Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Development of a Distributed Watershed Contaminant Transport, Transformation, and Fate (CTT&F) Sub-model

CTT&F is a physically based, spatially distributed watershed contaminant transport, transformation, and fate sub-model designed for use within existing hydrological modeling systems. To describe the fate of contaminants through landscape media as well as spatial variations of contaminant distributions, physical transport and transformation processes in CTT&F are simulated for each cell in the model and routed to the watershed outlet. CTT&F simulates contaminant erosion from soil and transport across the land surface by overland flow. The model also simulates contaminant erosion from stream bed sediment and transport through channels in addition to transport of contaminants inputs by overland flow. CTT&F can simulate solid (granular) contaminant transport and transformation, including partitioning between freely dissolved, dissolved organic carbon (DOC) bound, and particle-sorbed phases. To demonstrate model capabilities, CTT&F was coupled with an existing distributed hydrologic model and was tested and validated to simulate RDX and TNT transport using two experimental plots. These experiments examined dissolution of solid contaminants into the dissolved phase and their subsequent transport to the plot outlet. Model results were in close agreement with measured data. Such a model provides information for decision makers to make rational decisions relevant to the fate of toxic compounds.
UBH3: investigating alternative design concepts for robotic hands

This paper describes the general guidelines of the development of humanoid robot hands based on design concepts that consider an endoskeleton made of rigid links connected with elastic hinges, actuated by internally routed tendons and covered by continuous compliant pulps. The project is called UBH3 (University of Bologna Hand, 3rd version) and aims to the development of hands with reduced mechanical complexity yet maintaining full anthropomorphic aspect and a good level of actual dexterity. This paper focuses on mechanical design and makes a synthetic overview of work in progress, preliminary results and open problems
LG ] 8 F eb 2 01 6 A Latent-Variable Grid Model

A major problem with the markov random field (MRF) is that its learning algorithms are computationally expensive. Grid associative MRFs occur frequently in sequence and image learning. We design a non-markov high-bias low-variance model as an alternative to this subclass of MRF. Our learning algorithm uses vector quantization and, at time complexityO(T d logT ), is significantly faster than that of MRF.
Online Visibility of Corporate Social Responsibility. A CSR Website Analysis of a Sample of Spanish Meat Companies

Proactive online communication is fun­damental to corporate visibility and the success of a company’s core strategies. It creates dialogue and interaction with stakeholders, but it is not always effective. The success of a website is associated with the user experience, and particularly with usability and content. In recent years, a corporate social responsibility (CSR) stra­tegy focused on corporate sustainabili­ty has become increasingly important, and companies are improving their CSR practices. The objective of this study is to analyse and assess the web communica­tion management of CSR in a sample of Spanish meat companies by analysing significant web variables applicable to the CSR information available on their corpo­rate websites. Una comunicacio en linia proactiva resulta fonamental per a una visibilitat corporati­va i l’exit de les estrategies centrals de la companyia. Es cert que afavoreix el dialeg i interactua entre els diferents stakehol­ders de la companyia pero, tot i aixi, no es sempre efectiva. L’exit d’una website esta associat a l’experiencia de l’usuari i parti­cularment a la seva facilitat d’us i contin­gut. En els ultims anys, l’estrategia sobre Responsabilitat Social Corporativa (RSC), focalitzada en la sostenibilitat corporativa, ha esdevingut mes i mes important i les companyies estan millorant-ne les seves practiques. L’objectiu d’aquest estudi es analitzar i avaluar la gestio de la comuni­cacio RSC via web a partir d’una mostra de les companyies espanyoles del sector carni, a traves de l’analisi de significatives varia­bles RSC contingudes a les seves webs.
Semantically enriched cloze exercise — Technical concept and prototype

In our work we describe an approach for automated and approximate evaluation of character based answers in computer-based tests. Cloze exercises (‘fill-in-the-blank’) are error-prone to a variety of potential error sources and are subject to syntactic and semantic ambiguities. Our approach combines string similarity measurements with semantic word analysis to render this type of computer-based exercise more robust and user-friendly. We present a working prototype for a web-based e-learning system supporting spelling correction (syntax level) and an extension to synonyms (semantic level). A community-based approach using OpenThesuarus.org is proposed to gather and evolve missing synonyms for given answers of cloze exercises.
Smart Signs: Showing the way in Smart Surroundings

This paper presents a context-aware guidance and messaging system for large buildings and surrounding venues. Smart Signs are a new type of electronic door- and way-sign based on wireless sensor networks. Smart Signs present in-situ personalized guidance and messages, are ubiquitous, and easy to understand. They combine the easiness of use of traditional static signs with the flexibility and reactiveness of navigation systems. The Smart Signs system uses context information such as user’s mobility limitations, the weather, and possible emergency situations to improve guidance and messaging. Minimal infrastructure requirements and a simple deployment tool make it feasible to easily deploy a Smart Signs system on demand. An important design issue of the Smart Signs system is privacy: the system secures communication links, does not track users, allow almost complete anonymous use, and prevent the system to be used as a tool for spying on users.
Quality of service in an information economy

Accessing and processing distributed data sources have become important factors for businesses today. This is especially true for the emerging virtual enterprises with their data and processing capabilities spread across the Internet. Unfortunately, however, query processing on the Internet is not predictable and robust enough to meet the requirements of many business applications. For instance, the response time of a query can be unexpectedly high; or the monetary cost might be too high if the partners charge for the usage of their data or processing capabilities; or the result of the query might be useless because it is based on outdated data or only on parts (rather than all) of the available data. In this work, we show how a distributed query processor can be extended in order to support quality of service (QoS) guarantees. We propose ways to integrate QoS management into the various phases of query processing: (1) Query optimization uses a multi-dimensional assessment (cost, time and result quality) of query plans, (2) query plan instantiation comprises an admission control for sub-plans, and (3) during query plan execution the QoS of the query is monitored and a fuzzy controller initiates repairing actions if needed. The goal of our work is to provide an initial step towards QoS management in distributed query processing systems and do significantly better than current distributed database systems, which are based on a best-effort policy.
CMOS micromechanical resonator oscillator

A completely monolithic high-Q oscillator, fabricated via a combined CMOS plus surface micromachining technology, is described, for which the oscillation frequency is controlled by a polysilicon micromechanical resonator to achieve stability and phase noise performance comparable to those of quartz crystal oscillators. It is shown that the closed-loop, steady-state oscillation amplitude of this oscillator can be controlled through the DC-bias voltage applied to the capacitively driven and sensed /spl mu/resonator. Measurements indicate a phase noise density level of -168 dBm/Hz at 5 kHz offset frequency for an oscillator carrier power of -14.5 dBm. <<ETX>>
Normalized Laplacian based Optimal Locality Preserving Projection

In the past few years, the computer vision and pattern recognition community has witnessed a rapid growth of a new kind of feature extraction method, the manifold learning methods, which attempt to project the original data into a lower dimensional feature space by preserving the local neighborhood structure. Among these methods, locality preserving projection (LPP) is one of the most promising feature extraction techniques. Based on LPP, this paper proposes a novel feature extraction algorithm, Normalized Laplacian based Optimal Locality Preserving Projection (NL-OLPP). Optimal here means that the extracted features are statistically uncorrelated and orthogonal, which are desirable for pattern analysis applications. We compare the proposed NL-OLPP with LPP, Orthogonal Locality Preserving Projection (OLPP) and Uncorrelated Locality Preserving Projection (ULPP) on the public available data sets, FERET and CMU PIE data sets. Experimental results show that the proposed NL-OLPP achieves much higher recognition accuracies.
Towards a Benchmark for the Maintainability Evolution of Industrial Software Systems

The maintainability of software is an important cost factor for organizations across all industries, as maintenance makes up approximately 40% to 70% of the total development costs of a software system. Organizations are often stuck in the situation where software maintenance costs dominate IT budgets, leaving no room for enhancement and innovation. Building a benchmark for maintainability evolution is helpful in this context because it can help organizations decide on software improvement or replacement strategies. The prototype benchmark we study in this paper shows that software volume and maintainability levels are strong determinants of future maintainability evolution rates. We further describe the data collection and cleaning procedures that were applied to approximately 1,750 industrial software systems, and we provide an exploratory analysis of the resulting benchmark dataset.
Object based validation algorithm and its application to consensus clustering

In this paper, we propose a new object based validity index using linear discriminant analysis (OVI-LDA). In OVI-LDA, each object is assigned an index value which is the log ratio of between-group distance to within-group distance. Unlike another object based validity index - Silhouette, OVI-LDA is suitable for both crisp and fuzzy clustering. Furthermore, its object based feature and dual-type capability lead to a consensus clustering by aggregating multiple crisp and fuzzy clustering results. For the demonstration purposes, we study a set of benchmark datasets with a variety of signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) levels and compare the results with other well known indices. The results show that the proposed OVI-LDA possesses not only all capabilities that other validity indices have, but also the capability to guide consensus clustering. The consensus clustering is also validated using a third-party validity index.
Active-neutral-point-clamped (ANPC) multilevel converter technology

This paper proposes a multilevel power conversion concept based on the combination of neutral-point-clamped (NPC) and floating capacitor converters. In the proposed scheme, the voltage balancing across the floating capacitors is achieved by using a proper selection of redundant switching states, and the neutral-point voltage is controlled by the classical dc offset injection. Experimental results are illustrated in the paper to demonstrate the system operation
Optimal operation strategies for batch distillation by using a fast adaptive simulated annealing algorithm

Batch distillation processes are widely used in the chemical industry. In this work, the optimal operation strategies for such processes are studied by using a fast adaptive simulated annealing (FASA) algorithm. Simulated annealing algorithm is stochastic in nature, and it converges towards a global optimum. However, its computational load is usually much too heavy. In this study, a FASA algorithm was presented with fast and adaptive moves in the searched neighborhood range to decrease the computation load. According to the characteristics of batch distillation process, a FASA-based parallelized optimization computation approach was proposed and then it was applied to a model of a batch distillation plant. The optimal operation strategies with respect to minimal production time and maximal profit were studied. The results show the effectiveness of the method.
Structured decision making for managing pneumonia epizootics in bighorn sheep

Good decision-making is essential to conserving wildlife populations. Although there may be multiple ways to address a problem, perfect solutions rarely exist. Managers are therefore tasked with identifying decisions that will best achieve desired outcomes. Structured decision making (SDM) is a method of decision analysis used to identify the most effective, efficient, and realistic decisions while accounting for values and priorities of the decision maker. The stepwise process includes identifying the management problem, defining objectives for solving the problem, developing alternative approaches to achieve the objectives, and formally evaluating which alternative is most likely to accomplish the objectives. The SDM process can be more effective than informal decision-making because it provides a transparent way to quantitatively evaluate decisions for addressing multiple management objectives while incorporating science, uncertainty, and risk tolerance. To illustrate the application of this process to a management need, we present an SDM-based decision tool developed to identify optimal decisions for proactively managing risk of pneumonia epizootics in bighorn sheep (Ovis canadensis) in Montana. Pneumonia epizootics are a major challenge for managers due to long-term impacts to herds, epistemic uncertainty in timing and location of future epizootics, and consequent difficulty knowing how or when to manage risk. The decision tool facilitates analysis of alternative decisions for how to manage herds based on predictions from a risk model, herd-specific objectives, and predicted costs and benefits of each alternative. Decision analyses for 2 example herds revealed that meeting management objectives necessitates specific approaches unique to each herd. The analyses showed how and under what circumstances the alternatives are optimal compared to other approaches and current management. Managers can be confident that these decisions are effective, efficient, and realistic because they explicitly account for important considerations managers implicitly weigh when making decisions, including competing management objectives, uncertainty in potential outcomes, and risk tolerance. © 2016 The Wildlife Society.
Resolution, optimization, and encoding of pointer variables for thebehavioral synthesis from C

As designers may model mixed hardware-software systems using a subset of C or C++, we present SpC, a solution to synthesize and optimize hardware C models with pointers. In hardware, a pointer is not only the address of data in memory, but it may also reference data mapped to registers, ports, or wires. Pointer analysis is used to find the set of locations each pointer may reference in a program at compile time. In this paper, we address the problem of synthesizing and optimizing pointers to multiple variables or array elements. The value of the pointers are encoded and branching statements are used to dynamically access data referenced by pointers. A heuristic is used to efficiently encode the values of the pointers. Compiler techniques are also used to reduce storage before loads and stores. An implementation using the SUIF framework (Wilson et al., 1994; SUIF Compiler Framework) is presented, followed by some case studies and experimental results.
Everyday mobilities and the construction of subjective spiritual geographies in ‘Non-places’

Abstract Traditional geographic approaches depict sacred spaces, religion and spirituality as places of stillness and tranquillity, this paper challenges such fixity and instead uses the mobilities lens to analyse the dynamic and fluid nature of contemporary spirituality. It builds on recent work that draws on mobilities and geographies of religion by shifting focus away from the extraordinary journeys of pilgrimage to the ordinary, the mundane and everyday routines and movements; trips for economic, recreational or utilitarian purposes. The findings illustrate the activities that people do when they are on the move that can be related to their personal sense of spirituality and the ways in which religion interweaves in the movements and routines of everyday life and mobilities – from the radio playing in the car to the use of meditation. Often, activities became associated with specific parts of the journey and are threaded together to form ‘subjective spiritual geographies’ and significant elements of individual spirituality challenging secular pre-conceptions of mobilities time-spaces and characterisation of ‘non-places’.
Sequencing The Transcriptional Landscape of the Yeast Genome Defined by RNA

clicking here. colleagues, clients, or customers by , you can order high-quality copies for your If you wish to distribute this article to others here. following the guidelines can be obtained by Permission to republish or repurpose articles or portions of articles ): March 3, 2013 www.sciencemag. org (this information is current as of The following resources related to this article are available online at
Billions of Parallel Words for Free: Building and Using the EU Bookshop Corpus

The European Union is a great source of high quality documents with translations into several languages. Parallel corpora from its publications are frequently used in various tasks, machine translation in particular. A source that has not systematically been explored yet is the EU Bookshop ― an online service and archive of publications from various European institutions. The service contains a large body of publications in the 24 official of the EU. This paper describes our efforts in collecting those publications and converting them to a format that is useful for natural language processing in particular statistical machine translation. We report our procedure of crawling the website and various pre-processing steps that were necessary to clean up the data after the conversion from the original PDF files. Furthermore, we demonstrate the use of this dataset in training SMT models for English, French, German, Spanish, and Latvian.
Spherical Hamiltonian Monte Carlo for Constrained Target Distributions

Statistical models with constrained probability distributions are abundant in machine learning. Some examples include regression models with norm constraints (e.g., Lasso), probit models, many copula models, and Latent Dirichlet Allocation (LDA) models. Bayesian inference involving probability distributions confined to constrained domains could be quite challenging for commonly used sampling algorithms. For such problems, we propose a novel Markov Chain Monte Carlo (MCMC) method that provides a general and computationally efficient framework for handling boundary conditions. Our method first maps the D-dimensional constrained domain of parameters to the unit ball [Formula: see text], then augments it to a D-dimensional sphere SD such that the original boundary corresponds to the equator of SD . This way, our method handles the constraints implicitly by moving freely on the sphere generating proposals that remain within boundaries when mapped back to the original space. To improve the computational efficiency of our algorithm, we divide the dynamics into several parts such that the resulting split dynamics has a partial analytical solution as a geodesic flow on the sphere. We apply our method to several examples including truncated Gaussian, Bayesian Lasso, Bayesian bridge regression, and a copula model for identifying synchrony among multiple neurons. Our results show that the proposed method can provide a natural and efficient framework for handling several types of constraints on target distributions.
International Journal of Surgery Case Reports Bilateral Approach for Thoracoscopic Esophagectomy with Lymph Node Dissection in the Dorsal Area of the Thoracic Aorta in Patients with Esophageal Cancer: a Report of Two Cases

INTRODUCTION: The incidence of lymph node metastasis in the dorsal area of the thoracic aorta (DTA) is relatively low in patients with esophageal cancer. It is difficult to approach the DTA using surgical procedures, such as an open thoracotomy and thoracoscopy in the left decubitus position. CASE PRESENTATION: Case 1: A 70-year-old man with esophageal cancer underwent thoracoscopic esophagectomy with mediastinal lymph node dissection via a right thoracoscopic approach, followed by lymphadenectomy in the DTA via left thoracoscopy in the prone position. Microscopic findings revealed two metastatic lymph nodes in the DTA. The definitive diagnosis was squamous cell carcinoma of the esophagus, and the pathological stage was T2N3M0 (Union for International Cancer Control [UICC], 7th edition). The patient showed lung metastasis 8 months after the surgery. Case 2: A 72-year-old man with esophageal cancer underwent esophagectomy via a bilateral approach in the prone position, using a similar procedure as in case 1. The definitive diagnosis was squamous cell carcinoma of the esophagus, and the pathological stage was T3N2M0. The patient showed a metastatic mediastinal lymph node 4 months after the surgery. CONCLUSION: Bilateral thoracoscopic esophagectomy in the prone position can be safely performed, and it might be an alternative curative surgery for esophageal cancer. However, both our cases showed metas-tasis in the early postoperative period. The long-term outcome and significance of dissection of lymph nodes in the DTA in patients with esophageal cancer remains controversial. Further studies are required to establish the indications and efficacy of this therapeutic approach.
On the short-term-memory of WTA nets

An exact solution of a system of coupled di erential equations describing the dynamics of a special class of winner-take-all networks is given. From the solution two properties of the short-termmemory traces are derived: (1) information preservation and (2) a discrimination measure. These properties justify a biologically inspired fault tolerant extension of the network using di erentiating neurons.
Mentoring Student Teachers

This study, led among student teachers, explores the situations they find challenging and/or violent and analyses their suggestions in terms of support at the beginning of their teaching career. The results show evidence of the participants’ feeling of isolation in the face of difficulties and their wish for support by more experienced mentors. Anglo-Saxon countries have been forerunners in the mentoring of newly appointed teachers. We therefore consider the possibility of adapting a similar system to the French educational context.