Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Evaluating Recommender Systems: Survey and Framework

The comprehensive evaluation of the performance of a recommender system is a complex endeavor: many facets need to be considered in configuring an adequate and effective evaluation setting. Such facets include, for instance, defining the specific goals of the evaluation, choosing an evaluation method, underlying data, and suitable evaluation metrics. In this article, we consolidate and systematically organize this dispersed knowledge on recommender systems evaluation. We introduce the Framework for Evaluating Recommender systems (FEVR), which we derive from the discourse on recommender systems evaluation. In FEVR, we categorize the evaluation space of recommender systems evaluation. We postulate that the comprehensive evaluation of a recommender system frequently requires considering multiple facets and perspectives in the evaluation. The FEVR framework provides a structured foundation to adopt adequate evaluation configurations that encompass this required multi-facetedness and provides the basis to advance in the field. We outline and discuss the challenges of a comprehensive evaluation of recommender systems and provide an outlook on what we need to embrace and do to move forward as a research community.
DigitalCommons@University of Nebraska - Lincoln DigitalCommons@University of Nebraska - Lincoln Teaching With Charisma Teaching With Charisma

Whether and how far the capacity for imagination can be stimu lated by higher education, I do not know. I am quite sure however, that it can be dulled, even killed by overemphasis on the importance of information and discipline. Yet without discipline, no skills can be acquired. And without a solid respect for facts, imagination degenerates into empty phantasy . The crucial question is . how to encourage discipline without strifling imagination.
Analysing cycling sensors data through ordinal logistic regression with functional covariates

With the emergence of digital sensors in sports, all cyclists can now measure many parameters during their effort, such as speed, slope, altitude, heart rate or pedalling cadence. The present work studies the effect of these parameters on the average developed power, which is the best indicator of cyclist performance. For this, a cumulative logistic model for ordinal response with functional covariate is proposed. This model is shown to outperform competitors on a benchmark study, and its application on cyclist data confirms that pedalling cadence is a key performance indicator. However, maintaining a high cadence during long effort is a typical characteristic of high‐level cyclists, which is something on which amateur cyclists can work to increase their performance.
Design of CMOS Compatible, High‐Speed, Highly‐Stable Complementary Switching with Multilevel Operation in 3D Vertically Stacked Novel HfO2/Al2O3/TiOx (HAT) RRAM

Complementary resistive switching (CRS) is a suitable approach to minimize the sneak leakage paths through a large resistive random access memory (RRAM) array. Here, an effective CRS design with a HfO2/Al2O3/TiOx (HAT) trilayer structure integrated in a 3D vertically stacked RRAM array is reported. The design shows voltage‐controlled resistive switching and CRS performance with multilevel operations. High‐speed switching is observed with the HAT design. The device shows SET and the RESET transitions with speeds of −3.5 V@30 ns and +3.8 V@150 ns, respectively. As well as with the DC measurements, the CRS switching is achieved under AC switching dynamics measurement. Maintaining the same applied pulse polarity, the lower amplitude can switch the device to the SET and the higher amplitude can switch it to the RESET. A highly nonlinear (nonlinearity >102) CRS is obtained at a high temperature of 150 °C. In the HAT devices, the origin of CRS is due to the anionic redistribution in HfO2 and TiOx layers, leaving Al2O3 as tunnel barrier. The achievements reported here indicate the applicability of the HAT design for future high‐speed high‐density applications.
Filet américain oorzaak van eerste landelijke uitbraak van Shigatoxine-producerende Escherichia coli O157-infecties

In September 2005, the first nationwide outbreak of Shiga toxin-producing Escherichia coli (STEC) O157 infections was observed. A total of 21 confirmed and 11 probable patients were reported, who fell ill between September 11 and October 10. Preliminary investigation by the local public health services revealed two possible risk factors: consumption of steak tartare and contact with other persons with gastroenteritis. The results of the subsequent case-control study suggested steak tartare as the most likely cause of the outbreak. Samples of steak tartare taken at a supermarket chain where most of the patients bought the product, tested negative for STEC O157. However, sampling took place 3 days after the date of symptom onset of the last outbreak case. Because 88% of the cases became ill within a two-week period and samples taken shortly afterwards tested negative, point source contamination of steak tartare was considered most plausible.
Multi-User Scheduling for Narrow Band Internet of Things

—In this paper, we investigate the performance issue of massive Internet of Things (IoT) by evaluating to what extent the number of devices can be accommodated. We build a system level simulator based on the 3GPP TR 45.820 Narrow-Band IoT standard. We ﬁnd that the current First In First Out (FIFO) approach can serve 630 devices per base station assuming that one device can be served at a time. Then, we develop the scheduling techniques - maximal delay tolerance and α -maximum tolerance for a system-level performance analysis. Our experiment results show that the proposed scheduling techniques outperform at least 2.8 times compared with the FIFO policy.
Effects of Organosolv Pretreatment Using Temperature-Controlled Bench-Scale Ball Milling on Enzymatic Saccharification of Miscanthus × giganteus

The effect of organosolv pretreatment was investigated using a 30 L bench-scale ball mill reactor that was capable of simultaneously performing physical and chemical pretreatment. Various reaction conditions were tried in order to discover the optimal conditions for the minimal cellulose loss and enhanced enzymatic digestibility of Miscanthus × giganteus (MG), with conditions varying from room temperature to 170 °C for reaction temperature, from 30 to 120 min of reaction time, from 30% to 60% ethanol concentration, and a liquid/solid ratio (L/S) of 10–20 under non-catalyst conditions. The pretreatment effects were evaluated by chemical compositional analysis, enzymatic digestibility test and X-ray diffraction of the treated samples. The pretreatment conditions for the highest glucan digestibility yield were determined as 170 °C, reaction time of 90 min, ethanol concentration of 40% and L/S = 10. With these pretreatment conditions, the XMG (xylan + mannan + galactan) fractionation yield and delignification were 84.4% and 53.2%, respectively. The glucan digestibility of treated MG after the aforementioned pretreatment conditions was 86.0% with 15 filter paper units (FPU) of cellulase (Cellic® CTec2) per g-glucan enzyme loading.
A comprehensive overview of the developmental basis and adaptive significance of a textbook polymorphism: head asymmetry in the cichlid fish Perissodus microlepis

Identifying the evolutionary and developmental bases of adaptive phenotypes is of central interest in evolutionary biology. Cichlid fishes have been a useful researchmodel due to their extraordinary phenotypic diversity reflecting adaptations to often very narrow niches. Among them, the scale-eating Perissodus microlepis is considered to be a textbook example for balanced polymorphism: its asymmetric head and handed behavior is thought to be maintained by negative frequency-dependent selection via prey– predator interactions. However, several contradictory findings and open questions have emerged in recent years, challenging our understanding of this model. Here, we review existing evidence for both genetic and non-genetic effects influencing head asymmetry, the association between morphological asymmetry and behavioral laterality, and the identification of signatures of balancing selection. Recent technological and theoretical developments have opened new exciting research avenues that can help identifying the drivers of adaptive traits in P. microlepis and other nonmodel organisms, and we discuss promising directions worth exploring. We highlight the importance of using integrative approaches that analyze genetic, environmental, and epigenetic variation in natural populations to aid a comprehensive understanding of why cichlids are so diverse and how Guest editors: S. Koblmüller, R. C. Albertson, M. J. Genner, K. M. Sefc & T. Takahashi / Advances in Cichlid Research III: Behavior, Ecology and Evolutionary Biology Electronic supplementary material The online version of this article (https://doi.org/10.1007/s10750-018-3800-z) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users. F. Raffini A. Meyer Lehrstuhl für Zoologie und Evolutionsbiologie, Department of Biology, University of Konstanz, 78464 Constance, Germany F. Raffini A. Meyer International Max Planck Research School (IMPRS) for Organismal Biology, Max Planck Institute for Ornithology, 78315 Radolfzell, Germany F. Raffini Max Planck Institute for Ornithology, 78315 Radolfzell, Germany Present Address: F. Raffini (&) Department of Animal and Plant Sciences, The University of Sheffield, Alfred Denny Building, Western Bank, Sheffield S10 2TN, UK e-mail: f.raffini@sheffield.ac. uk A. Meyer Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study, Harvard University, 02138 Cambridge, MA, USA 123 Hydrobiologia (2019) 832:65–84 https://doi.org/10.1007/s10750-018-3800-z (0123456789(). ,-volV) (0123456789(). ,-volV)
Institutional Knowledge at Singapore Management University Coordinating occupant behavior for building energy and comfort management using multi-agent systems

for multi-agentcom- fort and energy system (MACES) to alternative management and of systems and occupants. upon previous multi-agent systems as it both building system devices and building occupants through direct changes to occupant meeting schedules using multi-objective Markov Decision Problems (MDP). is implemented and tested with input from a real-world building in- cluding actual thermal zones, temperatures, occupant preferences, and occupant schedules. The operations of this building are then simulated according to three distinct control strategies involving varying levels of intelli- gent coordination of devices and occupants. Finally, the energy and comfort results of these three strategies are compared to the baseline and opportunities for further energy savings are assessed. A 12% reduction in energy consumption and a 5% improvement in occupant comfort are realized as compared to the baseline control. Speci ﬁ cally, by employing MDP meeting relocating, an additional 5% improvement in energy consumption is real- ized over other control strategies.
Fault-tolerant finite control set-model predictive control for marine current turbine applications

This study deals with a fault-tolerant control (FTC) strategy for a marine current energy conversion system based on a five-phase permanent magnet synchronous generator. First, a finite control set-model predictive control is adopted to highlight the advantages of this kind of generator in normal mode. The speed tracking performance is evaluated when the system operates under swell effect. Second, its fault tolerance is evaluated under various open-circuit fault conditions. In this case, the reference currents are reconfigured online to achieve the reference torque while minimising the copper losses. Extensive simulations, based on real-tidal speed data measured at the Raz-de-Sein site in Bretagne, France, are carried out for the validation of the proposed FTC strategy.
Metal-Organic Frameworks as a Platform for CO 2 Capture and Chemical Processes: Adsorption, Membrane Separation, Catalytic-Conversion, and Electrochemical Reduction of CO 2

: The continuous rise in the atmospheric concentration of carbon dioxide gas (CO 2 ) is of signiﬁcant global concern. Several methodologies and technologies are proposed and applied by the industries to mitigate the emissions of CO 2 into the atmosphere. This review article o ﬀ ers a large number of studies that aim to capture, convert, or reduce CO 2 by using a superb porous class of materials (metal-organic frameworks, MOFs), aiming to tackle this worldwide issue. MOFs possess several remarkable features ranging from high surface area and porosity to functionality and morphology. As a result of these unique features, MOFs were selected as the main class of porous material in this review article. MOFs act as an ideal candidate for the CO 2 capture process. The main approaches for capturing CO 2 are pre-combustion capture, post-combustion capture, and oxy-fuel combustion capture. The applications of MOFs in the carbon capture processes were extensively overviewed. In addition, the applications of MOFs in the adsorption, membrane separation, catalytic conversion, and electrochemical reduction processes of CO 2 were also studied in order to provide new practical and e ﬃ cient techniques for CO 2 mitigation.
Efficient Evaluation of Functionally Represented Volumetric Objects

There are several approaches to representing shapes in computer graphics. One of the ways to describe objects and operations is Function Representation (FRep). In FRep, a geometric object is defined by a single continuous real-valued function of point coordinates. Generally geometric modelling is conducted in order to achieve visual outcome. In FRep the transformation of a function into a visual representation relies on extensive sampling of the function. The computational cost of the sampling can cause adverse effects during applications runtime. In this thesis the problem of efficient evaluation of the defining function is discussed. An observation is made on wide range of operations and primitives within FRep and their suitability for parallelization. Furthermore, a new novel method is proposed to distribute FReps computational workloads on parallel hardware devices such as graphics programming units and multi-core processors.
NUTRITIONAL EFFECTS OF HOUSEHOLD FOOD WASTES SUPPLEMENTATION IN SHEEP DIET

The present study aimed to assess the household food waste (HFW) as a substituted source of low cost feed for sheep. HFW was freshly collected, weighed, dried, ground and then chemically analyzed. On as-fed basis, HFW was used as an ingredient in the formulating balanced diet for lambs at varying levels of substitution (0 %, 15 % and 30%). On dry matter (DM) basis, HFW contained moderate protein content (14.72%), ether extract (6.96%), non-fibrous carbohydrate (47.39%), and ash (10.98%). The growth performance and feed efficiency of lambs supplemented with 15 and 30% HFW-contained diets were similar to control animals. The effect of HFW on fasted live weight, carcass weight, dressing percentages and meat chemical composition was also within the range of lambs feed on normal diet. Histopathologically, mosaic appearance of glycogen infiltration which may support the fattening effect. Unless, the oval cell proliferation associated with higher serum levels of GGT enzyme in 30% HFW-containing diet, which might be attributed to higher residue levels of iron in HFW. Therefore, HFW might be incorporated in lower concentration in lamb diet.
Usefulness of Digital Serious Games in Engineering for Diverse Undergraduate Students

The use of educational digital games as supplemental tools to course instruction materials has increased over the last several decades and especially since the COVID-19 pandemic. Though these types of instructional games have been employed in the majority of STEM disciplines, less is known about how diverse populations of students interpret and define the value of these games towards achieving academic and professional pursuits. A mixed-method sequential exploratory research design method that was framed on the Technology Acceptance Model, Game-Based Learning Theory and Expectancy Value Theory was used to examine how 201 students perceived the usefulness of an intuitive education game that was designed to teach engineering mechanics used in designing civil structures. We found that students had different expectations of educational digital games than games designed for entertainment used outside of classroom environments. Several students thought that the ability to design their own structures and observe structure failure in real-time was a valuable asset in understanding how truss structures responded to physical loading conditions. However, few students thought the educational game would be useful for exam (14/26) or job interview (19/26) preparation. Students associated more value with engineering games that illustrate course content and mathematical calculations used in STEM courses than those that do not include these elements.
A Novel High-Pass Delta–Sigma Modulator-Based Digital-IF Transmitter With Enhanced Performance for SDR Applications

This brief presents a new transmitter architecture based on digital-intermediate frequency (IF) high-pass delta–sigma modulator (HPDSM). The proposed digital-IF transmitter topology utilizes a novel complex HPDSM topology to address the high quantization-noise power problem in Cartesian band-pass BPDSM and HPDSM-based digital-IF transmitters, without increasing the oversampling ratio of the signal or the clock rate of the system. To evaluate the performance of the new digital-IF transmitter system, a comparison with its Cartesian band-pass and high-pass counterparts, in terms of signal to noise and distortion radio (SNDR) and coding efficiency, was established. A simulation using 8 dB peak to average power ratio long term evolution signals with 1.24-MHz bandwidth showed that by integrating the proposed second-order complex HPDSM digital-IF in the transmitter, the power of the quantization noise is significantly reduced. The transmitter digital blocks were implemented on the BEEcube software-defined radio prototyping platform. The input signal is encoded by the new HPDSM topology and is up-converted and then fed to the inverse class-F switch-mode power amplifier. An overall efficiency of 12% was achieved by the proposed topology. Moreover, the output signal SNDR reached 37.8 dB and the adjacent channel leakage ratio at the lower and upper 1.25-MHz offset frequencies measured is equal to −35 dBc.
P F R F P R O O F Reaching for the Holy Grail: insights from infection/cure models on the prospects for vaccines for Trypanosoma cruzi infection

Prevention of Trypanosoma cruzi infection in mammals likely depends on either prevention of the invading trypomastigotes from infecting host cells or the rapid recognition and killing of the newly infected cells by T. cruzi specific T cells. We show here that multiple rounds of infection and cure (by drug therapy) fails to protect mice from reinfection, despite the generation of potent T cell responses. This disappointing result is similar to that obtained with many other vaccine protocols used in attempts to protect animals from T. cruzi infection. We have previously shown that immune recognition of T. cruzi infection is significantly delayed both at the systemic level and at the level of the infected host cell. The systemic delay appears to be the result of a stealth infection process that fails to trigger substantial innate recognition mechanisms while the delay at the cellular level is related to the immunodominance of highly variable gene family proteins, in particular those of the trans-sialidase family. Here we discuss how these previous studies and the new findings herein impact our thoughts on the potential of prophylactic vaccination to serve a productive role in the prevention of T. cruzi infection and Chagas disease.
Edinburgh Research Explorer Joint analysis of psychiatric disorders increases accuracy of risk prediction for schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, and major depressive disorder

Genetic risk prediction has several potential applications in medical research and clinical practice and could be used, for example, to stratify a heterogeneous population of patients by their predicted genetic risk. However, for polygenic traits, such as psychiatric disorders, the accuracy of risk prediction is low. Here we use a multivariate linear mixed model and apply multi-trait genomic best linear unbiased prediction for genetic risk prediction. This method exploits correlations between disorders and simultaneously evaluates individual risk for each disorder. We show that the multivariate approach signiﬁcantly increases the prediction accuracy for schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, and major depressive disorder in the discovery as well as in independent validation datasets. By grouping SNPs based on genome annotation and ﬁtting multiple random effects, we show that the prediction accuracy could be further improved. The gain in prediction accuracy of the multivariate approach is equivalent to an increase in sample size of 34% for schizophrenia, 68% for bipolar disorder, and 76% for major depressive disorders using single trait models. Because our approach can be readily applied to any number of GWAS datasets of correlated traits, it is a ﬂexible and powerful tool to maximize prediction accuracy. With current sample size, risk predictors are not useful in a clinical setting but already are a valuable research tool, for example in experimental designs comparing cases with high and low polygenic risk.
Distributed control based power sharing strategy for an islanded AC microgrid

This study presents a novel secondary control strategy for a radial microgrid with end-to-end distributed energy resource (DER) interconnections, operating under islanded conditions. The control strategy utilises sparse communication and precludes the presence of a centralised controller. The distributed algorithm has a twofold objective. The first task is to determine the desired power injection at each DER bus for a load change occurring anywhere in the microgrid. The remaining task includes obtaining the bus angle set points at all the DER units such that the actual power injections converge to the desired power injections at each DER bus. The algorithm enables accurate system wide power injection in proportion to the respective DER base ratings. The control strategy is tested on a three-bus, three-DER system with local loads. The controller is shown to work for two different sets of microgrid ratings. The bounds are evaluated for each design parameter specified according to the system nominal ratings to maintain the stability of the distributed algorithm. Proofs are stated to show the convergence of algorithms to the correct power injection solution for all the nodes. Real-time simulation results are presented to corroborate accurate power sharing through the algorithm.
Phase diagram of dipolar bosons in 2D with tilted polarization

We analyze the ground state of a system of dipolar bosons moving in the $XY$ plane and such that their dipolar moments are all aligned in a fixed direction in space. We focus on the general case where the polarization field forms a generic angle $\alpha$ with respect to the $Z$ axis. We use the Path Integral Ground State method to analyze the static properties of the system as both $\alpha$ and the density $n$ vary over a wide range were the system is stable. We use the maximum of the static structure function as an order parameter to characterize the different phases and the transition lines among them. We find that aside of a superfluid gas and a solid phase, the system reaches a stripe phase at large tilting angles that is entirely induced by the anisotropic character of the interaction. We also show that the quantum phase transition from the gas to the stripe phase is of second order, and report approximate values for the critical exponents.