Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
NTCIR-2 ECIR Experiments at Maryland: Comparing Pirkola's Structured Queries and Balanced Translation

Pirkola’s structured queries have been shown to perform well for word-based cross-language information retrieval in European languages, but in monolingual Chinese retrieval experiments it is often found that character bigrams perform as well as, and sometimes better than, automatically segmented words. During the Mandarin-English Information (MEI) project at the Johns Hopkins Summer 2000 Workshop, Pirkola’s structured queries were compared with an alternative technique known as balanced translation. The results suggested that balanced translation coupled with post-translation character bigram resegmentation could outperform Pirkola’s word-based technique. The NTCIR-2 English/Chinese Information Retrieval (ECIR) evaluation provided the opportunity to replicate this experiment on a far larger collection. The results show that on the ECIR collection, Pirkola’s structured queries outperform balanced translation, even when post-translation character bigram resegmentation was used. This paper contrasts the MEI results with Maryland’s ECIR experiments and identifies some possible causes for the observed differences.
Working Paper No. 90 - Employment, unemployment and informality in Zimbabwe: Concepts and data for coherent policy-making

Despite a sharp fall in formal sector employment since the late 1990s, Zimbabwe’s unemployment rate has remained below 10 per cent. While this figure has been met with disbelief in Zimbabwe, the present paper finds that it is based on a consistent application of the international definition of unemployment. However, the unemployment rate alone is only of limited utility to assess a country’s labour market situation since it does not reflect the quality of employment. This paper therefore argues that it is necessary to go beyond the employment / unemployment dichotomy and to analyze the quality of employment. It does this on the basis of the 2004 Labour Force Survey by applying two complementary concepts of informality: (i) the enterprise-based concept of informality and (ii) the jobs-based concept of informality. The findings indicate that informal employment, in particular, made a substantial contribution to overall employment and accounted for just over 80 per cent of all jobs in 2004. However, cash incomes of informal workers were generally extremely low and their working conditions poor. The paper closes by extracting the main findings to inform debate among the ILO’s constituents and points out directions for future policy formulation.
Passivity and Stability of Human–Robot Interaction Control for Upper-Limb Rehabilitation Robots

Each year, stroke and traumatic brain injury leave millions of survivors with motion control loss, which results in great demand for recovery training. The great labor intensity in traditional human-based therapies has recently boosted the research on rehabilitation robotics. Existing controllers for rehabilitative robotics cannot solve the closed-loop system stability with uncertain nonlinear dynamics and conflicting human-robot interactions. This paper presents a theoretical framework that establishes the passivity of the closed-loop upper-limb rehabilitative robotic systems and allows rigorous stability analysis of human-robot interaction. Position-dependent stiffness and position-dependent desired trajectory are employed to resolve the possible conflicts in motions between patient and robot. The proposed method also realizes the “assist-as-needed” strategy. In addition, it handles human-robot interactions in such a way that correct movements are encouraged and incorrect ones are suppressed to make the training process more effective. While guaranteeing these properties, the proposed controller allows parameter adjustment to provide flexibility for therapists to adjust and fine tune depending on the conditions of the patients and the progress of their recovery. Simulation and experiment results are presented to illustrate the performance of the method.
Development of trigger tools for surveillance of adverse events in ambulatory surgery

Background The trigger tool methodology uses clinical algorithms applied electronically to ‘flag’ medical records where adverse events (AEs) have most likely occurred. The authors sought to create surgical triggers to detect AEs in the ambulatory care setting. Methods Four consecutive steps were used to develop ambulatory surgery triggers. First, the authors conducted a comprehensive literature review for surgical triggers. Second, a series of multidisciplinary focus groups (physicians, nurses, pharmacists and information technology specialists) provided user input on trigger selection. Third, a clinical advisory panel designed an initial set of 10 triggers. Finally, a three-phase Delphi process (surgical and trigger tool experts) evaluated and rated the suggested triggers. Results The authors designed an initial set of 10 surgical triggers including five global triggers (flagging medical records for the suspicion of any AE) and five AE-specific triggers (flagging medical records for the suspicion of specific AEs). Based on the Delphi rating of the trigger's utility for system-level interventions, the final triggers were: (1) emergency room visit(s) within 21 days from surgery; (2) unscheduled readmission within 30 days from surgery; (3) unscheduled procedure (interventional radiological, urological, dental, cardiac or gastroenterological) or reoperation within 30 days from surgery; (4) unplanned initial hospital length of stay more than 24 h; and (5) lower-extremity Doppler ultrasound order entry and ICD code for deep vein thrombosis or pulmonary embolus within 30 days from surgery. Conclusion The authors therefore propose a systematic methodology to develop trigger tools that takes into consideration previously published work, end-user preferences and expert opinion.
Refinement and validation of an FFQ developed to estimate macro- and micronutrient intakes in a south Indian population

Abstract Objective Potential error sources in nutrient estimation with the FFQ include inaccurate or biased recall and overestimation or underestimation of intake due to too many or too few items on the FFQ, respectively. Here we report the refinement of an FFQ that overestimated nutrient intake and its validation against multiple 24 h recalls. Study design Data on 2527 participants in south India (Trivandrum) were available for the original FFQ (OFFQ) that overestimated nutrient intake (132 food items). After excluding participants with implausible energy intake estimates (<2·72 MJ/d (<650 kcal/d), >15·69 MJ/d (>3750 kcal/d)) we ran stepwise regression analyses with selected nutrients as the outcomes and food intake (servings/d) as predictor variables (n 1867). From these results and expert consultation we refined the FFQ (RFFQ), and validated it by comparing intakes obtained with it and the mean of two 24 h recalls among 100 participants. Results The OFFQ overestimated usual daily nutrient intake before and after exclusions [for energy: 13·39 (sd 5·46) MJ (3201 (sd 1305) kcal) and 10·96 (sd 2·65) MJ (2619 (sd 634) kcal), respectively]. In stepwise analyses, fifty-seven food items explained 90 % of the variance in nutrients; we retained thirteen food items because participants consumed them at least twice monthly and twelve food items that local nutritionists recommended. Mean energy intake estimated from the RFFQ (eighty-two food items) was 7·94 (sd 2·05) MJ (1897 (sd 489) kcal). The de-attenuated correlations between mean 24 h recall and RFFQ intakes ranged from 0·25 (vitamin A) to 0·82 (fat). Conclusion We refined an FFQ that overestimated nutrient intake by shortening and redesigning, and validated it by comparisons with 24 h dietary recall data.
Improved Power Quality Control and Intelligent Protection for Grid Connected Power Electronic Converters, using Real Time Parameter Estimation

This paper presents a method to identify power system impedance in real-time, using signals obtained from grid connected power electronic converters. The method uses wavelets to analyse the transients associated with a small disturbance imposed by the power converter, and determine the net impedance back to source. A data capture period of 5ms only is required for accurate impedance estimation, providing the possibility of ultra fast fault detection (i.e. with one half cycle). The paper describes how the method may be used to enhance operation during faults for distributed generation. This impedance estimation has potential application in renewable/distributed energy systems, STATCOM, and proposed solid state substations
Preliminary evaluation of mechanomyographic signal of rectus femoris muscle between spinal cord injured and healthy subjects

Mechanomyography (MMG) is a practical alternative to monitor muscle contraction during FES application aiming to restore functional movements. This paper describes a preliminary study to evaluate the difference between the rectus femoris muscle MMG response of a healthy volunteer (HV) and a spinal cord injured volunteer (SC), during FES application, and to determine a correlation between the temporal and spectral MMG features. The test was performed with bipolar monophasic square wave, pulse active period of 100 μs and frequency of 1 kHz, and burst active interval of 3 ms with frequency set to 50 Hz applied to the femoral nerve to stimulate quadriceps muscle. The MMG sensor was placed on the rectus femoris muscle belly. Temporal (RMS) and spectral (MF) MMG features were used. Nonparametric statistics were used to evaluate the differences between the volunteers and the correlations between the MMG features. The results showed that RMS and MF are inversely related over the time during FES application, with ρ= -0.426 to SC and ρ= -0.579 to HV. The preliminary findings indicate that HV and SC MMG features are similar in response, what is important to be employed in closed loop systems with FES.
Quantitative evaluation of correlation of skull morphology in families in an attempt to predict growth change.

The purpose of the present study was to obtain quantitative values for human skull structures in a cross-sectional analysis of offspring and their parents. The offspring were classified into three groups according to age. For each of 11 maxillo-facial and nine dento-alveolar structural angular measurements, the mean and SD were calculated for each set of paternal, maternal, midparent and offspring. The standard deviation unit (SDU) values were calculated from the disparity between the measured value in a given individual, i.e. father, mother, midparent, offspring, and their corresponding group mean value. Three disparity values (D.v.), expressed by the difference between the SDU values in each pair (father-offspring, mother-offspring and midparent-offspring), were developed to evaluate the degree of familial resemblance for each of 20 morphometric measurements, and the differences among these values in three age groups were then investigated. The similarity ratio (S.r.), expressing the degree of correlation to the father and mother, was derived by processing the D.v. The relationship between the maxillo-facial S.r. and the dento-alveolar S.r. was analysed in each age group. There were significant differences between the D.v. in families and those in unrelated control groups. Consistency between the S.r. for maxillo-facial and that for dento-alveolar measurements was found in the older age groups. It is concluded that individual growth of skull morphology might be more predictable using the present method.
Building customer capital through relationship marketing activities: The case of Taiwanese multilevel marketing companies

Purpose – To provide a theoretic framework of the development of customer capital and an empirical verification using Taiwanese multilevel firms.Design/methodology/approach – The authors used survey research to collect data from members of four Taiwanese multilevel companies. They explored the mediating roles of the drivers of customer equity in the “relationship marketing activities‐customer capita” effect. A total of 306 valid responses were analyzed using structural equation modeling analysis.Findings – Four types of relationship marketing activities – core service performances, recognition for contributions, dissemination of organization knowledge, and member interdependence enhancement – have significant influences on relationship equity. Relationship equity in turn affects customer capital. Value equity and brand equity respectively have significant effects on customer acquisition and customer retention. Customer acquisition has a significant “feedback” effect on value equity, and relationship equit.
Downward wage rigidity

There has recently been considerable discussion about the ability of inflation to facilitate the adjustment of prices and wages and thus enhance economic performance. The discussion centres on whether wages are downwardly rigid. Wages are said to be downwardly rigid if it is difficult for the wages of some workers to fall despite underlying supply and demand pressures for decreases. Some authors have suggested that if downward nominal wage rigidity is prevalent it would be desirable to select a positive rate of inflation as the target for monetary policy. In this article, the authors evaluate the wage-rigidity hypothesis. They first examine the empirical evidence to assess whether the degree of downward rigidity is significant in Canada. They then analyze some key assumptions of the wage-rigidity hypothesis and its implications for employment. They also look at the empirical evidence on whether the combination of downward wage rigidity and low inflation has reduced employment.
Improving visitor management approaches for the changing preferences and behaviours of country park visitors in Hong Kong

This study identified the changing preferences of country park visitors in Hong Kong and the potential for such changes to have further negative impacts on the ecologically sensitive areas of country parks. A questionnaire was used to collect feedback from 644 country park visitors to understand their preferences and visitation patterns. To investigate visitors’ preferences and behaviours and to develop better visitor management strategies, the survey data were compared with studies conducted 20 years ago. The results showed that the most popular nature‐based activities of 20 years ago, namely, picnicking and barbecuing, have significantly declined in popularity, while other activities, namely, nature studies and nature photography, have surged in popularity in recent years. These changes in visitor preferences have directly increased the negative impacts of visitors on country parks as they dispersed away from the high intensity recreation zones to the ecological sensitive areas. This emerging group of country park visitors has not been fully considered in the existing approach to visitor management and may irreversibly impact the ecological value of country parks. In this study, visitor management in Hong Kong's country parks was reviewed based on these research findings, and potential improvements were suggested.
The Method of Simulated Quantiles

We introduce an inference method based on quantiles matching, which is useful for situations where the density function does not have a closed form –but it is simple to simulate– and/or moments do not exist. Functions of theoretical quantiles, which depend on the parameters of the assumed probability law, are matched with sample quantiles, which depend on observations. Since the theoretical quantiles may not be available analytically, the optimization is based on simulations. We illustrate the method with the estimation of α-stable distributions. A thorough Monte Carlo study and an illustration to 22 financial indexes show the usefulness of the method.
Statistical Properties of the Buddy System

The utilization of space and the running speed of the buddy system are considered Equations are derived that give various statistical properties of the buddy system. For the bottom level with Poisson requests and exponential service times the expected amount of space wasted by pairing full cells with empty cells is about 0.513 <subscrpt><italic>&rgr;</italic></subscrpt><supscrpt>1/2</supscrpt> and the mean time between requests from the bottom level to the next level is about 1.880 <subscrpt><italic>&rgr;</italic></subscrpt><supscrpt>1/2</supscrpt> λ<supscrpt>-1</supscrpt>, where <italic>&rgr;</italic> is the mean number of blocks in use on the bottom level and λ<supscrpt>-1</supscrpt> is the mean time between requests for blocks on the bottom level. The results of a number of simulations of the buddy system are also given and compared with the analytical studies.
Membrane potential changes during chemokinesis in Paramecium

Intracellular recordings show that (i) paramecia hyperpolarize slightly in attractants and depolarize in repellents that depend on the avoiding reaction (an abrupt change of swimming direction), and (ii) paramecia more strongly hyperpolarize in repellents and more strongly depolarize in attractants that depend on changes of swimming velocity. These membrane potential changes are in agreement with a hypothesis of membrane potential control of chemokinesis in Paramecium.
Preparation of ZnO film on p-Si and I-V characteristics of p-Si/n-ZnO

Zinc oxide (ZnO) thin films were deposited on p-silicon (Si) substrate from ammonium zincate bath following a chemical dipping technique called SILAR. Films in the thickness range 0.5-4.5 µm could be prepared by varying the number of dipping for a fixed concentration (0.125 M) of zincate bath and fixed pH (11.00-11.10). Higher values of dipping produced nonadherent and poor quality films. Structural characterization by X-ray diffraction (XRD) indicates the formation of polycrystalline single phase ZnO with strong c-axis orientation. The structural characteristics of the films were found to be a sensitive function of film thickness. The degree of orientation was found to be a function of film thickness and a maximum was found at around 2.2 µm. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) reveals the formation of sub-micrometer crystallites on silicon substrate. The coverage of crystallites (grains) on substrate surface increases with number of dipping. Dense film containing grains distributed throughout the surface is obtained at large thicknesses. The ohmic nature of silver (Ag) on ZnO and Aluminum (Al) on p-Si was confirmed by I-V measurements. I-V characteristic of the p-Si/n-ZnO heterojunction was studied and rectification was observed. The maximum value of forward to reverse current ratio was ~15 at 3.0 V.
A Logical Model for Information Retrieval based on Propositional Logic and Belief Revision

En esta tesis se propone un modelo logico para modelar el problema de Recuperacion de Informacion RI, A partir un formalismo basico se han formalizado varias tareas clasicas de RI, estudiado sus costes comptuacionales y propuesto implementaciones eficientes. En todos los pasos se ha enfatizado al ventajas del uso de una aproximacion logica. La flexibilidad representacional de la logica ha permitido la creacion de un marco homogeneo donde se modelan distintos elementos involucrados en el problema de RI. Primeramente se ha modelado el problema basico de RI dentro de un formalismo logico. Seguidamente se ha definido una implementacion eficiente para el modelo propuesto. Esta implementacion ha permitido la evaluacion del modelo con colecciones de prueba estandar en RI. Estos experimentos permiten valorar cuantitativamene el rendimiento del modelo teorico propuesto. A continuacion el modelo se ha extendido para manejar situaciones de recuperacion y para modelar el proceso de relevance feedback. Esto permite mostrar que un marco formal puede manejar extensiones de forma homogenea. Por ultimo, las nociones de similaridad entre terminos y frecuencia inversa en documentos han sido incluidas en el modelo. Estas ultimas extensiones han sido acompanadas de sus correspondientes tests de evaluacion. Las principales aportaciones de esta investigacion son las siguientes. Primero, el modelo teorico propuesto ha sido implementado y evaluado, asegurando su aplicabilidad real. De hecho, muy pocas aproximaciones logicas a RI han sido implementadas y evaluadas. El modelo basico puede representar vectores clasicos con pesos binarios y, ademas, nuestra medida de relevancia se corresponde con la medida clasica del producto interno consulta-documento. De esta forma, hemos formalizado tareas clasicas como casos dentro del modelo. Sin embargo, el modelo propuesto es inherentemente mas expresivo que los formalismos clasicos.
A TSC22-like motif defines a novel antiapoptotic protein family

The apoptotic programme is evolutionarily conserved between yeast and metazoan organisms. We have previously identified a number of mammalian cDNAs capable of suppressing the deleterious effects of Bax expression in yeast. We herein report that one such suppressor, named Tsc22(86), represents the C-terminal 86 amino acids of the previously characterized leucine zipper (LZ) motif-containing transcriptional regulator Tsc22. Employing a genome-wide two-hybrid screen, functional genomics, and deletion mutagenesis approaches, we conclude that Tsc22(86)-mediated antiapoptosis is independent of the LZ motif and is likely independent of effects on gene transcription. Rather, a 16-residue sequence within the conserved 56-residue TSC22 domain is necessary for antiapoptosis. The presence of a similar sequence was used to predict an antiapoptotic role for two yeast proteins, Sno1p and Fyv10p. Overexpression and knock-out experiments were used to validate this prediction. These findings demonstrate the potential of studying heterologous proteins in yeast to uncover novel biological insights into the regulation of apoptosis.
DETECTING MANIPULATION IN U.S. HOUSE ELECTIONS

A fundamental tenent of representative democracy is that votes should be counted in a fair and unbiased manner. Contrary to this premise I …nd that in U.S. House elections this is not the case. I employ a novel approach to detect electoral manipulation by looking at extremely close elections where the outcome between any two candidates should be random. I …nd that in extremely close elections the incumbent wins markedly more often than would be expected. This suggests that the vote counting process is biased in favor of incumbents in a manner that is independent of the underlying incumbency advantage.
Using the End-User Computing Satisfaction (EUCS) Instrument to Measure Satisfaction with a Web Site

The purpose of this study is to revise and revalidate the End-User Computing Satisfaction (EUCS) instrument to measure satisfaction with a Web site from a usability perspective. This study is especially important given the increased significance of the Web and the uniqueness of the Web as a computing environment. A total of 176 students participated in a lab simulation that involved a usability evaluation of the Lands' End Web site (http://www.landsend.com). Students were asked to complete a set of tasks, record their answers, and then complete the EUCS instrument. Confirmatory factor analysis and invariance analyses were conducted to test the reliability, validity, and generalizability of the revised EUCS. The results show that the EUCS is a valid and robust instrument in the Web environment but that one of the subfactors, timeliness, will need further refinement in the future. Usability practitioners can use the EUCS to measure end-user satisfaction with a Web site and use the feedback for improving Web-site design. We describe a case study of an actual usability application that utilized the revised EUCS effectively to support the design of building supply Web sites involving two types of end users, homeowners and contractors. We also propose a typology that researchers can use as a starting point to judge when it is necessary to revalidate an instrument like the EUCS. Finally, we discuss the limitations of our study and present avenues for future research.