Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Automatic transliteration for Japanese-to-English text retrieval

For cross language information retrieval (CLIR) based on bilingual translation dictionaries, good performance depends upon lexical coverage in the dictionary. This is especially true for languages possessing few inter-language cognates, such as between Japanese and English. In this paper, we describe a method for automatically creating and validating candidate Japanese transliterated terms of English words. A phonetic English dictionary and a set of probabilistic mapping rules are used for automatically generating transliteration candidates. A monolingual Japanese corpus is then used for automatically validating the transliterated terms. We evaluate the usage of the extracted English-Japanese transliteration pairs with Japanese to English retrieval experiments over the CLEF bilingual test collections. The use of our automatically derived extension to a bilingual translation dictionary improves average precision, both before and after pseudo-relevance feedback, with gains ranging from 2.5% to 64.8%.
HEVC-based light field image coding with bi-predicted self-similarity compensation

This paper proposes an efficient light field image coding (LFC) solution based on High Efficiency Video Coding (HEVC). The proposed light field codec makes use of the self-similarity (SS) compensated prediction concept to efficiently explore the inherent correlation of this type of content. To further improve the coding performance, a bi-predicted SS estimation and SS compensation is proposed, where the candidate predictor can be also devised as a linear combination of two blocks within the same search window. In addition, an improved vector prediction scheme is also used to take advantage of the particular characteristics of the SS prediction vectors. Experimental results show that the proposed LFC scheme is able to outperform the benchmark solutions with significant gains.
A New Cost Management & Accounting Approach For Lean Enterprises

The adoption of lean principles and practices has become widespread in many industries since the early 1990’s. Companies are now beginning to realise that traditional costing and accounting methods may conflict with the lean initiatives they are implementing. Consequently, important research questions are being raised. Is a new cost management and accounting approach required for companies that adopt lean principles and practices? If so, what should this approach entail? This paper addresses these questions. The problems associated with continuing to use traditional costing and accounting methods in a lean environment are discussed and existing research in the area of costing, accounting and measurement for lean enterprises is analysed. The paper then outlines the findings of a joint academic-industrial research programme undertaken as part of the UK Lean Aerospace Initiative (UK LAI) and the resulting lean cost management and accounting proposals for the aerospace industry. The paper concludes by highlighting the academic and practical implications of this research. 1 This paper was previously presented at the Irish Academy of Management Meeting Annual Conference, Trinity College, Dublin, 2-3 September 2004. 2 Corresponding author. E-mail: mnsyw@management.bath. ac.uk
Relative influence of biotic and abiotic processes on travertine fabrics, Satono‐yu hot spring, Japan

The relative influences of biotic and abiotic processes on travertine fabrics are still not well understood, despite increasing interest in the last decade to better understand the record of ancient microbial life and sedimentary fabrics in microbial hydrocarbon reservoirs. This study examines travertines at Satono‐yu hot spring in Japan (the temperature of water flowing over the travertine was ca 35°C), to better understand the interaction between depositional, hydrochemical and microbial parameters at different flow settings. Characteristics of the bulk hydrochemistry, mineralogy (exclusively aragonite) and the driving force for precipitation (primarily abiotic CO2 degassing with some photosynthetic microbial contribution) were similar among all of the flow settings. Conversely, the increase in flow velocity suppressed the influence of photosynthesis and enhanced the abiotic precipitation due to the thinner diffusive boundary layer at the travertine surface–water interface. Additionally, the increase in flow velocity changed the microbial composition and decreased the bacterial diversity by reflecting their adhesion efficiency on the travertine substrate. The acidity of the cyanobacterial sheaths controls the aragonite nucleation rate and the resulting calcification, even at significantly high equilibrium CO2 partial pressure (ca 22 to 28 matm), high dissolved inorganic carbon concentration (ca 35 to 38 mmol l−1), and elevated aragonite saturation state (ca 20‐fold to 34‐fold). Therefore, the increase in flow velocity suppresses the microbial influence with respect to the increase in the saturation state, the nucleation site supply and pore space generation. Overall, this results in the predominance of abiotic precipitation under high flow velocities. Consequently, a sparse‐micritic fabric with abundant interlamina porosity forms under lower flow velocity where the microbial influence is effective, while a dense‐sparitic fabric with little inter‐crystalline porosity forms under higher flow velocity where abiotic precipitation prevails. These findings provide an essential base for assessing the formation processes of ancient travertines and comparable deposits from petrological fabrics.
Trocas de energia e fluxo de carbono entre a vegetação de caatinga e atmosfera no Nordeste brasileiro.

Neste estudo foram avaliadas as variacoes sazonais dos fluxos de dioxido de carbono, de vapor de agua e de energia em area de caatinga nativa, no nordeste do Brasil. A taxa de evapotranspiracao (LE) do sistema e muito baixa tanto na estacao seca quanto na estacao chuvosa devido a baixa disponibilidade de agua na regiao, com valores proximos de zero no final da estacao seca. Durante a estacao seca, cerca de 60 % da energia disponivel (Rn) foi utilizada para aquecer o ar (H) e LE correspondeu a 10% de Rn, em media. Durante a estacao chuvosa essas taxas foram, respectivamente, 46 e 17%. Quanto ao fluxo de CO2, o ecossistema atua como sumidouro de CcO2 no inicio da estacao seca, quando o solo ainda contem umidade decorrente da estacao chuvosa anterior, bem como na estacao chuvosa. Ja no final da estacao seca, quando os estomatos se fecham e ha uma reducao significativa no folhedo em funcao do deficit hidrico, a taxa de fotossintese torna-se nula e o sistema passa a atuar como fonte de CcO2.
2-[3-(2-Acetoxyphenyl)quinoxalin-2-yl]phenyl acetate

The title compound, C24H18N2O4, crystallizes as a syn-conformer, with dihedral angles between the quinoxaline moiety and the acetoxy-substituted benzene rings of 53.46 (3)° and 54.78 (3)°. In the crystal, the molecules form chains along [100] via C—H⋯O interactions.
Statin use and incident frailty in women aged 65 years or older: prospective findings from the Women's Health Initiative Observational Study.

BACKGROUND Inflammatory biomarkers have shown consistent associations with disability and frailty in older adults. Statin medications may reduce the incidence the frailty because of their anti-inflammatory effects. This study examines associations between current use, duration, and potency of statin medications and incident frailty in initially nonfrail women 65 years old or older. METHODS The authors conducted a prospective analysis of data from the Women's Health Initiative Observational Study (WHI-OS) conducted at 40 clinical centers in the United States. Eligible women were nonfrail and 65-79 years old at baseline (n = 25,378). Current statin use at baseline was ascertained through direct inspection of medicine containers during clinic visits. Frailty was ascertained through self-reported indicators and physical measurements at baseline and 3-year clinic contacts. Components of frailty included self-reported low physical function, exhaustion, low physical activity, and unintended weight loss. Multinomial logistic regression models were used to adjust for covariates predicting incident frailty. RESULTS Among the 25,378 eligible women, 3453 (13.6%) developed frailty by the 3-year follow-up contact. Current statin use had no association with incident frailty (multivariate-adjusted odds ratio [OR] = 1.00; 95% confidence interval [CI], 0.85-1.16). Duration and potency of statin use were also not significantly associated with incident frailty. Among low potency statin users, longer duration of use was associated with reduced risk of frailty (p for trend =.02). A similar pattern of results was observed when frailty was studied in the absence of intervening, incident cardiovascular events. CONCLUSIONS Overall, incidence of frailty was similar in current statin users and nonusers.
Nicaraven Attenuates Radiation-Induced Injury in Hematopoietic Stem/Progenitor Cells in Mice

Nicaraven, a chemically synthesized hydroxyl radical-specific scavenger, has been demonstrated to protect against ischemia-reperfusion injury in various organs. We investigated whether nicaraven can attenuate radiation-induced injury in hematopoietic stem/progenitor cells, which is the conmen complication of radiotherapy and one of the major causes of death in sub-acute phase after accidental exposure to high dose radiation. C57BL/6 mice were exposed to 1 Gy γ-ray radiation daily for 5 days in succession (a total of 5 Gy), and given nicaraven or a placebo after each exposure. The mice were sacrificed 2 days after the last radiation treatment, and the protective effects and relevant mechanisms of nicaraven in hematopoietic stem/progenitor cells with radiation-induced damage were investigated by ex vivo examination. We found that post-radiation administration of nicaraven significantly increased the number, improved the colony-forming capacity, and decreased the DNA damage of hematopoietic stem/progenitor cells. The urinary levels of 8-oxo-2′-deoxyguanosine, a marker of DNA oxidation, were significantly lower in mice that were given nicaraven compared with those that received a placebo treatment, although the levels of intracellular and mitochondrial reactive oxygen species in the bone marrow cells did not differ significantly between the two groups. Interestingly, compared with the placebo treatment, the administration of nicaraven significantly decreased the levels of the inflammatory cytokines IL-6 and TNF-α in the plasma of mice. Our data suggest that nicaraven effectively diminished the effects of radiation-induced injury in hematopoietic stem/progenitor cells, which is likely associated with the anti-oxidative and anti-inflammatory properties of this compound.
Relationships among Various Definitions of Horizontal Spectral Accelerations in Central and Eastern North America

A single ground-motion intensity measure, typically spectral acceleration (SA), is required as the main input in deriving empirical ground-motion prediction equations (GMPEs). Traditionally, a single horizontal orientation has been used in calculating SA for all periods. The spectrum changes with orientation, and using a single orientation to represent 2D ground motions leads to loss of useful information regarding the variation of SA with orientation. Different techniques have been proposed in the literature to combine the two horizontal components of ground motions into a scalar horizontal definition. The ratios between different definitions of the horizontal component of ground motions have been studied because of the urgent need to use multiple GMPEs combined in a logic-tree framework in the preliminary stages of performing probabilistic seismic hazard analysis, or at further stages in which the uniform hazard response spectrum is required to be converted to another spectrum for a different horizontal definition. Although the most recent studies produced similar results using different subsets of the Next Generation Attenuation-West2 Project (NGAWest2) database, it is possible that such directionality results may differ for other earthquake datasets and is region specific. The purpose of this study is to derive ratios between median values and the associated standard deviations for different definitions of the horizontal component of ground motions in central and eastern North America using a subset of the NGA-East database. The computed median ratios are similar to the ratios provided in recent studies for other regions with a shift in some period ranges with noticeable differences between the standard deviations. The results of this study fulfill the engineering requirements of considering the maximum direction elastic response spectrum for design of structures.
A simple linear algorithm for computing rectangle 3-centers

Rectangular p-centers of a (cid:12)nite planar point set P are the centers of at most p axis-parallel congruent squares of minimal size covering P. We give a simple linear time algorithm based on linear selection for the case p = 3. A linear algorithm for this problem is already known [7]. But it makes use of an LP -type [6] formulation of the problem with high combinatorial dimension (roughly 40) which makes it unlikely to perform well in an actual implementation. The motivation for our algorithm is such an implementation.
Analysis of beamformer directed single-channel noise reduction system for hearing aid applications

We study multi-microphone noise reduction systems consisting of a beamformer and a single-channel (SC) noise reduction stage. In particular, we present and analyse a maximum likelihood (ML) method for jointly estimating the target and noise power spectral densities (psd's) entering the SC filter. We show that the estimators are minimum variance and unbiased, and provide closed-form expressions for their mean-square error (MSE). Furthermore, we show that the MSE of the noise psd estimator is particularly simple: it is independent of target signal characteristics, frequency, and microphone locations. In a hearing aid context, we analyze the performance of the estimators as a function of target angle-of-arrival and frequency. Finally, we demonstrate the advantage of the proposed method in a hearing aid situation with a target speaker in large-crowd noise.
Single-fed dual band circularly polarised microstrip patch antennas

Over the past years several attempts have been made to widen the bandwidth of single-fed circularly polarised patch antennas. This paper presents a novel structure to accomplish circularly polarised dual frequency operation by using two spur-line band-stop filters. This circularly polarised dual frequency operation can be obtained without increasing either the size or the thickness of the patch. Furthermore, through several experiments this paper also demonstrates that the location of the feed point establishes and controls a trade-off between axial ratio and impedance bandwidth.
Absolute earthquake locations using 3-D versus 1-D velocity models below a local seismic network: example from the Pyrenees

This study was initiated during an ATER (attach´e temporaire d’enseignement et de recherche) position funded by the University Paul Sabatier III (Toulouse, France) at the Institut de Recherche en Astrophysique et Plan´etologie (IRAP, UMR5277) part of the Observatoire Midi-Pyr´en´ees (OMP). This work was funded by EDF (Electricit´e de France) under the SIGMA (Seismic Ground Motion Assessment) project. This work was included in the work package 1 (WP1), The seismic source in hazard models. We acknowledge Kevin Manchuel, leader of WP1. We also acknowledge people involved in the TOPO-IBERIA and PYROPE projects for providing us with the high quality data from these temporary seismic deployments.We want also to acknowledge the institutions responsible for the maintenance of the different permanent seismic networks contributing data to this study: Instituto Geogr´afico Nacional of Spain (IGN), Catalonian Geological Institute (IGC), Commissariat `a l’Energie Atomique (CEA), French Broad-band network (RLBP) and RAP French strong motion network provided by RESIF - R´eseau Sismologique et g´eod´esique Franc¸ais.Seismic Network.doi:10.15778/RESIF.FR. RESIF is a national Research Infrastructure, recognised as such by the French Ministry of Higher Education and Research. RESIF is managed by the RESIF Consortium, composed of 18 Research Institutions and Universities in France. RESIF additionally supported by a public grant overseen by the French National Research Agency (ANR) as part of the ‘Investissements d’Avenir’ program (reference: ANR-11-EQPX- 0040) and the French Ministry of Ecology, Sustainable Development and Energy. We acknowledge Thomas Bardainne (CGG - Microseismic) and Mario Ruiz Fernandez (Institute of Earth Sciences Jaume Almera of the Spanish Scientific Research Council (ICTJA-CSIC)) for providing us access to traveltime picks and velocity models from temporary seismic experiments. We acknowledge Robert Sarda (IMERYS) for giving information about blasts at the Luzenac quarry. Thanks to Leo Zijerveld for his suggestions and help with the English. Authors thank Prof Egill Hauksson, editor and two anonymous reviewers for their constructive reviews and careful handling of the manuscript.
Learning Probabilistic Behavior Models in Real-Time Strategy Games

We study the problem of learning probabilistic models of high-level strategic behavior in the real-time strategy (RTS) game StarCraft. The models are automatically learned from sets of game logs and aim to capture the common strategic states and decision points that arise in those games. Unlike most work on behavior/strategy learning and prediction in RTS games, our data-centric approach is not biased by or limited to any set of preconceived strategic concepts. Further, since our behavior model is based on the well-developed and generic paradigm of hidden Markov models, it supports a variety of uses for the design of AI players and human assistants. For example, the learned models can be used to make probabilistic predictions of a player's future actions based on observations, to simulate possible future trajectories of a player, or to identify uncharacteristic or novel strategies in a game database. In addition, the learned qualitative structure of the model can be analyzed by humans in order to categorize common strategic elements. We demonstrate our approach by learning models from 331 expert-level games and provide both a qualitative and quantitative assessment of the learned model's utility.
Scalable and Accurate Graph Clustering and Community Structure Detection

One of the most useful measures of cluster quality is the modularity of the partition, which measures the difference between the number of the edges joining vertices from the same cluster and the expected number of such edges in a random graph. In this paper, we show that the problem of finding a partition maximizing the modularity of a given graph G can be reduced to a minimum weighted cut (MWC) problem on a complete graph with the same vertices as G. We then show that the resulting minimum cut problem can be efficiently solved by adapting existing graph partitioning techniques. Our algorithm finds clusterings of a comparable quality and is much faster than the existing clustering algorithms.
A Formal Framework of Aggregation for the OLAP-OLTP Model

OLAP applications are widely used in business applications. They are often (implicitly) defined on top of OLTP systems and extensively use aggregation and transformation functions. The main OLAP data structure is a multidimensional table with three kinds of attributes: so-called dimension attributes, implicit attributes given by aggregation functions and fact attributes. Domains of dimension attributes are structured and thus support a variety of aggregations. These aggregations are used to generate new values for the fact attributes. In this paper we systematically develop a theory for OLAP applications. We first define aggregation functions and use these to introduce an OLAP algebra. Based on these foundations we derive properties that guarantee or contradict correctness of OLAP computations. Finally, for pragmatical treatment of OLAP applications the OLTP-OLAP specification frame is introduced.
A bifibrational reconstruction of Lawvere’s presheaf hyperdoctrine

Combining insights from the study of type refinement systems and of monoidal closed chiralities, we show how to reconstruct Lawvere’s hyperdoctrine of presheaves using a full and faithful embedding into a monoidal closed bifibration living now over the compact closed category of small categories and distributors. Besides revealing dualities which are not immediately apparent in the traditional presentation of the presheaf hyperdoctrine, this reconstruction leads us to an axiomatic treatment of directed equality predicates (modelled by hom presheaves), realizing a vision initially set out by Lawvere (1970). It also leads to a simple calculus of string diagrams (representing presheaves) that is highly reminiscent of C. S. Peirce’s existential graphs for predicate logic, refining an earlier interpretation of existential graphs in terms of Boolean hyperdoctrines by Brady and Trimble. Finally, we illustrate how this work extends to a bifibrational setting a number of fundamental ideas of linear logic.
Protein folding coupled to DNA binding in the catalytic domain of bacteriophage λ integrase detected by mass spectrometry

Bacteriophage λ integrase (λ‐Int) is the prototypical member of a large family of enzymes that catalyze site‐specific DNA recombination via single‐strand cleavage and the formation of a Holliday junction intermediate. Crystallographic and biochemical evidence indicate that substantial conformational change (i.e., folding) in the catalytic domain of the protein is required for substrate recognition and catalysis. We have examined the solution conformation of the catalytic domain (C170) in the absence and presence of a cognate “half‐site” DNA oligonucleotide by electrospray ionization mass spectrometry, and circular dichroism and fluorescence spectroscopy. The distribution of ions in the positive ion electrospray mass spectrum of the free protein reveals the presence of three distinct species in solution, one corresponding to the folded protein, one to the unfolded protein, and one to a dimer. In the presence of DNA, ions are observed only for the protein–DNA complex and the folded form of the free protein. We therefore conclude that DNA binding stabilizes the global fold of the protein in a manner that is consistent with folding‐coupled target recognition as a mechanism to control site‐specific recombination. Furthermore, we find that inspection of the charge state distribution of ions in electrospray mass spectra provides a quick and effective means to identify conformational heterogeneity of proteins in solution and to investigate dynamic protein–nucleic acid interactions.