Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Mining Chinese Reviews

We present a knowledge-based system to extract product feature-orientation (sentiment) pairs from on-line product reviews. Unlike the vast majority of existing approaches, our system first extracts strong implicit opinions, before searching for explicit product feature keywords. We call this the "opinion (O) first, feature (F) second" approach, which incidentally seems to work well with Chinese reviews. Our system relies heavily on a hierarchical product feature concept model (ontology) that lists popular feature and opinion vocabulary pertaining to a product genre. The concept model is built manually using product domain knowledge and subsequently expanded via a Chinese semantic lexicon. To the best of our knowledge, our work is among one of the first studies on Chinese product feature review extraction at the sentence segment resolution. Experiments comparing our approach to a well-known review mining algorithm shows the feasibility and robustness of our system
3D Human Face Modelling From Uncalibrated Images Using Spline Based Deformation

Accurate and plausible 3D face reconstruction remains a difficult problem up to this day, despite the tremendous advances in computer technology and the continuous growth of the applications utilizing 3D face models (e.g. biometrics, movies, gaming). In this paper, a two-step technique for efficient 3D face reconstruction from a set of face images acquired using an uncalibrated camera is presented. Initially, a robust structure from motion (SfM) algorithm is applied over a set of manually selected salient image features to retrieve an estimate of their 3D coordinates. These estimates are further utilized to deform a generic 3D face model, using smoothing splines, and adapt it to the characteristics of a human face.
Predicting next week redemption in a digital frequency loyalty program

Frequency loyalty programs (FLPs) are a vehicle for grocery retailers to increase their pool of loyal consumers. In an FLP, consumers collect stamps until they reach the required number of stamps and trade their full stamp card for reward items. Nowadays, FLPs can be organized digitally, which means that consumers collect, save and redeem stamps in an application on their smartphone. Our goal is to predict whether households which participate in a digital FLP will redeem in a forthcoming week. Redemption refers to the moment a household exchanges their stamps for a reward item. Our dataset consists of transactional and mobile application activity data which originates from a recent FLP. Several supervised binary classification algorithms are applied to this data. Results show that the random forest algorithm outperforms the other classifiers in terms of AUC score. Additionally, the most important features and the optimal time window of the input features are explored. Findings from feature importance analyses uncover that variables related to the progression of the consumers’ stamp collection and attributes concerned with the number of push messages contribute most to the prediction performance. With regards to optimizing the time window of the input features, we conclude that adding feature values from prior weeks does not significantly influence prediction performance.
25 Year Perspective Defining grain boundaries: an historical perspective The development and limitations of coincident site lattice models

Abstract Any attempt to summarise the concept of 'grain boundaries' in a short article is destined to fail, but by focusing on one aspect of the literature, the coincident site lattice model, it may be possible to provide an historical perspective that includes some insight. This contribution attempts to outline the symbiotic relation between the development of the tools of microstructural investigation in the twentieth century and the dawning understanding of the complexity of interface and interphase boundaries in engineering materials.
Bhattacharyya boosting

In this paper, we discuss a new feature selection criterion in boosting. Our method directly optimizes Bhattacharyya distance between the weighted positive and negative samples to find the feature vector instead of brute-force selection from a feature pool. Unlike some similar work including FisherBoost and MRCBoost, the new criterion connects the feature selection process with cost function minimization. Thus the coefficients of the member classifiers and sample distribution update are both theoretically accordant with feature selection. Our criterion can be regarded as a generalized version of FisherBoost and MRCBoost. The experiments on several data sets validate our algorithm¿s effectiveness on both training and testing sets.
A Compatible Approach to Temporal Description Logics

Temporal description logics (TDLs) have been studied by many researchers (see e.g., [1, 10] for surveys and [4, 2, 15] for recent or important results). These TDLs are, however, not compatible in the following sense: these are not embeddable into the standard (non-temporal) description logics (DLs), and hence the existing algorithms for testing satisfiability in the standard DLs are not available for these TDLs. Such a compatibility issue is important for obtaining reusable and practical algorithms for temporal reasoning in ontologies. In this paper, two compatible TDLs, XALC and BALCl, are introduced by combining and modifying the description logic ALC [14] and Prior’s tomorrow tense logic [12, 13]. XALC has the next-time operator, and BALCl has some restricted versions of the next-time, any-time and some-time operators, in which the time domain is bounded by a positive integer l. Semantical embedding theorems of XALC and BALCl into ALC are shown. By using these embedding theorems, the concept satisfiability problems for XALC and BALCl are shown to be decidable. The complexities of the decision procedures for XALC and BALCl are also shown to be the same complexity as that for ALC. Next, tableau calculi, T XALC (for XALC) and T BALCl (for BALCl), are introduced, and syntactical embedding theorems of these calculi into a tableau calculus, T ALC (for ALC), are proved. The completeness theorems for T XALC and T BALCl are proved by combining both the semantical and syntactical embedding theorems. Prior’s tomorrow tense logic, which is a base logic of XALC and BALCl, is regarded as the next-time fragment of linear-time temporal logic (LTL) [11], and hence XALC and BALCl may also be familiar with many users of the existing LTL-based TDLs. The bounded temporal operators in BALCl are, indeed, regarded as restricted versions of the corresponding LTL-operators. Although the standard temporal operators of LTL have an infinite (unbounded) time domain, i.e., the set ω of natural numbers, the bounded operators which are presented in this paper have a bounded time domain which is restricted by a fixed positive integer l, i.e., the set ωl := {x ∈ ω | x ≤ l}. To restrict the time domain of temporal operators is not a new idea. Such an idea has been discussed [5–9]. It is known that to restrict the time domain is a technique to obtain a decidable or efficient fragment of first-order LTL [8]. Proc. 23rd Int. Workshop on Description Logics (DL2010), CEUR-WS 573, Waterloo, Canada, 2010.
Evaluating TOP-K Queries over Business Processes

A Business Process (BP) consists of some business activities undertaken by one or more organizations in pursuit of some business goal. Tools for querying and analyzing BP specifications are extremely valuable for companies as they allow to optimize the BP, identify potential problems, and reduce operational costs. In particular, given a BP specification, identifying the top-k execution flows that are most likely to occur in practice out of those satisfying the query criteria, is crucial for various applications. To address this need, we introduce in this paper the notion of {\em likelihood} for BP execution flows, and study top-k query evaluation (finding the $k$ most likely matches) for queries over BP specifications. We analyze the complexity of query evaluation in this context and present novel algorithms for computing top-k query results. To our knowledge, this is the first paper that studies such top-k query evaluation for BP specifications.
Efficient proxying of CoAP observe with quality of service support

The Observing Resources extension of the Constrained Application Protocol (CoAP) is expected to play a major role in future Internet of Things (IoT) applications, since it enables asynchronous monitoring of IoT resources in an efficient manner. As the number of IoT applications will grow, solutions are needed to manage multiple observe relationships for the same resource, especially if hosted by a constrained IoT device. The problem is further exacerbated since multiple observers may have heterogeneous Quality of Service (QoS) requirements on the minimum and maximum frequency with which to receive notifications, while the resource-constrained server may only be able to provide notifications with one fixed period for all. In this work, we propose an efficient solution to support multiple CoAP observers with QoS requirements. In particular, we formulate the problem of finding the notification period which minimizes the amount of messages sent by the server, so as to reduce energy consumption of IoT devices and congestion in constrained networks, while ensuring all observers' requirements are met. We then propose an algorithm, named Observation Period Selection (OPS), which is proved to find the optimal solution to this problem. OPS is also evaluated experimentally to analyze its effectiveness in some simple scenarios.
Information Gain in Quantum Eavesdropping

Abstract We analyse the information obtained by an eavesdropper during the various stages of a quantum cryptographic protocol associated with key distribution. We provide both an upper and a lower limit on the amount of information that may have leaked to the eavesdropper at the end of the key distribution procedure. These limits are restricted to intercept/resend eaves-dropping strategies. The upper one is higher than has been estimated so far, and should be taken into account in order to guarantee the secrecy of the final key, which is subsequently obtained via the so-called privacy amplification.
Safety in Semi-autonomous Multi-vehicle Systems: A Hybrid Control Approach

The continuous advancements of embedded computing and communication technologies are pushing several engineering systems toward increased levels of autonomy. A remarkable example is that of cooperative active safety systems currently being developed by government and industry consortia. While these systems promise a future in which transportation will be safer, more enjoyable, and more efficient, they also pose a great design challenge to the control, communication, and computer science communities. That is, safety must be guaranteed by design despite these systems are multi-agent, partially physical and partially computational, and involve human operators. In this paper, we focus on the problem of safe design in the presence of human operators and employ a formal hybrid control approach. We illustrate our results on an in-scale multi-vehicle roundabout test-bed.
Individual Judgments Versus Consensus

Query-URL relevance, measuring the relevance of each retrieved URL with respect to a given query, is one of the fundamental criteria to evaluate the performance of commercial search engines. The traditional way to collect reliable and accurate query-URL relevance requires multiple annotators to provide their individual judgments based on their subjective expertise (e.g., understanding of user intents). In this case, the annotators’ subjectivity reflected in each annotator individual judgment (AIJ) inevitably affects the quality of the ground truth relevance (GTR). But to the best of our knowledge, the potential impact of AIJs on estimating GTRs has not been studied and exploited quantitatively by existing work. This article first studies how multiple AIJs and GTRs are correlated. Our empirical studies find that the multiple AIJs possibly provide more cues to improve the accuracy of estimating GTRs. Inspired by this finding, we then propose a novel approach to integrating the multiple AIJs with the features characterizing query-URL pairs for estimating GTRs more accurately. Furthermore, we conduct experiments in a commercial search engine—Baidu.com—and report significant gains in terms of the normalized discounted cumulative gains.
QE: When and How Should the Fed Exit?

The essence of Quantitative Easing (QE) is to reduce the costs of private borrowing through large-scale purchases of privately issue debts, instead of public debts (Ben Bernanke, 2009). Notwithstanding the effectiveness of this highly unconventional monetary policy in reviving private investment and the economy, it is time to think about the likely impacts of the unwinding of QE (or the reversed private-asset purchases) on the economy. In a standard economic model, if monetary injections can increase aggregate output and employment, then the reversed action will likely undo such effects. Would this imply that the U.S. economy will dive into a recession once the Fed starts its large-scale asset sales (under the assumption that QE has successfully pulled the economy out of the Great Recession)? This paper shows that three aspects of the Federal Reserve’s exit strategy matter for achieving (or maintaining) maximum gains in aggregate output and employment under QE (if any): (i) the timing of exit, (ii) the pace of exit, and (iii) the private sector’s expectations of when and how the Fed will exit.
A meta-model for goal-driven cooperative work processes

The Computer Supported Cooperative Work (CSCW) discipline examines the possibilities and effects of technological support for humans involved in collaborative group communication and work processes. Organizations are built on the principle that groups of people can carry out tasks which are not feasible individually. For many of them, well-structured and ill-structured procedures coexist in work processes and must be managed in the final solution. Cooperative work techniques become very important in organizations. One can note the emergence of many products dedicated to developing cooperative systems. Therefore, it is necessary to emphasize the specificities of these applications in order to take them into account as soon as possible during design. This paper presents a process meta-model for goal-driven cooperative work processes.
Spatial Analytic Interfaces: Spatial User Interfaces for In Situ Visual Analytics

As wearable devices gain acceptance, we need to ask, What will user interfaces look like in a post-smartphone world? Will these future interfaces support sophisticated interactions in a mobile context? The authors draw from visual analytics concepts to address the growing need for individuals to manage information on personal devices. Spatial analytic interfaces (SAIs) can leverage the benefits of spatial interaction to enable everyday visual analytics tasks to be performed in-situ, at the most beneficial place and time. They explore the possibilities for such interfaces using head-worn display technology and discuss current developments and future research goals for the successful development of SAIs.
The mitochondrial permeability transition pore confers excitability and CICR wave propagation

Mitochondria have long been known to sequester cytosolic Ca and even to shape intracellular patterns of endoplasmic reticulum -based Ca signaling. Accumulating evidence suggests that the mitochondrial network is an excitable medium which can demonstrate Ca induced Ca release via the mitochondrial permeability transition. The role of this excitability remains unclear, but mitochondrial Ca handling appears to be a crucial element in diverse diseases as diabetes, neurodegeneration and cardiac dysfunction. In this report, we extend the modular Magnus-Keizer computational model for respiration-driven Ca handling to include a transition pore and we demonstrate both excitability and Ca wave propagation that is accompanied by depolarizations similar to those reported in cell preparations. These waves depend on the energy state of the mitochondria, as well as other elements of mitochondrial physiology. Our results support the concept that mitochondria can transmit state dependent signals about their function in a spatially extended way.
Extraction of Field Boundary Information from Classified Satellite Images

Remotely sensed images and the thematic maps derived from such images are invaluable sources of information for GIS databases, in terms of providing spatial and temporal information about the nature of Earth surface materials and objects. One of the techniques that has emerged recently, and which has made a great impact on scientific community, is that of artificial neural networks (ANNs). ANNs have been found to be more robust than conventional statistical methods. ANNs have the advantage of being employed in almost all the stages of a GIS system, such as the data preparation, analysis and modelling stages. This study describes a method to accurately extract field boundaries from thematic maps produced from ANN classification results. A feed-forward network structure that learns the characteristics of the training data through the backpropagation learning algorithm is employed to classify six land cover features present within the scene. This study also ill ustrates the role of ANNs in classifying land cover objects. A number of factors affecting classification accuracy, including the determination of the optimum network structure are discussed. It is observed that classification accuracy of up to 90% is achievable for thematic maps produced by ANNs.
Lexical bundles in learner and expert academic writing

Lexical bundles (LBs) have been described as the ‘building blocks of discourse’; in addition to being highly frequent in writing and reducing processing time for readers and writers, they also perform important functions in language. LB choice, however, can vary according to genre, discipline, and different sections of the same text, which poses a challenge for novice L2 writers. This paper explores the use of LBs in a learner corpus of bachelor dissertations written in English by Spanish L1 students in linguistics and medicine, and compares it with published research articles in the same disciplines. By focusing on the introduction and conclusion sections, we identify the most frequent 3-, 4- and 5-word bundles in the corpora, to later study their types, structures, and functions. The results show differences in the use of LBs across disciplines, genres and sections, suggesting pedagogical implications for the inclusion of LBs in the L2 writing curriculum.
A system identification approach to determining listening attention from EEG signals

We still have very little knowledge about how our brains decouple different sound sources, which is known as solving the cocktail party problem. Several approaches; including ERP, time-frequency analysis and, more recently, regression and stimulus reconstruction approaches; have been suggested for solving this problem. In this work, we study the problem of correlating of EEG signals to different sets of sound sources with the goal of identifying the single source to which the listener is attending. Here, we propose a method for finding the number of parameters needed in a regression model to avoid overlearning, which is necessary for determining the attended sound source with high confidence in order to solve the cocktail party problem.
Real-time Realistic Illumination and Shading of Stratiform Clouds

Realistic rendering of clouds involves solving the complex interaction of light within the cloud and with its environment. Interactive methods achieve efficient cloud rendering by ignoring several lighting effects. However, these effects are visually important, and removing them strongly reduces realism. We present a novel approach for capturing the important effects of multiple anisotropic Mie scattering within cloud layers (i.e., stratiform clouds), and the inter-reflections between the ground and the cloud base under sun and sky illumination. Our model maps well to graphics hardware, enabling the real-time rendering of animated cloud skies over landscapes.
A simple framework to generate parallel application for geospatial processing

GIS processing of large sets of geo-referenced tiles is usually very time-consuming for users. These computations rarely take benefits of PC clusters or Grid computing and are too often run onto simple desktop PC. This is mainly due to the difficulty of parallel programming. In this paper we propose an easy way to greatly accelerate this process for the class of GIS computations which involve local data accesses. For the moment, our framework deals with non communicating parallel processes.
Cells Complex and Protein Translation in Human Breast Cancer 2-Methoxyestradiol Inhibits the Anaphase-Promoting

2-Methoxyestradiol (2ME2), an estradiol metabolite with antiproliferative and antiangiogenic activities, is in phase I/ II clinical trials for breast cancer. 2ME2 inhibits microtubule polymerization and causes cells to arrest in G2-M. The purpose of this study was to further elucidate the molecular mechanism of 2ME2. MDA-MB-435 breast cancer cells were treated with 2ME2 (2 Mmol/L) or vehicle alone. RNA was extracted and genomic profiling was done using 22k Agilent microarrays. Expression Analysis Systematic Explorer was used to determine enrichment of Gene Ontology categories. Protein isolates were subjected to Western blot analysis. Protein synthesis was measured with a [S]methionine pulse assay. An MDA-MB-435 cell line with two B-tubulin mutations (2ME2R) was used to determine whether novel mechanisms were tubulin-dependent. Gene Ontology categories enriched include genes that regulate the mitotic spindle assembly checkpoint, apoptosis, and the cytosolic ribosome. The target of the mitotic spindle assembly checkpoint is the anaphase-promoting complex (APC). APC inhibition was confirmed by measuring protein levels of its targets securin and cyclin B1, which were increased in 2ME2treated cells. Because gene expression in the cytosolic ribosome category was decreased, we evaluated whether 2ME2 decreases protein translation. This was confirmed with a pulse assay, which showed decreased isotope incorporation in 2ME2treated cells, which was maintained in the tubulin-resistant 2ME2R cells. APC inhibition was not maintained in 2ME2R cells. 2ME2 induces tubulin-dependent cell cycle arrest through regulation of genes involved in the mitotic spindle assembly checkpoint, which results in inhibition of the APC and tubulin-independent inhibition of protein translation. [Cancer Res 2007;67(2):702–8]
The comparison of agricultural support policies in the OECD and the EU countries from the perspective of economic globalization processes Komparácia podpornej politiky krajín OECD a EÚ v procese ekonomickej globalizácie

The paper analyses the evaluation of agricultural and farm support in the OECD countries and its differentiated development in the respective countries. This is important, because the effect of subsidies on production, trade, income as well as environment, directly depends on the way how this subsidies are disbursed to the farmers. Another object of the analysis are the differences in the level of support between different commodities that may lead to deformations.