Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Building a Textual Entailment Suite for the Evaluation of Automatic Content Scoring Technologies

Automatic content scoring for free-text responses has started to emerge as an application of Natural Language Processing in its own right, much like question answering or machine translation. The task, in general, is reduced to comparing a students answer to a model answer. Although a considerable amount of work has been done, common benchmarks and evaluation measures for this application do not currently exist. It is yet impossible to perform a comparative evaluation or progress tracking of this application across systems ― an application that we view as a textual entailment task. This paper concentrates on introducing an Educational Testing Service-built test suite that makes a step towards establishing such a benchmark. The suite can be used as regression and performance evaluations both intra-c-raterÂ® or inter automatic content scoring technologies. It is important to note that existing textual entailment test suites like PASCAL RTE or FraCas, though beneficial, are not suitable for our purposes since we deal with atypical naturally-occurring student responses that need to be categorized in order to serve as regression test cases.
Construction of spoken language model including fillers using filler prediction model

This paper proposes a novel method to construct a spoken language model including fillers from a corpus including no fillers using a filler prediction model. It consists of two submodels: a filler insertion model which predicts places where fillers should be inserted, and a filler selection model which predicts appropriate fillers for given places. It converts a corpus that covers domain-relevant topics but includes no fillers into a corpus that contains fillers as well as domain-relevant topics. The experiment against the corpus of spontaneous Japanese shows that language models constructed by the proposed method achieve quite near performance of the traditional trigram language model constructed from the real spontaneous corpus including fillers.
Deterministic Broadcast on Multiple Access Channels

We study broadcasting on multiple access channels by deterministic distributed protocols. Data arrivals are governed by an adversary. The power of the adversary is constrained by the average rate of data injection and a bound on the number of different packets that can be injected in one round. The injection rate is at most 1, which forbids the adversary from overloading the channel. We consider a number of deterministic protocols. For each of them we give an upper bound on the worst-case packet latency, as a function of the constraints imposed on the adversary. We present results of experiments by simulations to compare packet latency of the deterministic protocols and of backoff-type randomized protocols. The experiments are carried out in a simulation environment that captures the burstiness of data injection and the resulting traffic by admissibility condition defined by the fraction of active stations and the rate of changing the status of active versus passive among the stations.
On-road Obstacle Detection by Comparing Present and Past In-vehicle Camera Images

We propose a method for detecting general obstacles on a road by subtracting present and past in-vehicle camera images. Compared to the existing learningbased methods that could detect only specific obstacles, the proposed method based on image-subtraction could detect any kind of obstacles. To achieve this, the proposed method first realizes a frame-by-frame correspondence between the present and the past in-vehicle camera image sequences, then performs a road surface registration between the corresponded frames. Obstacles are detected by using the difference of the road surface regions. To demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed method, experiments were conducted using several image sequences captured by an actual in-vehicle camera. The experimental results showed that the proposed method could detect general obstacles accurately at a distance enough to safely avoid them.
Effects of Coexpression of UGT1A9 on Enzymatic Activities of Human UGT1A Isoforms

We established stable HEK293 cell lines expressing double isoforms, UGT1A1 and UGT1A9, UGT1A4 and UGT1A9, or UGT1A6 and UGT1A9, as well as stable cell lines expressing each single isoform. To analyze the protein-protein interaction between the UGT1As, we investigated the thermal stability and resistance to detergent. UGT1A9 uniquely demonstrated thermal stability, which was enhanced in the presence of UDP-glucuronic acid (>90% of control), and resistance to detergent. Interestingly, UGT1A1, UGT1A4, and UGT1A6 acquired thermal stability and resistance to detergent by the coexpression of UGT1A9. An immunoprecipitation assay revealed that UGT1A6 and UGT1A9 interact in the double expression system. Using the single expression systems, it was confirmed that estradiol 3-O-glucuronide, imipramine N-glucuronide, serotonin O-glucuronide, and propofol O-glucuronide formations are specific for UGT1A1, UGT1A4, UGT1A6, and UGT1A9, respectively. By kinetic analyses, we found that the coexpressed UGT1A9 significantly affected the kinetics of estradiol 3-O-glucuronide formation (decreased Vmax), imipramine N-glucuronide formation (increased Km and Vmax), and serotonin O-glucuronide formation (decreased Vmax) catalyzed by UGT1A1, UGT1A4, and UGT1A6, respectively. On the other hand, the coexpressed UGT1A1 increased Km and decreased the Vmax of the propofol O-glucuronide formation catalyzed by UGT1A9. The coexpressed UGT1A4 and UGT1A6 also increased the Vmax of the propofol Oglucuronide formation by UGT1A9. This is the first study showing that human UGT1A isoforms interact with other isoforms to change the enzymatic characteristics.
A VSM-based Statistical Model for the Semantic Relation Interpretation of Noun-Modifier Pairs

The paper addresses the task of automatic interpretation of semantic relation in noun compounds. The problem has been attempted with both Ontology-based and Statistical approaches, but both approaches having their own limitations. We present a novel VSMbased statistical model which represents each relation with a weighted vector of prepositional and verbal paraphrases. The model ranks the paraphrases on their relevance and assigns higher weights to more relevant paraphrases. The performance of the model is compared with the Ontology model and the results are quite encouraging. We finally propose a Hybrid of the two models which compares on par with the best performing systems on Nastase and Szpakowicz (2003) dataset.
Explicit authentication response considered harmful

Automated online password guessing attacks are facilitated by the fact that most user authentication techniques provide a yes/no answer as the result of an authentication attempt. These attacks are somewhat restricted by Automated Turing Tests (ATTs, e.g., captcha challenges) that attempt to mandate human assistance. ATTs are not very difficult for legitimate users, but always pose an inconvenience. Several current ATT implementations are also found to be vulnerable to improved image processing algorithms. ATTs can be made more complex for automated software, but that is limited by the trade-off between user-friendliness and effectiveness of ATTs. As attackers gain control of large-scale botnets, relay the challenge to legitimate users at compromised websites, or even have ready access to cheap, sweat-shop human solvers for defeating ATTs, online guessing attacks are becoming a greater security risk. Using deception techniques (as in honeypots), we propose the user-verifiable authentication scheme (Uvauth) that tolerates, instead of detecting or counteracting, guessing attacks. Uvauth provides access to all authentication attempts; the correct password enables access to a legitimate session with valid user data, and all incorrect passwords lead to fake sessions. Legitimate users are expected to learn the authentication outcome implicitly from the presented user data, and are relieved from answering ATTs; the authentication result never leaves the server and thus remains (directly) inaccessible to attackers. In addition, we suggest using adapted distorted images and pre-registered images/text as a complement to convey an authentication response, especially for accounts that do not host much personal data.
A case study on design pattern discovery in Ada

Little assistance, if any, is given to personnel who design software. This has caused the production of software which is less evolvable and of low quality. A case study was carried out to investigate the implications of design patterns during software building. The results suggest that design patterns can facilitate our understanding of software systems and reusing software designs in our future software building.
Morphometric Characteristics and Fin Dimorphism between Male and Female on the Marine Medaka, Oryzias dancena

ABSTRACT Sexual dimorphism is the most conspicuous difference between the sexes. This study examines possible sexual dimorphism and the relative growth patterns of morphometric characteristics in the marine medaka, Oryzias dancena for their potential to help differentiate between males and females of this species. The von Bertalanffy growth parameters estimated by a non-linear regression method were L∞=30.2 mm, K=3.22/year, and τ0=-0.05. All 18 characteristics measured showed a difference between males and females from 70 days after hatching. Each of these characteristics were significantly different between sexes (ANCOVA, P<0.05), and the ratio of standard length between sexes showed that males were larger than females for all five morphometric measurements. Fin length measurements were taken for 21 distances of anal fin and 7 distances of dorsal fin between landmarks. There were all differences for all dorsal fin rays between the males and the females and there is significant difference in 70 days after their hatch when the sexual dimorphism is presented. The significant difference (P<0.05) in fin ray for male and female was more greatly seen as they grow. Male marine medaka showed more rapid growth than females, with longer length, dorsal fins and anal fins. Differences in these characteristics will be useful during experiments when it is necessary to differentiate between sexes of marine medaka.
Identification of the First Nonpeptidergic Inverse Agonist for a Constitutively Active Viral-encoded G Protein-coupled Receptor*

Human cytomegalovirus (HCMV) encodes a G protein-coupled receptor (GPCR), named US28, which shows homology to chemokine receptors and binds several chemokines with high affinity. US28 induces migration of smooth muscle cells, a feature essential for the development of atherosclerosis, and may serve as a co-receptor for human immunodeficiency virus-type 1 entry into cells. Previously, we have shown that HCMV-encoded US28 displays constitutive activity, whereas its mammalian homologs do not. In this study we have identified a small nonpeptidergic molecule (VUF2274) that inhibits US28-mediated phospholipase C activation in transiently transfected COS-7 cells and in HCMV-infected fibroblasts. Moreover, VUF2274 inhibits US28-mediated HIV entry into cells. In addition, VUF2274 fully displaces radiolabeled RANTES (regulated on activation normal T cell expressed and secreted) binding at US28, apparently with a noncompetitive behavior. Different analogues of VUF2274 have been synthesized and pharmacologically characterized, to understand which features are important for its inverse agonistic activity. Finally, by means of mutational analysis of US28, we have identified a glutamic acid in transmembrane 7 (TM 7), which is highly conserved among chemokine receptors, as a critical residue for VUF2274 binding to US28. The identification of a full inverse agonist provides an important tool to investigate the relevance of US28 constitutive activity in viral pathogenesis.
Efficient Conditional Tracepoints in Kernel Space

With kernel static tracepoints, it is now possible to add instrumentation to the Linux kernel and obtain a low overhead trace of the whole system. However, these static tracepoints may be insufficient to diagnose the source of a functional or performance problem. Dynamic instrumentation fills the gap by enabling the insertion of additional tracepoints in other locations at run time. This article presents a new approach for tracing the Linux kernel with dynamic and static tracepoints. These tracepoints will be conditional. Conditions are defined using complex expressions that employ the code variables and make use of arithmetic and logic operations. These expressions are written using C-like syntax. Both static and dynamic tracepoints will evaluate and collect expressions similar to those used for conditions. In addition, static tracepoints will collect the static tracepoint data, as defined by the TRACE_EVENT macro used to define tracepoints in the Linux kernel. Our tool was implemented based on GDB and KGTP, which is a GDB stub in kernel-space that partially implements dynamic tracepoints.
Determining the temperature field for cylinder symmetrical heat conduction problems in unsteady heat conduction in finite space

This paper proposes to present a new method to calculate unsteady heat conduction for cylinder symmetrical geometry. We will investigate the situation where the temperature field and heat flux created around a heat source placed in finite space are determined. Such a situation arises when we define the temperature field and heat loss around district heating pipes laid underground as well as in the case of geothermal wells. Growing energy prices increasingly justify the use of geothermal energy. It is well-known that geothermal energy, thermal water and its heat can be used directly but if a higher temperature level is needed we must install a heat pump or a boiler plant to meet peak demands. The method presented in this paper can also be used for the energy analysis of geothermal wells.
Switched model predictive control for networked control systems with time delays and packet disordering

Abstract The switched model predictive control (MPC) strategy is investigated in this paper for a class of networked control systems (NCSs) with time delays and packet disordering. A new model is proposed to describe the NCS with packet disordering. State feedback controllers are considered and the resulting closed-loop NCS is modeled as a discrete-time switched system. By using the average dwell-time approach and switching between different cost functions, sufficient conditions for exponential stability of the NCS and design procedures for the stabilizing controllers are presented. Finally, an illustrative example is given to demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed method.
Iranian Journal of Basic Medical Sciences Evaluation of Ethylcellulose and Its Pseudolatex (surelease) in Preparation of Matrix Pellets of Theophylline Using Extrusion- Spheronization Introduction

Original article Objective(s): This study evaluates the effect of substitution of microcrystalline cellulose (MCC) with ethylcellulose (EC) on mechanical and release characteristics of theophylline pellets. Materials and Methods: The effect of addition of EC was investigated on characteristics of pellets with varying drug content prepared by extrusion-spheronization. Also the effect of type of granulating liquid (water or Surelease) was investigated on characteristics of selected pellets. The pellets were characterized for particle size (sieve analysis), mechanical strength, morphology (microscopy), thermal (DSC) and dissolution behaviors. Results: The exrtudability of the wet mass was reduced upon inclusion of EC so that complete replacement of MCC was not possible. Increase in EC percentage led to lower production yield and formation of pellets with larger diameter and slightly rough surfaces. Inclusion of EC also affected the mechanical properties of pellets but had negligible effect on drug release profile. The surface of selected pellets became smoother and their production yield increased upon the use of Surelease as granulating liquid. In addition the rate of drug release decreased to some extent when Surelease was used. Conclusion: Preparation of theophylline pellets with EC alone was not possible in process of extrusion-spheronization. Partial replacement of MCC with EC changed physicomechanical properties of pellets but hardly affected drug release. Although the use of Surelease as granulation liquid slightly decreased the rate of drug release, desirable matrix pellets with sustained drug release could not be produced. Despite this outcome however, these pellets could benefit from reduced coating thickness for drug release control. Evaluation of ethylcellulose and its pseudolatex (Surelease) in preparation of matrix pellets of theophylline using extrusion-spheronization.
Multi-scale image semantic recognition with hierarchical visual vocabulary

Local features have been proved to be effective in image/video semantic analysis. The BOVW (bag of visual words) scheme can cluster local features to form the visual vocabulary which includes an amount of words, where each word is the center of one clustering feature. The vocabulary is used to recognize the image semantic. In this paper, a new scheme to construct semantic-binding hierarchical visual vocabulary is proposed. Some attributes and relationship of the semantic nodes in the model are discussed. The hierarchical semantic model is used to organize the multi-scale semantic into a level-by-level structure. Experiments are performed based on the LabelMe dataset, the performance of our scheme is evaluated and compared with the traditional BOVW scheme, experimental results demonstrate the efficiency and flexibility of our scheme.
Face recognition using temporal image sequence

We present a face recognition method using image sequence. As input we utilize plural face images rather than a "single-shot", so that the input reflects variation of facial expression and face direction. For the identification of the face, we essentially form a subspace with the image sequence and apply the Mutual Subspace Method in which the similarity is defined by the angle between the subspace of input and those of references. We demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed method through several experimental results.
University of Groningen Cardiovascular Risk Associated with Interactions among Polymorphisms in Genes from the Renin-Angiotensin, Bradykinin, and Fibrinolytic Systems

Background: Vascular fibrinolytic balance is maintained primarily by interplay of tissue plasminogen activator (t-PA) and plasminogen activator inhibitor type 1 (PAI-1). Previous research has shown that polymorphisms in genes from the reninangiotensin (RA), bradykinin, and fibrinolytic systems affect plasma concentrations of both t-PA and PAI-1 through a set of gene-gene interactions. In the present study, we extend this finding by exploring the effects of polymorphisms in genes from these systems on incident cardiovascular disease, explicitly examining two-way interactions in a large populationbased study. Methodology/Principal Findings: Data from the population-based PREVEND study in Groningen, The Netherlands (n = 8,138) were analyzed. The effects of the polymorphisms and their interactions on cardiovascular events were analyzed via Cox proportional hazards models. There was no association between five of the six polymorphisms singly and risk of cardiovascular disease. There was a significant main effect for the ACE I/D polymorphism for both dominant and additive coding schemes. There were significant interactions between the following polymorphism pairs even after adjustment for known risk factors: ACE I/D & PAI-1 4G/5G (p = 0.012), BDKRB2 C181T & ACE I/D (p = 0.016), BDKRB2 C58T & ACE I/D (p = 0.025), BDKRB2 exon 1 I/D & AT1R A1166C (p = 0.017), and BDKRB2 C58T & AT1R A1166C (p = 0.015). Conclusions/Significance: This study suggests possible interactions between genes from the RA, bradykinin, and fibrinolytic systems on the risk of cardiovascular disease, extending previous research that has demonstrated that interactions among genes from these systems influence plasma concentrations of both t-PA and PAI-1. Further explorations of these interactions are needed. Citation: Bentley JP, Asselbergs FW, Coffey CS, Hebert PR, Moore JH, et al. (2010) Cardiovascular Risk Associated with Interactions among Polymorphisms in Genes from the Renin-Angiotensin, Bradykinin, and Fibrinolytic Systems. PLoS ONE 5(9): e12757. doi:10.1371/journal.pone. 0012757 Editor: Amanda Ewart Toland, Ohio State University Medical Center, United States of America Received June 10, 2010; Accepted August 24, 2010; Published September 15, 2010 Copyright: 2010 Bentley et al. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited. Funding: This work was supported by National Institutes of Health (NIH) grant HL65234, HL67466, RR018787, LM010098, and by grant E.013 of Netherlands Kidney Foundation. Dr. F.W. Asselbergs is supported by a ZonMW Clinical Fellowship (grant 90700342). The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript. Competing Interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist. * E-mail: f.w. asselbergs@umcutrecht.nl
Analysis of malicious activity in delay tolerant networks

Delay Tolerant Network (DTN) is basically a disconnected mobile ad hoc Network. It is intermittent and sparsely connected because of limited transmission range and mobility. It is characterized by intermittent connectivity, long or variable delay, asymmetric data rate and high error rates. Many malicious nodes misbehave to hamper the network. Shielding algorithms for adhoc networks cannot be directly applied to DTNs due to dis-connectivity between DTN nodes. DTN nodes are energy constraint nodes and these malicious nodes degrade the energy and hampers message delivery in the network. So there exists the need to devise efficient defending mechanisms for preventing the Delay Tolerant Networks from such nodes. The paper has analyzed the impact of black holes on the network and proposed a defending model to isolate it from the network.