Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Acquisition of business intelligence from human experience in route planning

The logistic sector raises a number of highly challenging problems. Probably one of the most important ones is the shipping planning, i.e. plan the routes that the shippers have to follow to deliver the goods. In this article, we present an artificial intelligence-based solution that has been designed to help a logistic company to improve its routes planning process. In order to achieve this goal, the solution uses the knowledge acquired by the company drivers to propose optimised routes. Hence, the proposed solution gathers the experience of the drivers, processes it and optimises the delivery process. The solution uses data mining to extract knowledge from the company information systems and prepares it for analysis with a case-based reasoning (CBR) algorithm. The CBR obtains critical business intelligence knowledge from the drivers experience that is needed by the planner. The design of the routes is done by a genetic algorithm that, given the processed information, optimises the routes following several objectives, such as minimise the distance or time. Experimentation shows that the proposed approach is able to find routes that improve, on average, the routes made by the human experts.
The Effects of the Direction of Rating Scales on Survey Responses in a Telephone Survey

Rating scales are used extensively in surveys. One design feature of a rating scale that remains understudied is its direction. A rating scale can run from zero to 10, or from “strongly agree” to “strongly disagree. ” It can also run from 10 to zero, or “strongly disagree” to “strongly agree. ” For rating scales with the same number of scale points, the same numerical and verbal labels, the key research question is whether varying the direction of the scale would affect survey responses, and if yes, in what way. Drawing on data from an experiment that varies the direction of an 11-point end-labeled unipolar scale, we find that the direction of the rating scale significantly affects respondents’ ratings of countries that received high ratings. Specifically, ratings for those countries are higher when the scale starts with a high number than when the scale begins with a low number. We also find evidence indicating that the scale-direction effects are due to respondents’ use of anchoring-and-adjustment heuristics instead of satisficing. Implications of these results are discussed.
Time past: impacts of ICT on the pedagogic discourse in the Interactive project

The ‘pedagogic discourse’ can describe the power relations and fields of influence within schools. This article extends the approach to include ICT-mediated learning in schools by considering evidence from the InterActive project, undertaken by the University of Bristol, England, in 2000–04. The article also considers how the pedagogic discourse can complement post-Vygotskian sociocultural models of learning. ICT is presented as a ‘recontextualising field’ that exerts influence by weakening the classification and framing of the discourse. Successful uses of ICT tend to favour ‘invisible’ pedagogies: collaborative modes of active working with shared competences, in lessons containing elements of ‘discovery’. Tensions can arise if the dominant discourse is a ‘visible’ pedagogy that favours individual performance, with the teacher as the voice of authority and controller of the discourse. These tensions can lead to ICT being marginalised or discredited by teachers or lead to new modalities of pedagogy.
Subgroup Relations: A Comparison of Mutual Intergroup Differentiation and Common Ingroup Identity Models of Prejudice Reduction

Two studies examined relations between groups (humanities and math-science students) that implicitly or explicitly share a common superordinate category (university student). In Experiment 1, 178 participants performed a noninteractive decision-making task during which category salience was manipulated in a 2 (superordinate category salience)×2 (subordinate category salience) between-groups design. Consistent with the mutual intergroup differentiation model, participants for whom both categories were salient exhibited the lowest levels of bias, whereas bias was strongest when the superordinate category alone was made salient. This pattern of results was replicated in Experiment 2 (N = 135). In addition, Experiment 2 demonstrated that members of subgroups that are nested within a superordinate category are more sensitive to how the superordinate category is represented than are members of subgroups that extend beyond the boundaries of the superordinate category.
New-build Studentification: A Panacea for Balanced Communities?

Rising concern about the negative impacts of students on ‘host communities’ has triggered debates about the consequences of studentification in the UK. For some commentators, purpose-built student accommodation (PBSA) appears the panacea for studentification, as it offers the potential to reintroduce balance to studentified communities by redistributing student populations in regulated ways. This paper explores this contention, drawing upon focus groups and household surveys conducted in the vicinity of a PBSA development in Brighton, UK. The paper concludes that the location of this development in a densely populated neighbourhood has engendered adverse student/community relations, conflict, feelings of dispossession and displacement of established local residents. It is asserted that future developments of PBSA should be mindful of these issues and their implications for questions of community cohesion, quality-of-life and belonging in established residential communities. These findings are discussed in relation to debates of age differentials, segregation and new-build gentrification.
Divergent mechanisms of cis9, trans11‐ and trans10, cis12‐conjugated linoleic acid affecting insulin resistance and inflammation in apolipoprotein E knockout mice: a proteomics approach

Conjugated linoleic acids (CLA) affect atherogenesis, but mechanisms are not well understood. We explored how two isomers of CLA, cis9, trans11‐CLA and trans10, cis12‐CLA, affected lipid and glucose metabolism, as well as hepatic protein expression, in apolipoprotein E knockout mice. After 12 wk of intervention, plasma triglyceride, NEFA, and glucose concentrations were significantly higher in the trans10, cis12‐CLA group, whereas plasma triglyceride, NEFA, glucose, and insulin concentrations were significantly lower in the cis9, trans 11‐CLA group, compared with control mice consuming linoleic acid. Proteomics identified significant up‐ or down‐regulation of 113 liver cytosolic proteins by either CLA isomer. Principal component analysis revealed that the treatment effect of cis9, trans11‐CLA was mainly explained by the up‐regulation of different posttranslational forms of heat shock protein 70 kD. In contrast, the treatment effect of trans10, cis12‐CLA was mainly explained by up‐regulation of key enzymes in the gluconeogenic, β‐oxidation, and ketogenesic pathways. Correlation analysis again emphasized the divergent effects of both CLA isomers on different pathways, but also revealed a linkage between insulin resistance and increased levels of hepatic serotransferrin. Thus, our systems biology approach provided novel insights into the mechanisms by which individual CLA isomers differentially affect pathways related to atherogenesis, such as insulin resistance and inflammation. Baukje De Roos, Garry Rucklidge, Martin Reid, Karen Ross, Gary Duncan, Maria A. Navarro, Jose M. Arbones‐Mainar, Mario A. Guzman‐Garcia, Jesus Osada, John Browne, Christine E. Loscher, Helen M. Roche Divergent mechanisms of cis9, trans11‐ and trans10, cis12‐conjugated linoleic acid affecting insulin resistance and inflammation in apolipoprotein E knockout mice: a proteomics approach. FASEB J. 19, 1–21 (2005)
Changes in sexual signals are greater than changes in ecological traits in a dichromatic group of fishes

Understanding the mechanisms by which phenotypic divergence occurs is central to speciation research. These mechanisms can be revealed by measuring differences in traits that are subject to different selection pressures; greater influence of different types of selection can be inferred from greater divergence in associated traits. Here, we address the potential roles of natural and sexual selection in promoting phenotypic divergence between species of snubnose darters by comparing differences in body shape, an ecologically relevant trait, and male color, a sexual signal. Body shape was measured using geometric morphometrics, and male color was measured using digital photography and visual system‐dependent color values. Differences in male color are larger than differences in body shape across eight allopatric, phylogenetically independent species pairs. While this does not exclude the action of divergent natural selection, our results suggest a relatively more important role for sexual selection in promoting recent divergence in darters. Variation in the relative differences between male color and body shape across species pairs reflects the continuous nature of speciation mechanisms, ranging from ecological speciation to speciation by sexual selection alone.
I learn nothing! : Voices of visitors at Youth Clubs in Sweden

The purpose of this article is first to make visible, examine, and illuminate the young generation’s perception of what they learn and how they learn during their visits to youth clubs and similar meeting places; second, through visitors’ own comments, interviews with visitors, and analysis of staff’s diaries, to reflect on and analyze the unconscious learning that might have been visible; and third, to discuss how these particular contexts contribute to learning. The research was conducted using two questionnaires, staff daily notes in diaries, and through interviews with young people visiting youth clubs and similar meeting places. The results of the empirical study show that there is a gap between the youngsters’ perception of what they learn or verbalize with the help of youth leaders and what they actually learn. To conclude, these meeting places can have a compensatory function to schools; a sort of expanded learning to help young people develop their citizenship. However, I shall take a critical view and argue that youth clubs and similar meeting places lack in making visible what young visitors actually can learn from their visits. To make it possible I suggest that the learning situations must be verbalized, discussed and made visible together with the youth leaders and the group of visitors or the individual visitors.
Complementing the net benefit approach: A new framework for Bayesian cost-effectiveness analysis

Objectives: The aim of cost-effectiveness analysis is to maximize health benefits from a given budget, taking a societal perspective. Consequently, the comparison of alternative treatments or technologies is solely based on their expected effectiveness and cost. However, the expectation, or mean, poses important limitations as it might be a poor summary of the underlying distribution, for instance when the effectiveness is a categorical variable, or when the distributions of either effectiveness or cost present a high degree of asymmetry. Clinical variables often present these characteristics. Methods: In this study, we present a framework for cost-effectiveness analysis based on the whole posterior distribution of effectiveness and cost. Results: An application with real data is included to illustrate the analysis. Decision-making measures such as the incremental cost-effectiveness ratio, incremental net-benefit, and cost-effectiveness acceptability curves, can also be defined under the new framework. Conclusions: This framework overcomes limitations of the mean and offers complementary information for the decision maker.
Emission–Diffusion Theory of the MOSFET

An emission-diffusion theory that describes MOSFETs from the ballistic to diffusive limits is developed. The approach extends the Crowell-Sze treatment of metal-semiconductor junctions to MOSFETs and is equivalent to the scattering/transmission model of the MOSFET. This paper demonstrates that the results of the transmission model can be obtained from a traditional, drift-diffusion analysis when the boundary conditions are properly specified, which suggests that the traditional drift-diffusion MOSFET models can also be extended to comprehend ballistic limits.
A Simple Sweep Line Algorithm for Counting Triangulations and Pseudo-triangulations

Let P ⊂ R 2 be a set of n points. In [1] and [2] an algorithm for counting triangulations and pseudo-triangulations of P, respectively, is shown. Both algorithms are based on the divide-and-conquer paradigm, and both work by finding sub-structures on triangulations and pseudo-triangulations that allow the problems to be split. These sub-structures are called triangulation paths for triangulations, or T-paths for short, and zig-zag paths for pseudo-triangulations, or PT-paths for short. Those two algorithms have turned out to be very difficult to analyze, to the point that no good analysis of their running time has been presented so far. The interesting thing about those algorithms, besides their simplicity, is that they experimentally indicate that counting can be done significantly faster than enumeration. In this paper we show two new algorithms, one to compute the number of triangulations of P, and one to compute the number of pseudo-triangulations of P. They are also based on T-paths and PT-paths respectively, but use the sweep line paradigm and not divide-and-conquer. The important thing about our algorithms is that they admit a good analysis of their running times. We will show that our algorithms run in time O � (t(P)) and O � (pt(P)) respectively, where t(P) and pt(P) is the largest number of T-paths and PT-paths, respectively, that the algorithms encounter during their execution. Moreover, we show that t(P) = O � (9 n ), which is the first non-trivial bound on t(P) to be known.
Fourier Transform Infrared ( FTIR ) Spectroscopic Analysis of Biodegradable Gelatin Films Immersed in Water

Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy (FTIR) was used to study the effect of water immersion on gelatin films. Bovine-derived gelatin was used to manufacture films (using a 6% and 8% gelatin concentration) by casting. The gelatin films were immersed in distilled water for 1 minute up to 1 hour prior to FTIR analysis. The spectra obtained showed some changes after the films were immersed in water for 1 minute. The wavenumber of amide-A, amide-I and amide-II peaks became increased as time progressed. The spectra of used-water (after 1 hour immersion) also changed.
Is the Effective Compromising the Affective

This article draws on the evidence from two Economic and Social Research Council funded projects which examined the impact of policy on the lives of classroom teachers and the experience of their pupils. The PACE Project concentrated on English primary teachers, reviewing practice in the light of the successive waves of legislative change following the 1988 Education Reform Act. The ENCOMPASS Project was a cross-cultural study which investigated the attitudes of pupils to schooling and the impact of policy on the work of secondary teachers in England, France and Denmark. Evidence from both projects suggested that teachers in England were concerned that externally imposed educational change had not only increased their workload but also created a growing tension between the requirements of government and the needs of their pupils. A perceived demand for a delivery of 'performance', for both themselves and their pupils, had created a policy focus that emphasised the managerially 'effective', in the interest.
Correlation of DRD2 mRNA expression levels with deficit syndrome severity in chronic schizophrenia patients receiving clozapine treatment

Schizophrenia is a complex, severe, chronic psychiatric disorder, and the associated deficit syndrome is widely regarded as an important clinical aspect of schizophrenia. This study analyzed the relationship of deficit syndrome severity with the mRNA levels of members of signaling pathways that associate with the pathophysiology of schizophrenia, including the dopamine D2 receptor (DRD2), protein kinase B (AKT1), and phosphoinositide-3 kinase (PI3KCB), in peripheral blood leukocytes (PBLs) of 20 healthy controls and 19 chronic schizophrenia patients with long-term clozapine treatment. The DRD2 expression levels in chronic schizophrenia group were statistically higher than those in controls (t=2.168, p=0.037). Moreover, in chronic schizophrenia group, correlations were observed between the expression levels of DRD2 and PI3KCB (r=0.771, p<0.001), DRD2 and AKT1 (r=0.592, p=0.008), and PI3KCB and AKT1 (r=0.562, p=0.012) and between the DRD2 mRNA levels and the Proxy for the Deficit Syndrome score (r=0.511, p=0.025). In control group, the correlation between PI3KCB expression levels and DRD2 expression levels was only observed (r=0.782, p<0.001). In conclusion, a correlation was observed between increased deficit syndrome severity and elevated expression levels of DRD2 in PBLs of chronic schizophrenia patients receiving long-term clozapine treatment.
MicroCast: Cooperative Video Streaming Using Cellular and Local Connections

We consider a group of mobile users, within proximity of each other, who are interested in watching the same online video. The common practice today is that each user downloads the video independently on her mobile device using her own cellular connection, which wastes access bandwidth and may also lead to poor video quality. We propose a novel cooperative system where each mobile device uses simultaneously two network interfaces: (i) cellular to connect to the video server and download parts of the video and (ii) WiFi to connect locally to all other devices in the group to exchange those parts. Devices cooperate to efficiently utilize all network resources and to adapt to varying wireless network conditions. In the local WiFi network, we exploit overhearing, which we further combine with network coding. The end result is savings in cellular bandwidth and improved user experience. We follow a complete approach, from theory to practice. First, we formulate the problem using a network utility maximization (NUM) framework, decompose the problem, and provide a distributed solution. Then, based on the structure of the NUM solution, we design a system called MicroCast, and we implement a prototype as an Android application. We provide both simulation results of the NUM solution and experimental evaluation. We demonstrate that the proposed approach brings significant performance benefits (namely, faster download on the order of the group size) without battery penalty.
The history of US presidential elections from Siberian NC point of view

The author discusses the type of neurocomputer (NC) being developed in Krasnoyarsk (by S.E. Gilev, A.N. Gorban, and E.M. Mirkes), described the results of some experiments, and concludes with a discussion on possible future applications of neurocomputers in the social sciences. Tests performed with the program US presidential elections are described. <<ETX>>
Exploring the future of out-of-core computing with compute-local non-volatile memory

Drawing parallels to the rise of general purpose graphical processing units (GPGPUs) as accelerators for specific high-performance computing (HPC) workloads, there is a rise in the use of non-volatile memory (NVM) as accelerators for I/O-intensive scientific applications. However, existing works have explored use of NVM within dedicated I/O nodes, which are distant from the compute nodes that actually need such acceleration. As NVM bandwidth begins to out-pace point-to-point network capacity, we argue for the need to break from the archetype of completely separated storage. Therefore, in this work we investigate co-location of NVM and compute by varying I/O interfaces, file systems, types of NVM, and both current and future SSD architectures, uncovering numerous bottlenecks implicit in these various levels in the I/O stack. We present novel hardware and software solutions, including the new Unified File System (UFS), to enable fuller utilization of the new compute-local NVM storage. Our experimental evaluation, which employs a real-world Out-of-Core (OoC) HPC application, demonstrates throughput increases in excess of an order of magnitude over current approaches.
Mutual and shared neighbor probabilities: finite- and infinite-dimensional results

Let X 1, ···, Xn be i.i. d. random variables defined in ℝ d having common continuous density f(x), and let Rij be the rank of Xj in the ordered list of distances from X¡. Both the mutual neighbor probabilities p 1(r, s) = P(R 12 = r, R 21 = s) and the neighbor-sharing probabilities p 2(r, s) = P(R 13 = r, R 23 = s) are studied from an asymptotic viewpoint. Infinite-dimensional limits are found for both situations and take particularly simple forms. Both cases exhibit considerable stability across dimensions and thus are well approximated by their infinite-dimensional values. Tables are provided to support the results given.
Spatial and character situation model updating

During text comprehension, people create situation models to understand the described events. When a change in the situation happens, model updating can occur along multiple dimensions. Prior studies have looked at the separate effects of dimensional shifts finding an increase in processing time when a shift occurs. This reading time study used spatial and character shifts to assess the impact of updating on each other. Specifically, does a prior spatial shift affect character updating and vice versa? This follows recent work exploring the distinction between incremental and global updating. An experiment that manipulated spatial and character shifts as well as their order found influences of both shift types on comprehension, but they did not influence one another. A second experiment revealed that extensive prior knowledge of the spatial environment did not impact the pattern of results. Overall, these results are consistent with the idea that during the comprehension of continuous text event shifts are largely processed separately in a way consistent with incremental updating and may have combined effects.
Modeling set associative caches behavior for irregular computations

While much work has been devoted to the study of cache behavior during the execution of codes with regular access patterns, little attention has been paid to irregular codes. An important portion of these codes are scientific applications that handle compressed sparse matrices. In this work a probabilistic model for the prediction of the number of misses on a K-way associative cache memory considering sparse matrices with a uniform or banded distribution is presented. Two different irregular kernels are considered: the sparse matrix-vector product and the transposition of a sparse matrix. The model was validated with simulations on synthetic uniform matrices and banded matrices from the Harwell-Boeing collection.