Chrono: A System for Normalizing Temporal Expressions

The Chrono System: Chrono is a hybrid rule-based and machine learning system written in Python and built from the ground up to identify temporal expressions in text and normalizes them into the SCATE schema. Input text is preprocessed using Python’s NLTK package, and is run through each of the four primary modules highlighted here. Note that Chrono does not remove stopwords because they add temporal information and context, and Chrono does not tokenize sentences. Output is an Anafora XML file with annotated SCATE entities. After minor parsing logic adjustments, Chrono has emerged as the top performing system for SemEval 2018 Task 6. Chrono is available on GitHub at https://github.com/AmyOlex/Chrono. Future Work: Chrono is still under development. Future improvements will include: additional entity parsing, like “event”; evaluating the impact of sentence tokenization; implement an ensemble ML module that utilizes all four ML methods for disambiguation; extract temporal phrase parsing algorithm to be stand-alone and compare to similar systems; evaluate performance on THYME medical corpus; migrate to UIMA framework and implement Ruta Rules for portability and easier customization

Forecasting Issues in NCAA Division I FBS Athletics

The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) and its member institutions have been faced with significant changes in the recent past. This study was used to predict issues, caused by some of these changes, which will impact leaders of NCAA Division I Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) athletic departments over the next five to seven years. The Delphi technique was employed to obtain expert opinions for the forecast. The expert panel consisted of sport management faculty who were surveyed over three rounds to determine what issues were likely to occur and whether or not those issues would have a significant impact. The purpose of the study was to anticipate the issues stemming from the granting of autonomy to the Power 5 conferences and the recent litigation facing the NCAA and its member institutions. Further, the forecast is meant to aid in stakeholder management and strategic planning for athletic administrators at FBS institutions. The expert panel identified nine possible issues, deeming three of the issues likely to occur and four of the issues as having a significant impact. Based on these results, recommendations and suggestions for future research are discussed

An Examination of the Present and Predictions for the Future of Intercollegiate Athletics

This study forecasts future issues in NCAA Division I FBS intercollegiate athletics. The research design employed the Delphi technique to survey an expert panel, consisting of 12 athletic directors and associate athletic directors from FBS institutions, over three rounds to ascertain what issues are likely to occur over the next five to seven years and whether or not these issues will have a significant impact on the way intercollegiate athletics operates. Results of the study revealed eight issues that were likely to occur over the next five to seven years. Four of these issues related to the economic sector of the environment, one related to the legal sector, and three related to the sociocultural. Further, 14 of the issues were rated by the expert panel as having a significant level of impact if they were to occur. Recommendations are made based on the forecasts by the expert panel

Composite material shear property measurement using the Iosipescu specimen

A detailed evaluation of the suitability of the Iosipescu specimen tested in the modified Wyoming fixture is presented. Finite element analysis and moire interferometry are used to assess the uniformity of the shear stress field in the test section of unidirectional and cross-ply graphite-epoxy composites. The nonuniformity of the strain field and the sensitivity of some fiber orientations to the specimen/fixture contact mechanics are discussed. The shear responses obtained for unidirectional and cross-ply graphite-epoxy composites are discussed and problems associated with anomalous behavior are addressed. An experimental determination of the shear response of a range of material systems using strain gage instrumentation and moire interferometry is performed

Higher Order Terms in the Melvin-Morton Expansion of the Colored Jones Polynomial

We formulate a conjecture about the structure of `upper lines' in the expansion of the colored Jones polynomial of a knot in powers of (q-1). The Melvin-Morton conjecture states that the bottom line in this expansion is equal to the inverse Alexander polynomial of the knot. We conjecture that the upper lines are rational functions whose denominators are powers of the Alexander polynomial. We prove this conjecture for torus knots and give experimental evidence that it is also true for other types of knots.Comment: 21 pages, 1 figure, LaTe

Earth resources-regional transfer activity contracts review

A regional transfer activity contracts review held by the Earth Resources Office was summarized. Contracts in the earth resources field primarily directed toward applications of satellite data and technology in solution of state and regional problems were reviewed. A summary of the progress of each contract was given in order to share experiences of researchers across a seven state region. The region included Missouri, Kentucky, Tennessee, Mississippi, Alabama, Georgia, and North Carolina. Research in several earth science disciplines included forestry, limnology, water resources, land use, geology, and mathematical modeling. The use of computers for establishment of information retrieval systems was also emphasized

Systematics of the obligate ant-following clade of antbirds (Aves: Passeriformes: Thamnophilidae)

© 2014 by the Wilson Ornithological Society. Results of a comprehensive molecular phylogeny of the family Thamnophilidae were consistent with earlier findings that almost all obligate army-ant-followers of the family form a monophyletic group that contains five well-supported clades and encompasses six currently recognized genera: Phaenostictus, Pithys, Willisornis, Gymnopithys, Rhegmatorhina, and Phlegopsis. A comparative analysis of seven suites of morphological, behavioral, and ecological traits within the context of the phylogeny reinforced the validity of five of these genera, but results for the sixth, Gymnopithys, were internally inconsistent and required the description of a new genus, Oneillornis