Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Semi-supervised Ensemble approaches for Parts-of-Speech Tagging of Resource-poor Languages

Natural Language Processing (NLP) systems have attracted substantial attention for their potential and propitious commercial value in recent years. Part-of-speech (POS) tagging is a well-studied task and is one of the essential and fundamental steps required for various NLP tasks. Numerous types of supervised, unsupervised, and semi-supervised POS taggers exist for different languages. Each of these POS taggers has its unique strengths. To leverage the combined benefits of these existing taggers, developing ensemble methods is a good option. Ensemble Methods are techniques that create multiple base models and then combine them to produce improved results and usually produce more accurate results than a single model. Our study investigates ensemble methods to exploit the complementary characteristics of Part-ofspeech taggers. We present an ensemble technique that enhances the performance of Supervised taggers with the help of Semi-supervised taggers. We propose a two-layer static ensemble with a decision tree classifier as the second layer. Outputs of the first level base POS taggers are chosen as new input features set to the second level decision tree. We use Semi-supervised context based lists (CBLs) tagger as one of the first layer taggers, which uses rich contextual information and helps in tagging both existing and unseen words and uses no domain knowledge, while supervised taggers give good performance for words present in the training model. Enhanced performance of our proposed ensemble approach over the base methods suggests that integrating these methods combines the strengths of base taggers. Later, the thesis focuses on developing a dynamic classifier selection approach suitable for POS tagging. In Dynamic Classifier Selection (DCS) techniques, the most appropriate set of classifiers is selected dynamically for each test sample. This selection is based on the performance of base classifiers on similar context words. In DCS methods, it is assumed that if a classifier performs well in the region of competence, that classifier is most likely to perform better for the given test instance. Word2Vec, a word Embedding algorithm trained over unlabeled data, is used to pick these similar context-based words from the validation set. Our proposed DCS approach on five languages outperforms the base POS taggers. These results suggest that we successfully selected the appropriate classifier for a given test word. Overall, we propose ensemble methods to address the Parts-of-speech tagging of resource-poor languages. These methods work with fewer annotated data by using unlabeled data without considering any domain-based knowledge. These ensemble methods can be an excellent choice to integrate and leverage
Reproducibility Report for ACM SIGMOD 2021 Paper: “SliceLine: Fast, Linear-Algebra-based Slice Finding for ML Model Debugging”

The reproducibility submission by the authors, their assistance in providing help when needed, and the provisioning of free access to required hardware resources have substantially eased the task of reproducing the results of this work. In this report, we describe the steps taken and the results that show the agreement in principle and detail of the reproducibility study to the original findings.
Methodology for inference on the Markov modulated Poisson process and theory for optimal scaling of the random walk Metropolis

Two distinct strands of research are developed: new methodology for inference on the Markov modulated Poisson process (MMPP), and new theory on optimal scaling for the random walk Metropolis (RWM). A novel technique is presented for simulating from the exact distribution of a continuous time Markov chain over an interval given the start and end states and the infinitesimal generator. This is used to create a Gibbs sampler which samples from the exact distribution of the hidden Markov chain in an MMPP. The Gibbs sampler is compared with several Metropolis-Hastings algorithms on a variety of simulated datasets. It is found that the Gibbs sampler is more efficient than all but one of the Metropolis-Hastings algorithms, sometimes by an order of magnitude. One alternative algorithm, with reparameterisation motivated by a Taylor expansion of the MMPP log-likelihood, outperforms the Gibbs sampler when the different Poisson process intensities are similar. The Gibbs sampler is applied to modelling the occurrence of a rare DNA motif. IV Two Lemmas are derived that apply to stationary Metropolis-Hastings Markov chains and simplify the analytical forms for expected acceptance rate and expected square jump distance (ESJD), a measure of efficiency. These are applied to the RWM for elliptically symmetric unimodal targets, and the existence, subject to conditions, of at least one finite optimal scaling is proved in finite dimension d. A one-to-one relationship between acceptance rate and scale parameter is also established. Asymptotic forms for ESJD and expected acceptance rate as d → ∞ are then derived and conditions under which the limiting optimal acceptance rate is 0.234 are obtained. It is also shown that in a more general setting the limiting optimal acceptance rate is ≤ 0.234. Limiting efficiency results are also obtained for partial-blocking and for the exploration of elliptical targets with elliptical proposals of the same shape.
Eﬀects of Peripheral Cold Application and Antipyretics on Hemodynamic Parameters in Febrile ICU Patients Diagnosed with Hospital-Acquired Infections

Background: Accuratelyassessinghemodynamicparametersplaysanimportantroleinpreventingcomplicationsduringandafter interventionsrelatedtoafeverinfebrilepatients. Therearenotenoughstudiesrelatedontheeﬀectsof peripheralcoldapplication (PCA) and antipyretics (APs) on hemodynamic parameters in febrile patients. Objectives: The aim was to determine the eﬀects of PCA and APs on hemodynamic parameters in febrile ICU patients diagnosed with hospital-acquired infections (HAIs). Methods: In this retrospective study, the archive documents of the 346 adult ICU patients diagnosed with HAIs of a university hospital in Turkey were evalauted. Body temperature (BT), systolic/diastolic blood pressure (SBP/DBP), pulse rate (PR), respiratory rate (RR), and arterial O2Sat (aO2sat) changes one hour before, during, and one hour after application of PCA or APs were evalauted. Results: The incidence of HIAs was 4.16%. A total of 46% of the patients had a bacteremia infection and causative microorganisms in 16.8% were Acinetobacter spp. BT, DBS, PR, and aO2Sat changes one hour before, during, and one hour after PCA were signiﬁcantly diﬀerent. In addition, BT, RR, and aO2Sat changes one hour before, during, and one hour after APs were also signiﬁcantly diﬀerent (P < 0.05). More decrease in SBP and DBP were observed between during and one hour after APs compare with PCA. Conclusions: BTandhemodynamicparameters,especiallySBPandDBPchanges,werehigherinAPscomparedwithPCA.Knowledge regardingtheeﬀectsof APsonBTandhemodynamicparameterswillbeof beneﬁttotheICUstaﬀintermsof qualityof careinfebrile patients. TheICUstaﬀshouldbeproactiveinensuringthattheyhaveanevidence-basedmanagementplanforthepreventionofHIAs and management of fever that conforms to the relevant clinical guidelines and integrates multidisciplinary care.
The Importance of Blocking and Multiplicity/Diversity

Although blocking itself is not time-invariant, a single input and single output (SISO) linear timeinvariant system after blocking becomes and is equivalent to a multi-input and multi-output (MIMO) system whose system function matrix is pseudo-circulant [3]. This plays an important role in vector OFDM systems with single transmit antenna [4] that can achieve signal space diversity and/or multipath diversity for channels with Doppler and/or time spreads.
OPA 1 deficiency promotes secretion of FGF 21 from muscle that prevents obesity and insulin resistance

Mitochondrial dynamics is a conserved process by which mitochondria undergo repeated cycles of fusion and fission, leading to exchange of mitochondrial genetic content, ions, metabolites, and proteins. Here, we examine the role of the mitochondrial fusion protein optic atrophy 1 (OPA 1 ) in differentiated skeletal muscle by reducing OPA 1 gene expression in an inducible manner. OPA 1 deficiency in young mice results in non-lethal progressive mitochondrial dysfunction and loss of muscle mass. Mutant mice are resistant to age- and diet-induced weight gain and insulin resistance, by mechanisms that involve activation of ER stress and secretion of fibroblast growth factor 21 (FGF 21 ) from skeletal muscle, resulting in increased metabolic rates and improved whole-body insulin sensitivity. OPA 1 -elicited mitochondrial dysfunction activates an integrated stress response that locally induces muscle atrophy, but via secretion of FGF 21 acts distally to modulate whole-body metabolism.
Voxfield: Non-Projective Signed Distance Fields for Online Planning and 3D Reconstruction

Creating accurate maps of complex, unknown environments is of utmost importance for truly autonomous navigation robot. However, building these maps online is far from trivial, especially when dealing with large amounts of raw sensor readings on a computation and energy constrained mobile system, such as a small drone. While numerous approaches tackling this problem have emerged in recent years, the mapping accuracy is often sacrificed as systematic approximation errors are tolerated for efficiency's sake. Motivated by these challenges, we propose Voxfield, a mapping framework that can generate maps online with higher accuracy and lower computational burden than the state of the art. Built upon the novel formulation of non-projective truncated signed distance fields (TSDFs), our approach produces more accurate and complete maps, suitable for surface reconstruction. Additionally, it enables efficient generation of Euclidean signed distance fields (ESDFs), useful e.g., for path planning, that does not suffer from typical approximation errors. Through a series of experiments with public datasets, both real-world and synthetic, we demonstrate that our method beats the state of the art in map coverage, accuracy and computational time. Moreover, we show that Voxfield can be utilized as a back-end in recent multi-resolution mapping frameworks, producing high quality maps even in large-scale experiments. Finally, we validate our method by running it onboard a quadrotor, showing it can generate accurate ESDF maps usable for real-time path planning and obstacle avoidance.
Reproducibility Report for ACM SIGMOD 2021 Paper: “Maximizing Persistent Memory Bandwidth Utilization for OLAP Workloads”

The paper systematically evaluates Intel’s Optane DIMMs as the first commercially available PMEM and provides 7 best practices for its use in OLAP workloads. The paper shows that PMEM is a suitable alternative to expensive and capacity-limited DRAM for OLAP workloads. The reproducibility fulfills this objective since it produces results similar to the paper results.
Robust SLAM and Path Planning under Uncertainty for Autonomous Driving

This thesis proposes solutions to two major problems (highlighted) faced when developing a selfdriving car using traditional modular approaches. That is to sense, percieve, localize/map, predict and plan/control. The first one is doing real-time Simultaneous Localization and Mapping SLAM at low sampling rates and/or at high linear or angular velocities. The keynote of the work showcases SROM’s ability to maintain localization at low sampling rates or at high linear or angular velocities where most popular LiDAR-based localization approaches get degraded fast. We also demonstrate SROM to be computationally efficient and capable of handling high-speed maneuvers. It also achieves low drifts without the need for any other sensors like IMU and/or GPS. Our method has a two-layer structure wherein first, an approximate estimate of the rotation angle and translation parameters are calculated using a Phase Only Correlation (POC) method. Next, we use this estimate as an initialization for a point-to-plane ICP algorithm to obtain fine matching and registration. Another key feature of the proposed algorithm is the removal of dynamic objects before matching the scans. This improves the performance of our system as the dynamic objects can corrupt the matching scheme and derail localization. Our SLAM system can build reliable maps at the same time generating high-quality odometry. We exhaustively evaluated the proposed method in many challenging highways/country/urban sequences from the KITTI dataset and the results demonstrate better accuracy in comparisons to other state-of-the-art methods with reduced computational expense aiding in real-time realizations. We have also integrated our SROM system with our in-house autonomous vehicle and compared it with the state-of-the-art methods like LOAM and LeGO-LOAM. The second one is the problem of an agent/robot with non-holonomic kinematics avoiding dynamic and static obstacles whose state and velocity noise are non-parametric. Additionally, there may be bounds/constraints on the configurational space of the robot in the form of lane/corridor boundaries. In this work we consider the problem of an agent/robot with non-holonomic kinematics avoiding dynamic and static obstacles. Additionally there may be bounds/constraints on the configurational space of the robot in the form of lane/corridor boundaries. The robot’s state and velocity noise, the lanes, the obstacles, and the robot’s control noise are modelled as non-parametric distributions as Gaussian assumptions of noise models are violated in real-world scenarios. Under these assumptions, we formulate a robust MPC that samples robotic controls effectively in a manner that aligns the robot to the goal state while avoiding obstacles and staying within the lane bounds under the duress of such non-parametric noise. In
ATTENTION PREDICTS FAMILIARITY STRENGTH 1 The spatial distribution of attention predicts familiarity strength during encoding and retrieval

The memories we form are determined by what we attend to, and conversely, what we attend to is influenced by our memory for past experiences. Although we know that shifts of attention via eye movements are related to memory during encoding and retrieval, the role of specific memory processes in this relationship is unclear. There is evidence that attention may be especially important for some forms of memory (i.e., conscious recollection), and less so for others (i.e., familiarity-based recognition and unconscious influences of memory), but results are conflicting with respect to both the memory processes and eye movement patterns involved. To address this, we used a confidence-based method of isolating eye movement indices of spatial attention that are related to different memory processes (i.e., recollection, familiarity strength, and unconscious memory) during encoding and retrieval of real-world scenes. We also developed a new method of measuring the dispersion of eye movements, which proved to be more sensitive to memory processing than previously used measures. Specifically, in two studies, we found that familiarity strength—that is, changes in subjective reports of memory confidence—increased with i) more dispersed patterns of viewing during encoding, ii) less dispersed viewing during retrieval, and iii) greater overlap in regions viewed between encoding and retrieval (i.e., resampling). Recollection was also related to these eye movements in a similar manner, though the associations with recollection were less consistent across experiments. Furthermore, we found no evidence for effects related to unconscious influences of memory. These findings indicate that attentional processes during viewing may not preferentially relate to recollection, and that the spatial distribution of eye movements is directly related to familiarity-based memory during encoding
The incidence of wound complications following primary repair of obstetric anal sphincter injury: a systematic review and meta-analysis

OBJECTIVE: We aimed to systematically determine the incidences of wound infection and dehiscence after primary obstetric anal sphincter incidences after primary obstetric anal sphincter injury repair. The incidence estimates from this review will be useful for clinicians when counseling women with obstetric anal sphincter injury and when consenting them for primary surgical repair.
OPTH_A_305306 1819..1825

1Department of Ophthalmology, Faculty of Medicine, Benha University, Benha, Egypt; 2Department of Ophthalmology, Mataria Teaching Hospital, Mataria, Egypt Purpose: To describe the changes in the central corneal thickness (CCT), endothelial cell count (ECC), intraocular lens (IOL) position, and refractive error 1 and 3 months after NdYAG laser posterior capsulotomy (YAG-PC) for posterior capsular opacification (PCO) in pseudophakic eyes with Fuchs’ endothelial cell dystrophy (FECD). Design: Prospective case-control. Participants: Fifty pseudophakic eyes of 50 patients with visually significant PCO (25 with healthy corneas, and 25 with FECD grade 1 and 2). Methods: FECD was clinically graded, and only patients without clinically evident corneal edema were included in the study (grade 1 and 2). All patients received YAG-PC and were followed up after 1 and 3 months. Best-corrected visual acuity, refractive errors, ACD, CCT, and ECC were assessed and compared between the pre-laser values and that of the 2 follow-up visits. Results: In both groups, BCVA showed significant improvement (P<0.05). Compared to healthy controls, a significant hyperopic shift was observed in the FECD eyes at the 2 followup visits (P=0.027, and 0.019). A significant backward movement of the IOL was observed in the FECD eyes in the 2 follow-up visits (P=0.043, and 0.02). There was a significant correlation between the hyperopic shift in the FECD eyes and the ACD deepening during the 1st month (R= −0.6, P=0.001) and 3rd month (R= −0.4, P=0.04). Significant drop in the ECC was noted in both groups but without significant increase in the CCT. Conclusion: Compared to controls, a hyperopic shift and backward movement of the IOL were observed in the FECD eyes after YAG-PC. No significant corneal thickening was found in both groups despite the significant drop in the ECC. Future studies are required to confirm our results and monitor the long-term changes after YAG-PC in FECD.
Title: A Cyclic Electrochemical Strategy to Produce Acetylene from CO 2 , CH 4 , or Alternative Carbon Sources

Electrochemical transformation of potent greenhouse gases such as CO 2 and CH 4 to produce useful carbon-based products is a highly desirable sustainability goal. However, selectivity challenges remain in aqueous electrochemical processes as selective CO 2 reduction to desired products is difficult and electrochemical CH 4 oxidation often proceeds at very low rates. The formation of C-C coupled products in these fields is particularly desirable as this provides a path for the production of high-value fuels and chemicals. We have developed a cyclic electrochemical strategy which can produce acetylene, a C-C coupled product, from such carbon sources and water, with favorable current density and selectivity. This strategy is exemplified with a lithium-mediated cycle: an active Li 0 surface is electrochemically generated from LiOH, the newly formed Li 0 reacts with a carbon source to form Li 2 C 2 , and Li 2 C 2 is hydrolyzed to form acetylene and regenerate LiOH. We demonstrate this process primarily using CO 2 gas, achieving a current efficiency of 15% to acetylene (which represents 82% of the maximum based on stoichiometric production of oxygenated byproducts, e.g. LiCO 3 and/or Li 2 O), as verified by gas chromatography and Fourier transform infrared radiation studies. We also explore CH 4 , CO, and C as alternative precursors in the acetylene synthesis. Notably, the use of graphitic carbon at higher temperatures resulted in over 55% current efficiency to acetylene, with opportunity for further optimization. Importantly, this cycling method avoids the formation of common side products observed during aqueous electrochemical CO 2 and CH 4 redox reactions, such as H 2 , CO, HCO 2- , or CO 2 . Theoretical considerations elucidate the feasibility and general applicability of this cycle and the process steps have been characterized with specific electrochemical and materials chemistry techniques. The continued development of this strategy may lead to a viable route for the sustainable production of C-C coupled carbon fuels and chemicals.
Pseudomonas syringae effector AvrE localizes to the host plasma membrane and down- 13 regulates the expression of the NDR/HIN1-like 13 gene required for antibacterial immunity 14 in Arabidopsis 1 15

Summary: A major bacterial virulence protein is found to be targeted to plant plasma and its action is linked to down-regulation of the expression of an Arabidopsis gene ABSTRACT Many bacterial pathogens of plants and animals deliver effector proteins into host cells to 49 promote infection. Elucidation of how pathogen effector proteins function not only is critical for 50 understanding bacterial pathogenesis, but also provides a useful tool in discovering the functions 51 of host genes. In this study, we characterized the Pseudomonas syringae pv. 52 effector protein AvrE, the founding member of a widely distributed, yet functionally enigmatic, 53 bacterial effector family. We show that AvrE is localized in the plasma membrane (PM) and PM- 54 associated vesicle-like structures in the plant cell. AvrE contains two physically interacting 55 domains, and the N-terminal portion contains a PM-localization signal. Genome-wide microarray 56 analysis indicates that AvrE, as well as a functionally-redundant effector HopM1, down- 57 regulates the expression of the NDR1/HIN1-Like 13 gene in Arabidopsis. Mutational analysis 58 shows that NHL13 is required for plant immunity, as the nhl13 mutant plant displayed enhanced 59 disease susceptibility. Our results defined the action site of one of the most important bacterial 60 virulence proteins in plants and the anti-bacterial immunity function of the NHL13 gene. 61 carotovorum elicits plant cell death DspE/F but the P. carotovorum DspE does not suppress callose or induce expression of plant genes early in plant-microbe