Secondary School’s Project Based Learning (PBL) Program has had an impact on student motivation towards learning. This was done by measuring changes in a broad range of motivational constructs at the individual and group level. The study was a mixed method, explanatory design using a static group pre-test and post-test, and was conducted over a three month time period (September 6 – December 6, 2011). The participants in the study were 14 students enrolled in the ADSS Project Based Learning program. The results of the research were that participant self-reported motivation increased significantly for the following constructs: selfefficacy, intrinsic motivation, and group work as a positive experience. No significant decreases in motivational orientation were found for individual or group motivational orientations. The principal conclusion of the current study was that for participants in the ADSS Project Based Learning program, student motivation is a complex, multi-dimensional process that is mediated by both individual and group orientations and experiences. Implications for practice based on the present study discuss how teachers of PBL should critically examine the design of PBL environments to make student motivation an explicit design element. iii Project Based Learning: Student motivation toward learning. Table of
LIGHTNETs: Smart LIGHTing and Mobile Optical Wireless NETworks — A Survey

Recently, rapid increase of mobile devices pushed the radio frequency (RF)-based wireless technologies to their limits. Free-space-optical (FSO), a.k. a. optical wireless, communication has been considered as one of the viable solutions to respond to the ever-increasing wireless capacity demand. Particularly, Visible Light Communication (VLC) which uses light emitting diode (LED) based smart lighting technology provides an opportunity and infrastructure for the high-speed low-cost wireless communication. Though stemming from the same core technology, the smart lighting and FSO communication have inherent tradeoffs amongst each other. In this paper, we present a tutorial and survey of advances in these two technologies and explore the potential for integration of the two as a single field of study: LIGHTNETs. We focus our survey to the context of mobile communications given the recent pressing needs in mobile wireless networking. We deliberate on key challenges involved in designing technologies jointly performing the two functions simultaneously: LIGHTing and NETworking.
Analytical solution for pulsatile axial flow velocity waveforms in curved elastic tubes

An analytical solution for pulsatile axial flow velocity waveforms in curved elastic tubes is presented. The result is obtained by exact solution of linearized Navier-Stokes and tube motion equations in a toroidal coordinate system. Fourier analysis is used to divide the flow into constant and oscillatory components which are separately considered. The solution is used to investigate the effects of curvature on volumetric axial velocity flow waveforms, as would be measured by Doppler ultrasound techniques. In typical human arteries, the greatest effects of curvature on the volumetric axial flow are exerted on the constant component and at low values of the frequency parameter for the oscillatory components. Here, the magnitude and phase angle of oscillatory flow in the curved tube, relative to that in the straight tube, differ by maximum values of 1.2% and 0.15 rad, respectively. However, constant flow may vary by as much as 60% at high Dean numbers. The solution is presented in a form similar to Womersley's solution for the straight elastic tube and may, thus, be incorporated into a transmission-line analog model. These models are frequently used to investigate axial flow velocity variations in mammalian circulatory systems and this work offers a tool which may extend these models to incorporate the effects of curvature.
Accounting transparency and the term structure of credit spreads

Theory predicts that the quality of a firm’s information disclosure can affect the term structure of its corporate bond yield spreads. Using cross-sectional regression and NelsonSiegel yield curve estimation, I find that firms with higher Association for Investment Management and Research disclosure rankings tend to have lower credit spreads. Moreover, this transparency spread is especially large among short-term bonds. These findings are consistent with the theory of discretionary disclosure as well as the incomplete accounting information model of Duffie and Lando (Econometrica 69 (2001) 633). The presence of a sizable short-term transparency spread can attenuate some of the empirical problems associated with structural credit risk models. r 2004 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved. JEL classification: G13; G14; D82
Banking efficiency in emerging market economies

This working paper is produced for discussion purpose only. These working papers are expected to be published in due course, in revised form, and should not be quoted or cited without the author's written permission. I am grateful without implication to Tiantian Zhang (PhD candidate Cardiff University) and Momna Saeed (SBP) for able research assistance in the production of this paper. 2 1. Introduction Bank efficiency is not the sort of subject that sets the pulse racing or the heart beating faster. On the surface the subject sounds dry and could put even the most ardent accountant or banker to sleep. Certainly, efficiency is not the hottest topic in banking in the current economic climate. Improved risk management, stronger capital adequacy, regulation, and banker " s remuneration stand higher in the scale of importance following the public opprobrium of bankers in the West. However, I hope to show that not only is this subject worth exploration in its own right but there is much insight that can be gleaned from its study that tells us something about the banking market in question.
Supplemental : A Multi-Scale Model for Simulating Liquid-Hair Interactions

© 2017 Copyright held by the owner/author(s). Publication rights licensed to Association for Computing Machinery. This is the author’s version of the work. It is posted here for your personal use. Not for redistribution. The definitive Version of Record was published in ACM Transactions on Graphics, https://doi.org/http://dx.doi.org/10.1145/3072959.3073630. Consider the mass flux passing through a point on the hair segment. For a point x the mass flux is ρAL (x )u (x )δt , and the flux passing through its neighbor coordinate x+dx is ρAL (x+dx )u (x+dx )dt . Hence we have dm = ρAL (x )u (x )dt − ρAL (x + dx )u (x + dx )dt dm dt = −ρ AL (x + dx )u (x + dx ) −AL (x )u (x ) dx dx (S6)
The Development of Voluntary Behavior in Preschoolers: Repetition of Z.V. Manuilenko's Experiments

The problem of the historical development of mental processes, the personality, etc., remains one of the most important in contemporary psychology. Hence, studies to repeat experiments that were done several decades ago to determine which features have remained unaltered and which have undergone certain changes during these years could be of some value in this regard.
Protected carotid-artery stenting versus endarterectomy in high-risk patients.

BACKGROUND Carotid endarterectomy is more effective than medical management in the prevention of stroke in patients with severe symptomatic or asymptomatic atherosclerotic carotid-artery stenosis. Stenting with the use of an emboli-protection device is a less invasive revascularization strategy than endarterectomy in carotid-artery disease. METHODS We conducted a randomized trial comparing carotid-artery stenting with the use of an emboli-protection device to endarterectomy in 334 patients with coexisting conditions that potentially increased the risk posed by endarterectomy and who had either a symptomatic carotid-artery stenosis of at least 50 percent of the luminal diameter or an asymptomatic stenosis of at least 80 percent. The primary end point of the study was the cumulative incidence of a major cardiovascular event at 1 year--a composite of death, stroke, or myocardial infarction within 30 days after the intervention or death or ipsilateral stroke between 31 days and 1 year. The study was designed to test the hypothesis that the less invasive strategy, stenting, was not inferior to endarterectomy. RESULTS The primary end point occurred in 20 patients randomly assigned to undergo carotid-artery stenting with an emboli-protection device (cumulative incidence, 12.2 percent) and in 32 patients randomly assigned to undergo endarterectomy (cumulative incidence, 20.1 percent; absolute difference, -7.9 percentage points; 95 percent confidence interval, -16.4 to 0.7 percentage points; P=0.004 for noninferiority, and P=0.053 for superiority). At one year, carotid revascularization was repeated in fewer patients who had received stents than in those who had undergone endarterectomy (cumulative incidence, 0.6 percent vs. 4.3 percent; P=0.04). CONCLUSIONS Among patients with severe carotid-artery stenosis and coexisting conditions, carotid stenting with the use of an emboli-protection device is not inferior to carotid endarterectomy.
Overcoming Fear of Reading in English: The Astonishing Impact of a Short SSR Experience

©The International Journal of Foreign Language Teaching May 2013 Teacher-to-Teacher Index The value of self-selected reading in a second language has been well established (Krashen, 2004). Nevertheless, few second language acquirers take advantage of this pleasurable means of improving, most likely because they have little access to truly interesting reading material that is comprehensible to them, or they fear that they will not understand the material that is available.
Creditor Control Rights, Corporate Governance, and Firm Value

We provide evidence that creditors play an active role in the governance of corporations well outside of payment default states. By examining the Securities and Exchange Commission's filings of all U.S. nonfinancial firms from 1996 through 2008, we document that, in any given year, between 10% and 20% of firms report being in violation of a financial covenant in a credit agreement. We show that violations are followed immediately by a decline in acquisitions and capital expenditures, a sharp reduction in leverage and shareholder payouts, and an increase in CEO turnover. The changes in the investment and financing behavior of violating firms coincide with amended credit agreements that contain stronger restrictions on firm decision-making; changes in the management of violating firms suggest that creditors also exert informal influence on corporate governance. Finally, we show that firm operating and stock price performance improve post-violation. We conclude that actions taken by creditors increase the value of the average violating firm. The Author 2012. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of The Society for Financial Studies. All rights reserved. For Permissions, please e-mail: journals.permissions@oup.com. , Oxford University Press.