Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Domain-Driven Classification Based on Multiple Criteria and Multiple Constraint-Level Programming for Intelligent Credit Scoring

Extracting knowledge from the transaction records and the personal data of credit card holders has great profit potential for the banking industry. The challenge is to detect/predict bankrupts and to keep and recruit the profitable customers. However, grouping and targeting credit card customers by traditional data-driven mining often does not directly meet the needs of the banking industry, because data-driven mining automatically generates classification outputs that are imprecise, meaningless, and beyond users' control. In this paper, we provide a novel domain-driven classification method that takes advantage of multiple criteria and multiple constraint-level programming for intelligent credit scoring. The method involves credit scoring to produce a set of customers' scores that allows the classification results actionable and controllable by human interaction during the scoring process. Domain knowledge and experts' experience parameters are built into the criteria and constraint functions of mathematical programming and the human and machine conversation is employed to generate an efficient and precise solution. Experiments based on various data sets validated the effectiveness and efficiency of the proposed methods.
A Method for Analyzing Network Traffic Using Cardinality Information in Firewall Logs

Recently, the variety and vastness in networks have increased rapidly. To keep networks stable and reliable, network administrators have to understand the nature of network traffic flows. In this paper, we propose a method to analyze network traffic using firewall logs. The characteristics of our method are 1) the use of the aggregate flow information, and 2) the use of cardinality information of aggregate flows. Here, the cardinality information shows the number of servers/clients, and contributes to finding P2P software and Intranet viruses. The experimental results confirm that the session level cardinality information acquired by the proposed method can find P2P software and other types of applications.
Adaptive Embedded Services for Pervasive Computing

Today’s embedded systems are pervasive, mobile, and in many cases, permanently connected. Yet, they are tightly integrated with their environment and barely coordinated. The next generation of distributed applications requires more decentralized and more dynamic interaction schemes, which the classic request/response communication paradigm can not accommodate. The Executable Choreography Framework (ECF) is a middleware-level platform extension that enables on-demand deployment of peer-to-peer interactions between services and resources. The ECF platform extension combines transparent context propagation with non-invasive software composition techniques to dynamically refine the default control and data flow of service invocations. The ECF provides a ground for experimentation with dynamic and distributed workflows, and a common specification language for defining advanced service composition schemes, such as adaptive choreographies, mobile agents and distributed Aspect-Oriented compositions in serviceoriented environments.
Postmating sexual selection in house sparrows: can females estimate good fathers according to their early paternal effort?

Recently, several studies suggested that in species with biparental care, male parental effort (for instance in terms of nest building) serves as a sexual signal to females. In this study on free-living house sparrows Passer domesticus, we investigated how male contribution to parental care varies between breeding stages and whether early parental care of a male reflects his paternal effort in later stages. We found that nest building was performed predominantly by males. However, hatching success was not related to male participation in nest building or early nest guarding. The contribution of males to incubation and chick brooding was lower than in females. Investment in chick feeding did not differ between partners, but varied considerably between males. Only the male effort in chick feeding was related to the number of young at fledging age, suggesting that male assistance is essential to maximise reproductive success in house sparrows. Except for the positive correlation between male nest building and male incubation during egg laying, we found no relationship between early (nest building and nest guarding) and later paternal effort (late incubation, brooding and provisioning rates). Consequently, intensity of male nest building and early nest guarding do not seem to be honest indicators of later paternal effort in the house sparrow. Instead, we speculate that high early paternal effort might be a strategy of some males to manipulate the reproductive effort of their partners.
Metadata-oriented language model in translingual retrieval of digital data

Translingual retrieval relies on processing a source language to retrieve digital document content in a target language. From the perspective of successful browsing digital catalogues, probability of retrieving the full text document in a language other than the query language is close to zero owning to the fact that it is not only the library collection, but especially a problem of matching the index terms with the query keywords which are assumed to be their translation equivalents. In addition, hardly any digital library system is incorporated with a translation component. As a result, such a matching is rather coincidental. Our approach to the translingual document retrieval problem is to build a metadata language model that based on a digital document computes such a word sequence which ranks the document collection on the basis of the probability of generating a particular query keyword alignment.
Quantitation of Edited GABA Signals in Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy

γ-Amino butyric acid (GABA) is an inhibitory neurotransmitter that plays an important role in several brain disorders. Reliable detection of GABA in vivo, using H Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy is difficult and faces various challenges. Spectral-Editing sequences based on multiple quantum filtering techniques enable removing overlapping signals. However, advanced signal processing accommodating sequence-dependence of the edited signals are needed for quantitation of GABA. We propose to optimally exploit Quantum Mechanics and the timedomain QUEST quantitation algorithm. Quantitation with QUEST of H in vitro double-quantum signals at 300 MHz of a ‘phantom’ containing a solution of metabolites with concentrations of a normal brain is demonstrated. Keywords— Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy (MRS), Signal Processing, GABA Spectral-Editing, Double Quantum Filtering, Quantitation.
ACOTES: Advanced Compiler Technologies for Embedded Streaming Submission to the Special Issue on European HiPEAC NoE Member's Projects

Streaming applications are based on a data-driven approach where compute components consume and produce unbounded data vec- tors. Streaming oriented systems have become dominant in a wide range of domains, including embedded applications and DSPs However, programming efficiently for streaming architectures is a very challenging task, having to carefully partition the computation and map it to processes in a way that best matches the underlying multi-core streaming architectures, as well as having to take into account the needed resources (memory, processing, real-time re- quirements, etc.) and communication overheads (processing and delay) between the processors. These challenges have led to a number of suggested solu- tions, whose goal is to improve the programmer's efficiency in developing applications that process massive streams of data on programmable, parallel embedded architectures. StreamIt is one such example. Another more recent approach is that developed by the ACOTES (Advanced Compiler Technologies for Embedded Streaming) project. The ACOTES approach for streaming appli- cations consists of compiler-assisted mapping of streaming tasks to highly parallel systems in order to maximize cost-effectiveness, both in terms of energy and in terms of design effort. The analysis and transformation techniques automate large parts of the partition- ing and mapping process, based on the properties of the application domain, on the quantitative information about the target systems, and on programmer directives. This paper presents the outcomes of the ACOTES project, a 3- year collaborative work of industrial (NXP, ST, IBM, Silicon Hive, NOKIA) and academic (UPC, INRIA, MINES ParisTech) partners, and advocates the use the Advanced Compiler Technologies that we developed to support Embedded Streaming.
Job satisfaction in Britain: individual and job related factors

Recently there has been a resurgence of interest in the analysis of job satisfaction variables. Job satisfaction is correlated with labour market behaviour such as productivity, quits and absenteeism. In this paper four different measures of job satisfaction are related to a variety of personal and job characteristics. The data used are from the 28 240 British employees in the Workplace Employee Relations Survey, 1997. This data set is larger and more recent than in any previous studies. Four measures of job satisfaction that have not previously been used are considered: satisfaction with influence over job; satisfaction with amount of pay; satisfaction with sense of achievement; and satisfaction with respect from supervisors. The paper contributes to the literature by analysing job satisfaction with respect to industrial composition and occupations. One of the striking findings is that those in the education and health sectors are less satisfied with their pay but more satisfied with their sense of achievement. Further, it is found that employees who received job training were more satisfied than those who had no training opportunities. Unlike previous studies, it is found that married individuals have lower job satisfaction levels than the unmarried. Other results confirm those in the literature, such as women being more satisfied than men, and a U-shaped relationship between satisfaction and age.
An integrated approach for efficient analysis of facial expressions

This paper describes a new automated facial expression analysis system that integrates Locality Sensitive Hashing (LSH) with Principal Component Analysis (PCA) and Linear Discriminant Analysis (LDA) to improve execution efficiency of emotion classification and continuous identification of unidentified facial expressions. Images are classified using feature-vectors on two most significant segments of face: eye segments and mouth-segment. LSH uses a family of hashing functions to map similar images in a set of collision-buckets. Taking a representative image from each cluster reduces the image space by pruning redundant similar images in the collision-buckets. The application of PCA and LDA reduces the dimension of the data-space. We describe the overall architecture and the implementation. The performance results show that the integration of LSH with PCA and LDA significantly improves computational efficiency, and improves the accuracy by reducing the frequency-bias of similar images during PCA and SVM stage. After the classification of image on database, we tag the collision-buckets with basic emotions, and apply LSH on new unidentified facial expressions to identify the emotions. This LSH based identification is suitable for fast continuous recognition of unidentified facial expressions.
Environmental Enrichment Confers Stress Resiliency to Social Defeat through an Infralimbic Cortex-Dependent Neuroanatomical Pathway

Enriched environmental (EE) housing dampens stress-induced alterations in neurobiological systems, promotes adaptability, and extinguishes submissive behavioral traits developed during social defeat stress (SD). In the present study, we hypothesized that enrichment before SD can confer stress resiliency and, furthermore, that neuronal activity in the prefrontal cortex (PFC) is requisite for this resiliency. To test these hypotheses, mice were housed in EE, standard (SE), or impoverished (IE) housing and then exposed to SD. EE conferred resilience to SD as measured in several behavioral tasks. EE-housed mice expressed elevated FosB/ΔFosB immunostaining in areas associated with emotional regulation and reward processing, i.e., infralimbic, prelimbic, and anterior cingulate cortices, amygdala, and nucleus accumbens, and this expression was mostly preserved in mice receiving EE followed by SD. In contrast, in SE- or IE-housed animals, SD increased maladaptive behaviors and greatly reduced FosB/ΔFosB staining in the forebrain. We tested the putative involvement of the PFC in mediating resilience by lesioning individual regions of the PFC either before or after EE housing and then exposing the mice to SD. We found that discrete lesions of the infralimbic but not prelimbic or cingulate cortex made before but not after EE abolished the behavioral resiliency to stress afforded by EE and attenuated FosB/ΔFosB expression in the accumbens and amygdala while increasing it in the paraventricular hypothalamic nucleus. These data suggest that pathological ventromedial PFC outputs to downstream limbic targets could predispose an individual to anxiety disorders in stressful situations, whereas enhanced ventromedial PFC outputs could convey stress resilience.
Relational geographies of human trafficking: Inequality, manoeuvring and im/mobility across space and time

This paper demonstrates why and how a fuller geographical perspective extends contemporary scholarship on human trafficking within and beyond the discipline. We employ a relational approach and draw on in-depth qualitative research with trafficked persons and a range of stakeholders in Slovakia and the United Kingdom (UK), to depict how the processes underpinning human trafficking are non-linear, operate instantaneously at multiple intersecting scales and temporalities, and through diverse mobilities. The analysis problematises the discrete and homogeneous notion of space coupled with a linear conceptualisation of time and, more specifically, the normative portrayals of recruitment, transit, and exploitation as distinct and sequential phases of human trafficking. Instead, the individuated experiences of trafficked persons are examined in relational geographies of inequality, manoeuvring and mobilities. Such a conceptual shift ensures that efforts to understand and combat human trafficking address its effects as well as the wider social relations and structural conditions that facilitate exploitation. We conclude the paper by outlining how a relational-geographic perspective has the potential to foster new forms of dialogue and inquiry within and beyond the discipline.
Wavelet-based Audio Watermarking Techniques : Robustness and Fast Synchronization

This paper describes a novel technique for embedding watermark bits into digital audio signals. The proposed method is based on the patchwork algorithm on the wavelet domain and does not need the original audio signal in the watermark detection. It uses the wavelet transform generated by the low-pass analysis filter hn whose length is 2 and h0 = h1 = 1 to account for a fast synchronization between watermark embedding and detection parts. Several simulation results show that the proposed method is robust against various signal manipulations such as MPEG/Audio layer 3 compression and time scale modification. keywords: Wavelets, synchronization, patchwork, time scale modification. ∗Hong Oh Kim is with Division of Applied Mathematics, KAIST, 373-1 Kusong-Dong, Yusong-Gu, Taejon, 305-701, Korea, hkim@ftn.kaist. ac.kr. This work is supported partly by KOSEF 98-0701-0301-5. †Bae Keun Lee is with Division of Applied Mathematics, KAIST, 373-1 Kusong-Dong, Yusong-Gu, Taejon, 305-701, Korea, bklee@amath.kaist. ac.kr. ‡Nam-Yong Lee is with Division of Applied Mathematics, KAIST, 373-1 Kusong-Dong, Yusong-Gu, Taejon, 305-701, Korea, nylee@amath.kaist. ac.kr. This work is supported partly by Brain Korea 21 Program. Corresponding Author
Rapid platelet-function assay: an automated and quantitative cartridge-based method.

BACKGROUND The platelet glycoprotein (GP) IIb/IIIa receptor is important in mediating platelet thrombus formation, and the GP IIb/IIIa antagonist abciximab (c7E3 Fab; ReoPro) is effective in preventing thrombotic ischemic cardiovascular complications of unstable angina and percutaneous coronary interventions. Small-molecule antagonists of GP IIb/IIIa based on the Arg-Gly-Asp (RGD) sequence show similar benefit, and some of these agents are orally active. However, there may be significant interindividual variation in response to such antagonists, especially with chronic oral therapy. It will be essential to balance the beneficial antithrombotic effect of these drugs with their potential for causing bleeding. In response to this need, we have developed a rapid platelet-function assay (RPFA), a point-of-care system that provides a quantitative measure of the competence of the GP IIb/IIIa receptor as reflected in the ability of platelets to agglutinate fibrinogen-coated beads. METHODS AND RESULTS Polystyrene beads were coated with fibrinogen and placed in a cartridge along with a lyophilized peptide that activates the thrombin receptor. Anticoagulated whole blood was added to the cartridge, and then a microprocessor-controlled operation mixed the reagents and detected agglutination between platelets and coated beads. Quantitative digital results were displayed within 3 minutes. Because there is no dilution of the blood, the assay can be used to measure platelet activity in samples that have been treated with GP IIb/IIIa antagonists with high dissociation rates. RPFA results of whole-blood samples treated with different GP IIb/IIIa antagonists correlated well with both conventional turbidimetric platelet aggregation (r2=0.95) and the percentage of free GP IIb/IIIa molecules in the sample (r2=0.96). The mean difference in measurements between RPFA and aggregometry was -4% (+/-4% SD), and the mean difference in measurements between RPFA and free GP IIb/IIIa receptors was -2% (+/-6% SD). CONCLUSIONS The RPFA provides rapid information on platelet function that mirrors turbidimetric platelet aggregation and reflects GP IIb/IIIa receptor blockade.
Cognitive Stages in Visual Data Exploration

Data exploration requires forming analysis goals, planning actions and evaluating results effectively, all of which are complex cognitive activities. Therefore, the data exploration and analysis process can be improved through a principled and comprehensive approach to analyzing the cognitive activities of the user given a data exploration tool. However, many taxonomies and evaluations focus on a specific tool or specific design guides instead of cognitive activities comprehensively. In this paper, we first present the Cognitive Exploration Framework that identifies six stages of cognitive activities in visual data exploration. These stages are a combination of two activities---planning and assessing---across data analysis, interaction, and visualization. Cognitive barriers in each stage can lower the success and speed of data exploration. The framework also identifies the factors of decision-making, existing knowledge and motivation that influence cognitive activities. We argue that cognitive stages can be supported by improving the design of tools rather than their computing capabilities. We demonstrate how the framework clarifies the structured relationship between design guides to specific cognitive stages. In particular, the framework can also be used to guide evaluation of data exploration tools. To reveal cognitive barriers in each stage, we focused on the failures instead of success stories, and on motivating self-driven open-ended exploration instead of using benchmarked tasks on fixed datasets. With these goals, we studied short-term casual use of an exploratory tool by novices with limited training. Our results reveal cognitive barriers across all stages. We also discuss directions for future research and applications.
Improving T-Cell Assays for the Diagnosis of Latent TB Infection: Potential of a Diagnostic Test Based on IP-10

Background There is a need for simple tools such as the M.tuberculosis specific IFN-γ release assays (IGRA) to improve diagnosis of M.tuberculosis-infection in children. The aim of the study was to evaluate the performance of an IP-10 and IL-2 based tests for the diagnosis of M.tuberculosis-infection in recently exposed children from Nigeria. Methodology and Principal Findings Samples were obtained from 59 children at high risk of infection with M.tuberculosis (contacts of adults with smear and culture-positive tuberculosis) and 61 at low risk (contacts of smear-negative/culture-positive tuberculosis or community controls). IP-10 and IL-2 was measured in plasma after stimulation of whole-blood with M.tuberculosis specific antigens and mitogen. Previously developed criteria for positive IP-10 and IL-2 tests were used and the diagnostic performances of the IP-10 and IL-2 tests were compared with the Quantiferon In-Tube (QFT-IT) and the Tuberculin Skin Tests (TST). In response to M.tuberculosis specific antigens, the high-risk children expressed significantly higher levels of IP-10 (1358 pg/ml[IQR 278–2535 pg/ml]) and IL-2 (164 pg/ml[11–590 pg/ml]) than low risk groups 149 pg/ml(25–497 pg/ml), and 0 pg/ml(0–3 pg/ml), respectively. There was excellent agreement (>89%,k>0.80) between IP-10, IL-2 tests and QFT-IT, better than with TST (>74%,k>0.49). The IP-10 and IL-2 responses were strongly associated with M.tuberculosis exposure and with grade of infectiousness of the index cases (p<0.0001). IP-10, IL-2, and TST but not QFT-IT was associated with age of the child in the low risk groups (p<0.02). Conclusions/Significance IP-10 is expressed in high levels and results of the IP-10 test were comparable to the QFT-IT. IL-2 was released in low amounts in response to the antigens and not in response to the mitogen therefore IL-2 seems a less useful marker. We have demonstrated that IP-10 and possibly IL-2 could be alternative or adjunct markers to IFN-γ in the diagnosis infection with M.tuberculosis.
FSR 1767 – a new globular cluster in the Galaxy

The globular cluster (GC) nature of the recently catalogued candidate FSR 1767 is established in the present work. It turns out to be the closest GC so far detected in the Galaxy. The nature of this object is investigated by means of 2MASS colour–magnitude diagrams (CMDs), the stellar radial density profile (RDP) and proper motions (PM). The properties are consistent with an intermediate-metallicity ([Fe/H]≈−1.2) GC with a well-defined turnoff (TO), red giant branch (RGB) and blue horizontal branch (HB). The distance of FSR 1767 from the Sun is d⊙≈ 1.5 kpc, and it is located at the Galactocentric distance RGC≈ 5.7 kpc. With the space velocity components (V, W) = (184 ± 14, −43 ± 14) km s−1, FSR 1767 appears to be a Palomar-like GC with MV≈−4.7, which currently lies ≈57 pc below the Galactic plane. The RDP is well represented by a King profile with the core and tidal radii Rcore= 0.24 ± 0.08 pc and Rtidal= 3.1 ± 1.0 pc, respectively, with a small half-light radius Rh= 0.60 ± 0.15 pc. The optical absorption is moderate for an infrared GC, AV= 6.2 ± 0.3, which together with its central direction and enhanced contamination explains why it has so far been overlooked.