Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Cascade Dynamics Modeling with Attention-based Recurrent Neural Network

An ability of modeling and predicting the cascades of resharing is crucial to understanding information propagation and to launching campaign of viral marketing. Conventional methods for cascade prediction heavily depend on the hypothesis of diffusion models, e.g., independent cascade model and linear threshold model. Recently, researchers attempt to circumvent the problem of cascade prediction using sequential models (e.g., recurrent neural network, namely RNN) that do not require knowing the underlying diffusion model. Existing sequential models employ a chain structure to capture the memory effect. However, for cascade prediction, each cascade generally corresponds to a diffusion tree, causing cross-dependence in cascade— one sharing behavior could be triggered by its non-immediate predecessor in the memory chain. In this paper, we propose to an attention-based RNN to capture the cross-dependence in cascade. Furthermore, we introduce a coverage strategy to combat the misallocation of attention caused by the memoryless of traditional attention mechanism. Extensive experiments on both synthetic and real world datasets demonstrate the proposed models outperform state-of-the-art models at both cascade prediction and inferring diffusion tree.
The Prognostic Significance of Combining VEGFA, FLT1 and KDR mRNA Expressions in Brain Tumors

Tumor cells require angiogenesis to deliver nutrients and oxygen to support their fast growth and metabolism. The vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) pathway plays an important role in promoting angiogenesis, including tumor-induced angiogenesis. Recent clinical trials have demonstrated the benefit of targeting VEGF in the treatment of glioblastoma. However, the prognostic significance of the expression of VEGFA and its receptors VEGFR1 (FLT1) and VEGFR2 (KDR) are still largely elusive. In the present study, we aimed to investigate the prognostic significance of these three factors, alone or in combination, in glioma patients. Gene mRNA expression was extracted from three independent brain tumor cohorts totaling 242 patients and the association between gene expression and survival was tested. We found that when VEGFA, FLT1 and KDR expressions were considered alone, only VEGFA demonstrated a significant association with patient survival. Patients with high expression of both VEGFA and either receptor had significantly worse survival than patients expressing both factors at a low level. Importantly, we found that those patients whose tumors overexpressed all three genes had a significantly shorter survival compared to those patients with a low level expression of these genes. Our results suggest that a high level expression of VEGFA and its receptors, both FLT1 and KDR, may be required for brain tumor progression, and that these three factors should be considered together as a prognostic indicator for brain tumor patients.
Islanded-Mode Control of Electronically Coupled Distributed-Resource Units Under Unbalanced and Nonlinear Load Conditions

This paper proposes a voltage- and frequency-control strategy for the islanded operation of dispatchable electronically coupled distributed-resource units, based on a discrete-time mathematical model which is also valid for variable-frequency operation. The proposed control strategy utilizes a combination of deadbeat and repetitive control to enhance the performance of the control system under unbalanced and/or distorted load currents. Moreover, a new approach is proposed to maintain the effectiveness of the repetitive control under variable-frequency operational scenarios. Furthermore, the control strategy employs feedforward compensation techniques to mitigate the impact of load dynamics on the regulation process. The performance of the proposed control strategy is demonstrated for single- and multiunit islanded networks, through digital time-domain simulation studies in the PSCAD/EMTDC software environment.
Rapid Training of Information Extraction with Local and Global Data Views

This dissertation focuses on fast system development for Information Extraction (IE). State-of-the-art systems heavily rely on extensively annotated corpora, which are slow to build for a new domain or task. Moreover, previous systems are mostly built with local evidence such as words in a short context window or features that are extracted at the sentence level. They usually generalize poorly on new domains. This dissertation presents novel approaches for rapidly training an IE system for a new domain or task based on both local and global evidence. Specifically, we present three systems: a relation type extension system based on active learning, a relation type extension system based on semi-supervised learning, and a cross-domain bootstrapping system for domain adaptive named entity extraction. The active learning procedure adopts features extracted at the sentence level as the local view and distributional similarities between relational phrases as the global view. It builds two classifiers based on these two views to find the most informative contention data points to request human labels so as to reduce annotation cost. The semi-supervised system aims to learn a large set of accurate patterns for extracting relations between names from only a few seed patterns. It estimates the confidence of a name pair both locally and globally: locally by looking at the patterns that connect the pair in isolation; globally by incorporating the evidence from the clusters of patterns that connect the pair. The use of pattern clusters can prevent semantic drift and contribute to a natural stopping criterion for semi-supervised relation pattern discovery. For adapting a named entity recognition system to a new domain, we propose a cross-domain bootstrapping algorithm, which iteratively learns a model for the new domain with labeled data from the original domain and unlabeled data from the new domain. We first use word clusters as global evidence to generalize features that are extracted from a local context window. We then select self-learned instances as additional training examples using multiple criteria, including some based on global evidence.
Anxious depression among the elderly: Clinical and phenomenological correlates

This study investigated clinical, historical and phenomenological correlates of anxious depression in a sample of 159 depressed elders. Regression analyses indicated that comorbidity of anxiety and depression was associated with a history of a greater number of depressive episodes, more negative stressors and with a higher self-reported average stress level over the past six months. Significant bivariate correlates also included feeling sinful, guilty, or worthless, early depressive onset and attempted suicide. The findings suggest a stress-related younger age of onset sub-type of elderly depression which is clinically distinct from late onset elderly depression.
Prenatal Micronutrient Supplementation Is Not Associated with Intellectual Development of Young School-Aged Children.

BACKGROUND Micronutrient supplementation is often prescribed during pregnancy. The effects of prenatal iron and multimicronutrient supplementation on intellectual development in young school-aged children are less than clear. OBJECTIVE The aim of this study was to examine the long-term effects of prenatal iron plus folic acid or multiple micronutrient (including iron and folic acid) supplementation vs. folic acid supplementation on the intellectual development of young school-aged children in rural China. METHODS Young school-aged children (aged 7-10 y, n = 1744) of women who had participated in a trial of prenatal supplementation with various combinations of micronutrients and remained residents in 2 rural counties in China were followed. We measured their intellectual development by Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children Fourth Edition (WISC-IV). The WISC-IV generated the Full-Scale Intelligence Quotient (FSIQ), Verbal Comprehension Index (VCI), Working Memory Index (WMI), Perceptual Reasoning Index (PRI), and Processing Speed Index (PSI). Multilevel analyses were used to assess the effect of prenatal micronutrient supplementation on the intellectual development of children. RESULTS The mean differences in FSIQ, VCI, WMI, PRI, and PSI, respectively, were not significant between prenatal folic acid supplementation and either iron plus folic acid [-0.34 (P = 0.65), -0.06 (P = 0.95), -0.22 (P = 0.76), -0.01 (P = 0.99), and -1.26 (P = 0.11)] or multimicronutrient [-0.39 (P = 0.60), -0.64 (P = 0.48), 0.11 (P = 0.87), -0.43 (P = 0.59), and -0.34; (P = 0.65)] supplementation after adjusting for confounders. CONCLUSIONS There is no evidence to suggest a different effect on intellectual development between prenatal iron plus folic acid, multimicronutrient supplementation, and prenatal folic acid supplementation in children aged 7-10 y. This trial was registered at www.isrctn. com as ISRCTN08850194.
Understanding bullying: using role-play with 12-year-old boys in Cyprus

This study examines the use of role-play in order to investigate bullies’ intentions, feelings and perceptions through identification and projection. The study was conducted with nine 12-year-old boys that presented high levels of bullying behaviour, according to their teachers and peers, from three state primary schools in Nicosia, Cyprus, with different social characteristics. The results were analysed in the light of social information processing. During the role-play activity, the boys appeared to project their personal experience either as bullies or as victims onto the characters presented. The results of this study suggest that role-play can be used as a means to explore boys’ perceptions of bullies’ intentions, feelings and perceptions and can contribute to a better understanding of bullying.
Sketch-based image retrieval by using saliency

A method of sketch-based image retrieval by using saliency is proposed. This paper introduces saliency based on the color contrast into the sketch-based image retrieval to solve the common problems of scale and translation. Moreover, an improved Hausdorff distance is proposed to increase punishment on outliers, which avoids the negative effects caused by the outliers. The experiment result shows that the proposed method has better performance in retrieval accuracy than HD-MHD and TLS-HD.
Hidden labor: Disabled/Nondisabled encounters, agency, and autonomy

In this paper I consider one effect that disablism has on social interactions between nondisabled and disabled people: the "hidden labor" carried out by disabled people to manage or manipulate the presentation of their impairment to others, and their own and others' emotional responses, in order to achieve their goals. Although such management may be understood as actively enhancing the disabled person's autonomous agency, I argue that the cost of this labor to the disabled person and the fact that it must be hidden from the nondisabled partner in order to be effective, create an ethical problem. Such interactions confer a form of autonomy through a connection that is fundamentally distorted by asymmetries of power, knowledge, risk, and is therefore ethically undesirable.
Synthesis of Monodisperse Silica Particles Grafted with Concentrated Ionic Liquid-Type Polymer Brushes by Surface-Initiated Atom Transfer Radical Polymerization for Use as a Solid State Polymer Electrolyte

A polymerizable ionic liquid, N,N-diethyl-N-(2-methacryloylethyl)-N-methylammonium bis(trifluoromethylsulfonyl)imide (DEMM-TFSI), was polymerized via copper-mediated atom transfer radical polymerization (ATRP). The polymerization proceeded in a living manner producing well-defined poly(DEMM-TFSI) of target molecular weight up to about 400 K (including a polycation and an counter anion). The accurate molecular weight as determined by a GPC analysis combined with a light scattering measurement, and the molecular weight values obtained exhibited good agreement with the theoretical values calculated from the initial molar ratio of DEMM-TFSI and the monomer conversion. Surface-initiated ATRP on the surface of monodisperse silica particles (SiPs) with various diameters was successfully performed, producing SiPs grafted with well-defined poly(DEMM-TFSI) with a graft density as high as 0.15 chains/nm2. Since the composite film made from the silica-particle-decorated polymer brush and ionic liquid shows a relatively high ionic conductivity, we have evaluated the relationship between the grafted brush chain length and the ionic conductivity.
A cognitive intermediate phenotype study confirming possible gene–early adversity interaction in psychosis outcome: A general population twin study

Aims: To investigate the interaction between childhood adversity and genetic risk in the formation of psychotic symptoms, using cognitive speed as indicator of genetic risk. Methods: In a cross‐twin, cross‐trait analysis of monozygotic twins in the general population, the association between childhood adversity and psychotic symptoms was examined, using a cognitive intermediary phenotype as genetic risk marker. Results: Psychotic symptoms in the proband twin were associated with childhood adversity and, independently, with a measure of cognitive speed in the co‐twin. The association between childhood adversity and psychotic symptoms was much stronger (interaction: χ2=8.48, p=0.004) if cognitive speed was worse. Conclusion: Higher level of genetic risk associated with psychosis may moderate the impact of childhood adversity on the risk of adult psychotic symptom formation.
Device-dependant modality selection for user-interfaces: an empirical study

The presentation of information using multiple modalities influences the perception of users, their comfort, and their performance in using a computer-based information system. This paper presents a user study investigating the effects of different output modality-combinations on the effectiveness to transport information and on the user's acceptance of the system. We chose a tourist information system as a test environment and conducted the study on three different devices (PDA, TV set, and desktop computer) to investigate whether the best modality-combination depends on the used device. It turned out that the modality-combination of spoken text in connection with a picture was the most effective regarding recall-performance. This effect was strongest for users working with PDAs, which can be explained by the cognitive load theory. In contrast to this, participants ranked different modality combinations as most appealing, namely those with written text.
International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems Two-Stage Visual Localisation : Landmark-Based Pose Initialisation and Model-Based Pose Refinement *

We show that landmark based localisation (LBL) and Lowe's model-based localisation (MBL) are complementary in that LBL provides a pose initialisation to MBL, which is a necessary input to the algorithm, and MBL can then refine that pose to a give more accurate pose estimate than LBL alone can provide. For LBL, we extend Betke and Gurvit's method, such that it can be used with standard perspective cameras (their original proposal was for omnidirectional cameras) in order to get a useful initial value as an input to Lowe's method. Intensive experiments have been carried out to analyse how camera parameters (intrinsic and extrinsic) affect the LBL position and orientation errors in the initial pose estimate. In error propagation experiments, we show that the position and orientation of a robot are sensitive to focal length and errors in imaged feature positions respectively. In the MBL pose refinement phase, we find that MBL is able to refine the position estimate, but the error in orientation estimate remains the same.
The utility of article and preposition error correction systems for English language learners: Feedback and assessment

In this paper, we describe and evaluate two state-of-the-art systems for identifying and correcting writing errors involving English articles and prepositions. Criterion SM, developed by Educational Testing Service, and ESL Assistant , developed by Microsoft Research, both use machine learning techniques to build models of article and preposition usage which enable them to identify errors and suggest corrections to the writer. We evaluated the effects of these systems on users in two studies. In one, Criterion provided feedback about article errors to native and non-native speakers who were writing an essay for a college-level psychology course. The results showed a significant reduction in the number of article errors in the final essays of the non-native speakers. In the second study, ESL Assistant was used by non-native speakers who were composing email messages. The results indicated that users were selective in their choices among the system’s suggested corrections and that, as a result, they were able to increase the proportion of valid corrections by making effective use of feedback.
Gender Differences in Relational and Physical Aggression

A sample of 134 (93 female, 41 male) university students were evaluated with measures of relational and physical aggression, as well as measures of the five personality factors (NEO Five-Factor Inventory; Costa and McCrae, 1992), depression and anxiety (Beck Depression Inventory; Beck, 1987 and Anxiety Inventory; Beck, 1990), and general emotional understanding and functioning (Bar-On Emotional Quotient Inventory; Bar-On, 1997). Gender differences were found such that the men reported more physical aggression and less Extraversion, with trends for less Neuroticism and less Agreeableness, than the women (NEO-FFI). Additionally, the women had higher Bar-On Interpersonal overall factor scores, including higher scores for the component Empathy, Social Responsibility, and Interpersonal Relationship subscales, than the men. Relational and physical aggression showed different patterns of association with other personality and emotional measures for men and women. In men, higher physical aggression was associated with lower Agreeableness and lower Extraversion. In women, higher physical aggression was associated with higher Conscientiousness, more depression, lower Bar-On EQI Stress Management and higher adaptability. Relational aggression was associated with lower Agreeableness and a lower Bar-On EQI overall score for both men and women. In men, higher relational aggression was additionally associated with more Neuroticism. In women, higher relational aggression was also associated with lower Conscientiousness, and lower Bar-On EQI Interpersonal factor scores.
Orthogonal frequency division multiple access-based cognitive radio networks with relaying capability

A novel orthogonal frequency division multiple access-based cognitive cooperative relaying scheme is proposed in which cognitive users assist primary users (PUs) by relaying their information. Both PUs and cognitive users communicate to a common base station. Based on the received feedback, cognitive users relay data of PUs. Two different schemes of relay assignment and power allocation are considered. Probability of error of PU and outage probabilities of both primary and cognitive users are investigated. Our analyses show substantial improvements in the probability of error and outage probability of PU while the outage probability of the cognitive user does not change significantly. We also perform several simulations to corroborate our theoretical results.
INVISIOS: A Lightweight, Minimally Intrusive Secure Execution Environment

Many information security attacks exploit vulnerabilities in “trusted” and privileged software executing on the system, such as the operating system (OS). On the other hand, most security mechanisms provide no immunity to security-critical user applications if vulnerabilities are present in the underlying OS. While technologies have been proposed that facilitate isolation of security-critical software, they require either significant computational resources and are hence not applicable to many resource-constrained embedded systems, or necessitate extensive redesign of the underlying processors and hardware. In this work, we propose INVISIOS: a lightweight, minimally intrusive hardware-software architecture to make the execution of security-critical software invisible to the OS, and hence protected from its vulnerabilities. The INVISIOS software architecture encapsulates the security-critical software into a self-contained software module. While this module is part of the kernel and is run with kernel-level privileges, its code, data, and execution are transparent to and protected from the rest of the kernel. The INVISIOS hardware architecture consists of simple add-on hardware components that are responsible for bootstrapping the secure core, ensuring that it is exercised by applications in only permitted ways, and enforcing the isolation of its code and data. We implemented INVISIOS by enhancing a full-system emulator and Linux to model the proposed software and hardware enhancements, and applied it to protect a commercial cryptographic library. Our experiments demonstrate that INVISIOS is capable of facilitating secure execution at very small overheads, making it suitable for resource-constrained embedded systems and systems-on-chip.
Scarcity and Growth Revisited

The analysis presented in this paper is concerned with the effect of resource scarcity on economic growth. After the notion of scarcity is defined and two measures of scarcity are introduced—unit cost and relative resource price—changes in the trend in resource scarcity for lead, zinc, nickel, aluminium, silver, iron, and copper in the 1960s, 1970s, and 1980s are investigated. Only for silver and iron is there any indication that such a change has occurred. For silver, the change is transitory. It is believed that changes in resource scarcity have implications for future economic growth depending on the extent of the change and the degree to which resource scarcity and economic growth are interrelated. To see whether this is a relevant concern cointegration techniques are utilized to identify objectively a long-run equilibrium relationship between resource scarcity and economic growth. Only for the unit cost measure for lead and copper for one of the measures of cointegration is there a suggestion that resource scarcity has affected economic growth in the United States over the period 1889–1992.
Chinese Speech Information Retrieval for Questions on Mobile Phone Operation

We propose an information retrieval method based on question identification. We have implemented and integrated a prototype Chinese speech IR system for a commercial PDA with this method for questions concerning mobile phone operations. A preliminary evaluation showed that our method is effective. In the evaluation, our method outperformed a similar document search method by ten points or more in both its precision and recall for top-ranked candidates.
A hypothesis refinement method for summary discovery in databases

As database systems are playing major roles in more and more applications, the amount of information in databases is rapidly growing. In order to comprehend those large volumes of information, computerized summary discovery methods are required. In this paper, we propose a hypothesis refinement method for constructing and evaluating fuzzy hypotheses. Breed on them we propose an effective and robust algorithm to discover simple linguistic summaries. In addition, we present ideas for exploiting discovered summaries to various applications such as querying database knowledge, handling query failures and semantic query optimization.