Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Apprenticeship Learning for Initial Value Functions in Reinforcement Learning

Reinforcement Learning has had spectacular successes over the last several decades. While meant to require less human input than supervised learning, reinforcement learning can be substantially accelerated with a priori available domain expertise. The ways of providing human knowledge to a reinforcement learning agent vary from crafting state features to initial policy design to initial value function design. We chose the latter and propose a novel approach for acquiring a high-quality initial value function via apprenticeship learning. This approach works well in domain when a body of expert data are available. Our apprentice reinforcement learning (ARL) agent uses dynamic programming to compute values for the states visited by the expert. A Laplacian regularizer is then engaged to extrapolate these onto the entire state space. The result of this process is a high-quality initial value function to be further refined by any value-function based reinforcement learning method. In a grid world domain, ARL was able to speed up TD( ) learning method by a factor of two from a single observed expert’s trace.
OAI/PMH Metadata Conformance to DLF/Aquifer MODS Guidelines

The DLF/Aquifer Implementation Guidelines for Shareable MODS Records were created to facilitate the creation of rich, sharable metadata for use in aggregated digital humanities collections. While guideline creators recognize most data providers do not meet criteria set forth in this document, this study attempts to quantify current levels of conformance to the base requirements set forth by DLF/Aquifer MODS guidelines. By analyzing collections for which MODS records are currently available to OAI-PMH service providers, predictions can be made as to both the nature and extent of future normalization processes required by service providers and the nature and extent of training and education required by data providers wishing to expose MODS records that are useful in a variety of contexts.
The developing role of the educator in Web 2.0 and OER environments

The proliferation of Web 2.0 social networking tools enables the creation of new open teaching and learning spaces. However the adoption of open social networks to encourage collaborative work around Open Educational Resources (OER) is a more recent phenomenon. This paper investigates the use of an open social forum associated with OER to facilitate informal and formal online activity between learners and teachers. The two participants who are lecturers are familiar with the use of closed and password protected online environments. The developing role of the educator in open social networks is investigated through actual use of OER and open forums for informal learning and the lecturers’ attitudes towards use for formal learning are explored. The findings suggest that one lecturer wanted to consider using open environments for formal learning and one lecturer did not. Although the findings in the main are positive, there is a suggestion that facilitative techniques (both human and activity based) need to be further developed to support and sustain learning communication with OER and associated open forums. This paper gives initial feedback about expected and actual usage of OER and open forums for co-operative and collaborative learning.
Developing an IS/ICT management capability maturity framework

Information systems and information communication technology (IS/ICT) have a profound impact on the modern business environment. The role of IS/ICT in organizations has changed significantly over the past forty years. Its initial data-processing support function has evolved into it functioning as a corporate resource of strategic importance and competitive advantage. This new role necessitates an update of IS/ICT management strategies. However, it is argued that the prevailing approach to the improvement of IS/ICT management processes is fragmented. A more comprehensive IS/ICT management capability maturity framework was therefore developed through this research project. A review of historic and recent research studies produced a list of 15 factors that are indicators of organizational IS/ICT management capability maturity. A process of elimination, combination and iterative modelling, supported by interviews with five senior IT professionals in large South African organizations, yielded the final seven indicators that comprise the model. These indicators are IS/ICT Applications, Business-IT relationship, IS/ICT strategy alignment, IS/ICT user profile, IS/ICT managerial paradigm, IS/ICT governance and IS/ICT organization. In the proposed framework these seven indicators are combined in 'spider diagram' notation, and an assessment of an organization's level of maturity on all seven indicators is combined in an IS/ICT management capability maturity profile or footprint. It is argued that this framework is a valuable tool for evaluating an organization's overall IS/ICT management capability, or for comparing different organizations, or even to benchmark with the appropriate maturity profile for a particular industry.
GenoCAD: linguistic approaches to synthetic biology

Background: The design and construction of novel biological systems by combining basic building blocks represents a dominant paradigm in synthetic biology. Creating and maintaining a database of these building blocks is a way to streamline the fabrication of complex constructs. The Registry of Standard Biological Parts (Registry) is the most advanced implementation of this idea. Methods/Principal Findings: By analyzing inclusion relationships between the sequences of the Registry entries, we build a network that can be related to the Registry abstraction hierarchy. The distribution of entry reuse and complexity was extracted from this network. The collection of clones associated with the database entries was also analyzed. The plasmid inserts were amplified and sequenced. The sequences of 162 inserts could be confirmed experimentally but unexpected discrepancies have also been identified.
A framework for the integrated optimization of charging and power management in plug-in hybrid electric vehicles

This paper develops a dynamic programming (DP) based framework for simultaneously optimizing the charging and power management of a plug-in hybrid electric vehicle (PHEV). These two optimal control problems relate to activities of the PHEV on the electric grid (i.e., charging) and on the road (i.e., power management). The proposed framework solves these two problems simultaneously in order to avoid the loss of optimality resulting from solving them separately. The framework furnishes optimal trajectories of the PHEV states and control inputs over a 24-hour period. We demonstrate the framework for 24-hour scenarios with two driving trips and different power grid generation mixes. The results show that addressing the above optimization problems simultaneously can elucidate valuable insights for certain combinations of daily driving scenarios, grid generation mixes, and optimization objectives. For example, in one of the cases considered, the grid produces higher CO2 per unit energy between 3AM and 8AM. This causes the optimal PHEV state and control input trajectory to refrain from completely charging the PHEV's battery in the early morning, and judiciously combine electricity and gasoline while driving. The paper's main contribution to the literature is a framework that makes it possible to evaluate tradeoffs such as this one.
Web Tabanlı Fizik Programını Kullanarak Öğrencilerin Kuvvet ve Hareket Konularındaki Başarı ve Kavram Yanılgıları Üzerine Bir Çalışma

The main goal of this study was to investigate the effects of a web-based physics software program on students’ achievement and misconceptions in force and motion concepts. A total of 125 students (54.4% female and 45.6% male) from two public high schools in Brevard County, Florida, were selected to participate in this quasi-experimental study. Based on the results of MANOVA statistical analysis, it is concluded that incorporating the web-based physics program into traditional lecturing did have significant effect on dispelling students’ physics misconceptions about force and motion concepts.
Social Media and Citation Metrics

Quantifying scholarly output via traditional citation metrics is the time-honored method to gauge academic success. Assessing the impact of a scholar’s work can be measured by evaluating several factors including the number of peer-reviewed publications, citations to these publications, and the influence of the publications. These metrics take a relatively long time to accumulate; some are available only via subscription resources, and often these data measure influence only on a specific scientific community. Although these accepted tools provide a means to weigh scholarly output, they do not tell the entire story.
Leistungsfaehiges Datenmanagement als Rueckgrat einer menschzentrierten Entwicklung von Automation / Assistenz

Empirische Studien, die damit verbundenen Daten und darauf durchgefuhrte Analysen sind wichtige Bausteine in menschzentrierten Entwicklungsprozessen fur moderne Assistenz- und Automationssysteme. Hiermit verknupfte Forschungs- und Entwicklungsaktivitaten setzen ein leistungsfahiges Datenmanagement voraus, welches neben der Handhabung der erhobenen Rohdaten auch die Verarbeitung von Metadaten als eine zentrale Aufgabe begreift. Uber die unmittelbare Datennutzung hinaus, lassen sich mit Hilfe geeigneter Metadaten u.a. auch langfristig angelegte Studien (Akzeptanzstudien / Naturalistic Driving Studies) und komplexe/verteilte Analyseszenarien effektiv unterstutzen. Zudem wird der Einsatz automatischer Datenanalysetechniken (Data Mining) durch ein adaquat konzipiertes Metadatenmanagement vorbereitet bzw. ermoglicht.
Brugerinvolvering i design af læreprocesser: refleksioner over et større forsknings- og udviklingsprojekt

Innovationsprojektet ELYK har gennem forsog med brugerdrevne, eksperimentelle metoder udviklet forskellige e-laeringskoncepter. Underliggende disse aktiviteter har der vaeret arbejdet med forskellige metoder og vaeret foretaget begrebsafklaringer. Artiklen introducerer projektets vigtigste metodiske nyskabelser samt de overvejelser om brugere, design og netvaerk, der har dannet baggrund for dem. Vi haevder, at "brugeren" er en konstruktion, der ma forstas i en given aktivitet og sammenhaeng, som rammesaettes af samspillet mellem virksomheder, myndigheder og vidensinstitutioner. Dette anskueliggores gennem en quadruple helix model. Begrebet "didaktisk design" problematiseres ud fra betragtningen, at der i design-aktiviteter er behov for at medtaenke og involvere forskellige tilgange samt forskellige kompetencer hos aktorerne. "Design thinking" inddrages for at pointere, at design er en eksplorativ, dialogisk og til dels ogsa emotionel og intuitiv proces. Disse overvejelser forer frem til Firefelt-modellen, en metadesign-model, der har vaeret anvendt som grundlag for alle ELYK-udviklingsforsog. Afslutningsvis anskues ELYK-projektet i et bredere perspektiv som afsaet for at reflektere over, hvordan en e-laeringsdidaktik kan taenkes i forhold til nye kommunikations- og samarbejdsformer – en forste skitse til en netvaerksdidaktik. De laeringsmuligheder, der ligger i netvaerk, transformeres ikke til laering uden en forstaelse for savel laeringsmuligheder og -potentialer, som hvordan potentialerne kan realiseres i forhold til de skiftende kontekster, som mennesker indgar i.
Grid Connected Micro Inverter System Using Half Bridge Converter

This Article focuses a micro-inverter system connected to a grid. Past and present conditions of inverters are also focused. In this topology a dc-dc boost half bridge converter is connected to a low voltage PV side. A Pulse width modulated inverter is also integrate with this converter to supply synchronized current to the grid. An adopted Maximum power point tracking (MPPT) system is used to get maximum output.
Online hand-sketched graphics recognition based on attributed relational graph matching

The recognition of online hand-sketched graphics is studied. First, the attributed relational graph (ARG) representation of online hand-sketched graphics is discussed. And then the pattern similarity measure which is computed by using A* algorithm is defined. Finally, a strategy of model matching and a way of model organizing are proposed in order to improve the recognition speed.
GSM base-station antenna diversity using soft decision combining on up-link and delayed-signal transmission on down-link

Two branch base-station antenna diversity performance for the GSM (Groupe Speciale Mobile) system is simulated. For the uplink combining, soft decision signals from two SOVA data-detectors are used for a (nearly) optimum post-detection combining. For downlink, a delayed-signal (on the order of 2-b periods) is transmitted on a second antenna branch in order to introduce "artificial" time dispersion in the radio channel. This technique takes advantage of the equalizing properties of the GSM data-detector. The simulation results show that the multipath fading margin can be reduced by 6-13 dB on uplink and by 3-10 dB on downlink for the GSM specified test channels RA250 and TU50.
Energy-aware software

Luca Ardito has focused his PhD on studying how to identify and to reduce the energy consumption caused by software. The project concentrates on the application level, with an experimental approach to discover and modify characteristics that waste energy. We can define five research goals: RG1. Is it possible to measure the energy consumption of an application? Measuring the energy consumption of an electronic device (PC, mobile phone, etc.) is straightforward, but several applications coexist on it, possibly with very different energy needs. Usage profiles for applications are certainly important too. We will consider the most common platforms (Windows, Linux, Mac Osx). RG2. Could Energy Efficiency be considered as a software non- functional requirement? Research has increasingly focused on improving the Energy Efficiency of hardware, but the literature still lacks in quantifying accurately the energy impact of software. This research goal is strictly related to the following one. RG3. Is it possible to profile the energy consumption of a software application? An empirical experiment could assess quantitatively the energetic impact of software usage by building up common application usage scenarios and executing them independently to collect power consumption data. RG4. Is there a relationship between the way a program is written and its energy consumption? The same application, at the code level, can be written in different ways. Here the question is if the different ways have impact on energy consumption. The code should be considered at two levels: source code (programmer) and object code/byte code (compiler). RG5. Is it possible to use the energy consumption information to trigger self-adaptation? A software application could automatically modify its behaviour in order to reduce its energy consumption
The robust, hierarchical registration of multimodal medical images

There is a large clinical advantage to using imaging data from more than one modality at a time (e.g., MR, IR, CAT, PET, Ultrasound), informing reliable patient assessments. There is a corresponding urgent clinical need to reliably register images arising from different modalities. Conventional registration programs are unable to register these images with any reliability. However, by maximizing the Mutual Information (MI) between the images, it is possible to register images from different modalities. Improved performance results by registering at successive scales of spatial resolution. However, current methods are computationally demanding. The present work introduces the following innovations: (i) Unlike all versions in the literature, the MI criterion is formulated for continuous image domains; (ii) MI maximization is expressed as a variational principle. A regression method for the solution of the linearized variational equation is proposed.
Implementation of the two-phase commit protocol in Thor

This thesis describes the detailed design and implementation of the two-phase commit protocol for Thor, a new object-oriented database management system. The protocol relies on an optimistic concurrency control scheme and loosely synchronized clocks for transaction validation. It incorporates a number of performance optimizations, including presumed abort, short-circuited prepare, the coordinator log protocol, and further optimization of read-only transactions. The thesis also discusses some features of the protocol unique to Thor, such as client cache invalidation and the assignment of new object names. Thesis Supervisor: Barbara Liskov Title: NEC Professor of Software Science and Engineering
Inductive Logic Programming: 6th International Workshop, ILP-96, Stockholm, Sweden, August 26-28, 1996, Selected Papers

Inductive logic programming for natural language processing. - An initial experiment into stereochemistry-based drug design using inductive logic programming. - Applying ILP to diterpene structure elucidation from 13C NMR spectra. - Analysis and prediction of piano performances using inductive logic programming. - Noise detection and elimination applied to noise handling in a KRK chess endgame. - Feature construction with inductive logic programming: A study of quantitative predictions of biological activity by structural attributes. - Polynomial-time learning in logic programming and constraint logic programming. - Analyzing and learning ECG waveforms. - Learning rules that classify ocular fundus images for glaucoma diagnosis. - A new design and implementation of progol by bottom-up computation. - Inductive logic program synthesis with DIALOGS. - Relational knowledge discovery in databases. - Efficient ? -subsumption based on graph algorithms. - Integrity constraints in ILP using a Monte Carlo approach. - Restructuring chain datalog programs. - Top-down induction of logic programs from incomplete samples. - Least generalizations under implication. - Efficient proof encoding. - Learning Logic programs with random classification noise. - Handling Quantifiers in ILP. - Learning from positive data. - ? -Subsumption and its application to learning from positive-only examples.
Literature and language teaching

Using literary texts in language teaching exposes learners to creative uses of language and generates creative responses from them. This chapter explores key issues relating to this by providing a brief historical background, before discussing reasons for using literature in language teaching; the nature of literary language and the implications for pedagogy; and the role of the reader in making sense of texts. The influence of communicative language teaching has resulted in more process-oriented, learner-centred approaches to using literature with language learners, ranging from language-based approaches which emphasise personal response to those which draw on literary theory or stylistics. Such approaches are discussed and evaluated, and key principles for classroom practice are suggested. The chapter also focuses on future trends, including the recent call for more empirical research into using literature in the language classroom. The need for more empirical research is explained, key research to date is summarised, and the importance of practitioner-based research methods is discussed. Other future trends considered include the pedagogic implications arising from the rise of global Englishes; the possibilities offered by web-based interaction and multi-modal and hyperlinked texts; and the increasing integration of creative writing into language classrooms.
An algorithm to find critical execution paths of software based on complex network

The critical execution paths play an important role in software system in terms of reducing the numbers of test date, detecting the vulnerabilities of software structure and analyzing software reliability. However, there are no efficient methods to discover them so far. Thus in this paper, a complex network-based software algorithm is put forward to find critical execution paths (FCEP) in software execution network. First, by analyzing the number of sources and sinks in FCEP, software execution network is divided into AOE subgraphs, and meanwhile, a Software Execution Network Serialization (SENS) approach is designed to generate execution path set in each AOE subgraph, which not only reduces ring structure's influence on path generation, but also guarantees the nodes' integrity in network. Second, according to a novel path similarity metric, similarity matrix is created to calculate the similarity among sets of path sequences. Third, an efficient method is taken to cluster paths through similarity matrices, and the maximum-length path in each cluster is extracted as the critical execution path. At last, a set of critical execution paths is derived. The experimental results show that the FCEP algorithm is efficient in mining critical execution path under software complex network.
Computing with Services

Computing Services maintains several large general purpose labs and a number of discipline-specific labs on both the St. Paul and Minneapolis campuses; smaller general purpose labs are located in each of the residence halls. Students who live on campus are provided high-speed Internet access through either data ports or wirelessly in their room. Each member of the St. Kate's community, including students, faculty, and staff, are provided with an account that gives them secure access to campus computing resources. This includes an e-mail account using our Google Apps for Education that is available via a web browser, access to our Course Management System, and access to the popular Kateway web portal where community members may securely access the information they need to be successful at St. Kate's.
The number of video examples and the dispersion of examples as instructional design variables in tea

AbstractWhen learning a natural concept, students develop a cognitive model or prototype. The accuracy of this prototype determines the classification performance. Generally, in an instruction the student is provided with a verbal description of the concept (definition), and objects from that category (examples) are used to illustrate this definition and to give indications about the broadness of the domain. Two aspects of the examples as an instructional means were examined in this study: the dispersion of the selected examples and the number of examples presented on video. It was found that narrowly dispersed examples had an effect on the development of conceptual knowledge, whereas widely dispersed examples stimulated the development of procedural knowledge. The number of video examples had no significant effect on the test scores.
Planificación de agentes BDI

Una de las metas de la Inteligencia Artificial es la construccion de agentes autonomos racionales, capaces de actuar en ambientes complejos y dinamicos. Una de las arquitecturas mas difundidas y estudiadas para especificar este tipo de agentes, es la arquitectura BDI [1]. Este modelo tiene sus raices en la tradicion filosofica de entender el razonamiento practico, el cual involucra dos procesos importantes: deliberacion , decidir que metas se desean realizar, y razonamiento de medios-fines, como obtener dichas metas .