Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Exploiting Recommended Usage Metadata: Exploratory Analyses

In this paper, we conduct a series of exploratory analyses on the user-recommended usages of music as generated by 1,042 reviewers who have posted to www.epinions. com. Using hierarchical clustering methods on data derived from the co-occurrence analyses of usage and genre, usage and artist, and usage and album, we are able to conclude that further investigation of user-recommended usage metadata is warranted, especially with regard to its implications for future iterations of the Music Information Retrieval Evaluation eXchange (MIREX).
Listening to teachers: teacher and student roles in the New South Wales Sustainable Schools Programme

This paper reports on an interview study of eight teachers engaged in the Sustainable Schools Programme (SSP) in New South Wales, Australia. Teacher views on key components of education for sustainability are compared with the underlying socially critical approach of the SSP and the NSW policy on environmental education. Their views on active student engagement in the SSP are also revealed. The findings, which indicate that some teachers hold a view of education for sustainability consistent with key assumptions inherent in the SSP, are encouraging. However, remarks by most of the teachers suggest that wider professional support is needed if the SSP, and indeed the NSW policy on environmental education more broadly, are to be implemented as intended.
Image artifacts resulting from gamma-ray tracking algorithms used with Compton imagers

For Compton imaging it is necessary to determine the sequence of gamma-ray interactions in a single detector or array of detectors. This can be done by time-of-flight measurements if the interactions are sufficiently far apart. However, in small detectors the time between interactions can be too small to measure, and other means of gamma-ray sequencing must be used. In this work, several popular sequencing algorithms are reviewed for sequences with two observed events and three or more observed events in the detector. These algorithms can result in poor imaging resolution and introduce artifacts in the back projection images. The effects of gamma-ray tracking algorithms on Compton imaging are explored in the context of the 4pi Compton imager built by the University of Michigan.
Aligning goal analysis and business process modelling: a case study in healthcare

This paper discusses the integration of goal analysis and business process modelling by using, respectively, Tropos and ARIS for each of these activities. The main benefit of the approach relates to traceability between goal models and business process models. The approach is exemplified with a case study in a healthcare organisation. We have observed that establishing the relations between goal and business process models is far from straightforward. This can be accounted by the fact that goals may be formulated in various levels of abstraction and precision and further, that goals may refer to various aspects of an organisation and its processes. Our approach for alignment is based on harmonising goal models such that they can be subsequently aligned with business process models. We propose a goal taxonomy to harmonise the goal domain and report on the implications of this classification in establishing the relationships with business processes.
Parallelizing CAD: A timely research agenda for EDA

The relative decline of single-threaded processor performance, coupled with the ongoing shift towards on chip parallelism requires that CAD applications run efficiently on parallel microprocessors. We believe that an ad hoc approach to parallelizing CAD applications will not lead to satisfactory results: neither in terms of return on engineering investment nor in terms of the computational efficiency of end applications. Instead, we propose that a key area of CAD research is to identify the design patterns underlying CAD applications and then build CAD application frameworks that aid efficient parallel software implementations of these design patterns. Our initial results indicate that parallel patterns exist in a broad range of CAD problems. We believe that frameworks for these patterns will enable CAD to successfully capitalize on increased processor performance through parallelism.
A two stages fuzzy logic approach for Internet of Things (IoT) wearable devices

In the last few years the process of monitoring people health status has grown in interest in the researcher community and led to the develop of new devices able to detect and analyse information gathered from many kind of sensors. These devices are commonly designed to monitor or diagnose disease in the medical field. Moreover, a remarkable interest is growing in the field of sports. In amateur activities such as jogging, running, climbing a set of smart devices are used to improve and monitor performances. Another field of interest is represented by those people that wants to monitor their health status by using low cost devices. In this work we propose a two stage fuzzy logic approach in which the device tries to learn and fit customer habits in order to discover outlier warning signals. The two stages approach proposed consists of monitoring the normal activities of the user in order to build a reference of its condition; Then a real-time monitoring and analysis of gathered data from body sensors is accomplished. User status is carried out using a Fuzzy Logic based network. First stage will give us the current activity of the user while second stage will provide information about health status in terms of heart rate.
Close Encounters: Minority and Majority Perceptions of Discrimination and Intergroup Relations in Antwerp, Belgium 1

Increasing numbers of second-generation Muslims are highly qualified and locally embedded in today's European cities. This does not protect them, however, from experiencing discrimination in intergroup encounters in school, at work, or in the street. Taking an approach from local intergroup relations between ethnic minorities and the majority society, we draw on the TIES (The Integration of the European Second Generation) surveys to compare Turkish and Moroccan minorities and majority Belgians in Antwerp, Belgium. Our research aims (1) to establish minority and majority perspectives on (reverse) personal discrimination (2) in different life domains, and (3) to differentiate internally between gender, socioeconomic attainments, and local climates. Structural equation models show minority and majority group perspectives on discrimination as gendered and situated inter-group encounters in socioeconomic and civic domains of life.
Estimating the Confidence Interval for Prediction Errors of Support Vector Machine Classifiers

Support vector machine (SVM) is one of the most popular and promising classification algorithms. After a classification rule is constructed via the SVM, it is essential to evaluate its prediction accuracy. In this paper, we develop procedures for obtaining both point and interval estimators for the prediction error. Under mild regularity conditions, we derive the consistency and asymptotic normality of the prediction error estimators for SVM with finite-dimensional kernels. A perturbation-resampling procedure is proposed to obtain interval estimates for the prediction error in practice. With numerical studies on simulated data and a benchmark repository, we recommend the use of interval estimates centered at the cross-validated point estimates for the prediction error. Further applications of the proposed procedure in model evaluation and feature selection are illustrated with two examples.
"You Can Stand under My Umbrella": Immersion, Clil and Bilingual Education. a Response to Cenoz, Genesee & Gorter (2013).

Classrooms the world over are full of people who, for different reasons, are learning additional languages and/or are studying through languages that are not their first. Gaining insight into such contexts is complicated for researchers and practitioners alike by the myriad of contextual variables that come with different implementations and make comparison and generalization a tricky business. We welcome Cenoz et al.'s (2013) article as an important contribution to the debate on how best to tackle this problem. In this Forum piece we would like to, however, redress the balance on two issues: the fact that terminologies have histories and the emphases on the research agenda suggested for future Content and Language Integrated Learning (CLIL) research.
Optimizing Spatial filters for Robust EEG Single-Trial Analysis

Due to the volume conduction multichannel electroencephalogram (EEG) recordings give a rather blurred image of brain activity. Therefore spatial filters are extremely useful in single-trial analysis in order to improve the signal-to-noise ratio. There are powerful methods from machine learning and signal processing that permit the optimization of spatio-temporal filters for each subject in a data dependent fashion beyond the fixed filters based on the sensor geometry, e.g., Laplacians. Here we elucidate the theoretical background of the common spatial pattern (CSP) algorithm, a popular method in brain-computer interface (BCD research. Apart from reviewing several variants of the basic algorithm, we reveal tricks of the trade for achieving a powerful CSP performance, briefly elaborate on theoretical aspects of CSP, and demonstrate the application of CSP-type preprocessing in our studies of the Berlin BCI (BBCI) project.
Brackett Lines from the Super Star Cluster Nebulae in HE 2-10

We present high spectral resolution (v ∼ 12-16 km s-1) Brackett line spectroscopy of the blue compact dwarf galaxy Henize 2-10 made with NIRSPEC on the Keck telescope. The spatial resolution is seeing-limited, at 1″. We detect two distinct kinematic features separated by approximately 3″, with heliocentric velocities of ∼860 and ∼890 km s-1. In addition to a narrow core, the line profiles also display a broad, low-intensity feature on the blue side of the centroid, which we attribute to an outflow. This may be a sign of aging in the clusters. We compare to archival high-resolution Very Large Array data at 1.3 cm and find that the centimeter-wavelength emission is resolved into six sources. These radio sources are organized into two larger groups, which we associate with the two kinematic peaks in the Brackett spectrum. We estimate a Lyman continuum rate of at least 7 × 1052 s-1, with a corresponding stellar mass of 6 × 106 M⊙ required to ionize the nebulae. We also estimate the size of the nebulae from the radio continuum brightness and find that the observed sources probably contain many H II regions in smaller, unresolved clumps. Brackett line profiles have supersonic line widths but, aside from the blue wing, are comparable to line widths observed in Galactic ultracompact H II regions, which are excited by a single star or a few stars.
A Social Psychological Model of Account-Making in Response to Severe Stress

This paper extends recent theorising on the psychology of accounts and account-making. It is argued that while work on this topic in the area of close relationships and reactions to stress is increasing, as yet too little explicit theoretical analysis and hypothesis postulation have been presented. The present statement amplifies further on the nature of the account-making process and articulates an hypothesised role of this process in people's reaction to severe stress. The paper also provides comparison of the present approach to accounts as people's explanations for events structured in story-like fashion and alternative conceptualisations of accounts. Overall, it is contended that the activity of for-mulating an account helps the individual cope with the psychological effects of severe stress. The paper discusses emotion, memory-cognition, and behavioural expectation as they relate to account-making. An agenda is also presented for future research in order to further elucidate accounts and account-making.
PDPA: period driven task and cache partitioning algorithm for multi-core systems

Multi-core architectures are well suited to fulfill the increasing performance requirements of embedded real-time systems. However, such systems also require the capacity to estimate the timing behavior of their critical components. Interference between tasks, as they occur on standard multi-core micro-architectures due to cache sharing are still difficult to predict accurately. An alternative is to remove these indirect interferences between tasks through partitioning of the shared cache and through the use of partitioned task scheduling. In this paper, we present a new algorithm for joint task and cache partitioning in multi-core systems scheduled using non-preemptive EDF. The main novelty of the algorithm is to take into account the tasks' period repartition in the task partitioning problem, which is critical in a non-preemptive context. Other task properties such as task cache requirements are also considered to optimize cache partitioning. Experiments show that our algorithm outperforms the state-of-the-art algorithm for tasks and cache partitioning, named IA3 [18], in terms of schedulability, specially when tasks have varied periods.
An Agent-Based Framework for the Transparent Distribution of Computations

A mobile agent based framework for the transparent distribution and concurrent execution of computations is presented. The framework uses design patterns like the master-slave, abstract factory or the strategy pattern. The architecture of the framework is built on top of a mobile agent system. A performance model allows to identify performance bottlenecks and unbalanced situations within the framework. The framework has been implemented and tested on top of the mobile agent system Mole.
Regional Incentives and Industrial Location in Puerto Rico

This study uses nested logit to estimate the influence of industrial incentives on the location of manufacturing plants in Puerto Rico. Puerto Rican laws grant generous tax exemptions and provide other incentives for investments in less developed, peripheral regions of the island. Focusing on Puerto Rico allowed us to isolate and test location factors in a closed environment where 76 municipalities received a development zone designation and competed directly against one another for new plants. Simulations indicated that the regional incentive policy reallocated relatively few of the greenfield investments from the congested core to the periphery of the island.
POINT-AGAPE pixel lensing survey of M31: Evidence for a MACHO contribution to galactic halos

The POINT-AGAPE collaboration is carrying out a search for gravitational microlensing toward M31 to reveal galactic dark matter in the form of MACHOs (Massive Astrophysical Compact Halo Objects) in the halos of the Milky Way and M31. A high-threshold analysis of 3 years of data yields 6 bright, short-duration microlensing events, which are confronted to a simulation of the observations and the analysis. The observed signal is much larger than expected from self lensing alone and we conclude, at the 95% confidence level, that at least 20% of the halo mass in the direction of M31 must be in the form of MACHOs if their average mass lies in the range 0.5-1 M⊙. This lower bound drops to 8% for MACHOs with masses � 0.01 M⊙. In addition, we discuss a likely binary microlensing candidate with caustic crossing. Its location, some 32' away from the centre of M31, supports our conclusion that we are detecting a MACHO signal in the direction of M31.
Working Bodies: Interactive Service Employment and Workplace Identities

List of Illustrations. Series Editors' Preface. Preface and Acknowledgements. 1 Service Employment and the Commoditization of the Body. Part I Locating Service Work. 2 The Rise of the Service Economy. 3 Thinking Through Embodiment: Explaining Interactive Service Employment. Part II High-Touch Servicing Work in Private and Public Spaces. 4 Up Close and Personal: Intimate Work in the Home. 5 Selling Bodies I: Sex Work. 6 Selling Bodies II: Masculine Strength and Licensed Violence. Part III High-Touch Servicing Work in Specialist Spaces. 7 Bodies in Sickness and in Health: Care Work and Beauty Work. 8 Warm Bodies: Doing Deference in Routine Interactive Work. 9 Conclusions: Bodies in Place. References. Index.
Neuter gender in the languages of Aru

This paper examines gender agreement in three little-known languages of the Aru Islands and places them within the larger pattern of “neuter gender” in eastern Indonesia. For each language, I look first at the variety of agreement targets that are controlled by gendered nouns. Secondly, I look at the semantics of nouns that control agreement. I show that whilst having a strongly semantic base involving animacy, gender in Aru languages is a grammatical category in which many nouns denoting certain types of entities that lack discernable biological animacy are assigned to the same gender as that of animate referents. I conclude by considering the system of gender in proto-Aru.
Explaining the Gender Effects on Faculty Pay Increases

This study examines the gender effects on faculty pay raises. The authors propose that other factors being equal, for a given pay increase, male faculty would experience lower levels of pay satisfaction and be more likely to quit their institution than females. The sample consisted of 194 professors of management. As expected, for a given pay increase, male faculty experienced lower levels of pay satisfaction and were more likely to leave the institution. Implications of the study for making gender-neutral decisions are discussed.
LEXICAL PARTICLES IN BETAWI

The functional range, or range of uses, of different languages, may differ, as for example, in a diglossia situation. To some extent, a language or variety may adapt itself to the uses to which it is put, at least to the extent of developing specialized vocabulary. In contrast to the variety of English which is used in scientific and scholarly papers, where little of the speaker's personal feelings are expressed, in certain casual varieties of English a great many words and expressions which do not occur in formal English (golly, gee, wow, say, oh, well) express feelings and attitudes of the speaker. A dialect of Malay spoken in Jakarta, Betawi, is the spoken vernacular of the lower classes of Jakartan descent, a dialect which is never used in formal situations such as speeches or serious writing. The elite speakers of Jakarta until recently spoke primarily Dutch and regional languages. Betawi, as a dialect used only in informal speech, has a well-developed vocabulary for expressing speakers' feelings and comments. When I constructed sentences without such words, my informant usually repeated them with such additions, to make them more natural. The national language of Indonesia, Bahasa Indonesia, which is also a form of Malay, has served the function of a 'public' language, the language of education, government and administration, while regional languages were spoken at home and work. But as it is increasingly used as a language of home and work as well, it is
Molecular solutions for the Maximum K-colourable Sub graph Problem in Adleman-Lipton model

Adleman showed that deoxyribonucleic acid DNA strands could be employed towards calculating solutions to an instance of the Hamiltonian path problem . Lipton also demonstrated that Adleman techniques could be used to solve the Satisfiability problem. In this paper, we use Adleman Lipton model for developing a DNA algorithm to solve Maximum k-colourable Sub graph problem. In spite of the NP-hardness of Maximum k-colourable Sub graph problem our DNA procedures is done in a polynomial time.
Robust adaptive sparse channel estimation in the presence of impulsive noises

Broadband wireless channels usually have the sparse nature. Based on the assumption of Gaussian noise model, adaptive filtering algorithms for reconstructing sparse channels were proposed to take advantage of channel sparsity. However, impulsive noises are often existed in many advanced broadband communications systems. These conventional algorithms are vulnerable to performance deteriorate by the impulsive noise. In this paper, sign least mean square algorithm (SLMS) based robust sparse adaptive filtering algorithms are proposed to estimate channels as well as to mitigate impulsive noise. By using different sparsity-inducing penalty functions, i.e., zero-attracting (ZA), reweighted ZA (RZA), reweighted L1-norm (RL1) and Lp-norm (LP), the proposed SLMS algorithms are termed as SLMS-ZA, SLMS-RZA, LSMS-RL1 and SLMS-LP. Simulation results are given to validate the proposed algorithms.
INCIDENTAL EXPOSURE AND L3 LEARNING OF MORPHOSYNTAX

Evidence of learning following incidental exposure has been found for aspects of nonnative syntax in adults (Rebuschat & Williams, 2006, 2012; Williams & Kuribara, 2008). However, little research has tested delayed effects of learning under an incidental condition or moved beyond word order. This study investigated learning of third language (L3) morphosyntax (word order and case marking) under an incidental exposure condition. Participants were second language Spanish learners exposed auditorily to a semiartificial language, Japlish, during a semantic plausibility judgment task. Performance following exposure to L3 Japlish was assessed with acceptability judgment and picture-matching tasks that were administered immediately after exposure and 2 weeks later. Results on immediate tests showed a significant learning effect on acceptability judgment but none for picture matching. At delayed testing, results showed maintenance of the learning effect on acceptability judgment and significantly improved performance on picture matching. Results additionally showed that many of the learners arrived at the correct Japlish word-order rule; fewer did so for case marking. Follow-up analyses indicated that this rule knowledge, as measured by debriefing information, was important for performance on both assessment tasks, particularly at delayed testing. The results suggest that learning of L3 structures can take place following incidental exposure, that such learning is durable and undergoes improvement, and that development of reportable rule knowledge may also play an important role.
An empirical study to measure the relative efficiencies of training organizations using data envelopment analysis

Article history: Received 1 August 2010 Received in revised form 23 November 2010 Accepted 23 November 2010 Available online 24 November 2010 This paper presents an empirical study on measuring relative efficiencies of test drive educational organizations using data envelopment analysis. The study uses a Delphi method to determine the most important input/output factors and then gathers the actual data for all units located in an Iranian province called Zanjan. The results of the implementation of the DEA method are compared for different periods of the recent year and they are analyzed. We perform the DEA implementation for two separate regions, one for the units located inside the city and the other for the units located in the rural area. The output results of both methods are compared and the results are discussed in details. © 2011 Growing Science Ltd. All rights reserved.