Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Project 15 p , Spring 2018 StreamER : Evaluation Framework For Streaming Recommender Systems

Recommender systems have gained a lot of popularity in recent times due to their application in the wide range of fields. Recommender systems are intended to support users in finding the relevant items based on their interests and preferences. Recommender algorithms proposed by researchers evolved over time from simple matching recommendations to machine learning algorithms. One such class of algorithms with increasing focus is on called streaming recommender systems, these algorithms treat input data as a stream of events and make recommendations. To evaluate the algorithms that work with continuous data streams, stream-based evaluation techniques are needed. So far, less interest is shown in the research so far on the evaluation of recommender systems in streaming environments. In this thesis, a simple evaluation framework named StreamER that evaluates recommender algorithms that work on streaming data is proposed. StreamER is intended for the rapid prototyping and evaluation of incremental algorithms. StreamER is designed and implemented using object-oriented architecture to make it more flexible and expandable. StreamER can be configured via a configuration file, which can configure algorithms, metrics and other properties individually. StreamER has inbuilt support for calculating accuracy metrics, namely click-through rate, precision, and recall. The popular-seller and random recommender are two algorithms supported out of the box with StreamER. Evaluation of StreamER is performed via a combination of hypothesis and manual evaluation. Results have matched the proposed hypothesis, thereby successfully evaluating the proposed framework StreamER.
0 Modeling attention in engineering

There are two main approaches to attention modeling in computer science. The first one is based on the notion of "saliency", while the second one is based on the idea of "visibility". The number of papers and the amount of work is dramatically different between these two approaches and the models based on saliency are by far more spread than the visibility models in computer science. The notion of "saliency" implies a competition between "bottom-up" or exogenous and "topdown" or endogenous information. The idea of bottom-up saliency maps is that the sight or gaze of people will direct to areas which, in some way, stand out from the background based on novel or rare features. This bottom-up saliency can be modulated by top-down information based on memory, emotions or goals. The eye movements can be computed from the saliency map by using winner-take-all (Itti et al. (1998)) or more dynamical algorithms (Mancas, Pirri & Pizzoli (2011)Le Meur & Liu (2015)). The second approach to attention modeling is based on the notion of "visibility" which assumes that people look to locations that will lead to successful task performance. Those models are dynamic and intend to maximize the information acquired by the eye (the visibility) of eccentric regions compared to the current eye fixation to solve a given task (which can also be simply free viewing). In this case top-down information is naturally included in the notion of task along with the dynamic bottom-up information maximization. The eye movements are in this approach directly an output from the model and do not have to be inferred from a "saliency map" which is considered as a surface giving the posterior probability (following each fixation) that the target is at each scene location Geisler & Cormack (2011).
Title Investigation of self-sealing in high-strength and ultra-low- permeability concrete in water using micro-focus X-ray CT

29 30 High-strength and ultra-low-permeability concrete (HSULPC) is thought to be 31 useful as a radioactive waste package. Thus, a high confining ability is desirable. 32 For cementitious materials, sealing of cracks may occur in water due to the 33 precipitation of calcium compounds. This can affect the confining ability. In this 34 study, the sealing of a crack in HSULPC in water was investigated using micro35 focus X-ray computed tomography (CT). The sealing by precipitation occurred 36 only around the end of the specimen. Sealed regions of the crack were identified 37 using three-dimensional image registration and CT image subtraction of images 38 obtained for the specimen before and after it was immersed in water to evaluate 39 temporal changes of the sealing deposits in the crack. The sealing deposits 40 increased as the HSULPC specimen was kept in water longer. It was concluded 41 that cracks in HSULPC in water are sealed by precipitation. 42
Effect of Higher Financial Leverage on Corporate Borrowers in Bangladesh

The widespread practice of multiple banking is evident among the corporate borrowers of Bangladesh. In this respect, this paper aims to examine the impact of multiple borrowing and reliance on bank credit to the profitability of firms. In order to do this we have conducted multivariate analysis to construct a model for identifying the predicting variables of profitability. As a result of the study, we have found that equity exhibited positive and loan showed negative relationship with profitability, which indicates that firms having higher financial leverage are prone to be a losing concern in terms of profitability.
Using the ADXL202 in Pedometer and Personal Navigation Applications

INTRODUCTION iMEMS® accelerometers have sparked the interest of many designers looking for ways to build accurate pedometers. The personal navigation system is an extension of the pedometer with an electronic compass integrated to the pedometer to allow a user to determine their position relative to some starting point. This application note will discuss the issues that designers will face in these applications and describe some strategies for the implementation of personal navigation systems.
Report on the experiences of fourth year nursing students registered for the degree of bachelor of nursing science at the university of Namibia, regarding rural placement in 2014

The School of Nursing and Public Health sends every year the final year nursing degree students to rural placements. Students are send to the different clinics and hospitals in regions namely; - Khomas, Otjozondjupa, Kharas, Erongo, Omaheke, Kavango East and West, Otjikoto and Zambezi region. The students were placed from the 2nd June to 4th June 2014. Rural placement is organized because of complaints received from the public sector. It was uttered that newly qualified professional nurses after having obtained their degrees, lack the skills to operate independently. Aim: The aim of rural placement for fourth year nursing students is to gain knowledge and to develop the necessary skills to practice independently under the supervision of a qualified and experience registered nurse. Method: No actual research was conducted. The answers were collected from the fourth year nursing students’ reports. Results: The findings from the report of the fourth year nursing students were positive and negative. The findings were divided in themes and sub themes by using Tech’s method. The positive responses were: Management of administrative aspects. Platform to work independently; Students learn to apply their critical thinking. Practice how to manage a health facility: Learn more on integrated management of neonatal and childhood diseases Management of hypertension, asthma and other emergency cases. Students Experience the difference between rural and urban. Distances were very far; roads are difficult to travel; There is not always a doctor and you had to make own decisions for the patient. Prepare students to become responsible and accountable professional nurses. Work under supervision of the registered nurse. Negative responses were: Staff shortage; no delegation at some places; poor communication; language barriers; far distances. Conclusion: Although there were some hiccups the students were very grateful for the exposure to the rural placement. Students have learnt a lot of activities they were previously not fully confident of.
SWEETNESS LEVELS AND EFFECTS ON CATA SENSORY PROFILE AND ACCEPTANCE OF PEACH NECTAR

Fruit nectars are beverages consisting of important nutrients, with a good extension of shelf life and are well accepted by consumers. Aiming to further enhance their positive characteristics, this study aimed to discuss the reduction of the sugar content present in peach nectar from the sensory analysis of commercial samples. Ranking, acceptance, just-about-right scale and check-all-that-apply (CATA) tests were performed, allowing to observe the effect of different sensory attributes on acceptance of nectars and to define the ideal sugar content. It was possible to found that some commercial samples did not present the ideal sweetness and that the sweetness is not the main attribute on the acceptance of peach nectar, demonstrating the complexity of its food matrix. This complexity seemed to divide consumer preference and it was possible to identify groups that differ regarding the acceptance of the samples. The sample A has always been in the group of the most accepted samples and, depending on the attribute, it did not differ significantly from the other samples (p>0.05). The ideal sweetness sample was less accepted due to the strong influence of herbal flavor and herbal aroma in the pulp used in its preparation.
The Effects of Sandplay Therapy on the Anxiety,Self-esteem, and Sociality of College Students with Blindness

The five sense organs of the human body are vision, hearing, smell, taste, and touch. The visual sense is essential for determining directions, identifying people and objects, and adjusting movement and social behavior (Kim et al., 1998). However, the blind are restricted in these modes and they often experience discomfort in performing tasks that require vision and in controlling social behavior. In particular, those with acquired blindness tend to experience an acute sense of loss or “restriction” as a result of their severe psychological conflict and shock (Lowenfeld, 1979), and indeed, it would be no exaggeration to say, “Loss of sight is dying” (Carroll, 1961). Accordingly, this study examined three emotional problems that typically afflict blind people and investigated how sandplay therapy may solve such problems. One of the emotional problems resulting from blindness is anxiety. This is often triggered by an unidentified sound or smell and blind people may experience extreme anxiety until they obtain knowledge about its source from those who are not blind (Lim, 2000). In addition, blind people may feel tense and anxious that those without blindness are watching them (Kim, 1999). Blind people may not precisely recognize responses or evaluations around them and feel anxiety and fear due to their failure to understand information or cope with a danger or unexpected situation (Ma, 2003). A second emotional problem resulting from blindness is low self-esteem. Blind children’s restricted capabilities and resultant limited experiences can lead to passivity, dependence, and learned lethargy (Kim, 2005). As a result, their self-confidence and concept of ego are negatively affected and they have difficulty with actively expressing their thoughts and feelings to others. A third emotional problem because of blindness is lack of sociality. Those with blindness are lacking in social experiences as a result of their visual impairment. In interaction between blind children and their mother, she is dominant and authoritarian (Kim, 2003). Blind children tend to have more interaction with adults, rather than their peers, and largely play alone, not playing Original Article Symbols and Sandplay Therapy 2014;5(1):14-22 http://dx.doi. org/10.12964/jsst.130013 eISSN : 2288-5188 pISSN : 2234-0556
An 83 000 year old ice core from Roosevelt Island, Ross Sea,
Antarctica

Abstract. In 2013, an ice core was recovered from Roosevelt Island in the Ross Sea, Antarctica, as part of the Roosevelt Island Climate Evolution (RICE) project. Roosevelt Island is located between two submarine troughs carved by paleo-ice-streams. The RICE ice core provides new important information about the past configuration of the West Antarctic Ice Sheet and its retreat during the most recent deglaciation. In this work, we present the RICE17 chronology and discuss preliminary observations from the new records of methane, the isotopic composition of atmospheric molecular oxygen (δ18O-Oatm), the isotopic composition of atmospheric molecular nitrogen (δ15N-N2) and total air content (TAC). RICE17 is a composite chronology combining annual layer interpretations, gas synchronization, and firn modeling strategies in different sections of the core. An automated matching algorithm is developed for synchronizing the high-resolution section of the RICE gas records (60–720 m, 1971 CE to 30 ka) to corresponding records from the WAIS Divide ice core, while deeper sections are manually matched. Ice age for the top 343 m (2635 yr BP, before 1950 C.E.) is derived from annual layer interpretations and described in the accompanying paper by Winstrup et al. (2017). For deeper sections, the RICE17 ice age scale is based on the gas age constraints and the ice age-gas age offset estimated by a firn densification model. Novel aspects of this work include: 1) stratigraphic matching of centennial-scale variations in methane for pre-anthropogenic time periods, a strategy which will be applicable for developing precise chronologies for future ice cores, 2) the observation of centennial-scale variability in methane throughout the Holocene which suggests that similar variations during the late preindustrial period need not be anthropogenic, and 3) the observation of continuous climate records dating back to ∼ 65 ka which provide evidence that the Roosevelt Island Ice Dome was a constant feature throughout the last glacial period.
Choosing the right strategy to model longitudinal count data in Epidemiology: An application with CD4 cell counts

Background: Statistical models for analysis of correlated count data are important for answering epidemiological questions that involve taking individual count measurements repeatedly over time through the use of longitudinal studies. Conventional regression models for this type of data are inadequate, leading to improper conclusions and inference. An important application of longitudinal studies in Public Health is the evaluation and monitoring of patients with infectious diseases, such as HIV/AIDS, to determine their health status, to verify the treatment effects, and to make prognosis concerning the evolution of the disease, including interdependencies of clinical manifestations. The purpose of this article is to characterize different statistical strategies for analysis of longitudinal count data, emphasizing how to choose the most suitable model for the data and how to interpret the results. Methods:We illustrate their applicability by evaluating the effect of associated factors on lymphocyte CD4+T cell count in HIV seropositive patients in Salvador/Bahia - Brazil. We describe Poisson and Negative Binomial models using multilevel (ML) approach and generalized estimations equations (GEE) for analysis of longitudinal count data. Results: It is worth noting that the interpretation of the results from ML and GEE differs and they should not be compared directly. Conclusion: We believe that the statistical methodology for analysis of longitudinal studies with correlated count data can be useful to address several important questions in public health, particularly by helping to monitor patients and checking the effectiveness of treatments.
DISSOLUTION ENHANCEMENT OF TELMISARTAN BY LIQUISOLID COMPACTS

Objective: The main objective of this study was to enhance the dissolution of a practically insoluble antihypertensive drug (telmisartan) by liquisolid compact technique. Liquisolid compact is one of the most promising and new techniques, which promotes dissolution rate of water-insoluble drugs. Methods: In this study, all liquisolid tablets were prepared using propylene glycol, Avicel PH 102, Aerosil 200 and indion 414 as non-volatile solvent, carrier, coating and super-disintegrant respectively. Telmisartan was formulated in form of liquisolid compacts in different concentration of drug in non-volatile vehicle: 20% w/w, 30% w/w and 40% w/w with different excipients ratio (R): 10:1, 15:1, and 20:1 and the effect of these two variables on the in-vitro dissolution characteristics at two different dissolution media (HCl pH 1.2 and phosphate buffer pH 6.8) was studied and the release behavior was compared with that of the marketed tablet. Before compression, the prepared liquisolid powders were evaluated for their flow properties by measuring angle of repose, Carr’s compressibility index and Hausner’s ratio and also were evaluated for post compression parameters such as hardness, friability, drug content uniformity, disintegration time and dissolution test. Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) analysis, differential scanning calorimetry (DSC), X-ray powder diffraction (XRPD) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM) were performed. Results: The results showed that liquisolid formulas exhibited acceptable flowability and compressibility and markedly higher percentage of drug release than of the marketed tablet and it was found that excipients were compatible with the drug in the prepared liquisolid system that was determined by fourier transform infrared spectroscopy and differential scanning calorimetry. The X- ray diffraction and the scanning electron microscopy showed conversion of drug from crystalline to amorphous (solubilized) form that lead to increase the dissolution rate. Conclusion: From this study it was concluded that the liquisolid technique is an effective approach to enhance the dissolution rate of telmisartan.
Issue Ownership and the Vote: The Effects of Associative and Competence Ownership on Issue Voting†

Parties often are associated with specific issues. They can “own” an issue when they develop a reputation of competence and attention in that domain. While there is much aggregate-level evidence on the relation between issue salience and party results, the individual-level mechanisms are less well understood. This paper develops an individual-level model of issue ownership effects. It suggests distinguishing between two aspects of issue ownership: which party is considered to care most about a given issue, and which party is considered to have the best solutions in that domain. The model suggests that both aspects of issue ownership have different effects. When a party is associated with a given issue, voters’ preferences on the corresponding issue should have a larger impact on the evaluation of the issue owner. But when a party is considered to be most competent in that domain, the effect of spatial distances should decrease. These hypotheses are tested with a statistical model that allows the impact of voter-party issue distances on party utilities to vary across both parties and issues. This model is tested with data from the 2011 Swiss election study.
Mortgage Risk and the Yield Curve

We study feedback from the risk of outstanding mortgage-backed securities (MBS) on the level and volatility of interest rates. We incorporate supply shocks resulting from changes in MBS duration into a parsimonious equilibrium dynamic term structure model and derive three predictions that are strongly supported in the data: (1) MBS duration positively predicts nominal and real excess bond returns, especially for longer maturities; (2) the predictive power of MBS duration is transitory in nature; and (3) MBS convexity increases interest rate volatility, and this effect has a hump-shaped term structure.
Automatic Categorization of ottoman Poems

Abstract Authorship attribution and identifying time period of literary works are fundamental problems in quantitative analysis of languages. We investigate two fundamentally different machine learning text categorization methods, Support Vector Machines (SVM) and Naive Bayes (NB), and several style markers in the categorization of Ottoman poems according to their poets and time periods. We use the collected works (divans) of ten different Ottoman poets: two poets from each of the five different hundred-year periods ranging from the 15th to 19th century. Our experimental evaluation and statistical assessments show that it is possible to obtain highly accurate and reliable classifications and to distinguish the methods and style markers in terms of their effectiveness
From Individual to Collective Knowledge : Teachers' Knowledge Creation in a School Organization

Objectives. The schooling system is in great turmoil in Finland at the moment. More effective knowledge creation and sharing among teachers are needed in order to develop the Finnish schooling system and to increase the study results of the students. Previous literature agrees that sharing and acquiring knowledge function as precondition for innovation and value creation in organizational and network contexts and thus makes knowledge vital for contemporary organizations. The transition between an individual’s and a collective’s knowledge creation, however, has not been widely studied. This study explores the development of a new “Compass Model for Shared Pedagogical Leadership in an activity-theoretical Change Laboratory intervention in the Finnish Viikki Teacher Training School from a knowledge creation perspective. The thesis examines how the transition from individually held knowledge of teaching transform into collective knowledge and a collaborative model of practicing. Further, it combines knowledge creation literature with the theory of expansive learning, which has not yet been done in detail. Methods. The interventionist and ethnographic methodology of the study draws on theoretical concepts, models, and methods from Cultural Historical Activity Theory and from the studies of individual and collective knowledge creation. The data analysed in this study consisted of six meetings carried out in the Viikki Teacher Training School by using the Change Laboratory method. The methodology of the study consists of a thematic analysis and analysis of transitions in knowledge creation during the Change Laboratory process. The analysis of transitions is a new qualitative method developed for this study based on findings in the data. Results and conclusions. The study shows that the knowledge creation of the teachers transitioned on a rough timeline from individually held knowledge of teaching to collaborative practice through multiple small cycles of expansive learning and social processes of knowledge building. Decrease in organizational tensions, creation of shared understanding and increased collaboration enabled the transition of knowledge creation from individual to collective. The collectively created model for shared pedagogical leadership promoted collaboration.
Split-disk micro-lasers: Tunable whispering gallery mode cavities

Optical micro-cavities of various types have emerged as promising photonic structures, for both the investigation of fundamental science in cavity quantum electrodynamics and simultaneously for various applications, e.g., lasers, filters, or modulators. In either branch a demand for adjustable and tunable photonic devices becomes apparent, which has been mainly based on the modification of the refractive index of the micro-resonators so far. In this paper, we report on a novel type of whispering gallery mode resonator where resonance tuning is achieved by modification of the configuration. This is realized by polymeric split-disks consisting of opposing half-disks with an intermediate air gap. Functionality of the split-disk concept and its figures of merit like low-threshold lasing are demonstrated for laser dye-doped split-disks fabricated by electron beam lithography on Si substrates. Reversible resonance tuning is achieved for split-disks structured onto elastomeric substrates by direct laser writing.