Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Article in Press G Model Sustainable Computing: Informatics and Systems Improving Resource Efficiency in Data Centers Using Reputation-based Resource Selection

Today data centers are consuming a lot of energy but not very efficiently. Much of energy is wasted. There are several types of energy waste at different levels including infrastructure-, machine-and system-level waste. The former two levels have been improved significantly in the last few years, however, few efforts have been put on the last level, especially the resource waste caused by failures in a data center. In this paper, we attack the problem proactively by leveraging a reputation-based resource selection scheme to reduce the number of resubmissions of tasks, resulting from the failure during the course of their execution. To capture the characteristics of resources, we introduce Opera, an OPEn ReputAtion model. Opera characterizes itself with two important novelties: a vector representation of the reputation and the just-in-time feature that represents the real-time system status, which, to our knowledge, has never been considered in conventional reputation systems. To demonstrate the effectiveness of Opera, we have integrated the Opera trust model into the scheduler of Hadoop. The experimental results showed that Opera enables the scheduler to select appropriate nodes which helped to reduce not only the number of re-executed tasks but also the execution time of Hadoop's jobs under the presence of failures and heavy workload up to 59% and 32%, respectively. This improvements, in turn, can improve the energy efficiency of the whole system and the network by 16.17% and 53.32% for the sort application respectively.
E‐learning: a performance appraisal and some suggestions for improvement

Reflects on e‐learning with respect to other forms of learning and endeavours to put it into perspective given the extent to which it is currently being hyped. Appraises e‐learning from the point of view of the learner given certain assumptions. Attempts to provide a balanced picture of the pros and cons of e‐learning. Contends that the e‐learning industry is overselling its merits and not focusing appropriately on the learner’s needs. Concludes with some practical suggestions for improving e‐learning performance and acceptance.
Lateral mean exit time of a spherical particle trapped in an optical tweezer

We apply the Fokker-Planck equation to analyze the stochastic behavior of a 1-micron diameter polystyrene bead trapped in water using an optical tweezer. Due to thermal noise, given enough time, a trapped particle will escape confinement from the trap. However, at biological temperatures, for laser powers of greater than approximately 5 milliwatts at the focus, the mean first exit time in the lateral plane is extremely large, and unbounded for most practical purposes. We show that the mean exit time increases exponentially with laser power. Furthermore, for a trapped 9.6-micron diameter polystyrene bead, we show that experimental mean passage times within the linear trapping region are in close agreement with theoretical calculations.
Influence of Hip Prosthesis Size and Its Coating Area on Bone Remodeling

We developed a numerical model to describe the bone remodeling process in periprosthetic bone tissues and validated it by means of dual energy X-ray absorptiometry methods with different types of hip implants. In this paper, we applied the numerical model to investigate the influence of implant size and of the size of the porous coated area on bone remodeling in a periprosthetic human femur in an effort to define properties of implants, which would reduce bone remodeling after total hip arthroplasty. Two different sizes of a newly designed implant and three different coating area sizes were investigated in this paper. The results show that the smaller the implant, the less bone remodeling occurs. Reducing prosthesis size by 2mm from all sides has decreased bone remodeling by 14.4%. Extending the coating area on both, lateral and medial parts of the implant, has decreased bone remodeling in the lateral part of the femur and increased it in the medial part. In conclusion, depending on these results, the oversized hip replacement would cause more bone resorption in the femur. Concerning the coating area, the manufacturer must find a compromise between the small coating area with less bone remodeling in the medial part of the femur as well as less primary stability and the bigger coating area with less bone remodeling in the lateral part of the femur, but with higher bone remodeling in its medial part and more primary stability.
Segmenting service “complainers” and “non‐complainers” on the basis of consumer characteristics

Purpose – This study examines service “complainers” and “non‐complainers” on the basis of four personality characteristics (perceived control, Machiavellianism, self‐efficacy, self‐monitoring) and attitude toward complaining.Design/methodology/approach – This study employed a quantitative methodology. Data were gathered via self‐report survey to a sample of 200 university students.Findings – The results indicate that attitude toward complaining, perceived control and self‐monitoring were significant discriminating variables between “complainers” and “non‐complainers”. Other variables tested such as self‐efficacy and Machiavellianism were not significant.Research limitations/implications – The use of a student sample limits the findings beyond this group, however, student samples do tend to be representative of the general buying public. Therefore, it is suggested that the variables studied here should be further examined using a more diverse consumer sample. In addition, the relationship between attitude .
Ensemble Learning for Low Resources Prepositional Phrase Attachment

Prepositional phrase attachment is a major disambiguation problem when it's about parsing natural language, for many languages. In this paper a low resources policy is proposed using supervised machine learning algorithms in order to resolve the disambiguation problem of prepositional phrase attachment in Modern Greek. It is a first attempt to resolve prepositional phrase attachment in Modern Greek, without using sophisticated syntactic annotation and semantic resources, but by employing sophisticated learning techniques i.e ensembles of classifiers.
Exploring summertime organic aerosol formation in the eastern United States using a regional-scale budget approach and ambient measurements

[1] We present a new method for estimating the overall organic aerosol (OA) formation rate at the regional scale using a chemical transport model (CTM), PMCAMx-2008, and an extensive set of measurements (Speciation Trends Network, Interagency Monitoring of Protected Visual Environments, Pittsburgh Air Quality Study, Southeastern Aerosol Research and Characterization) for the eastern United States. PMCAMx-2008 takes into account up-to-date OA formation theory including primary OA evaporation, updated secondary OA (SOA) yields from traditional volatile organic precursor gases and multigenerational oxidation chemistry (aging) of vapors from anthropogenic sources, which lowers the volatility of the OA distribution over time. An overall OA formation rate of 22 ± 5 ktons d−1 is consistent with available measurements for this summer time period. We perform an extensive sensitivity analysis of uncertain OA model processes to demonstrate the relationship between the estimated total OA production rate and model performance. Perturbing, within reasonable limits, emissions of volatile precursors, SOA yields from isoprene oxidation, and the solubility of organic vapors produces model predictions for total OA that deviate little from the base case performance. The fractional error and fractional bias vary by less than 6% and 13%, respectively. These cases also result in total OA formation rates within 5 ktons d−1 of the base case. Neglecting chemical aging of anthropogenic OA components results in OA levels significantly lower than the observations everywhere, while aging biogenic SOA with the same parameters used for the base case anthropogenic SOA aging results in overpredictions in both the South and Midwest United States. Aging biogenic and anthropogenic SOA together with a reduced aging reaction rate results in reasonable model performance and an OA formation rate of ∼23 ktons d−1. This suggests that even though uncertainties in the OA aging mechanism and other important parameters may lead to uncertainties in the contributions of specific OA formation pathways, the proposed approach may be used to infer upper and lower limits on the total OA mass formation rate.
An open-source framework for supporting the design and implementation of natural-language spoken dialog systems. (Une plate-forme ouverte pour la conception et l'implémentation de systèmes de dialogue vocaux en langage naturel)

Recently, global tech companies released so-called virtual intelligent personal assistants.This thesis has a bi-directional approach to the domain of spoken dialog systems. On the one hand, parts of the work emphasize on increasing the reliability and the intuitiveness of such interfaces. On the other hand, it also focuses on the design and development side, providing a platform made of independent specialized modules and tools to support the implementation and the test of prototypical spoken dialog systems technologies. The topics covered by this thesis are centered around an open-source framework for supporting the design and implementation of natural-language spoken dialog systems. Continuous listening, where users are not required to signal their intent prior to speak, has been and is still an active research area. Two methods are proposed here, analyzed and compared. According to the two directions taken in this work, the natural language understanding subsystem of the platform has been thought to be intuitive to use, allowing a natural language interaction. Finally, on the dialog management side, this thesis argue in favor of the deterministic modeling of dialogs. However, such an approach requires intense human labor, is prone to error and does not ease the maintenance, the update or the modification of the models. A new paradigm, the linked-form filling language, offers to facilitate the design and the maintenance tasks by shifting the modeling to an application specification formalism.
Language Outcomes of School‐Aged Internationally Adopted Children: A Systematic Review of the Literature

Growing evidence suggests that, as a group, many internationally adopted children catch up to their peers in terms of their language development by the time they reach their school-age years. Although this appears to be particularly true for children adopted during the first few years of life, it is not true for all internationally adopted children. Therefore, questions persist as to why it is that some children demonstrate favorable progress and good language outcomes by the school-age years and yet others do not. This article presents a systematic review of the available research on the oral and written language skill development of school-aged children who were internationally adopted. Computerized database searches uncovered 16 studies that examined language skills of internationally adopted children during the school-age years. A comprehensive review of the studies is provided and clinical implications regarding assessment and treatment are discussed. Specifically, this review found three studies that reported language difficulties by the time the adoptees had reached the school-age years, nine studies that reported good language outcomes by the school-age years, and four studies that reported mixed findings.
The learning analytics cycle: closing the loop effectively

This paper develops Campbell and Oblinger's [4] five-step model of learning analytics (Capture, Report, Predict, Act, Refine) and other theorisations of the field, and draws on broader educational theory (including Kolb and Schön) to articulate an incrementally more developed, explicit and theoretically-grounded Learning Analytics Cycle. This cycle conceptualises successful learning analytics work as four linked steps: learners (1) generating data (2) that is used to produce metrics, analytics or visualisations (3). The key step is 'closing the loop' by feeding back this product to learners through one or more interventions (4). This paper seeks to begin to place learning analytics practice on a base of established learning theory, and draws several implications from this theory for the improvement of learning analytics projects. These include speeding up or shortening the cycle so feedback happens more quickly, and widening the audience for feedback (in particular, considering learners and teachers as audiences for analytics) so that it can have a larger impact.
NMDA‐dependent heterosynaptic long‐term depression in the dentate gyrus of anaesthetized rats

This report examines the inductive mechanism involved in long‐term heterosynaptic depression (LTD) in the dentate gyrus of anaesthetized rats. Associative and non‐associative stimulus protocols were implemented, using the ipsilateral medial and lateral perforant path inputs to the dentate gyrus as the test pathways. In all experiments, the medial perforant path (MPP) received the conditioning stimuli which consisted of eight stimulus trains of 2 s duration, spaced 1 minute apart. Within each train the stimuli occurred as a burst of 5 pulses at 100 Hz, repeated at 200 ms intervals. The lateral perforant path (LPP) served as the test pathway in all of the initial experiments. In the associative condition, it received single pulses equally spaced between the medial path bursts. In the non‐associative condition, no lateral path stimuli were given during the medial path trains, In both condition, the application of the conditioning stimuli resulted in a long‐term potentiation (LTP) of the medial path evoked responses (P < 0.001), while the lateral path responses showed LTD (P < 0.001). A two‐way analyses of variance revealed there to be no difference between the two paradigms in the expression of LTP or LTD in naive pathways or in their ability to depress a potentiated pathway (P > 0.05) An occlusion test also showed there to be no further decreases in synaptic efficacy with the associative paradigm after the lateral path synapses were saturated with non‐associative LTD. The N‐methyl‐D‐aspartate (NMDA) receptor antagonist CPP (3‐((+)‐2‐carboxypiperazin‐4‐yl)‐propyl‐1‐phosphonic acid; 10 mg/kg) blocked the appearance of LTP and LTD in both conditions, and in fact, the lateral path responses in the associative condition actually showed a significant degree of enhancement (P < 0.001). This enhancement was also evidenced when the lateral path stimuli were administered alone without prior CPP administration (P < 0.05). The results imply that one set of common mechanisms is utilized in the induction of LTD in the dentate gyrus, whether the medial and lateral paths are activated in an associative or a non‐associative manner.
The F-type complete mitochondrial genome of Arconaia lanceolata

Abstract In this study, complete nucleotide sequence of the F-type mitochondrial genome of Arconaia lanceolata (Bivalvia: Unioninae), the endemic species of freshwater pearl mussel in China, was first determined. The complete mitochondrial genome of Arconaia lanceolata is 15,782 bp in size, and encodes 35 genes, including 13 protein-coding genes, 2 ribosomal RNAs, 22 transfer RNAs. Those genes are similar to most species of Unioninae in order, structure and composition. In the 13 protein-coding genes, ND2, Cytb, ND1 and ND6 are located in the light chain while the rest on the heavy chain. Also, COXI, Cytb, ND1, ND6 and ND4L with ATA as start codon, the remaining protein-coding genes initiated with the orthodox ATG as start codon. There are 28 non-coding regions in the mitochondrial genome of A. lanceolata, the largest is of 345 bp in length, located between ND5 and tRNAGln gene.
Methodological Issues in Combining Diverse Study Types in Systematic Reviews

In this paper we discuss mixing methods at the level of reviews of research, combining the findings of multiple, already existing, studies that are labelled broadly as using either ‘qualitative’ or ‘quantitative’ methods. We define systematic reviews and outline the ‘mixed methods’ we have developed for combining diverse study types within them. Traditional systematic reviews usually answer a single question, use one type of study and, hence, only require one method of synthesis to combine the findings of studies. Our methods involve conducting three types of synthesis: (1) a statistical meta‐analysis to pool trials of interventions tackling a particular health, social or educational problem; (2) a synthesis of studies examining people’s perspectives or experiences of that problem using qualitative analysis; and (3) a mixed methods synthesis bringing the products of (1) and (2) together. We discuss the strengths of these mixed methods at the review level, reflect on their lessons for the concept of ‘triangulation’ and raise questions about the utility of the terms ‘qualitative’ and ‘quantitative’ and ‘mixed methods’ for classifying different types of research.
Hypoxic Induced Decrease in Oxygen Consumption in Cuttlefish (Sepia officinalis) Is Associated with Minor Increases in Mantle Octopine but No Changes in Markers of Protein Turnover

The common cuttlefish (Sepia officinalis), a dominant species in the north-east Atlantic ocean and Mediterranean Sea, is potentially subject to hypoxic conditions due to eutrophication of coastal waters and intensive aquaculture. Here we initiate studies on the biochemical response to an anticipated level of hypoxia. Cuttlefish challenged for 1 h at an oxygen level of 50% dissolved oxygen saturation showed a decrease in oxygen consumption of 37% associated with an 85% increase in ventilation rate. Octopine levels were increased to a small but significant level in mantle, whereas there was no change in gill or heart. There were no changes in mantle free glucose or glycogen levels. Similarly, the hypoxic period did not result in changes in HSP70 or polyubiquinated protein levels in mantle, gill, or heart. As such, it appears that although there was a decrease in metabolic rate there was only a minor increase in anaerobic metabolism as evidenced by octopine accumulation and no biochemical changes that are hallmarks of alterations in protein trafficking. Experiments with isolated preparations of mantle, gill, and heart revealed that pharmacological inhibition of protein synthesis could decrease oxygen consumption by 32 to 42% or Na+/K+ ATPase activity by 24 to 54% dependent upon tissue type. We propose that the decrease in whole animal oxygen consumption was potentially the result of controlled decreases in the energy demanding processes of both protein synthesis and Na+/K+ ATPase activity.
Simulating the impact of wind production on locational marginal prices

This panel presentation is based on paper “J. M. Morales, A. J. Conejo, J. Pérez-Ruiz, Simulating the Impact of Wind Production on Locational Marginal Prices. IEEE Transactions on Power Systems, in press, 2011. ” It analyzes the impact of wind production on the locational marginal prices of a fully competitive pool-based electricity market. Wind productions are modeled as negative loads and characterized by historical data records. The analysis pertains to the structural relationship between wind production and locational marginal prices, and disregards the collateral effect of strategic offering. The study presented allows a statistical characterization of locational marginal prices as a function of the statistical data of the wind plants and the structure of the considered electric energy system.
A vague description logic SI

In the real world, human knowledge and natural language have a big deal of imprecision and uncertainty. Imprecision and uncertainty play in the semantic Web context, as well as to many applications that use description logics (DLs) to capture, represent and perform reasoning with domain knowledge. In this paper, a fuzzy extension of description logic language SI is presented, which combines vague sets with SI. Its syntax, semantics and inference problems are investigated in the paper. Also the tableau algorithm is developed for reasoning in the vague SI.
4D Model-Based Spatiotemporal Alignment of Scripted Taiji Quan Sequences

We develop a computational tool that aligns motion capture (mocap) data to videos of 24-form simplified Taiji (TaiChi) Quan, a scripted motion sequence about 5 minutes long. With only prior knowledge that the subjects in video and mocap perform a similar pose sequence, we establish inter-subject temporal synchronization and spatial alignment of mocap and video based on body joint correspondences. Through time alignment and matching the viewpoint and orientation of the video camera, the 3D body joints from mocap data of subject A can be correctly projected onto the video performance of subject B. Initial quantitative evaluation of this alignment method shows promise in offering the first validated algorithmic treatment for cross-subject comparison of Taiji Quan performances. This work opens the door to subject-specific quantified comparison of long motion sequences beyond Taiji.
Learning General Phonological Rules From Distributional Information: A Computational Model

Phonological rules create alternations in the phonetic realizations of related words. These rules must be learned by infants in order to identify the phonological inventory, the morphological structure, and the lexicon of a language. Recent work proposes a computational model for the learning of one kind of phonological alternation, allophony (Peperkamp, Le Calvez, Nadal, & Dupoux, 2006). This paper extends the model to account for learning of a broader set of phonological alternations and the formalization of these alternations as general rules. In Experiment 1, we apply the original model to new data in Dutch and demonstrate its limitations in learning nonallophonic rules. In Experiment 2, we extend the model to allow it to learn general rules for alternations that apply to a class of segments. In Experiment 3, the model is further extended to allow for generalization by context; we argue that this generalization must be constrained by linguistic principles.
1.6 GHz Low-Power Cross-Correlator System Enabling Geostationary Earth Orbit Aperture Synthesis

We present a 64-channel cross-correlator system for space-borne synthetic aperture imaging. Two different types of ASICs were developed to fit into this system: An 8-channel comparator ASIC implemented in a 130 nm SiGe BiCMOS process technology performs A/D conversion, while a single 64-channel digital cross-correlator ASIC implemented in a 65 nm CMOS process performs the signal processing. The digital ASIC handles 2016 cross-correlations at up to 3.6 GS/s and has a power dissipation of only 0.13 mW/correlation/GHz at a supply voltage of 1 V. The comparator ASIC can handle sample rates of at least 4.5 GS/s with a power dissipation of 47 mW/channel or 1 GS/s with a power dissipation of 17 mW/channel. The assembled system consists of a single board measuring a mere 136 × 136 mm2 and weighing only 135 g. The assembled system demonstrates crosstalk of 0.04% between neighboring channels and stability of 800 s. We provide ASIC and system-board measurement results that demonstrate that aperture synthesis can be a viable approach for Earth observation from a geostationary Earth orbit.