Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Consideration of the local correlation of learning behaviors to predict dropouts from MOOCs

Recently, Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) have become a major online learning methodology for millions of people worldwide. However, the dropout rates from several current MOOCs are high. Usually, dropout prediction aims to predict whether a learner will exhibit learning behaviors during several consecutive days in the future. Therefore, the information related to the learning behaviors of a learner in several consecutive days should be considered. After in-depth analysis of the learning behavior patterns of the MOOC learners, this study reports that learners often exhibit similar learning behaviors on several consecutive days, i.e., the learning status of a learner for the subsequent day is likely to be similar to that for the previous day. Based on this characteristic of MOOC learning, this study proposes a new simple feature matrix for keeping information related to the local correlation of learning behaviors and a new Convolutional Neural Network (CNN) model for predicting the dropout. Extensive experimental validations illustrate that the local correlation of learning behaviors should not be neglected. The proposed CNN model considers this characteristic and improves the dropout prediction accuracy. Furthermore, the proposed model can be used to predict dropout temporally and early when sufficient data are collected.
Fundamental Factors That Improve Your Investments: A Practical Guide

The authors explore how investors can use the factors that drive their portfolio returns, focusing on fundamental factors instead of the widely discussed style factors. Fundamental factors explain the majority of the return variation among assets. There are times that a given factor sensitivity offers exceptionally high or low rewards in all assets exposed to it. The authors present an intuitive framework for measuring and steering fundamental factors in a portfolio. Practical examples show how to identify factor concentration risks and tilt a portfolio toward desired exposures. The authors argue that investors best use a factor-based approach in conjunction with traditional asset allocation, rather than as a substitute. In addition, the authors provide suggestions on how to embed the factor-based approach within an existing investment process. TOPICS: Factor-based models, portfolio construction, performance measurement
C a R B O N N a N O T U B E S Single-wall Carbon Nanotubes

31 SOLID-STATE devices in which electrons are confined to twodimensional planes have provided some of the most exciting scientific and technological breakthroughs of the last 50 years. From metal-oxide-silicon field effect transistors to highmobility gallium-arsenide heterostructures, these devices have played a key role in the microelectronics revolution and are critical components in a wide array of products from computers to compact-disk players. From a more parochial perspective, the study of electrons in two-dimensional systems has also been responsible for two Nobel prizes in physics – to Klaus von Klitzing in 1985 and to Robert Laughlin, Horst Störmer and Daniel Tsui in 1998. This is testimony to the basic as well as applied interest of such devices (see Heiblum and Stern in further reading). However, 1-D systems are also proving to be very exciting. For many years, studies of quasi 1-D systems, such as conducting polymers, have provided a fascinating insight into the nature of electronic instabilities in one dimension. In addition, 1-D devices such as “electron waveguides” – in which electrons propagate through a narrow channel of material – have been created. Experiments on these devices have shown, for example, that the conductance of “ballistic” 1-D systems – in which electrons travel the length of the channel without being scattered – is quantized in units of e /h, where e is the charge on the electron and h is the Planck constant. These systems, however, have been limited by the fact that they are inherently complex and/or difficult to make. What has been lacking is the perfect model system for exploring onedimensional transport – a 1-D conductor that is cheap and easy to make, can be individually manipulated and measured, and has little structural disorder. Single-wall carbon nanotubes fit this bill remarkably well. These thin, hollow cylinders of carbon were discovered in 1993 by groups led by Sumio Iijima at the NEC Fundamental Research Laboratory in Tsukuba, Japan, and by Donald Bethune at IBM’s Almaden Research Center in California – and were first mass-produced in 1995 by Rick Smalley’s group at Rice University in Texas. Since then, this new type of 1-D conductor has been the focus of amazingly intense study. Here I will describe just a small part of that activity: the creation of tiny nanoelectronic devices in which nanotubes are the active element. As we will see, some nanotubes are semiconductors. They can therefore be used to construct devices that are onedimensional analogues of metal-oxide-silicon field effect transistors, in which the electrons move along the surface of a thin two-dimensional layer. Other nanotubes, in contrast, are nearly perfect metallic conductors, and are a new “laboratory” for studying the motion of electrons in one dimension. Both semiconductingand metallic-nanotube devices are likely to have significant technological applications.
Assessing the Livelihood Vulnerability of Rural Indigenous Households to Climate Changes in Central Nepal, Himalaya

Climate change and related hazards affect the livelihoods of people and their vulnerability to shocks and stresses. Though research on the linkages between a changing climate and vulnerability has been increasing, only a few studies have examined the caste/ethnicity and gender dimensions of livelihood vulnerability. In this study, we attempt to explore how cultural and gender-related aspects influence livelihood vulnerability in indigenous farming mountain communities of the Nepal Himalaya in the context of climate change. We applied the Livelihood Vulnerability Index (LVI) to estimate household (social group and gender-based) vulnerability in farming communities in the Melamchi River Valley, Nepal. The results identified female-headed families, and those belonging to disadvantaged social groups as more vulnerable and in need of being preferentially targeted by policy measures. Higher exposure to climatic extremes and related hazards, dependency on natural resources, lack of financial assets, and weak social networking were identified as components that determine overall vulnerability. The study also visualizes complex adaptation pathways and analyzes the influence of gender and ethnicity on the capacities of households and communities to adapt to climate change.
Hybrid Remote Sensing Image Segmentation Considering Intrasegment Homogeneity and Intersegment Heterogeneity

Image segmentation plays an indispensable role in geographic object-based image analysis, but it remains difficult to obtain meaningful geo-objects from landscape scenes. In recent years, hybrid segmentation methods using the split-and-merge strategy have gained considerable attention. One of the most popular hybrid segmentation methods is the combination of the watershed transformation and full lambda-schedule algorithm (FLSA). The FLSA method only considers the intersegment heterogeneity to calculate the merging cost but ignores the impact of intrasegment homogeneity on the merging cost, thus limiting the satisfactory segmentation quality. To overcome this limitation, this letter improved the FLSA method by enhancing within-segment homogeneity and between-segment heterogeneity. In this letter, the refined method was implemented on four different study regions from Gaofen-1 images and then compared with the FLSA and local spectral angle merging (LSAM) methods. Both visual analysis and quantitative evaluation results indicated that the refined method was more accurate in generating satisfactory segmentation than the competing methods.
Characterization of Knitted Coils for e-Textiles

Inductor coils are integrated in many wearable garments for EM wave screening, heating and health monitoring. This paper presents a critical evaluation of the inductor characteristics of circular weft knitted coils for applications in e-textiles. Inductors are knitted using circular needles with thin insulated metal wire and yarn knitted together. The resulting helical coils are characterized as a function of number of turns, coil diameter, needle size, and insulated metal wire material. The results are compared to wound coils. Simulations of the knitted and wound coils show close agreement with the experimental results and confirm a higher inductance for the knits compared to the wound coils with the same pitch between turns. The parasitic coil capacitance is higher in the knit due to the vertical legs of the stitches, absent in wound coils. Knits with thin Cu and Litz wires result in flexible and wearable textile coils.
Comparative assessment and optimization of Direct Air Capture via absorption and adsorption processes

• A submitted manuscript is the version of the article upon submission and before peer-review. There can be important differences between the submitted version and the official published version of record. People interested in the research are advised to contact the author for the final version of the publication, or visit the DOI to the publisher's website. • The final author version and the galley proof are versions of the publication after peer review. • The final published version features the final layout of the paper including the volume, issue and page numbers.
Problema fidelității traducerii textului narativ: reconceptualizarea evenimentelor de mișcare în cazul limbilor tipologic diferite. Cazul verbelor de mod exprimate prin onomatopee

: Researchers’ interest in the Romanian onomatopoeic verbs revealed a surprisingly high number of such verbs (190), out of which 55 have been identified as Manner-of-motion verbs (MmV). The number of these verbs brings into focus the discussion in the light of Leonard Talmy’s famous typological dichotomy, based on which Romanian, as a Romance language, would a priori belong to the verb-framed languages (VFLs) type, encoding the Path in the verb and leaving the Manner to a subordinate element, as opposed to English, a satellite-framed languages (SFLs) type, which conflates the Manner in the verb and conveys the Path in a satellite. Although the above Romanian verbs are not very numerous and their use implies some limitations related to the language register, their presence proves that Romanian is quite sensitive to the encoding of Manner in the motion verb, allowing us to argue in favour of a more flexible typological opposition and an intra-typological variability within each type, when opposite type patterns are used along with the dominant type patterns.
Ulcerative colitis: assessment of disease activity based on contemporary scales

Ulcerative colitis is a disease which has been attracting a growing interest in society. The contemporary lifestyle and diet cause an increasing number of patients to complain of gastrointestinal problems. The incidence of ulcerative colitis has not increased over the last few years; however, new medicinal substances and treatment possibilities have still been occurring. In order to standardise the assessment of patients with ulcerative colitis a number of scales have been developed for the assessment of their clinical status as well as changes in the endoscopic picture and nutritional status. The first scale assessing the severity of ulcerative colitis episodes, which is still being used today, was developed in 1955 by Truelove and Witts while they were studying the influence of cortisone on the course of ulcerative colitis. Currently, new scales are still being developed which aim to facilitate and standardise therapeutic decisions of doctors taking care of patients with ulcerative colitis as far as possible. Due to the prevalence of the disease the patients do not always find themselves in referral centres, but also in smaller hospitals that do not specialise in ulcerative colitis therapy. From the point of view of a surgeon the most important issue is determining whether the patient requires surgery or whether pharmacotherapy alone is sufficient. A rapid course of the disease, a high severity of complaints and malnutrition often leading to cachexia precludes conservative treatment and requires more radical management of the disease and surgical intervention.
Convergence and Optimality of Adaptive Mixed Methods on Surfaces

In a 1988 article, Dziuk introduced a nodal finite element method for the Laplace-Beltrami equation on 2-surfaces approximated by a piecewise-linear triangulation, initiating a line of research into surface finite element methods (SFEM). Demlow and Dziuk built on the original results, introducing an adaptive method for problems on 2-surfaces, and Demlow later extended the a priori theory to 3-surfaces and higher order elements. In a separate line of research, the Finite Element Exterior Calculus (FEEC) framework has been developed over the last decade by Arnold, Falk and Winther and others as a way to exploit the observation that mixed variational problems can be posed on a Hilbert complex, and Galerkin-type mixed methods can be obtained by solving finite dimensional subproblems. In 2011, Holst and Stern merged these two lines of research by developing a framework for variational crimes in abstract Hilbert complexes, allowing for application of the FEEC framework to problems that violate the subcomplex assumption of Arnold, Falk and Winther. When applied to Euclidean hypersurfaces, this new framework recovers the original a priori results and extends the theory to problems posed on surfaces of arbitrary dimensions. In yet another seemingly distinct line of research, Holst, Mihalik and Szypowski developed a convergence theory for a specific class of adaptive problems in the FEEC framework. Here, we bring these ideas together, showing convergence and optimality of an adaptive finite element method for the mixed formulation of the Hodge Laplacian on hypersurfaces.
Optimal Contours for High-Order Derivatives

As a model of more general contour integration problems we consider the numerical calculation of high-order derivatives of holomorphic functions using Cauchy's integral formula. Bornemann (2011) showed that the condition number of the Cauchy integral strongly depends on the chosen contour and solved the problem of minimizing the condition number for circular contours. In this paper we minimize the condition number within the class of grid paths of step size h using Provan's algorithm for finding a shortest enclosing walk in weighted graphs embedded in the plane. Numerical examples show that optimal rectangular paths yield small condition numbers even in those cases where circular contours are known to be of limited use, such as for functions with branch-cut singularities.
SPM and phase-noise cancellation using time-division-multiplexed and intensity-modulated pilot symbols

: We propose a novel SPM and phase-noise cancellation scheme using pilot symbols. The pilot symbols are intensity-modulated and time-division-multiplexed with a modulated optical signal. Each pilot symbol has the same optical intensity as the multiplexed modulated symbol and therefore has the same nonlinear phase shift caused by self-phase modulation (SPM). Additionally, each pilot symbol has the same phase noise as the modulated symbol because it is generated by the same laser diode (LD). At the receiver side, self-homodyne detection is performed using the pilot symbols as absolute optical phase references. The performance of the scheme was investigated by numerical simulations of 50-km optical ﬁ ber transmission of 16-ary quadrature amplitude modulation (16QAM) signals.
The regional variations of entrepreneurial dynamism: a mixed methods study

ABSTRACT Given that added knowledge and deeper understanding are needed with regard to regional variations in the creation of new firms, this study seeks to answer the following two research questions: What are the variables that explain entrepreneurial dynamism and how may they be apprehended under the four necessary and complementary dimensions of this phenomenon, namely the demand, supply, institutional and spatial dimensions? And how should the nature and interrelatedness of these dimensions and their associated variables influence regional policymakers and other regional stakeholders in their efforts to stimulate entrepreneurship in their region? In order to do so, we used mixed methods to collect and analyze regional data, first doing a regression analysis of quantitative data on 97 small regions in Canada’s province of Québec, followed by a qualitative survey of regional stakeholders on eight matched pairs of regions. A phenomenological qualitative analysis was then effectuated in order to gain a deeper understanding of the research variables’ effects and thus grasp the complex socio-economic reality of entrepreneurial dynamism in a region. The results of the study confirm the importance and interrelatedness of the four dimensions of entrepreneurial dynamism in providing new insights into these questions. Moreover, the findings that results from these quantitative, qualitative and holistic analyses have implications for the policies of regional authorities and for the actions of other regional stakeholders.
Optical fiber lasers assisted by microdrilled optical fiber tapers

In this Letter, we present an analysis of the backscattering generated in a microdrilled tapered fiber within a short-linear-cavity fiber laser. We propose and experimentally demonstrate a fiber cavity laser based on a tapered optical fiber segment that generates artificially controlled backscattering. The 50-μm-waist taper was fabricated from a standard single-mode fiber, and the taper was subsequently microdrilled using a femtosecond laser micromachining system. The laser generation properties conferred by the microdrilled optical fiber taper were experimentally investigated. A single-wavelength laser emission at 1562 nm with an output power of 10 dBm and an optical signal-to-noise ratio greater than 45 dB is demonstrated.
The Way Women Leads Educational Industries: An Evaluation of Female Leadership Style

Leadership is a topic that comes up in most discussions, yet the focus is mainly on male’s leadership as role models, and it has avoided the female leadership style. Thus this qualitative paper focuses on the female leadership effectiveness in Malaysia. The purpose is to gain more understanding about female leadership style as a socially constructed phenomenon at organizational level. Thus, it examines how female leaders interacted with their organization members. The study was conducted across a small number of women leaders in education industry who are policy makers among Malay Muslim origin of their experiences in leadership positions. The data were analyzed accordingly; the result concluded that the monitor, coach, face-to-face communication, bottom line management, and observation are the dominant leadership style in the education sector of Malaysia.
Perceived input control on online platforms from the application developer perspective: conceptualisation and scale development

ABSTRACT Over the last decade, applications of third-party developers have become the cornerstone of platform ecosystems’ success and sustainability. Given their importance, the procedures used on platforms to screen and sort out developers and their applications are crucial in regulating platform openness. Although Information Systems (IS) research has paid considerable attention to traditional control modes, there is still a lack of research on input control and how it is conceptualised and measured from the application developer perspective. We conceptualise perceived input control (PIC) as a second-order construct and empirically refine it over several rounds of validation concluding with a web-based survey of mobile application developers (N=100). Our measurement instrument not only captures application developers’ overall perceptions of input control across different platform contexts but also breaks these perceptions down into distinct lower-level input control factors. Furthermore, we demonstrate PIC’s nomological validity and predictive power in the context of IS continuance research.
Finding top performers through email patterns analysis

In the information economy, individuals’ work performance is closely associated with their digital communication strategies. This study combines social network and semantic analysis to develop a method to identify top performers based on email communication. By reviewing existing literature, we identified the indicators that quantify email communication into measurable dimensions. To empirically examine the predictive power of the proposed indicators, we collected 2 million email archive of 578 executives in an international service company. Panel regression was employed to derive interpretable association between email indicators and top performance. The results suggest that top performers tend to assume central network positions and have high responsiveness to emails. In email contents, top performers use more positive and complex language, with low emotionality, but rich in influential words that are probably reused by co-workers. To better explore the predictive power of the email indicators, we employed AdaBoost machine learning models, which achieved 83.56% accuracy in identifying top performers. With cluster analysis, we further find three categories of top performers, ‘networkers’ with central network positions, ‘influencers’ with influential ideas and ‘positivists’ with positive sentiments. The findings suggest that top performers have distinctive email communication patterns, laying the foundation for grounding email communication competence in theory. The proposed email analysis method also provides a tool to evaluate the different types of individual communication styles.
Parametric Analysis on Information Technology Adoption and Organizational Efficiency in Northern Nigeria

— The adoption and diffusion of Information Technology (IT) is one of the fastest growing trends in organizations operating within Nigeria’s economy. Public and private organizations make huge capital investments in an attempt acquire and adopt the state-of-the-art IT for improving operational efficiency. In this study the level of IT adoption is considered the primary driver of efficiency witnessed by organizations. The research gathered data on the intensity of IT usage, and resultant efficiency increase in the organizations’ operations. The data was analyzed using multiple regression analysis and reveals that high level of IT usage has enhance efficiency of private and public organizations in Northern part of Nigeria with organizations having strategic intent on IT adoption indicating higher efficiency gains.
TEIPP peptides: exploration of unTAPped cancer antigens

ABSTRACT The intracellular peptide pump TAP feeds antigenic peptides for loading onto HLA class I molecules, and its down-modulation is a frequent immune evasion mechanism in human cancers. Two recent papers describe which ‘hidden‘ antigens we might exploit to target these escaped cancer variants by CD8 T cells. These unTAPped peptides are now ready for clinical testing.