Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Two Decades of Unsupervised POS tagging---How Far Have We Come?

Part-of-speech (POS) induction is one of the most popular tasks in research on unsupervised NLP. Many different methods have been proposed, yet comparisons are difficult to make since there is little consensus on evaluation framework, and many papers evaluate against only one or two competitor systems. Here we evaluate seven different POS induction systems spanning nearly 20 years of work, using a variety of measures. We show that some of the oldest (and simplest) systems stand up surprisingly well against more recent approaches. Since most of these systems were developed and tested using data from the WSJ corpus, we compare their generalization abilities by testing on both WSJ and the multilingual Multext-East corpus. Finally, we introduce the idea of evaluating systems based on their ability to produce cluster prototypes that are useful as input to a prototype-driven learner. In most cases, the prototype-driven learner outperforms the unsupervised system used to initialize it, yielding state-of-the-art results on WSJ and improvements on nonEnglish corpora.
Providing bandwidth guarantees to internetwork traffic in ATM networks

We study the performance of three switch implementations for the guaranteed frame rate (GFR) service category when used to provide a LAN interconnection service with a minimum guaranteed bandwidth. Our simulations show that the double-EPD implementation is sensitive to the maximum burst size (MBS) parameter of the GFR traffic contract, while an implementation based on weighted fair buffer allocation provides almost the same performance as a more complex implementation with per-VC accounting and scheduling. We also evaluate the performance of the ERICA+ algorithm with the ABR service category. Our simulations do not show a performance advantage for ERICA+ over the GFR implementations when providing a LAN interconnection service with a minimum guaranteed bandwidth.
A New Strategy of Direct Access for Speaker Identification System Based on Classification

In this paper, we present a new direct access strategy for speaker identification system. DAMClass is a method for direct access strategy that speeds up the identification process without decreasing the identification rate drastically. This proposed method uses speaker classification strategy based on human voice’s original characteristics, such as pitch, flatness, brightness, and roll off. DAMClass decomposes available dataset into smaller sub-datasets in the form of classes or buckets based on the similarity of speaker’s original characteristics. DAMClass builds speaker dataset index based on range-based indexing of direct access facility and uses Nearest Neighbor Search, Range-Based Searching, and Multiclass-SVM Mapping as its access method. Experiments show that the direct access strategy with Multiclass-SVM algorithm outperforms the indexing accuracy of Range-Based Indexing and Nearest Neighbor for one to nine percent. DAMClass is shown to speed up the identification process 16 times faster than sequential access method with 91.05% indexing accuracy.
The Calibration of Kinect Camera Based on ARtoolkit

To deal with mutual occlusion of the virtual and real objects in the augmented reality scene, their depth values should be compared by using ARtoolkit and Kinect application programming interfaces (APIs). To improve the accuracy of the experiment, it has given up the existing default camera parameters file in ARtoolkit, and calibrated the Kinect camera to generate its own parameters data file. And different from the existing Kinect camera calibration methods, it abandoned the method of using the open NI SDK or extra high definition color camera as an intermediate bridge. Experimental results show this method has achieved a high accuracy and the validity by verifying in ARtoolkit.
Austria and Other Margins: Reading Culture

In this book Katherine Arens offers a series of case studies that redefine what 'reading culture' can mean in literary and cultural studies. The first part traces the ways in which authors borrow and rewrite literary traditions across national lines, in order to address problems in their own cultures' histories. In the second set of essays, Professor Arens illustrates how literature can cross other kinds of cultural boundaries, especially those between disciplines; for example, plotting a story as if it were on a stage allows Grillparzer to tell two simultaneous stories at odds with each other; and two artists interested in large-group art (Christo and Judy Chicago) manipulate their images as modernists to achieve different careers.
Brain-computer interface for the communication of acute patients: a feasibility study and a randomized controlled trial comparing performance with healthy participants and a traditional assistive device

AbstractThis study presents the outcome of the 5-year-long French national project aiming at the development and evaluation of an effective brain-computer interface (BCI) prototype for the communication of patients with acute motor disabilities. It presents results from two clinical studies: a clinical feasibility study carried out partly in the intensive care unit (ICU) and the clinical evaluation of an innovative BCI prototype. In this second study the BCI performance of patients was compared to that of healthy volunteers and benchmarked against a traditional assistive technology (scanning device). Altogether, 15 of 22 patients could control the BCI system with an accuracy significantly above the chance level. The bit-rate of the traditional assistive technology proved superior, even though an equivalent bit-rate could be achieved using personalized parameters for the BCI. Fatigue was found to be the primary limitation factor, which was particularly true for patients and during the use of the BCI. A cla.
Recommendation for Block Cipher Modes of Operation: Three Variants of Ciphertext Stealing for CBC Mode

(NIST) promotes the U.S. economy and public welfare by providing technical leadership for the Nation's measurement and standards infrastructure. ITL develops tests, test methods, reference data, proof of concept implementations, and technical analyses to advance the development and productive use of information technology. ITL's responsibilities include the development of technical, physical, administrative, and management standards and guidelines for the cost-effective security and privacy of sensitive unclassified information in Federal computer systems. This Special Publication 800-series reports on ITL's research, guidance, and outreach efforts in computer security, and its collaborative activities with industry, government, and academic organizations. Certain commercial entities, equipment, or materials may be identified in this document in order to describe an experimental procedure or concept adequately. Such identification is not intended to imply recommendation or endorsement by the National Institute of Standards and Technology, nor is it intended to imply that the entities, materials, or equipment are necessarily the best available for the purpose.
Rapid development, real-world deployment, and evaluation of projected augmented reality applications

Current interactive projected augmented reality systems are not designed to support rapid development and deployment of applications beyond the confines of research labs. I developed a series of self-contained interactive projector-sensor systems (collectively LuminAR devices) and a web-based software development framework. The design goal of this research work was to advance the state of the art of projected AR interfaces and to explore how they can manifest in day-to-day objects. This novel, tightly integrated approach allows developers who are not versed in computer graphics, vision algorithms, and augmented reality techniques to implement projected AR applications rapidly. In this work, I review several real-world uses of the system for retail presentation, desktop interaction and collaboration applications, manufacturing, and education. The work is evaluated through extensive use of the hardware and software by developers as well as two user studies that specifically explored applications for manufacturing and education. The evaluation methodology focused both on basic interaction and system usability as well as the implications of using augmented interfaces in the specific application domains of education and manufacturing. I also discuss the results of the first large-scale user studies of projected augmented reality rapid application development. Finally, I provide a set of design principles for projected augmented reality applications, and recommendations concerning how to deploy such applications in the real world. This dissertation work was partially supported by research grants from Intel, Steelcase and Pearson. Dissertation Supervisor Pattie Maes Professor of Media Arts and Sciences Program in Media Arts and Sciences Rapid Development, Real-World Deployment, and Evaluation of Projected Augmented Reality Applications
Outcome Study in Liposuction Breast Reduction

Lipoplasty breast reduction is an effective method of treating macromastia in carefully selected patients, as the authors’ experience has demonstrated. In general, the more the patient perceives her reduction as reconstructive rather than cosmetic, the more satisfied she will be. Lipoplasty alone will give many patients a gratifying decrease in the weight of their breasts; they will have a shorter operation (likely outpatient), less pain, less impairment of sensation or function (lactation), less scarring, and faster recovery. For the patient with large breasts and significant ptosis, however, and who wishes a more predictable aesthetic outcome in shape, size, and position of the nipple, lipoplasty reduction alone will likely fall short. Nevertheless, this procedure does allow patients who might otherwise refuse reduction to have it because the alternative methods are more complex and potentially more hazardous, with more pain and scarring. Because reimbursement for breast reduction is decreasing nationwide, surgeons and patients are finding liposuction reduction to their economic advantage. For the surgeon, it takes less time to do; it may be performed as an outpatient procedure in an office facility; it is less likely to have a complication; and postoperative care is simpler. For patients with large breasts but not of the dimension that insurance companies require for coverage, lipoplasty reduction is more affordable. A word of caution: all aspirated material must always be sent to the pathologist to be examined for possible malignancy. I redid, by the inferior pedicle technique (short inframammary scar), a patient who was dissatisfied with a result of lipoplasty reduction by another surgeon. That surgeon discarded the tissue removed from this 55year-old woman. Unfortunately, cancer was found bilaterally in the specimens from her secondary procedure, although it had been undetected preoperatively by mammography and clinical examination. The experience of Moskovitz, Muskin, and Baxt reinforces a cardinal rule for the patientdoctor relationship: we must listen to the patient and not automatically impose on her or him our ideas or, worse, our prejudices. Again, as the authors have emphasized and as is true in all areas of elective surgery, we must choose our patients carefully and realize that no single technique is the answer to every patient’s problem. Robert M. Goldwyn, M.D. 1101 Beacon Street Brookline, Mass. 02446
The Satisfaction of Medical Practitioners from Continuing Medical Education Program of Tehran University of Medical Sciences

Background: The concept of Continuing Medical Education in medical sciences has been rapidly gaining popularity during the last decades. The objective of this study was to assess the satisfaction of medical profession graduates participating in the programs of Continuing Medical Education (CME) in terms of their professional requirements. Methods: In a cross-sectional, descriptive analytical study, a reliable and valid retest questionnaire was used to determine the satisfaction from continuing medical education CME program. One hundred and three medical profession graduates who had participated in CME program in 2006 were enrolled. Results: The satisfaction for anesthesiologists with the compatibility of CME programs with their professional requirements was 28.3%; for general practitioners and pediatricians with the capability of professors in presenting the program, 40%; and for gynecologists and obstetricians with the capability of 31.6%. Conclusion: We conclude from the results of this study that a high satisfaction was noticed among medical professionals that may be due to previous works of researchers who have assessed the needs precisely and standardized the modern teaching methods.
Drug use, drug abuse and heterogeneity

Concepts and criteria for drug abuse have significant impacts on research and the development of interventions. The empirically supported differentiation of drug use and drug abuse has led to important gains in understanding the aetiology (etiology) of drug abuse. The need for further distinctions that reflect the heterogeneity of drug abuse is explored. The need for more sophisticated models of drug abuse is discussed.
Patient-Centered and Experience-Aware Mining for Effective Information Discovery in Health Forums

Online health forums provide a convenient channel for patients, caregivers, and medical professionals to share their experience, support and encourage each other, and form health communities. The fast growing content in health forums provides a large repository for people to seek valuable information. A forum user can issue a keyword query to search health forums regarding to some specific questions, e.g., what treatments are effective for a disease symptom? A medical researcher can discover medical knowledge in a timely and large-scale fashion by automatically aggregating the latest evidences emerging in health forums. This dissertation studies how to effectively discover information in health forums. Several challenges have been identified. First, the existing work relies on the syntactic information unit, such as a sentence, a post, or a thread, to bind different pieces of information in a forum. However, most of information discovery tasks should be based on the semantic information unit, a patient. For instance, given a keyword query that involves the relationship between a treatment and side effects, it is expected that the matched keywords refer to the same patient. In this work, patient-centered mining is proposed to mine patient semantic information units. In a patient information unit, the health information, such as diseases, symptoms, treatments, effects, and etc., is connected by the corresponding patient. Second, the information published in health forums has varying degree of quality. Some information includes patient-reported personal health experience, while others can be hearsay. In this work, a context-aware experience extraction framework is proposed to mine patient-reported personal health experience, which can be used for evidence-based knowledge discovery or finding patients with similar experience. At last, the proposed patient-centered and experience-aware mining framework is used to build a patient health information database for effectively discovering adverse
A Testbed for Simulation-based Analysis of Forwarding Plane

A Testbed for Simulation-based Analysis of Forwarding Plane - Faras Mohan Dewal Master of Applied Science (Electrical and Computer Engineering) Concordia University, Montreal QC, 2016 This thesis presents a testbed capable of generating scalable realistic network traffic on a standalone machine. The functionality of the proposed testbed is to model a scalable network of client and server instances and generate network traffic to perform simulation based-analysis of forwarding plane designs. The testbed enables the designer to successfully conduct experiments on the design under test using realistic traffic profiles and assess the performance for multiple use cases. The proposed testbed defines simulation models for client and server nodes. The testbed modeling has been abstracted to three different levels. First, a base node design allows us to instantiate and manage multiple instances within the node. Second, a transmission protocol is implemented to enable data transfer between client and server instances. The final stage is the Internet application modeling stage. Our experiments show that we are able to reliably generate network traffic for up to 400 client and server instances on a standalone machine.
More studies are needed to assess the performance of serum free light chain measurement for the diagnosis of B‐cell disorders in routine clinical practice – response to Vermeersch et al

Biochemistry, 44, 516–522. Hill, P.G. , Forsyth, J.M. , Rai, B. & Mayne, S. (2006) Serum free light chains: an alternative to the urine Bence Jones proteins screening test for monoclonal gammopathies. Clinical Chemistry, 52, 1743– 1748. Katzmann, J.A. , Abraham, R.S. , Dispenzieri, A. , Lust, J.A. & Kyle, R.A. (2005) Diagnostic performance of quantitative kappa and lambda free light chain assays in clinical practice. Clinical Chemistry, 51, 878–881. Pratt, G. (2008) The evolving use of serum free light chain assays in haematology. British Journal Haematology, 141, 413–422. The International Myeloma Working Group (2003) The International Myeloma Working Group. Criteria for the classification of monoclonal gammopathies, multiple myeloma and related disorders: a report of the International Myeloma Working Group. British Journal Haematology, 121, 749–757.
Elements of graph design

Graphs and other visual displays of information have become a pervasive part of our environment. In Elements of Graph Design , noted psychologist Stephen Kosslyn explains step-by-step how to create effective displays of quantitative data, with guidelines based on our current understanding of how the brain processes information. Unlike any other guide to designing graphs, it demonstrates clearly why certain graph formats and elements work better than others in specific situations. For those who prepare, use and interpret graphic data, Elements of Graph Design explores the crucial connections between the design, the data, and the reader. When read cover to cover or used as a hands-on working reference, it offers a wealth of advice on effectively conveying information visually.
A parallel algorithm for direct solution of large sparse linear systems, well suitable to domain decomposition methods

The goal of this paper is to develop a parallel algorithm for the direct solution of large sparse linear systems and integrate it into domain decomposition methods. The computational effort for these linear systems, often encountered in numerical simulation of structural mechanics problems by finite element codes, is very significant in terms of run-time and memory requirements.In this paper, a two-level parallelism is exploited. The exploitation of the lower level of parallelism is based on the development of a parallel direct solver with a nested dissection algorithm and to introduce it into the FETI methods. This direct solver has the advantage of handling zero-energy modes in floating structures automatically and properly. The upper level of parallelism is a coarse-grain parallelism between substructures of FETI. Some numerical tests are carried out to evaluate the performance of the direct solver.
Evaluation Theory, Models, & Applications

นำ หนงสอทฤษฎการประเมน รปแบบ และ การประยกต (Evaluation Theory, Models, & Applications) เปนหนงสอทเปนประโยชนและนา สนใจอกเลมหนงสำหรบนกประเมนทเขยนจาก ประสบการณและการวจยของ Professor Danial L. Stufflebeam และ Anthony J. Shinkfield หนงสอ นสามารถทำใหผสอน ผประเมน นสต นกศกษาระดบ ปรญญาโท ปรญญาเอกทางดานการศกษา มความ ชดเจนในเรองการประเมน บนแนวทางหรอวธการท หลากหลาย ชวยใหนกประเมนสามารถวเคราะห และ ตดสนใจเลอกวธการประเมนทเหมาะสมจากทงหมด 27 วธ
Prediction of Adherence to a 9-Week Corporate Wellness Walking Program

The health and economic benefits of workplace wellness programs are well founded, but the favorable results only occur when employees choose to participate and adhere to these programs. The objective of this study was to use the Theory of Planned Behavior and Self-Efficacy Theory to predict whether participants adhered to a corporate wellness walking program. The sample consisted of 110 faculty and staff at a private university who enrolled in a walking program through the university’s wellness center. Participants completed surveys at the beginning of the program. The surveys measured self-reported physical activity, as well as theoretical construct of self-efficacy and those related to the Theory of Planned Behavior—attitude, social norms, perceived behavioral control and intention. Sixty percent of participants were found to meet the program’s goals. Self-reported physical activity (p = 0.036), barrier self-efficacy (p = 0.016), walking self-efficacy (p = 0.002), and intention (p < 0.001) were greater in those who met the goals than those who did not meet the goals of the program. Walking self-efficacy (p < 0.001), attitude (p < 0.001) and perceived behavioral control (p = 0.024) were all found to predict intention to walk and intention was a significant predictor of whether or not the participants met goals of the program (p = 0.022). This suggests behavioral interventions aimed at increasing participant self-efficacy and intentions could positively affect program adherence and the successfulness of a workplace wellness program.
Vibration based diagnosis of wheel defects of metro train sets using one period analysis on the wayside

This research examines two different methods; Wavelet Packet Energy (WPE) and Time-domain Features (TDF) which are effective in faulty signal feature extraction of metro wheels in wayside level using vibration sensors. Signals of each wheelset passing of a trainset with both healthy and faulty wheels are recorded by the vibration sensors which are mounted on both left and right rails and a novel one-period sampling is performed at 51.2 kHz sample rate. Retrieved signal samples are used in the construction of a database which is consistent of healthy and faulty cases. Since the database has insufficient number of faulty samples, the database is balanced by a method so called Adaptive Synthetic Sampling (ADASYN) so that each class has the same number of observations. Two state-of art classifiers; Support Vector Machines (SVM) and Fisher Linear Discriminant Analysis (FLDA) are employed by utilizing 16-fold cross validation to solve the two-class problem. Referring to the results, SVM-I-TDF outperforms by classifying all samples with a success rate of 100 % and other methods have also promising results. Proposed methods may be used in the condition monitoring of metro wheelsets effectively by means of not only performance but also cost-efficiency.
Applied cryptography in Java

This paper unveils two facts that are tightly linked: firstly, Internet users require increasingly effective security policies, since there are plenty of scenarios where the introduction of security elements is highly recommended (e.g. integrity and confidentiality requirements in the everyday use of interpersonal communications by e-mail). Secondly, checking the suitability and performance of an object-oriented programming language which considers itself "platform-independent" (as Java from Sun Microsystems claims to be) as the essential tool to implement that level of security is a great challenge. The unsophisticated Java application that is introduced attempts to be the meeting point of these two new technology trends, user security and platform independence. It constitutes an example of a secure application in Java that deploys ciphering and signing features within the Java security model.