Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Deepfix: Statistical Post-editing of Statistical Machine Translation Using Deep Syntactic Analysis

Deepfix is a statistical post-editing system for improving the quality of statistical machine translation outputs. It attempts to correct errors in verb-noun valency using deep syntactic analysis and a simple probabilistic model of valency. On the English-to-Czech translation pair, we show that statistical post-editing of statistical machine translation leads to an improvement of the translation quality when helped by deep linguistic knowledge.
Common Knowledge and Interactive Behaviors : A Survey 1

This paper surveys the notion of common knowledge taken from game theory and computer science. It studies and illustrates more generally the effects of interactive knowledge in economic and social problems. First of all, common knowledge is shown to be a central concept and often a necessary condition for coordination, equilibrium achievement, agreement, and consensus. We present how common knowledge can be practically generated, for example, by particular advertisements or leadership. Secondly, we prove that common knowledge can be harmful, essentially in various cooperation and negotiation problems, and more generally when there are conflicts of interest. Finally, in some asymmetric relationships, common knowledge is shown to be preferable for some players, but not for all. The ambiguous welfare effects of higher-order knowledge on interactive behaviors leads us to analyze the role of decentralized communication in order to deal with dynamic or endogenous information structures.
Task-oriented dependency parsing evaluation methodology

Traditional parser evaluation with attachment scores is not helpful for researchers who want to find the most suitable parser for their application. First, because it is being done for a domain which is almost always different from the domain of the application and second because many of the tested dependencies are irrelevant for the application. The alternative extrinsic evaluation is problematic as well, since it is difficult to find a suitable data set and because it is not straightforward how to measure the quality of the parser in the context of a broader application. We propose a method which combines the strengths of attachment scores and extrinsic evaluation and avoids their weaknesses. On the one hand we use the very robust attachment scores, We apply our approach to RTE-7 data in order to demonstrate how it works.
Do labour mobility and technological collaborations foster geographical knowledge diffusion? The case of European regions

The goal of this paper is twofold: first, we aim to assess the role played by inventors’ cross-regional mobility and collaborations in fostering knowledge diffusion across regions and subsequent innovation. Second, we intend to evaluate the feasibility of using mobility and co-patenting information to build cross-regional interaction matrices to be used within the spatial econometrics toolbox. To do so, we depart from a knowledge production function where regional innovation intensity is a function not only of the own regional innovation inputs but also external accessible knowledge stocks gained through interregional interactions. Differently from much of the previous literature, cross-section gravity models of mobility and co-patents are estimated to use the fitted values to build our ‘spatial’ weights matrices, which characterize the intensity of knowledge interactions across a panel of 269 regions covering most European countries over 6 years.
Fast algorithm for computing inductive voltages in a network model of a Rutherford cable

The fast multipole method (FMM) is applied to the electromagnetic analysis of a network model for a Rutherford cable. The FMM allows the inductive-voltage effects to be included accurately (error /spl Lt/ 1%) without the need to store, access, or invert the full inductance matrix. Applications of the resulting algorithm are discussed: relaxation of boundary-induced coupling currents, stability, and quench propagation.
Comparison of Segmentation Methods for Melanoma Diagnosis in Dermoscopy Images

In this paper, we propose and evaluate six methods for the segmentation of skin lesions in dermoscopic images. This set includes some state of the art techniques which have been successfully used in many medical imaging problems (gradient vector flow (GVF) and the level set method of Chan et al.[(C-LS)]. It also includes a set of methods developed by the authors which were tailored to this particular application (adaptive thresholding (AT), adaptive snake (AS), EM level set (EM-LS), and fuzzy-based split-and-merge algorithm (FBSM)]. The segmentation methods were applied to 100 dermoscopic images and evaluated with four different metrics, using the segmentation result obtained by an experienced dermatologist as the ground truth. The best results were obtained by the AS and EM-LS methods, which are semi-supervised methods. The best fully automatic method was FBSM, with results only slightly worse than AS and EM-LS.
Indirect Co-Culture with Tendons or Tenocytes Can Program Amniotic Epithelial Cells towards Stepwise Tenogenic Differentiation

Background Amniotic epithelial cells (AEC) have potential applications in cell-based therapy. Thus far their ability to differentiate into tenocytes has not been investigated although a cell source providing a large supply of tenocytes remains a priority target of regenerative medicine in order to respond to the poor self-repair capability of adult tendons. Starting from this premise, the present research has been designed firstly to verify whether the co-culture with adult primary tenocytes could be exploited in order to induce tenogenic differentiation in AEC, as previously demonstrated in mesenchymal stem cells. Since the co-culture systems inducing cell differentiation takes advantage of specific soluble paracrine factors released by tenocytes, the research has been then addressed to study whether the co-culture could be improved by making use of the different cell populations present within tendon explants or of the high regenerative properties of fetal derived cell/tissue. Methodology/Principal Findings Freshly isolated AEC, obtained from ovine fetuses at mid-gestation, were co-incubated with explanted tendons or primary tenocytes obtained from fetal or adult calcaneal tendons. The morphological and functional analysis indicated that AEC possessed tenogenic differentiation potential. However, only AEC exposed to fetal-derived cell/tissues developed in vitro tendon-like three dimensional structures with an expression profile of matrix (COL1 and THSB4) and mesenchymal/tendon related genes (TNM, OCN and SCXB) similar to that recorded in native ovine tendons. The tendon-like structures displayed high levels of organization as documented by the cell morphology, the newly deposited matrix enriched in COL1 and widespread expression of gap junction proteins (Connexin 32 and 43). Conclusions/Significance The co-culture system improves its efficiency in promoting AEC differentiation by exploiting the inductive tenogenic soluble factors released by fetal tendon cells or explants. The co-cultural system can be proposed as a low cost and easy technique to engineer tendon for biological study and cell therapy approach.
Image sequence geolocation with human travel priors

This paper presents a method for estimating geographic location for sequences of time-stamped photographs. A prior distribution over travel describes the likelihood of traveling from one location to another during a given time interval. This distribution is based on a training database of 6 million photographs from Flickr.com. An image likelihood for each location is defined by matching a test photograph against the training database. Inferring location for images in a test sequence is then performed using the Forward-Backward algorithm, and the model can be adapted to individual users as well. Using temporal constraints allows our method to geolocate images without recognizable landmarks, and images with no geographic cues whatsoever. This method achieves a substantial performance improvement over the best-available baseline, and geolocates some users' images with near-perfect accuracy.
Exploitation of electric field in controlling of nanofiber spinning process

Nanofibers can be prepared from a polymer solution utilizing electrospinning, a method exploiting an electrostatic field. In this work the electric field of the electrospinning process was modeled for better understanding and controllability of the fiber deposition in the electrospinning process. The model of the electric field was compared with experimental observations. The model of the electric field explained many phenomena in electrospinning, but did not provide an exclusive control tool for the process. POLYM. ENG. SCI., 47:2065–2074, 2007. © 2007 Society of Plastics Engineers
Biocultural orchestration of developmental plasticity across levels: the interplay of biology and culture in shaping the mind and behavior across the life span.

The author reviews reemerging coconstructive conceptions of development and recent empirical findings of developmental plasticity at different levels spanning several fields of developmental and life sciences. A cross-level dynamic biocultural coconstructive framework is endorsed to understand cognitive and behavioral development across the life span. This framework integrates main conceptions of earlier views into a unifying frame, viewing the dynamics of life span development as occurring simultaneously within different time scales (i.e., moment-to-moment microgenesis, life span ontogeny, and human phylogeny) and encompassing multiple levels (i.e., neurobiological, cognitive, behavioral, and sociocultural). Viewed through this metatheoretical framework, new insights of potential interfaces for reciprocal cultural and experiential influences to be integrated with behavioral genetics and cognitive neuroscience research can be more easily prescribed.
Audio Fingerprinting: Nearest Neighbor Search in High Dimensional Binary Spaces

Audio fingerprinting is an emerging research field in which a song must be recognized by matching an extracted “fingerprint” to a database of known fingerprints. Audio fingerprinting must solve the two key problems of representation and search. In this paper, we are given an 8192-bit binary representation of each five second interval of a song and therefore focus our attention on the problem of high-dimensional nearest neighbor search. High dimensional nearest neighbor search is known to suffer from the curse of dimensionality, i.e. as the dimension increases, the computational or memory costs increase exponentially. However, recently, there has been significant work on efficient, approximate, search algorithms. We build on this work and describe preliminary results of a probabilistic search algorithm. We describe the data structures and search algorithm used and then present experimental results for a database of 1,000 songs containing 12,217,111 fingerprints.
Paradoxical Facilitation of Object Recognition Memory after Infusion of Scopolamine into Perirhinal Cortex: Implications for Cholinergic System Function

The cholinergic system has long been implicated in learning and memory, yet its specific function remains unclear. In the present study, we investigated the role of cortical acetylcholine in a rodent model of declarative memory by infusing the cholinergic muscarinic receptor antagonist scopolamine into the rat perirhinal cortex during different stages (encoding, storage/consolidation, and retrieval) of the spontaneous object recognition task. Presample infusions of scopolamine significantly impaired object recognition compared with performance of the same group of rats on saline trials; this result is consistent with previous reports supporting a role for perirhinal acetylcholine in object information acquisition. Scopolamine infusions directly before the retrieval stage had no discernible effect on object recognition. However, postsample infusions of scopolamine with sample-to-infusion delays of up to 20 h significantly facilitated performance relative to postsample saline infusion trials. Additional analysis suggested that the infusion episode could cause retroactive or proactive interference with the sample object trace and that scopolamine blocked the acquisition of this interfering information, thereby facilitating recognition memory. This is, to our knowledge, the first example of improved recognition memory after administration of scopolamine. The overall pattern of results is inconsistent with a direct role for cortical acetylcholine in declarative memory consolidation or retrieval. Rather, the cholinergic input to the perirhinal cortex may facilitate acquisition by enhancing the cortical processing of incoming stimulus information.
High-Resolution ISAR Imaging With Sparse Stepped-Frequency Waveforms

From the theory of compressive sensing (CS), we know that the exact recovery of an unknown sparse signal can be achieved from limited measurements by solving a sparsity-constrained optimization problem. For inverse synthetic aperture radar (ISAR) imaging, the backscattering field of a target is usually composed of contributions by a very limited amount of strong scattering centers, the number of which is much smaller than that of pixels in the image plane. In this paper, a novel framework for ISAR imaging is proposed through sparse stepped-frequency waveforms (SSFWs). By using the framework, the measurements, only at some portions of frequency subbands, are used to reconstruct full-resolution images by exploiting sparsity. This waveform strategy greatly reduces the amount of data and acquisition time and improves the antijamming capability. A new algorithm, named the sparsity-driven High-Resolution Range Profile (HRRP) synthesizer, is presented in this paper to overcome the error phase due to motion usually degrading the HHRP synthesis. The sparsity-driven HRRP synthesizer is robust to noise. The main novelty of the proposed ISAR imaging framework is twofold: 1) dividing the motion compensation into three steps and therefore allowing for very accurate estimation and 2) both sparsity and signal-to-noise ratio are enhanced dramatically by coherent integrant in cross-range before performing HRRP synthesis. Both simulated and real measured data are used to test the robustness of the ISAR imaging framework with SSFWs. Experimental results show that the framework is capable of precise reconstruction of ISAR images and effective suppression of both phase error and noise.
Non-linear estimation is easy

Non-linear state estimation and some related topics like parametric estimation, fault diagnosis and perturbation attenuation are tackled here via a new methodology in numerical differentiation. The corresponding basic system theoretic definitions and properties are presented within the framework of differential algebra, which permits to handle system variables and their derivatives of any order. Several academic examples and their computer simulations, with online estimations, illustrate our viewpoint.
Relational Learning as Search in a Critical Region

Machine learning strongly relies on the covering test to assess whether a candidate hypothesis covers training examples. The present paper investigates learning relational concepts from examples, termed relational learning or inductive logic programming. In particular, it investigates the chances of success and the computational cost of relational learning, which appears to be severely affected by the presence of a phase transition in the covering test. To this aim, three up-to-date relational learners have been applied to a wide range of artificial, fully relational learning problems. A first experimental observation is that the phase transition behaves as an attractor for relational learning; no matter which region the learning problem belongs to, all three learners produce hypotheses lying within or close to the phase transition region. Second, a failure region appears. All three learners fail to learn any accurate hypothesis in this region. Quite surprisingly, the probability of failure does not systematically increase with the size of the underlying target concept: under some circumstances, longer concepts may be easier to accurately approximate than shorter ones. Some interpretations for these findings are proposed and discussed.
TDMA'11 workshop overview

Feng Lu The State Key Laboratory of Resources and Environmental Information System, Institute of Geographic Sciences and Natural Resources Research, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China, 100101 luf@lreis.ac. cn Xing Xie Microsoft Research Asia, Microsoft Building 2, No. 5, Danling Street Beijing, China, 100080 xingx@microsoft.com Shih-Lung Shaw Department of Geography, The University of Tennessee, Knoxville, TN37996, USA The State Key Laboratory of Information Engineering in Surveying, Mapping and Remote Sensing, Wuhan University, Wuhan, China, 430072 sshaw@utk.edu
Stimulation of Chitin Synthesis Rescues Candida albicans from Echinocandins

Echinocandins are a new generation of novel antifungal agent that inhibit cell wall β(1,3)-glucan synthesis and are normally cidal for the human pathogen Candida albicans. Treatment of C. albicans with low levels of echinocandins stimulated chitin synthase (CHS) gene expression, increased Chs activity, elevated chitin content and reduced efficacy of these drugs. Elevation of chitin synthesis was mediated via the PKC, HOG, and Ca2+-calcineurin signalling pathways. Stimulation of Chs2p and Chs8p by activators of these pathways enabled cells to survive otherwise lethal concentrations of echinocandins, even in the absence of Chs3p and the normally essential Chs1p, which synthesize the chitinous septal ring and primary septum of the fungus. Under such conditions, a novel proximally offset septum was synthesized that restored the capacity for cell division, sustained the viability of the cell, and abrogated morphological and growth defects associated with echinocandin treatment and the chs mutations. These findings anticipate potential resistance mechanisms to echinocandins. However, echinocandins and chitin synthase inhibitors synergized strongly, highlighting the potential for combination therapies with greatly enhanced cidal activity.
Endocrine dysfunction in patients with Fabry disease.

BACKGROUND Fabry disease (FD) is a genetic disorder caused by lysosomal alpha-galactosidase-A deficiency and is characterized by the systemic accumulation of globotriaosylceramide. All endocrine glands are susceptible to globotriaosylceramide accumulation because of their high vascularization and low cellular proliferation rate. Nevertheless, this endocrine system has never been investigated in detail. OBJECTIVE We aimed to investigate the function and morphology of the endocrine glands in FD. PATIENTS The thyroid, gonadal, adrenal, and GH/IGF-I axes were evaluated in 18 FD patients (nine females and nine males, aged 21-64 yr) and 18 sex- and age-matched healthy subjects. STUDY DESIGN We conducted an observational, analytical, open, prospective study. INTERVENTIONS Ten of the 18 patients received enzyme replacement therapy (ERT) with recombinant human alpha-galactosidase-A (agalsidase beta) at a dose of 1 mg/kg body weight every 2 wk. RESULTS FD patients had higher baseline TSH levels than controls (P < 0.01). Three subjects were diagnosed with an early stage of subclinical primary hypothyroidism associated with negative antithyroid antibodies. A history of menses abnormalities, miscarriage, or assisted delivery was found in 89% of FD women. Asthenozoospermia, oligozoospermia, or both were found in all FD men through seminal fluid analysis. FD patients had significantly higher circulating ACTH and lower cortisol levels than controls (P < 0.05). In patients under ERT, a suboptimal cortisol response to the 250-microg ACTH test was found in 10%, and the ACTH-stimulated cortisol peak was significantly correlated to the health status profile (P < 0.05). CONCLUSION A variety of latent endocrine dysfunctions, including life-threatening conditions, occur in patients with FD. Endocrine dysfunctions are also present in patients already receiving ERT and are in part related to their persistent poor quality of life. An endocrine work-up should be recommended in all FD patients. Adequate monitoring and hormonal therapy, when required, have to be performed in cases of subclinical endocrine dysfunction to avoid life-threatening events.
A longitudinal analysis of salivary flow in control subjects and older adults with type 2 diabetes.

OBJECTIVE Many diabetics complain of xerostomia, a condition that can affect oral health, nutritional status, and diet selection. This study's purposes were (1) to investigate the effect on salivary flow of type 2 diabetes and change in glycemic control in a group of older adults over time and (2) to compare flow rates with subjective complaints of xerostomia. STUDY DESIGN A total of 39 older adults, 24 with type 2 diabetes and 15 who were nondiabetic (controls), aged 54-90 years, participated in a 1-year follow-up study. Diabetic status was determined by means of glycosylated hemoglobin (HbA1c) levels and 2-hour glucose tolerance tests. Poor glycemic control was defined as HbA1c > 9%. Unstimulated whole, unstimulated parotid, and stimulated parotid saliva flow rates were measured for all subjects by a single examiner at baseline and 1 year later. Each subject completed a standardized xerostomia questionnaire at every visit. RESULTS Age, sex, and duration of diabetes did not adversely affect salivary flow rates. Subjects with poorly controlled diabetes had significantly lower stimulated parotid saliva flow rates at both visits. There were no significant changes in flow rates over time on the basis of diabetic status or glycemic control. Subjects with diabetes reported significantly more complaints of thirst but not of xerostomia at 1 year. CONCLUSIONS These results suggest that older adults with poorly controlled diabetes may have impaired salivary flow in comparison with subjects with better controlled diabetes and nondiabetic subjects, yet they may not have concomitant xerostomic complaints. There were no significant changes in salivary flow rates or glycemic control over the 1-year period.
Origin authentication in interdomain routing

Attacks against Internet routing are increasing in number and severity. Contributing greatly to these attacks is the absence of origin authentication: there is no way to validate claims of address ownership or location. The lack of such services enables not only attacks by malicious entities, but indirectly allow seemingly inconsequential miconfigurations to disrupt large portions of the Internet. This paper considers the semantics, design, and costs of origin authentication in interdomain routing. We formalize the semantics of address delegation and use on the Internet, and develop and characterize broad classes of origin authentication proof systems. We estimate the address delegation graph representing the current use of IPv4 address space using available routing data. This effort reveals that current address delegation is dense and relatively static: as few as 16 entities perform 80% of the delegation on the Internet. We conclude by evaluating the proposed services via traced based simulation. Our simulation shows the enhanced proof systems can reduce significantly reduce resource costs associated with origin authentication.