Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Planning text about plans interactively

In expository discourse, listeners ask questions in response to unsatisfactory explanations. A system that explains interactively must be able to recognize how to elaborate its answer to produce an explanation that meets a listener’s informational needs. Sometimes, listeners ask questions that digress from the purpose of the discussion. Therefore, a system that provides interactive explanations must also be able to distinguish pertinent questions from questions that digress from the discussion purpose. It must also be able to recognize questions that are incoherent. This paper discusses the representation issues that are involved in building such a system. The Interactive Discourse Planner (IDP) plans text to describe and/or justify a domain plan interactively. To perform these tasks, both the system’s text plans and the domain plans are represented uniformly. The uniform representation of information makes it possible for IDP to access both domain and discourse information to recognize how to plan each response. The system’s planning rules refer to information at both the domainand discourse-level. Therefore, these levels of information are reasoned about together to plan additional discourse. IDP uses questions from the user to recognize how to extend its own text plan in a way that both satisfies its listener and achieves the system’s discourse goal. In the process of trying to recognize ways to expand its own text plan, IDP can detect three types of digressions from the discourse purpose that the user can initiate with a question. Two types of text plan representations that are used in the system make it possible for the system to distinguish these types of digressions. As a testbed, IDP plans text to discuss driving route plans.
Influence of malic acid supplementation on ruminal pH, lactic acid utilization, and digestive function in steers fed high-concentrate finishing diets.

Two trials were conducted to evaluate the influence of malic acid supplementation on ruminal fermentation. In Trial 1, six Holstein steers (300 kg) with ruminal cannulas were used in a crossover design experiment to study the influence of malic acid (MA) on ruminal metabolism during glucose-induced lactic acidosis. Treatments consisted of a 77% steam-flaked barley-based finishing diet supplemented to provide 0 or 80 g/d of MA. After a 13-d dietary adjustment period, 1 kg of glucose was infused into the rumen 1 h after the morning feeding. Ruminal pH was closely associated (R2 = .70) with ruminal DL-lactate concentration. Malic acid supplementation increased (P < .01) ruminal pH 3 h after the glucose infusion. However, there were no treatment effects (P > .10) on ruminal VFA molar proportions or ruminal and plasma DL-lactate concentrations. In Trial 2, four Holstein steers (150 kg) with cannulas in the rumen and proximal duodenum were used in a crossover design experiment to evaluate the influence of MA supplementation on characteristics of digestion. Treatments consisted of an 81% steam-flaked barley-based finishing diet supplemented to provide 0 or 80 g/d of MA. There were no treatment effects (P > .10) on ruminal and total tract digestion of OM, ADF, starch, and feed N or on ruminal microbial efficiency. Malic acid supplementation increased (P < .05) ruminal pH 2 h after feeding. As with Trial 1, there were no treatment effects (P > .10) on ruminal VFA and DL-lactate concentrations. We conclude that supplementation of high-grain finishing diets with MA may be beneficial in promoting a higher ruminal pH during periods of peak acid production without detrimental effects on ruminal microbial efficiency or starch, fiber, and protein digestion. There were no detectable beneficial effects of MA supplementation on ruminal and plasma lactic acid concentrations in cattle fed high-grain diets.
Recognizing Text Elements for SVG Comic Compression and Its Novel Applications

SVG (scalable vector graphics) has become the standard format for 2D graphics in HTML5. Although some image-to-SVG conversion systems had been proposed, the sizes of files they produced are still large. In [1], we proposed a new system to convert raster comic images into vector SVG files. The compression ratio is better than the previous methods. However, these methods do not process text in raster images. In this paper, we improve our system to recognize text elements in the comic and use these text elements to provide better compression and novel applications. The proposed method uses SCW (sliding concentric windows) and SVM (support vector machine) to identify text regions. Then, OCR (optical character recognition) is applied to recognize text elements in those regions. Instead of encoding the text regions as vectors, the text elements are embedded in the SVG file along with their coordinate values. Experimental results show that we can reduce the file sizes to about 52% of the original SVG files. Using these text elements, we can translate comics into other languages to provide multilingual services easily. Text/content-based image search can be supported efficiently. It can also provide a novel application system for story teller.
Performances and Coating Morphology of a Siloxane-Based Hydrophobic Product Applied in Different Concentrations on a Highly Porous Stone

Many polymers, able to confer a hydrophobicity to treated surfaces, have been proposed for the restoration and conservation of civil and monumental buildings. Polysiloxanes, and their precursors, the silanes, have been frequently employed for stone protection. To avoid decay of the treated surfaces, the effectiveness and harmlessness of the treatment need to be carefully evaluated before application in the field. In this study, a commercial alkyl-siloxane was tested as a protective treatment on a highly porous stone, starting from water solutions with different contents of the product. The treatments have been devised to try to balance the requirements and the sustainability of the conservative actions. Sustainability, in terms of costs and environmental impact, is regarded as a key factor in the 21st century. Morphological observations of the stone surface, static contact angle and colour measurements, water vapour transmission test, and tests of water absorption were carried out to characterize the untreated and treated stones. A concentration below the minimum level suggested by the manufacturer was still able to act as a good barrier against water. More concentrated solutions produced polymer accumulation and coatings with extended cracks. The properties of the treated stone were affected by the presence of cracks in the coating.
Nonexercise regression models to estimate peak oxygen consumption.

The purpose of this study was to develop a VO2peak prediction model derived from nonexercise (N-EX) based predictors. VO2peak was measured using a walking treadmill protocol with 229 females and 210 males between 20 and 79 yr of age (mean +/- SD: 38.62 +/- 10.36 ml.kg-1.min-1). Subjects were randomly divided into validation (V) (85% of total; N = 374) and cross-validation (CV) (15% of total; N = 65) groups. The V group was used to validate generalized and gender-specific models using stepwise multiple regression procedures with gender, age and age2, percent body fat, and a physical activity code (AC). The generalized ml.kg-1.min-1 (R2 = 0.77, SEE = 4.90 ml.kg-1.min-1, SEE% = 12.7%) and gender-specific (females: R2 = 0.72, SEE = 4.64 ml.kg-1.min-1; males: R2 = 0.72, SEE = 5.02 ml.kg-1.min-1) models were highly accurate relative to N-EX and exercise based models in the literature. Cross-validation procedures were used to evaluate model stability. The generalized model was stable across the total CV group and various CV subsamples (by gender, decade-wide age groups, and AC groups), but not across groups similar in VO2peak. These results suggest that N-EX models can be valid predictors of VO2peak for heterogenous samples.
Demonstration : A Prospective , Quasi-Experimental , Before and After Evaluation

Methods: Baseline (2006) and 12-month (2007) measures were compared. Patient and staff experiences were measured using surveys from a random sample of patients and all staff at the PCMH and 2 control clinics. Automated data were used to measure and compare change components, quality, utilization, and costs for PCMH enrollees versus enrollees at 19 other clinics. Analyses included multivariate regressions for the different outcomes to account for baseline case mix.
Performance of Network Subsystems for a Technical Simulation on Linux Clusters

The focus of this paper is to evaluate the impact of the network infrastructure on the total execution time for non-linear industrial finite element simulations and to investigate the applicability of micro-benchmarks on this area of applications. For this purpose we selected an industrial strength simulation application which utilizes the MPI message passing library. Three network technologies (Gigabit Ethernet, SCI and InfiniBand) were evaluated from both a micro-benchmark and an application level perspective. The overall result is that although there are applications that benefit from being able to send vast amounts of small messages fast as well as other applications that need to move several Gigabytes of data thus utilizing either the low latency or high bandwidth of specialized network interconnects, nonlinear FEM analysis is not one of them.
Treewidth and Minimum Fill-in: Grouping the Minimal Separators

We use the notion of potential maximal clique to characterize the maximal cliques appearing in minimal triangulations of a graph. We show that if these objects can be listed in polynomial time for a class of graphs, the treewidth and the minimum fill-in are polynomially tractable for these graphs. We prove that for all classes of graphs for which polynomial algorithms computing the treewidth and the minimum fill-in exist, we can list their potential maximal cliques in polynomial time. Our approach unifies these algorithms. Finally we show how to compute in polynomial time the potential maximal cliques of weakly triangulated graphs for which the treewidth and the minimum fill-in problems were open.
Development of a Self-Propelled Multi-Jet Polishing Tool for Ultra Precision Polishing

As the needs of optical glasses are on the rise, the precision on shape, form, surface qualities and the scaling down of sizes are rising, too. The standards and surface finish of reference mirrors used in measuring appliances are crucial; hence, enhancement of the surface finish is indispensable in manufacturing industries. This paper proposes a self-propelled multi jet polishing technique for ultra precision polishing process in which bladeless Tesla turbine was used as a prime mover. The turbine is characterized by high swirling velocity at the outlet; therefore, high kinetic energy in the course of away from the turbine was used as polishing energy. Simulation of the flow of the field of turbine blades using computational fluid dynamics software (CFD) has also been presented. With a newly designed and manufactured polishing tool, this paper investigates the optimal polishing parameters for surface roughness improvement of crown optical glasses using Taguchis experimental approach; signal-to-nose (S/N) ratio and ANOVA analysis was also carried out to determine the effect of main factors on the surface roughness. Consequently, a 2. 5μm size of Al2O3 abrasive, 10wt% abrasive concentration, 80rpm of polishing head, 6 numbers of nozzles, 6 kg/cm2 of pressure, and 45min. of polishing time have been found to be the optimal parameters. It was observed that about 94.44% improvements on surface roughness; Ra, from 0. 360μm to 0. 020μm has been achieved using the optimal parameters. In addition to this; angular speed of polishing head, pressure and polishing time were found to have significant effect on surface roughness improvement.
Context awareness framework based on contextual graph

Nowadays computing becomes increasingly mobile and pervasive. One of the important steps in pervasive computing is context-awareness. Context-aware pervasive systems rely on information about the context and user preferences to adapt their behavior. However, context-aware applications do not always behave as user's desire, and can cause users to feel dissatisfied with unexpected actions. To solve these problems, context-aware systems must provide mechanisms to adapt automatically when the context changes significantly. The interesting characteristic of context is its own behaviors which depend on various aspects of the surrounding contexts. This paper uses contextual graphs to solve the problem "the mutual relationships among the contexts". We describe the most relevant work in this area, as well as ongoing research on developing context-aware system for ubiquitous computing based on contextual graph. The usage of contextual graph in context- awareness is expected to make it effective for developers to develop various applications with the need of context reasoning.
Control of cellular morphogenesis by the Ip12/Bem2 GTPase-activating protein: possible role of protein phosphorylation

The IPL2 gene is known to be required for normal polarized cell growth in the budding yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae. We now show that IPL2 is identical to the previously identified BEM2 gene. bem2 mutants are defective in bud site selection at 26 degrees C and localized cell surface growth and organization of the actin cytoskeleton at 37 degrees C. BEM2 encodes a protein with a COOH-terminal domain homologous to sequences found in several GTPase-activating proteins, including human Bcr. The GTPase-activating protein-domain from the Bem2 protein (Bem2p) or human Bcr can functionally substitute for Bem2p. The Rho1 and Rho2 GTPases are the likely in vivo targets of Bem2p because bem2 mutant phenotypes can be partially suppressed by increasing the gene dosage of RHO1 or RHO2. CDC55 encodes the putative regulatory B subunit of protein phosphatase 2A, and mutations in BEM2 have previously been identified as suppressors of the cdc55-1 mutation. We show here that mutations in the previously identified GRR1 gene can suppress bem2 mutations. grr1 and cdc55 mutants are both elongated in shape and cold- sensitive for growth, and cells lacking both GRR1 and CDC55 exhibit a synthetic lethal phenotype. bem2 mutant phenotypes also can be suppressed by the SSD1-vl (also known as SRK1) mutation, which was shown previously to suppress mutations in the protein phosphatase- encoding SIT4 gene. Cells lacking both BEM2 and SIT4 exhibit a synthetic lethal phenotype even in the presence of the SSD1-v1 suppressor. These genetic interactions together suggest that protein phosphorylation and dephosphorylation play an important role in the BEM2-mediated process of polarized cell growth.
Privacy-respecting digital investigation

The forensics investigation requirements are in direct conflict with the privacy rights of those whose actions are being investigated. At the same time, once the private data is exposed it is impossible to `undo' its exposure effects should the suspect is found innocent! Moreover, it is not uncommon that during a suspect investigation, private information of other innocent parties becomes apparent to the forensics investigator. These all raise the concern for development of platforms for enforcing privacy boundaries even to authorized forensics investigators. To the best of authors' knowledge, there is no practical model for privacy-respecting digital investigation which is capable of considering different jurisdictions requirements and protecting subjects' data privacy in line with investigation warrant permissions and data-origin privacy requirements. Privacy-respecting digital forensics as an emerging cross-disciplinary research area is moving toward addressing above issues. In this paper, we first establish needed foundations and describe details of "privacy-respecting digital investigation" as a cross-disciplinary field of research. Afterwards, we review main research efforts in different research disciplines relevant to the field and elaborate existing research problems. We finalize the paper by looking at potential privacy issues during digital investigation in the light of EU, US, and APEC privacy regulations. The main contributions of this paper are first establishing essential foundations and providing detailed definition of "privacy-respecting digital investigation" as a new cross-disciplinary field of research, second a review of current state of art in different disciplines relevant to this field, third elaborating existing issues and discussing most promising solutions relevant to these disciplines, and forth is detailed discussion of potential privacy issues in different phases of digital forensics life cycle based on EU,US, and APEC privacy regulations. We hope this paper opens up a new and fruitful avenue in the study, design, and development of privacy respecting forensics investigation as an interdisciplinary field of research.
N-terminal-pro brain natriuretic peptides in dogs and cats: A technical and clinical review

Biomarkers are quantitative indicators of biological processes performed by an organ or system. In recent years, natriuretic peptides (NPs) have emerged as important tools in the diagnosis and therapeutic monitoring of heart diseases. Research has shown that serum and plasma levels of N-terminal pro brain NP (NT-proBNP) in dogs and cats are the only biomarkers that afford to diagnose and monitor congestive processes and, indirectly, the myocardial function of small animals. The present review discusses the peer-reviewed specialized literature about NT-proBNP and presents and compares the potential clinical applications of this NP in veterinary medicine of small animals, considering diagnosis, follow-up, and prognosis of myocardial or systemic diseases. The relevance of NT-proBNP is associated with sample stability, easy determination in laboratory, sensitivity, accuracy, and the possibility to analyze myocardial function. These advantages are specially important when NT-proBNP is compared with other cardiac biomarkers, mostly those that indicate the integrity of the myocardial cell. Fast NT-proBNP assays are marketed today and may be used in association with complementary tests. Together, these methods are an important source of information in differential diagnosis of heart and lung diseases as well in the early diagnosis of cardiopathy in dogs and cats, proving valuable tools in treatment and prognosis.
Approximate convex decomposition for 2D shapes based on visibility range

Organizing shapes by convex parts is a fundamental procedure for many shape-related applications. However, convexity is sensitive to noise and shape variations. Recent publications in the field concentrated on decomposing shapes into near-convex parts. Although a variety of methods have been presented, there is still a need for a robust and versatile method, especially when a shape possesses long curved branches such as a lizard with a long curved tail. It is difficult to capture the tail as a whole part because its concavity is too high based on classic measures. To address this issue, we propose a `Visibility Range', novel shape signature in this paper. Visibility range reaches low values for points in concave regions and high values in convex regions. Moreover, a novel concavity measure based on visibility range is presented. Compared to previous measures, the novel measure describes long curved branches better. With these, a simple but effective shape decomposition algorithm is designed. The decomposition is formulated as a problem of detecting points with extreme visibility range in a visibility matrix. Extensive experiments have been done on shapes with various kinds of near-convex parts, demonstrating that the proposed method is more robust and effective than the state-of-art methods based on other concave-convex features.
Multiple Antenna Non-ideal Channel Information Interference Alignment Method in Cognitive Radio Network

Interference alignment scheme, because of non ideal channel, can cause interference to primary user increases, it is worse at the same time the user's transmission rate, aiming at this problem, this paper studies the multiple antenna system is a kind of cognitive radio interference can achieve full multiplexing gain alignment method, analyses the interference alignment method under the condition of imperfect channel state information of the optimal transmission problem, and according to this problem, put forward the iteration method of interference alignment schemes, the simulation results show that this method is compared with the previous beam forming algorithm, and can obtain more transmission rate, improve the capacity of the time the user's system.
Fluorosed fibroblast attachment on fluorosed and nonfluorosed teeth after SRP and EDTA root biomodification

Background: Fluorosis causes mineralization changes in the tooth and can lead to morphologic alterations of fibroblasts. To understand the effect of fluorosis on periodontal healing, the initial step during healing, such as fibroblast attachment to the root surface, needs to be evaluated. Hence, the objective of the present study was to study the attachment of fluorosed fibroblasts on the fluorosed and nonfluorosed root fragments. Materials and Methods: A total of 56 fluorosed and nonfluorosed, periodontally healthy and diseased tooth roots were obtained and allotted to eight groups: Fluorosed and nonfluorosed healthy controls (FH and NFH, respectively), fluorosed and nonfluorosed diseased controls (FD and NFD, respectively), fluorosed and nonfluorosed roots treated with scaling and root planing (FD + S and NFD + S, respectively), and similar groups treated with scaling and root planing and 24% ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid (EDTA) gel application for 2 min (FD + SE and NFD + SE, respectively). After the respective treatment, the root fragments were incubated in the human periodontal ligament fibroblast cells obtained and cultured from freshly extracted healthy human fluorosed premolar tooth root. Results: In the nonfluorosed roots category, greater attachment was found in the untreated nonfluorosed diseased (P = 0.036) and SRP-treated nonfluorosed diseased groups (P = 0.008) as compared to the nonfluorosed healthy group. While in the fluorosed roots category, no significant difference was observed in FL-FA (P > 0.05) within the group. However, no attachment was observed in EDTA-treated fluorosed root fragments. When fluorosed groups were compared to nonfluorosed groups, no significant changes were noted between the groups. Conclusion: SRP proves to be a standard requirement for fibroblast attachment to occur both in fluorosed and nonfluorosed roots. Although there was no significant difference in attachment between SRP and SRP + EDTA among fluorosed roots, EDTA does not seem to be a promising agent for root biomodification in fluorosed roots in a given concentration and time of treatment.