Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Inducing Inference Networks for Text Classification

Relevance Feedback is a challenging text classification task and is used in many Information Retrieval systems. Most of the current classifiers work on single words and do not consider other kinds of features. Structured queries that use boolean and proximity operators could be good features to consider for text classification. Some recent approaches have experimented with structured features and report improve in performance. The big limitation of these approaches is that they use simple template based features which are not always effective. Richer structured features could possibly improve classification performance but they lack an automated method of generating them. This dissertation uses an efficient feature induction algorithm to induce structured features using boolean and proximity operators that are useful for text classification. This approach has been applied on a relevance feedback dataset from the medical domain and successfully generated useful features. The generated features outperformed single-word features when used by a Maximum Entropy classifier. A comparison with Support Vector Machines on the medical dataset showed that the Maximum Entropy classifier with structured features performs similarly but uses a lot less features.
Speech based boredom verification approach for modern education system

Owing to the emotion deficiency problem in many of the conventional education systems, emotion sensing has become a new recent research trend as it is possible to provide useful strategies to enhance the learning effectiveness of a student. Among the various modalities for emotion sensing, this paper a speech-based emotion verification system. In particular, boredom verification is addressed herein. We present an emotion feature set comprising mel-frequency cepstral coefficients (MFCCs), Legendre-based trend coefficients (LBTCs) of MFCCs and 4th subband power, PCA transformed LBTCs, spectral flatness, and RSS. The proposed feature set is fed into a 2-class support vector machine (SVM) for boredom emotion verification. The proposed system has been demonstrated an emotional speech database with a 67.79% verification rate.
Homomorphic factorization of BRDFs for high-performance rendering

A bidirectional reflectance distribution function (BRDF) describes how a material reflects light from its surface. To use arbitrary BRDFs in real-time rendering, a compression technique must be used to represent BRDFs using the available texture-mapping and computational capabilities of an accelerated graphics pipeline. We present a numerical technique, homomorphic factorization, that can decompose arbitrary BRDFs into products of two or more factors of lower dimensionality, each factor dependent on a different interpolated geometric parameter. Compared to an earlier factorization technique based on the singular value decomposition, this new technique generates a factorization with only positive factors (which makes it more suitable for current graphics hardware accelerators), provides control over the smoothness of the result, minimizes relative rather than absolute error, and can deal with scattered, sparse data without a separate resampling and interpolation algorithm.
The Influence of Peer Reviews on Source Credibility and Purchase Intention

Electronic Word of Mouth (eWOM) is information shared on the Internet about a product, which allows people to receive information from others they may not otherwise encounter. Online product reviews are a type of eWOM where a user posts a comment about a product and selects an image to represent the self. The perception of the image and the text in the product review can influence source credibility and the perception of the product, as well as the likelihood that someone will purchase the product. This study examines the effect of the product reviews and their different images and text on perceived credibility, source trustworthiness and purchase intention. Consistent with predictions based on the information processing theory, perceived anthropomorphism influences perceived credibility, source trust, and purchase intention.
Exposing Digital Image Forgeries by Illumination Color Classification

In this paper, we tend to analyze one amongst the foremost common styles of photographic manipulation,called image composition or splice. We tend to propose a forgery detection methodology that exploits refinedinconsistencies within the color of the illumination of pictures. Our approach is machine-learning primarily basedand needs borderline user interaction. The technique is applicable to pictures containing 2 or a lot of folks and needsno professional interaction for the meddling call. To attain this, we tend to incorporate info from physicsandstatistical-based fuel estimators on image regions of comparable material. From these fuel estimates, we tend toextract texture- and edge-based options that square measure then provided to a machine-learning approach forautomatic decision-making. The classification performance victimization associate degree SVM meta-fusion classifieris promising.
On the covariance of ICP-based scan-matching techniques

This paper considers the problem of estimating the covariance of roto-translations computed by the Iterative Closest Point (ICP) algorithm. The problem is relevant for localization of mobile robots and vehicles equipped with depth-sensing cameras (e.g., Kinect) or Lidar (e.g., Velodyne). The closed-form formulas for covariance proposed in previous literature generally build upon the fact that the solution to ICP is obtained by minimizing a linear least-squares problem. In this paper, we show this approach needs caution because the rematching step of the algorithm is not explicitly accounted for, and applying it to the point-to-point version of ICP leads to completely erroneous covariances. We then provide a formal mathematical proof why the approach is valid in the point-to-plane version of ICP, which validates the intuition and experimental results of practitioners.
Optimizing Culture Medium Composition to Improve Oligodendrocyte Progenitor Cell Yields In Vitro from Subventricular Zone-Derived Neural Progenitor Cell Neurospheres

Neural Stem and Progenitor Cells (NSC/NPC) are gathering tangible recognition for their uses in cell therapy and cell replacement therapies for human disease, as well as a model system to continue research on overall neural developmental processes in vitro. The Subventricular Zone is one of the largest NSC/NPC niches in the developing mammalian Central Nervous System, and persists through to adulthood. Oligodendrocyte progenitor cell (OPC) enriched cultures are usefull tools for in vitro studies as well as for cell replacement therapies for treating demyelination diseases. We used Subventricular Zone-derived NSC/NPC primary cultures from newborn mice and compared the effects of different growth factor combinations on cell proliferation and OPC yield. The Platelet Derived Growth Factor-AA and BB homodimers had a positive and significant impact on OPC generation. Furthermore, heparin addition to the culture media contributed to further increase overall culture yields. The OPC generated by this protocol were able to mature into Myelin Basic Protein-expressing cells and to interact with neurons in an in vitro co-culture system. As a whole, we describe an optimized in vitro method for increasing OPC.
A practical parallel garbage collection algorithm and its implementation

One of the major problems of list processing programs is that of garbage collection. This paper presents a new practical parallel garbage collection algorithm and its improvements, and proposes a special processor for parallel garbage collection. For the parallel garbage collection system, an urgent requirement is to reduce the the garbage collector cycle time that is defined as the total execution time for the marking and reclaiming phase. The effect of improvements discussed here reduces the garbage collector cycle time to one half of that for the original algorithm. The performance of the processor tailored for parallel garbage collection is six times faster than that of an ordinary processor, while it requires a little bit larger amount of hardware than a typical channel controller. This processor satisfies the effectiveness condition for parallelism, even if the list process node consumption rate is high, e.g. when a compiled program is executed.
The influence of academic coaching on persistence in online graduate students

ABSTRACT Scholarly attention to academic learning centers is warranted, as they lack a consistent identity and, consequently, little is known about their effect on meaningful student outcomes. Further, such investigations are warranted in online education, given the greater student needs and dropout rates. The aim of this study was to investigate the relationship between the receipt of academic coaching at an online learning center and persistence in online graduate students using a matched sample and after controlling for demographic and academic variables. After holding months since enrollment and Grade Point Average (GPA) at follow-up constant, visiting the learning center increased the odds of persistence 2.66 times. Compared to students in the matched sample, students who visited the learning center even once were significantly more likely to persist at follow-up. Convergence and divergence of the findings with the scholarly literature is examined with a particular focus on the unique population of online graduate students.
Age-related differences in Cognitive Plasticity of Executive Control Mechanisms: Exploring Transfer Effects Following iPad-based Dual-Task and N-Back Training

Recent literature suggests that executive function (EF) is not a unitary construct but one that involves many executive control mechanisms (ECM), such as updating and divided attention. Some posit that cognitive training helps improve EF in younger (YA) and older (OA) adults, but transfer effects, which refer to improvements in an untrained task, remain somewhat limited. This study examined the age-related differences in transfer effects following cognitive training of ECM by comparing two training paradigms designed to involved distinct ECM. Thirty-three YA and 42 OA were randomly assigned to a n-back (NB) or dual-task (DT) training group for three weeks. Pre/post-training assessment involved the trained task and their respective transfer tasks. Age was used as a between-subject factor, while session (pre/post) and task condition (low, medium, high load), as within-subjects factors. Both training groups improved on their respective trained tasks and transfer task involving the same ECM (near-transfer). Transfer effects were also observed in a transfer task involving a different ECM (far-transfer). The DT group improved in the DT-transfer and one of the two NB tasks. The NB group improved in the NB-transfer and both DT tasks. Age-related differences in transfer were observed for the DT group, with the dual-task cost and 3-back accuracy of YA improving on the DT-transfer task and N-back task respectively, while OA only improved on the 1-back and 2-back. Overall, the results suggest that OA and YA benefited from ECM training and that these benefits generalized to untrained tasks tapping the same and other ECM.
Application-aware adaptive duty cycle-based Medium Access Control for energy efficient wireless data transmissions

This paper introduces a novel Medium Access Control (MAC) strategy for energy efficient wireless data transmissions which reduces energy consumption while minimizing the negative impact on network Quality of Service (QoS). This strategy adaptively adjusts the sleeping window of the mobile devices' wireless transceiver. The proposed mechanism - the Slow sTart Exponential and Linear Algorithm (STELA) - consists of three sleeping window adaptation phases, each phase employing a different duty cycle management function. Based on analyzing historic data regarding traffic arrival patterns, traffic modeling is used to estimate future patterns. Consequently, the specific adaptation phases are scheduled and tuned to improve energy efficiency without compromising data delivery performance. Simulation-based testing results show significant energy savings with reduced impact on network QoS achieved when STELA is used, as opposed to other existing MAC layer protocols (IEEE 802.11 and IEEE 802.16) considered in this paper for performance comparisons.
Lexical Resources for Noun Compounds in Czech, English and Zulu

In this paper we discuss noun compounding, a highly generative, productive process, in three distinct languages: Czech, English and Zulu. Derivational morphology presents a large grey area between regular, compositional and idiosyncratic, non-compositional word forms. The structural properties of compounds in each of the languages are reviewed and contrasted. Whereas English compounds are head-final and thus left-branching, Czech and Zulu compounds usually consist of a leftmost governing head and a rightmost dependent element. Semantic properties of compounds are discussed with special reference to semantic relations between compound members which cross-linguistically show universal patterns, but idiosyncratic, language specific compounds are also identified. The integration of compounds into lexical resources, and WordNets in particular, remains a challenge that needs to be considered in terms of the compounds syntactic idiosyncrasy and semantic compositionality. Experiments with processing compounds in Czech, English and Zulu are reported and partly evaluated. The obtained partial lists of the Czech, English and Zulu compounds are also described.
Hand gestures for HCI using ICA of EMG

Aiming at the use of hand gestures for human-computer interaction, this paper presents an approach to identify hand gestures using muscle activity separated from electromyogram (EMG) using independent component analysis. While there are a number of previous reported works where EMG has been used to identify movement, the limitation of the earlier works is that the systems are suitable for gross actions, and when there is one prime-mover muscle involved. This paper reports overcoming the difficulty by using independent component analysis to separate muscle activity from different muscles and classified using backpropogation neural networks. The paper reports experimental results where the system was accurately able to identify the hand gesture using this technique for all the experiments (100%). The system has been shown not to be sensitive to electrode position as the experiments were repeated on different days. The advantage of such a system is that it is easy to train by a lay user, and can easily be implemented in real time after the initial training.
Simple SPION Incubation as an Efficient Intracellular Labeling Method for Tracking Neural Progenitor Cells Using MRI

Cellular magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) has been well-established for tracking neural progenitor cells (NPC). Superparamagnetic iron oxide nanoparticles (SPIONs) approved for clinical application are the most common agents used for labeling. Conventionally, transfection agents (TAs) were added with SPIONs to facilitate cell labeling because SPIONs in the native unmodified form were deemed inefficient for intracellular labeling. However, compelling evidence also shows that simple SPION incubation is not invariably ineffective. The labeling efficiency can be improved by prolonged incubation and elevated iron doses. The goal of the present study was to establish simple SPION incubation as an efficient intracellular labeling method. To this end, NPCs derived from the neonatal subventricular zone were incubated with SPIONs (Feridex®) and then evaluated in vitro with regard to the labeling efficiency and biological functions. The results showed that, following 48 hours of incubation at 75 µg/ml, nearly all NPCs exhibited visible SPION intake. Evidence from light microscopy, electron microscopy, chemical analysis, and magnetic resonance imaging confirmed the effectiveness of the labeling. Additionally, biological assays showed that the labeled NPCs exhibited unaffected viability, oxidative stress, apoptosis and differentiation. In the demonstrated in vivo cellular MRI experiment, the hypointensities representing the SPION labeled NPCs remained observable throughout the entire tracking period. The findings indicate that simple SPION incubation without the addition of TAs is an efficient intracellular magnetic labeling method. This simple approach may be considered as an alternative approach to the mainstream labeling method that involves the use of TAs.
An Evolutionary Algorithm for Improved Diversity in DSL Spectrum Balancing Solutions

There are many spectrum balancing algorithms to combat the deleterious impact of crosstalk interference in digital subscriber lines (DSL) networks. These algorithms aim to find a unique operating point by optimizing the power spectral densities (PSDs) of the modems. Typically, the figure of merit of this optimization is the bit rate, power consumption or margin. This work poses and solves a different problem: instead of providing the solution for one specific operation point, it finds a set of operating points, each one corresponding to a distinct matrix with PSDs. This solution is useful for planning DSL deployment, for example, helping operators to conveniently evaluate their network capabilities and better plan their usage. The proposed method is based on a multiobjective formulation and implemented as an evolutionary genetic algorithm. Simulation results show that this algorithm achieves a better diversity among the operating points with lower computational cost when compared to an alternative approach.
Accurate fact harvesting from natural language text in wikipedia with Lector

Many approaches have been introduced recently to automatically create or augment Knowledge Graphs (KGs) with facts extracted from Wikipedia, particularly its structured components like the infoboxes. Although these structures are valuable, they represent only a fraction of the actual information expressed in the articles. In this work, we quantify the number of highly accurate facts that can be harvested with high precision from the text of Wikipedia articles using information extraction techniques bootstrapped from the entities and relations already in a KG. Our experimental evaluation, which uses Freebase as reference KG, reveals we can augment several relations in the domain of people by more than 10%, with facts whose accuracy are over 95%. Moreover, the vast majority of these facts are missing from the infoboxes, YAGO and DBpedia.
Effective practice with e-portfolios: how can the UK experience inform implementation?

This paper introduces the background to the JISC work within the e-portfolio domain in the UK and presents an overview of past and current activities and the drivers for these developments. This is followed by a review of JISC's approach to drawing out the learning and implications for e-portfolio practice from this extensive collection of work and its dissemination. The analysis of twenty one recently funded projects involving the use of e-portfolios in the UK is introduced. The findings suggest that e-portfolio implementation is particularly complex in part due to the number of stakeholders involved, the contexts in which e-portfolios can be applied and the number of purposes they can have. This research suggests that there are threshold concepts related to e-portfolio implementation and that developing an understanding of effective practice is not straightforward. However a means of supporting this understanding is suggested.
Extended Metrics to Evaluate Cost Effectiveness of Software Inspections

For more than twenty-five years software inspections have been considered an effective and efficient method for software quality improvement [3,4,9]. The goal of inspections is to detect defect before the testing stage begins. According to the data published in the literature, software design inspections save on average 44% of the defect detection costs, and code inspections save on average 39% of the defect detection costs [1]. However, are the software inspections always worthwhile? In order to evaluate the effectiveness of the inspections with respect to software development cost, several metrics have been previously proposed [2,3,6]. Collofello et al. have taken into account of the costs consumed and saved by inspections and proposed a metric, called Cost Effectiveness [2]. Kusumoto et al. proposed a metric Mk for evaluating cost effectiveness of inspections, which is based on the degree to which costs to detect all faults from the software in a project are reduced by inspections [6]. Yet, none of those metrics includes the information about false positives (the issues that require no repair) introduced during inspection, although the rework of false positives is costly and can introduce new defects [8,12]. This letter presents a) an inspection cost model that describes all costs related to inspections, b) extension of the metric Mk to evaluate the cost effectiveness as well as the losses of inspections. Proposed cost model and metrics can be useful for project managers to decide whether inspections are worthwhile. The structure of the letter is as follows. Section 2 describes the inspection process. Section 3 describes the inspection cost model. In Section 4, we review the existing metrics to evaluate software inspections. Section 5 presents the extended metrics for software inspection evaluation. In Section 6, we compare extended metrics to Collofello’s metric and Mk. Section 7 concludes the letter with an overall summary and directions for future research.
Image Reconstruction Of A Compact Object From A Few Number Of Projections

Image reconstruction in X ray tomography consists in determining an object f(x; y) from its projections p(r;). In many applications such as non destructif testing, we know that f(x; y) has a constant value inside a region and another constant value outside that region. The image reconstruction problem becomes then the determination of the shape of that region. In this communication we model the object by a polygonal disc and propose a new method for the estimation of the coordinates of its corners directly from a very limited number of its projections.
A catalogue of [Fe/H] determinations: 1996 edition

A fifth Edition of the Catalogue of [Fe/H] determinations is presented herewith. It contains 5946 determinations for 3247 stars, including 751 stars in 84 associations, clusters or galaxies. The literature is complete up to December 1995. The 700 bibliographical references correspond to [Fe/H] determinations obtained from high resolution spectroscopic observations and detailed analyses, most of them carried out with the help of model-atmospheres. The Catalogue is made up of three formatted files: File 1: field stars, File 2: stars in galactic associations and clusters, and stars in SMC, LMC, M33, File 3: numbered list of bibliographical references.