Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
A ranking measure for top-k moving object trajectories search

In this paper we present a new ranking measure for Top-k Trajectory query. A trajectory is defined as a sequence of places with each place having an associated text description with them. A top-k trajectory query consists of a set of locations and a set of activities, and returns a set of relevant trajectories to a user. A trajectory is considered more relevant if it has query activities at places nearby to the query locations. The proposed ranking measure helps to select highly relevant trajectories by capturing the correlation between trajectory places and activities while computing a trajectory relevance score. Previous works on Top-k trajectory query computed a trajectory relevance score either on the basis of spatial proximity or on the basis of combination of spatial proximity and textual similarity in some user defined proportion. These works did not consider association of spatial and textual dimensions, and hence may return trajectories that have query activities at trajectory places very far away from the query locations. In addition to the proposal of a ranking metric, we also give an algorithm to implement the proposed metric efficiently. Finally, we do an experimental study on a real dataset to demonstrate that the proposed ranking measure is indeed effective in terms of retrieval of trajectories that have query activities at places near to the query locations.
Developing and using an IMS LD ontology to create and execute learning designs

This paper describes how ontologies can be used to model, validate and execute IMS Learning Design. Concretely, we propose an IMS LD ontology, which covers both IMS LD level A and level B, and explain how it was developed and then used during the IMS LD document life cycle. The main contribution can be summarized as follows: (1) the formalization of the implicit knowledge found on the IMS LD specification in terms of formal axioms, (2) their use to validate IMS LD documents, and (3) and a learning design translator to translate representations between XML Schema and F-Logic.
A Novel Analytical Model as a Design Tool for Uni-Traveling-Carrier Traveling Wave Photo Detectors Approaching 1 THz

The generation of sub-millimeter waves and terahertz signals is a difficult challenge, and a few approaches are being studied by several groups. We are investigating the approach of heterodyning two optical signals in a uni-traveling-carrier photo detector, which has been identified as the device of choice for very high frequencies. In this paper we present a novel analytical model, which was developed as a design tool for the above device. The model was validated by designing, fabricating and testing a new 100 GHz photo detector. In addition, performance limits for the UTC traveling wave photo detector are calculated by the new model, and it is shown that this device has the potential of delivering more than 1 mW of power at frequencies approaching 1 THz.
Demand for education in China

Abstract This paper offers an explanation of the quantitative changes in education spending by the framework of demand analysis, including the changes in the ratio of educational funding to GDP in the period 1991–2002. The income effect is estimated mainly by using cross-provincial data, while time series data are used to estimate the price effect. Changes in government and non-government spending through time can be satisfactorily explained by the income and price effects. Demand for education services in the three levels of primary school, secondary school and higher education, and aggregate demand for all education services are investigated. The relation between income inequality and inequality in education opportunities is briefly discussed. Ten important findings are stated.
Colors, Emotions, and the Auction Value of Paintings

We study the impact of colors of paintings on prices in the art auction market and incorporate color attributes of non-figurative paintings in pricing models. A one standard deviation increase in the percentages of blue (red) hue leads to premiums of 10.63% (4.20%). We also conduct laboratory experiments in China, the Netherlands, and U.S., and elicit participants’ willingness-to-pay and emotions (pleasure-arousal). Blue (red) paintings command 18.57% (17.28%) higher bids and stronger intention to purchase. Although abstract art is visually arousing, it is the emotional pleasure channel that relates colors and prices. Our results are consistent across all three cultures.
Structure and expression of a human gene coding for a 71 kd heat shock 'cognate' protein

In all eukaryotes examined so far, hsp70 gene families include cognate genes (hsc70) encoding proteins of about 70 Kd which are expressed constitutively during normal growth and development. We have investigated the structural relationship of heat-inducible and cognate members of the human hsp70 gene family. Among several human genomic clones isolated using Drosophila hsp/hsc70 probes, one contained an hsc70 gene. Its complete sequence is reported here. It is split by eight introns and encodes a predicted protein of 70899 d that would be 81% homologous to hsp70. Structural comparisons with corresponding genes from other species provide one of the most striking examples of gene conservation. Isolation of a corresponding cDNA clone, RNA-mapping and in vitro translation data demonstrate that the gene is expressed constitutively and directs the synthesis of a 71 kd protein. The latter is very likely to be identical to a clathrin uncoating ATPase recently identified as a member of the hsp70-like protein family.
Predicting Aging-Genes in Drosophila Melanogaster by Integrating Network Topological Features and Functional Categories

An important task of aging research is to find genes that regulate lifespan. Wet-lab identification of aging genes is tedious and labor-intensive activity. Developing an algorithm to predict aging genes will be greatly helpful. In this paper, we systematically analyzed topological features of proteins encoded by Drosophila melanogaster aging genes versus those encoded by non-aging genes in protein-protein interaction PPI network and found that aging genes are characterized by several network topological features such as higher in degrees. And aging genes tend to be enriched in certain functions were also found. Based on these features, an algorithm was developed to detect aging genes genome wide. With a posterior probability score describing possible involvement in aging no less than 1, 1014 novel aging genes were predicted by decision trees. Evidence supporting our prediction can be found.
Switched-opamp: an approach to realize full CMOS switched-capacitor circuits at very low power supply voltages

The implementation of analog CMOS circuits that operate in the very low power supply voltage range (1 V to 2 V) becomes more important nowadays. Most accurate filter circuits are designed in the switched-capacitor technique. The existing design techniques require, however, the on-chip generation of a higher voltage by means of a voltage multiplier. In this paper, a novel technique, derived from the standard switched-capacitor technique, is presented. It is called switched-opamp because it is based on the replacement of the critical switches with opamps which are turned on and off. This technique results in a true, very low voltage operation without the need for voltage multipliers. As an example, a second order lowpass switched-capacitor filter is implemented in the switched-opamp technique. This filter operates with only a 1.5 V power supply. It is realized in a 2.4-/spl mu/m CMOS process with V/sub T/=/spl plusmn/0.9 V. It has a measured total harmonic distortion of -60 dB for a signal swing of 600 mV/sub ptp/ and a powerdrain of only 110 /spl mu/W. >
Youth participation informing care in hospital settings

Abstract In this article, we use an ecocultural framework to understand young people’s experiences of the care provided by a specialist children’s hospital. This framework conceptualizes hospital culture as situated and embodied rather than separate from people and practices. Young people’s responses, gathered during a one-day forum at the hospital, suggest ways in which a hospital can respond to them not just as individual bodies but also as members of the families and peer groups who form their broader web of care. Their input highlights the importance of consulting young people about the operations of health services themselves, not just about the patient-medico relationships that they experience whilst using a service.
Efficient Speaker Change Detection Using Adapted Gaussian Mixture Models

A new approach to speaker change detection is proposed and investigated. The method, which is based on a probabilistic framework, provides an effective means for tackling the problem posed by phonetic variation in high-resolution speaker change detection. Additionally, the approach incorporates the capability for dealing with undesired effects of variations in speech characteristics. Using the experimental investigations conduced with clean and broadcast news audio, it is shown that the proposed method is significantly more effective than the currently popular techniques for speaker change detection. To enhance the computational efficiency of the proposed method, modified implementation algorithms are introduced which are based on the exploitation of the redundant operations and a fast scoring procedure. It is shown that, through the use of the proposed fast algorithm, the computational efficiency of the approach can be increased by over 77% without significant reduction in its accuracy. The paper discusses the principles and characteristics of the proposed speaker change detection method, and provides a detailed description of its efficient implementation. The experiments, investigating the performance of the proposed method and its effectiveness in relation to other approaches, are described and an analysis of the results is presented.
Pilot Study on the Impact of in Situ Spaced Professional Learning on Teachers' Mathematical Knowledge of Multiplicative Thinking.

This paper reports on a pilot study that incorporated an alternative professional learning model that was school-based and focused an identified area of need: multiplicative thinking. The shift to multiplicative thinking can be challenging for both students and teachers due to its multifaceted nature. The study involved the delivery of six modules of learning related to multiplicative structures, pedagogical approaches to learning and subsequent between session activities to staff in 14 participating primary schools. Our findings suggest such a model of professional learning that includes enactment and reflection supports change in teachers’ pedagogical content knowledge.
Integrating Heterogeneous Data Sources into Federated Information Systems – Work in Progress –

Federated Information Systems are based on gathering information from different heterogeneous data sources. The Internet a Meta FIS in one sense demands for the ability to query many different information sources. Obviously, most of them are structured very differently. Considering databases, XML files, other structured text files or Web Services as information supplier the complexity of integrating the information with their various describing models is not easy to handle. Even companies that only want to setup a global information system (e.g. a Data Warehouse) are faced with integration problems. As a lot of departments were able to develop their own local information pools there can be a variety of different sometimes redundant data sources even inside one company. In this paper an new approach of building such a global information system is described. Besides the theoretical aspects it is mainly shown that the system is really working and can easily be adapted to the special needs, a certain Federated Information System has to fulfill.
A game-independent play trace dissimilarity metric

This paper deﬁnes a metric for comparing play traces (sequences of user decisions) in a game-independent way. The properties of this metric are determined by a proposed tool we call the Gamalyzer , an exploratory visualization of arbitrary games which clusters together similar play traces. Our Gamalyzer metric is based on reﬁnements to edit distance and has broad uses outside of visualization and, indeed, outside of games (e.g. player and opponent modeling, goal recognition, player mimicry, user testing, and so on). We validate our metric against one synthetic and one real-world data set, ﬁnding that Gamalyzer discerns designer-relevant diﬀerences between play traces nearly as well as hand-tuned feature selection while remaining game-and genre-agnostic. The main problem with conventional game visualizations is that judging the similarity of two game states is an under-speciﬁed problem requiring knowledge of game rules and of the purpose for which the states are being compared. Gama-lyzer, in contrast, directly compares sequences of actions: it considers strategies instead of states . Existing game visualizations require signiﬁcant development eﬀort for individual genres, games, and even speciﬁc queries. Our proposed visualization (based on the Gamalyzer metric) could quickly and inexpensively show designers the strategic landscape of their game without requiring specialized knowledge of statistics or machine learning.
Using a configurable processor generator for computer architecture prototyping

Building hardware prototypes for computer architecture research is challenging. Unfortunately, development of the required software tools (compilers, debuggers, runtime) is even more challenging, which means these systems rarely run real applications. To overcome this issue, when developing our prototype platform, we used the Tensilica processor generator to produce a customized processor and corresponding software tools and libraries. While this base processor was very different from the streamlined custom processor we initially imagined, it allowed us to focus on our main objective - the design of a reconfigurable CMP memory system - and to successfully tape out an 8-core CMP chip with only a small group of designers. One person was able to handle processor configuration and hardware generation, support of a complete software tool chain, as well as developing the custom runtime software to support three different programming models. Having a sophisticated software tool chain not only allowed us to run more applications on our machine, it once again pointed out the need to use optimized code to get an accurate evaluation of architectural features.
Moments and points in an interval‐based temporal logic

This paper develops and explores a first‐order theory of time that appears useful as an underlying framework for a wide range of practical applications in artificial intelligence (AI). In particular, it presents a concise, formal axiomatization of “interval‐based” time as described by Allen and then explores the relationship between interval‐based and point‐based temporal theories in detail. This analysis should be useful to both theoretical and practical work in AI that involves the representation of time, since it shows what distinctions are actually substantive and what arise merely from formalisms being notational variants of one another.
The explanatory power of earnings for stock returns

SYNOPSIS AND INTRODUCTION: In a thorough review of marketbased research on the information content of accounting earnings, Lev (1989) concludes that the explanatory value of earnings for stock returns, and therefore the usefulness of earnings disclosures, tends to be embarrassingly low. A number of nonmutually exclusive explanations have been advanced for these disappointing results, including: (1) poor specification of the estimating equation, such as a failure to allow for cross-sectional variation in the regression parameters; (2) inappropriate choice of the assumed proxy for expected earnings; (3) the availability of more timely sources of the value-relevant information in earnings statements (Beaver et al. 1980); and (4) poor informational properties (quality) of reported earnings because of biases induced by accounting measurement practices or creative "abuses" of the earnings measurement process. Lev (1989) speculated that the last of these explanations was the most likely cause of the poor statistical performance consistently found in returns-earnings research. In contrast, the present study shows that a considerable improvement in statistical performance can be achieved by working with a more general specification of the returns-earnings relation. Lev's article has resulted in serious questioning of the contribution of market-based research, but we believe that the present study provides grounds for a more positive assessment. We use a panel regression approach to examine the association between annual stock price returns and reported earnings figures of industrial companies in the United Kingdom. We combine several recent advances in
Bowel Function in Acute Stroke Patients

OBJECTIVE To investigate factors related to bowel function and colon motility in acute stroke patients. METHOD Fifty-one stroke patients (29 males, mean age 63.4±13.6 years, onset 13.4±4.8 days) were recruited and divided into two groups: constipation (n=25) and non-constipation (n=26) groups. We evaluated the amount of intake, voiding function, concomitant swallowing problem and colon transit time (CTT) using radio-opaque markers for ascending, descending and rectosigmoid colons. The Adapted Patient Evaluation Conference System (APEC), Korean version of Modified Bathel Index (K-MBI) and Motricity Index (MI) were evaluated. RESULTS The constipation group showed significantly prolonged CTT of ascending, descending and entire colon (p<0.05) and more severe swallowing problems (p=0.048). The APEC scale (2.65±1.44 vs 1.52±0.92, p=0.001), K-MBI scores (59.4±14.4 vs 28.0±24.3, p<0.001) and MI scores (69.1±22.3 vs 46.8±25.9, p=0.001) of the constipation group were significantly lower compared to the non-constipation group. CONCLUSION Our study demonstrated that bowel function in acute stroke patients was associated with functional status and swallowing function, indicating the need for intensive functional training in post-stroke constipation patients.
Influences on the nature and performance of contracts for primary care : case studies from Southern Africa

Contracts are promoted as a tool which governments can use to involve the private health care sector in the delivery of public sector services. In low and middle income (LMIC) countries they have been suggesteda s a useful meansb oth for involving the private sectora nd for controlling it. However, evidence from developed countries suggests that the nature of contractual relationships with the public sector can be highly complex and that they may not always operate as envisaged by marketbased economic theory. Very little evidence is available from the different setting of low or middle income countries. This research examined the nature of three different contractual relationships for primary care services in South Africa and Lesotho. A principally qualitative, case study approach, drawing on ideas from new institutional economics, was used to examine the broad context in which these contracts were set, and formal and informal controls upon their operation. A broad framework of factors for the analysis of contractual relationships was used throughout the study and to increase the generalisability of the case study findings. Theories about the varied shape and possible incompleteness of contracts were used as the basis for an examination of formal and informal controls on the operation of contracts in an LMIC setting. The contracts examined were all found to be incomplete and reliant on external factors to determine the way in which they operateda nd the natureo f the contractuarl elationship. Primaryc are services were observed to be both difficult to specify in a contract and very problematic to monitor. The role of factors such as market competition, the nature of the provider, informal monitoring, trust and dependence were each highlighted in the results of the case studies. The importance of taking such factors into account, and recognising the highly variable nature of contracts likely to arise in different settings, were key findings of the study. These findings support a more cautious approach to some of the expectations placed on contracting in low and middle income settings, but also highlight its potential value when approached appropriately.
Photometric Monitoring of Open Clusters. I. The Survey

Open clusters, which have age, abundance, and extinction information from studies of main-sequence turnoff stars, are the ideal location in which to determine the mass-luminosity-radius relation for low-mass stars. We have undertaken a photometric monitoring survey of open clusters in the Galaxy designed to detect low-mass eclipsing binary systems through variations in their relative light curves. Our aim is to provide an improved calibration of the mass-luminosity-radius relation for low-mass stars and brown dwarfs, to test stellar structure and evolution models, and to help quantify the contribution of low-mass stars to the global mass census in the Galaxy. In this paper we present our survey, describing the data and outlining the analysis techniques. We study six nearby open clusters, with a range of ages from ∼0.2 to 4 Gyr and metallicities from approximately solar to -0.2 dex. We monitor a field of view of greater than 1 deg2 per target cluster, well beyond the characteristic cluster radius, over timescales of hours, days, and months with a sampling rate optimized for the detection of eclipsing binaries with periods of hours to days. Our survey depth is designed to detect eclipse events in a binary with a primary star of ≲0.3 M⊙. Our data have a photometric precision of ∼3 mmag at I ≈ 16.
Crowding Affects Reading in Peripheral Vision

SUMMARY It has been shown in various studies that identification of a letter is harder when it is surrounded, or " flanked, " by other letters than when the letter is presented alone. This " crowding " effect occurs only in peripheral vision and not in the fovea. The purpose of this paper is to explore the crowding phenomenon as a cause of why people read poorly in the periphery. The results show that under conditions where crowding should occur, observers perform badly on word identification.
Feature and instances selection for nearest neighbor classification via cooperative PSO

Data reduction is an essential task in the data preparation phase of knowledge discovery and data mining (KDD). The reduction method contains two techniques, namely features reduction and data reduction which are commonly applied to a classification problem. The solution of data reduction can be viewed as a search problem. Therefore, it can be solved by using population-based techniques such as Genetic Algorithm and Particle Swarm Optimization. This paper proposes the integration of feature reduction and data reduction for Nearest Neighbor (NN) classification using Cooperative Binary Particle Swarm Optimization (CBPSO). This method can overcome the limitation of using the Nearest Neighbor (NN) classifier when dealing with high dimensional and large data. The proposed method is applied to 14 real world dataset from the machine learning repository. The algorithm's performance is illustrated by the corresponding table of the classification rate. The experimental results demonstrate the effectiveness of our proposed method.