Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
The Empirical Case against Large Class Size: Adverse Effects on the Teaching, Learning, and Retention of First-Year Students.

In a national report on the status of American higher education issued in 1984, the National Institute of Education warned administrators and state governing boards to resist the “temptation toward generating the maximum number of student credit hours without regard to the quality of learning” (p. 12). This recommendation remains relevant today because current budgetary constraints are creating a climate of cost containment, within which larger class sizes may be seen as an alluringly quick and convenient cost-cutting strategy.
Ethics Auditing Model for Estonian Big and Middle Size Companies

Today’s need to rebuild trust after the financial crisis and the apparent reorientation towards a sustainable economy is being translated to call for unprecedented levels of transparency. The reward of a highly ethical value system is not fame or fortune; the reward is the knowledge that you did what was right, which is far more life-enhancing than money or prominence. It is important to hold companies effectiveness and happiness together. There are needs to be more to ethics than the trust and honesty that requisite of any successful organization and the ethical strategies such as care for customers, employees and others stakeholders pay off in increased profit (Duska, 2007). Economic crisis amplifies all other crisis in the society and in human relations. Businesses which have built a bond of trust with their interest groups have a much greater chance of survival. Intuition, which is often used as an evaluating measure for the quality of the acts, may be misleading. However, objective evaluation is possible when different types of interest groups are attracted. Ethics auditing and social reports are the main tools for companies for analysing relationships between stakeholder groups and companies real activity. Transparency means that management decisions are clear, honest and open about our environmental programs and performance. Other mechanisms developed to build trust and accountability is Tallinn Pedagogical College, Tallinn, Estonia
A General Framework for Designing SISO-Based Motion Controller With Multiple Sensor Feedback

This paper proposes N-degree-of-freedom (N-DoF) control for single-input and single-output based systems. This method relaxes the water-bed effect, which limits the capacity to suppress disturbances and noise using multiple sensors. The system's design procedure for the control system and nominal stability conditions are introduced. N-DoF control is then compared with classical two-DoF control and with Kalman filter using simulations and experiments of motor systems with an encoder and an accelerometer. The results indicate that N-DoF control achieves an enhanced disturbance and an oscillation suppressing performance simultaneously. Moreover, N-DoF control is applied to two-mass systems and verified by using numerical simulation. The characteristics are introduced and compared with several conventional approaches. The results suggest that N-DoF control incorporates all the characteristics of the other methods, and its disturbance and vibration suppression capability is demonstrated.
The Release of S-Store System Bikong Wang

In this paper, I describe multiple aspects that are closely related to the release of S-Store system, including dockerized S-Store system, new benchmark MIMIC2BigDAWG, dockerization of the integrated streaming processing system, verification of new S-Store scheduler and collection of stored procedures statistics. Although many other indispensable works are also finished for the final release, they will not be discussed in detail there.
The NU-NAIST Voice Conversion System for the Voice Conversion Challenge 2016

This paper presents the NU-NAIST voice conversion (VC) system for the Voice Conversion Challenge 2016 (VCC 2016) developed by a joint team of Nagoya University and Nara Institute of Science and Technology. Statistical VC based on a Gaussian mixture model makes it possible to convert speaker identity of a source speaker’ voice into that of a target speaker by converting several speech parameters. However, various factors such as parameterization errors and over-smoothing effects usually cause speech quality degradation of the converted voice. To address this issue, we have proposed a direct waveform modification technique based on spectral differential filtering and have successfully applied it to singing voice conversion where excitation features are not necessary converted. In this paper, we propose a method to apply this technique to a standard voice conversion task where excitation feature conversion is needed. The result of VCC 2016 demonstrates that the NU-NAIST VC system developed by the proposed method yields the best conversion accuracy for speaker identity (more than 70% of the correct rate) and quite high naturalness score (more than 3 of the mean opinion score). This paper presents detail descriptions of the NU-NAIST VC system and additional results of its performance evaluation.
Cognitive Radio Channel Selection Strategy Based on Experience-Weighted Attraction Learning

In this paper, an innovative proposed channel selection algorithm based on Experience-Weighted Attraction (EWA) learning allows Cognitive Radio (CR) to learn radio environment communication channel characteristics online. By accumulating the history channel experience, it can predict, select and change the current optimal communication channel, dynamic ensure the quality of communication links and finally reduce system communication outage probability. Validation and reliability have been strictly verified by Matlab simulations. DOI : http://dx.doi. org/10.11591/telkomnika.v12i1. 3900
Modulation of Neuronal Interactions Through Neuronal Synchronization

Brain processing depends on the interactions between neuronal groups. Those interactions are governed by the pattern of anatomical connections and by yet unknown mechanisms that modulate the effective strength of a given connection. We found that the mutual influence among neuronal groups depends on the phase relation between rhythmic activities within the groups. Phase relations supporting interactions between the groups preceded those interactions by a few milliseconds, consistent with a mechanistic role. These effects were specific in time, frequency, and space, and we therefore propose that the pattern of synchronization flexibly determines the pattern of neuronal interactions.
A specific brushing sequence and plaque removal efficacy: a randomized split‐mouth design

AIM It has been propagated by the dental care professionals to start toothbrushing the lingual aspect of teeth first. In general, it is assumed that these surfaces of teeth are more difficult to clean. The evidence to support this recommendation is sparse. METHOD In this randomized controlled clinical trial using a split-mouth design, 46 students were included. Before the visit, the participants were requested to refrain from any oral hygiene procedure for 48 h. First, the plaque index (PI) score was assessed full mouth. Two randomly chosen contra-lateral quadrants were used to start brushing from the lingual aspect first. The opposing two quadrants were used to start brushing from the buccal aspect. After the brushing exercise was completed, full-mouth PI was scored again. Subanalyses were performed for the buccal, lingual and approximal surfaces. RESULTS At baseline, there was no statistically significant difference between the two sets of contra-lateral quadrants (P = 0.770). Starting at the lingual aspect of the lower jaw resulted in a 55% reduction of plaque scores in comparison with 58% when the brushing exercise was started buccally. [Correction added on 16 January 2017, after first online publication: In the preceding sentence, the percentage reduction of plaque scores when the brushing exercise was started buccally, was previously wrong and has been corrected to 58% throughout this article. ] The difference in mean plaque scores between brushing orders was 0.04, which was not significant (P = 0.219). None of the subanalyses revealed any significant differences for the isolated surfaces. CONCLUSION Using a manual toothbrush reduced the plaque scores between 55 and 58% with no difference between brushing from either the lingual or buccal aspect first. Within the limitations of this study, a recommendation to start toothbrushing the lingual aspect is not supported by the outcome in this young student population.
A prospective multicenter evaluation of new fecal occult blood tests in patients undergoing colonoscopy

OBJECTIVE:Guaiac-based fecal occult blood (FOB) tests, in particular, Hemoccult II (HO), are commonly used to detect colorectal neoplasia. Because the sensitivity and specificity of these tests are critical to cost-effective screening programs, we aimed to investigate the improved performance characteristics of new FOB tests for known colonic lesions.METHODS:Nine centers worldwide performed FOB testing with guaiac-based tests (Hemoccult II [HO] and Hemoccult II SENSA [SENSA]) and immunochemical tests (HemeSelect [HS] and FlexSure OBT [FS]) on 554 patients referred for colonoscopy for predetermined indications. A combination testing strategy consisting of SENSA followed by HS or FS (which was considered positive only when both tests were positive) was also evaluated. Results of FOB tests were compared to findings on colonoscopy.RESULTS:Cancers were identified in 2.9% of subjects, whereas adenomas ≥10 mm were found in 39 patients. Small adenomas, colitis, and other lesions were identified in 141 patients. The positivity rate of HO for adenomas ≥10 mm was less than for SENSA (20.5% vs 35.9%, p < 0.05), whereas the positivity rate of HO, SENSA, FS, HS, or the combination tests for cancers was not statistically different. The overall positivity rates were significantly greater for FS (15.9%, p = 0.0002) and significantly lower using the combination tests (SENSA/FS 6.0%, p = 0.01; SENSA/HS 6.2%, p = 0.02) compared to HO (9.4%). In this study population, the relative specificity (i.e., true-negative tests/true-negatives + false-positives in patients without adenomas ≥10 mm or cancers) of HO (93.9%; 95% CI, 91.7–96.1) was similar to that of SENSA (92.8%; 95% CI, 90.4–95.2) and HS (90.1%; 95% CI, 87.4–92.8), and greater than FS (88.0%; 95% CI, 85.1–90.9, p < 0.001). When considering adenomas ≥10 mm, cancers alone or cancers and adenomas combined, the combination test using SENSA/FS was associated with significantly fewer false-positive tests than any of the individual tests.CONCLUSIONS:Compared to single tests, the combination test with the highly sensitive SENSA and an immunochemical test had slightly reduced sensitivity but significantly fewer false-positive tests than any single test. These data raise the possibility that a combination test (i.e., highly sensitive guaiac plus immunochemical) could reduce the costs of screening for colon cancer, and suggest that further study of combination test strategies is warranted.
Learning-Based Content Caching and Sharing for Wireless Networks

Content caching at base stations (BSs) is a promising technique for future wireless networks by reducing network traffic and alleviating server bottleneck. However, in practice, the content popularity distribution may change with spatio-temporal variation but be unknown for BSs, which is an intractable obstacle for efficient caching strategy design. In this paper, considering unknown popularity distribution, we explore the content caching problem by jointly optimizing the content caching in cooperative BSs, content sharing among BSs, and cost of content retrieving. We tackle the problem from a multi-armed bandit learning perspective, where the learning of the popularity distribution is incorporated with the content caching and sharing process. Specifically, we first propose a centralized algorithm by employing a semidefinite relaxation approach, and we prove that this centralized algorithm learns efficient caching by deriving a sub-linear learning regret bound. To further reduce computational complexity, we propose a distributed algorithm based on alternating direction method of multipliers, where each BS only solves their own problems by exchanging local information with neighbor BSs. Extensive simulation results show the effectiveness of the proposed algorithms in terms of learning content popularity distributions of individual BSs, offloading traffic from the content server, and reducing cost of content retrieving.
Wpływ jakości usług na efektywność oddziałów bankowych

JakoÊç us∏ug teoretycznie mo ̋e wp∏ywaç na wyniki finansowe albo poprzez koszty, albo przychody uzyskiwane przez bank. W pierwszym przypadku wysoka jakoÊç stanowi czynnik usprawniajàcy przebieg procesów w banku, ograniczajàcy straty zwiàzane ze êle wykonanymi us∏ugami. Ni ̋sze koszty realizacji procesów wewnàtrzbankowych oznaczajà w efekcie wy ̋szy zysk. Po stronie przychodowej wy ̋sza jakoÊç ogranicza odp∏yw klientów do konkurencji, a tak ̋e – dzi ́ki informacji przekazywanej z ust do ust – pozwala przyciàgnàç nowych klientów, zarówno spoÊród dopiero co wchodzàcych na rynek, jak i rezygnujàcych z us∏ug konkurencji (Rust, Zahorik, Keiningham, 1995). Jeszcze innà mo ̋liwoÊcià jest wzrost przychodów banku w wyniku zwi ́kszenia kosztów transakcyjnych opuszczenia banku przez klienta (Kud∏a, 2003). W tym przypadku jakoÊç zwi ́ksza si∏ ́ monopolowà posiadanà przez bank, co pozwala na ̋àdanie wy ̋szych cen za Êwiadczone us∏ugi bez obawy utraty klientów. Tak czy inaczej oddzia∏ywanie poprzez koszty i oddzia∏ywanie poprzez przychody ró ̋nià si ́ zarówno sposobem dzia∏ania, jak i tempem zachodzenia zmian. Obni ̋enie kosztów jest natychmiast widoczne w rachunku zysków i strat, natomiast pozyskanie nowych klientów czy sukces polityki wprowadzenia wy ̋szych op∏at za us∏ugi uwidacznia si ́ dopiero w d∏u ̋szym okresie. W efekcie obserwacja tego typu zjawisk jest trudna, bo na skutki oddzia∏ywania jakoÊci zwykle nak∏adajà si ́ inne czynniki, których wp∏yw na wyniki banku jest znacznie wi ́kszy w krótkim okresie (typowe przyk∏ady to zmiany stóp procentowych czy zmiany klasyfikacji jakoÊci kredytów). Utrudnia to w szczególnoÊci zajmowanie si ́ w sposób bardziej sformalizowany stronà przychodowà. Dlatego o jakoÊci mówi si ́ cz ́sto raczej jako o czynniku tworzenia przewagi konkurencyjnej ni ̋ uzyskania bezpoÊrednich korzyÊci krótkookresowych. Niniejszy artyku∏ ma na celu prób ́ oceny potencjalnego wp∏ywu poprawy jakoÊci wewn ́trznej banku na jakoÊç postrzeganà przez klienta i uzyskiwane wyniki finansowe. Zagadnienie to stanowi fragment prac zespo∏u badawczego, pod kierunkiem prof. dr. hab. Krzysztofa Opolskiego na Wydziale Nauk Ekonomicznych Uniwersytetu Warszawskiego1. W artykule analizowane b ́dà poszczególne kategorie poprawy efektywnoÊci (rozumianej jako najwy ̋sza relacja efektów do nak∏adów) na wyró ̋nionych obszarach procesów Êwiadczenia us∏ug wewnàtrz banku. Dzia∏ania te prowadzà do potencjalnej obni ̋ki stosowanych nak∏adów, co przek∏ada si ́ Wp∏yw jakoÊci us∏ug na efektywnoÊç oddzia∏ów bankowych*
Multiple Feature-Classifier Combination in Automated Text Classification

Automatic text classification (ATC) is important in applications such as indexing and organizing electronic documents in databases leading to enhancement of information access and retrieval. We propose a method which employs various types of feature sets and learning algorithms to improve classification effectiveness. Unlike the conventional methods of multi-classifier combination, the proposed method considers the contributions of various types of feature sets and classifiers. It can therefore be known as multiple feature-classifier combination (MFC) method. In this paper we present empirical evaluation of MFC using two benchmarks of text collections to determine its effectiveness. Empirical evaluation show that MFC consistently outperformed all compared methods.
Behavior‐Based Propagation of Trust in Social Networks with Restricted and Anonymous Participation

Increasing interactions and engagements in social networks through monetary and material incentives is not always feasible. Some social networks, specifically those that are built on the basis of fairness, cannot incentivize members using tangible things and thus require an intangible way to do so. In such networks, a personalized recommender could provide an incentive for members to interact with other members in the community. Behavior‐based trust models that generally compute social trust values using the interactions of a member with other members in the community have proven to be good for this. These models, however, largely ignore the interactions of those members with whom a member has interacted, referred to as “friendship effects. ” Results from social studies and behavioral science show that friends have a significant influence on the behavior of the members in the community. Following the famous Spanish proverb on friendship “Tell Me Your Friends and I Will Tell You Who You Are,” we extend our behavior‐based trust model by incorporating the “friendship effect” with the aim of improving the accuracy of the recommender system. In this article, we describe a trust propagation model based on associations that combines the behavior of both individual members and their friends. The propagation of trust in our model depends on three key factors: the density of interactions, the degree of separation, and the decay of friendship effect. We evaluate our model using a real data set and make observations on what happens in a social network with and without trust propagation to understand the expected impact of trust propagation on the ranking of the members in the recommended list. We present the model and the results of its evaluation. This work is in the context of moderated networks for which participation is by invitation only and in which members are anonymous and do not know each other outside the community. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Molecular typing of Borrelia burgdorferi from Lyme disease patients by PCR-restriction fragment length polymorphism analysis

Ninety-three Borrelia burgdorferi isolates obtained from erythema migrans lesions or blood of Lyme disease patients in Westchester County, N.Y. , between 1991 and 1994 were characterized by PCR-restriction fragment length polymorphism (PCR-RFLP) analysis of the 16S-23S rRNA gene spacer. All isolates could be classified into three distinct RFLP types. Among the 82 skin biopsy isolates studied, 21 (25.6%) were type 1, 37 (45.1%) were type 2, and 21 (25.6%) were type 3. Three (3.7%) cultures contained a mixture of two isolates with distinct RFLP types. The 11 isolates cultured from blood showed a similar predominance of RFLP type 2 (6 of 11; 54.5%) relative to types 1 (2 of 11; 18.2%) and 3 (3 of 11; 27.3%). For one patient both skin and blood isolates were cultured, and RFLP analysis revealed that these isolates differed from one another. This study demonstrates that there is genotypic heterogeneity in B. burgdorferi strains infecting Lyme disease patients, and this typing approach may allow differentiation of isolates with various degrees of pathogenic potential.
Visual Composition as Optimisation

Camera planning is the problem of positioning a camera within a world, such that the resulting image has some predefined set of visual properties. We are developing a graphical presentation planning system which incorporates CAMPLAN, a camera planning subsystem for polygonal graphics. CAMPLAN uses a genetic algorithm to optimise the camera with respect to a set of image objectives (properties of the image). The motivations for CAMPLAN are outlined and an informal evaluation of the system is presented in which we show how successfully more restrictive objectives can impose stylistic regularity over similar graphical scenes. We conclude with a discussion of our current work and outline future directions for graphical presentation planning.
Nanotechnology and the food sector: From the farm to the table -

The science of nanotechnology (NT) has been hailed as the new industrial revolutionrepresenting a new frontier of the 21st century. Defined as the control of matter at an atomic ormolecular scale of between 1 and 100 nm, NT has been predicted to have a significant impact onsociety. While maintaining leadership in the competitive food market and food processingindustry, NT has the capability of breaking down and manipulating foods, a seed, chemicalpesticides and food packaging at the nano-scale level; and in so doing, is driving a nano-food andfarming revolution. Apart from its promise to address climate change NT holds the potential ofmeeting global hunger. Today, consumers demand fresh authentic, convenient and flavourful foodproducts. The future of new products and processes will witness the prolongation of their shelf lifeand freshness, improving the safety and quality of foods. NT therefore has the potential torevolutionise the food industry. Furthermore, this technology can be applied to develop nano-scalematerials, controlled delivery systems, contaminant detection and create nano-devices formolecular and cellular biology.
The Achilles’ Heel of the Arm’s Length Principle and the Canadian GlaxoSmithKline Case

By definition, a multinational earns income in more than one country. Two approaches can be used to establish the tax payable to each country: the separate accounting approach and the formula apportionment approach. Usually, it is assumed that the separate accounting approach is the obvious choice. However, as illustrated by a recent Canadian tax court case, this method has an Achilles’ heel. Since uniqueness and market imperfections are at the heart of the economic profit made by multinationals, it would only seem natural that the comparables necessary to calculate the arm’s length prices do not and cannot exist. These facts plead against the separate accounting approach.
The Occurrence of Paraffin and Other Petroleum Waxes in the Marine Environment: A Review of the Current Legislative Framework and Shipping Operational Practices

Among the various materials that make up marine debris, lumps of petroleum waxes such as paraffin and microcrystalline wax, are regularly found on beaches worldwide, although not included in the current definition of marine litter. Ingestion by marine organisms is occasionally documented in the scientific literature and mass beaching events are frequently reported along the European coasts, with obvious detrimental consequences to the local communities that have to manage the clean-up and disposal of this substance. According to Annex II of the MARPOL regulation, petroleum waxes are classified as “high viscosity, solidifying and persistent floating products”, whose discharge at sea of tank-washing residues is strictly regulated, but currently permitted within certain limits. Starting from the description of a large stranding event occurred along the Italian coasts in 2017, we review the existing knowledge and regulatory framework and urge the relevant authorities to address this issue, showing that wax pollution is creating evident damages to the European coastal municipalities. Pending further investigations on the potential hazard that this kind of pollution is posing to marine ecosystems, we suggest a careful and more stringent revision of the policies regulating discharges of these products at sea.
Make-or-Buy Decisions in Patent Related Services

Among the most prominent theoretical frameworks dealing with the economic underlyings of firms’ make-or-buy decisions are Transaction Cost Economics (TCE) and the Resourced Based View (RBV). Relying on panel data covering 107 European firms over eight years I test predictions from both TCE and RBV with regard to the outsourcing of patent related services simultaneously. Modelling the share of outsourced patent applications in a Negative Binomial Panel Regression Model I find joint explanatory power of both approaches. My findings support previous literature arguing for an integration of TCE and RBV to a comprehensive theoretical framework of firms make-or-buy decisions.