Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Classifying Documents Without Labels

Automatic classification of documents is an important area of research with many applications in the fields of document searching, forensics and others. Methods to perform classification of text rely on the existence of a sample of documents whose class labels are known. However, in many situations, obtaining this sample may not be an easy (or even possible) task. Consider for instance, a set of documents that is returned as a result of a query. If we want to separate the documents that are truly relevant to the query from those that are not, it is unlikely that we will have at hand labelled documents to train classification models to perform this task. In this paper we focus on the classification of an unlabelled set of documents into two classes: relevant and irrelevant, given a topic of interest. By dividing the set of documents into buckets (for instance, answers returned by different search engines), and using association rule mining to find common sets of words among the buckets, we can efficiently obtain a sample of documents that has a large percentage of relevant ones. (I.e., a high “purity”.) This sample can be used to train models to classify the entire set of documents. We try several methods of classification to separate the documents, including Two-class SVM, for which we develop a heuristic to identify a small sample of negative examples. We prove, via experimentation, that our method is capable of accurately classify a set of documents into relevant and irrelevant classes.
Chinese Firms'Entry to Export Markets: The Role of Foreign Export Spillovers

In this paper, the effect of proximity to multinational exporters on the creation of new export linkages (the extensive margin of trade) is debated. Using panel data from Chinese customs for 1997-2007, the capacity for Chinese domestic firms to begin exporting new varieties to new markets is shown to respond positively to the export activity of neighboring foreign firms. These spillovers are shown to be product and country specific. This conclusion is robust to fixed effects and instrumental variable specifications that control for both supply and demand shocks that could bias the estimations. The impact is sizable. The marginal impact of product-country-specific foreign export spillovers is five times as large as the effect of a 10 percent increase in the demand for the product in the destination country. Foreign export spillovers are also shown to be primarily limited to ordinary trade activities. Overall, our findings suggest that even for a country with an important cost-advantage such as China, there is room for initiatives from policy-makers that will diffuse best practices regarding export experience among exporters.
Knowledge Acquisition for Life Counseling

In this paper, we explain how highly unstructured domain knowledge can be acquired and integrated in a case-based reasoning system. We apply our approach to the life counseling domain. We introduce the two steps of our knowledge acquisition approach in such unstructured domains. The first step is manual and relies on domain experts. The second step is automatic and uses information extraction techniques. Our approach has the potential to contribute to the formalizing and establishing of an important subset of life counseling terminology. In addition, our approach could serve as an example for comparable weak theory domains.
Statistical Survey of Deaths from Nonmelanoma Skin Cancer in Japan during 54 Years

The author analyzed the annual trends in the number of deaths from nonmelanoma skin cancer (NMSC) from 1955 to 2008 in Japan on the basis of the data from the Vital Statistics of Japan. The general trends in the number of deaths from NMSC were downward between 1979 to 1994, but upward after 1995. The general trends in age-standardized death rates were roughly downward, although the death rates plateaued after 1995. The recent annual increased ratio of deaths from NMSC was 3.8% (95% confidence interval: 2.7 ∼ 4.9%). The number and proportion of deaths from NMSC among the elderly were increasing in Japan. For females, more than 50% of the deaths occurred recently at or after 85 years of age, whereas, for males, this proportion was at or after 75 years of age, nearly reaching at or after 80 years of age.
Evolving Game Playing Strategies for Othello Incorporating Reinforcement Learning and Mobility

Genetic programming is rapidly gaining popularity in research areas for the induction of complex game playing strategies for board games such as Othello, checkers, backgammon and chess endgames. Most of this research has focused on developing evaluation functions for use with standard game playing algorithms such as the alpha-beta algorithm or Monte Carlo tree search, supported by game specific knowledge bases. In previous work we have introduced a novel application of genetic programming to evolve game playing strategies composed of heuristics for board games. Each evolved strategy represents a player. Strategies are evolved in real time, during game play, while in other studies the strategies are generally created offline. The research presented in this paper builds on this work by investigating the use of reinforcement learning and mobility to further improve the evolved game playing strategies. An initial population of players created using the ramped half-and-half method is iteratively refined using reproduction, mutation and crossover. Tournament selection is used to choose parents. The board game Othello, also known as Reversi, is used to illustrate and evaluate this approach. The performance of the genetic programming approach incorporating reinforcement learning, the genetic programming approach incorporating mobility and the genetic programming approach incorporating both reinforcement learning and mobility were compared to that of the previous heuristic based approach. All three approaches were found to produce better results than the previous heuristic based approach, with the genetic programming approach incorporating just reinforcement learning performing the best.
Fine-Grained Retrieval of Sports Plays using Tree-Based Alignment of Trajectories

We propose a novel method for effective retrieval of multi-agent spatiotemporal tracking data. Retrieval of spatiotemporal tracking data offers several unique challenges compared to conventional text-based retrieval settings. Most notably, the data is fine-grained meaning that the specific location of agents is important in describing behavior. Additionally, the data often contains tracks of multiple agents (e.g., multiple players in a sports game), which generally leads to a permutational alignment problem when performing relevance estimation. Due to the frequent position swap of agents, it is difficult to maintain the correspondence of agents, and such issues make the pairwise comparison problematic for multi-agent spatiotemporal data. To address this issue, we propose a tree-based method to estimate the relevance between multi-agent spatiotemporal tracks. It uses a hierarchical structure to perform multi-agent data alignment and partitioning in a coarse-to-fine fashion. We validate our approach via user studies with domain experts. Our results show that our method boosts performance in retrieving similar sports plays -- especially in interactive situations where the user selects a subset of trajectories compared to current state-of-the-art methods.
Seroreactivity to hepatitis E virus in areas where the disease is not endemic

If the occurrence of hepatitis E virus antibody (anti-HEV) in regions where the disease is not endemic represents infection, rates may be greater in high-risk populations and behavioral correlates may reflect recognized transmission modes. Serum samples from 300 homosexual males, 300 injection drug users (IDUs), and 300 blood donors from Baltimore, Md. , were tested for anti-HEV by enzyme immunoassay. Anti-HEV was found in an unexpectedly high percentage of homosexual men (15.9%) and IDUs (23.0%). However, anti-HEV was present in a similar proportion of blood donors (21.3%) (P > 0.05), while hepatitis A, B, and C virus antibodies were more prevalent in the high-risk groups (P < 0.001). Among homosexual men, anti-HEV was not significantly correlated with a history of hepatitis, high-risk sexual practices, or sexually transmitted infections, in contrast to hepatitis A and B antibodies. Among IDUs, anti-HEV was not significantly associated with a history of hepatitis or high-risk drug-using practices, as was found with hepatitis C antibodies. In a setting without endemic hepatitis E disease, there was no evidence that anti-HEV reflected subclinical infection. Until the basis for HEV seroreactivity in such areas is elucidated, anti-HEV results should be interpreted with caution.
Regional differences in life expectancy at birth in Mexican municipalities, 1990-2000

The purpose of this study is to provide life expectancy estimates at birth for states and aggregates of municipalities by population size within regions of Mexico. A regression-based technique is used to estimate life expectancy for these populations from 1990 to 2000. Our findings suggest that the greatest increase in life expectancy among population size groups occurred in “extended-rural” municipalities (those with a population of 2,500 to 14,999) with an average of 7 years. The capital region showed the highest increase in life expectancy among all the regions, with considerable increases in extended-rural municipalities. Our estimates are consistent with expectations with respect to urban advantages in life expectancy, which probably reflect the concentration of public health services, as well as primary, secondary and tertiary medical care. This analysis may be useful in evaluating the public health policies of the Mexican authorities that have focused on diminishing health inequalities between well and poorly served populations. In general, the life expectancies prepared by the regression method are quite close to those prepared from age-specific mortality rates, and our results show the utility of this shortcut method compared with life expectancies estimated from complete sets of age-specific mortality rates.
How Well Do Discharge Diagnoses Identify Hospitalised Patients with Community-Acquired Infections? – A Validation Study

Background Credible measures of disease incidence, trends and mortality can be obtained through surveillance using manual chart review, but this is both time-consuming and expensive. ICD-10 discharge diagnoses are used as surrogate markers of infection, but knowledge on the validity of infections in general is sparse. The aim of the study was to determine how well ICD-10 discharge diagnoses identify patients with community-acquired infections in a medical emergency department (ED), overall and related to sites of infection and patient characteristics. Methods We manually reviewed 5977 patients admitted to a medical ED in a one-year period (September 2010-August 2011), to establish if they were hospitalised with community-acquired infection. Using the manual review as gold standard, we calculated the sensitivity, specificity, predictive values, and likelihood ratios of discharge diagnoses indicating infection. Results Two thousand five hundred eleven patients were identified with community-acquired infection according to chart review (42.0%, 95% confidence interval [95%CI]: 40.8–43.3%) compared to 2550 patients identified by ICD-10 diagnoses (42.8%, 95%CI: 41.6–44.1%). Sensitivity of the ICD-10 diagnoses was 79.9% (95%CI: 78.1–81.3%), specificity 83.9% (95%CI: 82.6–85.1%), positive likelihood ratio 4.95 (95%CI: 4.58–5.36) and negative likelihood ratio 0.24 (95%CI: 0.22–0.26). The two most common sites of infection, the lower respiratory tract and urinary tract, had positive likelihood ratios of 8.3 (95%CI: 7.5–9.2) and 11.3 (95%CI: 10.2–12.9) respectively. We identified significant variation in diagnostic validity related to age, comorbidity and disease severity. Conclusion ICD-10 discharge diagnoses identify specific sites of infection with a high degree of validity, but only a moderate degree when identifying infections in general.
Power optimization of real-time embedded systems on variable speed processors

Power efficient design of real-time embedded systems based on programmable processors becomes more important as system functionality is increasingly realized through software. This paper presents a power optimization method for real-time embedded applications on a variable speed processor. The method combines off-line and on-line components. The off-line component determines the lowest possible maximum processor speed while guaranteeing deadlines of all tasks. The on-line component dynamically varies the processor speed or brings a processor into a power-down mode according to the status of task set in order to exploit execution time variations and idle intervals. Experimental results show that the proposed method obtains a significant power reduction across several kinds of applications.
Turbulent Structure in Compound Open‐Channel Flows

An investigation of three‐dimensional (3‐D) turbulent structure, including turbulence‐driven secondary currents in compound open‐channel flows, is a very important topic in hydraulic and river engineering, as well as in fluid mechanics. In this study, accurate measurements in fully developed compound open‐channel flows are conducted by means of a fiber‐optic laser Doppler anemometer (FLDA). Secondary velocities can be measured very accurately with the present 3‐D measurement system. The characteristics of compound open‐channel flows are recognized in the junction region between the main channel and flood plain, whereas the characteristics of rectangular open‐channel flows are observed in a region near the sidewall of the main channel. Strong, inclined secondary currents, which are associated with a pair of longitudinal vortices, are generated in the junction region between the main channel and the flood plain. The primary mean velocity field is directly influenced by these secondary currents. Turbulence i.
Waterbirds Population, Species Diversity and Similarity Fluctuation in Relation to Water Pollution in Miangaran Wetland, South of Iran

The Miangaran (also called Izeh) marsh located in vicinity (1.5 Km) of Izeh city at Khouzestan province in south of Iran. The wastewater (domestic sewage, urban-ran-off and industrial) of the Izeh city discharge into the south part of the Izeh marsh. The aim of this study was to determine the effect of water quality by comparing the relative number and species richness and diversity of marsh birds in south and north part of marsh, and to determine what landscape variables could be used to predict the relative number and species richness of marsh birds. Determination of species diversity, richness, evenness, similarity, and number of waterbirds in south part (more polluted part) and north part, as a (low-polluted part) of marsh were carried out from July to September 2011. Eighteen species of migratory waterbirds were present in both south (more Polluted) and north (low-polluted) parts of marsh, but total number of waterbirds in north part (4707 individuals) was twice more than south part (2110 individuals) in summer 2011. Maximum similarity between bird communities in south and north part of marsh was 64.57% (0.77 Morista’s index) in September 2011 and Minimum similarity was 13.44% (0.07 Maritsa’s index) in August 2011. Species diversity and richness of north part were more than south part of marsh, and were in range (10, 9, 11) and (14, 15, 15) species in July, August and September respectively. The study revealed that averages of COD, biological oxygen demand, salinity, SO4 and temperature were in range (9.66-102 mg/L), (50-55 mg/L), (0.96-1.6), (0.61-0.78mg/L), (20-21.6 siliceous) in north and south part of marsh in July, August, and September respectively. The pH, EC, Turbidity, DO, BOD, COD, SO4, NO3, salinity and temperature of water in south part were a little more than north part of marsh, but DO was inverse of other chemical parameters, and in north part was more than south part and were in range (4.66 - 2.90mg/L). A little difference between averages of physicochemical parameters of water in two parts of marsh has been cased significantly in number, species diversity, and richness of waterbirds in summer 2011.
A conceptual framework for understanding semi‐arid land degradation: ecohydrological interactions across multiple‐space and time scales

Land degradation is a problem prolific across semi‐arid areas worldwide. Despite being a complex process including both biotic and abiotic elements, previous attempts to understand ecosystem dynamics have largely been carried out within the disparate disciplines of ecology and hydrology, which has led to significant limitations. Here, an ecohydrological framework is outlined, to provide a new direction for the study of land degradation in semi‐arid ecosystems. Unlike other frameworks that draw upon hierarchy theory to provide a broad, non‐explicit conceptual framework, this new framework is based upon the explicit linkage of processes operating over the continuum of temporal and spatial scales by perceiving the ecosystem as a series of structural and functional connections, within which interactions between biotic and abiotic components of the landscape occur. It is hypothesized that semi‐arid land degradation conforms to a cusp‐catastrophe model in which the two controlling variables are abiotic structural connectivity and abiotic functional connectivity, which implicitly account for ecosystem resilience, and biotic structural and function connectivity. It is suggested therefore that future research must (1) evaluate how abiotic and biotic function (i.e. water, sediment and nutrient loss/redistribution) vary over grass–shrub transitions and (2) quantify the biotic/abiotic structure over grass‐shrub transitions, to (3) determine the interactions between ecosystem structure and function, and interactions/feedbacks between biotic and abiotic components of the ecosystem. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Normal Hearing Is Required for the Emergence of Long-Lasting Inhibitory Potentiation in Cortex

Long-term synaptic plasticity is a putative mechanism for learning in adults. However, there is little understanding of how synaptic plasticity mechanisms develop or whether their maturation depends on experience. Since inhibitory synapses are particularly malleable to sensory stimulation, long-lasting potentiation of inhibitory synapses was characterized in auditory thalamocortical slices. Intracortical high-frequency electrical stimulation led to a 67% increase in inhibitory synaptic currents. In the absence of stimulation, inhibitory potentiation was induced by a brief exposure to exogenous brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF). BDNF exposure occluded any additional potentiation by high-frequency afferent stimulation, suggesting that BDNF signaling is sufficient to account for inhibitory potentiation. Moreover, inhibitory potentiation was reduced significantly by extracellular application of a BDNF scavenger or by intracellular blockade of BDNF receptor [tropomyosin-related kinase B (TrkB)] signaling. In contrast, glutamatergic or GABAergic antagonists did not prevent the induction of inhibitory potentiation. Since BDNF and TrkB expression are influenced strongly by activity, we predicted that inhibitory potentiation would be diminished by manipulations that decrease central auditory activity, such as hearing loss. Two forms of hearing loss were examined: conductive hearing loss in which the cochleae are not damaged or sensorineural hearing loss in which both cochleae are removed. Both forms of hearing loss were found to reduce significantly the magnitude of inhibitory potentiation. These data indicate that early experience is necessary for the normal development of BDNF-mediated long-lasting inhibitory potentiation, which may be associated with perceptual deficits at later ages.
Inaccurate Color Discrimination by Pollinators Promotes Evolution of Discrete Color Polymorphism in Food-Deceptive Flowers

Many plant species employing a food-deceptive pollination strategy show discrete or continuous floral polymorphism within their populations. Previous studies have suggested that negative frequency-dependent selection (NFDS) caused by the learning behavior of pollinators was responsible for the maintenance of floral polymorphism. However, NFDS alone does not explain why and when discrete or continuous polymorphism evolves. In this study, we use an evolutionary simulation model to propose that inaccurate discrimination of flower colors by pollinators results in evolution of discrete flower color polymorphism. Simulations showed that associative learning based on inaccurate discrimination in pollinators caused disruptive selection of flower colors. The degree of inaccuracy determined the number of discrete flower colors that evolved. Our results suggest that animal behavior based on inaccurate discrimination may be a general cause of disruptive selection that promotes discrete trait polymorphism.
Five heuristics for designing and evaluating Web-based communities

From a three-step analysis of online communities, a set of five heuristics emerged: interactive creativity; selection hierarchy; identity construction; rewards and costs; and, artistic forms. These heuristics were generated from concepts appearing in past research, and then tested by a content analysis with focus groups using the case examples of two well-developed Web-based communities, Facebook and MySpace. The users saw this type of social technology as a flexible form of their own expression to create their own identities, social relationships, and meanings. Overall, MySpace was seen as offering greater creativity and artistic form than Facebook. The users in this study used online communities for gaining social rewards; e.g., forming and maintaining friendships, with little concern for social costs such as time expended or privacy concerns. This study contributes to a set of heuristics that can be used to evaluate other Web-based online communities in social contexts such as gaming, communities of practice, and business.
The subtropical mode water circulation in the North Pacific

Abstract Historical hydrographic data are analyzed to investigate the seasonal variation of the subsurace pycnostad in the northwestern part of the North Pacific and to relate it to the circulation of subtropical mode water (STMW). A gyre-scale scheme of STMW circulation is deduced based on its observed climatological formation area and climatological geostrophic flow fields. The deduced circulation is supported by climatological features of the subsurface hydrography presented separately for the non-large-meander period and the large-meander period of the Kuroshio: zonal and meridional sections and isopycnal maps of potential vorticity and apparent oxygen utilization. The Kuroshio Countercurrent composing the Kuroshio recirculation system advects STMW formed in the wintertime thick mixed layer immediately off the Kuroshio and the Kuroshio Extension. During the non-large-meander period, the recirculation system has a single anticyclonic gyre centered near 30°N, 137°E and advects STMW formed off the Kurosh.