Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
GermEval 2014 Named Entity Recognition Shared Task

This paper describes the GermEval 2014 Named Entity Recognition (NER) Shared Task workshop at KONVENS. It provides background information on the motivation of this task, the data-set, the evaluation method, and an overview of the participating systems, followed by a discussion of their results. In contrast to previous NER tasks, the GermEval 2014 edition uses an extended tagset to account for derivatives of names and tokens that contain name parts. Further, nested named entities had to be predicted, i.e. names that contain other names. The eleven participating teams employed a wide range of techniques in their systems. The most successful systems used state-of-theart machine learning methods, combined with some knowledge-based features in hybrid systems.
Vector Quantization of Channel Information in Linear Multi-User MIMO Systems

In this paper, we propose a new vector quantization (VQ) algorithm for encoding channel state information feedback in multiple antenna, multi-user systems operating on flat fading channels with rich scattering. We consider an approach where the receiver chooses an instantaneous throughput maximizing modulation matrix from a finite set of predefined matrices (codewords). The codebook of modulation matrices is constructed based on joint optimization of the dominant channel eigenmodes of users and separate quantization of power levels. The proposed algorithm is very flexible and can be used in a variety of system configurations, including varying number of receiver antennas and frequency selective channels. We implement the proposed algorithm on flat fading MIMO channels and show the influence of the feedback rate on system capacity. We demonstrate that, even with low feedback rate, the ergodic capacity of the proposed system closely approaches the theoretic capacity of the system with perfect channel state information at the transmitter
Analyses of Coal and Sewage Sludge Co-Combustion Using Coats-Redfern Model

The co-combustibility of coal and sludge was investigated with thermogravimetric analysis. The results show that the burning process of sludge can be divided into three phases: water evaporation, volatile matter volatilization and combustion, fixed carbon combustion and burning out. The ignition temperature of sludge is only 260 degree centigrade at the beginning of volatile matter combustion. The addition of wet sludge or dried sludge will reduce the burning velocity of coal, and also decrease the ignition temperature. However the blend of coal and sludge has not an obvious stage of the volatile matter volatilization and combustion. The activation energy of the sludge is lower than that of the coal. The addition of wet sludge or dried sludge will decrease the activation energy of the blend fuel, and improve the fire behavior. On the whole, the sludge addition has little influence on the combustion of the coal when the addition ratio is lower than 10%.
Timing Mechanisms in the Cerebellum: Testing Predictions of a Large-Scale Computer Simulation

We used large-scale computer simulations of eyelid conditioning to investigate how the cerebellum generates and makes use of temporal information. In the simulations the adaptive timing displayed by conditioned responses is mediated by two factors: (1) different sets of granule cells are active at different times during the conditioned stimulus (CS), and (2) responding is not only amplified at reinforced times but also suppressed at unreinforced times during the CS. These factors predict an unusual pattern of responding after partial removal of the cerebellar cortex that was confirmed using small, electrolytic lesions of cerebellar cortex. These results are consistent with timing mechanisms in the cerebellum that are similar to Pavlov's “inhibition of delay” hypothesis.
Dynamic assembly and sustained retention of 53BP1 at the sites of DNA damage are controlled by Mdc1/NFBD1

53BP1 is a key component of the genome surveillance network activated by DNA double strand breaks (DSBs). Despite its known accumulation at the DSB sites, the spatiotemporal aspects of 53BP1 interaction with DSBs and the role of other DSB regulators in this process remain unclear. Here, we used real-time microscopy to study the DSB-induced redistribution of 53BP1 in living cells. We show that within minutes after DNA damage, 53BP1 becomes progressively, yet transiently, immobilized around the DSB-flanking chromatin. Quantitative imaging of single cells revealed that the assembly of 53BP1 at DSBs significantly lagged behind Mdc1/NFBD1, another DSB-interacting checkpoint mediator. Furthermore, short interfering RNA-mediated ablation of Mdc1/NFBD1 drastically impaired 53BP1 redistribution to DSBs and triggered premature dissociation of 53BP1 from these regions. Collectively, these in vivo measurements identify Mdc1/NFBD1 as a key upstream determinant of 53BP1's interaction with DSBs from its dynamic assembly at the DSB sites through sustained retention within the DSB-flanking chromatin up to the recovery from the checkpoint.
Use of Shared Lexical Resources for Efficient Ontological Engineering

This paper is intended to approach one of the main problems in ontology engineering: the lack of a shared terminology. Nowadays there exists several biomedical ontologies describing overlapping domains, but there is not a clear correspondence between the concepts that are supposed to be equivalent or just similar. These resources are quite precious but their integration and further development are expensive. Terminological or lexical resources may support the ontological development in several stages of the lifecycle of the ontology including ontology integration and the labeling of concepts. In this paper we investigate the use of lexical resources during the ontology lifecycle using the example of the Health-e-Child (HeC) project. We claim that the proper creation and use of a shared lexicon is a cornerstone for the successful application of the Semantic Web technology within life sciences.
A Collaborative Learning Activity and a software tool for improving language skills

It seems that actual software tools utilizing Computer-Mediated Communication mechanisms -like messaging or chat systems- do not help young students to learn good grammar skills. On the other hand, it is difficult to design and build software tools for supporting the acquisition of language skills, especially if those tools must support a group of student working in a collaborative way. In this paper we show the design of a Collaborative Learning activity and the corresponding software tool developed to support teaching grammar to primary education Chilean students. Some mechanisms were designed to incorporate Positive Interdependencies in the software tool. The tool was also intended to support Individual Accountability for each member of the group. The developed software tool contains two main interfaces, one for individual work and one for supporting face-to-face group work interactions. Both, Collaborative Learning activity and software tool were designed to support teaching Spanish grammar, but they can be adapted for supporting other language's grammar.
Multi‐modal defences in aphids offer redundant protection and increased costs likely impeding a protective mutualism

The pea aphid, Acyrthosiphon pisum, maintains extreme variation in resistance to its most common parasitoid wasp enemy, Aphidius ervi, which is sourced from two known mechanisms: protective bacterial symbionts, most commonly Hamiltonella defensa, or endogenously encoded defences. We have recently found that individual aphids may employ each defence individually, occasionally both defences together, or neither. In field populations, Hamiltonella-infected aphids are found at low to moderate frequencies and while less is known about the frequency of resistant genotypes, they show up less often than susceptible genotypes in field collections. To better understand these patterns, we sought to compare the strengths and costs of both types of defence, individually and together, in order to elucidate the selective pressures that maintain multi-modal defence mechanisms or that may favour one over the other. We experimentally infected five aphid genotypes (two lowly and three highly resistant), each with two symbiont strains, Hamiltonella-APSE8 (moderate protection) and Hamiltonella-APSE3 (high protection). This resulted in three sublines per genotype: uninfected, +APSE8 and +APSE3. Each of the 15 total sublines was first subjected to a parasitism assay to determine its resistance phenotype and in a second experiment, a subset was chosen to compare fitness (fecundity and survivorship) in the presence and absence of parasitism. In susceptible aphid genotypes, parasitized sublines infected with Hamiltonella generally showed increased protection with direct fitness benefits, but clear infection costs to fitness in the absence of parasitism. In resistant genotypes, Hamiltonella infection rarely conferred additional protection, often further reduced fecundity and survivorship when enemy challenged, and resulted in constitutive fitness costs in the absence of parasitism. We also identified strong aphid genotype × symbiont-strain interactions, such that the best defensive strategy against parasitoids varied for each aphid genotype; one performed best with no protective symbionts, the others with particular strains of Hamiltonella. This surprising variability in outcomes helps explain why Hamiltonella infection frequencies are often intermediate and do not strongly track parasitism frequencies in field populations. We also find that variation in endogenous traits, such as resistance, among host genotypes may offer redundancy and generally limit the invasion potential of mutualistic microbes in insects.
Stiffness Degradation and Yielding of EPS Geofoam under Cyclic Loading

This paper summarizes major findings from a laboratory study based on stress-controlled cyclic uniaxial compression tests with initial deviator stress conducted on expanded polystyrene (EPS) geofoam. The experiments involved nonelasticized EPS cylinders of various densities subjected to various static deviator stresses and cyclic loading conditions to provide a detailed description of the geofoam cyclic stress-strain response in the viscoelastic and visco-elasto-plastic domains. Experimental results characterizing the viscoelastic behavior were compiled into a normalized Young’s modulus and damping ratio versus cyclic axial strain amplitude relationships. A unified formulation that can be used to determine the normalized modulus degradation curve for a given static deviator stress level and geofoam density (within 15–25 kg/m3 ) was developed. Examination of the yielding behavior of EPS geofoam under cyclic loading revealed a nonlinear increase in the accumulated plastic axial strain with the increasing n.
Improving Subcategorization Acquisition with WSD

We investigate the suitability of sub-categorization acquisition for evaluation of word sense disambiguation (WSD) systems. We modify an existing subcategorization acquisition system to enable it to benefit from WSD. We present a small scale experiment with manually sense annotated data which shows that accurate WSD indeed does improve the accuracy of the acquired subcategorization frames (SCFs).
Three-dimensional quantification of texture heterogeneity in single-crystal aluminium subjected to equal channel angular pressing

Abstract A three-dimensional crystal plasticity finite element method (3D CPFEM) modelling of a real equal channel angular pressing (ECAP) process for investigating the mechanical properties and texture evolutions of single-crystal aluminium has been developed for the first time. The challenge of modelling such a severe plastic deformation via 3D CPFEM is how to accurately predict the deformation mechanism under the complicated contact conditions between a billet and a die. The validation by comparison with experimental observations demonstrates that the developed 3D CPFEM ECAP model is able to precisely capture the deformation characteristics at the microscale. Furthermore, this research clarified the previously remaining disputes such as the microstructural formation mechanism in the deformed area and the deformation nature in the plastic deformation zone. It is also the first time to extensively discuss the orientation-dependent deformation feature of the ECAP-processed billets, including morphology, lattice rotation angle and grain refinement.
Coagulation and the xenograft endothelium

Abstract: Acute humoral rejection remains the major barrier to long‐term pig‐to‐primate xenograft survival, and microvascular thrombosis is a critical element of the rejection process. It appears that persistent endothelial cell activation and injury, by even low levels of anti‐graft antibodies, eventually overwhelm the cellular anticoagulant defences and promote the development of thrombotic microangiopathy. Porcine endothelium may be particularly vulnerable because of cross‐species molecular incompatibilities affecting the function of thrombomodulin and possibly TFPI. Recent data from small animal models suggest that transgenic overexpression of anti‐thrombotic molecules on xenograft endothelium is capable of inhibiting intravascular thrombosis and preventing acute humoral rejection. In conjunction with existing genetic modifications (e.g. Gal KO, hDAF), this is a promising strategy to move xenotransplantation to the clinic.
A Decision Tree Approach for Steam Turbine-Generator Fault Diagnosis

Redundancy and inconsistency are universal features of the turbine vibration fault diagnosis. If we can provide a solution to the problem, it should be very meaningful that the fault diagnosis data included redundant and inconsistent information could be used to decision-making rules of fault diagnosis. A novel data mining approach for fault diagnosis of turbine generator unit is proposed based on a decision tree in this paper. In terms of history samples library of turbine generator faults, the method applies entropy-based information gain as heuristic information to select test attributes, and uses ID3 algorithm to generate the decision tree and distilling classification rules are handled. The research shows the method not only possesses rapid induction learning ability and classification speed, but also can effectively compress data and save memory, and is an effect turbine generator fault diagnosis method. In the end, a practical application indicates the validities of the method.
Under Consideration for Publication in Knowledge and Information Systems Maximum Entropy Based Significance of Itemsets

We consider the problem of defining the significance of an itemset. We say that the itemset is significant if we are surprised by its frequency when compared to the frequencies of its sub-itemsets. In other words, we estimate the frequency of the itemset from the frequencies of its sub-itemsets and compute the deviation between the real value and the estimate. For the estimation we use Maximum Entropy and for measuring the deviation we use Kullback-Leibler divergence. A major advantage compared to the previous methods is that we are able to use richer models whereas the previous approaches only measure the deviation from the independence model. We show that our measure of significance goes to zero for derivable itemsets and that we can use the rank as a statistical test. Our empirical results demonstrate that for our real datasets the independence assumption is too strong but applying more flexible models leads to good results.
Mechanical energy storage in carbon nanotube springs

Energy storage in mechanical springs made of carbon nanotubes is a promising new technology. Springs made of dense, ordered arrays of carbon nanotubes have the potential to surpass both the energy density of electrochemical batteries and the power density of capacitors due to the effective Young's modulus of carbon nanotubes of 1 TPa and their high elastic strain limit of up to 20%. The energy density of springs made of carbon nanotubes is predicted to be more than three orders of magnitudes higher than the energy density of conventional springs made of steel. The present work studies the mechanical properties and energy storage capabilities of two types of carbon nanotube arrays: fibers made of continuous, millimeter-long carbon nanotubes prepared from forests, and spun yarn made of carbon nanotubes. The highest recorded strength and stiffness of the fibers are 2 N/tex and 68 N/tex, respectively, and the fibers have demonstrated reversible energy storage of 670 kJ/m 3 or 6.9 kJ/kg. The spun yarn has a specific strength of 0.8 N/tex, a specific stiffness of 48 N/tex, a maximum energy density of 7720 kJ/m 3 or 6.7 kJ/kg, and a maximum demonstrated power density of 190 MW/m 3 or 170 kW/kg. The energy density of the current springs is three orders of magnitude lower than the theoretical limit. Mechanical testing, Raman spectroscopy during loading, scanning electron microscope imaging during loading, and simultaneous stress and electrical resistance measurements have provided valuable insights into the mechanisms governing the mechanical behavior of carbon nanotube fibers and yam. While elastic loading is optimal for reversible energy storage, the results indicate that disorder in the structure of both materials causes loading to deviate from purely elastic behavior. Densification of carbon nanotubes in fibers using capillary effects is shown to be an effective way to consolidate CNTs and create high performance fibers since the CNTs selfassemble into dense, interacting networks that promote load transfer. The first demonstrations of carbon nanotube springs that store energy and power small-scale systems are presented. These systems include mechanical watches, escapements, slingshots, and a mechanical energy harvester. Power regulation mechanisms were implemented to control the rate at which energy was released from the springs. Electric batteries were developed that store energy mechanically in carbon nanotube springs and release the energy in the electrical domain. The energy density, power density and efficiency of the springs in each of the systems are characterized to evaluate the performance of the springs as an energy storage medium. Thesis Supervisor: Dr. Carol Livermore Title: Associate Professor
A Novel Geometry-Based Feature-Selection Technique for Hyperspectral Imagery

In this letter, a geometry-based feature-selection method is proposed for efficient analysis of hyperspectral imagery. It searches the vertices that form the largest simplex iteratively in pixel space. These vertices are representative subsets of spectral bands. A distance measure is introduced in the simplex volume comparison for fast implementation of the proposed method. Fast principal component analysis and spectral band indexing are suggested for data preprocessing. This method can be implemented in supervised or unsupervised manner. It is automatic, fast, and distribution-free. Experimental results show the superiority of the proposed method in terms of quality and speed
Left-To-Right Parsing and Bilexical Context-Free Grammars

We compare the asymptotic time complexity of left-to-right and bidirectional parsing techniques for bilexical context-free grammars, a grammar formalism that is an abstraction of language models used in several state-of-the-art real-world parsers. We provide evidence that left-to-right parsing cannot be realised within acceptable time-bounds if the so called correct-prefix property is to be ensured. Our evidence is based on complexity results for the representation of regular languages.
Discovering Typical Motifs of a Raga from One-Liners of Songs in Carnatic Music

Typical motifs of a rāga can be found in the various songs that are composed in the same rāga by different composers. The compositions in Carnatic music have a definite structure, the one commonly seen being pallavi, anupallavi and charanam. The tala is also fixed for every song. Taking lines corresponding to one or more cycles of the pallavi, anupallavi and charanam as one-liners, one-liners across different songs are compared using a dynamic programming based algorithm. The density of match between the one-liners and normalized cost along-with a new measure, which uses the stationary points in the pitch contour to reduce the false alarms, are used to determine and locate the matched pattern. The typical motifs of a rāga are then filtered using compositions of various rāgas. Motifs are considered typical if they are present in the compositions of the given rāga and are not found in compositions of other rāgas.
Design and Verification of a 24 kA Calibration Head for a DCCT Test Facility

The large hadron collider is CERN’s next particle accelerator project, scheduled for commissioning in 2005. The project requires accurate current measurements above 10 kA. Calibration heads have been developed in collaboration with industry to work up to 24 kA with a relative measurement uncertainty of 10 . This paper describes the design and verification of these heads.
Rigid, Variable-View Endoscope in Neurosurgery

Introduction. The endoscope became a highly valued visualization tool in neurosurgery. However, technical limitations caused by the rigidity of current standard endoscopes significantly decrease ergonomy in transcranial neurosurgery. Further technological developments will aid enlarging the surgical applicability. Objective. To evaluate the intraoperative features of a rigid variable-view endoscope in neurosurgery. Methods. We assessed a 4 mm rigid rod lens endoscope (EndoCAMeleon, Karl Storz, Tuttlingen, Germany) in the intraoperative setting. The device offers a variable angle of view from 15° to 90° in one plane. The endoscope was used in 3 cases (aneurysm clipping, vestibular schwannoma surgery, endoscopic third ventriculostomy) for inspection. Results. Direct insertion of the device through the craniotomy/burr hole with the lowest angled view (15°) was always possible. Neurovascular structures crossing the access route could be visualized and avoided. This allowed a targeted positioning of the endoscope’s tip in the operating field. Once the target point was reached, viewing direction was changed in one plane from 15° to 90° according to anatomic demands. As the endoscope’s tip does not move while the lens is rotated, surrounding neurovascular structures are not at risk to be injured. However, turning of the lens-controlling wheel in proximity to delicate structures may be inconvenient. Conclusion. The rigid, variable-view endoscope has the potential to become an appreciated visualization tool in neuroendoscopy. The steerable lens enables a tremendous expansion of the visual field, resulting in higher efficiency for surgeons and increased safety for patients.
Selection of Character Coding Method Is Not Phylogenetically Neutral: A Test Case Using Hominoids

The early stages of phylogenetic inference from morphological data involve a sequence of choices about which analytical methods to employ. At each stage, the selection of one method over another can dramatically impact tree inference. Phylogenetic hypotheses are sensitive to decisions relating to which taxa and characters to select for analysis, whether and how to delimit character states, which taxa to use as outgroups, and how to account for character dependence. Using extant hominoids as a test case, I quantify the degree to which phylogenetic inferences are sensitive to the choice of method used to transform continuously scaled variables into categorical traits. I demonstrate that the character coding strategy significantly impacts hypotheses of character state identity and phylogenetic branching patterns. To avoid biasing evolutionary hypotheses, I recommend that continuously scaled characters be analyzed without prior discretization.