Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
An ontology clarification tool for word sense disambiguation

This paper presents a method for word sense disambiguation based on Lesk algorithm which uses lexical database WordNet as knowledge base. The word sense disambiguation is the process of automatically clarifying a meaning of a word in its context. In general, ontology means the meaning or analogous term. It can be interpreted by relating the word with other words in the sentence. This tool accepts English statement as input and gives best possible meaning of given word. Method is experimented with senseval-2 test data for lexical sample task. The results show the betterment over the original Lesk algorithm.
Animal issues associated with Escherichia coli O157:H7.

O157:H7 infections will require the imple-mentation of intervention strategies throughout thefood continuum, from farm to table. Promising inter-vention measures at the farm include competitiveexclusion bacteria, bacteriophage, and targeted animalmanagement practices addressing common points ofcontamination. Innovative intervention treatments areunder development for use by food processors; howev-er, most treatments have limitations that restrict theiruse to specific types of foods. For example, irradiationcan create major off odors and flavors in foods that con-tain more than 10% fat. Consumers also have a role inimplementing intervention controls in food handlingand preparation. Unfortunately, many consumers eathigh-risk foods, improperly handle and store foods, andignore warnings regarding foods known to be unsafe.We all have a role in reducing the risk of foodborne ill-ness, including
A Framework for Categorizing Chronically Problematic Sexual Behavior

ABSTRACT This article introduces a framework for categorizing chronically problematic sexual behavior. It identifies patterns of commitment violations, values conflicts, diminished self-control, negative consequences, and lack of sexual responsibility as independent categories of chronically problematic sexual behavior. It recognizes that many forms of problematic sexual behavior can be reduced or eliminated by changing either sexual or nonsexual components of a person's life. This framework does not use the type or frequency of sexual behavior as an assessment variable. It neither postulates causes of problematic sexual behavior nor offers techniques for its reduction or elimination. This framework does not replace any existing theories or assistance models. Since it is capable of supporting theories representing many different perspectives, it expands the potential for interdisciplinary collaboration to widen the range of options available to more people who want to reduce or eliminate chronically problematic aspects of their sexual behavior.
Service coverage for cognitive radio networks with cooperative relays in shadowed hotspot areas

In this paper, we investigate the service coverage for interweaving cognitive radio networks with cooperative relays in shadowed areas within the metropolitan region. We highlight the influence of relays on the primary and secondary systems in severe shadow fading channels. The outage probability is utilized as a comprehensive performance metric to characterize the coverage quality for the cognitive radio system with relays. We show that cooperative spectrum sensing among the secondary transmitter and relays can improve the vacant spectrum detection probability and the false alarm probability, thereby making the additionally introduced interference by relays to be constrained within a tolerable limit. Overall, our analysis unveils that both the spectrum utilization rate and the spatial coverage can be significantly improved through the use of the relays, and there exists the spatial selectivity phenomena for both the primary and secondary systems.
ffect of the sampling design of ground control points on the geometric orrection of remotely sensed imagery

The acquirement of ground control points (GCPs) is a basic and important step in the geometric correction of remotely sensed imagery. In particular, the spatial distribution of GCPs may affect the accuracy and quality of image correction. In this paper, both a simulation experiment and actual-image analyses are carried out to investigate the effect of the sampling design for selecting GCPs on the geometric
Interactive computer/network-based program for teaching English as a foreign language in the elementary levels in Saudi Arabia

This is an ongoing experimental study aims to investigate the impact of computer-assisted language learning (CALL) and software design on both the achievement of the learners of English as a foreign language (EFL) and their attitudes toward learning EFL on upper-elementary level students. It examines both variables (performance and attitudes) before and after the implementation of computers and learning at home via the Internet. The field study is taking place at the College of Administrative Sciences — King Saud University (KSU) in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. Prior to the study, the researcher conducted a motivational and attitudinal survey of the subjects, which was adapted from Gardner's Attitude/Motivation Test Battery with modifications. The survey intended to examine 150 Saudi freshmen student's attitudes in KSU toward leaning EFL using audio-lingual and grammar translation methods and traditional teaching aids in school. The survey's results showed negative attitudes held by students toward learning English using traditional teaching aids i.e textbook and paper handouts. The subjects of the current study have reached about 100 students in different phases till the beginning of 2011. All students are freshman males who take this general English course (Eng 101) as a requisite for their B.A program. The study period was one semester of about 16 weeks, during which the students experienced a completely new way of learning English through computers and the Internet. To measure the students' progress the researcher ran a pre-test and a post test for the experimental group. At the same time a control group who studied the same course took a pre-test and a post-test to measure and compare their performance with the experimental group. Results showed that the experimental group outperformed the control group by 25%. As to the experimental attitudes toward using computers and audiovisual technology students attitudes were remarkable positive. It will be useful to see how the design and implementation of computer programs can help enhancing the learning outcomes. The designed program will be reviewed during the presentation session so as the researcher and the designing team could benefit from the valuable input from experts in the fields of language learning, e-learning and educational software designers.
Effects of High Pressure Homogenization on the Activity, Stability, Kinetics and Three-Dimensional Conformation of a Glucose Oxidase Produced by Aspergillus niger

High pressure homogenization (HPH) is a non-thermal method, which has been employed to change the activity and stability of biotechnologically relevant enzymes. This work investigated how HPH affects the structural and functional characteristics of a glucose oxidase (GO) from Aspergillus niger. The enzyme was homogenized at 75 and 150 MPa and the effects were evaluated with respect to the enzyme activity, stability, kinetic parameters and molecular structure. The enzyme showed a pH-dependent response to the HPH treatment, with reduction or maintenance of activity at pH 4.5–6.0 and a remarkable activity increase (30–300%) at pH 6.5 in all tested temperatures (15, 50 and 75°C). The enzyme thermal tolerance was reduced due to HPH treatment and the storage for 24 h at high temperatures (50 and 75°C) also caused a reduction of activity. Interestingly, at lower temperatures (15°C) the activity levels were slightly higher than that observed for native enzyme or at least maintained. These effects of HPH treatment on function and stability of GO were further investigated by spectroscopic methods. Both fluorescence and circular dichroism revealed conformational changes in the molecular structure of the enzyme that might be associated with the distinct functional and stability behavior of GO.
Gross and microscopic lesions in the female SENCAR mouse skin and lung in tumor initiation and promotion studies.

The skin and lung tissues from SENCAR mice used as part of the Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA's) Carcinogenesis Testing Matrix were examined. This study included SENCAR mice used in three different short-term bioassay protocols in which the skin papilloma assay was used to identify initiators, promoters, and complete carcinogens. Also included were the pathology findings from SENCAR mice used in the combined bioassay in which the skin assay and the lung adenoma assay were conducted simultaneously. The gross and microscopic features of treatment-associated and spontaneous lesions of the skin and lung of the SENCAR mouse used in these studies are defined and the lesions most commonly observed are described. Generally, gross observations and microscopic findings in both the skin and lung tissues were poorly correlated. Although there are several definite criteria on which gross interpretations of the various skin and lung lesions can be made, with the exception of pedunculated squamous cell papillomas and the classic squamous cell carcinomas, the various lesion types had a wide variety of clinical presentations that severely compromised the accuracy of gross diagnosis. Further, in the case of benign skin neoplasms, malignant transformation of these tumors most often occurred at the base of the lesion and was initially hidden from gross observation. As a result, approximately 50% of the neoplasms interpreted clinically as benign tumors (papillomas and keratoacanthomas) were actually malignant neoplasms. Moreover, many lesions determined grossly to be nontumorous were in fact found to be neoplastic when examined microscopically. The SENCAR mouse was found to be more responsive in the lung adenoma assay than other strains examined with exception of the Strain A. Although accurate interpretation of the lung lesions in the SENCAR was compromised by nonneoplastic treatment-associated and/or spontaneous lesions, the feasibility of using the SENCAR skin and lung as target tissues in two-stage combined carcinogenesis studies merits further consideration. ImagesFIGURE 1.FIGURE 2.FIGURE 3.FIGURE 4.FIGURE 5.FIGURE 6.FIGURE 7.FIGURE 8.FIGURE 9.FIGURE 10.FIGURE 11.FIGURE 12.FIGURE 13.FIGURE 14.FIGURE 15.FIGURE 16.FIGURE 17.
On Adaptive Control With Closed-Loop Reference Models: Transients, Oscillations, and Peaking

One of the main features of adaptive systems is an oscillatory convergence that exacerbates with the speed of adaptation. Recently, it has been shown that closed-loop reference models (CRMs) can result in improved transient performance over their open-loop counterparts in model reference adaptive control. In this paper, we quantify both the transient performance in the classical adaptive systems and their improvement with CRMs. In addition to deriving bounds on L-2 norms of the derivatives of the adaptive parameters that are shown to be smaller, an optimal design of CRMs is proposed that minimizes an underlying peaking phenomenon. The analytical tools proposed are shown to be applicable for a range of adaptive control problems including direct control and composite control with observer feedback. The presence of CRMs in adaptive backstepping and adaptive robot control is also discussed. Simulation results are presented throughout this paper to support the theoretical derivations.
A Study of Adaptive Forward Error Correction for Wireless Collaborative Computing

This paper addresses the problem of reliably multicasting Web resources across wireless local area networks (WLANs) in support of collaborative computing applications. An adaptive forward error correction (FEC) protocol is described, which adjusts the level of redundancy in the data stream in response to packet loss conditions. The proposed protocol is intended for use on a proxy server that supports mobile users on a WLAN. The software architecture of the proxy service and the operation of the adaptive FEC protocol are described. The performance of the protocol is evaluated using both experimentation on a mobile computing testbed as well as simulation. The results of the performance study show that the protocol can quickly accommodate worsening channel characteristics in order to reduce delay and increase throughput for reliable multicast channels.
Intertemporal Equilibria in the Public Banking Sector in Turkey

This paper presents an intertemporal model and an empirical examination of service performance, and service quality in the public banking sector in Turkey, and shows that the sector in question is trapped into a stable intertemporal equilibrium characterized by mediocre levels of service performance and service quality. The model enables us to present an empirically-demonstrated solution to the problem of this mediocre performance-mediocre quality trap. Our suggested solution, which involves performance-enhancing productivity increases, helps the sector to move from the mediocre performance-mediocre quality equilibrium to a high performance-high quality equilibrium. JEL Classification Codes: G10, G21.
A Multi-Layer Approach for Improving the Scalability of Vehicular Ad-Hoc Networks

Inter-Vehicle Communication (IVC) and its diverse possibilities for telematics and on-line safety applications have led to great interest in both academia and industry. Especially the broadcast-based dissemination of automatically generated, local danger warning messages in such networks bears huge potential to increase both driver safety and comfort. However, the shared wireless medium that is used for the data exchange may quickly become overloaded. To enable inter-vehicular networks that work properly in case of varying network load and vehicle density, novel approaches must be defined that ensure the reliable and timely delivery of highly relevant messages. In this work, we propose a holistic framework that spans over both the application and the MAC layer and facilitates the scalability of VANETs by introducing information differentiation. We present diverse strategies to modify the packet broadcast sequence as well as the MAC functionality according to the benefit messages are expected to provide to adjacent network nodes. A comprehensive simulation setup is leveraged to prove the advantages of our concept.
Regulation of the urokinase-type plasminogen activator system by the von Hippel-Lindau tumor suppressor gene.

The urokinase-type plasminogen activator (uPA) system plays an important role in tumor cell invasion, metastases, and angiogenesis. uPA, uPA receptor, and plasminogen activator inhibitor 1 (PAI-1) are prognostic factors in different solid tumors, e.g., renal cell carcinomas (RCCs). von Hippel-Lindau (VHL) disease is an inherited cancer syndrome that is characterized by extensively vascularized tumors, including hemangioblastomas and RCCs. In 75% of sporadic RCCs, the VHL gene is also inactivated. It has been recognized in sporadic RCC that PAI-1 mRNA levels are up-regulated and uPA mRNA levels are down-regulated. We determined the role of the VHL tumor suppressor gene in the regulation of the uPA system in RCC. In 786-O RCC cells expressing the wild-type (wt) VHL gene, we measured a 3-fold higher overall urokinase activity than in 786-O cells expressing a mutant VHL gene or lacking VHL. uPA mRNA and protein levels were higher in cells with wt VHL compared with cells with mutant VHL or lacking VHL. In addition, PAI-1 mRNA and protein levels were dramatically increased in 786-O cells with mutant VHL or lacking VHL, compared with cells expressing wt VHL. Our results provide further evidence that the VHL gene plays an important role in the process of angiogenesis by regulation of plasmin-mediated proteolysis of the extracellular matrix and may explain why VHL-induced RCCs grow slowly and metastasize relatively late.
Computation of canonical forms for ternary cubics

In this paper we conduct a careful study of the equivalence classes of ternary cubics under general complex linear changes of variables. Our new results are based on the method of moving frames and involve triangular decompositions of algebraic varieties. We provide a computationally efficient algorithm that matches an arbitrary ternary cubic with its canonical form and explicitly computes a corresponding linear change of coordinates. We also describe a classification of the symmetry groups of ternary cubics.
Fuzzy Logic Vector Control of PMSM with Fuzzy Kalman Filter for the Estimation of Speed and Rotor Position

In this paper a fuzzy logic based intelligent Extended Kalman filter (EKF) is used for the estimation of speed, rotor position ,direct and quadrature axis current of permanent magnet synchronous motor thereby eliminating the problem of design and tuning of process covariance matrix in EKF algorithm. Unlike in the previous approaches the present work uses only the sensed line currents as measurements, and thus following a blind system identification approach. A fuzzy logic control technique is utilized for control purpose. The results show the improvement in convergence of EKF algorithm when intelligent technique is introduced in it.
Yield optimization for radio frequency receiver at system level

This paper is devoted to the yield optimization of the radio-frequency (RF) front-end of wireless receiver. The yield together with the circuit performances are often sensitive to the choice of parameters of its components and blocks, and can be improved at circuit design level. However, it is better evaluated when considering the whole receiver at system level. For this purpose, we first use a design of experiment (DoE) technique to generate meta-models of the building blocks. Then, we apply a version of the stochastic gradient method to find a good approximation of the optimum for the circuit yield.
Psychiatrische Erkrankungen bei Bundeswehrsoldaten

Thema: Seit der militarischen Intervention im Kosovo 1999 haben die Auslandseinsatze der Bundeswehr eine neue Dimension erreicht. Es wird untersucht, ob es in der Folgezeit zu Veranderungen in der Inanspruchnahme militarmedizinischer Versorgungsangebote aufgrund psychiatrischer Krankheitsbilder bei Soldaten gekommen ist. Methodik: Fur die Jahre 2000 und 2006 wurden die zentral archivierten ambulanten (hausarztliche Versorgung) und stationaren (psychiatrische Fachabteilungen in Bundeswehrkrankenhausern) psychiatrischen Erkrankungsstatistiken der Bundeswehr ausgewertet. Ergebnisse: 2006 begaben sich prozentual zum gesamten Personalumfang signifikant mehr Bundeswehrsoldaten beiderlei Geschlechts (Frauen mehr als Manner) aufgrund einer psychiatrischen Erkrankung in ambulante oder stationare Behandlung als 2000. Die Unterschiede waren vor allem auf Anstiege belastungsreaktiver Storungen (F43) zuruckzufuhren. In den Bundeswehrkrankenhausern stieg zusatzlich der Anteil psychiatrischer und insbesondere belastungsreaktiver Storungen an der Gesamtzahl stationarer Patienten signifikant an; diese benotigten einen uberproportional hoheren Anteil an Behandlungstagen als die sonstigen Erkrankungen. Diskussion: Verschiedene Erklarungsansatze der Veranderungen sowie Auswirkungen auf den psychiatrischen Versorgungsbedarf in der Bundeswehr werden diskutiert.
Rapid development of manifold-based graph optimization systems for multi-sensor calibration and SLAM

Non-linear optimization on constraint graphs has recently been applied very successfully in a variety of SLAM backends. We combine this technique with a principled way of handling non-Euclidean spaces, 3D orientations in particular, based on manifolds to build a generic and very flexible framework, the Manifold Toolkit for Matlab (MTKM). We show that MTKM makes it particularly easy to solve non-trivial multi-sensor calibration problems while remaining generic enough to handle a very different class of problems, namely SLAM, as well: After an introductory example on single camera calibration we apply MTKM to calibration of stereo vision and IMU w.r. t. the kinematic chain of a service robot, RGB-D and accelerometer calibration of a Microsoft Kinect, stereo calibration on a Nao soccer robot, and several SLAM benchmark data sets illustrating MTKM's versatility. MTKM and all presented examples are available as open source from http://openslam.org/MTK.html.
A New QTL for Plant Height in Barley (Hordeum vulgare L.) Showing No Negative Effects on Grain Yield

Introduction Reducing plant height has played an important role in improving crop yields. The success of a breeding program relies on the source of dwarfing genes. For a dwarfing or semi-dwarfing gene to be successfully used in a breeding program, the gene should have minimal negative effects on yield and perform consistently in different environments. Methods In this study, 182 doubled haploid lines, generated from a cross between TX9425 and Naso Nijo, were grown in six different environments to identify quantitative trait loci (QTL) controlling plant height and investigate QTL × environments interaction. Results A QTL for plant was identified on 7H. This QTL showed no significant effects on other agronomic traits and yield components and consistently expressed in the six environments. A sufficient allelic effect makes it possible for this QTL to be successfully used in breeding programs.
Rearrangement of synaptic connections with inhibitory neurons in developing mouse visual cortex

Cortical inhibition is determined in part by the organization of synaptic inputs to γ‐aminobutyric acidergic (GABAergic) neurons. In adult rat visual cortex, feedforward (FF) and feedback (FB) connections that link lower with higher areas provide ∼10% of inputs to parvalbumin (PV)‐expressing GABAergic neurons and ∼90% to non‐GABAergic cells (Gonchar and Burkhalter [1999] J. Comp. Neurol. 406:346–360). Although the proportions of these targets are similar in both pathways, FF synapses prefer larger PV dendrites than FB synapses, which may result in stronger inhibition in the FF than in the FB pathway (Gonchar and Burkhalter [1999] J. Comp. Neurol. 406:346–360). To determine when during postnatal (P) development FF and FB inputs to PV and non‐PV neurons acquire mature proportions, and whether the pathway‐specific distributions of FF and FB inputs to PV dendrites develop from a similar pattern, we studied FF and FB connections between area 17 and the higher order lateromedial area (LM) in visual cortex of P15–42 mice. We found that the innervation ratio of PV and non‐PV neurons is mature at P15. Furthermore, the size distributions of PV dendrites contacted by FF and FB synapses were similar at P15 but changed during the third to sixth postnatal weeks so that, by P36–42, FF inputs preferred thick dendrites and FB synapses favored thin PV dendrites. These results suggest that distinct FF and FB circuits develop after eye opening by rearranging the distribution of excitatory synaptic inputs on the dendritic tree of PV neurons. The purpose of this transformation may be to adjust differentially the strengths of inhibition in FF and FB circuits. J. Comp. Neurol. 464:426–437, 2003. © 2003 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.