Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Natural Language Processing for Computer-Mediated Communication / Social Media : a Challenging Task

This paper presents the DiDi Corpus, a corpus of South Tyrolean Data of Computermediated Communication (CMC). The corpus comprises around 650,000 tokens from Facebook wall posts, comments on wall posts and private messages, as well as socio-demographic data of participants. All data was automatically annotated with language information (de, it, en and others), and manually normalised and anonymised. Furthermore, semi-automatic token level annotations include part-of-speech and CMC phenomena (e.g. emoticons, emojis, and iteration of graphemes and punctuation). The anonymised corpus without the private messages is freely available for researchers; the complete and anonymised corpus is available after signing a nondisclosure agreement.
Gaze-Motivated Compression of Illumination and View Dependent Textures

Illumination and view dependent texture provide ample information on the appearance of real materials at the cost of enormous data storage requirements. Hence, past research focused mainly on compression and modelling of these data, however, few papers have explicitly addressed the way in which humans perceive these compressed data. We analyzed human gaze information to determine appropriate texture statistics. These statistics were then exploited in a pilot illumination and view direction dependent data compression algorithm. Our results showed that taking into account local texture variance can increase compression of current methods more than twofold, while preserving original realistic appearance and allowing fast data reconstruction.
Inference for Alternating Time Series

Suppose we observe a time series that alternates between different autoregressive processes. We give conditions under which it has a stationary version, derive a characterization of efficient estimators for differentiable functionals of the model, and use it to construct efficient estimators for the autoregression parameters and the innovation distributions. We also study the cases of equal autoregression parameters and of equal innovation densities.
Physiological Responses to a Tap Dance Choreography: Comparisons with Graded Exercise Test and Prescription Recommendations

Lemes, S, Simões, HG, Moreira, SR, Lima, RM, Almeida, JA, Ribeiro, F, Puga, GM, and Campbell, CSG. Physiological responses to a tap dance choreography: comparisons with graded exercise test and prescription recommendations. J Strength Cond Res 24(7): 1954-1959, 2010-The aim of this study was to analyze the physiological responses to a tap dance choreography and to compare with those observed during a maximal treadmill exercise test, in tap dancers. Eight women (19.6 ± 2.4 years; 162.3 ± 4.4 cm; 54.0 ± 2.3 kg; 20.5 ± 1.4 kg·m2(−1); and 5.1 ± 2.6 years of tap dance training) were submitted to the following procedures: (a) graded exercise test (GXT) on a treadmill until volitional exhaustion with 0.8 km·h−1 of increment at each 3 and 1 minute of interval between stages and (b) tap dance choreography (TAP)-“The Shim Sham Shimmy”-consisting of 9 stages of 3 minutes with 1-minute rest between stages. Expired gas analyses were performed in all experimental sessions, providing breath-by-breath values for respiratory exchange rate (RER), oxygen uptake (&OV0312;o2), and carbon dioxide production (CO2). Heart rate (HR) and rate of perceived exertion (RPE) were also measured. During the rest period between stages, blood samples (25 μl) were collected from the ear lobe for lactate threshold (LT) determination. It was observed that at the end of the TAP, subjects achieved an average of 83.8 ± 6.2% of the HRmax and 68.9 ± 11.3% of the &OV0312;o2max, both previously identified in the GXT. The choreography demanded 204.7 ± 31.3 kcal, an average RER of 0.88 ± 0.05 and mean RPE of 13 ± 2. The &OV0312;o2, HR, and RPE values did not significantly differ from those at the LT intensity identified during the GTX. Based on the present results, it was concluded that the TAP performance in the “The Shim Sham Shimmy” choreography elicited acute physiologic responses similar to those observed at the LT intensity, thus suggesting that Tap Dance constitutes a useful exercise modality for aerobic fitness and cardiovascular health improvements.
Noise macromodel for radio frequency integrated circuits

Noise performance is a critical analog and RF circuit design constraint, and can impact the selection of the IC system-level architecture. It is therefore imperative that some model of the noise is represented at the highest levels of abstraction during the design process. In this paper we propose a noise macromodel for analog circuits and demonstrate it by way of implementation in a system level simulator based on MATLAB. We also explain our process of macromodel extraction via reformulation of frequency-domain noise analysis results, and the corresponding steps of model order reduction. The results demonstrate the efficacy of this macromodel for frequency domain system level simulation.
Towards Improving Clustering Ants: An Adaptive Ant Clustering Algorithm

Among the many bio-inspired techniques, ant-based clustering algorithms have received special attention from the community over the past few years for two main reasons. First, they are particularly suitable to perform exploratory data analysis and, second, they still require much investigation to improve performance, stability, convergence, and other key features that would make such algorithms mature tools for diverse applications. Under this perspective, this paper proposes both a progressive vision scheme and pheromone heuristics for the standard ant-clustering algorithm, together with a cooling schedule that improves its convergence properties. The proposed algorithm is evaluated in a number of well-known benchmark data sets, as well as in a real-world bioinformatics dataset. The achieved results are compared to those obtained by the standard ant clustering algorithm, showing that significant improvements are obtained by means of the proposed modifications. As an additional contribution, this work also provides a brief review of ant-based clustering algorithms. Povzetek: Clanek opisuje izboljsan algoritem grupiranja na osnovi pristopa kolonij mravelj.
Global Retrievals of Solar‐Induced Chlorophyll Fluorescence With TROPOMI: First Results and Intersensor Comparison to OCO‐2

In recent years, solar‐induced chlorophyll fluorescence (SIF) retrieved from spaceborne spectrometers has been extensively used as a proxy for terrestrial photosynthesis at relatively sparse temporal and spatial scales. The near‐infrared band of the recently launched TROPOspheric Monitoring Instrument (TROPOMI) features the required spectral resolution and signal‐to‐noise ratio to retrieve SIF in a spectral range devoid of atmospheric absorption features. We find that initial TROPOMI spectra meet high expectations for a substantially improved spatiotemporal resolution (up to 7‐km × 3.5‐km pixels with daily revisit), representing a step change in SIF remote sensing capabilities. However, interpretation requires caution, as the broad range of viewing‐illumination geometries covered by TROPOMI's 2,600‐km‐wide swath needs to be taken into account. A first intersensor comparison with OCO‐2 (Orbiting Carbon Observatory‐2) SIF shows excellent agreement, underscoring the high quality of TROPOMI's SIF retrievals and the notable radiometric performance of the instrument.
Role of Prostate Apoptosis Response 4 in Translocation of GRP78 from the Endoplasmic Reticulum to the Cell Surface of Trophoblastic Cells

Glucose-regulated protein 78 (GRP78) is an endoplasmic reticulum (ER) molecular chaperone that belongs to the heat shock protein 70 family. GRP78 is also present on the cell surface membrane of trophoblastic cells, where it is associated with invasive or fusion properties of these cells. Impaired mechanism of GRP78 relocation from ER to the cell surface was observed in preeclamptic cytotrophoblastic cells (CTB) and could take part in the pathogenesis of preeclampsia. In this study, we have investigated whether prostate apoptosis response 4 (Par-4), a protein identified as a partner of GRP78 relocation to the cell surface in prostate cancer cells, is present in trophoblastic cells and is involved in the translocation of GRP78 to the cell surface of CTB. Par-4 is indeed present in trophoblastic cells and its expression correlates with expression of membrane GRP78. Moreover, overexpression of Par-4 led to an increase of cell surface expression of GRP78 and decreased Par-4 gene expression reduced cell surface localization of GRP78 confirming a role of Par-4 in relocation of GRP78 from ER to the cell surface. Accordingly, invasive property was modified in these cells. In conclusion, we show that Par-4 is expressed in trophoblastic cells and is involved in transport of GRP78 to the cell surface and thus regulates invasive property of extravillous CTB.
Sympathetic Activation and Baroreflex Function during Intradialytic Hypertensive Episodes

Background The mechanisms of intradialytic increases in blood pressure are not well defined. The present study was undertaken to assess the role of autonomic nervous system activation during intradialytic hypertensive episodes. Methodology/Principal Findings Continuous interbeat intervals (IBI) and systolic blood pressure (SBP) were monitored during hemodialysis in 108 chronic patients. Intradialytic hypertensive episodes defined as a period of at least 10 mmHg increase in SBP between the beginning and the end of a dialysis session or hypertension resistant to ultrafiltration occurring during or immediately after the dialysis procedure, were detected in 62 out of 113 hemodialysis sessions. SBP variability, IBI variability and baroreceptor sensitivity (BRS) in the low (LF) and high (HF) frequency ranges were assessed using the complex demodulation technique (CDM). Intradialytic hypertensive episodes were associated with an increased (n = 45) or decreased (n = 17) heart rate. The maximal blood pressure was similar in both groups. In patients with increased heart rate the increase in blood pressure was associated with marked increases in SBP and IBI variability, with suppressed BRS indices and enhanced sympatho-vagal balance. In contrast, in those with decreased heart rate, there were no significant changes in the above parameters. End-of- dialysis blood pressure in all sessions associated with hypertensive episode was significantly higher than in those without such episodes. In logistic regression analysis, predialysis BRS in the low frequency range was found to be the main predictor of intradialytic hypertension. Conclusion/Significance Our data point to sympathetic overactivity with feed-forward blood pressure enhancement as an important mechanism of intradialytic hypertension in a significant proportion of patients. The triggers of increased sympathetic activity during hemodialysis remain to be determined. Intradialytic hypertensive episodes are associated with higher end-of- dialysis blood pressure, suggesting that intradialytic hypertension may play a role in generation of interdialytic hypertension.
ACOUSTIC MODELING IMPROVEMENTS IN A SEGMENT-BASED SPEECH RECOGNIZER

In this paper we report on some recent improvements on the acoustic modeling in a segment-based speech recognition system. Context-dependent segment models and improved pronunciation modeling are shown to reduce word error rates in a telephone-based, conversational system by over 18%, while the technique of Gaussian selection reduces overall computation by more than a factor of two.
On Space Time Block Codes in Non Quasi-Static Fading Channels

In this work the error performance of space-time block codes in non quasi-static and quasi-static Rayleigh fading is studied. For a quasi-static channel the receiver maintains a simple structure and processing is reduced to symbol-by-symbol ML detection. Simulation results are presented that show how performance degrades with increasing Doppler. To maintain performance similar to the quasi-static channel case, the receiver in a non quasi-static fast fading channel needs to do greater processing for signal detection. For this receiver simulation results are presented that show no significant performance deterioration in fast fading. Also, the performance of this receiver when only some channel coefficients are estimated perfectly and the rest are interpolated values is also shown
Systematic Development of Self-Emulsifying Drug Delivery Systems of Atorvastatin with Improved Bioavailability Potential

The aim of this study was to prepare and characterize a self-emulsifying drug delivery system (SEDDS) with a high drug load of poorly water-soluble atorvastatin for the enhancement of dissolution and oral bioavailability. Solubility of atorvastatin in oil, surfactant, and cosurfactant was determined. Pseudo-ternary phase diagrams were constructed by the aqueous titration method, and formulations were developed based on the optimum excipient combinations. A high drug load (10% w/w) was achieved with a combination of oleic acid, Tween 80, and polyethylene glycol 400, ensuring the maximum dissolution property (in the case of SES6). Effects of lipids and surfactants on physical properties of SEDDS such as in vitro emulsification efficiency in terms of self-emulsification time, emulsion droplet size, and percent transmittance were measured. Multiple regression analysis revealed that a higher amount of surfactants significantly increased dissolution of ATV while decreasing emulsion droplet size and emulsification time. About a four-fold increase in dissolution was achieved by SEDDS compared to pure ATV powder. Overall, this study suggests that dissolution and oral bioavailability of ATV could be improved by SEDDS technology.
Experimental Evaluations on Array Antenna Configuration of Adaptative Antenna Array Diversity Receiver in W-CDMA Reverse Link

Table 1. Major radio link parameters of the experimental testbed Abstract This paper investigates the influence of the number of antenna elements, the angle difference between the direction of arrival (DOA) of the desired signal and those of interfering signals, and the antenna arrangement on the BER performance of the coherent adaptive antenna array diversity (CAAAD receiver) in the wideband DS-CDMA (W-CDMA) reverse link. Experiments assuming high-rate interfering users were conducted in a radio anechoic room using a three-sectored antenna with a 120-degree beam (maximum number of antennas was six). The experimental results showed that the degree to which the interference was suppressed from high-rate users of the CAAAD receiver was significantly increased by increasing the number of antenna elements, especially when the number of interfering users was larger than degree of freedom of the CAAAD. It was also verified that although the BER performance of the CAAAD receiver significantly improved compared to a single sectored antenna, the improvement remarkably decreased when the DOA difference between the desired signal and interfering signals was within approximately ±20 degrees irrespective of the number of antenna elements. Finally, it was shown that the BER performance difference between the linear and conformal arrangements was small using the three-sectored antenna.
Resource management policies in GPRS wireless internet access systems

In this paper we consider the problem of resource management in GSM/GPRS cellular networks offering not only mobile telephony services, but also data services for the wireless access to the Internet. In particular we investigate channel allocation policies that can provide a good tradeoff between the QoS guaranteed to voice and data services end users, considering three different alternatives, and developing analytical techniques for the assessment of their relative merits. The first channel allocation policy is called voice priority, since it gives priority to voice in the access to radio channels; we show that this policy cannot provide acceptable performance to data services, and we discuss the reasons for this shortcoming. The second channel allocation policy is called R-reservation; it statically reserves a fixed number of channels to data services, thus drastically improving their performance, but subtracting resources from voice users, even when these are not needed for data, thus inducing an unnecessary performance degradation for voice services. The third channel allocation policy is called dynamic reservation; as the name implies, it dynamically allocates channels to data when necessary, using the information about the queue length of GPRS data units within the base station. A threshold on the queue length is used in order to decide when channels must be allocated to data. Numerical results, show that the dynamic reservation channel allocation policy can provide very effective performance tradeoffs for data and voice services, with the additional advantage of being easily managed through the setting of the threshold value.
Assessing some heavy metals pollutions in sediments of the northern Persian Gulf (Bushehr province)

Background: Land and water pollution by heavy metals is a universal issue. Although the pollution affects all countries, but its range and severity vary hugely. The pollution of the marine environment by heavy metals is a worldwide problem. Marine sediments can be sensitive indicators for monitoring contaminants in aquatic environments. Methods: The concentration of 10 elements (As, Cd, Cr, Cu, Al, Fe, Ni, Pb, Sb, and Zn) was determined in the sediments of four shoreline stations including Imam Hassan port, Ameri port, Bushehr port, and Nayband Bay at the west Persian Gulf from March to December 2017. The elements were measured by inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICP-MS). Data were analyzed using SPSS version 16. Results: The contamination of the sediments was assessed based on the geoaccumulation index (Igeo) and enrichment factor (EF). Spearman correlation matrix was calculated between all the trace metals and major elements as well as corresponding sampling regions. Statistically significant inter-elemental correlations (e.g., Cr-Fe, Cr-Al, Cr-Ni, Cr-Zn, and Cr-Cu) were found between some metals. High EF levels for Fe, Al, and Pb suggest that metals in the sediments of the northern Persian Gulf could have originated from anthropogenic sources. Conclusion: The contamination pattern of sediments is affected by factors such as sedimentation patterns, physical and chemical properties of the sediments. For example, sediments with fine-grained and high surface area-to-volume ratio can act as good absorbents for many pollutants. Keywords: Heavy metals, Geologic sediment, Persian Gulf, Bushehr
Modeling of Freak Wave Generation In a 3D-NWT

Freak waves are extreme ocean waves that are not predicted by traditional wave probability distributions. We study wave energy focusing, as a possible mechanism for freak wave formation, in a three-dimensional (3D) Numerical Wave Tank (NWT) solving fully nonlinear potential ow equations. The NWT combines a higher-order 3D-BEM and a Mixed-Eulerian-Lagrangian time updating of the free surface, based on explicit second-order Taylor series expansions. Self-focusing of wave energy is achieved through modulating a periodic wave train in two orthogonal directions. This process is rst carried out using a Higher Order Spectral method whose solution is then introduced in the NWT, in which we specify space periodicity conditions on lateral boundaries. Directional and frequency focusing of wave energy are achieved through using a snake wavemaker to generate curved wave fronts at one extremity of the NWT, and specifying an actively absorbing open boundary condition at the other extremity of the NWT. Breaking and non-breaking freak waves are generated in the NWT and their shape and kinematics are studied.
The Misuse of BLUP in Ecology and Evolution

Best linear unbiased prediction (BLUP) is a method for obtaining point estimates of a random effect in a mixed effect model. Over the past decade it has been used extensively in ecology and evolutionary biology to predict individual breeding values and reaction norms. These predictions have been used to infer natural selection, evolutionary change, spatial‐genetic patterns, individual reaction norms, and frailties. In this article we show analytically and through simulation and example why BLUP often gives anticonservative and biased estimates of evolutionary and ecological parameters. Although some concerns with BLUP methodology have been voiced before, the scale and breadth of the problems have probably not been widely appreciated. Bias arises because BLUPs are often used to estimate effects that are not explicitly accounted for in the model used to make the predictions. In these cases, predicted breeding values will often say more about phenotypic patterns than the genetic patterns of interest. An additional problem is that BLUPs are point estimates of quantities that are usually known with little certainty. Failure to account for this uncertainty in subsequent tests can lead to both bias and extreme anticonservatism. We demonstrate that restricted maximum likelihood and Bayesian solutions exist for these problems and show how unbiased and powerful tests can be derived that adequately quantify uncertainty. Of particular utility is a new test for detecting evolutionary change that not only accounts for prediction error in breeding values but also accounts for drift. To illustrate the problem, we apply these tests to long‐term data on the Soay sheep (Ovis aries) and the great tit (Parus major) and show that previously reported temporal trends in breeding values are not supported.
The use of task analysis methods in support of the development of interactive systems

Capturing and analysis of user requirements and tasks are concepts that have frequently been suggested to address central problems within system development in recent years. In this research the use of a variety of task analysis (TA) methods has been used to assess the adequacy of a proposed design for a World Wide Web (WWW) system within an interactive multimedia (IMM) context, domain and environment which will help research students conduct their doctoral program as carried out at Salford University, Manchester, UK. The findings have shown that TA methods have a number of weaknesses in the contributions that they make and therefore questions of how the methods can be improved to increase their capability were considered.