Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
The Geotemporal Demographics of Twitter Usage

This paper presents a preliminary empirical evaluation of the strategic importance of infusing Twitter social media data into classifications of small areas, as a way of moving beyond the nighttime residential geographies of conventional geodemographic classifications. We attempt an empirically based critique of the merits and drawbacks of the use of social media data, in which the value of high spatial and temporal granularity of revealed activity patterns is contrasted with the paucity of individual attribute information. We apply new and novel methods to enrich the profiles of Twitter users in order to generalize about activity patterns in London, our case-study city. More insidious problems in the use of social media data arise from the as-yet-unknown sources and operation of bias in their user bases. Our contribution is to begin to identify and assess the biases inherent in social media usage in social research, and use these to evaluate their deployment in research applications.
The adaptive decision maker: Name index

Preface 1. Adaptive decision behaviour: an introduction 2. Contingencies in decision making 3. Deciding how to decide: an effort/accuracy framework 4. Studying contingent decisions: an integrated methodology 5. Constructive processes in decision making 6. Why may adaptivity fail? 7. Improving decisions and other practical matters 8. The adaptive decision maker: a look backward and a look forward Appendix Footnotes Bibliography.
Algorithmic Assessment of 3D Quality of Experience

The field of algorithmically assessing the 3D quality of experience is an extremely challenging one. In this paper a no-reference algorithm is proposed to assess the comfort associated with viewing stereo videos. The proposed measure of 3D quality of experience is shown to correlate well with human perception of quality, and extracts statistical features from disparity and disparity gradient maps. And the measure utilizes these spatial features along with motion compensated disparity differences to predict quality of experience.
Statistics with confidence: Confidence intervals and statistical guidelines .

Statistics with Confidence is a widely acclaimed classic introduction to confidence intervals. The second edition, with contributions from leading medical statisticians, has been thoroughly revised and expanded. New chapters include: * diagnostic studies. * clinical trials and meta analyses. * confidence intervals and sample sizes. The Windows computer software (CIA) in the accompanying disk enables confidence intervals to be calculated using the methods described in the book. This comprehensive collection of methods includes some that are not readily available elsewhere. Featuring methods for using confidence intervals, illustrative worked examples and helpful checklists this is a truly practical guide for clinical readers to a fundamental aspect of medical statistics.
Automatic creation of reasonable interpretations for complex line figures

The automatic creation of a small number of reasonable interpretations for complex and ambiguous line figures is proposed. In order to achieve this, four types of restrictions are introduced: (1) restrictions making the number of interpretations finite; (2) restrictions obtained from common sense; (3) restrictions that are natural for humans and that can decrease the number of interpretations; and (4) restrictions obtained from the results of psychological experiments. In order to check the effectiveness of this method, a psychological experiment was conducted, and the result showed that the proposed method can create a small number of reasonable interpretations. <<ETX>>
Are high-frequency collocations psychologically real? Investigating the thesis of collocational priming

Abstract Words which frequently co-occur in language (‘collocations’) are often thought to be independently stored in speakers' minds. This idea is tested here through experiments investigating the extent to which corpus-identified collocations exhibit mental ‘priming’ in a group of native speakers. Collocational priming is found to exist. However, in an experiment which aimed to exclude higher-order mental processes, and focus instead on the ‘automatic’ processes which are thought to best reflect the organisation of the mental lexicon, priming is restricted to collocations which are also psychological associates. While the former finding suggests that collocations found in a large corpus are likely to have psychological reality, the latter suggests that we may need to elaborate our models of how they are represented.
A simple, biologically motivated neural network solves the transitive inference problem

Configural learning problems can be resolved by both rats and humans if they are not too difficult. The configural learning problem which we explore here is transitive inference. Transitive inference (learn the four pairs A>B, B>C, C>D, D>E, then test with the novel pair B? D) was once viewed as a logical problem. However; it is now acknowledged that when the stimuli are appropriate even three year old humans can solve this problem and, as well, so can pigeons and rats. Thus, even though the problem is a simple exercise in logic, there is reason to suspect that mammals, or for that matter neural networks, will solve such a problem without recourse to any explicit syllogistic reasoning. In fact, by casting the input stimuli in a form appropriate for a sequence learning neural network a hippocampal-like network can solve the transitive inference problem. Furthermore, performance is appropriately disrupted by turning the linear sequence of relationships into a nonlinear (circular) relationship.
Pre-University Students' Attitudes toward Computers: An International Perspective

This study investigates the attitudes of school students toward computers using the Bath County Computer Attitudes Scale and a sample of 644 students in Lebanon. The properties of the scale were explored in relation to a cultural environment that was not investigated before. The reliability and factor analysis of the scale were reported and compared with the findings of other studies that were conducted in other countries using the same scale. In addition, factorial analysis of variance procedure was conducted to investigate the effect of gender and home ownership of computers on students' attitudes. Differences in the means of students' attitudes who used computers differently or received different computer training were compared.
Integration of Web 2.0 Tools in Learning a Programming Course.

Web 2.0 tools are expected to assist students to acquire knowledge effectively in their university environment. However, the lack of effort from lecturers in planning the learning process can make it difficult for the students to optimize their learning experiences. The aim of this paper is to integrate Web 2.0 tools with learning strategy in order to enhance the motivation of the students to use the Web 2.0 tools. The integration of the tools in learning a programing course is based on PQR strategy, which includes three components: Preview, Questions and Reflect. The study sample consisted of 39 undergraduate students for identifying their preference towards the use of Web 2.0 tools which include Blog, Youtube, Google Form and Padlet. The results show that the perception of students towards the use web 2.0 tools was positive. Hence, it was possible to integrate a learning strategy with specific Web 2.0 tools, and, thus, facilitate blended learning.
Web 2.0 in library and information science education: the Greek case

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to find out what the Greek library and information science (LIS) students want from their studies concerning the use of Web 2.0 in education. Based on the results of this study, this paper will seek to identify problems and propose solutions that will tackle students' needs and improve the quality of their studies.Design/methodology/approach – A web‐based questionnaire was distributed to students of the Library Science and Information Systems (LSIS) Department of ATEI of Thessaloniki, Greece. Students had to answer 61 questions, divided into ten sections about Web 2.0 tools. First, they were asked to state the knowledge and personal experience on Web 2.0 tools and then to express their views for the LIS curriculum and the use of Web 2.0. Interviews with four members of staff from the LSIS Department were followed in order to review the research findings and express their views concerning Web 2.0 and LIS education.Findings – This research revealed that most of the stu.
ZnO Nanoparticles: A Mild and Efficient Reusable Catalyst for the One-Pot Synthesis of 4-Amino-5-pyrimidinecarbonitriles Under Aqueous Conditions

An efficient method for the synthesis of 4-amino-5-pyrimidinecarbonitriles by three-component reaction of malononitrile, aldehydes, and N-unsubstituted amidines, under aqueous conditions, using ZnO nanoparticles as catalyst is reported. The catalyst exhibited remarkable activity and is recyclable.
An algorithm to find the minimal initial markings of resource places ensuring liveness of finite-capacity S3PR

Deadlock prevention can be achieved by configuring proper initial markings to obtain a live Petri net model. For a class of Petri nets called finite-capacity Systems of Simple Sequential Processes with Resources (S3PR), an algorithm is proposed to find the minimal initial markings of resource places ensuring its liveness. First, conditions on initial markings of resource places are computed under which the strict minimal siphons (SMS) can never be emptied. Then, the minimal initial markings of resource places are computed to ensure liveness of the net. By the proposed algorithm, a live net can be obtained without changing the structure of the original model. The main practical implication of our work is that it can lower the facility cost. A simple example is used to illustrate the application of the algorithm.
Semantic prosody revisited

This paper considers the contentious term "semantic prosody" and discusses a number of aspects of the concept described by the term. It is pointed out that although many writers use it to refer to the implied attitudinal meaning of a word, Sinclair uses the term to refer to the discourse function of a unit of meaning. Problems of apparent counter-examples, when a word or unit does not have the semantic prosody that is typical of it, are discussed. The second point made is that the phenomena described as "semantic prosody" can be regarded as observational data, but that they are often used to explain subjective reactions to a given text or to predict such reactions. The issues raised by these different uses are discussed. Finally, the pitfalls of using concordance lines to observe attitudinal language in highly opinionated texts are discussed.
Construction of Geometric Analogy Problems by Young Children in a Computer-Based Test

The two purposes of this study were a) to explore how young children structure and solve geometric analogy problems in a computer-based test, and b) to compare this performance to the same item stems in a paper-and-pencil form. Twenty-four kindergarten and twenty-four second-grade children were required to construct solutions to analogy problems that were presented on a microcomputer. Half of the sample was academically gifted. These kindergartners were also tested with a paper-and-pencil version of the test to examine for possible differences between the two testing methods. Second graders were only tested with the computer version. Statistical analysis for the computer-based test focused on how these young children constructed responses to geometric analogy problems, and the error patterns committed by each age group. Analyses showed a strong linear decrease in performance as the item information load increased, but this effect was more pronounced for the kindergartners than for the second graders. Analyses also provided some evidence that changing the items from a paper-and-pencil response selection format to a constructed response format alters which component of the item carries the greatest weight in determining overall item performance. This study also investigated the crossover effects of computer-based testing on paper-and-pencil testing and vice versa in the kindergarten subjects. It was found that there was a positive effect on the post-test computer-based performance when pretested with the paper-form, but a negative effect on paper-form post-test performance when pretested with the computer form.
Repositories in Google Scholar Metrics or what is this document type doing in a place as such

The present paper analyzes GS Metrics, Google's newest product aiming at ranking journals according to their H-Index. Specifically, we analyze GS Metrics' decision of considering journals and repositories as equal and therefore, including them in the product. In this sense, the authors position themselves against this decision and provide several arguments of different nature warning against the shortcomings this product has. The first one is of a conceptual nature and is related to the definition of journal and repository. Secondly, they refer at the methodological issues mixing repositories and journals can bring out. Then, they deepen on many other flaws GS Metrics presents. Finally, GS Metrics and its possible use as an evaluation tool are discussed and possible solutions to its shortcomings are provided.
Epidemiologic modelling of HIV and CD4 cellular/molecular population dynamics

Computational models can facilitate the understanding of complex biomedical systems such as in HIV/AIDS. Untangling the dynamics between HIV and CD4+ cellular populations and molecular interactions can be used to investigate the effective points of interventions in the HIV life cycle. With that in mind, we have developed a state transition systems dynamics and stochastic model that can be used to examine various alternatives for the control and treatment of HIV/AIDS. The specific objectives of our study were to use a cellular/molecular model to study optimal chemotherapies for reducing the HIV viral load and to use the model to study the pattern of mutant viral populations and resistance to drug therapies. The model considers major state variables (uninfected CD4+ lymphocytes, infected CD4+ cells, replicated virions) along with their respective state transition rates (viz. CD4+ replacement rate, infection rate, replication rate, depletion rate). The state transitions are represented by ordinary differential equations. The systems dynamics model was used for a variety of computational experimentations to evaluate HIV mutations, and to evaluate effective strategies in HIV drug therapy interventions.
SYNTACTIC FEATURE TRANSFER AND REFLEXIVE BINDING IN INTERLANGUAGE

© 2012 by the English Linguistic Society of Japan * Portions of this paper were presented at Gifu University, Keio University, and Kobe University. I wish to thank the audience at those meetings. I would like to express my sincere gratitude to Hiroyuki Ura and Kiyomi Kusumoto for their invaluable suggestions and encouraging comments on the materials presented herein. Thanks also go to members of Generative Lyceum, held at Kwansei Gakuin University, for judgments and helpful comments. Particular thanks also go to two anonymous EL reviewers. All remaining inadequacies are my own.
Direct adaptive control for nonlinear uncertain systems with bounded energy L/sub 2/ disturbances

A direct adaptive nonlinear control framework for multivariable nonlinear uncertain systems with exogenous L/sub 2/ disturbances is developed. The proposed framework is Lyapunov-based and guarantees partial asymptotic stability of the closed-loop system, i.e., the asymptotic stability with respect to part of the closed-loop system states associated with the plant as well as a nonexpansivity constraint on the closed-loop input-output map. Finally, an illustrative numerical example is provided to demonstrate the efficacy of the proposed approach.
Steady-state capabilities for hydroturbines with OpenFOAM

The availability of a high quality Open Source CFD simulation platform like OpenFOAM offers new R&D opportunities by providing direct access to models and solver implementation details. Efforts have been made by Hydro-Québec to adapt OpenFOAM to hydroturbines for the development of steady-state capabilities. The paper describes the developments that have been made to implement new turbomachinery related capabilities: Multiple Frame of Reference solver, domain coupling interfaces (GGI, cyclicGGI and mixing plane) and specialized boundary conditions. Practical use of the new turbomachinery capabilities are demonstrated for the analysis of a 195-MW Francis hydroturbine.
New computational control techniques and increased understanding for stereo 3-D displays

Three-dimensional pictorial displays, incorporating depth cues via stereopsis, offer a potential means of displaying information in a natural way to enhance situational awareness and provide increases in operator performance. Conventional computational techniques rely on asymptotic transformations and symmetric clipping to provide the stereo pair. New techniques that replace these conventional computations were developed to increase the control of the stereo-viewing space. Also, the effective region of stereopsis cuing was determined empirically by comparing perceived depth against computed depth. Conventional asymptotic transformations, used to map the visual scene to the stereo viewing volume, allow a single, specific scene distance to be fixed at the screen location. The new piece-wise linear approach allows creative partitioning of the depth viewing volume, with freedom to place the depth cuing emphasis where desired. Asymmetric clipping makes better use of the available display surface than symmetric clipping, and provides increased fields-of-view throughout the depth-viewing volume. The results of the experiment determining the effective region of stereopsis cuing indicate that a practical viewing volume falls between -25%and+60% of the viewer-to-screen distance. Also, the data revealed that increasing viewer-to-CRT distances provide increasing amounts of usable depth.
How the Current Draft of RDA Addresses the Cataloging of Reproductions, Facsimiles, and Microforms

The cataloging of microforms and other reproductions has been difficult throughout the history of cataloging codes, particularly due to the “multiple versions problem. ” The proposed new cataloging code, Resource Description and Access (RDA), seeks to clarify the relationship between reproductions and originals by applying the principles of Functional Requirements for Bibliographic Records ( FRBR ) to cataloging. While the use of FRBR principles does help to identify the relationships between works in the catalog, RDA as currently designed is challenging for the cataloger and includes many data that may prove to be difficult for catalog users to understand.
Radar reflectivity estimation using multiple SAR scenes of the same target: technique and applications

An investigation on techniques to estimate the underlying reflectivity in a time series of SAR images is presented in this paper. The topic has interesting implications for a wide range of radar remote sensing applications where the time evolution of the ecosystem is of importance. Focus will be given here to a thematic application-monitoring of the tropical forest-which is one of the major R/D activities within the European Commission TREES project, and which offered the motivation to develop the approach presented. The theory behind two statistical estimators, which were previously proposed by one of the authors, and that are used in the present study, is briefly summarized. Implementation issues which are specific to the case at hand are then discussed. Finally some results are presented, based on simulated SAR images and an ERS-1 time series acquired over the tropical forest in West Africa. The results highlight the performance of the filters, in terms of speckle suppression and restoration of the image texture. At this stage of the authors' research they can already conclude that the approach has a high potential for radar remote sensing applications; the key point is that it allows for the reconstruction of the underlying radar reflectivity time evolution at the full spatial resolution of the signal but with a dramatic improvement of the signal to noise ratio; the way is thus paved for reaching unprecedented results in the visual or automatic interpretation of SAR imagery.
The role of postgraduate students in co-authoring open educational resources to promote social inclusion: a case study at the University of Cape Town

Like many universities worldwide, the University of Cape Town (UCT) in South Africa has joined the open educational resources (OER) movement, making a selection of teaching and learning materials available through its OER directory, UCT OpenContent. However, persuading and then supporting busy academics to share their teaching materials as OER still remains a challenge. In this article, we report on an empirical study of how UCT postgraduate students have assisted in the process of reworking the academics’ teaching materials as OER. Using the concept of contradictions (Engeström, 2001), we endeavor to surface the various disturbances or conflicts with which the postgraduate students had to engage to make OER socially inclusive, as well as Engeström’s “layers of causality” (2011, p. 609) to explain postgraduate students’ growing sense of agency as they experienced the OER development process as being socially inclusive.
Cubic splines for image interpolation and digital filtering

This paper presents the use of B-splines as a tool in various digital signal processing applications. The theory of B-splines is briefly reviewed, followed by discussions on B-spline interpolation and B-spline filtering. Computer implementation using both an efficient software viewpoint and a hardware method are discussed. Finally, experimental results are presented for illustrative purposes in two-dimensional image format. Applications to image and signal processing include interpolation, smoothing, filtering, enlargement, and reduction.
Hybrid metaheuristics for multi-objective design of water distribution systems

Multi-objective design of Water Distribution Systems (WDSs) has received considerable attention in the past. Multi-objective evolutionary algorithms (MOEAs) are popular in tackling this problem due to their ability to approach the true Pareto-optimal front (PF) in a single run. Recently, several hybrid metaheuristics based on MOEAs have been proposed and validated on test problems. Among these algorithms, AMALGAM and MOHO are two noteworthy representatives which mix their constituent algorithms in contrasting fashion. In this paper, they are employed to solve a wide range of benchmark design problems against another state-of-the-art algorithm, namely NSGA-II. The design task is formulated as a bi-objective optimisation problem taking cost and network resilience into account. The performance of three algorithms is assessed via normalised hypervolume indicator. The results demonstrate that AMALGAM is superior to MOHO and NSGA-II in terms of convergence and diversity on the networks of small-to-medium size; however, for larger networks, the performance of hybrid algorithms deteriorates as they lose their adaptive capabilities. Future improvement and/or redesign on hybrid algorithms should not only adopt the strategies of adaptive portfolios of sub-algorithms and global information sharing, but also prevent the deterioration mainly caused by imbalance of constituent algorithms.