Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
FxpNet: Training a deep convolutional neural network in fixed-point representation

We introduce FxpNet, a framework to train deep convolutional neural networks with low bit-width arithmetics in both forward pass and backward pass. During training FxpNet further reduces the bit-width of stored parameters (also known as primal parameters) by adaptively updating their fixed-point formats. These primal parameters are usually represented in the full resolution of floating-point values in previous binarized and quantized neural networks. In FxpNet, during forward pass fixed-point primal weights and activations are first binarized before computation, while in backward pass all gradients are represented as low resolution fixed-point values and then accumulated to corresponding fixed-point primal parameters. To have highly efficient implementations in FPGAs, ASICs and other dedicated devices, FxpNet introduces Integer Batch Normalization (IBN) and Fixed-point ADAM (FxpADAM) methods to further reduce the required floating-point operations, which will save considerable power and chip area. The evaluation on CIFAR-10 dataset indicates the effectiveness that FxpNet with 12-bit primal parameters and 12-bit gradients achieves comparable prediction accuracy with state-of-the-art binarized and quantized neural networks.
Can We Trust Online Physician Ratings? Evidence from Cardiac Surgeons in Florida

Despite heated debate about the pros and cons of online physician ratings, very little systematic work examines the correlation between physicians' online ratings and their actual medical performance. Using patients' ratings of physicians at Rate MDs.com and the Florida Hospital Discharge data, we investigate whether online ratings reflect physicians' medical performance by means of a two-stage model that takes into account patients' ratings-based selection of cardiac surgeons. Estimation results show that five-star surgeons are associated with significantly lower mortality rates and are more likely to be selected by sicker patients compared with lower-rated surgeons. In contrast, not accounting for patients' rating-based selection leads to the opposite outcome: patients treated by five-star surgeons had higher mortality rates than patients treated by surgeons rated below five stars. Our findings suggest that we can trust online physician ratings, at least of cardiac surgeons.
Gradient Episodic Memory for Continuum Learning

One major obstacle towards artiﬁcial intelligence is the poor ability of models to quickly solve new problems, without forgetting previously acquired knowledge. To better understand this issue, we study the problem of learning over a continuum of data , where the model observes, once and one by one, examples concerning an ordered sequence of tasks. First, we propose a set of metrics to evaluate models learning over a continuum of data. These metrics characterize models not only by their test accuracy, but also in terms of their ability to transfer knowledge across tasks. Second, we propose a model to learn over continuums of data, called Gradient of Episodic Memory (GEM), which alleviates forgetting while allowing beneﬁcial transfer of knowledge to previous tasks. Our experiments on variants of the MNIST and CIFAR-100 datasets demonstrate the strong performance of GEM when compared to the state-of-the-art.
Book Review: Introduction to Chinese Natural Language Processing by Kam-Fai Wong, Wenjie Li, Ruifeng Xu, and Zheng-sheng Zhang

This book introduces Chinese language-processing issues and techniques to readers who already have a basic background in natural language processing (NLP). Since the major difference between Chinese and Western languages is at the word level, the book primarily focuses on Chinese morphological analysis and introduces the concept, structure, and interword semantics of Chinese words. The following topics are covered: a general introduction to Chinese NLP; Chinese characters, morphemes, and words and the characteristics of Chinese words that have to be considered in NLP applications; Chinese word segmentation; unknown word detection; word meaning and Chinese linguistic resources; interword semantics based on word collocation and NLP techniques for collocation extraction. Table of Contents: Introduction / Words in Chinese / Challenges in Chinese Morphological Processing / Chinese Word Segmentation / Unknown Word Identification / Word Meaning / Chinese Collocations / Automatic Chinese Collocation Extraction / Appendix / References / Author Biographies
Regulation effects on the lower Peace River, Canada

The headwaters of the Peace River, Canada became regulated in 1968 by a major hydroelectric facility and associated reservoir located in the Rocky Mountains. This paper examines the change to the downstream hydrographs that have resulted from regulation. To facilitate the comparison, a naturalized (without regulation effects) flow regime (1972–1996) was generated using a combination of hydrologic and hydraulic flow models. The results showed that even some 1100 km downstream, there have been significant changes to the hydrograph. Specifically, average winter flows were 250% higher, annual peaks (1‐day, 15‐day, 30‐day highs) were in the order of 35–39% lower, and overall variability in daily flows decreased. Despite the reduction in peaks and variability, however, the downstream hydrograph is far from flat and has retained the basic shape of the pre‐regulation hydrograph. This is primarily due to the strong influence of tributary inflow below the point of regulation. Recommendation for improvements to the model and future application of these data are also discussed. Copyright © 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Interactions of nearshore bars with incoming wave groups

Results from a theoretical model of long wave generation by a time varying break point over a linear shore parallel bars are presented. Standing wave solutions between the shoreline and the mean break point over the bar are obtained, and two possible resonance conditions are identified. First, a quarter wave resonance condition is defined, having a node in the sea surface elevation at the forcing region over the bar. Second, a half wave resonance occurs when the surface elevation has an antinode at the bar crest. The model results predict a resonant response corresponding to the half wave resonance but a quarter wave resonance is not seen, the response being limited by an outgoing energy flux in the form of a seaward propagating progressive wave. The occurrence of an elevation antinode at the bar crest leads to the possibility of convergence in suspended load at this point and hence to a possible mechanism for the maintenance of the bar. At resonance the constructive modes, those tending to maintain the bar, are amplified, while the destructive modes, those tending to create a trough at the bar position, are actually suppressed by the topography.
DiffServ edge routers over network processors: implementation and evaluation

Network processors are emerging as a programmable alternative to the traditional ASIC-based solutions in scaling up the data plane processing of network services. This work, rather than proposing new algorithms, illustrates the process of, and examines the performance issues in, prototyping a DiffServ edge router with IXP1200. The external benchmarks reveal that although the system can scale to a wire speed of 1.8 Gb/s in simple IP forwarding, the throughput declines to 180-290 Mb/s when DiffServ is performed due to the double bottlenecks of SRAM and microengines (coprocessors). Through internal benchmarks, the performance bottleneck was found to be able to shift from one place to another given different network services and algorithms. Most of the results reported here should be applicable to other NPs, since they have similar architectures and components.
Application of Multiple Linear Regression Models and Artificial Neural Networks on the Surface Ozone Forecast in the Greater Athens Area, Greece

An attempt is made to forecast the daily maximum surface ozone concentration for the next 24 hours, within the greater Athens area (GAA). For this purpose, we applied Multiple Linear Regression (MLR) models against a forecasting model based on Artificial Neural Network (ANN) approach. The availability of basic meteorological parameters is of great importance in order to forecast the ozone’s concentration levels. Modelling was based on recorded meteorological and air pollution data from thirteen monitoring sites within the GAA (network of the Hellenic Ministry of the Environment, Energy and Climate Change) over five years from 2001 to 2005. The evaluation of the performance of the constructed models, using appropriate statistical indices, shows clearly that in every aspect, the prognostic model by far is the ANN model. This suggests that the ANN model can be used to issue warnings for the general population and mainly sensitive groups.
Physical and biological mechanisms for planetary waves observed in satellite-derived chlorophyll

We examine the evidence for global propagation of planetary wavelike features in sea-surface chlorophyll. Over much of the midlatitude ocean, westward propagating signals are seen that travel at the same speed as that predicted for long planetary waves. We then test three mechanisms for production of this signal. These are: horizontal (passive) north-south advection by the wave against a mean background gradient; vertical upwelling of nitrate, which is converted into chlorophyll; and vertical upwelling of chlorophyll itself. The tests involve comparisons of the amplitude and phase of the predicted signal with observations. The horizontal advective process predicts an amplitude for chlorophyll fluctuations that is in fair agreement with the data, though both overestimating and underestimating in places. The predictions for the phase difference between the chlorophyll and sea surface height signatures are in good agreement with the data. The upwelling biological mechanism could potentially give a large signal in the chlorophyll field, but the predicted amplitude patterns and the predicted phase difference (which is everywhere negative) are not in accord with the observations. Except in a few regions, the amplitude predicted by upwelling of chlorophyll is small compared with the horizontal advection mechanism. We conclude that over most of the ocean, the chlorophyll signal is well explained by horizontal advective processes, although we cannot rule out that there exist locations where additional biological mechanisms may be responsible for at least part of the signal.
Sizing Data-Intensive Systems from ER Model

There is still much problem in sizing software despite the existence of well-known software sizing methods such as Function Point method. Many developers still continue to use ad-hoc methods or so called "expert" approaches. This is mainly due to the fact that the existing methods require much information that is difficult to identify or estimate in the early stage of a software project. The accuracy of ad-hoc and "expert" methods also has much problem. The entity-relationship (ER) medel is widely used in conceptual modeling (requirements analysis) for data-intensive systems. The characteristic of a data-intensive system, and therefore the source code of its software, is actually well characterized by the ER diagram that models its data. This paper proposes a method for building software size model from extended ER diagram through the use of regression models. We have collected some real data from the industry to do a preliminary validation of the proposed method. The result of the validation is very encouraging.
Distribution of sedimentary organic matter in a mixed carbonate‐siliciclastic platform environment: Oxfordian of the Swiss Jura Mountains

Outcrop sections from the Swiss Jura, consisting of carbonate‐siliciclastic deposits spanning the Middle‐Late Oxfordian boundary, provide a palaeogeographical cross‐section ranging from coastal to shallow platform and intra‐platform basin environments. Using a sedimentological and a 3rd order sequence stratigraphic framework based on those sections, the distribution of sedimentary organic matter (palynofacies) has been spatially studied in relation to sequence stratigraphy.
Doubled CO2 precipitation changes for the Susquehanna basin: down-scaling from the Genesis general c

ABSTRACTArtiﬁcial neural nets are used in an empirical down-scaling procedure to derive daily subgrid-scale precipitation from generalcirculation model (GCM) geopotential height and speciﬁc humidity data. The neural net-based transfer functions aredeveloped using a 2  625  gridded data assimilation product from the Goddard Space Flight Center, applied to a 464 matrixof grid-cells centred on the Susquehanna river basin. The down-scaled precipitation is a close match to the observed data(temporal correlations at individual grid-points range from 06to084). Doubled CO 2 climate change scenarios are producedby applying the same transfer functions to the geopotential height and speciﬁc humidity ﬁelds from 16CO 2 and 26CO 2 simulations of version II of the GENESIS climate model. The analysis indicates a 32 per cent increase in spring and summerrainfall over the basin, resulting from changes in both moisture availability and the orientation of the storm track over theregion. The down-scaled precipitation increases, derived from the change in the GCM’s circulation and humidity ﬁelds, areconsiderably larger than the change in the model’s actual computed precipitation. # 1998 Royal Meteorological Society. Int.J. Climatol. , 18, 65–76 (1998)No. of Figures: 10. No. of Tables: 1. No of References: 15.
Year‐round records of bulk and size‐segregated aerosol composition and HCl and HNO3 levels in the Dumont d'Urville (coastal Antarctica) atmosphere: Implications for sea‐salt aerosol fractionation in the winter and summer

[1] Year-round composition of bulk and size-segregated aerosol was examined at a coastal Antarctic site (Dumont d'Urville). Sea-salt particles display a summer depletion of chloride relative to sodium, which reaches ∼10%. The mass chloride loss is maximum on 1- to 3-μm-diameter particles, nitrate being often the anion causing the chloride loss. The summer SO42−/Na+ ratio exceeds the seawater value on submicron particles due to biogenic sulfate and on coarse particles due to ornithogenic (guano-enriched soils) sulfate and to heterogeneous uptake of SO2 (or H2SO4). HCl levels range from 47 ± 28 ng m−3 in the winter to 130 ± 110 ng m−3 in the summer, being close to the mass chloride loss of sea-salt aerosols. In the winter, sea-salt particles exhibit Cl−/Na+ and SO42−/Na+ mass ratios of 1.9 ± 0.1 and 0.13 ± 0.04, respectively. Resulting from precipitation of mirabilite during freezing of seawater, this sulfate-depletion-relative sodium takes place from May to October. From March to April, warmer temperatures and/or smaller sea ice extent offshore the site limit the phenomenon. A range of 14–50 ng m−3 of submicron sulfate is found, confirming the existence of nssSO42− in the winter at a coastal Antarctic site, highest values being found in the winters of 1992–1994 due to the Pinatubo volcanic input. Apart from these three winters, nssSO42− levels range between 15 and 30 ng m−3, but its origin is still unclear (quasi-continuous SO2 emissions from the Mount Erebus volcano or local wintertime dimethyl sulfide [DMS] oxidation, in addition to long-range transported by-product of DMS oxidation).
Comparative study of cataclastic rocks from a drill core and outcrops of the Nojima Fault zone on Awaji Island, Japan

Abstract Cataclastic rocks found in the Disaster Prevention Research Institute, Kyoto University (DPRI) 500 m drill core and outcrops along the Nojima Fault zone on Awaji Island, southwest Japan, were examined at mesoscopic and microscopic scales. The damaged zone of this fault in granitic rocks, observed on the southeast side of the fault, is 50–60 m wide and is composed of fractured host rocks and cataclastic rocks including cataclasite, fault breccia, and fault gouge. The fault breccia and gouge of small scales are scattered in the damaged zone. Fault core (zone of extremely concentrated shearing deformation along a fault) consists of fault gouge measuring several tens to approximately 150 mm in width, as recognized both in the drill core and at outcrops of the Nojima Fault along which surface ruptures formed during the 1995 Kobe earthquake. Fault breccia, measuring a few meters wide, has developed pervasively in the damaged zone, just next to the fault core. Pseudotachylyte has been found interlayered with fault gouge within the fault core only at outcrops at Hirabarashi, not in the DPRI 500 m core. Petrological studies and powder X‐ray diffraction analysis show that the pseudotachylyte and fault gouge are composed mainly of fine‐grained angular clasts of the host granitic rocks, suggesting the pseudotachylyte is of ‘crush origin’. Foliated cataclasite is characterized by the preferred orientation of elongated biotite clasts and granular aggregates of quartz and feldspar clasts, and by the development of cataclastic shear bands. Unlike cataclastically deformed quartz and feldspar in the cataclasite, biotite in the foliated cataclasite shows combinations of brittle and plastic deformation, such as biotite ‘fish’, cleavage steps, bending and kinking. These textures suggest that the foliated cataclasite formed at a deeper level than the cataclasite, fault breccia and gouge, possibly before the Quaternary period during which the Nojima Fault has moved as a dextral strike–slip fault with some reverse movement resulting in the uplifting of Awaji Island. Examination of fault rocks from surface outcrops can yield similar results to those obtained from drill cores with regard to the internal structures of a fault zone.
Vertical mixing of gravel over a long flood series

Vertical sediment exchange is a fundamental component of bedload transport in gravel‐bed channels. This paper describes the characteristic depth of exchange achieved over a long flood series. Analysis is based on 11 recoveries of magnetically tagged gravels deployed in Carnation Creek, Canada, completed between 1990 and 2008. Vertical grain exchange mixes gravels throughout the streambed relatively rapidly. Within one to eight floods the mean burial depth approaches two times the surface layer thickness, quantified by the 90th percentile of the size distribution. Finer gravels are mixed more rapidly into the bed than coarser gravels. Both active and passive grain exchanges throughout most of the bed produce the overall vertical distribution of marked grains. Gravel exchanges exhibit fairly consistent patterns once tracers are well mixed by large floods. Results highlight the role of flood sequence in determining exchange depths, support the notion of an upper limit to exchange, and underscore the importance of passive grain exchange. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
A new Cormohipparion (Mammalia, Equidae) from the Pliocene (latest Hemphillian and Blancan) of Florida

ABSTRACT Cormohipparion emsliei n. sp. is documented from the latest Hemphillian and late Blancan of peninsular Florida. This extends the known temporal range of the genus in North America by about four million years. C. emsliei continues and accentuates many of the trends observed in earlier species of Cormohipparion, including increased fossette complexity (on average it is the most complicated of North American hipparionines) and pli caballinid development on both premolars and molars. The dorsal preorbital fossa is reduced, as is frequently observed in late Neogene equids, but a number of shared derived characters suggests referral to Cormohipparion rather than Nannippus. The topotypic sample, which includes cranial and post-cranial elements, was collected in situ from a narrow horizon under- and overlain by diverse marine shellbeds of Pliocene age. It was found in lithosympatry with specimens of Nannippus peninsulatus, Neochoerus dichroplax, Glossotherium chapadmalense, Dasypus bellus, and Sigmodon m.
Study of Characteristics and Treatments of Dairy Industry Waste Water

Milk has important place in human life. The dairy industry involves processing of raw milk into products like consumer milk, butter, cheese etc. The quantity of water required in a milk processing plant depends upon the size of the plant, generally expressed in terms of the maximum weight of milk handled in a single day, and the processes involved. The daily volume of water required may vary widely, depending mainly on the availability of water and the control of all water using operation in the plant. The operations where the process involves continuous flow, the amount of water needed for rinsing and washing is not necessarily proportional to the amount of product processed. Most of the waste water discharged into water bodies, disturbs the ecological balance and deteriorates the water quality. The casein precipitation from waste decomposes further into highly odorous black sludge. Effluent from milk processing unit contains soluble organics, suspended solids, trace organics which releases gases, causes taste and odor, impart colour and turbidity, and promote eutrophication. Which affect and disturb the environment in this regard’s aimed to study the physicochemical characteristics of waste water generated from dairy industry with suitable treatment.
Electromagnetic responses from seismically excited targets A: Piezoelectric Phenomena at Humboldt, Australia

Certain materials respond to a seismic stress by becoming electrically polarized. There are several different mechanisms for creating the polarization including piezoelectricity, the electrokinetic or E effect, and the triboelectric effect. We have carried out a number of laboratory and field experiments to investigate geophysical exploration techniques based on such phenomena. This paper focuses on an experiment at Humboldt, Australia, at which we made our first credible observations of piezoelectricity under field conditions. The experiment used a compressed-air jackhammer as a source and four 50-m ungrounded long-wire antennas for detectors. Despite the fact that the signals are significantly contaminated with noise, principally from a nearby radio transmitter, they demonstrate conclusively the presence of electrical responses. Seismic energy equivalent to a single hammer blow interacted with the quartz body to produce electrical fields with strengths from microvolts to tens of microvolts at the antennas. These results are in accord with earlier, unpublished results of Alan Boyle (CRA Exploration Pty Ltd). Our interpretation is limited to two dimensions, but the results suggest a quartz structure dipping at a shallow angle beneath the line of shot points. Later arrivals show a source close to the centre of the antenna array, for which there may be explanations other than piezoelectricity. Thus, our experiments support the many Soviet claims that such phenomena can form the basis of valid prospecting tools.