Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Discovering Hidden Contextual Factors for Implicit Feedback

This paper presents a statistical framework based on Principal Component Analysis (PCA) for discovering the contextual factors which most strongly influence user behavior during information-seeking activities. We focus particular attention on explaining how PCA can be used to assist in the discovery of contextual factors. As a demonstration of the utility of PCA, we employ it in an Implicit Relevance Feedback (IRF) algorithm that observes features of user interaction, computes the feature co-variances from a few seen documents, and calculates the eigenvectors of the co-variance matrix to be used as the basis for ranking the unseen documents. This ranking is then compared with the ideal ranking that could be computed if the ratings explicitly given by the user were known. The most effective eigenvector, in terms of impact on retrieval performance, was chosen as representative of each user’s intent. Our experiments showed that each aspect of user behavior is influenced by different contextual factors, yet there exist some important features common to most factors. Our findings demonstrate both the effectiveness of the IRF algorithm and the potential value of incorporating multiple sources of interaction evidence in their development. In particular, it was shown that IRF was more effective when the eigenvectors are personal-
Deep Speaker Vectors for Semi Text-independent Speaker Verification

Recent research shows that deep neural networks (DNNs) can be used to extract deep speaker vectors (d-vectors) that preserve speaker characteristics and can be used in speaker verification. This new method has been tested on text-dependent speaker verification tasks, and improvement was reported when combined with the conventional i-vector method. This paper extends the d-vector approach to semi text-independent speaker verification tasks, i.e., the text of the speech is in a limited set of short phrases. We explore various settings of the DNN structure used for d-vector extraction, and present a phone-dependent training which employs the posterior features obtained from an ASR system. The experimental results show that it is possible to apply d-vectors on semi text-independent speaker recognition, and the phone-dependent training improves system performance.
A Mechanism for P2P Traffic Control

In order to achieve the accurate traffic control of P2P in application layer, a bypass mechanism for P2P control is proposed, which first estimates the packets rates by the TSW (Time Sliding Window) rate estimator and then blocks certain sessions by some strategies. Based on a large number of experiments and theoretical analysis, this paper discusses the appropriate value of the time sliding window of TSW rate estimator and puts forward an effective interrupt algorithm with probability to avoid dense interruption. A P2P traffic control system for experiment is implemented, and a set of experiments show that this mechanism is capable of achieving accurate P2P traffic control.
Deep Belief Networks and Biomedical Text Categorisation

We evaluate the use of Deep Belief Networks as classifiers in a text categorisation task (assigning category labels to documents) in the biomedical domain. Our preliminary results indicate that compared to Support Vector Machines, Deep Belief Networks are superior when a large set of training examples is available, showing an F-score increase of up to 5%. In addition, the training times for DBNs can be prohibitive. DBNs show promise for certain types of biomedical text categorisation.
Offset elimination in ΣΔ analog to digital converters by ƒs/2 modulation

This paper derives ƒs/2 modulation from signal and system theory of complex signals. It is presented, how the In phase and the Quadrature phase are reduced to a single phase, while all properties of complex signaling are maintained. Further, it is derived, that the remaining phase is predestinated for ΣΔ modulation. Finally, simulation results prove the theoretically derived offset-elimination property.
Averaging Mechanisms to Decision Making for Handover in GSM

In cellular networks, limited availability of resources has to be tapped to its fullest potential. In view of this aspect, a sophisticated averaging and voting technique has been discussed in this paper, wherein the radio resources available are utilized to the fullest value by taking into consideration, several network and radio parameters which decide on when the handover has to be made and thereby reducing the load on Base station . The increase in the load on the Base station might be due to several unnecessary handover taking place which can be eliminated by making judicious use of the radio and network parameters. Keywords—Averaging and Voting, Handover, QoS.
SWIMMING WITH THREE-DIMENSIONAL FLAGELLAR BENDING WAVES

– Computer simulation methods have been developed for study of bending wave generation by model flagella that can bend in three dimensions. Helical bending wave generation appears to be the default result obtained with the simplest possible mechanism for controlling activity of the dynein motor enzymes that propel a flagellum. The new computer simulation methods allow a more realistic comparison of swimming by helical or planar bending waves. They confirm earlier conclusions that for small uniflagellate cells such as spermatozoa, planar bending waves are better than helical bending waves. Given the basic radial symmetry of flagellar structure, generation of planar bending waves requires the evolution of more complex control mechanisms.
OpenWPM : An automated platform for web privacy measurement

Web measurement techniques have been highly influential in online privacy debates and have brought transparency to the online tracking ecosystem. Due to its complexity, however, web privacy measurement remains a specialized research field. Our aim in this work is transform it into a widely available tool. First, we analyze over 30 web privacy measurement studies, identify several methodological challenges for the experimenter, and discuss how to address them. Next, we present the design and implementation of OpenWPM, a flexible, modular web privacy measurement platform that can handle any experiment that maps to a general framework. It supports parallelism for speed and scale, automatic recovery from failures of the underlying browser, and realistic simulation of users. OpenWPM is open-source and has already been used as the basis of several published studies on web privacy and security. We show how our generic platform provides a common foundation for these diverse experiments, including a new study on the “filter bubble” which we present here.
Early Detection Method of Service Quality Reduction Based on Linguistic and Time Series Analysis of Twitter

This paper proposes a method for detecting service quality reduction at an early stage based on a linguistic and time series analysis of Twitter. Recently, many people post their opinions about products and service quality via social networking services, such as Twitter. The number of tweets related to service quality increases when service quality reductions such as communication failures and train delays occur. It is crucial for the service operators to recover service quality at an early stage in order to maintain customer satisfaction. Tweets can be considered as an important clue for detecting service quality reduction. In this paper, we propose a method for early detection of service quality reduction by making the best use of the Twitter platform, which includes tweets as text information and has a feature of real time communication. The proposed method consists of a linguistic analysis and time series analysis of tweets. In the linguistic analysis, semi-automatic method is proposed to construct a service specific dictionary, which is used to extract negative tweets related to the services with high accuracy. In the time series analysis, statistical modeling is used for the early and accurate anomaly detection from the time series of the negative tweets. The experimental results show that the extraction accuracy of negative tweets and the detection accuracy of service quality reduction are significantly improved.
Parallel federates - an architecture for hybrid distributed simulation

Abstract: In High Level Architecture (HLA) based distributed simulation, a federation is a set of federates, where each federate is normally executed sequentially. Our recent work on HLA-based distributed supply chain simulation shows that a federate with well above-par workload will become the performance bottleneck of the entire federation, since faster federates have to wait for the slower one to advance its simulation time. In this paper, we propose a parallel federate architecture which exploits the internal parallelism of a single federate. The parallel federate architecture is an integration of a parallel simulation protocol and HLA-based distributed simulation. A parallel federate can be executed on a SMP system to improve the performance of the entire federation. Our approach gains the advantages of both the interoperability, reusability and scalability of the HLA and faster execution of the parallel simulation protocol.
Community acceptance and HIV sexual risk among gay and bisexual men in a 'typical' Canadian city

Included in Statistics Canada's largest geographical ''peer group,'' London, Ontario is typical of many mid-size Canadian cities. A local health forum identified community acceptance and homophobia as key factors impacting LGBTQ health; we studied these with regard to HIV-related sexual risk in gay and bisexual men. Survey data were collected from 201 gay and bisexual men in Middlesex-London, Ontario; 173 reported their HIV status as negative/unknown and were included in this analysis. Unadjusted and adjusted prevalence risk ratios (PRRs) were modelled using modified Poisson regression. First, a model was fit for non-modifiable sociodemographic and background factors. Community factors were then added: social support; internalized homonegativity; perceptions of community acceptance of people like oneself (based on orientation, racialization, gender identity). Older age was associated with decreased risk; other socio-demographic and background factors were not. For each 10-year increase in age, prevalence of high-risk sex decreased by 24% (PRR = 0.76; 95% CI: 0.60, 0.95). Controlling for age, we found an interaction between perception of broader community acceptance and gay community acceptance of people like oneself. As broader community acceptance increased, high-risk sex decreased; however, this effect varied depending upon perceptions of gay community acceptance, with men feeling most accepted within the gay community having the smallest reductions in high-risk sex. This interaction raises a series of questions. Among these: How do community norms and availability of partners shape sexual risk-taking? Are conventional ''contextualized'' measures of sexual risk sufficient, or do they miss important risk-mitigation strategies used within gay communities?
(Glyco)sphingolipids Are Sorted in Sub-Apical Compartments in HepG2 Cells: A Role for Non-Golgi–Related Intracellular Sites in the Polarized Distribution of (Glyco)sphingolipids

In polarized HepG2 cells, the fluorescent sphingolipid analogues of glucosylceramide (C6-NBD-GlcCer) and sphingomyelin (C6-NBD-SM) display a preferential localization at the apical and basolateral domain, respectively, which is expressed during apical to basolateral transcytosis of the lipids (van IJzendoorn, S.C.D., M.M.P. Zegers, J.W. Kok, and D. Hoekstra. 1997. J. Cell Biol. 137:347–457). In the present study we have identified a non-Golgi–related, sub-apical compartment (SAC), in which sorting of the lipids occurs. Thus, in the apical to basolateral transcytotic pathway both C6-NBD-GlcCer and C6-NBD-SM accumulate in SAC at 18°C. At this temperature, transcytosing IgA also accumulates, and colocalizes with the lipids. Upon rewarming the cells to 37°C, the lipids are transported from the SAC to their preferred membrane domain. Kinetic evidence is presented that shows in a direct manner that after leaving SAC, sphingomyelin disappears from the apical region of the cell, whereas GlcCer is transferred to the apical, bile canalicular membrane. The sorting event is very specific, as the GlcCer epimer C6-NBD-galactosylceramide, like C6-NBD-SM, is sorted in the SAC and directed to the basolateral surface. It is demonstrated that transport of the lipids to and from SAC is accomplished by a vesicular mechanism, and is in part microtubule dependent. Furthermore, the SAC in HepG2 bear analogy to the apical recycling compartments, previously described in MDCK cells. However, in contrast to the latter, the structural integrity of SAC does not depend on an intact microtubule system. Taken together, we have identified a non-Golgi–related compartment, acting as a “traffic center” in apical to basolateral trafficking and vice versa, and directing the polarized distribution of sphingolipids in hepatic cells.
Research on Dynamic Authorization in Workflow of Virtual Enterprise

Virtual Enterprise has features of distribution and dynamic, which bring some problems of information security. It is an important research subject for access control of data in virtual enterprise workflow management system. Based the traditional ORBAC (organization and role based access control) model, the authorization strategy is introduced to realize synchronization between authorization flow and workflow. It presents the types of authorization constraint and collision detecting rules avoiding the execution-interruption problem brought by constraint collision.
Insights into the Diagnosis of System Failures from Cluster Message Logs

Large cluster systems are composed of complex, interacting hardware and software components. Components, or the interactions between components, may fail due to many different reasons, leading to the eventual failure of executing jobs. This paper investigates an open question about failure diagnosis: What are the characteristics of the errors that lead to cluster system failures? To this end, this paper gives a systematic process for identifying and characterizing the root-causes of failures. We applied an extended version of the FDiagV3 diagnostics toolkit to the log-files of the Ranger and Lonestar supercomputers. Our results show that: (i) failures were a result of recurrent issues and errors, (ii) a small set of nodes are associated with these issues and errors, and (iii) Ranger and Lonestar display similar sets of problems. FDiagV3 will be put in the public domain for support of failure diagnosis for large cluster systems in May, 2015.
Demonstration of contractility of circumferential actin bundles and its morphogenetic significance in pigmented epithelium in vitro and in vivo

Each pigmented epithelial cell bears circumferential actin bundles at its apical level when the pigmented epithelium is established in eyes in situ or in culture in vitro. Well-differentiated pigmented epithelia in culture were treated with a 50% glycerol solution containing 0.1 M KCl, 5 mM EDTA, and 10 mM sodium phosphate buffer, pH 7.2, for 24 h or more at 4 degrees C. When the glycerinated epithelium was transferred to the ATP solution, each cell constituting the epithelium began to contract. The epithelium was cleaved into many cell groups as a result of contraction of each cell. The periphery of each cell group was lifted to form a cup or vesicle and eventually detached from the substratum. However, those cells that had not adhered tightly and not formed a monolayer epithelium with typical polygonal cellular pattern contracted independently as observed in the glycerinated fibroblasts. Contraction of the glycerinated pigmented epithelial cells was inhibited by N-ethylmaleimide but not by cytochalasin B. ITP and UTP also effected the contraction of the glycerinated cells, but GTP and ADP did not. Ca2+ was not required. This contractile model of pigmented epithelium provides a useful experimental system for analyzing the function of actin in cellular morphogenesis.
Fast 3D simulation for ultrasound transmission tomography

The paper presents a simulator of 3D systems for ultrasound transmission tomography. Generation of synthetic data is needed for development of image reconstruction techniques for such systems. Currently available methods for realistic simulation are computationally not feasible for large simulation volume. Therefore we present a simulation tool based on straight-ray approximation, which enables simulation of the imaging process in 3D ultrasound transmission tomography. The generated data are compared to signals measured using a real system.
Expanding the Realm of Microlensing Surveys with Difference Image Photometry

We present a new technique for monitoring microlensing activity even in highly crowded fields, and use this technique to place limits on low-mass MACHOs in the haloes of M31 and the Galaxy. Unlike present Galactic microlensing surveys, we employ a technique in which a large fraction of the stellar sample is compressed into a single CCD field, rather than spread out in a way requiring many different telescope pointings. We implement the suggestion by Crotts (1992) that crowded fields can be monitored by searching for changes in flux of variable objects by subtracting images of the same field, taken in time sequence, positionally registered, photometrically normalized, then subtracted from one another (or a sequence average). The present work tackles the most difficult part of this task, the adjustment of the point spread function among images in the sequence so that seeing variations play an insignificant role in determining the residual after subtraction. The interesting signal following this process consists of positive and negative point sources due to variable sources. The measurement of changes in flux determined in this way we dub "difference image photometry" (also called "pixel lensing" [Gould 1996]). - The matching of the image point spread function (PSF) is accomplished by a division of PSFs in Fourier space to produce a convolution kernel, in a manner explored for other reasons by Phillips & Davis (1995). In practice, we find the application of this method is difficult in a typical telescope and wide field imaging camera due to a subtle interplay between the spatial variation of the PSF associated with the optical design and the inevitable time variability of the telescope focus. Such effects lead to complexities. (abstract continues)
Linear complexity over Fp and trace representation of Lempel-Cohn-Eastman sequences

In this article, the linear complexity over F/sub p/ of Lempel-Cohn-Eastman (1977) sequences of period p/sup m/-1 for an odd prime p is determined. For p=3,5, and 7, the exact closed-form expressions for the linear complexity over F/sub p/ of LCE sequences of period p/sup m/-1 are derived. Further, the trace representations for LCE sequences of period p/sup m/-1 for p=3 and 5 are found by computing the values of all Fourier coefficients in F/sub p/ for the sequences.
SNPbox: web-based high-throughput primer design from gene to genome

SNPbox is a modular software package that automates the design of PCR primers for large-scale amplification and sequencing projects in a standardized manner resulting in high-quality PCR amplicons with a low failure rate. Here, we present the SNPbox web server at http://www.SNPbox. org, which hosts the SNPbox web service as well as the data from SNPbox analysis of all Ensembl exons. The data of this genome-wide SNPbox application can be visualized in Ensembl's ContigView through a DAS (distributed annotation system) annotation server.
Real-Time Path Quality Comparison for QoS-Aware Roaming Between Heterogeneous Radio Networks

Advent of multiple radio technologies has led to widespread use of mobile terminals for different communication needs. When a wireless mobile terminal has a choice of reaching a node via multiple interfaces, selection of which interface to use is based on network quality metrics such as average available bandwidth. This paper presents fast ways of comparing average path quality between multiple interfaces, based on quickest change detection and sequential twosample hypotheses tests. We also provide performance results on real measurements.
SCARPE: A Technique and Tool for Selective Capture and Replay of Program Executions

Because of software's increasing dynamism and the heterogeneity of execution environments, the results of in-house testing and maintenance are often not representative of the way the software behaves in the field. To alleviate this problem, we present a technique for capturing and replaying partial executions of deployed software. Our technique can be used for various applications, including generation of test cases from user executions and post-mortem dynamic analysis. We present our technique and tool, some possible applications, and a preliminary empirical evaluation that provides initial evidence of the feasibility of our approach.
What is the effect of 4-H involvement on levels of empathy, self-esteem, community involvement and positive view of the future on urban youth?

What Is the Effect of 4-H Involvement on Levels of Empathy, Self-Esteem, Community Involvement, and Positive View of the Future on Urban Youth? (December 2006) Erika Dawn Bonnett, B.S., West Virginia University Chair of Advisory Committee: Dr. Nicole Stedman The purpose of the study is to examine the variable of empathy, self-esteem, community involvement, and positive view of the future for both 4-H and non-4-H members in an urban setting. The study also evaluates the link of leadership to empathy, self-esteem, positive view of the future, and community involvement. The study utilized a quantitative research model in which a survey was taken of youth presiding in urban areas in the state of Texas. Descriptive statistics were used to report subject responses from each of the four variables for each question. Individual demographic data was reported by each participant. Reliability was calculated for each sub-scale based on the question section. The reliabilities reported internal constancy within the instrument. The study was designed to look at both 4-H and non-4-H participants in an urban population. Seven of the twenty urban and urban initiative counties chose to participate; these counties were Bexar, Denton, Harris, Lubbock, Montgomery, Nueces, and Travis. Data were collected using purposive sampling. County extension agents were targeted who had access to both 4-H and non-4-H groups. Data collection was consistently below the expectation for each county. This resulted in the low number of
Transcription Factor in Melanoma Cell Lines MicroRNA-137 Targets Microphthalmia-Associated

Micropthalmia-associated transcription factor (MITF) is the master regulator of melanocyte development, survival, and function. Frequent alteration in the expression of MITF is detected in melanoma, but the mechanism(s) underlying the alteration in expression have not been completely determined. In these studies, we have identified microRNA-137 (miR-137) as a regulator of MITF expression. The genomic locus of miR137 at chromosome 1p22 places it in a region of the human genome previously determined to harbor an allele for melanoma susceptibility. Here, we show that expression of mature miR-137 in melanoma cell lines down-regulates MITF expression. Further, we have identified a 15-bp variable nucleotide tandem repeat located just 5¶ to the pre-miR-137 sequence, which alters the processing and function of miR-137 in melanoma cell lines. [Cancer Res 2008;68(5):1362–8]