Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
TransDoop: A Map-Reduce based Crowdsourced Translation for Complex Domain

Large amount of parallel corpora is required for building Statistical Machine Translation (SMT) systems. We describe the TransDoop system for gathering translations to create parallel corpora from online crowd workforce who have familiarity with multiple languages but are not expert translators. Our system uses a Map-Reduce-like approach to translation crowdsourcing where sentence translation is decomposed into the following smaller tasks: (a) translation of constituent phrases of the sentence; (b) validation of quality of the phrase translations; and (c) composition of complete sentence translations from phrase translations. TransDoop incorporates quality control mechanisms and easy-to-use worker user interfaces designed to address issues with translation crowdsourcing. We have evaluated the crowd’s output using the METEOR metric. For a complex domain like judicial proceedings, the higher scores obtained by the map-reduce based approach compared to complete sentence translation establishes the efficacy of our work.
Simulating population dependent PCS network models using Time Warp

The demand for mobile communications has led to intensive research and development efforts for complex PCS (personal communication service) networks. Capacity planning and performance modeling is necessary to maintain a high quality of service to the mobile subscriber while minimizing cost to the PCS provider. A question of pragmatic interest concerns the modeling of subscriber or portable movement in a PCS network. Typically, portable movement models are based on a probabilistic distribution function with fixed mean. These models may be an over simplification of real portable movement patterns. For example, portable movements during rush hour traffic may be slowed due to traffic jams. However, when the volume of vehicular traffic is less, portables are allowed to move more freely and with greater speed. To capture this type of portable movement behavior, we develop a population dependent PCS model where portable movement is based on the number of portables currently residing in that service area or cell. Because of the large amount of computation required to simulate PCS networks, we implement this model on a distributed Time Warp simulator, which has been shown to reduce the execution time of a single run from 20 hours down to 3.5 hours. Using this simulation model, we study the effect of different call workloads and population dependent portable movement patterns on PCS blocking statistics and present our preliminary results.
Useful, But Usable? Factors Affecting the Usability of APIs

Software development today has been largely dependent on the use of API libraries, frameworks, and reusable components. However, the API usability issues often increase the development cost (e.g., time, effort) and lower code quality. In this regard, we study 1,513 bug-posts across five different bug repositories, using both qualitative and quantitative analysis. We identify the API usability issues that are reflected in the bug-posts from the API users, and distinguish relative significance of the usability factors. Moreover, from the lessons learned by manual investigation of the bug-posts, we provide further insight into the most frequent API usability issues.
Projection based feedback compression for FDD massive MIMO systems

In frequency division duplex (FDD) multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) systems, channel state information (CSI) is conveyed to the transmitters through feedback link. Since the amount of feedback needs to grow linearly with the number of transmit antennas, feedback overhead becomes overwhelming in massive MIMO regime and it has been of great interest to reduce the feedback overhead. In this paper, a feedback protocol using adaptive compression for FDD massive MIMO systems is proposed. Under the assumption of spatially and temporally correlated massive MIMO channel, the proposed scheme compresses CSI by projecting a vector in M (the number of transmit antennas) dimensional space into a lower dimensional subspace. To find an appropriate subspace, long-term statistics of the channel (spatial and temporal correlation), which can be obtained relatively easily, are exploited. Simulation results show that the proposed scheme can reduce the amount of feedback significantly yielding a marginal performance loss.
Extended Nonlocal Games

The notions of entanglement and nonlocality are among the most striking ingredients found in quantum information theory. One tool to better understand these notions is the model of nonlocal games; a mathematical framework that abstractly models a physical system. The simplest instance of a nonlocal game involves two players, Alice and Bob, who are not allowed to communicate with each other once the game has started and who play cooperatively against an adversary referred to as the referee. The focus of this thesis is a class of games called extended nonlocal games, of which nonlocal games are a subset. In an extended nonlocal game, the players initially share a tripartite state with the referee. In such games, the winning conditions for Alice and Bob may depend on outcomes of measurements made by the referee, on its part of the shared quantum state, in addition to Alice and Bob's answers to the questions sent by the referee. We build up the framework for extended nonlocal games and study their properties and how they relate to nonlocal games.
Mutations in Polymerase Genes Enhanced the Virulence of 2009 Pandemic H1N1 Influenza Virus in Mice

Influenza A virus can infect a wide variety of animal species with illness ranging from mild to severe, and is a continual cause for concern. Genetic mutations that occur either naturally or during viral adaptation in a poorly susceptible host are key mechanisms underlying the evolution and virulence of influenza A virus. Here, the variants containing PA-A36T or PB2-H357N observed in the mouse-adapted descendants of 2009 pandemic H1N1 virus (pH1N1), A/Sichuan/1/2009 (SC), were characterized. Both mutations enhanced polymerase activity in mammalian cells. These effects were confirmed using recombinant SC virus containing polymerase genes with wild type (WT) or mutant PA or PB2. The PA-A36T mutant showed enhanced growth property compared to the WT in both human A549 cells and porcine PK15 cells in vitro, without significant effect on viral propagation in murine LA-4 cells and pathogenicity in mice; however, it did enhance the lung virus titer. PB2-H357N variant demonstrated growth ability comparable to the WT in A549 cells, but replicated well in PK15, LA-4 cells and in mice with an enhanced pathogenic phenotype. Despite such mutations are rare in nature, they could be observed in avian H5 and H7 subtype viruses which were currently recognized to pose potential threat to human. Our findings indicated that pH1N1 may adapt well in mammals when acquiring these mutations. Therefore, future molecular epidemiological surveillance should include scrutiny of both markers because of their potential impact on pathogenesis.
Privacy Preserving Data Mining

Recent interest in data collection and monitoring using data mining for security and business-related applications has raised privacy. Privacy Preserving Data Mining (PPDM) techniques require data modification to disinfect them from sensitive information or to anonymize them at an uncertainty level. This study uses PPDM with adult dataset to investigate effects of K-anonymization for evaluation metrics. This study uses Artificial Bee Colony (ABC) algorithm for feature generalization and suppression where features are removed without affecting classification accuracy. Also k-anonymity is accomplished by original dataset generalization.
The Strength of Synergistic Interaction between Posaconazole and Caspofungin Depends on the Underlying Azole Resistance Mechanism of Aspergillus fumigatus

ABSTRACT The majority of azole resistance mechanisms in Aspergillus fumigatus correspond to mutations in the cyp51A gene. As azoles are less effective against infections caused by multiply azole-resistant A. fumigatus isolates, new therapeutic options are warranted for treating these infections. We therefore investigated the in vitro combination of posaconazole (POSA) and caspofungin (CAS) against 20 wild-type and resistant A. fumigatus isolates with 10 different resistance mechanisms. Fungal growth was assessed with the XTT [2,3-bis (2-methoxy-4-nitro-5-sulfophenyl)-2H-tetrazolium-5-carboxanilide inner salt] method. Pharmacodynamic interactions were assessed with the fractional inhibitory concentration (FIC) index (FICi) on the basis of 10% (FICi-0), 25% (FICi-1), or 53 0% (FICi-2) growth, and FICs were correlated with POSA and CAS concentrations. Synergy and antagonism were concluded when the FICi values were statistically significantly (t test, P < 0.05) lower than 1 and higher than 1.25, respectively. Significant synergy was found for all isolates with mean FICi-0 values ranging from 0.28 to 0.75 (median, 0.46). Stronger synergistic interactions were found with FICi-1 (median, 0.18; range, 0.07 to 0.47) and FICi-2 (0.31; 0.07 to 0.6). The FICi-2 values of isolates with tandem-repeat-containing mutations or codon M220 were lower than those seen with the other isolates (P < 0.01). FIC-2 values were inversely correlated with POSA MICs (rs = −0.52, P = 0.0006) and linearly with the ratio of drug concentrations in combination over the MIC of POSA (rs = 0.76, P < 0.0001) and CAS (rs = 0.52, P = 0.0004). The synergistic effect of the combination of POSA and CAS (POSA/CAS) against A. fumigatus isolates depended on the underlying azole resistance mechanism. Moreover, the drug combination synergy was found to be increased against isolates with elevated POSA MICs compared to wild-type isolates.
A port-arbitrated mechanism for behavior selection in humanoid robotics

Software engineering and best practices promote modularity and composability to reduce debugging and development time of software applications in robotics. This approach, however, increases the complexity of the system and the effort needed to properly coordinate interactions between modules. On the other hand programming robots to cope with an unstructured environment requires the implementation of highly reactive systems. Behavior-based architectures have been proposed as a programming paradigm to build complex, yet, reactive systems by integrating simpler modules. They require however that modules establish special connections dedicated to carry coordination signals. In a distributed architecture these signals must be properly synchronized with the ones that carry data. This article proposes a novel method for developing reactive systems by coordinating concurrent, distributed behaviors. In our approach arbitration exploits the connections that deliver data messages between modules and, for this reason, i) it intrinsically reduces the number of links required for coordination and ii) it can be built without changing existing modules. The proposed architecture is discussed in detail and tested on a real scenario on the iCub humanoid robot.
Weed infestation and factors affecting weed incidence in spring cereals in Finland - a multivariate approach

Weed vegetation of spring cereal fields in southern and central Finland was analyzed by ordination methods to provide a community level description of weed populations. Attention was paid particularly to the relative importance of environmental factors affecting weed incidence such as crop management, soil properties and weather conditions. A data set of 33 weed taxa from 252 fields was subjected to both indirect and direct gradient analysis. Indirect ordination was obtained with correspondence analysis (CA), and direct gradient analyses were performed with redundancy analysis (RDA) and withcanonical correspondence analysis (CCA) relating environmental factors to the occurrence of weeds. Among several management factors, continuous herbicide use explained best the variation in the species composition of weed flora. Weed vegetation was also associated with soil type, moisture conditions and soil pHh 2oOrdination diagrams visualized the species-environment interactions and detected characteristic weed species for different geographical regions. In addition to ordination analyses of weed flora, the level and structure of weed infestation are described. The density of weeds averaged 170 plants m 2(median=l24) and the air-dry weight of weeds 320 kg ha I (median=lB3). The average weed density was the same in different soil types, but the weed biomass was lower in clay soils than in coarse mineral and organic soils.
Aspect Ratio Analysis for Ground States of Bosons in Anisotropic Traps

Characteristics of the initial condensate in the recent experiment on Bose-Einstein condensation (BEC) of87Rb atoms in an anisotropic magnetic trap is discussed. Given the aspect ratioR, the quality of BEC is estimated. A simple analytical Ansatz for the initial condensate wave function is proposed as a function of the aspect ratio which, in contrast to the Baym-Pethick trial wave function, can be used for any interaction strength, reproduces both the weak and the strong interaction limits, and which is in better agreement with numerical results than the latter.
Priority depth fusion for the 2D to 3D conversion system

For the sake of providing 3D contents for up-coming 3D display devices, a real-time automatic depth fusion 2D-to-3D conversion system is needed on the home multimedia platform. We proposed a priority depth fusion algorithm with a 2D-to-3D conversion system which generates the depth map from most of the commercial video sequences. The results from different kinds of depth reconstruction methods are integrated into one depth map by the proposed priority depth fusion algorithm. Then the depth map and the original 2D image are converted to stereo images for showing on the 3D display devices. In this paper, a 2D-to-3D conversion algorithm set is combined with the proposed depth fusion algorithm to show the improved results. With the converted 3D contents, the needs for 3D display devices will also increase. As long as the two technologies evolve, the 3D-TV era will come as soon as possible.
The Emergence and Early Evolution of Biological Carbon-Fixation

The fixation of into living matter sustains all life on Earth, and embeds the biosphere within geochemistry. The six known chemical pathways used by extant organisms for this function are recognized to have overlaps, but their evolution is incompletely understood. Here we reconstruct the complete early evolutionary history of biological carbon-fixation, relating all modern pathways to a single ancestral form. We find that innovations in carbon-fixation were the foundation for most major early divergences in the tree of life. These findings are based on a novel method that fully integrates metabolic and phylogenetic constraints. Comparing gene-profiles across the metabolic cores of deep-branching organisms and requiring that they are capable of synthesizing all their biomass components leads to the surprising conclusion that the most common form for deep-branching autotrophic carbon-fixation combines two disconnected sub-networks, each supplying carbon to distinct biomass components. One of these is a linear folate-based pathway of reduction previously only recognized as a fixation route in the complete Wood-Ljungdahl pathway, but which more generally may exclude the final step of synthesizing acetyl-CoA. Using metabolic constraints we then reconstruct a “phylometabolic” tree with a high degree of parsimony that traces the evolution of complete carbon-fixation pathways, and has a clear structure down to the root. This tree requires few instances of lateral gene transfer or convergence, and instead suggests a simple evolutionary dynamic in which all divergences have primary environmental causes. Energy optimization and oxygen toxicity are the two strongest forces of selection. The root of this tree combines the reductive citric acid cycle and the Wood-Ljungdahl pathway into a single connected network. This linked network lacks the selective optimization of modern fixation pathways but its redundancy leads to a more robust topology, making it more plausible than any modern pathway as a primitive universal ancestral form.
Biased Screening and Discrimination in the Labor Market

The traditional economic analysis of discrimination is based on Gary Becker's study of taste discrimination by employers, employees, and consumers. More recent work by Kenneth Arrow (1972, 1973) has attempted to interpret intergroup wage differences in an alternative framework as a rational reaction to uncertainty in labor markets. His model of "statistical discrimination" demonstrates that when the screening process used to determine a worker's qualifications is costly, and prior expectations of productivity differ across race or sex groups, then wage differentials may arise between workers of identical productivity. By implicitly assuming a perfect screening process, Arrow ignores a potentially important source of wage differentials, namely the fact that the screening process might be a more reliable predictor of productivity for one group than for another. ' Our paper generalizes the Arrow model in two ways. First, in contrast to Arrow, we assume that all groups have identical distributions of productivity. Secondly, the screening process used by the firm to determine an applicant's productivity is "biased" in the sense that: a) members of various groups may "pass" the test in different proportions despite their identical productivity distributions; and b) the predictive power of the test might vary across groups. Our objective is to analyze the effects of these types of biases in the screening process on the wage differentials between different population groups.
Development and validation of an instrument to assess knowledge and skills of evidence-based nursing.

AIMS AND OBJECTIVES To develop an objective instrument to measure nurses' entry-level knowledge of and skills in evidence-based practice, and to evaluate the validity and reliability of the instrument. BACKGROUND To promote evidence-based practice in nursing, nurses should initially receive education about evidence-based practice knowledge and learn the skills, and this should be followed by measurement with an instrument that was developed to evaluate the extent to which they are prepared to use evidence-based practice knowledge and skills. Although some self-report instruments have been developed to measure evidence-based practice in nursing, an objective instrument to evaluate nurses' evidence-based practice knowledge and skills is not available at present. DESIGN A methodological study. METHODS This study was conducted in two stages: the instrument development and its psychometric evaluation, including its validity and reliability. An instrument, 'Knowledge and Skills of Evidence-based Nursing,' was developed. Content validity was assessed by five experts in evidence-based nursing, and the construct validity was evaluated by the known-groups method. Reliability was examined with internal consistency reliability and inter-rater reliability. RESULTS A content validity index >0·80 was achieved. For construct validity, there were statistically significant differences between the evidence-based practice and nonevidence-based practice groups in total scores and in the scores on each subscale of the Knowledge and Skills of Evidence-based Nursing. Cronbach's alpha was 0·96, and the inter-rater reliability was excellent. CONCLUSIONS The Knowledge and Skills of Evidence-based Nursing is a valid and reliable instrument for objectively assessing nurses' evidence-based practice knowledge and skills; it is quick to complete and to score the answers. RELEVANCE TO CLINICAL PRACTICE Because the Knowledge and Skills of Evidence-based Nursing objectively assesses nurses' evidence-based practice knowledge and skills, it can be used to examine the effects of evidence-based practice education. Moreover, the Knowledge and Skills of Evidence-based Nursing may contribute to the promotion of evidence-based practice projects in clinical settings because it can measure the extent to which nurses are prepared to use their evidence-based practice knowledge and skills.
Image improvement using image processing for scanning acoustic tomograph images

This paper describes an image restoration technique that improves the sharpness of an inspection image for LSI packages using a scanning acoustic tomograph(SAT). This technique performs optimal restoration, depending on the type of probe used for imaging, by estimating the intensity distribution of the ultrasonic beam at the interface of testing and by eliminating the influence. The result of an experiment shows that the contrast of SAT images is improved 1.6 times.
Regional vulnerability of hippocampal subfields to aging measured by structural and diffusion MRI

In the past few years, there has been an increasing awareness of the regional vulnerability of the hippocampus to age‐related processes. However, to date, no studies have assessed the effects of age on different structural magnetic resonance parameters in the specific hippocampal subfields. In this study, we measured volume, mean diffusivity (MD) and fractional anisotropy (FA) in the presubiculum, subiculum, fimbria, cornu ammonis (CA) 1,2‐3,4‐DG and the whole hippocampus in fifty cognitively intact elder adults between 50 and 75 years of age (20 men, 30 women). Segmentation of hippocampal subfields was performed using FreeSurfer. Individual MD and FA images were coregistered to T1‐weighted volumes using FLIRT of FSL. Linear regression analyses were performed to assess the effects of age on the anatomical measures of each subfield. In addition, multiple regression analyses were also carried out to assess which of the anatomical measures that showed a correlation with age in the previous analyses, were the best age predictors in the hippocampus. In agreement with previous studies, our results showed a significant association between age and volume (P < 0.001) as well as MD (P < 0.001) in the whole hippocampus. Regarding the specific hippocampal subfields, we found that age had a significant negative effect on volume in CA2‐3 (P < 0.001) and CA4‐DG (P < 0.001). Importantly, we found a positive effect of age on MD in CA2‐3 (P < 0.001) and fimbria (P < 0.001) as well as a negative age effect on FA in the subiculum (P < 0.001). Multiple regression analyses revealed that the best overall predictors of age in the hippocampus were MD in the fimbria and volume of CA2‐3, which explained 73.8% of the age variance. These results indicate that age has an effect both on volume and diffusion tensor imaging measures in different subfields, suggesting they provide complementary information on age‐related processes in the hippocampus. © 2013 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.