Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Work-Sharing: An Efficiency-Wage Analysis

This paper evaluates two approaches to work-sharing by examining both within the same macro model. The standard approach involves imposing a quantity constraint on labour market participants (a maximum number of standard hours for each worker). This approach is compared to a revenue-neutral employment subsidy financed by a tax on overtime hours ? an initiative intended to harness market incentives. The paper shows that the second approach brings much preferred results ? it involves lower unemployment, higher investment, and no reduction in the wage earnings of those already employed. The analysis suggests that policymakers should not reject work-sharing just because they are (justifiably) skeptical of mandated reductions in hours. The model involves the following features: (i) it is optimization-based (so there is a well-defined reason for labour market failure); (ii) it facilitates the investigation of trade-offs (so it can be determined whether improvements in unemployment must be accompanied by reductions in productivity, investment, average hours or wage rates); (iii) it involves a small open economy (so concerns about the limits to independent policy in this setting are respected); and (iv) it can be readily calibrated (so empirically relevant quantitative results are derived).
Prepositional phrase attachment ambiguity resolution using semantic hierarchies

This paper describes a system that resolves prepositional phrase attachment ambiguity in English sentence process- ing. This attachment problem is ubiquitous in English text, and is widely known as a place where semantics determines syntactic form. The decision is made based on a four-tuple composed of the head verb of the verb phrase, the head noun of the noun phrase, and the preposition and head noun in the prepositional phrase. A corpus with known results, the Penn Treebank, is used for training and testing purposes. During training, known results are used to build a lattice of hierarchical categories taken from WordNet. These lattices are then compared to the novel lattices derived from the test four-tuples. The results of the system are 90.53% correct attachment decisions.
Bayesian Multi-Task Relationship Learning with Link Structure

In this paper, we study the multi-task learning problem with a new perspective of considering the link structure of data and task relationship modeling simultaneously. In particular, we first introduce the Matrix Gaussian (MG) distribution and Matrix Generalized Inverse Gaussian (MGIG) distribution, then define a Matrix Gaussian Matrix Generalized Inverse Gaussian (MG-MGIG) prior. Based on this prior, we propose a novel multi-task learning algorithm, the Bayesian Multi-task Relationship Learning (BMTRL) algorithm. To incorporate the link structure into the framework of BMTRL, we propose link constraints between samples. Through combining the BMTRL algorithm with the link constraints, we propose the Bayesian Multi-task Relationship Learning with Link Constraints (BMTRL-LC) algorithm. Further, we apply the manifold theory to provide an extension of BMTRL-LC to data with no link structure. Specifically, BMTRL-LC is effective for multi-task learning with only limited training samples, which is not addressed in the existing literature. To make the computation tractable, we simultaneously use a convex optimization method and sampling techniques. In particular, we adopt two stochastic EM algorithms for BMTRL and BMTRL-LC, respectively. The experimental results on three real datasets demonstrate the promise of the proposed algorithms.
Predicting rating changes for banks: how accurate are accounting and stock market indicators?

We aim to assess how accurately accounting and stock market indicators predict rating changes for Asian banks. We conduct a stepwise process to determine the optimal set of early indicators by tracing upgrades and downgrades from rating agencies, as well as other relevant factors. Our results indicate that both accounting and market indicators are useful leading indicators but are more effective in predicting upgrades than downgrades, especially for large banks. Moreover, early indicators are only significant in predicting rating changes for banks that are more focused on traditional banking activities such as deposit and loan activities. Finally, a higher reliance of banks on subordinated debt is associated with better accuracy of early indicators.
An Automatic Emergency Signal Recognition System for the Hearing Impaired

Communication systems based on man-machine interaction play an increasingly important role in everyday life. Whereas these systems make life easier for many people, for the hearing impaired they are indispensable. Automatic speech recognition systems in particular, thanks to the simultaneous display of text, reduce the gap separating the deaf, or the hearing impaired in general, from the world of the hearing. The paper presents an automatic aid system for the hearing impaired while behind the wheel of a car. It proposes an algorithm, based on typical speech recognition techniques, for the identification and automatic signaling on a display of emergency signals such as sirens sounded by ambulances, fire engines or any other emergency service vehicle. Tests performed show that the system guarantees an accuracy level of over 99% with a response time of less than 400 ms
Automatic Synchronization of Music Data

Digital music libraries typically contain the same piece of music in different data formats such as the score, some MIDI-files, and several interpretations by various musicians in form of CD recordings. Inhomogeneity and complexity of such music data make content-based browsing and retrieval in digital music libraries a difficult task with many yet unsolved problems. One important step towards a solution are synchronization algorithms which automatically link data streams of different data formats representing a similar kind of information. In this article we introduce some algorithms which automatically link any two data streams given in score-, MIDIor CD-format representing the same polyphonic piano piece. This involves some steps for extracting note parameters such as onset times and pitches from CD-data. These discrete parameters makes the physical audio data comparable to the purely symbolic score data. In this context, we also give a summary and specification of further problems in computational musicology related to the discussed synchronization problems.
The Jackknife in Classification

Breiman (1996), in an important contribution to the eld of classi cation, introduced the notion of resampling for improving classi cation rules. Freund and Schapire (1996) developed an other algorithm that exploits the resampling. This paper presents a Jackknife-type approach combined with the Freund and Schapire (FS) method. We propose and explore some alternatives to this algorithm and nd that it is possible to get a quality as good or better than the results obtained with Breiman's or the FS method with less computation, and that there exists an evolution of the quality of the results depending on a parameter we introduce in our method.
Modeling Growth in Latent Variables Using a Piecewise Function

Latent growth curve models with piecewise functions for continuous repeated measures data have become increasingly popular and versatile tools for investigating individual behavior that exhibits distinct phases of development in observed variables. As an extension of this framework, this research study considers a piecewise function for describing segmented change of a latent construct over time where the latent construct is itself measured by multiple indicators gathered at each measurement occasion. The time of transition from one phase to another is not known a priori and thus is a parameter to be estimated. Utility of the model is highlighted in 2 ways. First, a small Monte Carlo simulation is executed to show the ability of the model to recover true (known) growth parameters, including the location of the point of transition (or knot), under different manipulated conditions. Second, an empirical example using longitudinal reading data is fitted via maximum likelihood and results discussed. Mplus (Version 6.1) code is provided in Appendix C to aid in making this class of models accessible to practitioners.
Subjectivity Detection in English and Bengali: A CRF-based Approach

With the proliferation of online reviews and sentiments the Web is becoming more and more useful and important information resource for people. As a result, automatic opinion/sentiment mining has become a hot research topic recently. Extracting opinions from text is a hard semantic problem. Subjectivity Detection is studied as a text classification problem that classifies texts as either subjective or objective. This paper illustrates a Conditional Random Field (CRF) based Subjectivity Detection approach tested on English and Bengali multiple domain corpus to establish its effectiveness over multiple domain perspective. The motivation is to develop generic domain independent solution architecture for a less computerized language like Bengali. A relatively simple and less human interactive technique has been proposed for developing opinion mining resources for Bengali. The features used in the CRF-based classifier could be extracted for any new language with minimum linguistics knowledge. The final classifier has resulted precision values of 76.08% and 79.90% for English and 72.16% and 74.6% for Bengali for the news and blog domains respectively.
Universal Structures with Forbidden Homomorphisms

We relate the existence problem of universal objects to the properties of corresponding enriched categories (lifts or expansions). In particular, extending earlier results, we prove that for every (possibly infinite) regular set F of finite connected structures there exists a (countable) \omega-categorical universal structure U for the class Forb(F) (of all countable structures not containing any homomorphic image of a member of F). We employ a technique known as homogenization: The universal object U is the shadow (reduct) of an ultrahomogeneous structure U'. We also put the results of this paper in the context of homomorphism dualities and constraint satisfaction problems. This leads to an alternative proof of the characterization of finite dualities (given by Tardif and Ne\v{s}et\v{r}il) as well as of the characterization of infinite-finite dualities for classes of relational trees given by P. L. Erd\H{o}s, P\'{a}lv\"{o}lgyi, Tardif and Tardos. The notion of regular families of structures is motivated by the recent characterization of infinite-finite dualities for classes of relational forests (itself related to regular languages). We show how the notion of a regular family of relational trees can be extended to regular families of relational structures. This gives a partial characterization of the existence of a (countable) \omega-categorical universal object for classes Forb(F).
Web-Based Cooperative Learning and Application Solution Research

Cooperative Learning is one of the basic characters of independent creative learning, and network environment is an important means of promoting Cooperative Learning. This paper not only analyses the theory of Web-based Cooperative Learning, learning content and learning pattern, but also proposes relevant implement measures combining the course features of Software analysis and design. It also gives the solutions to the problems that met in the implementation process. The result shows that the abilities of cooperation communication, innovation skills and learning enthusiasm of students are evidently improved.
Long-Term Evaluation of Patients Undergoing Genitoplasty due to Disorders of Sex Development: Results from a 14-Year Follow-Up

Purpose. To summarize the experience in treating patients with genitoplasty due to disorders of sex development in China. Methods. The operative procedures, gender of rearing, surgical outcome, and psychosocial and family adjustments of 262 patients were reviewed retrospectively. Results. At initial diagnosis, the mean age was 14.3 ± 2.8 years (range: 2–38 years). There were 96 children, 133 adolescents, and 33 adults. Follow-up was done every 6 months. Patients with female sex assignment had no urinary incontinence or voiding difficulty. Five patients underwent the second surgery (3%); vaginal dilation was performed in 35 patients with postoperative vaginal stenosis; 12 patients (7.4%) were unsatisfactory with the outcome. For patients with male sex assignment, the median length of penis was 2.2 cm in prepubertal patients, 4.2 cm in pubertal patients, and 5.0 cm in adults; 39 patients developed postvoid dribbling (39%); 21 patients underwent a second surgery (21%); urethral dilation was done in 28 patients (28%) due to urethral stricture; 38 patients were unsatisfactory with the outcome (38%). In addition, 136 patients (83%) with female sex assignment and 54 (54%) with male sex assignment had favorable psychosocial adjustment. Conclusions. Patients with male sex assignment have more surgical complications and difficulties in psychosocial adjustment as compared to those with female sex assignment.
Using a Competence Model to Aggregate Learning Knowledge Objects

Competence-based learning models have great importance for learning resources: they constitute a meaningful structure for just-in-time and just-enough learning. In this paper, we present an ontology-based competence model that allows the on-the-fly generation of learning knowledge objects (LKOs). The automatic aggregation process relies on knowledge objects and ontologies created through text mining and natural language processing. It is guided by instructional theories encoded declaratively through SWRL. Our framework offers a constructivist learning approach through the presentation of the LKO's context to the learner based on domain ontology. Finally, it allows the standardization of the generated learning objects in SCORM and IMS-LD.
Phagocytosis of human post-capacitated spermatozoa by macrophages.

BACKGROUND Earlier studies demonstrated that macrophages phagocytize spermatozoa in the female genital tract of mammals. In spite of this phagocytosis, fecundity is not affected, raising questions of how the resulting decrease in the number of spermatozoa does not reduce the fertilization rate and of the role of this phagocytosis. We hypothesized that its role is to rid the female genital tract of spermatozoa past their fertilizing stage (post-capacitated spermatozoa). Here we examined whether, indeed, phagocytosis is restricted to post-capacitated spermatozoa. METHODS Spermatozoa were incubated for 22 h either in a medium that allows them to become capacitated and then post-capacitated, or in a medium that prevents them from acquiring these states. These sperm populations were compared for their susceptibilities to macrophage phagocytosis. RESULTS Phagocytosis was significantly higher (P << 0.001) in the sperm population containing post-capacitated spermatozoa. Vitality, motility, the acrosomal status and the proportion of capacitated cells did not affect phagocytosis. CONCLUSION Post-capacitated spermatozoa are, probably, preferentially phagocytized by macrophages.
Galactic Kinematics toward the South Galactic Pole: First Results from the Yale-San Juan Southern Proper Motion Program

The predictions from a Galactic structure and kinematic model code are compared with the color counts and absolute proper motions derived from the Southern Proper Motion survey, covering more than 700 deg2 toward the south Galactic pole in the range 9 < BJ ≤ 19. The theoretical assumptions and associated computational procedures, the geometry for the kinematic model, and the adopted parameters are presented in detail and compared with other Galactic kinematic models of its kind. The data with which the model is compared consist of more than 30,000 randomly selected stars, and they are best fitted by models with a solar peculiar motion of +5 km s-1 in the V-component (pointing in the direction of Galactic rotation), a high LSR speed of 270 km s-1, and a (disk) velocity ellipsoid that always points toward the Galactic center. The absolute proper motions in the U-component indicate a solar peculiar motion of 11.0 ± 1.5 km s-1, with no need for a local expansion or contraction term. The fainter absolute motions show an indication that the thick disk must exhibit a rather steep velocity gradient of about -36 km s-1 kpc-1 with respect to the LSR. We are not able to set constraints on the overall rotation for the halo or on the thick disk or halo velocity dispersions. Some substructure in the U and V proper motions could be present in the brighter bins, 10 < BJ < 13, and it might be indicative of (disk) moving groups.
Do "Also-Viewed" Products Help User Rating Prediction?

For online product recommendation engines, learning high-quality product embedding that captures various aspects of the product is critical to improving the accuracy of user rating prediction. In recent research, in conjunction with user feedback, the appearance of a product as side information has been shown to be helpful for learning product embedding. However, since a product has a variety of aspects such as functionality and specifications, taking into account only its appearance as side information does not suffice to accurately learn its embedding. In this paper, we propose a matrix co-factorization method that leverages information hidden in the so-called "also-viewed" products, i.e., a list of products that has also been viewed by users who have viewed a target product. "Also-viewed" products reflect various aspects of a given product that have been overlooked by visually-aware recommendation methods proposed in past research. Experiments on multiple real-world datasets demonstrate that our proposed method outperforms state-of-the-art baselines in terms of user rating prediction. We also perform classification on the product embedding learned by our method, and compare it with a state-of-the-art baseline to demonstrate the superiority of our method in generating high-quality product embedding that better represents the product.
Self Configurable Queries for Digital Image Libraries

Since multimedia information is characterized by motley types of media with different properties, multimedia content retrieval in digital libraries requires dynamic reconfigurable architectures. In this paper, mobile agents are being used as the basis of such a dynamic reconfigurable architecture. The proposed architecture is further enhanced with innovative relevance feedback algorithms for interactive multimedia retrieval. In particular, an optimal recursive relevance feedback mechanism is examined by adaptively estimating a parametric correlation-based similarity measure
Generalised Anxiety Disorder – A Twin Study of Genetic Architecture, Genome-Wide Association and Differential Gene Expression

Generalised Anxiety Disorder (GAD) is a common anxiety-related diagnosis, affecting approximately 5% of the adult population. One characteristic of GAD is a high degree of anxiety sensitivity (AS), a personality trait which describes the fear of arousal-related sensations. Here we present a genome-wide association study of AS using a cohort of 730 MZ and DZ female twins. The GWAS showed a significant association for a variant within the RBFOX1 gene. A heritability analysis of the same cohort also confirmed a significant genetic component with h2 of 0.42. Additionally, a subset of the cohort (25 MZ twins discordant for AS) was studied for evidence of differential expression using RNA-seq data. Significant differential expression of two exons with the ITM2B gene within the discordant MZ subset was observed, a finding that was replicated in an independent cohort. While previous research has shown that anxiety has a high comorbidity with a variety of psychiatric and neurodegenerative disorders, our analysis suggests a novel etiology specific to AS.
Efficient Virtual Machine Placement with Energy Saving in Cloud Data Center

Cloud data centers provide computing infrastructure as a service to their customers on pay per use basis. In virtualized data centers CPU, RAM, storage and bandwidth are allotted to a Virtual Machine (VM) from pool of shared resources. An autonomic consolidation of VMs on appropriate Physical Machine (PM) by achieving performance and saving cost is the key challenge for virtualized data centers. This paper presents a self-organizing and multi-objective approach for autonomic consolidation of VMs. The proposed approach does the initial placement of VMs in appropriate PM of cloud data centre which addresses different issues altogether such as maximum resource requirement during setup of VMs, future demand of free resources at peak load, improving the performance and energy saving by keeping idle PMs at offline state. The performance of the proposed algorithm is evaluated by simulating a data center with randomly generated resource capacities of PMs and resource requirement of VMs. Experiment results of proposed technique are also compared with standard algorithms of VM consolidation such as first-first, next-fit and random-selection on two dimensions of resources-CPU and RAM.
Developing and Managing Community Water Supplies

This book on the development and management of community water supplies provides field experience primarily from Ghana and Ethiopia during 1986-92 and lessons learned from community water supply programs (CWSPs); and aims to provide guidance to program managers senior extension and technical staff of community groups external support agencies nongovernmental organizations and government agencies supporting CWSPs. Guidelines are provided for planning and managing fieldwork training community members and program staff and preparing program proposals. Chapters specifically address issues of environmental health partnerships program planning proposal preparation project implementation management of community water supplies and planning evaluations. Each chapter closes with references for additional reading. The appendices identify major international or organizational centers for information distribution. This book refers to programs as the framework for implementation of individual projects. Planning begins from the preliminary stage to a more detailed planning stage. Projects may be community initiated or agency stimulated. The information gathering stage is a learning process for the community and agency. Time allocated to information gathering must be balanced with the urgency of the need the cost of information gathering and the willingness of the community. Baseline information provides a measure for comparisons at a later date. Informal methods are useful such as community mapping or Participatory Rapid Appraisal.
On optimal swinging of the biped arms

A ballistic walking gait is designed for a planar biped with two identical two-link legs, a trunk and two one-link arms. This seven-link biped is controlled via impulsive torques at the instantaneous double support to obtain a cyclic gait. These impulsive torques are applied in six inter-link joints. Then infinity of solutions exists to find the impulsive torques. An energy cost functional of these impulsive torques is calculated to choose a unique solution by its minimization. Numerical results show that for a given time period of the walking gait step and a length of the step, there exists an optimal swinging amplitude of arms. For this optimal motion of the arms, mentioned above cost functional is minimum.