Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Examining Personalization in Academic Web Search

Personalization promises to improve the accuracy of Web search and has been drawing much research attention recently. Some evidence indicates that for educational purposes, the disadvantages of personalized search are not justified by its benefits. The potential issues with search personalization, especially in an educational context, include loss of serendipity and capability, commercialization of education and the "Filter Bubble" effect where users are denied information if search engine algorithms decide it is irrelevant to them. The majority of students in higher education make use of general-purpose search engines to find academic information, however we have little knowledge about the effects of personalization on learners' experience and achievements. This observation motivates the research in this paper. First, we surveyed 120 university students to investigate which research sources, including search engines they predominately use and how much they depend on each for educational purposes. We learned that the majority of students prefer Google to other search engines; indeed sometimes it is their primary or only information-seeking tool. Additionally, about 80% of them use search engines for educational purposes on daily basis. Second, we measured the difference between personalized and non-personalized search results for 120 academic search queries divided equally into four categories: Education, IT, Health sciences and Business. Our results showed that on average only 53% of links appear, not necessarily in the same order, in both personalized and non-personalized search results. Interestingly, we observed only slight differences in the extent of personalization based on academic topics.
Locally Synchronized Synaptic Inputs

Coordinating Synapses Cortical microcircuits produce cell assemblies that emit spatiotemporally orchestrated spiking activity. These activity patterns are decoded by the dendrites of downstream neurons. Whether synaptic inputs are clustered or dispersed over target dendrites at a given time is critical for determining dendritic computational power. However, such subcellular dynamics are poorly understood. In rodent organotypic slice cultures, Takahashi et al. (p. 353) found that dendritic spine activities were frequently synchronized within a group of spines in the immediate vicinity of one another. This local synchronization seems to reflect convergent synaptic inputs from intrinsically synchronized presynaptic neuron populations. The computational power of individual neurons is determined by a surprisingly precise wiring of neuronal networks. Synaptic inputs on dendrites are nonlinearly converted to action potential outputs, yet the spatiotemporal patterns of dendritic activation remain to be elucidated at single-synapse resolution. In rodents, we optically imaged synaptic activities from hundreds of dendritic spines in hippocampal and neocortical pyramidal neurons ex vivo and in vivo. Adjacent spines were frequently synchronized in spontaneously active networks, thereby forming dendritic foci that received locally convergent inputs from presynaptic cell assemblies. This precise subcellular geometry manifested itself during N-methyl-d-aspartate receptor–dependent circuit remodeling. Thus, clustered synaptic plasticity is innately programmed to compartmentalize correlated inputs along dendrites and may reify nonlinear synaptic integration.
Embedded memory design using memristor: Retention time versus write energy

Memristor is a good candidate for replacing CMOS-based flash and DRAM due to its superior scalability, low read energy and non-volatility characteristics. Relatively longer write time and high write energy are the main obstacles in the way of adapting memristor for on-chip memory to replace SRAM. The off-to-on resistance ratio for memristor are in excess of 1000x which provides adequate noise margin to separate the on versus off states. In this paper, we explore the design space of memristor by studying retention time, write time, write energy, and noise margin ratio. Our results show that by reducing target retention time both write time and energy can be reduced to a competitive level. In addition, reducing the noise margin reduces both the write time and energy. Our study shows that by reducing retention time to about 4 years write energy can be reduced to 0.1pJ. Compared to SRAM power consumed is 88.6% less for 128KB memory array. Since on-chip memory is not expected to retain data for long time (Jog et al., 2011), our proposed approach can be used in many energy critical applications and is able to reduce system complexity especially power management unit.
Top-k point of interest retrieval using standard indexes

With the proliferation of Internet-connected, location-aware mobile devices, such as smartphones, we are also witnessing a proliferation and increased use of map-based services that serve information about relevant Points of Interest (PoIs) to their users. We provide an efficient and practical foundation for the processing of queries that take a keyword and a spatial region as arguments and return the k most relevant PoIs that belong to the region, which may be the part of the map covered by the user's screen. The paper proposes a novel technique that encodes the spatio-textual part of a PoI as a compact bit string. This technique extends an existing spatial encoding to also encode the textual aspect of a PoI in compressed form. The resulting bit strings may then be indexed using index structures such as B-trees or hashing that are standard in DBMSs and key-value stores. As a result, it is straightforward to support the proposed functionality using existing data management systems. The paper also proposes a novel top-k query algorithm that merges partial results while providing an exact result. An empirical study with real-world data indicates that the proposed techniques enable excellent indexing and query execution performance on a standard DBMS.
Querying XML in Timber

In this paper, we describe the TIMBER XML database system implemented at University of Michigan. TIMBER was one of the first native XML database systems, designed from the ground up to store and query semi-structured data. A distinctive principle of TIMBER is its algebraic underpinning. Central contributions of the TIMBER project include: (1) tree algebras that capture the structural nature of XML queries; (2) the stack-based family of algorithms to evaluate structural joins; (3) new rule-based query optimization techniques that take care of the heterogeneous nature of the intermediate results and take the schema information into consideration; (4) cost-based query optimization techniques and summary structures for result cardinality estimation; and (5) a family of structural indices for more efficient query evaluation. In this paper, we describe not only the architecture of TIMBER, its storage model, and engineering choices we made, but also present in hindsight, our retrospective on what went well and not so well with our design and engineering choices. Figure 1: TIMBER Architecture: XML documents are parsed and nodes stored individually in the back-end store. Parsed queries, from multiple supported interfaces, go through a query optimizer to the query evaluator in a relatively standard overall database system architecture. The TIMBER system [10, 16] was developed at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, beginning 1999. It was an early native XML data management system. In this retrospective, we take stock of our work over the past nine years. Figure 1 provides an overview of the major system components. Secs. 1 through 4 describe the underlying algebra, query evaluation methods, query optimization, and indices, respectively. Sec. 5 mentions aspects of TIMBER not included in this article. Sec. 6 concludes with a retrospective view. 1 Algebra Relational algebra has been a crucial foundation for relational database systems, and has played a large role in enabling their success. A corresponding XML algebra for XML query processing has been more elusive, due to the comparative complexity of XML, and its history. In the relational model, a tuple is the basic unit of operation and a relation is a set of tuples. In XML, a database is often described as a forest of rooted node-labeled trees. Hence, for the basic unit and central construct of our algebra, we chose an XML query pattern (or Copyright 2008 IEEE. Personal use of this material is permitted. However, permission to reprint/republish this material for advertising or promotional purposes or for creating new collective works for resale or redistribution to servers or lists, or to reuse any copyrighted component of this work in other works must be obtained from the IEEE. Bulletin of the IEEE Computer Society Technical Committee on Data Engineering
Diminished heart beat non-stationarities in congestive heart failure

Studies on heart rate variability (HRV) have become popular and the possibility of diagnosis based on non-invasive techniques compels us to overcome the difficulties originated on the environmental changes that can affect the signal. We perform a non-parametric segmentation which consists of locating the points where the signal can be split into stationary segments. By finding stationary segments we are able to analyze the size of these segments and evaluate how the signal changes from one segment to another, looking at the statistical moments given in each patch, for example, mean and variance. We analyze HRV data for 15 patients with congestive heart failure (CHF; 11 males, 4 females, age 56±11 years), 18 elderly healthy subjects (EH; 11 males, 7 females, age 50±7 years), and 15 young healthy subjects (YH; 11 females, 4 males, age 31±6 years). Our results confirm higher variance for YH, and EH, while CHF displays diminished variance with p-values <0.01, when compared to the healthy groups, presenting higher HRV in healthy subjects. Moreover, it is possible to distinguish between YH and EH with p < 0.05 through the segmentation outcomes. We found high correlations between the results of segmentation and standard measures of HRV analysis and a connection to results of detrended fluctuation analysis (DFA). The segmentation applied to HRV studies detects aging and pathological conditions effects on the non-stationary behavior of the analyzed groups, promising to contribute in complexity analysis and providing risk stratification measures.
Further developments in the area of nonlinear microwave network design — In mirror of the international workshop on “Integrated Nonlinear Microwave and Millimeter-Wave Circuits (INMMiC)”

Continuing the historical view sketched by a companion contribution (cfr. A. Beyer), the major advances in microwave and millimeter-wave circuit design and device characterization will be outlined, as reflected and strengthened by the many valuable papers presented in the international workshop on “Integrated Nonlinear Microwave and Millimeter-Wave Circuits” (INMMiC). The contributions in the workshops from Rome (2004) to the last edition in Dublin (2012) will be briefly recalled.
Epithelial-Mesenchymal-Transition-Like and TGFβ Pathways Associated with Autochthonous Inflammatory Melanoma Development in Mice

We compared gene expression signatures of aggressive amelanotic (Amela) melanomas with those of slowly growing pigmented melanomas (Mela), identifying pathways potentially responsible for the aggressive Amela phenotype. Both tumors develop in mice upon conditional deletion in melanocytes of Ink4a/Arf tumor suppressor genes with concomitant expression of oncogene H-RasG12V and a known tumor antigen. We previously showed that only the aggressive Amela tumors were highly infiltrated by leukocytes concomitant with local and systemic inflammation. We report that Amela tumors present a pattern of de-differentiation with reduced expression of genes involved in pigmentation. This correlates with reduced and enhanced expression, respectively, of microphthalmia-associated (Mitf) and Pou3f2/Brn-2 transcription factors. The reduced expression of Mitf-controlled melanocyte differentiation antigens also observed in some human cutaneous melanoma has important implications for immunotherapy protocols that generally target such antigens. Induced Amela tumors also express Epithelial-Mesenchymal-Transition (EMT)-like and TGFβ-pathway signatures. These are correlated with constitutive Smad3 signaling in Amela tumors and melanoma cell lines. Signatures of infiltrating leukocytes and some chemokines such as chemotactic cytokine ligand 2 (Ccl2) that contribute to leukocyte recruitment further characterize Amela tumors. Inhibition of the mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK) activation pathway in Amela tumor lines leads to reduced expression of EMT hallmark genes and inhibits both proinflammatory cytokine Ccl2 gene expression and Ccl2 production by the melanoma cells. These results indicate a link between EMT-like processes and alterations of immune functions, both being controlled by the MAPK pathway. They further suggest that targeting the MAPK pathway within tumor cells will impact tumor-intrinsic oncogenic properties as well as the nature of the tumor microenvironment.
Improving Stereo Sub-Pixel Accuracy for Long Range Stereo

Dense stereo algorithms are able to estimate disparities at all pixels including untextured regions. Typically these disparities are evaluated at integer disparity steps. A subsequent sub-pixel interpolation often fails to propagate smoothness constraints on a sub-pixel level. The determination of sub-pixel accurate disparities is an active field of research, however, most sub-pixel estimation algorithms focus on textured image areas in order to show their precision. We propose to increase the sub-pixel accuracy in low- textured regions in three possible ways: First, we present an analysis that shows the benefit of evaluating the disparity space at fractional disparities. Second, we introduce a new disparity smoothing algorithm that preserves depth discontinuities and enforces smoothness on a sub-pixel level. Third, we present a novel stereo constraint (gravitational constraint) that assumes sorted disparity values in vertical direction and guides global algorithms to reduce false matches, especially in low-textured regions. Our goal in this work is to obtain an accurate 3D reconstruction. Large- scale 3D reconstruction will benefit heavily from these sub- pixel refinements, especially with a multi-baseline extension. Results based on semi-global matching , obtained with the above mentioned algorithmic extensions are shown for the Middlebury stereo ground truth data sets. The presented improvements, called ImproveSubPix, turn out to be one of the top-performing algorithms when evaluating the set on a sub-pixel level while being computationally efficient. Additional results are presented for urban scenes. The three improvements are independent of the underlying type of stereo algorithm and can also be applied to sparse stereo algorithms.
yt: A MULTI-CODE ANALYSIS TOOLKIT FOR ASTROPHYSICAL SIMULATION DATA

The analysis of complex multiphysics astrophysical simulations presents a unique and rapidly growing set of challenges: reproducibility, parallelization, and vast increases in data size and complexity chief among them. In order to meet these challenges, and in order to open up new avenues for collaboration between users of multiple simulation platforms, we present yt (available at http://yt.enzotools.org/) an open source, community-developed astrophysical analysis and visualization toolkit. Analysis and visualization with yt are oriented around physically relevant quantities rather than quantities native to astrophysical simulation codes. While originally designed for handling Enzo's structure adaptive mesh refinement data, yt has been extended to work with several different simulation methods and simulation codes including Orion, RAMSES, and FLASH. We report on its methods for reading, handling, and visualizing data, including projections, multivariate volume rendering, multi-dimensional histograms, halo finding, light cone generation, and topologically connected isocontour identification. Furthermore, we discuss the underlying algorithms yt uses for processing and visualizing data, and its mechanisms for parallelization of analysis tasks.
Stroke Neurologist’s Perspective on the New Endovascular Trials

Before December 2014, the only proven effective treatment for acute ischemic stroke was recombinant tissue-type plasminogen activator (r-tPA). This has now changed with the publication of the Multicenter Randomized Clinical Trial of Endovascular Treatment for Acute Ischemic Stroke in the Netherlands (MR CLEAN), Endovascular Treatment for Small Core and Anterior Circulation Proximal Occlusion With Emphasis on Minimizing CT to Recanalization Times (ESCAPE), Extending the Time for Thrombolysis in Emergency Neurological Deficits—Intra-Arterial (EXTEND IA), Solitaire With the Intention for Thrombectomy as Primary Endovascular Treatment Trial (SWIFT PRIME), and Randomized Trial of Revascularization With the Solitaire FR Device Versus Best Medical Therapy in the Treatment of Acute Stroke Due to Anterior Circulation Large Vessel Occlusion Presenting Within Eight Hours of Symptom Onset (REVASCAT) studies. We review the main results of these studies and how they inform stroke patient management going forward. The main take home points for neurologists are (1) intra-arterial thrombectomy is a potently effective treatment and should be offered to patients who have documented occlusion in the distal internal carotid or the proximal middle cerebral artery, have a relatively normal noncontrast head computed tomographic scan, severe neurological deficit, and can have intra-arterial thrombectomy within 6 hours of last seen normal; (2) benefits are clear in patients receiving r-tPA before intra-arterial thrombectomy; r-tPA should not be withheld if the patient meets criteria, and benefit in patients who do not receive r-tPA or have r-tPA exclusions requires further study; and (3) these favorable results occur when intra-arterial thrombectomy is performed in an endovascular stroke center by a coordinated multidisciplinary team that extends from the prehospital stage to the endovascular suite, minimizes time to recanalization, uses stent-retriever devices, and avoids general anesthesia. In conclusion, stroke teams, including practicing neurologists caring for patients with stroke should now provide the option for intra-arterial thrombectomy for a subset of patients with acute stroke.
Evaluation of different feature sets in an OCR free method for word spotting in printed documents

This paper presents the evaluation of tree feature sets in an OCR free word spotting method under a strong experimental protocol. Different feature sets are evaluated under the same experimental conditions. In addition, a tuning process in the document segmentation step is proposed which provides a significant reduction in terms of the processing time. For this purpose, a complete OCR-free method for word spotting in printed documents was implemented, and a document database containing document images and their corresponding ground truth text files was created. A strong experimental protocol based on 800 document images allows us to compare the results of the three feature sets used to represent the word image.
Simulation-based optimization for generating the dimensions of a dredged coastal entrance channel

An entrance channel is dredged when its natural dimensions are not adequate to accumulate more and larger ships. Considering the reconciliation among costs, safety and efficiency and the complex relationship among channel type, navigable water level and sailing speed, a simulation-based optimization framework is proposed to optimize channel dimensions with limited dredging budget constraints in an integrated way. In this framework, the optimization program generates channel dimensions acceptable for safe navigation with budget constraints, and seeks an optimal balance between the dredging costs and navigation efficiency, including vessel waiting time and berth utilization. The simulation model evaluates the values of navigation efficiency measures considering the randomness and dynamics in ship operation. Finally, an application is given and the results show that the proposed framework is effective and helpful for optimizing the dimensions of the entrance channel. Moreover, the proposed modeling and solution methods are general and can be applied to the port basin, anchorage area as well.
An Improved Quasi-static Finite-difference Scheme for Induced Field Evaluation in MRI based on the Biconjugate Gradient Method

In modern magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), there are concerns for the health and safety of patients and workers repeatedly exposed to magnetic fields, and therefore accurate and efficient evaluation of in situ electromagnetic field (EMF) distributions has gained a lot of significance. This paper presents a Biconjugate Gradient Method (BiCG) to efficiently implement the quasi-static finite-difference scheme (QSFD), which has been widely utilized to model and analyze magnetically induced electric fields and currents within the human body during the operation of the MRI systems and in other settings. The proposed BiCG method shows computational advantages over the iterative, successive over-relaxation (SOR) algorithm. The scheme has been validated against other known solutions on a lossy, multilayered ellipsoid phantom excited by an ideal loop coil. Numerical results on a 3D human body model demonstrate that the convergence time and memory consumption is significantly reduced using the BiCG method.
Fiducial limits of the parameter of a discontinuous distribution.

1-1. It has long been realized that methods of interval estimation which can be used successfully in the case of continuous distributions encounter a special kind of difficulty when we attempt to apply them to a discontinuous distribution such as the binomial or the Poisson. This difficulty has been expressed in different ways by different writers, their choice of words being mainly influenced by whether they are using Fisher's concept of fiducial probability or Neyman's of confidence intervals. While these approaches are said to be fundamentally different, their applications to the uniparametric case are so closely linked that an argument in terms of the one can usually be translated in terms of the other. We shall accordingly not hesitate to express our results in the languages of both theories. We may begin with the simplest example of a discrete distribution-the binomial. If the probability of an event is or, the probability that it will occurf times in n trials is