Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Phrase Alignments in Parallel Corpus Using Bootstrapping Approach

Word choice and word order problems are considered as fundamental barriers in statistical machine translation (SMT). These barriers are more pronounced in deficiencies of training corpus. Phrase-Based SMT has advantages in word choice and local word ordering process; so phrase alignment is effective in improving translation quality. In this paper, an approach for automatic alignment is proposed in which boosts up the machine translation quality. Since, alignment problem is more problematic with lack of training data, so we make corpus of phrase alignment with high precision. For this purpose, a novel phrase alignment approach in a bootstrapping manner is proposed. By bootstrapping on alignment model via using a number of features, the accuracy of the phrase table is improved iteratively. These features are based on the phrase table extracted from Moses, IBM Model 3 alignment probabilities, Google translator and fertility of candidates. Our experiments on English-Persian translation show an improvement about 4.17 BLEU points over the PB-SMT as baseline system.
Language Model Adaptation Based on Topic Probability of Latent Dirichlet Allocation

Two new methods are proposed for an unsupervised adaptation of a language model (LM) with a single sentence for automatic transcription tasks. At the training phase, training documents are clustered by a method known as Latent Dirichlet allocation (LDA), and then a domain‐specific LM is trained for each cluster. At the test phase, an adapted LM is presented as a linear mixture of the now trained domain‐specific LMs. Unlike previous adaptation methods, the proposed methods fully utilize a trained LDA model for the estimation of weight values, which are then to be assigned to the now trained domain‐specific LMs; therefore, the clustering and weight‐estimation algorithms of the trained LDA model are reliable. For the continuous speech recognition benchmark tests, the proposed methods outperform other unsupervised LM adaptation methods based on latent semantic analysis, non‐negative matrix factorization, and LDA with n‐gram counting.
Reminiscences of Whetstone ALGOL

These reminiscences centre on the implementation, b y Lawford Russell and myself, of an ALGOL 60 compiler for the English Electric KDF9 Computer in the early 1960s. However details are also given of preceding work on so-called "automatic programming", and of other contemporary ALGOL compi ler projects. © 2010 University of Newcastle upon Tyne. Printed and published by the University of Newcastl e upon Tyne, Computing Science, Claremont Tower, Claremont Road, Newcastle upon Tyne, NE1 7RU, England. Bibliographical details
IQ: A Whole-System Instrumentation Framework for Post Analysis

Analyzing operating systems is a hard problem. Instrumentation can be used to insert analysis code into executions of an operating system. IQ is a dynamic instrumentation framework for instrumenting the whole system. It records executions of an operating system running in a virtual machine and decouples analysis from executions of the operating system. IQ tools can do heavyweight analysis during replays of executions and refine the analysis through continuous replay of the same execution. IQ is a fine granularity framework that provides an API appropriate to instrument operating systems. To our best knowledge, IQ is the first post-analysis framework for instrumenting the whole system.
A Robot Component for the Neural Robotic System

Recent work in the design of robotic control systems has focused on the development of modular control architectures – architectures that break system functionality into smaller, more manageable tasks – to make systems more flexible, scalable and extensible. One such architecture currently under development is the Neural Robotic System (NRS) that aims to provide a platform on which a variety of experiments in mobile robotics and neuroethology can be performed. This report documents the development of a new software component that provides an interface for the control of real-world robots through NRS. A detailed discussion of the design, implementation and functionality of this component is given and the issues faced in its development. The component is used in the design of simple control networks and data collected on the resultant behaviour is used to give an assessment of its performance and the usability of NRS as a robotics research tool.
A system for scalable 3D visualization and editing of connectomic data

The new field of connectomics is using technological advances in microscopy and neural computation to form a detailed understanding of structure and connectivity of neurons. Using the vast amounts of imagery generated by light and electron microscopes, connectomic analysis segments the image data to define 3D regions, forming neural-networks called connectomes. Yet as the dimensions of these volumes grow from hundreds to thousands of pixels or more, connectomics is pushing the computational limits of what can be interactively displayed and manipulated in a 3D environment. The computational cost of rendering in 3D is compounded by the vast size and number of segmented regions that can be formed from segmentation analysis. As a result, most neural data sets are too large and complex to be handled by conventional hardware using standard rendering techniques. This thesis describes a scalable system for visualizing large connectomic data using multiple resolution meshes for performance while providing focused voxel rendering when editing for precision. After pre-processing a given set of data, users of the system are able to visualize neural data in real-time while having the ability to make detailed adjustments at the single voxel scale. The design and implementation of the system are discussed and evaluated. Thesis Supervisor: H. Sebastian Seung Title: Associate Professor
The Prevalence and Psychological Symptoms of Nomophobia among University Students

T his empirical study investigates the prevalence and symptoms of Nomophobia among university students in Saudi Arabia. An anonymous and self-reported survey was distributed from Feb 2015 to June 2015. Out of around 1800 potential candidates, 335 undergraduate students comprised the study sample. Scores were calculated to assess demographic data and patterns of Smartphone use in terms of duration, frequency, context and purpose. Depression, Anxiety and Stress Scales (DASS) was used to assess the psychological status of the participants, and Nomophobia Questionnaire (NMP-Q) was used to assess the prevalence of Nomophobia dimensions. Statistical analysis and tests were used to identify associations among the study variables and to test the hypotheses. The findings showed that there was a high level of mobile phone involvement, high levels of the Nomophobia dimensions; females were significantly more involved than males with a mean of 3.3 (SD = 0.93) versus 2.8 (SD = 1.05) with a (t = 3.54, p-value < 0.001). The findings also showed a “Mild” level of depression with average score was 8.55 (Z = 0.83) (SD = 3.41, ranging from 1 to 17), a “Normal” level of anxiety with average score was 5.96 (Z = -0.03) (SD = 2.9, ranging from 0 to 12), and a “Normal” level of stress with average score was 6.55 (Z = -1.90) (SD = 4.8, ranging from 0 to 18). Based on the findings, it can be concluded that the duration of use was significant with both mobile phone involvement and psychological health factors. The psychological Health factors using DASS are all correlated significantly with Mobile phone involvement factors. The findings suggest that they way a person interacts with their Smart-device, mainly duration of use, can predict the pathological fear and psychological symptoms caused by modern digital and virtual means.
Measurement-based parameter adaptation of wideband spatial mobile radio channel models

A prerequisite for the performance analysis and optimization of future mobile radio systems applying directional diversity or adaptive array techniques is the availability of realistic channel models which explicitly take into account the spatially inhomogeneous distribution of partial waves. Unfortunately, recent proposals for such spatial channel models based on a statistical approach have not yet been verified to be realistic. Moreover, the behaviour of said models is determined by more or less arbitrarily choosing the model parameters. Wideband measurements of channel impulse responses which include unambiguous information about the directions-of-arrival in the azimuth are used to adapt parameters of a statistical spatial channel model. Results for the spectral efficiency of the uplink in a joint detection CDMA mobile radio system using directional diversity are presented which were derived by simulations based on such a parameterized spatial channel model.
CHEMREAD – A CHEMICAL INFORMANT

Recent years have seen explosions in the amount of chemical information are freely accessible in the databases. While these databases has a straightforward web-based user interface for searching the chemical and it is quite unlimited in its facilities where the analysts and inconvenient to process the accessed data CHEMREAD tool constructs information retrieval system that help analysts to access the chemical information which could be a applicable source for validating a compound in the field of Drug Discovery.
Comparative Effects of Angiotensin-Converting Enzyme Inhibitors and Angiotensin Receptor Blockers on Response to a Physical Activity Intervention in Older Adults: Results From the Lifestyle Interventions and Independence for Elders Study

Background: Angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitors (ACEis) and angiotensin receptor blockers (ARBs) may protect against aging-related decline. This study directly compared ACEis and ARBs on associations with risk of mobility disability in older adults when combined with a physical activity intervention. Methods: This was a secondary analysis of the Lifestyle Interventions and Independence for Elders (LIFE) trial. Participants aged 70–89 years were randomized to a physical activity or health education intervention. Outcomes included incident and persistent major mobility disability, injurious falls, short physical performance battery, and gait speed. For this analysis, only participants who reported ACEi or ARB use at baseline were included. Baseline differences between ACEi and ARB groups were adjusted for using inverse probability of treatment weights. Weighted Cox proportional hazard models and analysis of covariance models were used to evaluate the independent effects of medications and interaction effects with the intervention on each outcome. Results: Of 1,635 participants in the Lifestyle Interventions and Independence for Elders study, 796 used either an ACEi (496, 62.3%) or ARB (300, 37.7%). Compared with ACEi users, ARB users had 28% lower risk (hazard ratio [HR] = 0.72 [0.60–0.85]) of incident major mobility disability and 35% (HR = 0.65 [0.52–0.82]) lower risk of persistent major mobility disability whereas no interaction between medication use and intervention was observed. Risk of injurious falls and changes in short physical performance battery or gait speed were not different between ARB and ACEi users. Conclusions: These results suggest that ARBs may protect from major mobility disability by other mechanisms than improving physical performance. effects both on different measures of needed to fully understand medication of a sedentary older or baseline The results of this study
Metabolism prepartum and reproductive responses postpartum of Nellore cows supplemented in different periods of gestation

The purpose of this study was to determine the effect of cow’s grazing supplementation during pregnancy on the concentration of metabolites in blood and its relation with uterine involution and postpartum fertility. Twenty-seven Nellore cows were divided into three groups (n=9 for each group) as follows: UNS, unsupplemented during gestation; MID, supplemented from the 30 to 180-day of gestation; LATE, supplemented from the 181 to 281-day of gestation. Blood samples to determine the concentrations of NEFA, BHBA (β-hydroxybutyrate) and the glucose was performed on days 30, 105, 180, 230 and 281 of gestation. Fixed-time artificial insemination (FTAI) was performed in all matrices at forty-five days postpartum. Lower NEFA and BHBA concentrations it was observed in the MID and LATE group at 180 and 281 days of gestation respectively for each treatment. A higher glucose concentration was observed at 180 and 281 days of gestation for MID and LATE treatment, respectively. There were no differences in uterine involution and percentage of gestation between treatments. Pre-partum supplementation improves energy balance without altering uterine involution and postpartum fertility.
A NOVEL METHOD TO SEARCH INFORMATION THROUGH MULTI AGENT SEARCH AND RETRIEVE OPERATION USING CONTENT AND CONTEXT BASED SEARCH

Searching is a tiring job due to enormous increase in online database and growth in internet usage. Searching for information or files may be in personal computers or in internet. Searching in any manner consumes time and need an extra effort of filtering the results, as it provides relevant and irrelevant results. The aim of the paper is to provide the user a novel method to search files and information in both personal computers and internet. Our system describes a new searching mechanism which accepts two texts input, processes it according to the domain chosen, desktop search or internet search and provides relevant result. The processing of input includes context based search and content based search using indexing and multi-agents. Content based search is performed on Hadoop map reduce framework to increase the performance.
Precision manipulations using a low-dimensional haptic interface

When interacting with physical objects using their own hands, humans display effortless dexterity. It remains a non-intuitive task, however, to specify the motion of a virtual character’s hand or of a robotic manipulator. Creating these motions generally requires animation expertise or extensive periods of offline motion capture. This thesis presents a real-time, adaptive animation interface, specifically designed around haptic (i.e., touch) feedback, for creating precision manipulations of virtual objects. Using this interface, an animator controls an abstract grasper trajectory while the full hand pose is automatically shaped by compliant scene interactions and proactive adaptation. Haptic feedback enables intuitive control by mapping interaction forces from the full animated hand back to the reduced animator feedback space, invoking the same sensorimotor control systems utilized in natural precision manipulations. We provide an approach for online, adaptive shaping of the animated manipulator using our interface based on prior interactions, resulting in more functional and appealing motions. In a user study with nonexpert participants, we tested the effectiveness of haptic feedback and proactive adaptation of grasp shaping. Comparing the quality of motions produced with and without force rendering, haptic feedback was shown to be critical for efficiently communicating contact forces and dynamic events to the user. The effects of proactive shaping, though inarguably beneficial to visual quality, resulted in mixed behavior for our grasp quality metrics.
Broad-spectrum antibiotics gave no clinical benefit and more adverse effects than narrow-spectrum antibiotics in treating acute respiratory tract infections in US children

Commentary on : Gerber JS, Ross RK, Bryan M, et al . Association of Broad- vs Narrow-Spectrum Antibiotics With Treatment Failure, Adverse Events, and Quality of Life in Children With Acute Respiratory Tract Infections. JAMA. 2017 Dec 19;318:2325–2336. Antimicrobial prescribing is associated with higher levels of resistance; a linear trend by nation has been presented.1 Large variations in antimicrobial prescribing between countries have been demonstrated, the USA is in line with top EU countries like Greece and France, using three times more per inhabitant than the Nordic countries. Respiratory tract infections (RTIs) in primary care are frequently viral, and a large proportion of bacterial infections such as otitis media, sinusitis and sore throat have little benefit from antibiotic treatment. Another important focus for avoiding increased antimicrobial resistance is to reduce the proportion of broad-spectrum antibiotics prescribed. Internationally most focus is on cephalosporins, macrolides and quinolones …
Transvenous Phrenic Nerve Stimulation - A Novel Therapy for Central Sleep Apnoea in Heart Failure

apnea. 21 As a consequence, relative hypoxemia and recurrent hypercapnea occur. 15 The fluctuations in PaCO 2 levels around the apnea threshold create a continuous cycle of hyperventilation and apnea periods. Clinically, this cycle manifests as Cheyne-Stokes breathing. 22 Cheyne-Stokes breathing can occur at any time and is not limited to periods of sleep. However, the effect of increased left-sided filling pressures on breathing regulation is more pronounced in the recumbent position, which may help explain the higher frequency of breathing disturbances at night. 23 Furthermore, HF is associated with a reduced ability of central chemoreceptors to appropriately adjust for changes in PaCO 2 levels, leading to greater swings in levels that increasingly cross the apnea threshold. 24 These tendencies give rise to the belief that CSA may be under-recognized and underdiagnosed in the HF population. 10 Abstract Central sleep apnea (CSA) is a prominent co-morbidity in heart failure (HF) resulting from dysregulated neurological responses to abnormal carbon dioxide levels. The presence of CSA in HF has been linked with deleterious physiological changes and is associated with increased mortality, yet treatment options for CSA in HF are currently lacking. This article briefly reviews the mechanisms of CSA in HF as well as the available evidence on present therapies, and describes phrenic nerve stimulation as a potential novel therapeutic approach.
Screening for head and neck second primary tumors in patients with esophageal squamous cell cancer: A systematic review and meta-analysis

Background Esophageal squamous cell carcinomas (ESCCs) are often accompanied by head and neck second primary tumors (HNSPTs). The prognosis of patients with an additional HNSPT is worse compared with patients with only ESCC. Therefore, early detection of HNSPTs may improve the overall outcome of patients with ESCC. The purpose of this study was to investigate the yield of endoscopic screening for HNSPTs in patients with primary ESCC. Methods We conducted a systematic literature search of all available databases. Studies were included if ESCC patients were endoscopically screened for HNSPT. The primary outcome was the pooled prevalence of HNSPTs. Results Twelve studies, all performed in Japan, were included in this systematic review with a total of 6483 patients. The pooled prevalence of HNSPTs was 6.7% (95% confidence interval: 4.9–8.4). The overall heterogeneity was high across the studies (I2 = 89.0%, p < 0.001). Most HNSPTs were low stage (85.3%) and located in the hypopharynx (60.3%). The proportion of synchronous (48.2%) and metachronous (51.8%) HNSPTs was comparable. Conclusion Based on our results, HNSPT screening could be considered in patients with primary ESCC. All studies were performed in Japan; it is therefore not clear whether this consideration applies to the Western world.
Circulating Levels of Osteopontin in Patients With Psoriasis: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis

Background: Both Th1 and Th17 have been proposed to be pathogenically essential in psoriasis. Osteopontin (OPN) is known to enhance Th1 responses, inhibit Th2 ones, and take part in the modulation of Th17 cell lineage. Due to its impact on Th1/Th17 immune responses, several reports have suggested that OPN may be of pathogenic importance in psoriasis. Our objective was to review the literature for studies that have assessed the circulating levels of OPN in psoriatic cases and controls and to meta-analyze the evidence obtainable. Methods: Search was performed in PubMed, Central, and Embase. Eligible were studies that have assessed OPN concentrations in patients with psoriasis and a group of reference. Results: Patients with psoriasis had increased OPN concentrations compared with controls (random-effects model, standardized mean difference: 1.58 ng/mL, 95% confidence interval: 0.90-2.26; P < .0001]). Heterogeneity among studies was high (I2: 92.2%; P < .0001). The meta-regression analysis showed that the study quality (RTI score) reduced heterogeneity (I2: 85.2%; P < .005), but not age, body mass index (BMI), Psoriasis Area Severity Index, or matching for BMI. Conclusions: This meta-analysis provided evidence that OPN is involved in the pathogenesis of psoriasis, enlarging the list of cytokines able to stimulate the inflammatory response in this disease.
Storage system design for non-volatile byte-addressable memory using consistent and durable data structures

The predicted shift to low cost, non-volatile, byte-addressable memory (e.g., Phase Change Memory and Memristor), the growth of “big data”, and the subsequent emergence of frameworks such as memcached and NoSQL systems require us to rethink the design of storage systems. Today, the predominant method available to application programmers for obtaining persistence of data is through the file interface which provides access to a filesystem, which in turn uses the block layer to provide access to hard disk drives or solid state disks. With the advent of non-volatile byte-addressable memory (NVBM), buffered I/O systems designed primarily for hard disks are no longer the most efficient design for storage. We show that the overheads imposed by system calls, the file interface, and the block device layer can make NVBM access up to 266 times slower compared to directly performing loads and stores. With performance characteristics closer to DRAM, NVBM demands software designs that resemble common heap data structures rather than current systems that serialize data via the file interface. To derive the maximum performance, we propose the use of single-level data stores where no distinction is made between a volatile and a persistent copy of data. For these systems, we present Consistent and Durable Data Structures (CDDSs) that, on current hardware, allows programmers to safely exploit the low-latency and non-volatile aspects of new memory technologies. CDDSs use versioning to allow atomic updates without requiring logging. The same versioning scheme also enables rollback for failure recovery. When compared to a memory-backed Berkeley DB B-Tree, our prototypebased results show that a CDDS B-Tree can increase put and get throughput by 74% and 138%. Tembo, a CDDS B-Tree enabled distributed Key-Value system, has up to 250%–286% higher throughput than Cassandra, a two-level data store.
Confronting Surprise

Surprise takes many forms, all tending to disrupt plans and planning systems. Reliance by decision makers on formal analytic methodologies can increase susceptibility to surprise as such methods commonly use available information to develop single-point forecasts or probability distributions of future events. In doing so, traditional analyses divert attention from information potentially important to understanding and planning for effects of surprise. The authors propose employing computer-assisted reasoning methods in conjunction with simulation models to create large ensembles of plausible future scenarios. This framework supports a robust adaptive planning (RAP) approach to reasoning under the conditions of complexity and deep uncertainty that normally defeat analytic approaches. The authors demonstrate, using the example of planning for long-term global sustainability, how RAP methods may offer greater insight into the vulnerabilities inherent in several types of surprises and enhance decision makers’ ability to construct strategies that will mitigate or minimize the effects of surprise.