Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Improving usability for a terminology search website

The goal for this study was to analyze and improve the usability of a terminology search website. A terminology search website gives users access to an electronic dictionary which contains words that denote specialized concepts, namely ‘terms’. The website which was analyzed for this study was created in 2004 by CLS Communication, a global active language services provider. Two inspection methods were used to analyze the usability of the terminology search website. The first method consisted of the inspection of every feature from the website according to a list of usability heuristics. For the second method, usage data from a 10 month period was recorded and analyzed to discover the search behavior and the usage of the terminology search website. Main findings showed problems in navigation and information presentation and a high amount of searches without any results. Based on the findings from the analyses, an improved version of the terminology search website was developed and evaluated. The interface was re-designed and three suggestion modules (auto-complete, similarly spelled terms and language suggestions) were developed to minimize the number of searches without results. The evaluation of the improved website was done by a survey and the recordings of usage data for a football database at the time of the 2010 Fifa world cup. The results of the evaluation showed that respondents rated the newly developed terminology search website higher in terms of usability and the amount of searches without results decreased. The main conclusion is that the use of a heuristic analysis and an analysis of recorded usage data are suitable methods to discover usability issues for a globally used terminology search website.
An Energy Efficient Cluster-heads Reusability Mechanism for Wireless Sensor Networks

Wireless sensor networks (WSNs) are formed using a cluster of sensor nodes (SNs), deployed randomly to perform sensing operations in an area under observation. Due to the unavailability of an external power source, the energy efficiency considered as one of the critical issues in WSNs. Selection of a sensor node (SN) from a wireless sensor network (WSN) cluster to serve as an aggregator or cluster head (CH), considered as an efficient method to increase the lifetime of wireless sensor network (WSN). In this paper, we have proposed an energy efficient CH selection scheme for WSN, to enhance the lifetime and average residual energy of a single WSN cluster. The proposed strategy nominates a group SNs as CHs, based on their channel condition with the base station (BS) and their residual energy. The proposed algorithm is helpful in solving the problem of unbalanced energy consumption in WSNs. Furthermore, the mechanism of using mobile sink during the hand-off stage helps to overcome the delay in data transmission. Moreover, the incorporation of energy harvesting significantly increases the lifetime of WSN. In comparison to a state-of-art technique available in the literature, our scheme shows a 33% increase in lifetime and presents a steady decrease in residual energy for the same rounds of data transmission.
INCREASE OF ACCURAY FOR CBOS BY BACKGROUND PROJECTION

The improved Background Oriented Schlieren techniqu e CBOS (Colored Background Oriented Schlieren) is described and applied to determine th e flow field around different test models. The tech nique allows the measurement of the light deflection caused by densi ty gradients in a compressible flow. For this purpo se the distortion of the image of a background pattern observed throu gh the flow is used. In order to increase the perfo rmance of the conventional Background Oriented Schlieren (BOS) te chnique, the monochromatic background is replaced b y a colored dot pattern. The different colors are treated separ ately using suitable correlation algorithms. Theref o , the precision and the spatial resolution can be highly increased. In order to evaluate the distortion of the image of th e background with a correlation method it is important to focus on the background. Especially for big wind tunnels the dis tance between the flow field, which has to be observed, and the backg round is greater than the depth of field of the cam era. A solution to overcome this problem is to project the background close to the wind tunnel model. The CBOS technique is explained and applied to the measurement of the flow field ar ound an asymmetric mounted spike-body configuration in a supersonic wind tunnel.
Simulation of PV Power Plant ’ s Output in Uruguay

Uruguay is currently undergoing a major transition in the way that energy is generated and used. The introduction of non conventional renewable energy sources, such as wind and solar power, play a key role in the national energy policy. However, the development of PV systems has been scarce in comparison with wind power. The first on-grid PV power plant was installed in the North of the country in 2013 through a Japanese collaboration (JICA). This early effort shows that the technology was applicable in Uruguay and, as a consequence, contracts for 240 MW of grid-connected PV power plants have been recently authorized by the national electricity utility. In this work we simulate the output of the JICA’s PV power plant on an hourly basis to derive an estimation of the capacity factor and validate our model with the ground-truth power output of the PV plant. Then, we use the model to generate a long term estimation for the South part of the country where long-term series of ambient temperature data are available. Hourly solar irradiation series are obtained using a pre-existing satellite-based model especially adjusted to the target territory.
Title Analysis of Transposable Elements in Coccidioides Species Permalink

Coccidioides immitis and C. posadasii are primary pathogenic fungi that cause disease in immunologically-normal animals and people. The organism is found exclusively in arid regions of the Southwestern United States, Mexico, and South America, but not in other parts of the world. This study is a detailed analysis of the transposable elements (TE) in Coccidioides spp. As is common in most fungi, Class I and Class II transposons were identified and the LTR Gypsy superfamily is the most common. The minority of Coccidioides Gypsy transposons contained regions highly homologous to polyprotein domains. Phylogenetic analysis of the integrase and reverse transcriptase sequences revealed that many, but not all, of the Gypsy reverse transcriptase and integrase domains clustered by species suggesting extensive transposition after speciation of the two Coccidiodies spp. The TEs were clustered and the distribution is enriched for the ends on contigs. Analysis of gene expression data from C. immitis found that protein-coding genes within 1 kB of hAT or Gypsy TEs were poorly expressed. The expression of C. posadasii genes within 1 kB of Gypsy TEs was also significantly lower compared to all genes but the difference in expression was smaller than C. immitis. C. posadasii orthologs of C. immitis Gyspsy-associated genes were also likely to be TE-associated. In both C. immitis and C. posadasii the TEs were preferentially associated with genes annotated with protein kinase gene ontology terms. These observations suggest that TE may play a role in influencing gene expression in Coccidioides spp. Our hope is that these bioinformatic studies of the potential TE influence on expression and evolution of Coccidioides will prompt the development of testable hypotheses to better understand the role of TEs in the biology and gene regulation of Coccidioides spp.
Finding new practice material through chord-based exploration of a large music catalogue

Our demo is a web app that suggests new practice material to music learners based on automatic chord analysis. It is aimed at music practitioners of any skill set, playing any instrument, as long as they know how to play along with a chord sheet. Users need to select a number of chords in the app, and are then presented with a list of music pieces containing those chords. Each of those pieces can be played back while its chord transcription is displayed in sync to the music. This enables a variety of practice scenarios, ranging from following the chords in a piece to using the suggested music as a backing track to practice soloing over.
Yodel: Strong Metadata Security for Real-Time Voice Calls

Yodel is the first system for real-time voice calls that hides metadata (e.g., who is communicating with whom) from a powerful adversary that controls the network and compromises servers. Voice calls require sub-second message latency, but low latency has been difficult to achieve in prior work where processing each message requires an expensive public key operation at each hop in the network. Yodel avoids this expense with the idea of self-healing circuits, reusable paths through a mix network that use only fast symmetric cryptography. Once created, these circuits are resilient to passive and active attacks from global adversaries. Creating and connecting to these circuits without leaking metadata is another challenge that Yodel addresses with the idea of guarded circuit exchange, where each user creates a backup circuit for the case an attacker tampers with their traffic. We evaluate Yodel across the Internet and it achieves acceptable voice quality with 970ms of latency for 4.8 million active users.
МАТЕМАТИКА И МАТЕМАТИЧЕСКО ОБРАЗОВАНИЕ, 2014 MATHEMATICS AND EDUCATION IN MATHEMATICS, 2014 Proceedings of the Forty Third Spring Conference of the Union of Bulgarian Mathematicians Borovetz, April 2–6, 2014

The equilibrium shapes of fluid membranes in the spontaneous curvature model (Helfrich’s model) are described by the so called Helfrich equation. Surfaces obtained as solutions of the governing equation are called Helfrich surfaces, respectively. By making use of the conformal coordinates and applying Lie group reduction method we construct group-invariant solutions, expressed in terms of the Weierstrass elliptic ℘-function. The explicit analytic formulas for the position vector allow to find out the closed directrices generating the Helfrich cylindrical surfaces and to display some of their graphs.
Quantifying aboveground biomass in African environments : A review of the trade-offs between sensor estimation accuracy and costs

Increased global recognition of the role of forests in regulating the biosphereatmospheric carbon cycle through carbon sequestration, has resulted in a wide range of scientific studies on estimation, mapping, monitoring and the prediction of Aboveground Biomass (AGB) on various scales in sub-Saharan Africa. In many parts of the developing world, specifically in sub-Saharan Africa, the accurate quantification of AGB, although still a challenge, is important for national carbon accounting, REDD+ project payments, sustainable forest management and strategic policy-making. In this review, an overview of remote sensing applications in AGB estimation in sub-Saharan Africa, including research challenges and basic information related to the trade-offs between sensor estimation accuracy and costs, is provided. It is assumed that this review is timely, due to a relative increase in the number of remotely sensed forests carbon studies in the recent years (specifically the period between 1998 and 2013). Remotely sensed data is particularly appealing, due to its robustness, instantaneity and repeated spatio-temporal coverage and hence the ability to successful estimate and map AGB. However, estimation accuracy and image acquisition cost vary with sensor resolution and type. It is assumed that this study will provide guidance in future national carbon accounting studies, which is one of the main objectives of the Kyoto Protocol and the REDD+ (Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation) project, housed under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), particularly for the developing world.
Factors affecting the pathogenicity of Yersinia ruckeri

A group of 42 strains of Yersi11ia ncckeri were characterized and found to show homogenous biochemical profiles. The optimal conditions for ill 1•itro culture of a representative strain of Y. ncckeri were established. The virulence was increased by passage through fish. A standard method for infection of rainbow trout (OIIcor! J)'IIclllls mykiss) with Y. ncckeri was devised. As a result cultures of Y. ncckeri grown on full strength of BHIA for 5 h at 30°C in static conditions were found to be most suitable for infection by both intraperitoneal injection and immersion. Virulence of stored cultures was maintained for over 1 year at -20 and/or -70° C and virulence was not lost after up to six consecutive subcultures. The effect on mortality of susceptibility of various fish stocks, water temperature and stocking density is described. The size of fish (between 5 and 60 g) had no effect on virulence. The injection and immersion protocols were used as i11 vivo models for the study of the effects of dietary vitamin E, with both laboratory prepared diets and commercially available diets. Comparative results of hacmatological and biochemical parameters, histology, mortality patterns, serum antibody levels and bacterial recovery from the four dietary groups of fish are presented. A comparative ill 1•itro and i11 1•il'o study of intra and inter strain vanat10ns among representatives of the serogroup I of Y. mckeri was performed. Under the conditions used, some strains were virulent and other avirulent. Results of Western blotting and SOS-PAGE showed the presence of a heat sensitive factor (HSF), present only in the virulent strains of Y. ncckeri. To date this is the first putative virulence factor described for Y. ncckeri. Further work was undertaken in an attempt to characterize the HSF. It appears to be located in the periplasmic space and to have complex lipid and proteinaceous components. HSF is easily degraded, and is immunogenic and confers some protection when injected into rainbow trout. Selective media and detection methods for the HSF, and their potential use in laboratory and field studies are described. I tom No. Class TELEPEN l No. contl No. III Ll . ,. ,, ··•u "'t::"\·'I"ES l:. t\1-\~i 1; ;ja;;Ji ~;\,. ~ooo (~ ~ 9 ')( -'f. -l't-JUU T5"'17. S so 4-'2X 70 L3 \SCJ 500 '
UPPER SEMICONTINUITY OF ATTRACTORS AND CONTINUITY OF EQUILIBRIUM SETS FOR PARABOLIC PROBLEMS WITH DEGENERATE p-LAPLACIAN

In this work we obtain some continuity properties on the parameter q at p = q for the Takeuchi-Yamada problem which is a degenerate plaplacian version of the Chafee-Infante problem. We prove the continuity of the flows and the equilibrium sets, and the upper semicontinuity of the global attractors.
Studentlyzer for Analyzing and Visualizing E-learning Data

— With the increasing popularity of e-learning in higher education institutions, there is a need to develop data analytics tools to analyze e-learning data, student learning behavior and student performance. In recent years, there has been growing interest in educational data mining, which can provide useful insights into student learning behavior, providing holistic analysis. This paper presents an online data analytics tool called Studentlyzer, which applies data mining to analyze student data. It can cluster student datasets using K-means clustering, and visualize the graphical results through a web browser. Two real-world student e-learning datasets, the Open University Learning Analytics Dataset (OULAD) and Educational Processing Mining (EPM) dataset, were used to demonstrate Studentlyzer’s usefulness. The results provide valuable insights about students. In general, Studentlyzer can help identify students who are similar (e.g., with similar study behavior) and provide useful information about student performance and student behavior (e.g., their correlation).
The Role of the Forkhead Transcription Factor Foxo3a in Erythropoiesis

Erythropoiesis requires tight control of expansion, maturation, and survival of erythroid progenitors. Since activation of phosphatidylinositol-3-kinase (PI3K) is required for erythropoietin/stem cell factor-induced expansion of erythroid progenitors, we examined the role of the PI3K-controlled Forkhead box, class O (Foxo) subfamily of Forkhead transcription factors. Foxo3a expression and nuclear accumulation increased during erythroid differentiation, whereas untimely induction of Foxo3a activity accelerated differentiation of erythroid progenitors to erythrocytes. We identified B cell translocation gene 1 (Btg1)/antiproliferative protein 2 as a Foxo3a target gene in erythroid progenitors. Promoter studies indicated Btg1 as a direct target of Foxo3a. Expression of Btg1 in primary mouse bone marrow cells blocked the outgrowth of erythroid colonies, which required a domain of Btg1 that binds Protein Arginine Methyl Transferase 1. During erythroid differentiation, increased arginine methylation coincided with Btg1 expression. Concordantly, inhibition of methyl transferase activity blocked erythroid maturation without affecting expansion of progenitor cells. We propose Foxo3a-controlled expression of Btg1 and subsequent regulation of protein arginine methyl transferase activity as a novel mechanism controlling erythroid expansion and differentiation. Chapter 2 54 Chapter-2.qxd 24-Nov-04 11:55 Page 54
Passive Ship Localization in a Shallow Water Using Pre-trained Deep Learning Networks

Subject to the lack of detailed environmental information, the classical matched-field processing (MFP) may not be adapted to the accurate localization of underwater acoustic sources. In this paper, a framework that applies deep learning techniques instead of the MFP method is presented for the localization (direction-finding) of ship acoustic sources in a shallow water environment. The original data is recorded from a 128-element vertical array placed in a shallow water. The acquired array data is first processed by the time-domain conventional beamformer (CBF) in order to obtain the beamformed waveform signals corresponding to each direction-of-arrival (DOA) with a resolution of 1 degree. In the meantime, the GPS and recognized DOA information in the diagram of the target ships are employed to generate the labels for these beamformed signals. Base on the labeled data, a framework is proposed to predict the DOA information of target ships in a deep learning (DL) manner using the pre-trained state-of-the-art convolutional neural networks. Driven directly by the array signal data, the proposed method offers a way for the ship localization to overcome the environmental mismatch problem, which is believed to be better than that of conventional MFP method and some other shallow machine learning methods.
Convolutional Mean: A Simple Convolutional Neural Network for Illuminant Estimation

We present Convolutional Mean (CM) - a simple and fast convolutional neural network for illuminant estimation. Our proposed method only requires a small neural network model (1.1K parameters) and a 48 x 32 thumbnail input image. Our unoptimized Python implementation takes 1 ms/image, which is arguably 3-3750x faster than the current leading solutions with similar accuracy. Using two public datasets, we show that our proposed light-weight method offers accuracy comparable to the current leading methods' (which consist of thousands/millions of parameters) across several measures.
EEG alpha power as a measure of listening effort reduction in adverse conditions

Noise levels in everyday environments are typically low enough to comprehend speech, but over extended periods of time, listeners may experience tiredness and even fatigue. We measured the neurophysiological compensation required to separate speech from noise – listening effort – using electroencephalography, for normal and AdaptDRC enhanced speech. AdaptDRC is a noise-dependent near-end-listening-enhancement algorithm which significantly improves the intelligibility of speech in noise and reduces subjectively rated listening effort (Rennies et al., 2018). Participants (N=27) completed a listening effort and intelligibility task using a categorical listening effort scale, in which sentences were presented at five SNRs and in two types of noise. Subjective listening effort was significantly lower, and speech intelligibility was significantly higher for AdaptDRC speech than unprocessed speech (p<.001). Analyses of the neurophysiological data show that there is a non-linear relationship between SNR and spectral alpha power with a peak between 0-5dB SNR, and that alpha power is sensitive to noise type and speech processing. These findings provide insight into the neurophysiological correlates of listening effort and aid the development of an objective measure of cognitive load for speech in noise.
5-2019 Improving Strategic Decision-Making through the Use of Business Analytics : A Resource-Based View

While business analytics is suggested to improve organizational decision-making, more empirical research is needed to substantiate this proposition. This study draws on the resource-based view to understand how an organization can use business analytics to improve its strategic decision making (SDM). The analysis of 218 survey responses from UK firms shows that the use of business analytics is related to rational SDM positively and intuitive SDM negatively, while environmental scanning mediates the relationship between the use of business analytics and rational SDM. The findings suggest that an organization can improve its SDM by enhancing its analytics and environmental scanning capabilities.
Mechanisms of resistance to lapatinib in HER2 positive breast cancer

Lapatinib is a tyrosine kinase inhibitor of HER2 which blocks downstream signaling pathways in HER2 positive breast cancer cell lines, tumor xenografts and HER2 positive breast cancer patients. However, pre-clinical and clinical studies have shown that HER2 positive patients can exhibit either innate or acquired lapatinib resistance. Previous work in our laboratory resulted in the generation of lapatinib-resistant SKBR3 cells which exhibit decreased phosphorylation of eEF2 compared to parental cells. The aims of this study were to develop additional models of lapatinib resistance, characterise the cell lines and identify and validate alterations which may contribute to lapatinib resistance. HCC1954-L cells are a novel cell line model of acquired lapatinib resistance, developed through low-dose continuous conditioning with lapatinib. Using array CGH technology, HCC1954-L cells were found to have increased amplification and expression of STARD3. The decreased phosphorylation of eEF2 in SKBR3-L cells was found to be regulated by Ser359 phosphorylation of eEF2k in an mTOR-independent manner, suggesting a role for alterations in eEF2k and eEF2 in acquired lapatinib resistance. SILAC-proteomic analysis with SKBR3-par and SKBR3-L cells identified alterations in a number of different proteins of which CDK1, GAPDH, HER2, SELENBP1, SET and EBP1 were validated. Lapatinib conditioning of HCC1419 cells revealed a novel potential mechanism of lapatinib action – the induction of a senescent-like phenotype, which was reversed when lapatinib was removed from the media, suggesting a possible mechanism of lapatinib resistance, which may be dependent on p53 and p16 expression. Alterations in the phosphorylation of AKT, ERK, p70S6k and eEF2 correlated with lapatinib sensitivity in a panel of ~HER2-amplifed breast cancer cell lines. In conclusion, our data suggests several novel mechanisms of lapatinib resistance which warrant further investigation in in vivo models of HER2 positive breast cancer and ultimately in patients.