Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Search Space Pruning: A Simple Solution for Better Coreference Resolvers

There is a signiﬁcant gap between the performance of a coreference resolution system on gold mentions and on system mentions. This gap is due to the large and unbalanced search space in coreference resolution when using system mentions. In this paper we show that search space pruning is a simple but efﬁ-cient way of improving coreference resolvers. By incorporating our pruning method in one of the state-of-the-art coreference resolution systems, we achieve the best reported over-all score on the CoNLL 2012 English test set. A version of our pruning method is available with the Cort coreference resolution source code.
A Named Entity Recognition System for Dutch

We describe a Named Entity Recognition system for Dutch that combines gazetteers, handcrafted rules, and machine learning on the basis of seed material. We used gazetteers and a corpus to construct training material for Ripper, a rule learner. Instead of using Ripper to train a complete system, we used many different runs of Ripper in order to derive rules which we then interpreted and implemented in our own, hand-crafted system. This speeded up the building of a hand-crafted system, and allowed us to use many different rule sets in order to improve performance. We discuss the advantages of using machine learning software as a tool in knowledge acquisition, and evaluate the resulting system for Dutch.
An optimal receiver for transmission diversity over uncertain channels

A receiver for a dual transmit diversity system is designed that takes into account the channel estimation error, assuming the unknown channel to have a given complex bivariate Gaussian probability density function (PDF) (i.e., a Rician PDF). This criterion of the receiver, which is based on the maximum a posteriori (MAP) algorithm, is expressed in a quadratic form, and in extreme cases, represents either a linear detector or a non-coherent-non-linear detector. Simulations of the symbol error probability (SEP) of the receiver and analysis of an upper bound (UB) and a lower bound (LB) confirm that the proposed detector achieves robust performance against channel imperfections.
The crystal structure of the 11 Ä natural tobermorite Ca2.25[Si3O7.5(OH)1.5]·1H2O

The crystal structure of a natural tobermorite from Zeilberg, Maroldsweisach, Germany (average formula Ca2.2s[Si307.s(OH)1.5]'1 H20), is solved using the data obtained from an automatic diffractometer. For the structure determination only the sharp main reflexions are considered. The crystal data of the chosen subcell are: a' = 5.586(4) A, b' = 1696(2) A, C = 22.779(7) A, S.G. Imm2, V = 470.25 A3, Dx = 2.39 g/cm3,Dexp. = 2.43 gjcm3, and Z = 2. The disordered superposed structure is refined to a weighted R-value of 0.085. From the average structure the superposed chains are resolved and the tobermorite structure is then developed. One of the possible ordered tobermorite structures is monoclinic, spacegroup P2b with the unit cell dimensions: am = 6.69 A, bm = 7.39 A, Cm = 22.779 A, and'}' = 123.49°. The tobermorite has infinite Si3(OjOH)g chains running parallel b. The calcium atoms are coordinated by seven oxygen atoms.
Recurrent aggressive fibromatosis of the chest wall

A 57-year-old woman with a previous history of aesthetic surgery for breast reduction presented with a subcutaneous mass in the right axilla. A CT scan showed a solid mass on the chest wall, and she underwent surgical resection with a diagnosis of aggressive fibromatosis. After a 10-month period of follow-up, a local recurrence occurred, and in accordance with the up-to-date approach, the recurrence has been treated with a conservative approach (medical treatments) with good control of the symptoms and downsizing of the lesion.
MAGNETORHEOLOGICAL ELASTOMER COMPOSITES BASED ON INDUSTRIAL WASTE NICKEL ZINC FERRITE AND NATURAL RUBBER

Magnetorheological elastomers (MREs) based on waste nickel zinc ferrite and natural rubber were prepared. The amount of waste nickel zinc ferrite was varied at five levels (20, 40, 60, 80, and 100 phr) to assess the optimum amount of waste nickel zinc ferrite content for highest dynamic mechanical and tensile performance. Curing characteristics of the MREs were determined by moving disk rheometer (MDR 2000), and thermal properties were evaluated by thermogravimetric analysis (TGA). Tan δ was measured through parallel and plate rheometer over a frequency range of 0.1–100 Hz and a strain amplitude range of 0.1–6%. Tensile properties were measured with a universal tensile tester. The results revealed that tan δ, tensile properties, and thermal stability of the MREs increased with increase of waste nickel zinc ferrite contents. Anisotropic MREs, which had chain-like columnar structures of magnetic particles in the matrix as a consequence of an applied magnetic field during curing, were found to produce higher dynamic mechanical performance compared with isotropic MREs cured in the absence of a magnetic field.
The economic burden of physical inactivity: a systematic review and critical appraisal

Objective To summarise the literature on the economic burden of physical inactivity in populations, with emphases on appraising the methodologies and providing recommendations for future studies. Design Systematic review following the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses guidelines (PROSPERO registration number CRD42016047705). Data sources Electronic databases for peer-reviewed and grey literature were systematically searched, followed by reference searching and consultation with experts. Eligibility criteria Studies that examined the economic consequences of physical inactivity in a population/population-based sample, with clearly stated methodologies and at least an abstract/summary written in English. Results Of the 40 eligible studies, 27 focused on direct healthcare costs only, 13 also estimated indirect costs and one study additionally estimated household costs. For direct costs, 23 studies used a population attributable fraction (PAF) approach with estimated healthcare costs attributable to physical inactivity ranging from 0.3% to 4.6% of national healthcare expenditure; 17 studies used an econometric approach, which tended to yield higher estimates than those using a PAF approach. For indirect costs, 10 studies used a human capital approach, two used a friction cost approach and one used a value of a statistical life approach. Overall, estimates varied substantially, even within the same country, depending on analytical approaches, time frame and other methodological considerations. Conclusion Estimating the economic burden of physical inactivity is an area of increasing importance that requires further development. There is a marked lack of consistency in methodological approaches and transparency of reporting. Future studies could benefit from cross-disciplinary collaborations involving economists and physical activity experts, taking a societal perspective and following best practices in conducting and reporting analysis, including accounting for potential confounding, reverse causality and comorbidity, applying discounting and sensitivity analysis, and reporting assumptions, limitations and justifications for approaches taken. We have adapted the Consolidated Health Economic Evaluation Reporting Standards checklist as a guide for future estimates of the economic burden of physical inactivity and other risk factors.
Influence of Rare Earth Additions on the Microstructure and Mechanical Properties of Al7Si0.3Mg Alloys Processed by Semi-Solid Die Casting and Gravity Die Casting

Microstructures with fine globular grains and refined eutectic structures are important to enhance the mechanical properties of A356 alloys processed by semi-solid and gravity die casting. Rare earth (RE) additions have been shown to be capable of refining both the α-Al particles as well as modify the eutectic phase of alloys. In semi-solid die casting, Al7Si0.3Mg alloys with RE concentrations (0, 0.1 and 0.4 wt.%) were used to prepare semi-solid slurries using the SEED (Swirling Enthalpy Equilibrium Device) method, and subsequently semi-solid die cast. The same compositions of alloys were also applied to gravity die casting. The microstructure and mechanical properties of castings in two processes have been characterized. Compared to the grains produced in gravity die casting, globular grains with small size (260 μm) in the semi-solid die casting significantly enhance the UTS and elongation of alloys. Although the size of grains had no change with increasing RE concentrations in alloys. The Al-Si eutectics were changed to refined morphology with the 0.1 wt. % RE addition, which enhanced the ductility of alloys in two processes. When increasing the RE addition to 0.4 wt. %, the RE-rich phases precipitated at grain boundaries, which decreased the UTS and elongation of alloys.
Joint optimization of communication and controller components of wireless networked control systems

Designing communication system for wireless networked control systems requires overcoming the additional challenge of maintaining a guaranteed performance for the control system in the presence of wireless network induced imperfections including packet error, delay, sampling and quantization errors compared to traditional wireless sensor networks. The joint optimization of controller and communication systems encompassing efficient abstractions of each system and taking into account all wireless induced imperfections, the parameters of the wireless communication system including the transmission power, rate and scheduling and the parameters of the control system including the sampling period has been studied for the objective of minimizing the average power consumption of the network and the MQAM modulation scheme. In this paper, we extend the joint optimization problem for a generalized power cost function that represents many power-related objectives including minimization of total power consumption of the network and minimization of maximum power consumption among the nodes in the network and for any modulation scheme that satisfies certain properties including MQAM and MFSK. The optimization problem is formulated as a Mixed-Integer Programming problem thus difficult to solve for the global optimum. However, upon determining the optimality conditions for the optimization variables, the problem reduces to an Integer Programming problem for which we propose an optimal fast enumeration algorithm. Simulations demonstrate that the proposed optimal solution method outperforms the traditional separate design of control and communication systems.
Development of the domain name system

The Domain Name System (DNS) provides name service for the DARPA Internet. It is one of the largest name services in operation today, serves a highly diverse community of hosts, users, and networks, and uses a unique combination of hierarchies, caching, and datagram access. This paper examines the ideas behind the initial design of the DNS in 1983, discusses the evolution of these ideas into the current implementations and usages, notes conspicuous surprises, successes and shortcomings, and attempts to predict its future evolution.
An Improved Approximation Algorithm for Computing Disjoint QoS Paths

The survivability of a network has assumed great importance in against of losing huge volumes of data due to a link cut or node failure. Recently some scholars have proposed some path restoration schemes which used two disjoint paths with multiple constraints to satisfy both the survivability and the QoS requirements. In this paper we will study the issue of how to identify two paths that satisfy the multiple QoS constraints imposed by network applications. More specifically, we will focus on finding two link-disjoint paths that satisfy the delay constraints at a reasonable total cost. We present two efficient approximation algorithms with provable performance guarantees for this problem.
A 1–10-Day Ensemble Forecasting Scheme for the Major River Basins of Bangladesh: Forecasting Severe Floods of 2003–07*

Abstract This paper describes a fully automated scheme that has provided calibrated 1–10-day ensemble river discharge forecasts and predictions of severe flooding of the Brahmaputra and Ganges Rivers as they flow into Bangladesh; it has been operational since 2003. The Bangladesh forecasting problem poses unique challenges because of the frequent life-threatening flooding of the country and because of the absence of upstream flow data from India means that the Ganges and Brahmaputra basins must be treated as if they are ungauged. The meteorological–hydrological forecast model is a hydrologic multimodel initialized by NASA and NOAA precipitation products, whose states and fluxes are forecasted forward using calibrated European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts ensemble prediction system products, and conditionally postprocessed to produce calibrated probabilistic forecasts of river discharge at the entrance points of the Ganges and Brahmaputra into Bangladesh. Forecasts with 1–10-day horizons are p.
Exploiting Spot and Burstable Instances for Improving the Cost-efficacy of In-Memory Caches on the Public Cloud

In order to keep the costs of operating in-memory storage on the public cloud low, we devise novel ideas and enabling modeling and optimization techniques for combining conventional Amazon EC2 instances with the cheaper spot and burstable instances. Whereas a naturally appealing way of using failure-prone spot instances is to selectively store unpopular ("cold") content, we show that a form of "hot-cold mixing" across regular and spot instances might be more cost-effective. To overcome performance degradation resulting from spot instance revocations, we employ a highly available passive backup using the recently emergent burstable instances. We show how the idiosyncratic resource allocations of burstable instances make them ideal candidates for such a backup. We implement all our ideas in an EC2-based memcached prototype. Using simulations and live experiments on our prototype, we show that (i) our hot-cold mixing, informed by our modeling of spot prices, helps improve cost savings by 50-80% compared to only using regular instances, and (ii) our burstable-based backup helps reduce performance degradation during spot revocation, e.g., the 95% latency during failure recovery improves by 25% compared to a backup based on regular instances.
Automatic Feature Selection via Weighted Kernels and Regularization

Selecting important features in nonlinear kernel spaces is a difficult challenge in both classification and regression problems. This article proposes to achieve feature selection by optimizing a simple criterion: a feature-regularized loss function. Features within the kernel are weighted, and a lasso penalty is placed on these weights to encourage sparsity. This feature-regularized loss function is minimized by estimating the weights in conjunction with the coefficients of the original classification or regression problem, thereby automatically procuring a subset of important features. The algorithm, KerNel Iterative Feature Extraction (KNIFE), is applicable to a wide variety of kernels and high-dimensional kernel problems. In addition, a modification of KNIFE gives a computationally attractive method for graphically depicting nonlinear relationships between features by estimating their feature weights over a range of regularization parameters. The utility of KNIFE in selecting features through simulations and examples for both kernel regression and support vector machines is demonstrated. Feature path realizations also give graphical representations of important features and the nonlinear relationships among variables. Supplementary materials with computer code and an appendix on convergence analysis are available online.
Progressive Spatial Join

In spatial data exploration and analysis, the system would present a user with initial promising results and empower the user to modify runtime query parameters. The high degree of interactivity would significantly reduce users' waiting time for results that are not useful, and then having to re-issue a new query. To support this level of interaction during query processing, it necessitates the study of adaptive and progressive spatial query processing techniques that can deliver initial results quickly and adapt to run-time fluctuations during the delivery of remote data. Our goal is to design a generic framework for adaptive and progressive spatial query processing. In this paper, we present our ongoing work on designing progressive spatial join algorithm as an initial step
Relational Databases and Indexed Categories

A description of relational databases in categorical terminology given here has as intended application the study of database dynamics in par ticular we view i updates as database objects in a suitable category indexed by a topos ii L fuzzy databases as database objects in sheaves Indexed cate gories are constructed to model the databases on a xed family of domains and also all databases for a varying family of domains Further we show that the process of constructing the relational completion of a relational database is a monad in a category of functors
Signal-Regulated Kinase Activation Mobilization and Extracellular Platelet-Activating Factor-Mediated Calcium Caveolae Facilitate but Are Not Essential for

Certain proteins, including receptors and signaling molecules, are known to be enriched in caveolae and lipid rafts. Caveolin-1, the major structural protein of caveolae, speciﬁcally interacts with many signaling molecules and, thus, caveolae and lipid rafts are often seen as preassembled signaling platforms. A potential binding site for caveolin-1 is present in the platelet-activating factor receptor (PAFR) sequence, and many downstream signaling components of PAFR activation preferentially localize in caveolae. The aim of this study was to investigate whether the PAFR was localized in caveolae/lipid raft domains and, if so, what would be the signiﬁcance of such localization for PAFR signaling. In this study, we demonstrate that PAFR localizes within membrane microdomains, in close proximity to caveolin-1 in living cells, with potential interaction through a caveolin-1-binding sequence in the PAFR C terminus. Caveolin-1, however, is not essential for PAFR localization in lipid rafts. Disruption of caveolae/lipid rafts with methyl- (cid:1) -cyclodextrin markedly reduced PAF-triggered inositol phosphate production and cytosolic calcium ﬂux, suggesting that PAFR signaling through the G (cid:2) q protein was critically dependent on integrity of lipid rafts and/or caveolae. Interestingly, whereas in caveolin-1-expressing cells lipid raft disruption markedly decreased PAFR-mediated activation of the ERK/MAPK pathway, in cells lacking caveolae, such as leukocytes, lipid raft disruption had either the same inhibitory effect (Ramos B cells) or no effect (monocytes) on PAFR capacity to signal through the ERK/MAPK pathway. In conclusion, PAFR
Sarcocystis Species Lethal for Domestic Pigeons

A large number of Sarcocystis spp. infect birds as intermediate hosts, but pigeons are rarely affected. We identified a novel Sarcocystis sp. that causes lethal neurologic disease in domestic pigeons in Germany. Experimental infections indicated transmission by northern goshawks, and sequence analyses indicated transnational distribution. Worldwide spread is possible.
Model and Test of an Actively Controlled Cryogenic Micro Valve

Future NASA missions require cooling of large optical structures, cryogen storage systems, and instrument chambers and therefore cooling must be applied in a controlled and efficient fashion over a large spatial extent. A cooling system that uses an actively controlled, micro-scale valve may be integrated with heat exchangers and sensors in order to allow the individual branches of a distributed cooling system to be independently controlled in response to local temperature changes. The ability to control the flow area associated with the valve increases the efficiency and flexibility of the distributed cooling system by allowing the cooling to be concentrated according to need. Previous work has selected a suitable micro valve design that addresses the required specifications. However, the precise nature of the flow behavior inside the micro valve was not addressed. Therefore, this thesis focuses on the modeling and test of the pressure-flow behavior of a micro-scale valve over a range of operating conditions. Variable voltage actuation of the PZT actuator within the micro-valve modulates the flow area and therefore the pressure distribution and fluid flow behavior. Fluid-structure models were developed to predict the pressure distribution and flow rates. Experimental data from prototype micro valves was used to validate the analytical predictions. Approved: Professor Greg F. Nellis Department of Mechanical Engineering University of Wisconsin-Madison
Androgen Profile Through Life in Women With Polycystic Ovary Syndrome: A Nordic Multicenter Collaboration Study.

CONTEXT Women with polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) have increased androgen secretion throughout fertile life; however, the data on the effect of menopause on hyperandrogenemia in these women are scarce. Nevertheless, large comprehensive comparative studies on age-related androgen levels in women with PCOS are lacking. OBJECTIVE The objective of the study was to investigate the effect of age on serum androgen levels in women with PCOS and to determine cutoff values for androgens and SHBG associated with a PCOS diagnosis. DESIGN This was a case-control study. SETTING The study was conducted in five university sites in the Nordic countries. PATIENTS In all, 681 women with PCOS and 230 referent women were grouped according to age into seven age groups (18 to > 50 y). INTERVENTIONS There were no interventions. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES T, SHBG, free androgen index (FAI), calculated free T (cFT), androstenedione (A4), and dehydroepiandrosterone sulfate were measured. RESULTS Androgen levels in women with PCOS decreased with age toward menopause. The difference between women with PCOS and the referent women narrowed and individual variation increased as they approached menopause. T levels, FAI, and cFT were significantly higher in women with PCOS aged 18-44 years (P < .001, adjusted for body mass index). The best predictive factors for having PCOS were cFT (≥0.40 ng/dL, odds ratio [OR] 7.90), FAI (≥2.0, OR 6.71), and A4 (≥277.94 ng/dL, OR 6.16). CONCLUSIONS Women with PCOS had elevated serum androgen levels also after menopause. The parameters that best predicted PCOS at all ages were cFT, A4, and FAI.