Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Everyday Consumption of Russian Youth in Small Towns and Villages

This article analyses the everyday consumption of young people who live in villages and small towns in modern‐day Russia. Based on 59 semi‐structured interviews conducted in three districts of the Leningrad region, the authors try to answer the following questions: How does everyday consumption fit in the biographical experience of rural youth? What consumption styles are implemented in small towns and villages? The conceptual framework of the analysis is the perspective of ‘the lifestyle’, which connects everyday consumption practices with the construction of youth identities. The authors come to the conclusion that the differentiation of the consumption styles of modern rural residents can be explained in the context of life strategies, construed on the basis of family capital, education, employment and orientation towards success. The article describes four basic styles that characterise the consumption of young rural residents, namely ‘family’, ‘status‐oriented’, ‘individualistic’ and ‘conformist’ styles.
Title iCartiGD : The Integrated Cartilage Gene Database

Background: Diseases of cartilage, such as arthritis and degenerative disc disease, affect the majority of the general population, particularly with ageing. Discovery and understanding of the genes and pathways involved in cartilage biology will greatly assist research on the development, degeneration and disorders of cartilage. Description: We have established the Integrated Cartilage Gene Database (iCartiGD) of genes that are known, based on results from high throughput experiments, to be expressed in cartilage. Information about these genes is extracted automatically from public databases and presented as a single page report via a web-browser. A variety of flexible search options are provided and the chromosomal distribution of cartilage associated genes can be presented. Conclusion: iCartiGD provides a comprehensive source of information on genes known to be expressed in cartilage. It will remain current due to its automatic update capability and provide researchers with an easily accessible resource for studies involving cartilage. Genetic studies of the development and disorders of cartilage will benefit from this database. Background Diseases of cartilage, such as arthritis and degenerative disc disease, affect the majority of the general population, particularly with ageing. In recognition of the impact of musculo-skeletal disorders on society, 2000–2010 has been declared the bone and joint decade by the World Health Organization [1]. One aim of this decade is to foster research relevant to musculo-skeletal systems. Discovery and understanding of the genes and pathways involved in cartilage biology will greatly assist research on the development, degeneration and disorders of cartilage. To this end we have established the Integrated Cartilage Gene Database (iCartiGD) of genes that are known, based on results from high throughput experiments, to be Published: 23 February 2007 BMC Genetics 2007, 8:4 doi:10.1186/1471-2156-8-4 Received: 20 September 2006 Accepted: 23 February 2007 This article is available from: http://www.biomedcentral. com/1471-2156/8/4 © 2007 Yeung et al; licensee BioMed Central Ltd. This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
Speaker Independent Phonetic Transcription of Fluent Speech for Large Vocabulary Speech Recognition

Results are presented of experiments on speaker independent phonetic transcription of fluent speech. The acoustic-phonetic model is a 38505-parameter continuously variable duration hidden Markov model which allows real-time phonetic transcription to be performed by means of a modified Viterbi algorithm. The model was trained on 3020 sentences from the TIMIT database. Testing was performed on the remaining 180 sentences. In a test without lexical or syntactic constraints, the authors obtained 52% correct phonetic transcription with 12% insertions. The design of a system for recognition of fluent speech based on the technique for phonetic transcription is described. <<ETX>>
GPU-Based Foreground-Background Segmentation using an Extended Colinearity Criterion

We present a GPU-based foreground-background segmentation that processes image sequences in less than 4ms per frame. Change detection wrt. the background is based on a color similarity test in a small pixel neighbourhood, and is integrated into a Bayesian estimation framework. An iterative MRFbased model is applied, exploiting parallelism on modern graphics hardware. Resulting segmentation exhibits compactness and smoothness in foreground areas as well as for inter-frame temporal contiguity. Further renements extend the colinearity criterion with compensation for dark foreground and background areas and thus improving overall performance.
iLOG: A Framework for Automatic Annotation of Learning Objects with Empirical Usage Metadata

Learning objects (LOs) are digital or non-digital entities used for learning, education or training commonly stored in repositories searchable by their associated metadata. Unfortunately, based on the current standards, such metadata is often missing or incorrectly entered making search difficult or impossible. In this paper, we investigate automating metadata generation for SCORM-complaint LOs based on user interactions with the LO and static information about LOs and users. Our framework, called the Intelligent Learning Object Guide (iLOG), involves real-time tracking of each user sessions (an LO Wrapper), offline data mining to identify key attributes or patterns on how the LOs have been used as well as characteristics of the users (MetaGen), and the selection of these findings as metadata. Mechanisms used in the data mining include data imputation via clustering, association rule mining, and feature selection ensemble. This paper describes the methodology of automatic annotation, presents the results on the evaluation and validation of the algorithms, and discusses the resulting metadata. We have deployed our iLOG implementation for five LOs in introductory computer science topics and collected data for over 1400 sessions. We demonstrate that iLOG successfully tracks user interactions that can be used to automate the generation of meaningful empirical usage metadata for different stakeholder groups including learners and instructors, LO developers, and researchers.
The genome of Streptococcus pneumoniae is organized in topology-reacting gene clusters

The transcriptional response of Streptococcus pneumoniae was examined after exposure to the GyrB-inhibitor novobiocin. Topoisomer distributions of an internal plasmid confirmed DNA relaxation and recovery of the native level of supercoiling at low novobiocin concentrations. This was due to the up-regulation of DNA gyrase and the down-regulation of topoisomerases I and IV. In addition, >13% of the genome exhibited relaxation-dependent transcription. The majority of the responsive genes (>68%) fell into 15 physical clusters (14.6–85.6 kb) that underwent coordinated regulation, independently of operon organization. These genomic clusters correlated with AT content and codon composition, showing the chromosome to be organized into topology-reacting gene clusters that respond to DNA supercoiling. In particular, down-regulated clusters were flanked by 11–40 kb AT-rich zones that might have a putative structural function. This is the first case where genes responding to changes in the level of supercoiling in a coordinated manner were found organized as functional clusters. Such an organization revealed DNA supercoiling as a general feature that controls gene expression superimposed on other kinds of more specific regulatory mechanisms.
Studies on improving retrieval accuracy in web information retrieval

With the rapid spread of the Internet, anyone can easily access a variety of information on the World Wide Web (WWW). Since information resources on the WWW continue to grow, it has become increasingly difficult for users to find relevant information on the WWW. In this situation, Web search engines are one of the most popular methods for finding valuable information effectively. However, users are not satisfied with the retrieval accuracy of search engines. We consider that the following two facts cause this problem: (i) accurate indexing of Web pages by considering their contents is not performed, (ii) most search engines cannot provide search results that satisfy each user’s information need. The aim of this thesis is to address the above problems in order to improve retrieval accuracy in Web information retrieval. In information retrieval systems based on the vector space model, the TF-IDF scheme is widely used to characterize documents. However, in the case of documents with hyperlink structures such as Web pages, it is necessary to develop a technique for representing the contents of Web pages more accurately by exploiting the contents of their hyperlinked neighboring pages. Therefore, in order to address the problem (i), we propose several approaches to refining the TF-IDF scheme for a target Web page by using the contents of its hyperlinked neighboring pages. Experimental results show Doctor’s Thesis, Department of Information Systems, Graduate School of Information Science, Nara Institute of Science and Technology, NAIST-IS-DT0161021, February 6, 2004.
Performance of the Optimized Post-Zel'dovich Approximation for Cold Dark Matter Models in Arbitrary FLRW Cosmologies

We investigate the performance of the optimized post-Zel'dovich approximation in three cold dark matter cosmologies. We consider two flat models with Ω0=1 (SCDM) and with Ω0=0.3 (ΛCDM) and an open model with Ω0=0.3 (OCDM). We find that the optimization scheme proposed by Weiss, Gottlöber, & Buchert, in which the performance of the Lagrangian perturbation theory was optimized only for the Einstein-de Sitter cosmology, shows excellent performance not only for SCDM model but also for both OCDM and ΛCDM models. This universality of the excellent performance of the optimized post-Zel'dovich approximation is explained by the fact that a relation between the post-Zel'dovich order's growth factor E(a) and Zel'dovich order's one D(a), E(a)/D2(a), is insensitive to the background cosmologies.
Spambot Detection : A Review of Techniques and Trends

Spambot is a new way of creating and spreading spam using a robot in web 2.0 environment. Application such as blogs, face book, twitter and various form of social networking provides an enabling environment for spammers to deploy an intelligent program capable of imitating human behaviour to spread unsolicited message like spyware or malware and even content that can be use to perpetrate unwholesome act . This paper seems to harvest all past and current technique used in identification and detection of this type of spam and examine the trend in this type of spamming activities to suggest a research area for the researchers into spam management and detection.
Fano threefolds and K3 surfaces

We discuss in this note which K3 surfaces appear as anticanonical divisors in a Fano threefold. We prove in particular that a general K3 surface with given Picard lattice P and polarization class h in P is an anticanonical divisor in a Fano threefold if and only if (P,h) is isomorphic to (Pic(V), c_1(V)) for some Fano threefold V, where Pic(V) is equipped with the intersection product (L,M) --> (L.M.c_1(V)).
The Pervasive Problem With Placebos in Psychology

To draw causal conclusions about the efficacy of a psychological intervention, researchers must compare the treatment condition with a control group that accounts for improvements caused by factors other than the treatment. Using an active control helps to control for the possibility that improvement by the experimental group resulted from a placebo effect. Although active control groups are superior to “no-contact” controls, only when the active control group has the same expectation of improvement as the experimental group can we attribute differential improvements to the potency of the treatment. Despite the need to match expectations between treatment and control groups, almost no psychological interventions do so. This failure to control for expectations is not a minor omission—it is a fundamental design flaw that potentially undermines any causal inference. We illustrate these principles with a detailed example from the video-game-training literature showing how the use of an active control group does not eliminate expectation differences. The problem permeates other interventions as well, including those targeting mental health, cognition, and educational achievement. Fortunately, measuring expectations and adopting alternative experimental designs makes it possible to control for placebo effects, thereby increasing confidence in the causal efficacy of psychological interventions.
Physical and anthropometrical attributes of Australian youth soccer players

Objectives To determine whether Australian youth soccer players of varying levels could be distinguished based on their anthropometrical and physical attributes. Design A cross-sectional observational design was used, involving six anthropometrical and physical tests for each player. Methods Participants represented three youth levels of competition, namely national elite (n = 18), state elite (n = 22) and sub-elite (n = 22). Anthropometrical and physical tests included standing height; body mass; 5, 10, 30 m sprint and 20 m ‘flying start’ sprint; zig-zag agility test; vertical jump and Yo-Yo Intermittent Recovery test level 1. A multiple analysis of variance for the main effect of cohort, with a follow-up ANOVA and Tukey's Honest Significant Difference were used to discern which attributes differed between each cohort. Receiver operating characteristic curves were calculated, providing cut-off values between cohorts. Results The national elite cohort was significantly taller than the state elite cohort (ES = 0.94) and faster than the sub-elite athletes across 30 m (ES = 0.79) and 20 m with a flying start (ES = 0.77) (P < 0.05). The national elite cohort had a significantly higher level of intermittent endurance, compared to the state elite athletes who also performed better than the sub-elite cohort. The discrepancy between groups in the Yo-Yo Intermittent Recovery test level 1 was exemplified by the receiver operating characteristic with 94.1% of national elite players running further than 1980 m, while 95.7% of state elite and 100% of sub-elite players failed to reach this distance (ES = 0.88–1.77). Conclusions It is evident that anthropometrical and physical attributes differ between youth cohorts, particularly intermittent endurance. It is important to use this knowledge to enhance the current processes used to identify future talent for success in Australian soccer.
Distributed resource optimization in multicell OFDMA networks

We consider the joint allocation of receiver, bit, and power to subcarriers in the downlink of multicell orthogonal frequency-division multiple-access (OFDMA) networks. Assuming that the cells share the entire bandwidth and that the rates are discrete, we formulate the joint allocation problem as a nonlinear mixed integer program (MIP), which however has exponential worst-case complexity. We capitalize on the capability of the receivers to measure the interference-plus-noise on every subcarrier and decompose the joint problem into a set of smaller-scale linear MIPs solved by individual base stations. Accordingly, we propose a distributed algorithm with linear complexity, in which the base stations participate in the problem solution in a round-robin manner. Simulation results demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed algorithm in comparison with the iterative waterfilling algorithm and the successive optimal solution, by means of standard branch-and-cut solvers, of the individual MIPs.
A path-based timing-driven quadratic placement algorithm

This paper presents a path-based timing-driven quadratic placement algorithm. The delay of the path acts as the timing constraints. In the global optimization step, it tries to satisfy the timing constraints. In the partition step, it tries to decrease the cut number of critical paths. It has some special skills, such as decreasing the delay on the longest path, and pad assignment, to decrease the delay further. Results show this algorithm can improve the timing behavior more than 20%.
Evaluation of user gestures in multi-touch interaction: a case study in pair-programming

Natural User Interfaces are often described as familiar, evocative and intuitive, predictable, based on common skills. Though un-questionable in principle, such definitions don't provide the de-signer with effective means to design a natural interface or evalu-ate a design choice vs another. Two main issues in particular are open: (i) how do we evaluate a natural interface, is there a way to measure 'naturalness'; (ii) do natural user interfaces provide a concrete advantage in terms of efficiency, with respect to more tradi-tional interface paradigms? In this paper we discuss and compare observations of user behavior in the task of pair programming, performed at a traditional desktop versus a multi-touch table. We show how the adoption of a multi-touch user interface fosters a significant, observable and measurable, increase of nonverbal communication in general and of gestures in particular, that in turn appears related to the overall performance of the users in the task of algorithm understanding and debugging.
The Relationship Between Abusive Experiences and Staff Controls in Juvenile Correctional Facilities: The Mediating Effects of Externalizing Behavior

To maintain safety and order, some correctional settings permit the use of controls on youth in response to behavioral problems; however, use of controls may exacerbate trauma symptoms that many youth bring to the carceral experience. Data from the Survey of Youth in Residential Placement are used in this study (N = 7,073). Structural equation modeling was used to test three hypotheses: (a) youth with a history of physical, sexual, and emotional abuse report greater use of staff controls; (b) externalizing behaviors partially mediate this relationship; and (c) externalizing behavior and staff controls are mutually reinforcing. Findings suggest that youth with physical and sexual abuse histories experience greater staff controls. Externalizing behavior was a partial mediator and a reciprocal product of staff controls. Such findings warrant caution for institutional policies and staff practices that promote the use of control, and instead call for the use of trauma-informed responses to misbehavior.
A Simulator for SMT Architectures: Evaluating Instruction Cache Topologies

A Simulator for SMT Architectures: Evaluating Instruction Cache Topologies Ronaldo Gonçalves, Eduard Ayguadé, Mateo Valero, Philippe Navaux 1 Departamento de Informática, Universidade Estadual de Maringá Avenida Colombo 5790, Maringá, Brazil {ronaldo@din.uem. br} 2 Departament d’Arquitectura de Computadors, Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya Jordi Girona 1-3, Barcelona, Spain {eduard, mateo@ac.upc. es} 3 Instituto de Informática, Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul Avenida Bento Gonçalves 9500, Porto Alegre, Brazil {navaux@inf.ufrgs. br}
Bounds for Overlapping Interval Join on MapReduce

We consider the problem of 2-way interval join, where we want to find all pairs of overlapping intervals, i.e., intervals that share at least one point in common. We present lower and upper bounds on the replication rate for this problem when it is implemented in MapReduce. We study three cases, where intervals in the input are: (i) unit-length and equally-spaced, (ii) variable-length and equally-spaced, and (iii) equally-spaced with specific distribution of the various lengths. Our algorithms offer intuition as how to build algorithms for other cases, especially when we have some statistical knowledge about the distribution of the lengths of the intervals. E.g., if mostly large intervals interact with small intervals and not within themselves, then we believe our techniques can be extended to achieve better replication rate.
RIP CURRENT DETECTION USING OPTICAL FLOW

Rip currents are narrow currents of fast moving water that are strongest near the beach. These type of currents are dangerous for swimmers. Many people get stuck in rip currents and are responsible for majority of the lifeguard rescues near beaches [1]. This project talks about using optical flow to detect rip currents using a mobile device.
A Comparison of Standardized Achievement Tests and Direct Measurement Techniques in Measuring Pupil Progress.

The effectiveness of direct measurement techniques and standardized achievement tests for assessing within-individual change over a. 10-week period was examined. The Reading Comprehension and Language subtests from the Stanford Achievement Tests and direct measures of reading and written language were administered twice to 83 low-achieving students in grades 3-6. Analyses indicated that greater student gains were evident on the direct measures than on the standardized achievement test.
Frame synchronization in the presence of frequency offset

A new frame synchronization technique, which is robust to carrier frequency and phase errors, is proposed for M-ary PSK systems. This technique is derived through modification of the procedure used for obtaining the maximum-likelihood (ML) rule in the paper by Gansman et al. (1997). The proposed rule is based on an operation called a double correlation which evaluates a correlation after properly multiplying the received signal with a sync pattern. It was shown through computer simulation that the proposed rule generally outperformed the existing rules when a frequency offset existed.
U . S . Motor Vehicle Output and Other GDP , 1968-2007

In this paper, we assess the influence of the U.S. BEA series “value of motor vehicle output” on the rest of the economy over the period 1968-2007. We statistically assess the causal relationship between real motor vehicle output (RMVO) and real gross domestic product (RGDP) less RMVO, called RGDP other than RMVO, or RGDPO. This is accomplished with the estimation of vector error correction models. Both variables are non-stationary, but are first-order difference stationary and cointegrated. Three separate estimates were generated: over the entire time period (1967.1 to 2008.1) and two subperiods (1967.1 to 1988.1 and 1988.2 to 2008.1). Over the period, we find a strong quantitative relationship between RMVO and RGDPO. The Wald test indicates the presences of bi-directional causality (in the sense of Granger) and is consistent for the full period and two sub-periods. Over all three periods tested, the estimated error-correction coefficients have the expected signs and are comparable in magnitude. In the errorcorrection models we present, contemporary changes in RMVO and RGDPO are expressed in terms of past changes in both variables out to four periods. The estimated coefficients of the differenced values of past RMVO on current changes in RGDPO are positive in 11 of 12 cases, and are always cumulatively positive, quantitatively important, and consistent in magnitude over the preceding four quarters. The estimated coefficients for differenced values of past RGDPO on current RMVO change are inconsistent across subperiods. In addition to the statistical experiments, the estimated quantitative relationships are evaluated graphically. The empirical evidence implies a strong relationship between multi-quarter declines in RMVO and an overall decline in economic activity. Our findings, given the recent declines in RMVO indicate an impending recession. JEL classification: C22; C53; E17; E32; L91