Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
GIRSA-WP at GikiCLEF: Integration of Structured Information and Decomposition of Questions

This paper describes the current GIRSA-WP system and the experiments performed for GikiCLEF 2009. GIRSA-WP (GIRSA for Wikipedia) is a fully-automatic, hybrid system combining methods from question answering (QA) and geographic information retrieval (GIR). It merges results from InSicht, a deep (text-semantic) open-domain QA system, and GIRSA, a system for textual GIR. For the second participation (the first participation was for the pilot task GikiP 2008), the GIR methods were adjusted by switching from a sentence-based retrieval to an abstract-based retrieval. Furthermore, geographic names and location indicators in Wikipedia articles were annotated before indexing. The QA methods were extended by allowing more general recursion with question decomposition. In this way, complex questions, which are frequent in GikiCLEF, can be answered by first answering several depending questions and exploiting their answers. Two new resources of structured information from Wikipedia were integrated, namely the categories assigned to articles and the infobox file from DBpedia, which is an automatic information extraction approach for Wikipedia data. Both resources were exploited by reformulating them in a restricted natural language form. In this way, they can be used as any other text corpus. A semantic filter in GIRSA-WP compares the expected answer type derived from the question parse to the semantics of candidate answers. Three runs were submitted. The first one contained only results from the QA system; as expected it showed high precision, but low recall. The combination with results from the GIR system increased recall considerably, but reduced precision. The second run used a standard IR query, while the third run combined such queries with a Boolean query with selected keywords. The evaluation showed that the third run was significantly better than the second run. In both cases, the combination of the GIR methods and the QA methods was successful in combining their strengths (high precision of deep QA, high recall of GIR), but the overall performance leaves much room for improvements. For example, the multilingual approach is too simple. All processing is done in only one Wikipedia (the German one); results for the nine other languages are collected only by following the translation links in Wikipedia.
AC to AC power conversion based on matrix converter topology with unidirectional switches

In this paper, a new circuit for AC to AC power conversion is presented. The circuit is derived from the matrix converter topology, which has the capability of direct AC to AC power conversion without any DC link reactive component and input inductance except a small snubber. It consists of only unidirectional switches such as IGBTs with antiparallel diodes in contrast to the matrix power converter which consists of bi-directional switches. The input displacement power factor of the proposed scheme is unity and the overall power factor is near unity. The waveform of the input line currents is much alike with the diode a large DC-link reactor. The validity of the circuit and its operation is confirmed by experiments which uses a dynamic load-field oriented induction motor drive system.
Enhancing intelligent API tutors with information about how APIs are used in practice

approved: ______________________________________________________ Christopher Scaffidi Application Programming Interfaces (APIs) enable software developers to utilize and create functionality that would otherwise take a lot of time and effort to build from scratch. Consequently, an essential part of software engineering training is for students to learn how to use APIs effectively. The existing jTutors system enables an expert library user to harvest code examples from the web and semi automatically create intelligent tutors for various Java APIs. This interactive instructional material teaches a learner how to perform tasks with APIs through a series of examples and quizzes presented in a computer adaptive manner. This thesis presents two new features that enhance the jTutors system by incorporating additional information into intelligent tutors about how APIs are used in practice. The new 'Industry Code Search' feature enables users to search for API code usages by mining through a repository of open source projects. This system has been further enhanced to mine FAQs, articles and other API related links so users can learn more about APIs, all in one place. A qualitative study demonstrated that the new features helped students to learn intricacies of multiple APIs and also to familiarize themselves with actual usage in real world projects. ©Copyright by Vasanth Krishnamoorthy
On the correspondence between D-branes and stationary supergravity solutions of type II Calabi-Yau compactifications

In this talk, I review how four dimensional stationary supergravity solutions that are more general than spherically symmetric black holes emerge naturally in the low energy description of BPS states in type II Calabi-Yau compactifications. An explicit construction of multicenter solutions using single center attractor flows as building blocks is presented, and some interesting properties of these solutions are examined. We end with a brief remark on non-BPS configurations.
Illumination invariant object recognition using the MNS method

The suitability of the Multimodal Neighbourhood Signature (MNS) method for illumination invariant recognition is investigated. The MNS algorithm directly formulates the problem of extracting illumination invariants from local colour appearance of an object. The invariants are the channel-wise ratio and the cross-ratio computed from modes (pairs of modes respectively) of colour density function in neighbourhoods with multimodal density function. The MNS algorithm is tested on a colour object recognition task designed to test the effectiveness of algorithms claiming illumination invariance properties. The image set used is publicly available from the Simon Fraser University. Results previously reported using colour constancy and histogram matching were comparable to the performance of the presented method that achieved recognition rate of 60%. When the pose of the objects was fixed recognition performance was 84%.
The results of the HISS project : an upside-down revolution

In this paper we illustrate the results and some unexpected issues of the HISS project, which was run between September 2003 and July 2004, under the financial support of HP. Students of Medicine, Nursing and Dietetics practising in the wards were trained to use handheld devices connected through a WLAN to record patients’ data. Besides learning this new technology and applying it for free access to teaching resources from any place in the Campus, the students were able to design new user interfaces for accomplishing daily tasks. Furthermore, we collected valuable information to enhance the hospital level of technology by improving the accessibility to the information system at different levels (students, nurses, physicians). The work done with students was useful for the development and implementation of real solutions in the University Hospital.
Digitally based courses and their online delivery are rapidly expanding access to learning opportunities

Digitally based courses and their online delivery are rapidly expanding access to learning opportunities (Duffy and Kirkley 2004; NRC 2000; Visser and Visser-Valfrey 2008). It is important to ask however: access to what kind of learning opportunities? Weigel (2000) argues that most current attempts to create online learning environments suffer from a "port the classroom to the Web" model. Researchers have noted a similar phenomenon in multiuser virtual environments (MUVEs):
Multi-rate STBC Transmission Based on a New Fuzzy Method over Dynamic Fading Channels

This paper proposes a new fuzzy-based multi-rate STBC transmission method over dynamic fading channels in order to have an optimal channel usage and to control performance according to the instantaneous channel situations. The proposed method employs a fuzzy inference system (FIS) over estimated average delay and minimum value of cost function designed for Alamouti code in each block decision. We consider several membership functions (MBFs) and rules to cover all possible values of the parameters. Monte Carlo simulation is used to evaluate the system performance in mobile radio channel environments according to the COST207 channel model.
Motivational Factors and Obstacles to Entrepreneurial Intention Among Business Students

Entrepreneurship education is considered important and is integrated in the curriculum of undergraduate studies in the higher institutions in Malaysia. However, not all students have the intentions to become entrepreneur once they graduated from the university. This paper investigates the motivational factors and the obstacles among business students in their intention to become entrepreneur. Structured questionnaires adopted from previous studies were distributed to 294 business students doing their undergraduate studies in one of the public university in Malaysia. The results found that the main motivational factors are to realize their dream, maintain their family and opportunities available in the market. The students perceived that the main obstacles faced are lack of savings, lack of business experience, uncertainty of future if they start business and fail to build trust among partners. These findings could be used to assist students in their future career to become an entrepreneur.
Seeking a Premier Economy: The Economic Effects of British Economic Reforms, 1980-2000

Eleven studies, conducted during 1998-2001, assess economic reforms that the United Kingdom adopted in the 1980s and 1990s, particularly those dealing with the labor and product markets that are expected to affect productivity, employment, and income inequality. Papers consider what two decades of British economic reform has delivered; the role of privatization; the extent to which the United Kingdom has moved from standard wage-employment contracts toward shared modes of compensation and the effect on firm performance; characteristics of foreign-owned firms in British manufacturing; the surprising retreat of unionism in Britain; pension reform and economic performance in Great Britain in the 1980s and 1990s; labor market reforms and changes in wage inequality in the United Kingdom and the United States; the roles of demographic, economic, and policy factors in changing poverty patterns in Great Britain and the United States; mobility and joblessness; whether "in-work" benefit reform has helped the labor market; and active labor market policies and the British New Deal for the young unemployed. Card is at the University of California, Berkeley. Blundell is at University College London and with the Institute for Fiscal Studies and its Economics and Social Research Council Centre for the Microeconomic Analysis of Public Policy. Freeman is at Harvard University and with the Centre for Economic Performance, London School of Economics.
Comparison of the intonation of two question types in Estonian

The present paper compares the intonation of two question types in Estonian: tag questions (voi-questions) and morphosyntactically unmarked questions. Measurements of accent peaks in controlled data revealed a significant difference in the nuclear pitch accent between the two types. This finding is interpreted with reference to work on questions in other languages.
Effects of Growth Phase and Temperature on σ B Activity within a Listeria monocytogenes Population: Evidence for RsbV-Independent Activation of σ B at Refrigeration Temperatures

The alternative sigma factor σ B of Listeria monocytogenes is responsible for regulating the transcription of many of the genes necessary for adaptation to both food-related stresses and to conditions found within the gastrointestinal tract of the host. The present study sought to investigate the influence of growth phase and temperature on the activation of σ B within populations of L. monocytogenes EGD-e wild-type, ΔsigB, and ΔrsbV throughout growth at both 4°C and 37°C, using a reporter fusion that couples expression of EGFP to the strongly σ B-dependent promoter of lmo2230. A similar σ B activation pattern within the population was observed in wt-egfp at both temperatures, with the highest induction of σ B occurring in the early exponential phase of growth when the fluorescent population rapidly increased, eventually reaching the maximum in early stationary phase. Interestingly, induction of σ B activity was heterogeneous, with only a proportion of the cells in the wt-egfp population being fluorescent above the background autofluorescence level. Moreover, significant RsbV-independent activation of σ B was observed during growth at 4°C. This result suggests that an alternative route to σ B activation exists in the absence of RsbV, a finding that is not explained by the current model for σ B regulation.
Semantic Image Analysis Optimization Based on Context and Spatial Relations

In this chapter, we present our approach to semantic image analysis. Ontologies are used to capture a domain's general, spatial and contextual knowledge and a genetic algorithm is applied to fulfil the final annotation. The employed domain knowledge considers high-level information in terms of the concepts of interest of the examined domain, contextual information in the form of fuzzy ontological relations, as well as low-level information in terms of prototypical low-level visual descriptors. To account for the inherent ambiguities in visual information, uncertainty has been introduced and utilized within the spatial relations definition. To illustrate the proposed process, a hypotheses set of graded annotations is produced initially for each image region, and then context is exploited to update appropriately the estimated degrees of confidence. A genetic algorithm is applied as the last step, in order to select the most plausible annotation by utilizing the visual and spatial concept definitions that are included in the domain ontology. Experiments with a collection of photographs derived from two distinct domains demonstrate the performance of the proposed approach.
DDO 43: A Prototypical Dwarf Irregular Galaxy?

We present sensitive and high-resolution 21 cm observations of the dwarf irregular (Im) galaxy DDO 43, in conjunction with optical broadband and narrowband images in U, B, V, and Hα. The observations are used to examine the relationship of its H I morphology and kinematics to past and present star formation. Optically, it is a small (R25 = 990 pc), faint (MB of -14.0) dwarf Im with a slightly boxy shape. In H I, DDO 43 has an extended (R/RH = 2.8) gas envelope. There is a high-density ridge associated with the optical body of the galaxy containing several higher density knots and lower density holes. The largest hole is ∼850 × 530 pc. No expansion is detected, so it must be relatively old. The largest and potentially oldest (7–70 Myr) of the six identified star clusters is located at the western edge of the hole. Four of the other clusters are located near high-density peaks. There are several H II regions, most (but not all) of which are associated with peaks in the H I surface density. The overall star formation rate is average for its type. In many ways, DDO 43 is a very typical dwarf Im galaxy. Its H I morphology is consistent with a history of episodes of localized star formation that create holes and shells in the interstellar medium, some of which can overlap. These features are located within the area of solid-body rotation in the galaxy; the lack of shear in these small systems allows such structures to persist for long periods of time.
Dual-specificity MAP kinase phosphatases (MKPs)

Dual‐specificity MAP kinase phosphatases (MKPs) provide a complex negative regulatory network that acts to shape the duration, magnitude and spatiotemporal profile of MAP kinase activities in response to both physiological and pathological stimuli. Individual MKPs may exhibit either exquisite specificity towards a single mitogen‐activated protein kinase (MAPK) isoform or be able to regulate multiple MAPK pathways in a single cell or tissue. They can act as negative feedback regulators of MAPK activity, but can also provide mechanisms of crosstalk between distinct MAPK pathways and between MAPK signalling and other intracellular signalling modules. In this review, we explore the current state of knowledge with respect to the regulation of MKP expression levels and activities, the mechanisms by which individual MKPs recognize and interact with different MAPK isoforms and their role in the spatiotemporal regulation of MAPK signalling.
Leisure needs as perceived and experienced by deaf adults in the North West Province, South Africa

ABSTRACT Deaf people are often victims of marginalization in terms of mainstream activities, including recreation and leisure, resulting in unique leisure needs and experiences. The purpose of this study was to interpret and describe the leisure needs and experiences of deaf adults in the North West Province. A qualitative research design, utilizing face-to-face, semi-structured interviews, followed to collect data from 13 young deaf adults aged from 18–34 years. From the transcribed interviews, four themes (leisure meaning, leisure participation activities, leisure activities as encountered and experienced and need for diverse activities) were generated. The results showed that deaf adults perceived leisure meaning as an activity, time, and experience. Furthermore, leisure participation activities, such as soccer, swimming, chess, rugby, and athletics, were the main activities engaged in by deaf adults. Additionally, positive and negative experiences encountered by the participants included enjoyment, a sense of expressing themselves, and anger. Lastly, the participants were of the opinion that more leisure activities, such as having a barbeque, socializing, engaging in hula-hoops, travelling overseas and playing, should also be included to satisfy their leisure needs and levels. The study concluded that all-inclusive leisure activities that could lower the levels of vulnerability in deaf persons should be established.
High Selectivity Fifth-Order Wideband Bandpass Filters With Multiple Transmission Zeros Based on Transversal Signal-Interaction Concepts

Two high selectivity fifth-order wideband bandpass filters (BPFs) with multiple transmission zeros based on transversal signal-interaction concepts are proposed in this paper. Two transmission paths consisting of a shorted stub and two open coupled lines are used to realize signal transmission from Port 1 to Port 2. Two fifth-order wideband passbands with six and ten transmission zeros from 0 GHz to 2f0 (f0 is center frequency of the passband) can be achieved respectively due to the superposition of signals of the two transmission paths. Two prototypes with 3-dB fractional bandwidths of 61.7% (2.07-3.92 GHz) and 48.2% (2.3-3.76 GHz) are designed and fabricated for demonstration. Good agreement can be observed between simulated and measured performances.
Prediction of the disulphide bonding state of cysteines in proteins using Conditional Random Fields

The formation of disulphide bonds between cysteines plays a major role in protein folding, structure, function and evolution. Many computational approaches have been used to predict the disulphide bonding state ofcysteines. In our work, we developed a novel method based on Conditional Random Fields (CRFs) to predict the disulphide bonding state from protein primary sequence, predicted secondary structures and predicted relative solvent accessibilities (all-state information). Our experiments obtain 84% accuracy, 88% precision and 94% recall, using all-state information. However, our results show essentially identical results when using protein sequence and predicted relative solvent accessibilities in the absence of secondary structure.
Persistent fluctuations in the distribution of galaxies from the Two-degree Field Galaxy Redshift Survey

We apply the scale-length method to several three-dimensional samples of the Two-degree Field Galaxy Redshift Survey. This method allows us to map in a quantitative and powerful way large scale structures in the distribution of galaxies controlling systematic effects. By determining the probability density function of conditional fluctuations we show that large-scale structures are quite typical and correspond to large fluctuations in the galaxy density field. We do not find a convergence to homogeneity up to the samples sizes, i.e. ≈75 Mpc/h. We then measure, at scales r≲40 Mpc/h, a well-defined and statistically stable power law behavior of the average number of galaxies in spheres, with fractal dimension D=2.2±0.2. We point out that standard models of structure formation are unable to explain the existence of the large fluctuations in the galaxy density field detected in these samples. This conclusion is reached in two ways: by considering the scale, determined by the linear perturbation analysis of a self-gravitating fluid, below which large fluctuations are expected in standard models and through the determination of statistical properties of mock galaxy catalogs generated from cosmological N-body simulations of the Millenium consortitum.
A 15/30-GHz Dual-Band Multiphase Voltage-Controlled Oscillator in 0.18- $\mu$m CMOS

A multiphase oscillator suitable for 15/30-GHz dual-band applications is presented. In the circuit implementation, the 15-GHz half-quadrature voltage-controlled oscillator (VCO) is realized by a rotary traveling-wave oscillator, while frequency doublers are adopted to generate the quadrature output signals at the 30-GHz frequency band. The proposed circuit is fabricated in a standard 0.18-mum CMOS process with a chip area of 1.1times1. 0 mm2. Operated at a 2-V supply voltage, the VCO core consumes a dc power of 52 mW. With a frequency tuning range of 250 MHz, the 15-GHz half-quadrature VCO exhibits an output power of -8 dBm and a phase noise of -112 dBc/Hz at 1-MHz offset frequency. The measured power level and phase noise of the 30-GHz quadrature outputs are -16 dBm and -104 dBc/Hz, respectively
Fidaxomicin: A novel agent for the treatment of Clostridium difficile infection

Oral vancomycin and oral metronidazole have several limitations with regard to their use in the treatment of Clostridium difficile infections (CDIs); however, oral vancomycin has been considered the gold standard in clinical trials. In June 2012, fidaxomicin received Health Canada approval for the treatment of CDIs. Its chemistry, mechanisms of action and pharmacological properties are discussed, along with its potential role in CDI therapy.