Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Multilingualism and conceptual modelling

One of the leading motivations behind the multilingual semantic web is to make resources accessible digitally in an online global multilingual context. Consequently, it is fundamental for knowledge bases to find a way to manage multilingualism and thus be equipped with those procedures for its conceptual modelling. In this context, the goal of this paper is to discuss how common-sense knowledge and cultural knowledge are modelled in a multilingual framework. More particularly, multilingualism and conceptual modelling are dealt with from the perspective of FunGramKB, a lexico-conceptual knowledge base for natural language understanding. This project argues for a clear division between the lexical and the conceptual dimensions of knowledge. Moreover, the conceptual layer is organized into three modules, which result from a strong commitment towards capturing semantic knowledge (Ontology), procedural knowledge (Cognicon) and episodic knowledge (Onomasticon). Cultural mismatches are discussed and formally represented at the three conceptual levels of FunGramKB.
High‐performance workplace practices for Greek companies

Purpose – This study aims to examine whether are there human resources (HR) practices that influence firm performance of companies operating in the Mediterranean region and, specifically, in Greece. Existing literature comes mostly from American studies, leaving a research gap what happens when HR practices are applied by companies in the Mediterranean region.Design/methodology/approach – The author reviewed the existent literature and examined six HR practices, which were initially proposed by Pfeffer. Using a self‐reported questionnaire, the author surveyed managers in Greece. The author used univariate and hierarchical multiple regression models to analyse the data.Findings – Analysis of data provides overall support for all HR practices except of job security. Selective hiring and compensation policy were significant predictors for all performance variables.Research limitations/implications – Results from studies on a specific industry may have limitations to generalising to other sectors of the econo.
Multimodal Medical Image Registration and Fusion in 3 D Conformal Radiotherapy Treatment Planning

Medical image is the technique and process used to create images of the human body for medical science or clinical purposes, including medical medical procedures seeking to reveal, diagnose or examine disease. In the last 100 years, medical imaging technology has grown rapidly and drastically changed the medical profession. Now, physicians can use the images obtained by different medical imaging technologies to both diagnose and track the progress of illnesses and injuries. When 3D conformal radiotherapy planning (3D CRTP) is employed for tumor treatment, the relative position between the tumor and its adjacent tissues, should be obtained accurately. Generally, there are two main kinds of medical images which provide different information for diagnosis in 3D conformal radiotherapy planning (3D CRTP). They are “the anatomical images” and “the functional mages”. The anatomical images, such as Computerized Tomography(CT), depict clearly primarily morphology of human body through the abundant texture, yet it is not very sensitive to the cancer. The functional mages, such as Positron Emission Tomography (PET), depict primarily information on the metabolism of the underlying anatomy. Therefore, the relative position between the tumor and its adjacent tissues could be obtained easily through analyzing the medical data sets which are fused the information of functional mages and anatomical images. Many methods exist to perform image fusion. The very basic one is the high pass filtering technique. Later techniques are based on DWT, uniform rational filter bank, and so on. In this chapter, multimodal medical images are fused by applying wavelet transform with fusion rule of combining the local standard deviation and energy, which will be describe in detail in this chapter. Many documents presented a fusion method based on wavelet transform(Park J H et al., 2001), which is useful for image fusion. But the activity measure of the coefficients reflecting the significant information of multimodal medical images had not been considered in them. In clinic application, physicians are interested in the position signs of the tumor. The anatomical images depict clearly primarily morphology of human body through the abundant texture. So the local standard deviation is regarded as the activity measure of coefficients. Furthermore, the local energy reflects the absolute intensity of the signal change, and the large absolute intensity of the signal change reflect the obvious feature of the image. So the image feature is described in uniform by the local standard,
TSALLIS GENERALIZED ENTROPY AND MAXIMUM ENTROPY FORMALISM FOR SPRAY DROPS SIZE DISTRIBUTION FUNCTION PREDICTION

In sprays theoretical characterization, a difficult step is to find the most likely drops size probability distribution with respect to the known mean diameter and the type of atomization. The classical procedure consists of fitting an analytical function (for ex. Rosin-Rammler) on experimental data. Another more logical and more physical meaningful approach is to apply the maximum entropy formalism (M.E.F.), a widely used method which allows to choose among all the possible probability distributions the most suitable to the available knowledge about the phenomena. The classical M.E. F. , states that, when given some information about a stochastic process (for ex., given the mean diameter of the spray), the probability distribution that agrees the best with that information is obtained by maximizing Shannon's entropy ( () ln i Sp k p p ii = ) subject to the given constraints (written in form of
Mathematical Modelling of Rabies Transmission and the Impact of Prevention Strategies : A Case Study of Tanzania

Rabies is among the top ten infectious diseases that kill the majority of rural people in Tanzania (Mundi, 2015). A rabies model by Zhang et al. (2011) is modified by incorporating controls: culling of infected dogs and vaccination of susceptible dogs and exposed humans. Analysis of the simple model shows that the rabies free equilibrium points are both locally and globally asymptotically stable when R0 < 1. Results of sensitivity analysis of the basic reproduction number R0, show that the dog’s transmission rate βdd and rabies mortality rate αd are the most sensitive parameters. Therefore in order to reduce the new rabies cases, intervention strategies that will decrease dog’s transmission rates and increase rabies mortality rates should be applied. Using estimated parameter values, simulation is done to the extended model with vaccination and culling. Results suggest that the combination of culling and vaccination is the optimal intervention strategy that should be applied by Kilombero, Ulanga and Serengeti districts in Tanzania, to limit rabies transmission.
Green Materialities: Marketing and the socio-material construction of green products

Green products are becoming part of contemporary consumer cultures and part of everyday life. But how are green products constructed? What kind of green products are constructed? And what happens as these green products are constructed? The aim of this paper is to contribute a socio-cultural and critical understanding of green marketing by exploring and illustrating how marketing practices work to construct green products as meaningful material-symbolic artefacts in practice. Departing from an understanding of marketing as practice I analyse how a green outdoor product - a t-shirt - was constructed as green through the marketing practices of the Nordic Nature Shops. Focusing on this retail corporation and examining the practices of trail making, attending and selling, it is suggested that these t-shirts become green through a process of socio-material inscription. Through marketing practices green moral is generated and linked to the t-shirts potentially making them desirable consumption objects to be used in the construction of consumers green identities. However, this process of green making is a difficult accomplishment with ambiguous outcomes. While the tendency to inscribe commercial products with morality can be interpreted as an indication of the development of a more ethically reflective consumer culture, it can also be argued to lead to the commercialization of morality (Less)
Comparison of free tropospheric western Pacific air mass classification schemes for the PEM‐West A experiment

During September/October 1991, NASA's Global Tropospheric Experiment (GTE) conducted an airborne field measurement program (PEM-West A) in the troposphere over the western Pacific Ocean. In this paper we describe and use the relative abundance of the combustion products C2H2 and CO to classify air masses encountered during PEM-West A based on the degree that these tracers were processed by the combined effects of photochemical reactions and dynamical mixing (termed the degree of atmospheric processing). A large number of trace compounds (e.g., C2H6, C3H8, C6H6, NOy, and O3) are found to be well correlated with the degree of atmospheric processing that is reflected by changes in the ratio of C2H2/CO over the range of values from ∼0.3 to 2.0 (parts per trillion volume) C2H2/(parts per billion volume) CO. This C2H2/CO-based classification scheme is compared to model simulations and to two independent classification schemes based on air mass back-trajectory analyses and lidar profiles of O3 and aerosols. In general, these schemes agree well, and in combination they suggest that the functional dependence that other observed species exhibit with respect to the C2H2/CO atmospheric processing scale can be used to study the origin, sources, and sinks of trace species and to derive several important findings. First, the degree of atmospheric processing is found to be dominated by dilution associated with atmospheric mixing, which is found to primarily occur through the vertical mixing of relatively recent emissions of surface layer trace species. Photochemical reactions play their major role by influencing the background concentrations of trace species that are entrained during the mixing (i.e., dilution) process. Second, a significant noncontinental source(s) of NO (and NOx) in the free troposphere is evident. In particular, the enhanced NO mixing ratios that were observed in convected air masses are attributed to either emissions from lightning or the rapid recycling of NOy compounds. Third, nonsoluble trace species emitted in the continental boundary layer, such as CO and hydrocarbons, are vertically transported to the upper troposphere as efficiently as they are to the midtroposphere. In addition, the mixing ratios of CO and hydrocarbons in the upper troposphere over the western Pacific may reflect a significant contribution from northern hemisphere land areas other than Asia. Finally, we believe that these results can be valuable for the quantitative evaluation of the vertical transport processes that are usually parameterized in models.
Application of Machine Learning to Short-Term Equity Return Prediction

Cooper showed how a filter method could be used to predict equity returns for the next week by using information about returns and volume for the two previous weeks. Cooper's method may be regarded as a crude method of Machine Learning. Over the last 20 years Machine Learning has been successfully applied to the modeling of large data sets, often containing a lot of noise, in many different fields. When applying the technique it is important to fit it to the specific problem under consideration. We have designed and applied to Cooper's problem a practical new method of Machine Learning, appropriate to the problem, that is based on a modification of the well-known kernel regression method. We call it the Prototype Kernel Regression method (PKR). In both the period 1978-1993 studied by Cooper, and the period 1994-2004, the PKR method leads to a clear profit improvement compared to Cooper's approach. In all of 48 different cases studied, the period pre-cost average return is larger for the PKR method than Cooper's method, on average 37% higher, and that margin would increase as costs were taken into account. Our method aims to minimize the danger of data snooping, and it could plausibly have been applied in 1994 or earlier. There may be a lesson here for proponents of the Efficient Market Hypothesis in the form that states that profitable prediction of equity returns is impossible except by chance. It is not enough for them to show that the profits from an anomaly-based trading scheme disappear after costs. The proponents should also consider what would have been plausible applications of more sophisticated Machine Learning techniques before dismissing evidence against the EMH.
Distributionally robust optimization in context of data-driven problems

A decision maker is often confronted with situations where he has incomplete knowledge about some of the parameters of the problem that he is addressing: e.g . , market demand, future cost of merchandise, or quality of the available resources. While a simple approach that lets these parameters take their most likely values might lead to good solutions, it can easily lead to unexpected results in general. To avoid unnecessary deceptions, one should instead modify his decision model so that it accounts for the uncertainty that is present. At a conceptual level, stochastic programming is an effective approach since it leads to decisions that directly trades off risk and performance. This is done by requiring that the decision maker formulate a distribution describing the probability that the parameters take any given value. The framework then offers an exhaustive array of risk measures to choose from for evaluating the performance of a candidate solution. Unfortunately, while this decision problem can generally be solved efficiently, the resulting “optimal risk-sensitive solution” can be misleading in applications where there is ambiguity in the choice of a distribution for representing the uncertain parameters. This is for instance the case in data-driven problems, where information about the distribution of parameters is mostly derived from the observation of historical realizations. After a limited amount of observations, a decision maker is often unable to fully determine the underlying distribution. This leads to three important questions for making a stochastic programming approach practical: 1. How accurate is a distribution estimate that is based only on a finite set of samples? 2. Can we account for distribution uncertainty when solving a stochastic program? 3. What is the computational cost associated with taking this uncertainty into account?
Real Time Pulse Pile‐up Recovery in a High Throughput Digital Pulse Processor

Detection and measurement of radiation is used extensively for non‐invasive material characterization in a range of industries. However, many practical applications are frustrated by pulse pile‐up within the detector. Pulse pile‐up, which occurs when multiple radiation events arrive within the temporal resolving time of the detector, degrades the fidelity of subsequent material analysis. Traditional pulse processing techniques use fast digital filters and logic circuits to detect piled‐up events and discard the corrupted data, however, this leads to substantial detector dead time. Consequently, there is considerable interest in more complex signal‐processing algorithms to extend the performance of pulse processors and improve material characterization techniques. We present a technology for real‐time decoding of pulse pile‐up events. It is a model‐based signal‐processing algorithm able to accurately characterize the number, time‐of‐arrival and energy of all events in the detector output. Even in the prese.
Unemployment compensation and high European unemployment: a reassessment with new benefit indicators

Generous unemployment benefits lie at the heart of the conventional explanation for persistent high unemployment. The effects of benefit generosity on work incentives are more ambiguous in a broader behavioural framework in which workers get substantial disutility from unemployment (given income) and know that unemployment has scarring effects in the future. The micro evidence suggests modest effects of changes in generosity, but there are reasons to doubt that the impacts on national unemployment rates are consequential. The empirical case for the orthodox prediction comes from cross-country regressions on the OECD's gross replacement rate (GRR), but the published evidence is mixed, and we find little support in the pattern of annual changes in the GRR and the unemployment rate for OECD countries over the last three decades. We take advantage of new and much improved net replacement indicators from the OECD, which show little correlation with either the GRRs or with unemployment and employment rates. We conclude that the available evidence does not offer compelling support for the conventional view.
Use of Mobile Phone Text Message and Personality among Japanese University Students

To evaluate the personality correlates of mobile phone text message use in Japanese youth, university students (N = 232) were distributed a set questionnaires containing the Temperament and Character Inventory and items enquiring their text message use. Greater text messaging was associated with high Novelty Seeking (NS). The results of this study suggest that text message was based on NS.
Comparative Study of Treatment of Trigger Points Pain With Two Techniques .1 Muscle Energy Technique Alone 2. Combined Approach

Objective: To compare efficacy of Muscle energy technique alone, and combination of Muscle energy Technique with stretching in treatment of Trigger point pain of cervical muscle in terms of pain reduction, and Neck Disability Index. Methods: Fourty patients with age 18 _40 years having non-specific neck pain with trigger points in either upper trapezius levator scapulae and sternocleidomastoid trigger points were taken from the phyical therapy department of Shalamar hospital Lahore. Patients were randomized into two groups ,One group received Muscle energy techniques while the second group received an integrated or combined approach consisting of muscle energy techniques and passive stretching. Each manure was repeated for three to five times per treatment session 3 days in a week for 4 consecutive weeks. After 4 week patients were reassessed for improvement in neck disability index and reduction in pain on visual analogue scale. Results: The results showed that The P-value for neck disability index NDI in group B using combined approach was 0.000 and for VAS was 0.002 which is less than the level of significance 0.005. So the findings of this study indicated that combined approach (MET with stretching) is more effective in deactivation of trigger points pain in term of reducing pain, and improving neck disability index. Conclusion: It was concluded that combination of muscle energy technique with stretching is more effective than Muscle energy technique alone for patients with trigger point pain.
The Predictive Technology Model in the Late Silicon Era and Beyond

The aggressive scaling of CMOS technology has inevitably led to vastly increased power dissipation, process variability and reliability degradation, posing tremendous challenges to robust circuit design. To continue the success of integrated circuits, advanced design research must start in parallel with or even ahead of technology development. This new paradigm requires the Predictive Technology Model (PTM) for future technology generations, including nanoscale CMOS and post-silicon devices. This paper presents a comprehensive set of predictive modeling developments. Starting from the PTM of traditional CMOS devices, it extends to CMOS alternatives at the end of the silicon roadmap, such as strained Si, high-k/metal gate, and FinFET devices. The impact of process variation and the aging effect is further captured by modeling the device parameters under the influence. Beyond the silicon roadmap, the PTM outreaches to revolutionary devices, especially carbon-based transistor and interconnect, in order to support explorative design research. Overall, these predictive device models enable early stage design exploration with increasing technology diversity, helping shed light on the opportunities and challenges in the nanoelectronics era.
Coupling of Plasmon Resonances in Tunable Layered Arrays of Gold Nanoparticles

Using bottom-up and self-assembly processes, large scale layered arrays of strongly coupled gold nanoparticles with controllable dimensions were fabricated. By carefully adjusting the distance between adjacent gold nanoparticle arrays, it is possible to control the coupling of the localized surface plasmon polariton resonance as sustained by individual gold nanoparticles. A greater interaction is observed at smaller separations, leading to a well pronounced shift in the spectral position of resonances that can be adjusted with high precision. Simulations showed good agreement with experimental observations in an in-depth investigation of such structures, suggesting minimal separations of only one nanometer are achieved.
Analysis of Radiative Properties and Direct Radiative Forcing Estimates of Dominant Aerosol Clusters over an Urban-Desert Region in West Africa

The strategic location of the AERONET site in Ilorin, Nigeria, makes it possible to obtain information on several aerosol types and their radiative effects. The strong reversal of wind direction occasioned by the movement of the ITCZ during the West Africa Monsoon (WAM) plays a major role in the variability of aerosol nature at this site, which is confirmed by aerosol optical depth (AOD) (675 nm) and Angstrom exponent (AE) (440–870 nm) values with 1st and 99th percentile values of 0.08 and 2.16, and 0.11 and 1.47, respectively. The direct radiative forcing (DRF) and radiative forcing efficiency (RFE) of aerosol, as retrieved from the AERONET sun-photometer measurements, are estimated using radiative transfer calculations for the periods of 2005–2009 and 2011–2015. The DRF and RFE of the dominant aerosol classes—desert dust (DD), biomass burning (BB), urban (UB) and gas flaring (GF)—have been estimated. The median (± standard deviation) values of the DRF at the top of the atmosphere (TOA) for the DD, BB, UB and GF aerosol classes are –27.5 ± 13.2 Wm–2, –27.1 ± 8.3 Wm–2, –11.5 ± 13.2 Wm–2 and –9.6 ± 8.0 Wm–2, respectively, while those of the RFE are –26.2 ± 4.1 Wm–2 δ–1, –35.2 ± 4.6 Wm–2 δ–1, –31.0 ± 8.4 Wm–2 δ–1 and –37.0 ± 10.3 Wm–2 δ–1, respectively. Arguably due to its high SSA and assymetric values, the DD aerosol class shows the largest DRF but the smallest RFE. Its smallest AOD notwithstanding, the GF class can cause greater perturbation of the earth-atmosphere system in the sub-region both directly and indirectly, possibly due to the presence of black carbon and other co-emitted aerosol and the ageing of the GF aerosols. This study presents the first estimate of DRF for aerosols of gas flaring origin and shows that its radiative potential can be similar in magnitude to that of biomass burning and urban aerosol in West Africa.