Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
An Effective Approach to Educational Games

This paper discusses the efficiency of multiple educational game categories while imparting education, and presents a simulation based education delivery approach. This simulation aims to deliver knowledge through an upgraded version of traditional slide based lecture delivery, with key advantages being its non-programmatic, visual design technique, dynamic evolution of lecture flow and constant feedback to lecturers. It also aims to assess if it is justified for educational institutes to develop educational games as a means of stimulating students, and increasing their interest in studies.
A Neural Network Based Model for Loanword Identification in Uyghur

Lexical borrowing happens in almost all languages. To obtain more bilingual knowledge from monolingual corpora, we propose a neural network based loanword identiﬁcation model for Uyghur. We build our model on a bidirectional LSTM - CNN framework, which can capture past and future information effectively and learn both word level and character level features from training data automatically. To overcome data sparsity that exists in model training, we also suggest three additional features , such as hybrid language model feature, pronunciation similarity feature and part-of-speech tagging feature to further improve the performance of our proposed approach. We conduct experiments on Chinese, Arabic and Russian loanword detection in Uyghur. Experimental results show that our proposed method outperforms several baseline models.
Endothelial Progenitor Cells and Kidney Diseases

Endothelial progenitor cells (EPC) are bone marrow derived or tissue-resident cells that play major roles in the maintenance of vascular integrity and repair of endothelial damage. Although EPCs may be capable of directly engrafting and regenerating the endothelium, the most important effects of EPCs seem to be depended on paracrine effects. In recent studies, specific microvesicles and mRNAs have been found to mediate the pro-angiogenic and regenerative effects of EPCs on endothelium. EPC counts have important prognostic implications in cardiovascular diseases (CVD). Uremia and inflammation are associated with lower EPC counts which probably contribute to increased CVD risks in patients with chronic kidney disease. Beneficial effects of the EPC therapies have been shown in studies performed on different models of CVD and kidney diseases such as acute and chronic kidney diseases and glomerulonephritis. However, lack of a clear definition and specific marker of EPCs is the most important problem causing difficulties in interpretation of the results of the studies investigating EPCs.
Surveying Personal Information , Privacy and Security in Cloud Computing

Cloud computing is certainly revolutionary model which enables flexible, on-demand and low-cost usage of computing resources. Benefits of Cloud Computing are the sources of privacy and security problems, which emerge since the data owned by different consumers are kept in some cloud servers instead of under their own control. To handle security problems, numerous schemes in line with the Encryption algorithms have been proposed recently. However, the privacy issue of cloud computing is actually yet getting fixed. The privacy challenge is to design cloud services in such a manner as to decrease privacy risk and give compliance that is legal. For example, a business storing data about individual consumers using the cloud that is prominent company is sometimes highrisk. Clients may not be in a position to sue enterprises if their privacy rights tend to be violated. This paper surveys privacy issues and security in cloud computing.
Digital Comprehensive Summaries of Uppsala Dissertations from the Faculty of Medicine 1466 The γ-aminobutyric acid and proton signaling systems in the zebrafish brain Characterization and effect of stress

Cocco, A. 2018. The γ-aminobutyric acid and proton signaling systems in the zebrafish brain. Characterization and effect of stress. Digital Comprehensive Summaries of Uppsala Dissertations from the Faculty of Medicine 1466. 88 pp. Uppsala: Acta Universitatis Upsaliensis. ISBN 978-91-513-0344-4. The central nervous system of vertebrates is continuously processing sensory information relayed from the periphery, integrating it and producing outputs transmitted to efferents. In the brain, neurons employ an array of messenger molecules to filter afferent information and finely regulate synaptic transmission. The γ-aminobutyric acid (GABA) is the major inhibitory neurotransmitter in the adult vertebrate central nervous system, synthesized from α, L-glutamate by the glutamate decarboxylases (GADs). GABA promotes fast hyperpolarization of target cells mediated by the ionotropic, chloride-conducting type A GABA (GABAA) receptors. Those channels are homoor heteropentamers and, in the zebrafish, at least twenty-three genes encode for putative GABAA receptor subunits. The present PhD thesis presents the expression levels of the almost complete panel of the GABA signaling machinery in the adult zebrafish brain and retinas. The results point toward GABA signaling modalities in zebrafish strikingly similar to those observed in mammals. The most common GABAA receptor subunit combinations in the whole brain were proposed to be α1β2γ2 and α1β2δ, and region-specific GABAA channels were also inferred. Those included telencephalic α2bβ3γ2, α2bβ3δ, α5β2γ2, α5β3γ2 and cerebellar α4β2γ2 and α4β2δ. A tissue specific expression was documented for the paralogues α6a and α6b; the former was abundantly transcribed in the retinas, the latter in the cerebellum. Proposed retinal GABAA receptors were α1βxγ2, α1βxδ, α6aβxγ2 and α6aβxδ, with either β2 or β3. Focus was also placed on functional aspects of the GABA signaling system in the adult zebrafish brain, and specifically on the effects of stress on GABAA receptor subunits expression. Treated animals experienced social isolation and repeated confinement, and depicted increased mRNA levels of several GABAA receptor monomers. It was deduced that a higher number of extrasynaptic, tonic-current-mediating GABAA channels was synthesized in the brain following stress. As synaptic transmission promotes extracellular acidification, interest was also placed on the acid-sensing ion channel (ASIC) subunits. The overall results presented in this PhD thesis point toward GABA and proton signaling systems in the zebrafish brain that have many common points with those of mammals. Thus, fundamental signaling pathways appear to be conserved across vertebrates.
Founder Mutations for Early Onset Melanoma as Revealed by Whole Exome Sequencing Suggests That This is Not Associated with the Increasing Incidence of Melanoma in Poland

Purpose Germline mutations within melanoma susceptibility genes are present only in minority of melanoma patients and it is expected that additional genes will be discovered with next generation sequence technology and whole-exome sequencing (WES). Materials and Methods Herein we performed WES on a cohort of 96 unrelated Polish patients with melanoma diagnosed under the age of 40 years who all screened negative for the presence of CDKN2A variants. A replication study using a set of 1,200 melanoma patient DNA samples and similarly large series of healthy controls was undertaken. Results We selected 21 potentially deleterious variants in 20 genes (VRK1, MYCT1, DNAH14, CASC3, MS4A12, PRC1, WWOX, CARD6, EXO5, CASC3, CASP8AP2, STK33, SAMD11, CNDP2, CPNE1, EFCAB6, CABLES1, LEKR1, NUDT17, and RRP15), which were identified by WES and confirmed by Sanger sequencing for an association study. Evaluation of the allele distribution among carriers and their relatives in available family trios revealed that these variants were unlikely to account for many familial cases of melanoma. Replication study revealed no statistically significant differences between cases and controls. Conclusion Although most of the changes seemed to be neutral we could not exclude an association between variants in VRK1, CREB3L3, EXO5, and STK33 with melanoma risk.
A Site-Specific Nutrient Management Approach for Maize

Fertilizer recommendations in Thailand are obtained from simple experiments and extrapolated on generalized soil properties. Recent research using the Decision Support Systems for Agrotechnology Transfer (DSSAT-CERES-Maize) and the Phosphorus Decision Support System (PDSS) together with simplified soil test kits resulted in higher yields, greater economic return, and balanced fertilization. This technology was developed and tested in the maize belt area of four provinces in Thailand. More than 200 farmers and about 1,000 extension workers and academic officers have been trained in the approach. And more than 10,000 kits are being used by extension workers, academic officers, and farmer leaders. Maize is an important crop in Thailand, with about 1.7 million hectares (M ha) in production, mainly for use in animal feed. The government of Thailand wishes to increase productivity and total production of maize as part of its efforts to improve food security and farmer incomes, particularly in the maize belt (Lop Buri, Nakhon Sawan, Petchaboon, and Nakhon Ratchasima provinces) where about 0.5 M ha or 30% of the total crop is cultivated. The average maize farm size in Thailand is about 10 ha and the national average yield is presently about 3.7 t/ha (Agricultural Statistics, 2001), but larger yields of >6.0 t/ha have been obtained in experimental plots (Attanandana et al., 2000). Application of adequate quantities of plant nutrients is a key aspect of increasing maize productivity and production, particularly where farmers use hybrid maize with high yield potential. At present, recommendations supplied to farmers are very general (and often constrained by the nutrient content of particular fertilizer compounds available on local markets) rather than related to site-specific crop nutrient requirements. In addition, most existing fertilizer spreaders were not adjustable (Attanandana, et al., 2002a). These factors result in unbalanced and inefficient fertilizer use that results in poor economic returns to the farmer and inefficient use of costly imported fertilizer materials. Furthermore, when N and P are used in unbalanced nutrient programs, they may be in excess of crop demand and result in losses from the
‘Aye’ or ‘No’? Speech-level Sentiment Analysis of Hansard UK Parliamentary Debate Transcripts

Transcripts of UK parliamentary debates provide access to the opinions of politicians towards many important topics, but due to the large quantity of textual data and the specialised language used, they are not straightforward for human readers to process. We apply opinion mining methods to these transcripts to classify the sentiment polarity of speakers as being either positive or negative towards the motions proposed in the debates. We compare classiﬁcation performance on a novel corpus using both manually annotated sentiment labels and labels derived from the speakers’ votes (‘aye’ or ‘no’). We introduce a two-step classiﬁcation model, and evaluate the performance of both one-and two-step models, as well as the use of a range of textual and contextual features. Results suggest that textual features are more indicative of manually annotated class labels. Conversely, in addition to boosting performance, contextual metadata features are particularly indicative of vote labels. Use of the two-step debate model results in performance gains and appears to capture some of the complexity of the debate format. Optimum performance on this data is achieved using all features to train a multi-layer neural network, indicating that such models may be most able to exploit the relationships between textual and contextual cues in parliamentary debate speeches.
Landing practices of general aviation pilots in single-engine light airplanes

The methods and techniques used by a group of general aviation pilots during the landing phase of light airplane operations are documented. The results of 616 landings made by 22 pilots in 2 modern, four-place, single-engine, flight airplanes (one having a low wing and the other, a high wing) are presented. The landings were made on both a long runway (1524 m (5000 ft)) and a short runway (762 m (2500 ft)); both runways were considered typical of those used in general aviation. The results generally show that most of the approaches were fast with considerable floating during the flares and with touchdowns that were relatively flat or nose-low.
Evaluating Exercise as a Therapeutic Intervention for Methamphetamine Addiction-Like Behavior1

Abstract The need for effective treatments for addiction and dependence to the illicit stimulant methamphetamine in primary care settings is increasing, yet no effective medications have been FDA approved to reduce dependence [1]. This is partially attributed to the complex and dynamic neurobiology underlying the various stages of addiction [2]. Therapeutic strategies to treat methamphetamine addiction, particularly the relapse stage of addiction, could revolutionize methamphetamine addiction treatment. In this context, preclinical studies demonstrate that voluntary exercise (sustained physical activity) could be used as an intervention to reduce methamphetamine addiction. Therefore, it appears that methamphetamine disrupts normal functioning in the brain and this disruption is prevented or reduced by engaging in exercise. This review discusses animal models of methamphetamine addiction and sustained physical activity and the interactions between exercise and methamphetamine behaviors. The review highlights how methamphetamine and exercise affect neuronal plasticity and neurotoxicity in the adult mammalian striatum, hippocampus, and prefrontal cortex, and presents the emerging mechanisms of exercise in attenuating intake and in preventing relapse to methamphetamine seeking in preclinical models of methamphetamine addiction.
A network meta-analysis of comparison of operative time and complications of laparoscopy, laparotomy, and laparoscopic-assisted vaginal hysterectomy for endometrial carcinoma

Background: The endometrial carcinoma (EC) is the most frequently occurring female genital cancer. The authors performed this network meta-analysis to compare operative time and the incidence of bowel injury and wound infection of 3 operative approaches (laparoscopy, laparotomy, and laparoscopic-assisted vaginal hysterectomy [LAVH]) in the treatment of EC. Methods: The Cochrane Library, PubMed, and Embase databases were searched. Randomized controlled trials (RCTs) for EC from the day of databases establishment to February 2017 were included. Direct and indirect evidences were combined to calculate the combined weighted mean difference (WMD) or odd ratio values and the surface under the cumulative ranking curve (SUCRA) value of 3 operative approaches in the treatment of EC. Results: A total of 9 qualified RCTs were included into the study. The results showed that laparotomy had a shorter-operative time than LAVH (WMD = −40.36, 95% confidence interval = −75.03 to −2.57). However, there was no significant difference in the incidence of bowel injury and wound infection among 3 operative approaches. Besides, the SUCRA values indicated that laparotomy had the shortest operative time but the incidence of bowel injury and wound infection was relatively higher. Conclusion: The results from this study indicate that laparotomy had highest incidence of bowel injury and wound infection but shortest operative time among 3 operative approaches in the treatment of EC.
Apply or Die: On the Role and Assessment of Application Papers in Visualization

Application-oriented papers provide an important way to invigorate and cross-pollinate the visualization field, but the exact criteria for judging an application paper's merit remain an open question. This article builds on a panel at the 2016 IEEE Visualization Conference entitled "Application Papers: What Are They, and How Should They Be Evaluated? " that sought to gain a better understanding of prevalent views in the visualization community. This article surveys current trends that favor application papers, reviews the benefits and contributions of this paper type, and discusses their assessment in the review process. It concludes with recommendations to ensure that the visualization community is more inclusive to application papers.
Heavy metals contamination and accumulation in submerged macrophytes in an urban river in China

ABSTRACT Deteriorating urban water quality has attracted considerable attention in China. We investigated the contamination levels and distribution of heavy metals (As, Cd, Cu, Ni, Pb, and Zn) in Yuxi River water and sediments, and assessed the heavy metal accumulation capability of five species of submerged macrophytes: Vallisneria natans (Lour.) Hara, Potamogeton pectinatus L. , Hydrilla verticillata (L. f.) Royle, Myriophyllum spicatum L. , and Potamogeton crispus L. Samples were collected from upstream and downstream locations in different season. The results showed that the levels of heavy metals in the downstream areas were higher than in the upstream areas. Heavy metal concentrations in the river water during the dry seasons were higher than those during the rainy seasons, and the opposite results appeared in sediments and submerged macrophytes. In general, the river was slightly contaminated by heavy metals, and the concentrations of Pb and Ni in this river should serve as a warning, while Cd and Zn pollution in the sediments desperately needs to be removed. Furthermore, Potamogeton pectinatus L. showed a higher accumulation capacity for these metals among the five native submerged macrophytes and could be defined as a hyperaccumulator for Cd. Therefore, the potential use of native aquatic plants in contaminated rivers is worth further exploration.
Sources of Change in Energy Consumption in Iran: A Structural Decomposition Analysis

E nergy consumption has increased significantly in Iran during the recent decades. In this study, an inter-industrial model has been improved to investigate the sources of the changes in the energy consumption of the country. The input-output tables of Iran for the years 1988 and 2001 have been employed as the database of the model. The innovation of this research allows the researchers to study the sources of changes in energy consumption more specifically. It concerns decomposing the effect of changes in economic structure into input substitution, and backward linkage effects. The results show that the level of final demand, input substitution, and backward linkage effects lead to an increase in energy consumption in the country. In contrast, the energy intensity of products, the structural composition of the final demand, and the categorical composition of the final demand have reducing effects on energy consumption.
Mapping morphological shape as a high-dimensional functional curve

Detecting how genes regulate biological shape has become a multidisciplinary research interest because of its wide application in many disciplines. Despite its fundamental importance, the challenges of accurately extracting information from an image, statistically modeling the high-dimensional shape and meticulously locating shape quantitative trait loci (QTL) affect the progress of this research. In this article, we propose a novel integrated framework that incorporates shape analysis, statistical curve modeling and genetic mapping to detect significant QTLs regulating variation of biological shape traits. After quantifying morphological shape via a radius centroid contour approach, each shape, as a phenotype, was characterized as a high-dimensional curve, varying as angle θ runs clockwise with the first point starting from angle zero. We then modeled the dynamic trajectories of three mean curves and variation patterns as functions of θ. Our framework led to the detection of a few significant QTLs regulating the variation of leaf shape collected from a natural population of poplar, Populus szechuanica var tibetica. This population, distributed at altitudes 2000-4500 m above sea level, is an evolutionarily important plant species. This is the first work in the quantitative genetic shape mapping area that emphasizes a sense of 'function' instead of decomposing the shape into a few discrete principal components, as the majority of shape studies do.
Constructing a Lexicon of Relational Nouns

Relational nouns refer to an entity by virtue of how it relates to another entity. Their identiﬁcation in text is a prerequisite for the correct semantic interpretation of a sentence, and could be used to improve information extraction. Although various systems for extracting relations expressed using nouns have been developed, there are no dedicated lexical resources for relational nouns. We contribute a lexicon of 6,224 labeled nouns which includes 1,446 relational nouns. We describe the bootstrapped annotation of relational nouns, and develop a classiﬁer that achieves 70.4% F1 when tested on held out nouns that are among the most common 2,500 word types in Gigaword. We make the lexicon and classiﬁer available to the scientiﬁc community.
Zimbabwe and Malawi’s political and electoral intricacies: a comparative analysis

Zimbabwe and Malawi, while sharing a common historical background, have presented divergent political and socio-economic attributes. However, despite the two countries having shared the platform during the Federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland between 1953 and 1963, the attainment of political independence for each of these countries paved the way for the political nuances that prevailed in the post-colonial era. Democratic practice has been presented in each of these countries by the way they held and continue to hold elections. Electoral institutions and the attendant electoral management bodies in the two countries have shaped the politics of the two countries. The role of civil society has in the electoral processes in each of the two countries have also helped to shed light on the restrictiveness and/or transparency of the polls in each of the countries. This paper deliberates on the electoral intricacies that have obtained in each of the two countries.
A Corpus Study and Annotation Schema for Named Entity Recognition and Relation Extraction of Business Products

Recognizing non-standard entity types and relations, such as B2B products, product classes and their producers, in news and forum texts is important in application areas such as supply chain monitoring and market research. However, there is a decided lack of annotated corpora and annotation guidelines in this domain. In this work, we present a corpus study, an annotation schema and associated guidelines, for the annotation of product entity and company-product relation mentions. We find that although product mentions are often realized as noun phrases, defining their exact extent is difficult due to high boundary ambiguity and the broad syntactic and semantic variety of their surface realizations. We also describe our ongoing annotation effort, and present a preliminary corpus of English web and social media documents annotated according to the proposed guidelines.
SimLex-999 for Polish

The paper addresses the Polish version of SimLex-999 which we extended to contain not only measurement of similarity but also relatedness. The data was translated by three independent linguists; discrepancies in translation were resolved by a fourth person. The agreement rates between the translators were counted and an analysis of problems was performed. Then, pairs of words were rated by other annotators on a scale of 0–10 for similarity and relatedness of words. Finally, we compared the human annotations with the distributional semantics models of Polish based on lemmas and forms. We compared our work with the results reported for other languages.