Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Context-dependent phrasal translation lexicons for statistical machine translation

Most current statistical machine translation (SMT) systems make very little use of contextual information to select a translation candidate for a given input language phrase. However, despite evidence that rich context features are useful in stand-alone translation disambiguation tasks, recent studies reported that incorporating context-rich approaches from Word Sense Disambiguation (WSD) methods directly into classic word-based SMT systems, surprisingly, did not yield the expected improvements in translation quality. We argue here that, instead, it is necessary to design a contextdependent lexicon that is specifically matched to a given phrase-based SMT model, rather than simply incorporating an independently built and tested WSD module. In this approach, the baseline SMT phrasal lexicon, which uses translation probabilities that are independent of context, is augmented with a context-dependent score, defined using insights from standalone translation disambiguation evaluations. This approach reliably improves performance on both IWSLT and NIST ChineseEnglish test sets, producing consistent gains on all eight of the most commonly used automated evaluation metrics. We analyze the behavior of the model along a number of dimensons, including an analysis confirming that the most important context features are not available in conventional phrase-based SMT models.
Smart Home Research: Projects and Issues

Smart Homes are environments facilitated with technology that act in a protective and proactive function to assist an inhabitant in managing their daily lives specific to their individual needs. A typical Smart Home implementation would include sensors and actuators to detect changes in status and to initiate beneficial interventions. This paper aims to introduce the diversity of recent Smart Home research and to present the challenges that are faced not only by engineers and potential inhabitants; but also by policy makers and healthcare professionals
CELL WALL COMPOSITION AND VIRULENCE IN ESCHERICHIA COLI

Uridine diphosphate galactose 4-epimerase and phosphomannose isomerase-deficient mutants of Escherichia coli O111:B4 were studied to test the hypothesis that in E. coli a specific relationship exists between O antigenicity, virulence, and capacity to resist phagocytosis. The first mutant, designated J-5, produces a cell wall lipopolysaccharide, the side chains of which do not contain galactose, glucose, N-acetylglucosamine, or colitose. The second mutant produces a cell wall lipopolysaccharide which lacks only colitose. The capacity of these various organisms to kill mice was strikingly different. E. coli O111 was 1000 times as virulent as J-5, and 100 times as virulent as L-2. The capacity of the organisms to kill mice was correlated with their ability to resist phagocytosis and to persist in the peritoneal cavity. The parent strain of O111 resisted phagocytosis by macrophages in vivo and polymorphonuclear leukocytes in vitro. The mutants did not, and the organism most deficient in the saccharide component of its LPS was most susceptible to phagocytosis and least virulent. These results were corroborated by growing the mutants in appropriately supplemented media which permitted the synthesis of complete LPS, reversed the susceptibility to phagocytosis, and restored virulence. Finally, serological reactivity was consistent with previous observations which had demonstrated that the O antigenicity of E. coli is determined by the saccharide composition of its cell wall lipopolysaccharide. Despite the difference in the capacity of the various log-phase organisms to kill mice when injected intraperitoneally, purified lipopolysaccharides extracted from them did not differ significantly in their capacity to kill or produce fever. Thus virulence was shown to be independent of endotoxin activity which in turn seemed to be unrelated to the saccharide composition of the cell wall LPS. Collectively, these data provide at least a partial molecular definition of virulence in E. coli by demonstrating that the presence or absence of specific sugars in its cell wall lipopolysaccharide is a determinant of its antiphagocytic capacity and its virulence.
Subliminally and Supraliminally Acquired Long-Term Memories Jointly Bias Delayed Decisions

Common wisdom and scientific evidence suggest that good decisions require conscious deliberation. But growing evidence demonstrates that not only conscious but also unconscious thoughts influence decision-making. Here, we hypothesize that both consciously and unconsciously acquired memories guide decisions. Our experiment measured the influence of subliminally and supraliminally presented information on delayed (30–40 min) decision-making. Participants were presented with subliminal pairs of faces and written occupations for unconscious encoding. Following a delay of 20 min, participants consciously (re-)encoded the same faces now presented supraliminally along with either the same written occupations, occupations congruous to the subliminally presented occupations (same wage-category), or incongruous occupations (opposite wage-category). To measure decision-making, participants viewed the same faces again (with occupations absent) and decided on the putative income of each person: low, low-average, high-average, or high. Participants were encouraged to decide spontaneously and intuitively. Hence, the decision task was an implicit or indirect test of relational memory. If conscious thought alone guided decisions (= H0), supraliminal information should determine decision outcomes independently of the encoded subliminal information. This was, however, not the case. Instead, both unconsciously and consciously encoded memories influenced decisions: identical unconscious and conscious memories exerted the strongest bias on income decisions, while both incongruous and congruous (i.e., non-identical) subliminally and supraliminally formed memories canceled each other out leaving no bias on decisions. Importantly, the increased decision bias following the formation of identical unconscious and conscious memories and the reduced decision bias following to the formation of non-identical memories were determined relative to a control condition, where conscious memory formation alone could influence decisions. In view of the much weaker representational strength of subliminally vs. supraliminally formed memories, their long-lasting impact on decision-making is noteworthy.
Adopting Formal Approaches for Monitoring Sensors of Intercloud Systems

The coordination of resources offered by multiple cloud providers to the end users aims to improve the Quality of Service. However, such systems exhibit a higher complexity and heterogeneity, which need to be handled correctly. In a large network of sensors provided by an Intercloud, the role of the monitoring processes is to identify existing issues and further report them for reconfiguration. Faulty monitors might report nonexistent problems or neglect existing ones. Their correctness highly influences the reliability of the whole system. By formal modeling the monitoring processes, this paper aims to improve the robustness of the system and to capture fundamental properties of monitors. The Abstract State Machine formal method is used for creating the models, which follow a modular approach.
Initial Modelling of the Alternative Phenotypes Hypothesis

The alternative phenotype hypothesis contends that multiple phenotypes exist in a single genotype and are expressed by environmental or genetic cues. It further states that these multiple phenotypes will be maintained and improved in a population where the environment is unstable, in spite of the in creased cost of this plasticity. In this work we propose a sim ple computational model to investigate the conditions under which alternative phenotypes become beneficial, and persis t over evolutionary timescales. We find that the environment must vary to realise this hypothesis, and that these adaptat ions not only provide a fitness benefit in highly unstable environments but also continue to arise despite increasing stabili ty and a corresponding gradual decline in fitness.
ISOLATION AND FERMENTATION CHARACTERISTICS OF STRAINS OF BUTYRIVIBRIO FROM RUMINAL INGESTA

Anaerobic, gram-negative, butyric acid-producing, curved rods have been isolated from the rumen of cattle and sheep by Hungate (1950), Huhtanen and Gall (1952), Wilson (1953), Maki and Foster (1957), and Gill and King (1958). Bryant and Small (1956) established a new genus, Butyrivibrio, for monotrichous strains of these bacteria. Organisms of this genus probably contribute significantly to the rumen fermentation since they have been isolated by several investigators in different areas of the country, they occur in relatively high numbers in rumen ingesta, they are able to ferment a variety of substrates normally present in the rumen, and they produce considerable amounts of fatty acids. The fermentation characteristics of the type culture in a rumen fluid-glucose medium were reported by Bryant and Small (1956). In view of the apparent importance of this genus an attempt was made, in the present investigation, to extend the observations of Branyt on the incidence of the genus and to determine the influence of environmental changes which are known to take place in the rumen upon the fermentation characteristics of this genus.
Broad Resistance to ACCase Inhibiting Herbicides in a Ryegrass Population Is Due Only to a Cysteine to Arginine Mutation in the Target Enzyme

Background The design of sustainable weed management strategies requires a good understanding of the mechanisms by which weeds evolve resistance to herbicides. Here we have conducted a study on the mechanism of resistance to ACCase inhibiting herbicides in a Lolium multiflorum population (RG3) from the UK. Methodology/Principal Findings Analysis of plant phenotypes and genotypes showed that all the RG3 plants (72%) that contained the cysteine to arginine mutation at ACCase codon position 2088 were resistant to ACCase inhibiting herbicides. Whole plant dose response tests on predetermined wild and mutant 2088 genotypes from RG3 and a standard sensitive population indicated that the C2088R mutation is the only factor conferring resistance to all ten ACCase herbicides tested. The associated resistance indices ranged from 13 for clethodim to over 358 for diclofop-methyl. Clethodim, the most potent herbicide was significantly affected even when applied on small mutant plants at the peri-emergence and one leaf stages. Conclusion/Significance This study establishes the clear and unambiguous importance of the C2088R target site mutation in conferring broad resistance to ten commonly used ACCase inhibiting herbicides. It also demonstrates that low levels “creeping”, multigenic, non target site resistance, is not always selected before single gene target site resistance appears in grass weed populations subjected to herbicide selection pressure.
How Does Equity Structure Impact M&A Decision? a Model Based on Private Benefits

This paper focus on the private benefit of large shareholder’s control right within the framework of Agency Theory 2 and construct a model which can illustrate how M&A decision can be impacted by acquirer’s equity structure. The model internalizes large shareholder’s private benefit as a function of the shareholding ratio and specifies the mechanism through which large shareholder’s shareholding ratio and ownership concentration impact the M&A decision. This paper provides theoretical foundation for those empirical literatures which analyze the M&As from the perspective of Agency Theory 2.
Treatment Method for Dispersion of Carbon Nanotubes: A Review

Polymer nanocomposites have a great interest because of special properties of carbon nanotubes (CNTs) as excellent for mechanical, chemical, electrical and thermal properties. CNTs are categorized as single walled nanotubes (SWCNTs) and multi walled nanotubes (MWCNTs). The largest challenge is how to achieve uniform distribution of CNTs within the polymer matrix due to CNTs tend to agglomerated because of their hydrophobic nature. The resulted from CNTs bundles or aggregates reduced the mechanical performance of the final polymer nanocomposites. The surface of the CNTs must be modifiy to reduce the hydrophobicity and improved the interfacial adhesion to a bulk polymer. This paper reviewed the two (2) treatments of CNTs such as physical methods and chemical methods to obtain a better dispersion and enhance the CNTs properties in polymer nanocomposites.
Multihop Routing Protocol with Unequal Clustering for Wireless Sensor Networks

In order to prolong the lifetime of wireless sensor networks, this paper presents a multihop routing protocol with unequal clustering (MRPUC). On the one hand, cluster heads deliver the data to the base station with relay to reduce energy consumption. On the other hand, MRPUC uses many measures to balance the energy of nodes. First, it selects the nodes with more residual energy as cluster heads, and clusters closer to the base station have smaller sizes to preserve some energy during intra-cluster communication for inter-cluster packets forwarding. Second, when regular nodes join clusters, they consider not only the distance to cluster heads but also the residual energy of cluster heads. Third, cluster heads choose those nodes as relay nodes, which have minimum energy consumption for forwarding and maximum residual energy to avoid dying earlier. Simulation results show that MRPUC performs much better than similar protocols.
Procoagulant Microparticles: Disrupting the Vascular Homeostasis Equation?

Apoptosis and vascular cell activation are main contributors to the release of procoagulant microparticles (MPs), deleterious partners in atherothrombosis. Elevated levels of circulating platelet, monocyte, or endothelial-derived MPs are associated with most of the cardiovascular risk factors and appear indicative of poor clinical outcome. In addition to being a valuable hallmark of vascular cell damage, MPs are at the crossroad of atherothrombosis processes by exerting direct effects on vascular or blood cells. Under pathological circumstances, circulating MPs would support cellular cross-talk leading to vascular inflammation and tissue remodeling, endothelial dysfunction, leukocyte adhesion, and stimulation. Exposed membrane phosphatidylserine and functional tissue factor (TF) are 2 procoagulant entities conveyed by circulating MPs. At sites of vascular injury, P-selectin exposure by activated endothelial cells or platelets leads to the rapid recruitment of MPs bearing the P-selectin glycoprotein ligand-1 and blood-borne TF, thereby triggering coagulation. Within the atherosclerotic plaque, sequestered MPs constitute the main reservoir of TF activity, promoting coagulation after plaque erosion or rupture. Lesion-bound MPs, eventually harboring proteolytic and angiogenic effectors are additional actors in plaque vulnerability. Pharmacological strategies aimed at modulating the release of procoagulant MPs appear a promising therapeutic approach of both thrombotic processes and bleeding disorders.
Introduction Polymorphic expression of glutathione transferases A 1 , M 1 , P 1 and T 1 in epithelial ovarian cancer : a Serbian case-control study

Purpose: Since several studies have proposed that epithelial ovarian cancer should not be considered as a single disease entity and that it results from an accumulation of genetic changes, we aimed to assess the polymorphic expression of major cytosolic glutathione S-transferases (GSTM1, T1, A1 and P1) with respect to ovarian cancer susceptibility and aggressiveness. Methods: This case-control study was conducted on 93 newly diagnosed epithelial ovarian cancer patients and 178 healthy matched controls. The multiplex polymerase chain reaction (PCR) was used to detect homozygous deletions of GSTM1 and GSTT1 genes. Analysis of the single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) GSTA1 C69T was performed using PCR-restriction fragment length polymorphism (RFLP), while for SNP GSTP1 Ile105Val real-time PCR was used. Results: No significant association to ovarian cancer risk was found for individual GSTM1, GSTA1 and GSTP1 genotypes (p>0.05). However, the carriers of GSTT1-active genotype were at 2-fold higher risk of ovarian cancer development (95%CI: 1.00-4.01, p=0.049), which was even more elevated in the subgroup of patients with positive family history of cancer. Moreover, the frequency of all three GST genotypes that might be associated to ovarian cancer risk (GSTT1-active, GSTA1-active and GSTP1-referent) was significantly higher in patients than in the control group (p=0.042). Even more, patients who were carriers of combination of these three genotypes represented over 64% of the total number of patients within any of the International Federation of Gynecology and Obstetrics (FIGO) stages of ovarian cancer. Conclusions: This study provides supportive evidence that GSTs might affect both susceptibility and progression of ovarian cancer.
A 8.9-ENOB 2.5-εW 150-KS/s non-binary redundant successive approximation ADC in 0.18-μm CMOS for bio-implanted devices

A successive approximation analog-to-digital converter (SAR ADC) with a split-capacitor switching scheme implementing the generalized non-binary redundant SAR algorithm and an energy efficient level shifter is proposed for bio-implanted applications. The generalized non-binary redundant SAR algorithm removes the radix constraint in conventional non-binary redundant SAR algorithm, and the energy efficient level shifter allows optimal power supplies to be chosen independently for the analog and digital blocks. A FOM of 34.7fJ/step has been achieved.
Influence of a hydrophobic resin coating on the microtensile dentin bond strength of a universal adhesive: in vitro study

4 Introduction. 5 Materials and methods. 8 Results. 13 Discussion. 15 Conclusion. 21 Acknowledgements. 22 References. 23 Influence of a hydrophobic resin coating on the microtensile dentin bond strength of a universal adhesive: in vitro study
CORROSION OF METALS IN ASSOCIATION WITH CONCRETE

The report evaluates the problem of the corrosion of reinforcing steel in concrete, its economics, and the types of structures affected. The mechanisms and specific aspects of this type of corrosion are also discussed, as well as factors affecting corrosion rate and methods of measurement. The subject is discussed in the following chapters: 1 - introduction and background; 2 - magnitude of the problem; 3 - fundamental mechanisms; 4 - factors influencing the rate of corrosion of steel in concrete; 5 - measurement of deterioration; 6 - fatigue of reinforced concrete and influence of environment; 7 - protection methods; 8 - standards; and, 9 - current and needed research. (TRRL)
Transmission blocking immunity in Plasmodium vivax malaria: antibodies raised against a peptide block parasite development in the mosquito vector

One approach towards the development of a vaccine against malaria is to immunize against the parasite sexual stages that mediate transmission of the parasite from man to mosquito. Antibodies against these stages, ingested with the blood meal, inhibit the parasite development in the mosquito vector, constituting "transmission blocking immunity. " Most epitopes involved in transmission-blocking immunity depend on the tertiary conformational structure of surface antigens. However, one of the transmission-blocking monoclonal antibodies we have raised against Plasmodium vivax reacts with a linear epitope on both asexual stages and gametes. This monoclonal antibody (A12) is capable of totally blocking development of the parasite in the mosquito host when tested in membrane feeding assays with gametocytes from P. vivax-infected patients. Immune screening of a P. vivax lambda gt11 genomic expression library with A12 led to the isolation of a clone to which was mapped the six-amino acid epitope recognized by A12. Antisera raised in mice against a 12-mer synthetic peptide containing this epitope coupled to bovine serum albumin not only had high titers of antipeptide antibodies as measured by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay, but in addition recognized the same 24- and 57-kD parasite components as A12 on Western blots and reacted with the parasite by immunofluorescence. When tested in membrane feeding assays, these antibodies have significant suppressive effects on parasite development in the mosquito.
Recent algorithms for fuzzy and neurofuzzy path planning and navigation of autonomous mobile robots

This paper reviews a number of recent algorithms for mobile robot path planning, navigation and motion control, which employ fuzzy logic and neuro-fuzzy learning and reasoning. Starting with a discussion of the structure of fuzzy and neuro-fuzzy systems, two fuzzy obstacle avoidance path planning algorithms are presented followed by a 3-level neuro-fuzzy local and global path planning scheme. Then the motion planning and control problem is considered. A fuzzy path tracking strategy is outlined, followed by a fuzzy navigation algorithm among polygonal obstacles and a learning-by-doing neuro-fuzzy motion planning scheme. The paper ends with a hybrid robust motion control technique which combines the minimum interference and sliding mode control principles with fuzzy inference. A representative set of examples are included which illustrate the performance of the algorithms under various realistic conditions.
A multi-class approach for modelling out-of-vocabulary words

In this paper we present a multi-class extension to our approach for modelling out-of-vocabulary (OOV) words [1]. Instead of augmenting the word search space with a single OOV model, we add several OOV models, one for each class of words. We present two approaches for designing the OOV word classes. The first approach relies on using common part-of-speech tags. The second approach is a data-driven two-step clustering procedure, where the first step uses agglomerative clustering to derive an initial class assignment, while the second step uses iterative clustering to move words from one class to another in order to reduce the model perplexity. We present experiments within the JUPITER weather information domain. Results show that the multi-class model significantly improves performance over using a single OOV class. For an OOV detection rate of 70%, the false alarm rate is reduced from 5.3% for a single class to 2.9% for an eight-class model.
Which Clicks Lead to Conversions? - Modeling User-journeys Across Multiple Types of Online Advertising

With an increase in the potential to allocate financial online advertising spending, managers are facing a sophisticated decision and allocation process. We developed a binary logit model with a Bayesian mixture approach to address consumers' buying decision processes and to account for the effects of multiple online advertising channels. By analyzing data from a medium-sized online mail order business, we found inherent differences in the effects of consumer clicks on purchasing probabilities across multiple advertising channels. We developed an alternative approach to account for the different attribution of success of advertising channels — the average success probability (ASP). Compared to standardized metrics, we found paid search advertising to be overestimated and retargeting display advertising to be underestimated. We further found that the mixture approach is useful for considering heterogeneity in the individual propensity of consumers to purchase; for the majority of consumers (more than 90%), repeated clicks on advertisements decrease their probability of purchasing. In contrast with this segment, we found a smaller segment of consumers (nearly 10%) whose clicks on advertisements increase conversion probabilities. Our approaches will help managers to better understand consumer online search and buying behavior over time and to allocate financial spending more efficiently across multiple types of online advertising.