Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Using LSTM Encoder-Decoder for Rhetorical Structure Prediction

The importance of identifying rhetorical categories in texts has been widely acknowledged in the literature, since information regarding text organization or structure can be applied in a variety of scenarios, including genre-specific writing support and evaluation, both manually and automatically. In this paper we present a Long Short-Term Memory (LSTM) encoder-decoder classifier for scientific abstracts. As a large corpus of annotated abstracts was required to train our classifier, we built a corpus using abstracts extracted from PUBMED/MEDLINE. Using the proposed classifier we achieved approximately 3% improvement in per-abstract accuracy over the baselines and 1% improvement for both per-sentence accuracy and f1-score.
A New Design of the Near Zero Refractive Index Metamaterials Loaded with the Radome

As a new type of artificial composite material, metamaterial can achieve arbitrary permittivity in principle and has great potential in the field of radome. Based on the metamaterial theory, a new type of near zero refractive index metamaterial (ZRM) is designed and its electromagnetic properties are studied in this paper. And the ZRM radome is integrated with the microstrip antenna designed in the X band. The simulation and measured results show that the gain of antenna increases by 2.75dBi without changing the characteristics of the antenna passband, and the directivity of the antenna is improved.
Ultrasound image and 3D finite element based tissue deformation simulator for prostate brachytherapy

Brachytherapy is a prostate cancer treatment where radioactive pellets (seeds) are implanted into prostate region through long flexible needles. Steering them to preplanned locations require the use of tip bevel deflection effect and a thorough comprehension of tissue deformation and needle flexibility. A simulator is proposed to help medical residents in acquiring these procedural skills. In prostate brachytherapy, two important feedback modalities during needle insertions are the transrectal ultrasound (TRUS) imaging and the kinesthetic feedback received through the needle base. Thus, these have been incorporated in the simulator, the subsystems of which are presented here. In this thesis, a needle-tissue interaction model from prior work which was based on finite element method is extended into 3D and adapted for custom meshes. The issues related to needle-tissue coupling are addressed. A meshing scheme which generates soft tissue models with small number of nodes for haptic implementation from contours on parallel slices is proposed. It is utilized to generate a prostate volume mesh which consists of well-conditioned elements for finite element analysis. A simulation interface is developed where a 3D rendering of the model deformation is displayed while the needle can be manipulated by entering target positions for its base. A method for B-mode TRUS image synthesis out of a deformed tissue volume for which the patient data was collected at the BC Cancer Agency is also presented. Some interpolation schemes for remotely spaced ultrasound data are compared on a sample case and a method for overlaying needle shaft reflection onto TRUS images is described.
Is V2 really that hard to acquire for second language learners? On current universalist L2 claims and their empirical underpinnings.

This paper investigates the nonnative acquisition of German verb placement on the basis of new, quantified, empirical data from Swedish post-puberty learners. Contrary to existing claims in the literature on the acquisition of V2 languages (here, German), there is no evidence for a universal developmental sequence for verb placement. Rather, non-subject-initial V2 transfers from the L1 grammar (here, Swedish), whether or not there is an intervening non-V2 L2 (here, English). Secondly, and again contrary to claims in the literature, the nonnative acquisition of V2 is not developmentally dependent on target headedness of the VP (here, German OV) being acquisitionally prior. Thirdly, in L3 acquisition, there is – or can be – transfer of properties of both L1 syntax (here, V2, VO, from Swedish) and L2 syntax (here, XSV-V3, from English) to L3 German. (Less)
Ubiquitous Computing in Education: Invisible Technology, Visible Impact

When first hearing of the title of this text I was eager to acquire it and read it for my own enrichment as well as for the journal review process. When I write a review, I follow some guidelines laid out by Adler and Van Dorn in their text How to Read a Book . The book is divided into four distinct sections: Introduction and Background: Why should we Bother? ; Teaching and Learning in Ubiquitous Environments: What does it look like? ; Ubiquitous Computing Research: What do we know? and The Future of Ubiquitous Computing: How can we make it work?
Determinants of heart and arterial system damage in children with chronic kidney disease

Introduction. Children with chronic kidney disease (CKD) are among pediatric patients with highest cardiovascular risk. Aim. The aim of the study was to evaluate heart and arterial system in children with CKD in relation to selected clinical and biochemical parameters and to assess usefulness of NT-proBNP as a marker of cardiovascular damage in this group of patients. Material and methods. In 17 children (13.5 ± 4.3 years), with CKD stage 2-5, we assessed: echocardiography, carotid intima-media thickness (cIMT), pulse wave velocity (PWV) and analysis, N-terminal prohormone B-type natriuretic peptide (NT-proBNP), blood pressure, medications, and selected biochemical parameters. Results. Left ventricular mass index (LVMI) was 29.3 ± 6.2 g/m, cIMT 0.46 ± 0.05 mm, PWV 4.65 ± 0.94 m/s, augmentation index at heart rate 75/min (AI x 75HR) 5.85 ± 16.32%, aortic systolic blood pressure (AoSP) 102.0 ± 12.8 mmHg, and aortic diastolic blood pressure (AoDP) 73.9 ± 13.0 mmHg. LVMI correlated with NT-proBNP (r = 0.55, p = 0.029), PTH (r = 0.69, p = 0.003), alkaline phosphatase (ALP) (r = 0.65, p = 0.009); PWV with cIMT (r = 0.66, p = 0.004), left ventricular posterior wall thickness (r = 0.56; p = 0.025); PWV/height ratio with GFR (r = -0.52, p = 0.032), subendocardial viability ratio (r = -0.52, p = 0.034); AI x 75HR with NT-proBNP and ALP (r = 0,58, p = 0.015; r = 0.57, p = 0.02); AoSP and AoDP with NT-proBNP (r = 0.63, p = 0.006; r = 0.50, p = 0.04) and PTH (r = 0.62, p = 0.007; r = 0.57, p = 0.02). We found tendency toward correlations of calcium carbonate dose with PWV (r = 0.45, r = 0.08) and cIMT (0.49, p = 0.055). Conclusions. 1. In children with CKD, NT-proBNP is a useful marker of left ventricular hypertrophy, arterial stiffness and central blood pressure. 2. In pediatric patients with CKD calcium-phosphate disturbances seem to be key determinants of left ventricle mass and arterial stiffness. 3. Calcium carbonate dose may influence arterial stiffness and IMT in children with CKD, but this relation requires further investigations in larger groups of patients.
Improving the perceptual quality of single-channel blind audio source separation

Given a mixture of audio sources, a blind audio source separation (BASS) tool is required to extract audio relating to one specific source whilst attenuating that related to all others. This thesis answers the question “How can the perceptual quality of BASS be improved for broadcasting applications? ” The most common source separation scenario, particularly in the field of broadcasting, is single channel, and this is particularly challenging as a limited set of cues are available. Broadcasting also requires that a source separator is automated, capable of handling non-stationary, reverberant mixtures and able to separate an unknown number of sources. In the single-channel case, the time- frequency mask is common as a method of separation. However, this process produces artefacts in the separated audio. The perceptual evaluation for audio source separation (PEASS) toolkit represents an efficient way to generate a multi-dimensional measure of perceptual quality. Initial experimental work, using ideal target and interferer estimates, uses PEASS to test variations on the ideal binary mask and shows continuous masks are perceptually better than binary while identifying a trade-off between artefacts and interferer suppression. To explore the optimisation of this trade-off, a series of sigmoidal functions are used to map target-to-mixture ratios to mask coefficients. This leads to a mask, with less target-to-mixture based discrimination than those typically found in literature, being identified as the optimum. Further experiments applying offsets, hysteresis, smoothing and frequency-dependency to the mask do not show any benefit in audio quality. The optimal sigmoidal mask is demonstrated to also be superior under non-ideal conditions using a non-negative matrix factorisation algorithm to produce the estimates. A final listening test compares the outputs of binary, ratio and optimal sigmoidal masks concluding that listeners prefer the ratio mask to the sigmoidal mask and both continuous masks to the binary mask.
How Simulation and Game Simultaneously Frames Game Based Learning

This paper describes how students use a project management simulation game based on an attack defense mechanism where two teams of players compete by challenging each other’s projects. The project management simulation game is intended to be played by pre service construction workers and engineers. The gameplay has two parts: a planning part, where the player make managerial decisions about his construction site, and a challenge part where the player chooses between typical problems to occur on the opponent’s construction site. Playing the game involves analyzing both your own and you opponent’s building project for weak spots. The intention of the project management simulation game, is to provide students with an increased sensitivity towards the relation between planning and reality in complex construction projects. The project management simulation game can be interpreted both as a competitive game and as a simulation. Both of these views are meaningful and can be seen as supporting learning. Emphasizing the simulation aspect let us explain how students learn by being immersed into a simulated world, where the players identify with specific roles, live out specific situations, and experiment with relevant parameters. Emphasizing the competition game aspect we can see how play and competition allow players to experience intrinsic motivation and engagement, as well as thinking strategically about their choices, and hence put attention towards all the things that can go wrong in construction work. The goal of the paper is to investigate empirically how these two understandings influence game experience and learning outcome. This question is approached by qualitative post game interviews about the experienced fun, competition and realism. Specific attention is given to how the understandings of the experience (for instance as a game and as a simulation) is entangled when the students describe their experience. Using the concepts frame and domain it is analyzed how the students conceptualize and make meaning of the particular educational scenario manifested by the project management simulation game. We take as an outset that students interpret the situations in the project management simulation game as relating to one or several domains, especially the domains competition and simulation. Results suggest that the views of the scenario as a competition and as a simulation do coexist, and that these views merge in a subtle way. The players consider the game to be both a realistic simulation of construction site work and a fun competition in which they try to beat their opponents and these two views do not seem to create cognitive conflicts. In the discussion it is explored how aspects of the design affords this double conceptualization (e.g. the “manage mode” and “challenge mode”), and finally it is discussed how we can explain why the players experience the challenges that they pose on each other as a natural part of the gameplay, but not as a realistic aspect of the game as a simulation.
International design collaboration and mentoring for tertiary students through Facebook

This study explores the efficacy of the online social networking site Facebook , for linking international digital media student cohorts through an e-mentoring scheme. It reports on the 2011 collaboration between the University of Adelaide in Australia, and Penn State University in the United States. Over one semester, twelve postgraduate students in Australia and ten undergraduate students in the United States took part in an online mentor scheme hosted by Facebook . Students were required to submit work-in-progress imagery each week to a series of galleries within the forum. Postgraduate students from Adelaide mentored the undergraduate students at Penn State, and in turn, staff and associated industry professionals mentored the Adelaide students. Interaction between the two student cohorts was consistently strong throughout the semester, and all parties benefitted from the collaboration. Students from Penn State University were able to receive guidance and critiques from more experienced peers, and responded positively to the continual feedback over the semester. Students from the University of Adelaide received support from three different groups: Penn State staff and associated professionals; local industry professionals and recent graduates; and peers from Penn State. The 2011 scheme highlighted the efficacy of Facebook as a host site for e-mentoring and strengthened the bond between the two collaborating institutions.
Nausea, Vomiting and Retching of Patients with Cervical Cancer undergoing Chemotherapy in Bali, Indonesia

Background: Nausea, vomiting and retching (NVR) was the frequently reported and troublesome adverse effect for patients receiving chemotherapy. Purpose: This study is a part of a larger study which aims to describe the NVR symptom experience in cervical cancer patients undergoing chemotherapy in Bali, Indonesia, and examine relationships with individual's risk factors. Method: Sixty-six patients with stage II and III cervical cancer receiving Paxus (Paclitaxel)-Cisplatin at the second or the third cycle were enrolled. NVR was measured by the Index of Nausea, Vomiting and Retching (INVR) at the second day of their chemotherapy. This current study included only patients with age ranged between 32 to 65 years (M = 47.15, SD = 9.64, min-max age 35 – 65 years). Result: The result showed that the NVR score was at a moderate level. Younger subjects (age 32-50 years old) reported significantly higher NVR scores than that of older subjects (age 51-65 years old) (t = 2.76, p = .007). The subjects with higher anxiety scores reported significantly higher NVR scores than those with lower anxiety scores (t = -2.41, p = .019). Subjects who had experience in motion sickness had significantly higher NVR scores (M = 12.69, SD = 2.60) than those who did not (M = 9.23, SD = 2.86) and the difference was statistically significant (t = 4.98, p <.01). Meanwhile, no significant difference was found between subjects who reported their expectation to have nausea and those who did not (t = 0.08, p = .94). Conclusion: The findings provide valuable information regarding NVR and the individual risk factors among patients with cervical cancer undergoing chemotherapy. Nurses should assess the anxiety level and a history of motion sickness of patients planned for chemotherapy and offer preventive interventions to prevent and control NVR occurrence and its distress. Keywords: cervical cancer, chemotherapy, nausea, vomiting and retching
Neighborhood-Oriented feature selection andclassification of Duke’s stages on colorectalCancer using high density genomic data.

The selection of relevant genes for classification of phenotypes for diseases with gene expression data have been extensively studied. Previously, most relevant gene selection was conducted on individual gene with limited sample size. Modern technology makes it possible to obtain microarray data with higher resolution of the chromosomes. Considering gene sets on an entire block of a chromosome rather than individual gene could help to reveal important connection of relevant genes with the disease phenotypes. In this report, we consider feature selection and classification while taking into account of the spatial location of probe sets in classification of Duke’s stages B and C using DNA copy number data or gene expression data from colorectal cancers. A novel method was presented for feature selection in this report. A chromosome was first partitioned into blocks after the probe sets were aligned along their chromosome locations. Then a test of interaction between Duke’s stage and probe sets was conducted on each block of probe sets to select significant blocks. For each significant block, a new multiple comparison procedure was carried out to identify truly relevant probe sets while preserving the neighborhood location information of the probe sets. Support Vector Machine (SVM) and K-Nearest Neighbor (KNN) classification using the selected final probe sets was conducted for all samples. Leave-One-Out Cross Validation (LOOCV) estimate of accuracy is reported as an evaluation of selected features. We applied the method on two large data sets, each containing more than 50,000 features. Excellent classification accuracy was achieved by the proposed procedure along with SVM or KNN for both data sets even though classification of prognosis stages (Duke’s stages B and C) is much more difficult than that for the normal or tumor types.
Transitioning from print-based to digital teaching portfolio assessment in a foundations of university learning and teaching subject

The concept of a teaching portfolio in higher education is not new. However, for many teaching staff the concept of a digital or electronic teaching portfolio is very new a perspective that cannot be ignored. Academic developers have a role to play in their institutions in making the concept of a digital portfolio understood by staff, and making transparent the many and varied options available to them to develop their own electronic portfolio. At one Australian university the elaboration and application of a teaching portfolio as a capstone assessment task has been embedded in a stand-alone Foundations of University Learning and Teaching subject as a way of documenting staff learning about their teaching as they progress through the semesterlong subject. This paper focuses on the processes and application of guiding staff to make the
Mutual information based registration of brain images

Various medical imaging techniques (CT, MRI, PET, etc.) provide information about different properties of the examined tissues. Since this information is often of a complementary nature, in medical diagnostics, planning and evaluating of surgical and radiotherapeutical procedures it is desired to use integrated useful data from different modality images. The integration task is not trivial due to unlike patient’s spatial orientation, datasets’ resolutions and voxel intensity profiles. The goal of registration (matching, alignment) process is, given two images of the same object, to find a spatial transformation T, that relates them. The next step is a fusion of the registered datasets.
Throughput efficiency of frequency-hopped ARQ over fading channels

Automatic-repeat request (ARQ) protocols employing slow frequency hopping over Gilbert-Elliott fading channels are investigated. Throughput efficiency formulae for the three basic ARQ schemes, "stop-and-wait" (SW),"go-back-N" (GBN), and "selective-repeat" (SR), are obtained, and the improvement in throughput efficiency due to slow frequency hopping is examined. The work has application to TDMA architectures and packet data services for third generation wireless networks. <<ETX>>
Taquicardia ectópica congénita de la unión: Tratamiento farmacológico en el primer año de vida

: Congenital junctional ectopic tachycardia (JET) is a rare arrhythmia that can be refractory to medical therapy with high morbidity and mortality rates. The aim of this study was to report our experience with pharmacologic management of congenital JET in infants. Seven patients with congenital JET were identified between 2008 and 2010. Only two of them presented dilated cardiomyopathy. There were no congenital structural defects. Amiodarone was given to all the patients, as single therapy in one, and in combination with propranolol in four. In one patient flecainide was administered together with amiodarone and propranolol, and in another patient was used combined with amiodarone. During follow- up with an average time of 12.2 months (median 9.75 months, range 1-28 months), sinus rhythm alternating with slow junctional tachycardia was successfully achieved in 3 patients; no side effects were detected. There was only one death in our study group. The combination of different antiarrhythmics (amiodarone plus propranolol, and eventually flecainide) is a valid option for rhythm control and management of JET in infants.
THE STUDY OF CORRELATION BETWEEN SERUM GAMMA GLUTAMYL TRANSFERASE AND TYPE- 2 DIABETES MELLITUS -

The aim of study was to evaluate and compare serum Gamma Glutamyl Transferase (GGT) activity in diabetic patient and in normal individual. A cross sectional case control study was conducted in Civil Hospital Ahmedabad with 50 subjects. The study group consisted 25 diabetic subjects (Group- 1) compared with 25 normal individual (Group- 2). In both groups, their serum GGT activity and serum glucose levels were estimated by carboxy substrate enzymatic method and GOD-POD method respectively on fully automated Analyzer ERBA XL-640. During study we found significantly higher Serum GGT level in diabetics in comparison of normal individual (P
Support d'ordonnancement et d'optimisation automatisés des communications pour les réseaux hautes performances

Madeleine 4 est une nouvelle implementation de l'interface de communication multi-protocole Madeleine. Sa particularite consiste en l'introduction d'une couche generique d'optimisation des paquets de donnees induite par le decouplage du flot d'execution de l'application de celui des communications. A la maniere d'un ordonnanceur de processus, Madeleine 4 a un comportement interne base sur l'activite des cartes reseaux : lorsqu'une carte est inactive, Madeleine 4 applique des strategies d'optimisation sur les paquets en attente de transfert en tenant compte des contraintes applicatives et des caracteristiques du reseau rapide sous-jacent afin de choisir la meilleure combinaison de paquets a transmettre sur le reseau. Un premier prototype de Madeleine 4 est implemente et evalue sur l'interface de communication bas niveau MX/Myrinet.