Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Construction and Application of the Learning Behavior Analysis Center based on Open E-Learning Platform

Nowadays, the most prevailing issue in the e-learning environment is that it is not easy to monitor students’ learning behaviors instantly, which is becoming the mainly obstacle of personalized teaching and learning. For example, the teacher is confused --know nothing about the learning status of students, the content is static --invariable and same to every student and the student is alone --can not know the learning status of himself and can’t share the experience of other students. In this paper, we construct a learning behavior analysis and monitor system based on open e-learning platform that solves these problems. It includes three main modules, the Uniform Data Specification Module, the Data Mining Module and the Data Visualization Module, which can integrate and pretreat the learning historical data, mining the learning patterns and learning status of students. Specially, the user-friendly visualization interface can help the teacher to analyze students’ learning patterns, adjust the teaching plan and organize the web-based contents efficiently.
Data Replication in OceanStore

We present the design and implementation of the data replication subsystem of OceanStore, a global-scale storage system. Our system automatically replicates data on or near the the client machines where the data is accessed, in order to improve locality, scalability, and availability. These replicas cooperate to share data and disseminate updates securely and efficiently. Replicas also provide a flexible read interface that allows applications to relax data consistency in exchange for improved performance and availability. This interface also supports retrieval of arbitrarily old versions of client data ("time travel").
Optimization of Self Checking FIR filters by means of Fault Injection Analysis

In this paper the design of a FIR filter with self checking capabilities based on the residue checking is analyzed. Usually the set of residues used to check the consistency of the results of the FIR filter are based of theoretic considerations about the dynamic range available with a chosen set of residues, the arithmetic characteristics of the errors caused by a fault and on the characteristic of the filter implementation. This analysis is often difficult to perform and, to obtain an acceptable fault coverage the set of chosen residues is overestimated, obtained result a and therefore requires that Instead, in this paper we show how using an exhaustive fault injection campaigns allows to efficiently select the best set of residues. Experimental results coming from fault injection campaigns on a 16 taps FIR filter demonstrated that by observing the occurred errors and the detection modules corresponding to different residue has been possible to reduce the number of detection module, while paying a small reduction of the percentage of SEUs that can be detected.
A study on service identification methods for software product lines

The combination of service-orientation and software product line engineering, called Service-Oriented Product Line Engineering (SOPLE) have received attention by researchers and practitioners in the last years, and these areas can address issues of each other. One service-orientation issue is service identification. It consists of determining candidate services to a service-oriented environment based on pre-existing software artifacts, e.g., business process, source code, and so on. In order to provide a systematic identification of services, there are many available service identification methods in the literature, regarding different understanding of services, goals, and techniques. Due to this heterogeneity, this paper presents an in-depth comparison of service identification methods as well as a recommendation of the most suitable ones in the SOPLE context. This work can help the decision making of the most suitable method according to stakeholders' needs.
Psoriasis and Major Adverse Cardiovascular Events: A Systematic Review and Meta‐Analysis of Observational Studies

Background Psoriasis is a chronic inflammatory disease that may be associated with increased risk of cardiovascular events, including cardiovascular mortality, myocardial infarction, and stroke. Methods and Results We searched the MEDLINE, EMBASE, and Cochrane Central Register databases for relevant studies in English between January 1, 1980, and January 1, 2012. Extraction was by 3 independent reviewers. Summary incidence, risk ratios (RRs), and confidence intervals (CIs) were calculated using fixed‐effects and random‐effects modeling. Meta‐regression was also performed to identify sources of between‐study variation. Nine studies were included, representing a total of 201 239 patients with mild and 17 415 patients with severe psoriasis. The level of covariate adjustment varied among studies, leading to the possibility of residual confounding. Using the available adjusted effect sizes, mild psoriasis remained associated with a significantly increased risk of myocardial infarction (RR, 1.29; 95% CI, 1.02 to 1.63) and stroke (RR, 1.12; 95% CI, 1.08 to 1.16). Severe psoriasis was associated with a significantly increased risk of cardiovascular mortality (RR, 1.39; 95% CI, 1.11 to 1.74), myocardial infarction (RR, 1.70; 95% CI, 1.32 to 2.18), and stroke (RR, 1.56 95% CI, 1.32 to 1.84). Based on these risk ratios and the background population event rates, psoriasis is associated with an estimated excess of 11 500 (95% CI, 1169 to 24 407) major adverse cardiovascular events each year. Conclusions Mild and severe psoriasis are associated with an increased risk of myocardial infarction and stroke. Severe psoriasis is also associated with an increased risk of cardiovascular mortality. Future studies should include more complete covariate adjustment and characterization of psoriasis severity.
Use of Emerging Tobacco Products in the United States

This paper provides the first nationally representative estimates for use of four emerging products. Addressing the issue of land-line substitution with cell phones, we used a mixed-mode survey to obtain two representative samples of US adults. Of 3,240 eligible respondents contacted, 74% completed surveys. In the weighted analysis, 13.6% have tried at least one emerging tobacco product; 5.1% snus; 8.8% waterpipe; 0.6% dissolvable tobacco products; 1.8% electronic nicotine delivery systems (ENDS) products. Daily smokers (25.1%) and nondaily smokers (34.9%) were the most likely to have tried at least one of these products, compared to former smokers (17.2%) and never smokers (7.7%), P<. 001. 18.2% of young adults 18–24 and 12.8% of those >24 have tried one of these products, P<. 01. In multivariable analysis, current daily (5.5, 4.3–7.6), nondaily (6.1, 4.0–9.3), and former smoking status (2.7, 2.1–3.6) remained significant, as did young adults (2.2, 1.6–3.0); males (3.5, 2.8–4.5); higher educational attainment; some college (2.7, 1.7–4.2); college degree (2.0, 1.3–3.3). Use of these products raises concerns about nonsmokers being at risk for nicotine dependence and current smokers maintaining their dependence. Greater awareness of emerging tobacco product prevalence and the high risk demographic user groups might inform efforts to determine appropriate public health policy and regulatory action.
The effect of ambipolar resistivity on the formation of dense cores

Aims. We aim to understand the formation of dense cores by magnetosonic waves in regions where the thermal to magnetic pressure ratio is small. Because of the low-ionisation fraction in molecular clouds, neutral and charged particles are weakly coupled. Ambipolar diffusion then plays an important role in the formation process. Methods. A quiescent, uniform plasma is perturbed by a fast-mode wave. Using 2D numerical simulations, we follow the evolution of the fast-mode wave. The simulations are done with a multifluid, adaptive mesh refinement MHD code. Results. Initial perturbations with wavelengths that are 2 orders of magnitude larger than the dissipation length are strongly affected by the ion-neutral drift. Only in situations where there are large variations in the magnetic field corresponding to a highly turbulent gas can fast-mode waves generate dense cores. This means that, in most cores, no substructure can be produced. However, Core D of TMC-1 is an exception to this case. Due to its atypically high ionisation fraction, waves with wavelengths up to 3 orders of magnitude greater than the dissipation length can be present. Such waves are only weakly affected by ambipolar diffusion and can produce dense substructure without large wave-amplitudes. Our results also explain the observed transition from Alfvenic turbulent motion on large scales to subsonic motions at the level of dense cores.
The Diversity of High- and Intermediate-Velocity Clouds: Complex C versus IV Arch

We present Far Ultraviolet Spectroscopic Explorer (FUSE) and Space Telescope Imaging Spectrograph (STIS) observations of interstellar ultraviolet absorption lines in the Galactic high-velocity cloud Complex C and the Intermediate-Velocity Arch (IV Arch) in the direction of the quasar PG 1259+593 (l = 120.°6, b = +58.°1). Absorption lines from C II, N I, N II, O I, Al II, Si II, P II, S II, Ar I, Fe II, and Fe III are used to study the atomic abundances in these two halo clouds at VLSR ~ -130 km s-1 (Complex C) and -55 km s-1 (IV Arch). The O I/H I ratio provides the best measure of the overall metallicity in the diffuse interstellar medium because ionization effects do not alter the ratio, and oxygen is at most only lightly depleted from the gas into dust grains. For Complex C, we find an oxygen abundance of 0.093 times solar, consistent with the idea that Complex C represents the infall of low-metallicity gas onto the Milky Way. In contrast, the oxygen abundance in the IV Arch is 0.98 times solar, which indicates a Galactic origin. We report the detection of an intermediate-velocity absorption component at +60 km s-1 that is not seen in H I 21 cm emission. The clouds along the PG 1259+593 sight line have a variety of properties, proving that multiple processes are responsible for the creation and circulation of intermediate and high-velocity gas in the Milky Way halo.
Coherence of resonant-tunneling transport in terahertz quantum-cascade lasers

We develop simple density-matrix models to describe the role of coherence in resonant-tunneling (RT) transport of quantum-cascade lasers (QCLs). Specifically, we investigate the effects of coherent coupling between the lasing levels with other levels on the transport properties and gain spectra. In the first part of the paper, we use a three-level density-matrix model to obtain useful analytical expressions for current transport through the injector barrier in a QCL. An expression for the slope discontinuity in the current-voltage characteristics at the lasing threshold is derived. This value is shown to be a direct measure of the population inversion at threshold, and contradicts the previously held belief of it being indicative of ratio of the laser level lifetimes. In the second part of the paper, we use density matrices to compute the gain spectrum for a resonant-phonon terahertz QCL design. The large anticrossing of the doublet of lower radiative levels is reflected in a broad gain linewidth due to a coherent RT assisted depopulation process. At certain bias conditions, the gain spectrum exhibits double peaks which is supported by experimental observations.
A Personalized Smart Living Room The New Inter-relationship of Smart Space

Culture, society, and technology heavily influence architectural form, and basic architectural elements and functions evolve to suit users' needs. In the 20 th century, with the development of computational technology, architec- ture underwent dramatic transformation. Human-computer interaction (HCI) has changed architectural space into a smart space, which provides new ways for humans to interact with their living spaces. However, most smart space cases limit their focus to computational technology such as system efficiency and underuse architectural elements of spaces to improve interfaces. Thus this research intends to integrate both architecture and HCI to create a "new inter-relationship system framework" of smart space. An applied scenario called the "Personalized Smart Living Room" showcases the new smart space system. Compared to preexisting smart spaces, which usually focused on a single user, this new system recognizes several different users and gives appro- priate personal feedback (such as a personal message or photos) and environ- mental atmosphere adjustment (interactive wallpaper and personalized music), by monitoring the specific user's posture and personal smartphone.
A novel framework for SVM-based image retrieval on large databases

In this paper, a novel framework is proposed to deliver a fast, robust, and generally applicable SVM-based image retrieval for large databases. A quick test scheme is developed, and on-line kernel learning is employed to realize it after analyzing the relationship between them. Then an upper bound on maximum test scope is derived to speed up testing further. Also, the general applicability is well maintained because this framework does not need a kernel function and index structure to be pre-defined. Taking the advantages of this framework, more sophisticated SVM can be used to improve retrieval performance while keeping short response time. Experimental results on large image databases verify the effectiveness and efficiency of the proposed framework.
Left Ventricle mass extraction utilizing a multi-step probabilistic approach

In this paper, a fully automated multi-step approach for segmenting the Left Ventricle (LV) chamber in echocardiography images is proposed. A preprocessing step is applied to remove the dark background and find the seed point inside the LV chamber, eliminating the specialist intervention for identifying the seed point to initialize the segmentation process. The Rayleigh-Gaussian Mixture model is used to statistically differentiate the blood from the myocardial regions in Echocardiography images. An ellipse inside the LV chamber is then automatically fitted by utilizing the active ellipse model. The resultant ellipse forms the initial contour of the modified B-Spline Snake algorithm that evolves iteratively to outline the inner boundary of the LV chamber. Finally, the Markov Random Field (MRF) algorithm is utilized to extract the LV myocardium. The boundary specified by the B-spline snake is involved in reducing the number of MRF sites. The detected myocardium accuracy for all images is calculated using the dice's coefficient. Our results demonstrate that the proposed method is more reliable and overcomes the common problems in segmentation of Echocardiography images such as speckle noise and large gaps in contrast with previous works.
Mechanical properties of branched actin filaments

Cells moving on a two dimensional substrate generate motion by polymerizing actin filament networks inside a flat membrane protrusion. New filaments are generated by branching off existing ones, giving rise to branched network structures. We investigate the force–extension relation of branched filaments, grafted on an elastic structure at one end and pushing with the free ends against the leading edge cell membrane. Single filaments are modeled as worm-like chains, whose thermal bending fluctuations are restricted by the leading edge cell membrane, resulting in an effective force. Branching can increase the stiffness considerably; however the effect depends on branch point position and filament orientation, being most pronounced for intermediate tilt angles and intermediate branch point positions. We describe filament networks without cross-linkers to focus on the effect of branching. We use randomly positioned branch points, as generated in the process of treadmilling, and orientation distributions as measured in lamellipodia. These networks reproduce both the weak and strong force response of lamellipodia as measured in force–velocity experiments. We compare properties of branched and unbranched networks. The ratio of the network average of the force per branched filament to the average force per unbranched filament depends on the orientation distribution of the filaments. The ratio exhibits compression dependence and may go up to about 4.5 in networks with a narrow orientation distribution. With orientation distributions measured in lamellipodia, it is about two and essentially independent from network compression, graft elasticity and filament persistence length.
Cotton KNL1, encoding a class II KNOX transcription factor, is involved in regulation of fibre development

In this study, the GhKNL1 (KNOTTED1-LIKE) gene, encoding a classical class II KNOX protein was identified in cotton (Gossypium hirsutum). GhKNL1 was preferentially expressed in developing fibres at the stage of secondary cell wall (SCW) biosynthesis. GhKNL1 was localized in the cell nucleus, and could interact with GhOFP4, as well as AtOFP1, AtOFP4, and AtMYB75. However, GhKNL1 lacked transcriptional activation activity. Dominant repression of GhKNL1 affected fibre development of cotton. The expression levels of genes related to fibre elongation and SCW biosynthesis were altered in transgenic fibres of cotton. As a result, transgenic cotton plants produced aberrant, shrunken, and collapsed fibre cells. Length and cell-wall thickness of fibres of transgenic cotton plants were significantly reduced compared with the wild type. Furthermore, overexpression and dominant repression of GhKNL1 in Arabidopsis resulted in a reduction in interfascicular fibre cell-wall thickening of basal stems of transgenic plants. Complementation revealed that GhKNL1 rescued the defective phenotype of Arabidopsis knat7 mutant in some extent. These data suggest that GhKNL1, as a transcription factor, participates in regulating fibre development of cotton.
Maximum Entropy Classifier Ensembling using Genetic Algorithm for NER in Bengali

In this paper, we propose classifier ensemble selection for Named Entity Recognition (NER) as a single objective optimization problem. Thereafter, we develop a method based on genetic algorithm (GA) to solve this problem. Our underlying assumption is that rather than searching for the best feature set for a particular classifier, ensembling of several classifiers which are trained using different feature representations could be a more fruitful approach. Maximum Entropy (ME) framework is used to generate a number of classifiers by considering the various combinations of the available features. In the proposed approach, classifiers are encoded in the chromosomes. A single measure of classification quality, namely F-measure is used as the objective function. Evaluation results on a resource constrained language like Bengali yield the recall, precision and F-measure values of 71.14%, 84.07% and 77.11%, respectively. Experiments also show that the classifier ensemble identified by the proposed GA based approach attains higher performance than all the individual classifiers and two different conventional baseline ensembles.
Management by Objectives

It should be stated immediately that it is not my intention in this article to put forward a proposal for a new management control system in the Police Service, but merely to outline the principles of the system known as Management by Objectives. In this way it is hoped that readers will have some basis for further consideration of the subject. Also, it will be appreciated that even to write an outline Job Description for a Police Constable is a daunting task; hence, the following is aimed in its point of application at the supervising ranks. Occasionally when addressing conferences of industrial or commercial managers on the subject of Management by Objectives, I am told, "Oh yes, I know exactly what you mean, we have a system of management by objectives in our factory". When regaled by such a sudden dawning of realisation I am tempted to pursue the matter further and to ask that manager what is involved in his particular system of MBO. Frequently the reply I receive is "Well, it's a system of management by objectives . we set targets for some of our foremen": what indeed is in a name! In reality, an industrial company is concerned with achieving targets which can be measured; to increase Return on Assets by 25 per cent during the next financial year, or to increase market penetration of product X by 3 per cent. To do this it will deploy its resources in a way which can be measured. In the Police Service we have no great facility for measurement; obviously, we can't say "our reputation is slipping, so this week you will arrest 2.5 murderers, you will catch 14.1 burglars, and you will arrest 2.8 rapists". Consequently, to look at the application of Management by Objectives to the police, we have to modify the application somewhat from that in industry. The principles, however, remain the same. Unfortunately, some people suffer from the disease of oversimplification; they assume that because the word "objectives" is in the title of this approach to management, then necessarily all that is involved is the setting of a few goals for particular managerial failures. The sort of situation typically visualised is as follows: Manager: "Come in, Jones, sit down". Foreman: "Thank you, Mr. Smith". Manager: "I have been looking at last quarter's production figures . " Foreman: "Well, I can explain that, sir, you see the material suppliers . "
Monitoring Lyα Emission from the Blazar 3C 279

The blazar 3C 279 is well studied and shows frequent large continuum flares from radio to γ-ray wavelengths. There have been a number of multiwavelength observations of 3C 279, and hence there are extensive ultraviolet data for this object available in the UV archives. In this paper we present Lyα emission line measurements for 3C 279 using all the archival IUE SWP spectra from 1988 to 1996 and all archival Hubble Space Telescope (HST) Faint Object Spectrograph (FOS) G190H spectra from 1992 to 1996. Individual archival IUE spectra of 3C 279 show weak Lyα emission at ~1868 Å (z = 0.536), which is easily seen in the co-added data. The Lyα emission is observed in all the HST/FOS spectra. The strength of Lyα is nearly constant (~5 × 10-14 ergs cm-2 s-1), while the 1750 Å continuum varies by a factor of ~50, from ~0.6 to 31.6 × 10-15 ergs cm-2 s-1 Å-1. The behavior of the Lyα emission line flux and continuum flux is similar to that of the only other well observed blazar, 3C 273, which shows constant line flux while the continuum varies by a factor of ~3. This near-constancy of emission-line flux in the two best-studied blazars suggests that the highly variable beamed continuum is not a significant source of photoionization for the gas. Some other source, such as thermal emission from an accretion disk, must be providing a significant fraction of the photoionizing flux in these objects. The large amplitude variability seen at γ-ray energies must be due to changes in the energetic electrons in the jet rather than changes in the external photon field.