Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Importance sampling using the semi-regenerative method

We discuss using the semi-regenerative method, importance sampling, and stratification to estimate the expected cumulative reward until hitting a fixed set of states for a discrete-time Markov chain on a countable state space. We develop a general theory for this problem and present several central limit theorems for our estimators. We also present some empirical results from applying these techniques to simulate a reliability model.
Choosing a platform as a service for software as a service provider

Cloud computing is still very sparsely researched, especially concerning platform as a service(PaaS) deployment model. PaaS model is still a very new in cloud computing and often confused with more familiar IaaS and SaaS models. First the basic concepts of cloud computing such as essential characters, deployment models and service models are presented and everything in cloud computing lean on these main concepts. The main objectives in this thesis are, to find out why PaaS is better alternative than building an own platform over a selected infrastructure, and to justify, why the selected PaaS is the most suitable for a cloud software project. PaaS has many advantages and concerns that must be sort out before a decision of deploying one can be made. With PaaS, developers do not need to know much about underlying cloud infrastructure and the infrastructure services are usually completely hidden, instead they can focus more on the development. PaaS platforms bring also a lot of cost reductions from reduced hardware needs, staff and more predictable expenditure. The biggest challenges in PaaS are the security and privacy concerns, and possible vendor lock-in risks. The four PaaS alternatives which are measured are Amazon Web Services with Beanstalks, Google App Engine, Heroku and Cloud Foundry. These are selected from number of alternatives together with the contractor. These four were among the most well-known PaaS providers and they were the most suitable with the contractor's project and with the criteria. To measure these, five justified criteria, which are derived from the literature, are defined. Measurable factors are derived from scalability, service agreements and vendor lock-in, security, framework and supported languages and pricing models. Choosing-by-advantage(CBA) decision making method is used to find out the best alternative. CBA is made for fast and sound decision making and it is based on the importance of advantages. The factors from the criteria are derived in away that they should uncover the advantages of each PaaS alternative. Disadvantages are also found out and listed to strengthen the decision further. With the help of the justified criteria and the CBA analysis, the goal is to support and justify the PaaS decision, which will be made.
Named entity recognition an aid to improve multilingual entity filling in language-independent approach

This paper details the approach to identify Named Entities (NEs) from a large non-English corpus and associate them with appropriate tags, requiring minimal human intervention and no linguistic expertise. The main objective in this paper is to focus on Indian languages like Telugu, Hindi, Tamil, Marathi, etc., which are considered to be resource-poor languages when compared to English. The inherent structure of Wikipedia was exploited in developing an efficient co-occurrence frequency based NE identification algorithm for Indian Languages. We describe the methods by which English Wikipedia data can be used to bootstrap the identification of NEs in other languages which generates a list of NE's. Later, the paper focuses on utilizing this NE list to improve multilingual Entity Filling which showed promising results. On a dataset of 2,622 Marathi Wikipedia articles, with around 10,000 NEs manually tagged, an F-Measure of 81.25% was achieved by our system without availing language expertise. Similarly, an F-measure of 80.42% was achieved on around 12,000 NEs tagged within 2,935 Hindi Wikipedia articles.
Fiberoptic Intubation and Laryngeal Morbidity: A Randomized Controlled Trial

Background:Tracheal intubation with neuromuscular blocking agents is associated with a low incidence of minor vocal cord sequelae (8%). The aim of this noninferiority trial was to demonstrate that the frequency of vocal cord sequelae after fiberoptic intubation with a flexible silicone tube without neuromuscular blocking agents was less than 25% (maximum tolerable inferiority). Methods:Two-hundred seventy patients were prospectively randomized to two groups. All intubations were performed by anesthesiologists with extensive experience in fiberoptic and conventional techniques. Fiberoptic nasotracheal intubation consisted of a bolus dose of 2 &mgr;g/kg fentanyl; 0.25 ml cocaine instillation, 10%, into nasal canals; cricothyroid injection of 2 ml lidocaine, 1%; bronchoscopy; administration of 0.3 mg/kg etomidate; and advancing a flexible silicone tube after loss of consciousness. Orotracheal intubation was performed with a polyvinyl chloride tube after induction with 2 &mgr;g/kg fentanyl, 2 mg/kg propofol, and 0.6 mg/kg rocuronium. Patients were examined by laryngoscopy before surgery, 24 h after surgery, and daily until complete restitution. Postoperative hoarseness was assessed by a standardized interview. Results:The incidence of vocal cord sequelae was 11 out of 130 (8.5%) in the fiberoptic group versus 12 out of 129 (9.3%) in the control group (chi-square = 0.057, df = 1, P = 0.81; upper limit of the one-sided 95% confidence interval for the difference: +5.1%). There were no persistent injuries. The incidence of postoperative hoarseness was 4% in both groups. Conclusions:Because fiberoptic intubation without neuromuscular blocking agents is safe regarding vocal cord sequelae, routine use is justified for anesthesiologists experienced in this technique.
When is it Appropriate for Children to Participate in the Lord's Supper? A Perspective from Developmental Theory

After the Fourth Lateran Council (A.D. 1215), the church, with the exception of the Eastern Orthodox Church, restricted the participation of children in eucharistic celebrations based on the exegesis of 1 Corinthians 11:29 regarding “recognizing the body of the Lord” and Roman Catholicism's emphasis on the doctrine of transubstantiation. It has long been common for adults to believe that children lack the degree of cognitive ability necessary to give a confession of faith in order to receive the Lord's Supper. After the publication of Christian L. Keidel's article “Is the Lord's Supper for Children? ” in 1975, however, many Reformed churches in North America began to reconsider age-appropriate participation of children in the Lord's Supper. Because there is no mention of the Lord's Supper for children in the Bible or in any historical documents from the first to the third century, scholars have been unable to establish clear guidelines for acceptance or refusal. Therefore, researching children's religious thinking in relation to cognitive development is essential in deciding the matter of their participation in the Lord's Supper.
Designing object systems for evolution

First, we give an overview of several approaches to the evolution of object systems and discuss their potential to make a system better prepared for anticipated evolution. Then, we place our emphasis on unanticipated evolution where we find the flexibility of object coupling to be a crucial system property. We present the major concerns of object coupling and a set of flexible, design-oriented object coupling mechanisms. Each one of these mechanisms exhibits considerable flexibility regarding at least one of the concerns of object coupling. Flexible object coupling mechanisms raise the issue of run-time failures. Thus, these mechanisms should not be used extensively throughout the entire system, but only where they can be most effective. We introduce Design for Slippage, a small conceptual framework providing decision support for the application of flexible object coupling mechanisms.
Development of a Structural Model Explaining Medication Compliance of Persons with Schizophrenia

The purpose of this study was to develop and test a structural model explaining medication compliance of schizophrenia. From a review of the literature, a hypothetical model was developed based on the conceptual framework of the Health Belief Model with medication knowledge, symptom severity and social support as the exogenous variables, and perceived benefits, perceived barriers, substance use and medication compliance as the endogenous variables. Data was collected at various mental health facilities, including psychiatric outpatient clinics of general hospitals and community mental health centers, between March and May, 2001. A structured questionnaire was used by one- on- one interviews to collect data on 208 schizophrenic patients. Well established measurement instruments, with confirmed reliability, were used to assess each method variable. As a result of covariance structural analysis, the hypothetical model was found not to fit the empirical data well, so a parsimonious model was adopted after modifying the model. The final model was able to explain the 33% medication compliance. Medication knowledge, social support and perceived benefits had significant effects on medication compliance. The findings of this study address the importance of medication education and social support to promote medication compliance. It is also suggested that various education programs and support groups are needed to enhance medication compliance.
Food Processing and Maillard Reaction Products: Effect on Human Health and Nutrition

Maillard reaction produces flavour and aroma during cooking process; and it is used almost everywhere from the baking industry to our day to day life to make food tasty. It is often called nonenzymatic browning reaction since it takes place in the absence of enzyme. When foods are being processed or cooked at high temperature, chemical reaction between amino acids and reducing sugars leads to the formation of Maillard reaction products (MRPs). Depending on the way the food is being processed, both beneficial and toxic MRPs can be produced. Therefore, there is a need to understand the different types of MRPs and their positive or negative health effects. In this review we have summarized how food processing effects MRP formation in some of the very common foods.
ACCENTUATED PERSONALITIES RELATED TO DAILY CIGARETTES SMOKING IN ROMANIAN COLLEGE STUDENTS – A CASE-CONTROL STUDY

Objective: In the study conducted accentuated personalities related to daily cigarette smoking in college students were investigated. Material of study consisted in a case-sample of 349 daily smokers (49.3% females, 50.7% males) and a control-sample of 880 non-smokers (65.3% women, 34.7% men) from an initial group of 1364 (aged 19-30 years) surveyed students. The method was an observational case-control inquiry with two questionnaires applying: Health Questionnaire (60 items-8 items for smoking) and Accentuated Personalities Questionnaire (88 items, alpha-Crohnbach index-0.823). Statistical analysis (chi square and gamma correlation) was performed by SPSS 20 Program. Results: Three accentuated personalities were more prominent in daily smokers in comparison with nonsmokers and were related to daily-smoking with statistical significance: IV-unruly (answers to items: S30–χ 2 =14.73, γ=0.23; S42-χ 2 =30.25, γ=0.36; and S52-χ 2 =32.71, γ=0.35; Sig.0.000), I-demonstrative (S7-χ 2 =18.89, γ=0.27; S44-χ 2 =16.24, γ=0.27; and S88-χ 2 =20.05, γ=0.27; Sig.0.000) and VII-cyclothymic nature (S72-χ 2 =32.24, γ=0.35; Sig.0.000). CONCLUSION: a relation between accentuated personalities and cigarette smoking is suggested.
Image Morphing Concept for Secure Transmission of Image Data Contents over Internet

Problem statement: Morphing of images has evolved and become a challenging field in information hiding and data security. The objective of this study is to secure the image data over internet while transmitting using the concept of image morphing Approach: To address this issue, the study proposed the new approach for image data security using the concept of image morphing. The morphing algorithm produces the stego keys. These stego keys are securely transmitted over Internet using TCP/IP. The stego keys are transmitted through TCP/IP’s identification field. The proposed method suggests how to transmit stego keys through identification field of IP. Results: Exterior sample points were manually identified and its inner values were interpolated using a triangular mesh. The complexity of Beier and Neely algorithm is O (n, p, w). Where n is the number of feature lines p is no of pixels in the image w is the amount of computation required for one pair feature line. By our approach the complexity is O (n,k),where n is the number of pixels and k is the number of triangles. Computations required are less, thus effect in increasing the performance of algorithm. The stego keys are identified during morphing process. As complexity reduces the speed of stego keys identification increases. Conclusion: The result showed that the proposed approach is efficient in terms of complexity and speed to generate the morph. The solution proposed for image data security over Internet is highly secure because the keys were transferred through IP identification field. The randomness in the identification field value makes this scheme no detectable.
DENSER Cities: A System for Dense Efficient Reconstructions of Cities

This paper is about the efficient generation of dense, colored models of city-scale environments from range data and in particular, stereo cameras. Better maps make for better understanding; better understanding leads to better robots, but this comes at a cost. The computational and memory requirements of large dense models can be prohibitive. We provide the theory and the system needed to create city-scale dense reconstructions. To do so, we apply a regularizer over a compressed 3D data structure while dealing with the complex boundary conditions this induces during the data-fusion stage. We show that only with these considerations can we swiftly create neat, large, "well behaved" reconstructions. We evaluate our system using the KITTI dataset and provide statistics for the metric errors in all surfaces created compared to those measured with 3D laser. Our regularizer reduces the median error by 40% in 3.4 km of dense reconstructions with a median accuracy of 6 cm. For subjective analysis, we provide a qualitative review of 6.1 km of our dense reconstructions in an attached video. These are the largest dense reconstructions from a single passive camera we are aware of in the literature.
A G1-like Globular Cluster in NGC 1023

The structure of a very bright (MV = -10.9) globular cluster in NGC 1023 is analyzed on two sets of images taken with the Hubble Space Telescope. From careful modeling of King profile fits to the cluster image, a core radius of rc = 0.55 ± 0.1 pc, effective radius Re = 3.7 ± 0.3 pc, and a central surface brightness of μ0(V) = 12.9 ± 0.5 mag arcsec-2 are derived. This makes the cluster much more compact than ω Cen, but very similar to the brightest globular cluster in M31, G1 (= Mayall II). The cluster in NGC 1023 appears to be very highly flattened with an ellipticity of ϵ ≈ 0.37, even higher than for ω Cen and G1, and similar to the most flattened clusters in the Large Magellanic Cloud.
New Evidence that Taxes Affect the Valuation of Dividends

This paper uses British data to examine the effects of dividend taxes on investors' relative valuation of dividends and capital gains. British data offer great potential to illuminate the dividends and taxes question, since there have been two radical changes and several minor reforms in British dividend tax policy during the last twenty-five years. Studying the relationship between dividends and stockprice movements during different tax regimes offers an ideal controlled experiment for assessing the effects of taxes on investors' valuation of dividends. Using daily data on a small sample of firms, and monthly data on a much broader sample, we find clear evidence that taxes change equilibrium relationships between dividend yields and market returns. These findings suggest that taxes are important determinants of security market equilibrium, and deepen the puzzle of why firms pay dividends.
Interaction strengths in food webs: issues and opportunities

Summary 1. Recent efforts to understand how the patterning of interaction strength affects both structure and dynamics in food webs have highlighted several obstacles to productive synthesis. Issues arise with respect to goals and driving questions, methods and approaches, and placing results in the context of broader ecological theory. 2. Much confusion stems from lack of clarity about whether the questions posed relate to community-level patterns or to species dynamics, and to what authors actually mean by the term ‘interaction strength’. Here, we describe the various ways in which this term has been applied and discuss the implications of loose terminology and definition for the development of this field. 3. Of particular concern is the clear gap between theoretical and empirical investigations of interaction strengths and food web dynamics. The ecological community urgently needs to explore new ways to estimate biologically reasonable model coefficients from empirical data, such as foraging rates, body size, metabolic rate, biomass distribution and other species traits. 4. Combining numerical and analytical modelling approaches should allow exploration of the conditions under which different interaction strengths metrics are interchangeable with regard to relative magnitude, system responses, and species identity. 5. Finally, the prime focus on predator‐prey links in much of the research to date on interaction strengths in food webs has meant that the potential significance of nontrophic interactions, such as competition, facilitation and biotic disturbance, has been largely ignored by the food web community. Such interactions may be important dynamically and should be routinely included in future food web research programmes.
Effect of progressive inoculation of fauna-free sheep with holotrich protozoa and total-fauna on rumen fermentation, microbial diversity and methane emissions

Rumen methanogenesis represents an energy waste for the ruminant and an important source of greenhouse gas; thus, integrated studies are needed to fully understand this process. Eight fauna-free sheep were used to investigate the effect of successive inoculation with holotrich protozoa then with total fauna on rumen methanogenesis. Holotrichs inoculation neither altered rumen fermentation rate nor diet digestibility, but increased concentrations of acetate (+15%), butyrate (+57%), anaerobic fungi (+0.82 log), methanogens (+0.41 log) and methanogenesis (+54%). Further inoculation with total fauna increased rumen concentrations of protozoa (+1.0 log), bacteria (+0.29 log), anaerobic fungi (+0.78 log), VFA (+8%), ammonia and fibre digestibility (+17%) without affecting levels of methanogens or methanogenesis. Rumen methanogens population was fairly stable in terms of structure and diversity, while the bacterial community was highly affected by the treatments. Inoculation with holotrich protozoa increased bacterial diversity. Further inoculation with total fauna lowered bacterial diversity but increased concentrations of certain propionate and lactate-producing bacteria, suggesting that alternative H2 sinks could be relevant. This experiment suggests that holotrich protozoa have a greater impact on rumen methanogenesis than entodiniomorphids. Thus, further research is warranted to understand the effect of holotrich protozoa on methane formation and evaluate their elimination from the rumen as a potential methane mitigation strategy.
A study in interactive 3-D rotation using 2-D control devices

This paper describes and evaluates the design of four virtual controllers for use in rotating three-dimensional objects using the mouse. Three of four of these controllers are "new" in that they extend traditional direct manipulation techniques to a 3-D environment. User performance is compared during simple and complex rotation tasks. The results indicate faster performance for complex rotations using the new continuous axes controllers compared to more traditional slider approaches. No significant differences in accuracy for complex rotations were found across the virtual controllers.A second study compared the best of these four virtual controllers (the Virtual Sphere) to a control device by Evans, Tanner and Wein. No significant differences either in time to complete rotation task or accuracy of performance were found. All but one subject indicated they preferred the Virtual Sphere because it seemed more "natural".
Clay: Fine-Grained Adaptive Partitioning for General Database Schemas

Transaction processing database management systems (DBMSs) are critical for today's data-intensive applications because they enable an organization to quickly ingest and query new information. Many of these applications exceed the capabilities of a single server, and thus their database has to be deployed in a distributed DBMS. The key factor affecting such a system's performance is how the database is partitioned. If the database is partitioned incorrectly, the number of distributed transactions can be high. These transactions have to synchronize their operations over the network, which is considerably slower and leads to poor performance. Previous work on elastic database repartitioning has focused on a certain class of applications whose database schema can be represented in a hierarchical tree structure. But many applications cannot be partitioned in this manner, and thus are subject to distributed transactions that impede their performance and scalability. In this paper, we present a new on-line partitioning approach, called Clay, that supports both tree-based schemas and more complex "general" schemas with arbitrary foreign key relationships. Clay dynamically creates blocks of tuples to migrate among servers during repartitioning, placing no constraints on the schema but taking care to balance load and reduce the amount of data migrated. Clay achieves this goal by including in each block a set of hot tuples and other tuples co-accessed with these hot tuples. To evaluate our approach, we integrate Clay in a distributed, main-memory DBMS and show that it can generate partitioning schemes that enable the system to achieve up to 15× better throughput and 99% lower latency than existing approaches.
ALLSAT compressed with wildcards. Part 1: Converting CNF's to orthogonal DNF's

For most branching algorithms in Boolean logic "branching" means "variable-wise branching". We present the apparently novel technique of clause-wise branching, which is used to solve the ALLSAT problem for arbitrary Boolean functions in CNF format. Specifically, it converts a CNF into an orthogonal DNF, i.e. into an exclusive sum of products. Our method is enhanced by two ingredients: The use of a good SAT-solver and wildcards beyond the common don't-care symbol.