25,212 research outputs found
Reciprocal Recommender System for Learners in Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs)
Massive open online courses (MOOC) describe platforms where users with
completely different backgrounds subscribe to various courses on offer. MOOC
forums and discussion boards offer learners a medium to communicate with each
other and maximize their learning outcomes. However, oftentimes learners are
hesitant to approach each other for different reasons (being shy, don't know
the right match, etc.). In this paper, we propose a reciprocal recommender
system which matches learners who are mutually interested in, and likely to
communicate with each other based on their profile attributes like age,
location, gender, qualification, interests, etc. We test our algorithm on data
sampled using the publicly available MITx-Harvardx dataset and demonstrate that
both attribute importance and reciprocity play an important role in forming the
final recommendation list of learners. Our approach provides promising results
for such a system to be implemented within an actual MOOC.Comment: 10 pages, accepted as full paper @ ICWL 201
Graph-based Features for Automatic Online Abuse Detection
While online communities have become increasingly important over the years,
the moderation of user-generated content is still performed mostly manually.
Automating this task is an important step in reducing the financial cost
associated with moderation, but the majority of automated approaches strictly
based on message content are highly vulnerable to intentional obfuscation. In
this paper, we discuss methods for extracting conversational networks based on
raw multi-participant chat logs, and we study the contribution of graph
features to a classification system that aims to determine if a given message
is abusive. The conversational graph-based system yields unexpectedly high
performance , with results comparable to those previously obtained with a
content-based approach
Peatlands and the carbon cycle: from local processes to global implications - a synthesis
Peatlands cover only 3% of the Earth's land surface but boreal and subarctic peatlands store about 15-30% of the world's soil carbon ( C) as peat. Despite their potential for large positive feedbacks to the climate system through sequestration and emission of greenhouse gases, peatlands are not explicitly included in global climate models and therefore in predictions of future climate change. In April 2007 a symposium was held in Wageningen, the Netherlands, to advance our understanding of peatland C cycling. This paper synthesizes the main findings of the symposium, focusing on (i) small-scale processes, (ii) C fluxes at the landscape scale, and (iii) peatlands in the context of climate change. The main drivers controlling most are related to some aspects of hydrology. Despite high spatial and annual variability in Net Ecosystem Exchange ( NEE), the differences in cumulative annual NEE are more a function of broad scale geographic location and physical setting than internal factors, suggesting the existence of strong feedbacks. In contrast, trace gas emissions seem mainly controlled by local factors. Key uncertainties remain concerning the existence of perturbation thresholds, the relative strengths of the CO2 and CH4 feedback, the links among peatland surface climate, hydrology, ecosystem structure and function, and trace gas biogeochemistry as well as the similarity of process rates across peatland types and climatic zones. Progress on these research areas can only be realized by stronger co-operation between disciplines that address different spatial and temporal scales
X-ray imaging of the Seyfert 2 galaxy Circinus with Chandra
We present results from the zeroth-order imaging of a Chandra HETGS
observation of the nearby Seyfert 2 galaxy Circinus. Twelve X-ray sources were
detected in the ACIS-S image of the galaxy, embedded in diffuse X-ray emission.
The latter shows a prominent (~18arcsec) soft ``plume'' in the N-W direction,
coincident with the [OIII] ionization cone. The radial profiles of the
brightest X-ray source at various energies are consistent with an unresolved
(FWHM ~0.8arcsec) component, which we identify as the active nucleus, plus two
extended components with FWHMs ~ 2.3arcsec and 18arcsec, respectively. In a
radius of 3arcsec, the nucleus contributes roughly the same flux as the
extended components at the softest energies (< 2 keV). However, at harder
energies (> 2 keV), the contribution of the nucleus is dominant. The
zeroth-order ACIS spectrum of the nucleus exhibits emission lines at both soft
and hard X-rays, including a prominent Fe Kalpha line at 6.4 keV, showing that
most of the X-ray lines previously detected with ASCA originate in a compact
region (<15 pc). Based on its X-ray spectrum, we argue that the 2.3arcsec
extended component is scattered nuclear radiation from nearby ionized gas. The
large-scale extended component includes the emission from the N-W plume and
possibly from the outer starburst ring.Comment: Figure 1 in color. ApJ Letters, in pres
Principles of Control for Decoherence-Free Subsystems
Decoherence-Free Subsystems (DFS) are a powerful means of protecting quantum
information against noise with known symmetry properties. Although Hamiltonians
theoretically exist that can implement a universal set of logic gates on DFS
encoded qubits without ever leaving the protected subsystem, the natural
Hamiltonians that are available in specific implementations do not necessarily
have this property. Here we describe some of the principles that can be used in
such cases to operate on encoded qubits without losing the protection offered
by the DFS. In particular, we show how dynamical decoupling can be used to
control decoherence during the unavoidable excursions outside of the DFS. By
means of cumulant expansions, we show how the fidelity of quantum gates
implemented by this method on a simple two-physical-qubit DFS depends on the
correlation time of the noise responsible for decoherence. We further show by
means of numerical simulations how our previously introduced "strongly
modulating pulses" for NMR quantum information processing can permit
high-fidelity operations on multiple DFS encoded qubits in practice, provided
that the rate at which the system can be modulated is fast compared to the
correlation time of the noise. The principles thereby illustrated are expected
to be broadly applicable to many implementations of quantum information
processors based on DFS encoded qubits.Comment: 12 pages, 7 figure
Single-lined Spectroscopic Binary Star Candidates in the RAVE Survey
Repeated spectroscopic observations of stars in the Radial Velocity
Experiment (RAVE) database are used to identify and examine single-lined binary
(SB1) candidates. The RAVE latest internal database (VDR3) includes radial
velocities, atmospheric and other parameters for approximately quarter million
of different stars with little less than 300,000 observations. In the sample of
~20,000 stars observed more than once, 1333 stars with variable radial
velocities were identified. Most of them are believed to be SB1 candidates. The
fraction of SB1 candidates among stars with several observations is between 10%
and 15% which is the lower limit for binarity among RAVE stars. Due to the
distribution of time spans between the re-observation that is biased towards
relatively short timescales (days to weeks), the periods of the identified SB1
candidates are most likely in the same range. Because of the RAVE's narrow
magnitude range most of the dwarf candidates belong to the thin Galactic disk
while the giants are part of the thick disk with distances extending to up to a
few kpc. The comparison of the list of SB1 candidates to the VSX catalog of
variable stars yielded several pulsating variables among the giant population
with the radial velocity variations of up to few tens of km/s. There are 26
matches between the catalog of spectroscopic binary orbits (SB9) and the whole
RAVE sample for which the given periastron time and the time of RAVE
observation were close enough to yield a reliable comparison. RAVE measurements
of radial velocities of known spectroscopic binaries are consistent with their
published radial velocity curves.Comment: 10 pages, 7 figures, accepted for publication in A
Incommensurate spin density wave in Co-doped BaFe2As2
57Fe Mossbauer spectroscopy measurements are presented in the underdoped
Ba(Fe{1-x}Cox)2As2 series for x=0.014 (T_c < 1.4K) and x=0.03 and 0.045 (T_c ~
2 and 12K respectively). The spectral shapes in the so-called spin-density wave
(SDW) phase are interpreted in terms of incommensurate modulation of the
magnetic structure, and allow the shape of the modulation to be determined. In
undoped BaFe2As2, the magnetic structure is commensurate, and we find that
incommensurability is present at the lowest doping level (x=0.014). As Co
doping increases, the low temperature modulation progressively loses its
"squaredness" and tends to a sine-wave. The same trend occurs for a given
doping level, as temperature increases. We find that a magnetic hyperfine
component persists far above the SDW transition, its intensity being
progressively tranferred to a paramagnetic component on heating.Comment: 7 pages, 8 figures, published in EP
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