Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
The link between accretion mode and environment in radio-loud active galaxies

The interactions between radio-loud AGN and their environments play an important role in galaxy and cluster evolution. Recent work has demonstrated fundamental differences between High and Low Excitation Radio Galaxies (HERGs and LERGs), and shown that they may have different relationships with their environments. In the Chandra Large Project ERA (Environments of Radio-loud AGN), we made the first systematic X-ray environmental study of the cluster environments of radio galaxies at a single epoch (z~0.5), and found tentative evidence for a correlation between radio luminosity and cluster X-ray luminosity. We also found that this relationship appeared to be driven by the LERG sub-population (Ineson et al. 2013). We have now repeated the analysis with a low redshift sample (z~0.1), and found strong correlations between radio luminosity and environment richness and between radio luminosity and central density for the LERGs but not for the HERGs. These results are consistent with models in which the HERGs are fuelled from accretion discs maintained from local reservoirs of gas, while LERGs are fuelled more directly by gas ingested from the intra-cluster medium. Comparing the samples, we found that although the maximum environment richness of the HERG environments is similar in both samples, there are poorer HERG environments in the z~0.1 sample than in the z~0.5 sample. We have therefore tentative evidence of evolution of the HERG environments. We found no differences between the LERG sub-samples for the two epochs, as would be expected if radio and cluster luminosity are related.
THE TWO-POINT CORRELATION OF 2QZ QUASARS AND 2SLAQ LRGS: FROM A QUASAR FUELING PERSPECTIVE

Public data from the 2dF quasar survey and 2dF/Sloan Digital Sky Survey LRG and QSO, with their vast reservoirs of spectroscopically located and identified sources, afford us the chance to more accurately study their real-space correlations in the hopes of identifying the physical processes that trigger quasar activity. We have used these two public databases to measure the projected cross-correlation, ωp, between quasars and luminous red galaxies. We find the projected two-point correlation to have a fitted clustering radius of r0 = 5.3 ± 0.6 and a slope γ = 1.83 ± 0.42 on scales from 0.7 to 27 h−1 Mpc. We attempt to understand this strong correlation by separating the LRG sample into two populations of blue and red galaxies. We measure at the cross-correlation with each population. We find that these quasars have a stronger correlation amplitude with the bluer, more recently star-forming population in our sample than the redder passively evolving population, which has a correlation that is much more noisy and seems to flatten on scales <5 h−1 Mpc. We compare this result to published work on hierarchical models. The stronger correlation of bright quasars with LRGs that have undergone a recent burst of star formation suggests that the physical mechanisms that produce both activities are related and that minor mergers or tidal effects may be important triggers of bright quasar activity and/or that bright quasars are less highly biased than faint quasars.
Estimating Population-Level Coancestry Coefficients by an Admixture F Model

In this article, we develop an admixture F model (AFM) for the estimation of population-level coancestry coefficients from neutral molecular markers. In contrast to the previously published F model, the AFM enables disentangling small population size and lack of migration as causes of genetic differentiation behind a given level of FST. We develop a Bayesian estimation scheme for fitting the AFM to multiallelic data acquired from a number of local populations. We demonstrate the performance of the AFM, using simulated data sets and real data on ninespine sticklebacks (Pungitius pungitius) and common shrews (Sorex araneus). The results show that the parameterization of the AFM conveys more information about the evolutionary history than a simple summary parameter such as FST. The methods are implemented in the R package RAFM.
Educational Future Orientation of Middle School Latino Students

EDUCATIONAL FUTURE ORIENTATION OF MIDDLE SCHOOL LATINO STUDENTS by Alonso Romero The lack of educational attainment among Latino youth, as evidenced by high school dropout rates, is a growing and costly problem that affects not only Latinos but society as a whole. Using a sample of 139 middle school Latino students, primarily of Mexican descendant, the current study used cluster analysis to identify a typology of students based on their educational aspirations, expectations, and perceived academic competence. Three distinct profiles emerged: a college-bound-congruent group with college aspirations and similar college expectations, and high academic confidence; a college-bound-incongruent group with college aspirations but vocational expectations, and medium academic confidence; and a vocationalbound congruent group with vocational or technical school aspirations and similar expectations, and low academic confidence. Students’ relationship with teachers was a factor that helped differentiate students across the different profiles. Relationships with parents and peers were not. Students’ gender, immigration status, and ethnic identity did not contribute to the differences in profiles. The findings suggest that future educational profiles of middle school Latino students are an important component of a comprehensive “early warning system” that could help identify students who may be at risk of dropping out school. EDUCATIONAL FUTURE ORIENTATION OF MIDDLE SCHOOL LATINO STUDENTS by Alonso Romero
Major transmembrane movement associated with colicin Ia channel gating

Colicin Ia, a bacterial protein toxin of 626 amino acid residues, forms voltage-dependent channels in planar lipid bilayer membranes. We have exploited the high affinity binding of streptavidin to biotin to map the topology of the channel-forming domain (roughly 175 residues of the COOH-terminal end) with respect to the membrane. That is, we have determined, for the channel's open and closed states, which parts of this domain are exposed to the aqueous solutions on either side of the membrane and which are inserted into the bilayer. This was done by biotinylating cysteine residues introduced by site-directed mutagenesis, and monitoring by electrophysiological methods the effect of streptavidin addition on channel behavior. We have identified a region of at least 68 residues that flips back and forth across the membrane in association with channel opening and closing. This identification was based on our observations that for mutants biotinylated in this region, streptavidin added to the cis (colicin- containing) compartment interfered with channel opening, and trans streptavidin interfered with channel closing. (If biotin was linked to the colicin by a disulfide bond, the effects of streptavidin on channel closing could be reversed by detaching the streptavidin-biotin complex from the colicin, using a water-soluble reducing agent. This showed that the cysteine sulfur, not just the biotin, is exposed to the trans solution). The upstream and downstream segments flanking the translocated region move into and out of the bilayer during channel opening and closing, forming two transmembrane segments. Surprisingly, if any of several residues near the upstream end of the translocated region is held on the cis side by streptavidin, the colicin still forms voltage-dependent channels, indicating that a part of the protein that normally is fully translocated across the membrane can become the upstream transmembrane segment. Evidently, the identity of the upstream transmembrane segment is not crucial to channel formation, and several open channel structures can exist.
Velocity analysis for transversely isotropic media

The main difficulty in extending seismic processing to anisotropic media is the recovery of anisotropic velocity fields from surface reflection data. We suggest carrying out velocity analysis for transversely isotropic (TI) media by inverting the dependence of P‐wave moveout velocities on the ray parameter. The inversion technique is based on the exact analytic equation for the normal‐moveout (NMO) velocity for dipping reflectors in anisotropic media. We show that P‐wave NMO velocity for dipping reflectors in homogeneous TI media with a vertical symmetry axis depends just on the zero‐dip value Vnmo(0) and a new effective parameter η that reduces to the difference between Thomsen parameters e and δ in the limit of weak anisotropy. Our inversion procedure makes it possible to obtain η and reconstruct the NMO velocity as a function of ray parameter using moveout velocities for two different dips. Moreover, Vnmo(0) and η determine not only the NMO velocity, but also long‐spread (nonhyperbolic) P‐wave moveout .
BYTEWEIGHT: Learning to Recognize Functions in Binary Code

Function identification is a fundamental challenge in reverse engineering and binary program analysis. For instance, binary rewriting and control flow integrity rely on accurate function detection and identification in binaries. Although many binary program analyses assume functions can be identified a priori, identifying functions in stripped binaries remains a challenge. In this paper, we propose BYTEWEIGHT, a new automatic function identification algorithm. Our approach automatically learns key features for recognizing functions and can therefore easily be adapted to different platforms, new compilers, and new optimizations. We evaluated our tool against three well-known tools that feature function identification: IDA, BAP, and Dyninst. Our data set consists of 2,200 binaries created with three different compilers, with four different optimization levels, and across two different operating systems. In our experiments with 2,200 binaries, we found that BYTE-WEIGHT missed 44,621 functions in comparison with the 266,672 functions missed by the industry-leading tool IDA. Furthermore, while IDA misidentified 459,247 functions, BYTEWEIGHT misidentified only 43,992 functions.
An Institutionalist Perspective on Regional Economic Development

Until recently, regional policy has been firm-centred, standardized, incentive-based and state-driven. This is certainly true in the case of the Keynesian legacy that dominated regional policy in the majority of advanced economies after the 1960s. It relied on income redistribution and welfare policies to stimulate demand in the less favoured regions (LFRs) and the offer of state incentives (from state aid to infrastructural improvements) to individual firms to locate in such regions. Paradoxically, the same principles apply also to pro-market neoliberal experiments which have come to the fore over the last fifteen years. The neoliberal approach, placing its faith in the market mechanism, has sought to deregulate markets, notably the cost of labour and capital, and to underpin entrepreneurship in the LFRs through incentives and investment in training, transport and communication infrastructure, and technology. The common assumption in both approaches, despite their fundamental differences over the necessity for state intervention and over the equilibrating powers of the market, has been that top-down policies can be applied universally to all types of region. This agreement seems to draw on the belief that at the heart of economic success lies a set of common factors (e.g. the rational individual, the maximizing entrepreneur, the firm as the basic economic unit and so on). The achievements of both strands of such an ‘imperative’ approach (Hausner, 1995) have been modest in terms of stimulating sustained improvements in the economic competitiveness and developmental potential of the LFRs. Keynesian regional policies, without doubt, helped to increase employment and income in the LFRs, but they failed to secure increases in productivity comparable to those in the more prosperous regions and, more importantly, they did not succeed in encouraging self-sustaining growth based on the mobilization of local resources and interdependencies (by privileging non-indigenous sectors and externally-owned firms). The ‘market therapy’ has threatened a far worse outcome, by reducing financial transfers which have proven to be a vital source of income and welfare in the LFRs, by exposing the weak economic base of the LFRs to the chill wind of ever enlarging free market zones or corporate competition and by failing singularly to reverse the flow of all factor inputs away from the LFRs. In short, the choice has been that between dependent development or no development.
Pricing American options under spectrally negative exponential Lévy models

This paper provides general analytic expressions for the value and for the Laplace transform of the value of options with a constant lower barrier and exponential random expiration time, under the spectrally negative exponential Levy model. These are used for providing two implementations of Carr’s approximation for the value of the American put with fixed expirarion time, under this model. A simple analytic approximation for the exercise boundary is obtained.
A flexible remote user authentication scheme using smart cards

In 1999, Hwang and Li proposed a new user authentication scheme using smart cards. The scheme does not need any password or verification table. Later, Sun proposed an efficient remote use authentication scheme to improve the efficiency of the Hwang-Li scheme. However, these two schemes do not allow users to freely choose and change their passwords. In this article, we shall propose a simple and efficient remote user authentication scheme that allows users to freely choose and change their passwords without significantly increasing the computation cost.
A Unified Cognitive Architecture for Physical Agents

In this paper we describe ICARUS, a cognitive architecture for physical agents that integrates ideas from a number of traditions, but that has been especially influenced by results from cognitive psychology. We review ICARUS' commitments to memories and representations, then present its basic processes for performance and learning. We illustrate the architecture's behavior on a task from in-city driving that requires interaction among its various components. In addition, we discuss ICARUS' consistency with qualitative findings about the nature of human cognition. In closing, we consider the framework's relation to other cognitive architectures that have been proposed in the literature.
Acute Kidney Injury Definition and In‐Hospital Mortality in Patients Undergoing Primary Percutaneous Coronary Intervention for ST‐Segment Elevation Myocardial Infarction

Background Acute kidney injury (AKI) has been associated with increased mortality in ST‐segment elevation myocardial infarction. We compared the mortality predictive accuracy of the 3 AKI definitions used most widely for patients with ST‐segment elevation myocardial infarction undergoing primary percutaneous coronary intervention. Methods and Results We included 3771 patients with ST‐segment elevation myocardial infarction treated with primary percutaneous coronary intervention at 2 Italian hospitals. AKI incidence was evaluated according to creatinine increases of ≥25% (AKI‐25), ≥0.3 mg/dL (AKI‐0.3), and ≥0.5 mg/dL (AKI‐0.5). The primary end point was in‐hospital mortality. Overall, 557 (15%), 522 (14%), and 270 (7%) patients developed AKI‐25, AKI‐0.3, and AKI‐0.5, respectively (P<0.01). All AKI definitions independently predicted in‐hospital mortality (adjusted odds ratio 4.9 [95% CI 3.1–7.8], 5.4 [95% CI 3.3–8.6], and 8.3 [95% CI 5.1–13.3], respectively; P<0.01 for all). At receiver operating characteristic analysis, the addition of each AKI definition to combined clinical predictors of mortality (age, sex, left ventricular ejection fraction, admission creatinine, creatine kinase‐MB peak) found at stepwise analysis significantly improved mortality prognostication (area under the curve increased from 0.89 for clinical predictor combination alone to 0.92 for AKI‐25, 0.92 for AKI‐0.3, and 0.93 for AKI‐0.5; P<0.01 for all). At reclassification analysis, AKI‐0.5 added to clinical predictors, provided the highest score in mortality (net reclassification improvement +10% versus AKI‐0.3 [P=0.01] and +8% versus AKI‐25 [P=0.05]). Conclusions Each AKI definition significantly improved the mortality prediction beyond major clinical variables. AKI‐0.5 showed a mortality discrimination advantage, suggesting it should be the preferred definition in studies addressing ST‐segment elevation myocardial infarction and focusing on short‐term mortality.
Extranodal Follicular Dendritic Cell Sarcoma Originating in the Pancreas: A Case Report

AbstractFollicular dendritic cell (FDC) sarcoma is a type of malignant tumor that originates from immune system-related FDCs. Pancreatic FDC sarcoma is a rare disease, and the specificity of the clinical presentation and laboratory results is unknown. We report the clinical process and imaging features of one case of pancreatic FDC sarcoma.A 67-year-old woman presented with a hypoechoic mass between the spleen and left kidney during a medical examination. The patient was hospitalized for further diagnosis. Her laboratory results did not present any obvious abnormal changes. Unenhanced and contrast-enhanced pancreatic computed tomography scans indicated a round mass with heterogeneous attenuation in the pancreatic tail, and a 3.5 × 3.6-cm solid mass with a cystic component was noted. Clear-cut, slight contrast enhancement was present in the solid part, whereas contrast enhancement was not observed in the cystic part. In addition, no obvious dilation was observed in the pancreatic duct, and no swollen lymph nodes were noted in the posterior peritoneum. Routine and contrast-enhanced pancreatic magnetic resonance imaging scans showed an abnormal signal indicative of a mass in the pancreatic tail, with a diameter of ∼35 mm and a clear boundary. A T2-weighted imaging scan showed a slight hyperintensity coupled with part of a hyperintensity, whereas T1-weighted imaging showed a slight hypointensity coupled with part of a hypointensity, and diffusion-weighted imaging showed a heterogeneous hyperintensity. The solid part of the lesion showed poor contrast enhancement through contrast-enhanced scanning, but contrast enhancement was not observed in the cystic part. Surgical tumor resection was performed, and the pathological diagnosis was pancreatic FDC sarcoma. The tumor did not recur based on short-term CT reexamination.Pancreatic FDC sarcoma is a rare disease, and the established clinical examinations and laboratory tests lack specificity. Imaging reveals a solid mass with a cystic component and a clear boundary. In addition, the solid part exhibits poor contrast enhancement. Although pancreatic occurrence is rare, a clinical pancreatic solid tumor with a cystic component should be identified by differential diagnosis.
How to Translate Unknown Words for English to Bangla Machine Translation Using Transliteration

Due to small available English-Bangla parallel corpus, Example-Based Machine Translation (EBMT) system has high probability of handling unknown words. To improve translation quality for Bangla language, we propose a novel approach for EBMT using WordNet and International-Phonetic-Alphabet(IPA)-based transliteration. Proposed system first tries to find semantically related English words from WordNet for the unknown word. From these related words, we choose the semantically closest related word whose Bangla translation exists in English-Bangla dictionary. If no Bangla translation exists, the system uses IPA-based-transliteration. If unknown word is not found in the English IPA dictionary, the system uses Akkhor transliteration mechanism. We implemented the proposed approach in EBMT, which improved the quality of good translation by 16 points.
The Effectiveness of Enabling Courses in Assisting Individuals To Progress to Other Training Programs.

In the vocational education and training (VET) sector, students of Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander descent, students from a non-English-speaking background and those with a disability were at least three times more likely to enrol in lower-level preparatory and pre-vocational courses known as enabling courses than other Australians. Students from other ‘disadvantaged’ groups such as those who were unemployed prior to the commencement of their VET program, or students whose highest level of secondary schooling was below Year 12 were also more inclined to undertake studies in these lower-level courses.
Fast and Stable Learning of Quasi-Passive Dynamic Walking by an Unstable Biped Robot based on Off-Policy Natural Actor-Critic

Recently, many researchers on humanoid robotics are interested in quasi-passive-dynamic walking (quasi-PDW) which is similar to human walking. It is desirable that control parameters in quasi-PDW are automatically adjusted because robots often suffer from changes in their physical parameters and the surrounding environment. Reinforcement learning (RL) can be a key technology to this adaptability, and it has been shown that RL realizes quasi-PDW in a simulation study. To apply the existing method to controlling real robots, however, requires further improvement to accelerate its learning, otherwise the robots will break down before acquiring appropriate controls. To accelerate the learning, this study employs off-policy natural actor-critic (off-NAC), and applies it to an acquisition problem of quasi-PDW. The most important feature of the off-NAC is that it reuses the samples that has already been obtained by previous controllers. This study also shows an adaptive method of the learning rate. Simulation as well as real experiments demonstrate that fast and stable learning of quasi-PDW of an unstable biped robot can be realized by our modified off-NAC
LMS Course Design As Learning Analytics Variable

In this paper, I describe a plausible approach to operationalizing existing definitions of learning management system (LMS) course design from the research literature, to better understand instructor impact on student engagement and academic performance. I share statistical findings using such an approach in academic year 201314; discuss related issues and opportunities around faculty development; and describe next steps including identifying and reverse engineering effective course redesign practices, which may be one of the most scalable forms of analytics-based interventions an institution can pursue.
Formation control of fully-actuated marine vessels using group agreement protocols

This paper addresses the problem of getting fully-actuated marine surface vessels to establish a formation before executing its mission, which here is to traverse a predetermined path. Whereas existing designs typically solve the problem by establishing the formation on the path, the proposed design in this paper allows the vessels to coordinate at an arbitrary location prior to a collective movement to the path. Protocols for group agreement form the basis of the proposed solution, while ideas from maneuvering control theory are incorporated to yield the desired path-following behavior. To demonstrate the design, a simulation is shown, where the formation's capability of handling a severe single vessel failure is illustrated.