Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Applications of machine learning: matching problems to tasks and methods

The terminology of Machine Learning and Data Mining methods does not always allow a simple match between practical problems and methods. While some problems look similar from the user's point of view, but require different methods to be solved, some others look very different, yet they can be solved by applying the same methods and tools. Choosing appropriate Machine Learning methods for problem solving in practice is therefore largely a matter of experience and it is not realistic to expect a simple look-up table with matches between problems and methods. However, some guidelines can be given and a collection that summarizes other people's experience can also be helpful. A small number of definitions characterize the tasks that are performed by a large proportion of methods. Most of the variation in methods is concerned with differences in data types and algorithmic aspects of methods. In this paper, we summarize the main task types and illustrate how a wide variety of practical problems are formulated in terms of these tasks. The match between problems and tasks is illustrated with a collection of example applications with the aim of helping to express new practical problems as Machine Learning tasks. Some tasks can be decomposed into subtasks, allowing a wider variety of matches between practical problems and (combinations of) methods. We review the main principles for choosing between alternatives and illustrate this with a large collection of applications. We believe that this provides some guidelines.
Business Cycle Dynamics in the Euro Area: A Factor-SVAR Approach

The study investigates the business cycle dynamics in the euro area using an empirical framework which comprises common global and euro area shocks as well as allows bilateral spillovers of country-specific shocks across the member economies. Three core questions lie at the heart of the analysis: (i) To what extent are the business cycles of the euro area countries driven by common and spillover shocks? (ii) What are the extent and sources of business cycle heterogeneity in the euro area? (iii) Which mechanisms led to the moderation of business cycle activity in the euroarea until recently?
Quantitative real-time RT-PCR detection for CEA , CK 20 and CK 19 mRNA in peripheral blood of colorectal cancer patients *

This study is aimed at establishing a sensitive approach to detect disseminated tumor cells in peripheral blood and evaluate its clinical significance. A total of 198 blood samples including 168 from colorectal carcinoma (CRC) patients and 30 from healthy volunteers were examined by quantitative real-time reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) to evaluate the expression of carcinoembryonic antigen (CEA), cytokeratin 20 (CK20) and cytokeratin 19 (CK19) mRNA. CEA mRNA was detected in 35.8% of patients and 3.3% of controls, CK20 mRNA in 28.3% of patients and 6.7% of controls, and CK19 mRNA in 41.9% of patients and 3.3% of controls. CEA and CK20 mRNA positive ratio increased with the advancing Dukes stages, but there was no significant difference in positive ratio between any two stages (P>0.05). Also, relatively high positive ratio of CEA, CK20 and CK19 mRNA expression was observed in some CRC patients with earlier Dukes stages. A higher positive ratio was obtained when two or three detection markers were combined compared to a single marker. Our study indicates that quantitative real-time RT-PCR detection for CEA, CK20 and CK19 mRNA in peripheral blood is a valuable tool for monitoring early stage dissemination of CRC cells in blood circulation.
In Situ Sediment Treatment Using Activated Carbon: A Demonstrated Sediment Cleanup Technology

This paper reviews general approaches for applying activated carbon (AC) amendments as an in situ sediment treatment remedy. In situ sediment treatment involves targeted placement of amendments using installation options that fall into two general approaches: 1) directly applying a thin layer of amendments (which potentially incorporates weighting or binding materials) to surface sediment, with or without initial mixing; and 2) incorporating amendments into a premixed, blended cover material of clean sand or sediment, which is also applied to the sediment surface. Over the past decade, pilot‐ or full‐scale field sediment treatment projects using AC—globally recognized as one of the most effective sorbents for organic contaminants—were completed or were underway at more than 25 field sites in the United States, Norway, and the Netherlands. Collectively, these field projects (along with numerous laboratory experiments) have demonstrated the efficacy of AC for in situ treatment in a range of contaminated sediment conditions. Results from experimental studies and field applications indicate that in situ sequestration and immobilization treatment of hydrophobic organic compounds using either installation approach can reduce porewater concentrations and biouptake significantly, often becoming more effective over time due to progressive mass transfer. Certain conditions, such as use in unstable sediment environments, should be taken into account to maximize AC effectiveness over long time periods. In situ treatment is generally less disruptive and less expensive than traditional sediment cleanup technologies such as dredging or isolation capping. Proper site‐specific balancing of the potential benefits, risks, ecological effects, and costs of in situ treatment technologies (in this case, AC) relative to other sediment cleanup technologies is important to successful full‐scale field application. Extensive experimental studies and field trials have shown that when applied correctly, in situ treatment via contaminant sequestration and immobilization using a sorbent material such as AC has progressed from an innovative sediment remediation approach to a proven, reliable technology. Integr Environ Assess Manag 2015; 11:195–207. © 2014 The Authors. Published 2014 SETAC.
Hyper heuristic based on great deluge and its variants for exam timetabling problem

Today, University Timetabling problems are occurred annually and they are often hard and time consuming to solve. This paper describes Hyper Heuristics (HH) method based on Great Deluge (GD) and its variants for solving large, highly constrained timetabling problems from different domains. Generally, in hyper heuristic framework, there are two main stages: heuristic selection and move acceptance. This paper emphasizes on the latter stage to develop Hyper Heuristic (HH) framework. The main contribution of this paper is that Great Deluge (GD) and its variants: Flex Deluge(FD), Non-linear(NLGD), Extended Great Deluge(EGD) are used as move acceptance method in HH by combining Reinforcement learning (RL). These HH methods are tested on exam benchmark timetabling problem and best results and comparison analysis are reported.
An experimental approach to predicting saliency for simplified polygonal models

In this paper, we consider the problem of determining feature saliency for 3D objects and describe a series of experiments that examined if salient features exist and can be predicted in advance. We attempt to determine salient features by using an eye-tracking device to capture human gaze data and then investigate if the visual fidelity of simplified polygonal models can be improved by emphasizing the detail of salient features identified in this way. To try to evaluate the visual fidelity of models simplified using both metrics, a set of naming time, matching time and forced-choice preference experiments were carried out. We found that our perceptually weighted metric led to a significant increase in visual fidelity for the lower levels of detail (LOD) of the natural objects, but that for the man-made artifacts the opposite was true. We therefore conclude that visually prominent features may be predicted in this way for natural objects, but our results show that saliency prediction for synthetic objects is more difficult, perhaps because it is more strongly affected by task. We hope that our results will lead to new insights into the nature of saliency in 3D graphics.
The Logic and Impossibility of Austerity

This paper reviews the intellectual basis of austerity macroeconomics. We show that mainstream macroeconomics, because of its insistence on viewing the macroeconomy through the lens of general equilibrium methods, entails an analytical precommitment to austerity policy. This leaves economists who work within this framework without a robust basis for developing models and arguments that contest austerity policies. And since this approach has been the dominant framework in macroeconomic theory for the past three decades, professional opinion has not moved. New approaches, which model the macroeconomy as exhibiting disequilibrium dynamics and being prone to instability, are needed.
On the Dynamics Near a Homoclinic Network to a Bifocus: Switching and Horseshoes

We study a homoclinic network associated to a nonresonant hyperbolic bifocus. It is proved that on combining rotation with a nondegeneracy condition concerning the intersection of the two-dimensional invariant manifolds of the equilibrium, switching behavior is created: close to the network, there are trajectories that visit the neighborhood of the bifocus following connections in any prescribed order. We discuss the existence of suspended horseshoes which accumulate on the network and the relation between these horseshoes and the switching behavior.
Static Signature Synthesis: A Neuromotor Inspired Approach for Biometrics

In this paper we propose a new method for generating synthetic handwritten signature images for biometric applications. The procedures we introduce imitate the mechanism of motor equivalence which divides human handwriting into two steps: the working out of an effector independent action plan and its execution via the corresponding neuromuscular path. The action plan is represented as a trajectory on a spatial grid. This contains both the signature text and its flourish, if there is one. The neuromuscular path is simulated by applying a kinematic Kaiser filter to the trajectory plan. The length of the filter depends on the pen speed which is generated using a scalar version of the sigma lognormal model. An ink deposition model, applied pixel by pixel to the pen trajectory, provides realistic static signature images. The lexical and morphological properties of the synthesized signatures as well as the range of the synthesis parameters have been estimated from real databases of real signatures such as the MCYT Off-line and the GPDS960GraySignature corpuses. The performance experiments show that by tuning only four parameters it is possible to generate synthetic identities with different stability and forgers with different skills. Therefore it is possible to create datasets of synthetic signatures with a performance similar to databases of real signatures. Moreover, we can customize the created dataset to produce skilled forgeries or simple forgeries which are easier to detect, depending on what the researcher needs. Perceptual evaluation gives an average confusion of 44.06 percent between real and synthetic signatures which shows the realism of the synthetic ones. The utility of the synthesized signatures is demonstrated by studying the influence of the pen type and number of users on an automatic signature verifier.
Tumor infiltrating lymphocytes are prognostic in triple negative breast cancer and predictive for trastuzumab benefit in early breast cancer: results from the FinHER trial.

BACKGROUND We have previously shown the prognostic importance of tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes (TILs) in newly diagnosed triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC) using tumor samples from a large clinical trial cohort. In this study, we aimed to validate these findings and also investigate associations with trastuzumab benefit in HER2-overexpressing disease (HER2+). PATIENTS AND METHODS A prospective-retrospective study was conducted using samples from the FinHER adjuvant, phase III trial that enrolled 1010 early-stage BC patients, 778 of whom were HER2-nonamplified. Those with HER2+ disease (n = 232) were randomized to 9 weeks of trastuzumab or no trastuzumab in addition to chemotherapy. Two pathologists independently quantified stromal TILs in 935 (92.6%) available slides. The primary end point of distant disease-free survival (DDFS) and interactions with trastuzumab were studied in Cox regression models. RESULTS Confirming our previous findings, in TNBC (n = 134) each 10% increase in TILs was significantly associated with decreased distant recurrence in TNBC; for DDFS the hazard ratio adjusted for clinicopathological factors: 0.77; 95% confidence interval (CI) 0.61-0.98, P = 0.02. In HER2+ BC (n = 209), each 10% increase in lymphocytic infiltration was significantly associated with decreased distant recurrence in patients randomized to the trastuzumab arm (DDFS P interaction = 0.025). CONCLUSIONS Higher levels of TILs present at diagnosis were significantly associated with decreased distant recurrence rates in primary TNBC. These results confirm our previous data and further support that TILs should be considered as a robust prognostic factor in this BC subtype. We also report for the first time an association between higher levels of TILs and increased trastuzumab benefit in HER2+ disease. Further research into why some TN and HER2+ BCs can or cannot generate a host antitumor immune response and how trastuzumab can favorably alter the immune microenvironment is warranted.
Direct costs of three models for the screening of latent tuberculosis infection

The aim of the present study was to compare the direct costs of three models for detection of latent tuberculosis infection (LTBI) in routine clinical practice in Switzerland. Comparison of the overall costs of screening for LTBI, including medical and radiological examination, and preventive treatment associated with three screening models was carried out. Model 1 relies only on the tuberculin skin test (TST) according to the current national guidelines, model 2 relies on T-SPOT®. TB (Oxford Immunotec, Oxford, UK) only and model 3 relies on TST followed by confirmation of positive results by T-SPOT.TB. Costs were taken directly from the clinic's figures. Clinical assumptions were based on the 267 patients who were referred to the clinic over the study period. Model 3 was found to be the most cost-effective. Using only the skin test (model 1) was the least cost-effective. If only one test for LTBI is to be used, then model 2 (using T-SPOT.TB only) is cheaper than using the TST (model 1). Screening for latent tuberculosis infection by tuberculin skin test followed by confirmation with T-SPOT.TB is less costly than screening with tuberculin skin test alone, as it allows a reduction in the number of people who receive preventive treatment. In groups with a high proportion of negative tuberculin skin tests, screening with T-SPOT.TB test only may be the most cost-effective.
De Novo Transcriptome Sequencing Reveals Important Molecular Networks and Metabolic Pathways of the Plant, Chlorophytum borivilianum

Chlorophytum borivilianum, an endangered medicinal plant species is highly recognized for its aphrodisiac properties provided by saponins present in the plant. The transcriptome information of this species is limited and only few hundred expressed sequence tags (ESTs) are available in the public databases. To gain molecular insight of this plant, high throughput transcriptome sequencing of leaf RNA was carried out using Illumina's HiSeq 2000 sequencing platform. A total of 22,161,444 single end reads were retrieved after quality filtering. Available (e.g., De-Bruijn/Eulerian graph) and in-house developed bioinformatics tools were used for assembly and annotation of transcriptome. A total of 101,141 assembled transcripts were obtained, with coverage size of 22.42 Mb and average length of 221 bp. Guanine-cytosine (GC) content was found to be 44%. Bioinformatics analysis, using non-redundant proteins, gene ontology (GO), enzyme commission (EC) and kyoto encyclopedia of genes and genomes (KEGG) databases, extracted all the known enzymes involved in saponin and flavonoid biosynthesis. Few genes of the alkaloid biosynthesis, along with anticancer and plant defense genes, were also discovered. Additionally, several cytochrome P450 (CYP450) and glycosyltransferase unique sequences were also found. We identified simple sequence repeat motifs in transcripts with an abundance of di-nucleotide simple sequence repeat (SSR; 43.1%) markers. Large scale expression profiling through Reads per Kilobase per Million mapped reads (RPKM) showed major genes involved in different metabolic pathways of the plant. Genes, expressed sequence tags (ESTs) and unique sequences from this study provide an important resource for the scientific community, interested in the molecular genetics and functional genomics of C. borivilianum.
ASSESSING NITROGEN STRESS IN CORN VARIETIES OF VARYING COLOR

Summary: Nitrogen (N) is an essential element for crop growth and its accurate assessment in plants is a key to nutrient management. This research was conducted to explore the feasibility of using spectral reflectance to predict nitrogen content in corn plant varieties with varying color. A problem identified by previous researchers is the variability of spectral responses from varieties with different canopy colors. Reflectance was measured for samples from subplots of three different corn varieties (selected for varying leaf color) and 5 N treatments. Multivariate statistical analysis was performed on the spectral responses for each variety and N treatment to determine the ability to predict the actual leaf N content. Partial Least Square (PLS) regression, Principal Component Regression (PCR) and Multiple Linear Regression (MLR) were used to build prediction models. The smallest SEP for the ear leaf was 0.15% for a PCR model, and the smallest SEP for younger leaves was 0.25% for a PLS model.
Speaker verification using Fisher vector

This paper introduces an approach based on Fisher vector feature representation for speaker verification. The Fisher vector is originated from Fisher Kernel and represents each utterance as a high-dimensional vector by encoding the derivatives of the loglikelihood of the UBM model with respect to it's mean and variances. This representation captures the average first and second order differences between the utterance and each of the Gaussian centers of the UBM model. And the Fisher vector is further projected to a low-dimensional space using PPCA which is conducted in a similar way of factor analysis. We compare the proposed method with the state-of-art i-vector approach on the telephone-telephone condition of NIST SRE2010 female and male core task. The experimental results indicate that the proposed Fisher vector based method is competitive with i-vector. It can also provide complementary information to i-vector and the fusion of these two approach obtains a relative improvement of 11.8% and 14.7% in EER and 9.2% and 2.7% in minDCF for female and male than i-vector alone.
Stacking of Dependency and Phrase Structure Parsers

We investigate the stacking of dependency and phrase structure parsers, i.e. we define features from the output of a phrase structure parser for a dependency parser and vice versa. Our features are based on the original form of the external parses and we also compare this approach to converting phrase structures to dependencies then applying standard stacking on the converted output. The proposed method provides high accuracy gains for both phrase structure and dependency parsing. With the features derived from the phrase structures, we achieved a gain of 0.89 percentage points over a state-of-the-art parser and reach 93.95 UAS, which is the highest reported accuracy score on dependency parsing of the Penn Treebank. The phrase structure parser obtains 91.72 F-score with the features derived from the dependency trees, and this is also competitive with the best reported PARSEVAL scores for the Penn Treebank.
Overweight and weight dissatisfaction related to socio-economic position, integration and dietary indicators among South Asian immigrants in Oslo

Abstract Objective To investigate how socio-economic position, demographic factors, degree of integration and dietary indicators are related to BMI/waist:hip ratio (WHR) and to weight dissatisfaction and slimming among South Asians in Oslo, Norway. Design Cross-sectional study consisting of a health check including anthropometric measures and two self-administered questionnaires. Setting Oslo, Norway. Subjects Pakistanis and Sri Lankans (n 629), aged 30–60 years, residing in Oslo. Results BMI was positively associated with female gender (P = 0·004) and Pakistani origin (P < 0·001), and inversely associated with years of education (P = 0·011) and eating more hot meals (P = 0·016). WHR was positively associated with male gender (P < 0·001), age (P < 0·001) and a dietary pattern with high-fat foods (P = 0·005), and inversely associated with degree of integration (measured by a composite index, independent of duration of residence; P = 0·017). One-third of those with normal weight and most of those obese were dissatisfied with their weight. Among these, about 40 % had attempted to slim during the past year. Dissatisfaction with weight was positively associated with education in women (P = 0·006) and with integration in men (P = 0·026), and inversely associated with physical activity (P = 0·044) in men. Women who had made slimming attempts had breakfast and other meals less frequently than others (P < 0·05). Conclusions Weight dissatisfaction exists among South Asian immigrants. More research is needed regarding bodily dissatisfaction and the relationship between perception of weight and weight-change attempts among immigrants in Norway, in order to prevent and treat both obesity and eating disorders.
Speech perception and localization abilities in pediatric bilateral sequential cochlear implant recipients

The primary purpose of this study was to evaluate speech perception and localization abilities in children who have received sequential cochlear implants, with the first implant received before age 4 and the second implant received before age 12. Results indicate performance in the bilateral cochlear implant condition is significantly better than listening with each implant alone for the outcome measures used in this study.
The Effectiveness of the Problem Solving Strategy and the Scientific Approach to Students’ Mathematical Capabilities in High Order Thinking Skills

The purpose of this study was to find out more effective teaching among problem solving strategy with a scientific approach to students’ mathematical abilities in high order thinking skills. This quasi experimental study used non-equivalent pretest-posttest control group design. The experimental group was students who were taught with problem solving strategy, and the control group was students who were taught with the scientific approach. The number of participants for the experimental group, n = 138, and for the control group, n = 139 from the 10th grade of public and private high schools in Medan-Indonesia. Based on the hypothesis testing of the study, the results showed that learning through problem solving strategy was more effective than the scientific approach to students’ mathematical abilities in communication, creativity, problem solving, and mathematical reasoning.