Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Learning to Identify Reduced Passive Verb Phrases with a Shallow Parser

Our research is motivated by the observation that NLP systems frequently mislabel passive voice verb phrases as being in the active voice when there is no auxiliary verb (e.g., "The man arrested had a long record"). These errors directly impact thematic role recognition and NLP applications that depend on it. We present a learned classifier that can accurately identify reduced passive voice constructions in shallow parsing environments.
'Just for you': Unveiling the Traits of the Mass-Customized Clothing Shoppers

In this study, we aim to address characteristics of young adult consumers' who had an experience of purchasing mass-customized products in comparison to the counterparts, to draw pragmatic implications for the mass customized clothing industry. An online survey was administered to adult undergraduates in a fashion program at a major US university. Out of 388 usable responses (95.6% female), there were 251 participants who had previously purchased a mass customized clothing, and 137 who had not. Two-group (purchasers/non-purchasers) independent samples t-tests revealed that purchasers of mass customized clothing were more involved in fashion, and were also more hedonically motivated in their shopping orientation than non-purchasers. In terms of perceived risks of a mass customized clothing compared to a mass-produced clothing, purchasers perceived higher functional and social risk than non-purchasers. Finally, when it came to attitudes towards mass customized clothing, purchasers, compared to non-purchasers had more favorable opinion toward giving a mass customized clothing as a gift to close family and friend and also for oneself. Implications are suggested for brands of mass-customized clothing
A Tool for Measuring Supply Functions of Execution Platforms

In operating systems, resource managers are developed according to simplicity, low overhead, low memory footprint, extensibility and efficiency. Thread schedulers are designed and developed following these implementation-related guidelines. The performance of the implementation is then tested over a set of benchmarks. However, the ability to provide real-time guarantees of these policies is rarely properly quantified. To respond to this need, we developed a publicly available tool (rt-muse), that analyzes timing properties extracted from the execution of a set of threads and it computes the lower/upper bounds to the supply function offered by the execution platform. Also, rt-muse evaluates the impact of many application and platform characteristics including the scheduling algorithm, the amount of available resources, the usage of shared resources, the memory access overhead, etc. In the experiments, we show the impact of Linux scheduling classes, shared data and application parallelism, on the delivered computing capacity. The tool provides useful insights on the runtime behavior of the applications and scheduler. For example, we detected unexpected starvation of threads scheduled by the Linux round-robin class.
Channel distribution fairness in multi-channel wireless ad-hoc networks using a channel distribution index

Utilization of multiple channels in ad-hoc networks provides the benefits of increasing network capacity and increasing efficiency by reducing the probability of collisions. Multi-channel schemes are becoming more attractive as the cost of transceivers decreases and the capacity requirements for potential ad-hoc network applications increase. However, channel assignment mechanisms may distribute channels unfairly to different nodes, thus leading to inefficient use of available capacity and creating system bottlenecks. In this paper, we present a new metric to explore channel distribution in multi-channel wireless ad-hoc networks. The approach lets each node measure the fairness of channel distribution among neighboring nodes. Most prior work on multi-channel schemes focuses on the channel assignment (CA) problem and multi-channel multiple access control (MAC) protocols. Our proposed channel distribution index (CDI) measures the fairness of channel distribution and indicates the dynamic channel distribution among neighboring nodes. Our proposed metric for multi-channel wireless ad-hoc networks can be used to evaluate the fairness of CA and MAC schemes and, in the future, to improve their efficiency
The use of mechanical accumulators in robot herrings

In this paper we explain the mechanical design of the robot herring that we have developed. The use of mechanical accumulators is a fundamental issue in the design of this robot. Two different types of mechanical accumulators are implemented and tested as a spine on the robot. We argue that using an Euler buckled spine, on a robot fish, will give more efficient robots and a naturally occurring biomimetic carangiform swimming style. Furthermore we argue that mechanical accumulators should be an essential part of every coming robot fish. The robot herring is a low cost project where a minimalistic approach has been used to develop a biomimetic robot fish.
A Model for Statewide Special Education Reform: Pennsylvania's Instructional Support Teams

In 1 990, the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania be­ gan developing its response to contemporary chal­ l enges fac ing specia l education, part icularly the over-referral of students along with the financial and educational implications thereof. In restructuring its special education delivery system, the Pennsylvania legislature and Department of Education initiated a statewide reform effort centered around student need rather than disabi l ity category. One of the most suc­ cessful aspects of this effort was the implementation of a pre-referral intervention plan based on instruc­ tional support teams. This article first outlines how the legislative re­ forms to the Special Education Regulations and Stan­ dards influenced school-based change in the Com­ monwealth whiJe providing a model for policymakers and educators considering legal mandates to effect school reform. The article then examines how the in­ tersecting components of problem identification, a le­ gal mandate, and effective support and train ing im­ pacted the success of the instructional support team initiative .
A novel algorithm for fast BCG cycle extraction in ambulatory scenarios

A novel algorithm JDet for ballistocardiogram (BCG) cycle extraction is presented that is intended for the fast generation of ensemble averages in ambulatory scenarios where the ECG signal is not available. First, the sensitivity (Se) and positive predictivity (+P) of JDet are evaluated on recordings obtained from 14 healthy subjects that stood on a modified weighing scale, and the results are compared with those from BSeg++, a popular BCG cycle-extraction algorithm. Second, the signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) is calculated for ensemble averages generated by using JDet, BSeg++, and the ECG R-waves on recordings of different duration. The results show that JDet has higher Se and similar +P than BSeg++. Therefore, the quality of the ensemble averages generated from JDet can be comparable to those generated from the ECG, the only cost being a 25 % longer recording time.
A canonical AND/EXOR form that includes both the generalized Reed-Muller forms and Kronecker forms

| The paper gives a positive answer to an open problem-whether there exists some family of canonical forms that would include both the Generalized Reed-Muller Forms and the Kronecker Forms as its special cases. We call the new forms Generalized Kronecker Forms. We present also the corresponding decision diagrams. They can be used for representation of large functions and also for optimal synthesis of highly testable two-level and multilevel circuits in several technologies, including Field Programmable Gate Arrays (FPGAs).
Independence Assumptions Considered Harmful

Many current approaches to statistical language modeling rely on independence assumptions between the different explanatory variables. This results in models which are computationally simple, but which only model the main effects of the explanatory variables on the response variable. This paper presents an argument in favor of a statistical approach that also models the interactions between the explanatory variables. The argument rests on empirical evidence from two series of experimetns concerning automatic ambiguity resolution.
New CNF Features and Formula Classification

In this paper we rst present three new features for classifying CNF formulas. These features are based on the structural information of the formula and consider AND-gates as well as exactly-one constraints. Next, we use these features to construct a machine learning approach to select a SAT solver conguration for CNF formulas with random decision forests. Based on this classication task we can show that our new features are useful compared to existing features. Since the computation time for these features is small, the constructed classier improves the performance of the SAT solvers
Units Of Genetic Transfer In Prokaryotes

The transfer of genetic material and integration of the material into a genome via recombination are important in gene repair, maintenance of genetic variation, and initiation of DNA replication in prokaryotes. Lateral transfer of genetic materials between two species creates mosaic phylogenetic relationships in different regions across genomes, complicating the inference of a single species phylogeny based on gene sequences. To date, most studies of genetic transfer in prokaryotes have been restricted by the implicit assumption that the units of genetic transfer are whole genes. This thesis documents the implementation of a rigorous phylogenetic approach in the first systematic study of the unit of genetic transfer in prokaryotes. Two core aspects of the thesis are reviewed in detail: (a) the modelling of sequence changes in the study of molecular evolution, and (b) the detection of recombination (thus genetic transfer) in molecular sequences. A ‘shotgun’ strategy is adopted to obtain optimal sequence alignments for subsequent analysis of genetic transfer, in which multiple alignments resulting from various algorithms were validated using a novel pattern-centric objective function presented in this work. A two-phase strategy is introduced to detect recombination at large scale: simple statistical tests are used to detect phylogenetic discrepancies within a group of sequences, and a rigorous Bayesian phylogenetic approach is then used to locate more precisely the breakpoints at which the recombination occurred. To formulate this strategy, an extensive benchmark study on various recombination-detecting approaches was conducted using simulated sequence data, focusing on the effects of subsequent evolutionary events in obscuring recombination. The alignment and recombination-detection strategies were applied to analyse the units of genetic transfer in (a) single-copy gene families from 144 prokaryote genomes and in (b) single-copy and multicopy gene families from 13 Staphylococcus genomes. In prokaryotes, within-gene (fragmentary) genetic transfer is generally more frequent than whole-gene transfer in singlecopy gene families. In Staphylococcus, however, both within-gene and whole-gene transfer contribute almost evenly. The units of fragmentary genetic transfer are found to correlate with protein structural features. A significant functional bias of whole-gene transfer was observed in single-copy and in multi-copy gene families of Staphylococcus, suggesting that fixation of an exogenous gene is influenced by the presence of similar gene copies in the target genome. This work demonstrates that units of genetic transfer in prokaryotes are not restricted to whole genes, and the extent of genetic transfer in prokaryotes could have been underestimated. The results support the view that both genetic transfer and gene duplication contribute to functional innovation in prokaryote genomes.
Visualization of anatomical information in near-infrared imaging for robotic urological surgery

Commercial telerobotic surgery systems for soft tissue surgery are generally limited to visual imaging, though it is possible to simultaneously view picture-in-picture visualization of another workstation. However, it is not easy to correlate such information with the primary endoscopic view since it may not relate to the surface visible in the visual endoscopic images. As critical surfaces as well as surgical targets often lie subsurface, a range of techniques (e.g. ultrasound and near-infrared imaging) and registration methods have been investigated as robotic surgery gains popularity. While investigation of nerves, blood vessels, and tumors has received prior attention, we present a new prototype system for real-time multimodal image registration that focuses on the visualization of the urinary tract. By providing an accurate registration between stereo video images and a near infrared imager, we aim to enhance surgical awareness and make critical uretary tasks such as mobilization of the ureters easier. Engineering validation experiments with a prototype imager, and in-vivo experiments using a prototype Hamamatsu Photodynamic Eye (PDE) imager together with the da Vinci surgical system demonstrating feasibility are presented. These initial experiments have also shown encouraging response from the clinicians.
MANAGING VIRTUAL ORGANIZATION PROCESSES BY SEMANTIC WEB ONTOLOGIES

Interoperability within Virtual Organisations (VOs) is still only weakly supported by IT frameworks. Whilst service level interoperability has made remarkable progress since the emergence and the rapid growth of SOA and Grid technology in the last years, business processes – which are the driving force of each VO – still suffer distinct conceptual gaps regarding their decomposition to technical transactions. There exists no detailed approach that would allow describing technical as well as business aspects in a coherent yet flexible and extensible way. This paper presents a newly developed semantic framework that targets this requirement. The conceptual background is followed by an introduction of the developed semantic web ontologies. Based on these definitions, dedicated Ontology Services as well as a set of related end-user applications facilitating semantic technology have been designed and implemented. They are presented in the second part of the paper. Reported are results from the EU project InteliGrid (IST-004664; 2004-2007).
A comprehensive theory of volumetric radiance estimation using photon points and beams

We present two contributions to the area of volumetric rendering. We develop a novel, comprehensive theory of volumetric radiance estimation that leads to several new insights and includes all previously published estimates as special cases. This theory allows for estimating in-scattered radiance at a point, or accumulated radiance along a camera ray, with the standard photon particle representation used in previous work. Furthermore, we generalize these operations to include a more compact, and more expressive intermediate representation of lighting in participating media, which we call “photon beams. ” The combination of these representations and their respective query operations results in a collection of nine distinct volumetric radiance estimates. Our second contribution is a more efficient rendering method for participating media based on photon beams. Even when shooting and storing less photons and using less computation time, our method significantly reduces both bias (blur) and variance in volumetric radiance estimation. This enables us to render sharp lighting details (e.g., volume caustics) using just tens of thousands of photon beams, instead of the millions to billions of photon points required with previous methods.
MINECoP : An Integrated Visualization Tool for Corpus Mining *

Large corpora for a number of languages, which carefully and quite comprehensively annotated with syntactic information, are available, such as, the Penn Treebank [2], the NEGRA corpus [3] and Tiger corpus [4] , the Penn Chinese Treebank [5], KAIST corpus [6] and ORCHID corpus [7]. These syntactic-information based corpora have provided abundant evidence of the benefit which grammar research [1] in both theory and processingcan take from corpus-based methods. Syntactically annotated corpora are used as a gold standard to evaluate the accuracy of grammatical analyzers and as a basis for syntactic learning and training statistical systems, to improve processing efficiency and accuracy. Semantic corpus annotation is currently level of corpus just in its initial stages, comprising almost exclusively word sense annotation. One of the first major efforts at word sense annotation was SEMCOR [8], where about 230,000 word occurrences of the Brown corpus were tagged with WordNet senses. Another example FrameNet project [9] is started by Berkeley, which produced the frame-semantic descriptions of several thousand English lexical items and backed up these descriptions with semantically annotated from contemporary English. SALSA corpus [10] is designed to create a large semantically annotated German corpus and to investigate methods for its utilization, like improving statistical parsers, and extending methods for information extraction and machine translation. For Chinese, many attentions have been naturally paid to researches on semantics, because Chinese is a meaning-combined language, its syntax is very flexible, and semantic rules are more stable than syntactic rules [11].
Asking Generalized Queries to Domain Experts to Improve Learning

With the assistance of a domain expert, active learning can often select or construct fewer examples to request their labels to build an accurate classifier. However, previous works of active learning can only generate and ask specific queries. In real-world applications, the domain experts (or oracles) are often more readily to answer ¿generalized queries¿ with don't-care attributes. The power of such generalized queries is that one generalized query is often equivalent to many specific ones. However, overly general queries are not good as answers from the domain experts (or oracles) can be highly uncertain, and this makes learning difficult. In this paper, we propose a novel active learning algorithm that asks good generalized queries. We, then, extend our algorithm to construct new, hierarchical features for both nominal and numeric attributes. We demonstrate experimentally that our new method asks significantly fewer queries compared with the previous works of active learning, even when the initial labeled data set is very small, and the oracle is inaccurate in class probability estimations. Our method can be readily deployed in real-world data mining tasks where obtaining labeled examples is costly.
Students’ Experiences with Academic Cheating: Perspectives of Grade 10 students, Addis Ababa City Administration

Research and Knowledge Management of St. Mary’s University 54 Students’ Experiences with Academic Cheating: Perspectives of Grade 10 students, Addis Ababa City Administration Asmera Teshome Negeri Mettu University Abstract The purpose of this qualitative study was to explore students’ experiences with academic cheating from perspectives of grade 10 students within the context of phenomenology research design. To that end, participants of the study shared their experiences on students’ attitudes towards academic cheating, techniques used in cheating, factors forcing students towards cheating and consequences of cheating. Empirical data was gathered via focus group discussions (FGD) and in-depth interviews from 15 participants purposefully selected among grade 10 students. To analyze the data, initially the researcher used structural coding to organize transcribed data from which he highlighted significant statements, and clustered meanings which developed in to themes. The researcher used the significant statements and themes to write textual and structural description, conclusion and implications of the study. Thus, the finding of this study reveals that academic cheating has been increasing with its sophisticated tactics; school management, teachers, students and parents were identified as factors encouraging or discouraging cheating. Specifically, neither preset rule nor directive to control academic cheating; no orientations for students and teachers on how to reduce cheating; no close collaboration among stakeholders to curb the problem; and teachers’ carelessness were widely raised by participants. Thus, large proportion of students have been tending to engage in cheating rather than studying, or attending the teacher in the classroom attentively, or involving themselves in attempting tasks and trying to solve difficult problems. Therefore, strong collaboration among stakeholders and wide scope future research capable of informing policy on students cheating highly sought to hold back problem.
On Planning a Public Pension System under Uncertainty: A Generation-based Operation Model

The public pension system in Japan is bringing about intergenerational inequity in contribution/benefit ratio. In this paper, we propose a scheme for public pension planning under generation-based operation (GO) model. In addition, to show sustainability of the proposed scheme, we simulate processes in finance. Proposed scheme is robust for various disturbances (e.g. changes in population and economy). The robustness to changes in population is especially useful in society with a decreasing population
Chemical inhibition of the Pho85 cyclin-dependent kinase reveals a role in the environmental stress response

In addition to its well-established role in responding to phosphate starvation, the cyclin-dependent kinase Pho85 has been implicated in a number of other physiological responses of the budding yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae, including synthesis of glycogen. To comprehensively characterize the range of Pho85-dependent gene expression, we used a chemical genetic approach that enabled us to control Pho85 kinase activity with a cell-permeable inhibitor and whole genome transcript profiling. We found significant phenotypic differences between the rapid loss of activity caused by inhibition and the deletion of the genomic copy of PHO85. We demonstrate that Pho85 controls the expression of not only previously identified glycogen synthetic genes, but also a significant regulon of genes involved in the cellular response to environmental stress. In addition, we show that the effects of this inhibitor are both rapid and reversible, making it well suited to the study of the behavior of dynamic signaling pathways.