Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Identifying bloggers with marketing influence in the blogosphere

Finding influential bloggers will not only allow us to better understand interesting activities happening in a social network, but also present unique opportunities for sales and advertisements. In this paper, we address a novel problem of finding influential bloggers with marketing value in the blogosphere by proposing a MIV (Marketing Influential Value) model. We induce two dimensions of blog characteristics (network-based factors and content-based factors) and develop an adaptive artificial neural network (ANN) to identify the potential bloggers with marketing influence to support the marketers or advertisers in promoting their products or services effectively.
The LABOCA survey of the Extended Chandra Deep Field-South ― radio and mid-infrared counterparts to submillimetre galaxies

We present radio and infrared (3.6-24 μm) counterparts to submillimetre galaxies (SMGs) detected in the Extended Chandra Deep Field-South with the Large APEX Bolometer Camera (LABOCA) 870-μm bolometer camera on the 12-m Atacama Pathfinder Experiment. Using the Very Large Array at 1.4 GHz and Spitzer, we have identified secure counterparts to 79 of the 126 SMGs [signal-to-noise ratio (S/N) > 3.7, S870 > 4.4 mJy] in the field, 62 via their radio and/or 24-μm emission, the remainder using a colour-flux cut on Infrared Array Camera 3.6- and 5.8-μm sources chosen to maximize the number of secure, coincident radio and 24-μm counterparts. In constructing our radio catalogue, we have corrected for the effects of 'flux boosting', then used the corrected flux densities to estimate the redshifts of the SMGs based on the radio/submm spectral indices. The effect of the boosting correction is to increase the median redshift by 0.2 resulting in a value of ? (1σ errors) for the secure radio counterparts, in agreement with other studies, both spectroscopic and photometric.
Driver Modelling: Two-Point- or Inverted Gaze-Beam-Steering

Modelling drivers’ behaviour is essential for developing error compensating assistance systems (Cacciabue, 2007). Salvucci (2007) recommends one of those, the Two-Point Visual Control Model of Steering (TPVCMOS; Salvucci & Gray, 2004), as the backbone of an integrated cognitive architecture. We discuss the shortcomings of this model from two standpoints: the empirical basis of human steering behaviour and a simulation study of a reconstructed TPVCMOS in the TORCS racing simulation environment. As a result, we recommend a steering model that differs from the TPVCMOS in several aspects: peripheral visual control instead of a near point, an integrated information sampling mechanism for both lateral and longitudinal control (inverted-beam steering), and active gaze control to model driving manoeuvres which depend on cognitive planning. Unfortunately, there is a dearth of empirical studies with sufficiently large sample sizes relating active gaze control and driving behaviour. We expect there a change in the future.
Setting priorities in health

Acknowledgements We would like to thank the Nuffield Trust for giving us the opportunity to undertake this research work, with particular thanks to the Efficiency research programme steering group for their expert advice and guidance, and the reviewers for their very helpful and detailed comments. We would also like to thank those who helped develop and pilot the electronic survey. Finally, we would like to thank all those NHS and public sector employees who took part in the survey and extend our gratitude to the five case study sites. We really appreciate the time and effort given to our research, especially during a very turbulent time for health and public sector services – without such support, studies like this would not be possible. 1 Setting priorities in health: a study of English primary care trusts
Computational aspects of the Maslov index of solitary waves

When solitary waves are characterized as homoclinic orbits of a finite-dimensional Hamiltonian system, they have an integer-valued topological invariant, the Maslov index. We are interested in developing a robust numerical algorithm to compute the Maslov index, to understand its properties, and to study the implications for the stability of solitary waves. The algorithms reported here are developed in the exterior algebra representation, which leads to a robust and fast algorithm with some novel properties. We use two different representations for the Maslov index, one based on an intersection index and one based on approximating the homoclinic orbit by a sequence of periodic orbits. New results on the Maslov index for solitary wave solutions of reaction-diffusion equations, the fifth-order Korteweg-De Vries equation, and the longwave-shortwave resonance equations are presented. Part 1 considers the case of four-dimensional phase space, and Part 2 considers the case of $2n-$dimensional phase space with $n>2$.
Image thresholding using micro opposition-based Differential Evolution (Micro-ODE)

Image thresholding is a challenging task in image processing field. Many efforts have already been made to propose universal, robust methods to handle a wide range of images. Previously by the same authors, an optimization-based thresholding approach was introduced. According to the proposed approach, differential evolution (DE) algorithm, minimizes dissimilarity between the input grey-level image and the bi-level (thresholded) image. In the current paper, micro opposition-based differential evolution (micro-ODE), DE with very small population size and opposition-based population initialization, has been proposed. Then, it is compared with a well-known thresholding method, Kittler algorithm and also with its non-opposition-based version (micro-DE). In overall, the proposed approach outperforms Kittler method over 16 challenging test images. Furthermore, the results confirm that the micro-ODE is faster than micro-DE because of embedding the opposition-based population initialization.
Analysis of factors affecting players' performance and perception in multiplayer games

In this paper we analyse different factors affecting players' perception and performance in multiplayer games. We introduce a mean opinion score metric borrowed from the subjective analysis of audio and video content to classify the player's perceived game quality. With a survey we investigated the player's view on network latency for a variety of games. Furthermore, we examine four different games under different network conditions and collect data on game score and subjective perception from every player. During the evaluation, we investigate the effect of latency and jitter on multiplayer games. We use regression analysis methods to identify coherences between delay, jitter, skill, game score, and the subjective impression of the player. Finally, we compare the results from the survey and the experiments.
System Level Assessment of an Optical NoC in an MPSoC Platform

In the near future, multi-processor systems-on-chip (MPSoC) will become the main thrust driving the evolution of integrated circuits. MPSoCs introduce new challenges, mainly due to growing communication through their interconnect structure. Current electrical interconnects face hard challenges to overcome such data flows. Integrated optical interconnect is a potential technological improvement to reduce these problems. The main contributions of this paper are: i) the optical network integration in a system-level MPSoC platform; and ii) the quantitative evaluation of optical interconnect for MPSoC design using a multimedia application
Role of replication protein A as sensor in activation of the S-phase checkpoint in Xenopus egg extracts

Uncoupling between DNA polymerases and helicase activities at replication forks, induced by diverse DNA lesions or replication inhibitors, generate long stretches of primed single-stranded DNA that is implicated in activation of the S-phase checkpoint. It is currently unclear whether nucleation of the essential replication factor RPA onto this substrate stimulates the ATR-dependent checkpoint response independently of its role in DNA synthesis. Using Xenopus egg extracts to investigate the role of RPA recruitment at uncoupled forks in checkpoint activation we have surprisingly found that in conditions in which DNA synthesis occurs, RPA accumulation at forks stalled by either replication stress or UV irradiation is dispensable for Chk1 phosphorylation. In contrast, when both replication fork uncoupling and RPA hyperloading are suppressed, Chk1 phosphorylation is inhibited. Moreover, we show that extracts containing reduced levels of RPA accumulate ssDNA and induce spontaneous, caffeine-sensitive, Chk1 phosphorylation in S-phase. These results strongly suggest that disturbance of enzymatic activities of replication forks, rather than RPA hyperloading at stalled forks, is a critical determinant of ATR activation.
Görselleştirme yaklaşımı ile yapılan matematik öğretiminin öğrencilerin bilişsel ve duyuşsal gelişimi üzerindeki etkisi

The purpose of this study is to determine the effect of visualization approach on the students’ cognitive and affective developments. It is an experimental research based on an experimental pre-test post-test model. The experimental and control groups consist of the 8 grade students of a public and a private secondary school in Izmir during the 2010-2011 academic year. In the research, abstract thinking skills and academic achievements were examined as cognitive characteristics while attitude towards, achievement motivation and learned helplessness in mathematics were examined as affective characteristics. Visual content, qualified course materials including a section on computer which prepared with the approval of experts’ opinions were used. For the computer based visual materials, Flash CS5, Swish Max, iSpring ve Power Point programs were used. The data were collected using the ́ ́Mathematics Attitudes Scale ́ ́ which was prepared by Nazl çiçek ve Erktin (2002), “Achievement Motivation Scale” which was prepared by Umay (2002) and “Learned Helplessness in mathematics Scale” which is developed by the researchers. Cognitive characteristics were measured by ́ ́Algebraic Expressions and Equations Achievement Test ́ ́ and “Abstract Thought in Mathematics Test” which are developed by the researchers. The results of the public school indicated that visualization approach affects the students ́ attitudes towards mathematics, achievement motivation, learned helplessness, abstract thinking skills and achievements in mathematics lessons positively. On the other hand the results of the private school pointed out that visualization approach effects students ́ abstract thinking skills and achievements in mathematics positively while it has no effect on students’ learned helplessness, achievement motivation and attitudes towards mathematics.
A variance reduction method for parametrized stochastic differential equations using the reduced basis paradigm

In this work, we develop a reduced-basis approach for the efficient computation of parametrized expected values, for a large number of parameter values, using the control variate method to reduce the variance. Two algorithms are proposed to compute online, through a cheap reduced-basis approximation, the control variates for the computation of a large number of expectations of a functional of a parametrized Ito stochastic process (solution to a parametrized stochastic differential equation). For each algorithm, a reduced basis of control variates is pre-computed offline, following a so-called greedy procedure, which minimizes the variance among a trial sample of the output parametrized expectations. Numerical results in situations relevant to practical applications (calibration of volatility in option pricing, and parameter-driven evolution of a vector field following a Langevin equation from kinetic theory) illustrate the efficiency of the method.
Novel Pink Bollworm Resistance to the Bt Toxin Cry 1Ac: Effects on Mating, Oviposition, Larval Development and Survival

Abstract Bt cotton plants are genetically engineered to produce insecticidal toxins from the Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt) Berliner (Bacillales: Bacillaceae) bacterium and target key lepidopteran pests. In all previous strains of pink bollworm, Pectinophora gossypiella (Saunders) (Lepidoptera: Gelechiidae) selected in the laboratory for resistance to insecticidal Cry1Ac toxin using an artificial diet containing the toxin, resistance to Cry1Ac and to Bt cotton is linked to three cadherin alleles (r1, r2, and r3). In contrast, the BG(4) pink bollworm strain was selected for resistance to Bt cotton by feeding larvae for four days in each of 42 generations on bolls of ‘NuCOTN33B®’ that expressed Cry1Ac toxin. After additional selection for eleven generations on Cry1Ac-incorporated diet, the susceptibility to Cry1Ac, fecundity, egg viability, and mating of this strain (Bt4R) was compared with the unselected Cry1Ac-susceptible parent strain. Some larvae of the Bt4R strain survived on diet containing ≥ 10 µg Cry1Ac per milliliter artificial diet, but none survived on transgenic cotton bolls. In contrast to strains selected exclusively on Cry1Ac diet, some survival of progeny of reciprocal moth crosses of Bt4R resistant and Bt-susceptible strains occurred on Cry1Ac-treated diet, suggesting differences in levels of dominance. The Bt4R resistant strain does not have the r1, r2, or r3 mutant cadherin genes as do all previous strains of pink bollworm selected on Cry1Ac-treated artificial diet. The combined results suggest a mechanism of resistance to Cry1Ac that is different from previously described cadherin mutations.
A Non-Intrusive Quality and Intelligibility Measure of Reverberant and Dereverberated Speech

A modulation spectral representation is investigated for non-intrusive quality and intelligibility measurement of reverberant and dereverberated speech. The representation is obtained by means of an auditory-inspired filterbank analysis of critical-band temporal envelopes of the speech signal. Modulation spectral insights are used to develop an adaptive measure termed speech to reverberation modulation energy ratio. Experimental results show the proposed measure outperforming three standard algorithms for tasks involving estimation of multiple dimensions of perceived coloration, as well as quality measurement and intelligibility estimation of reverberant and dereverberated speech.
Microvascular Resistance Is Not Influenced by Epicardial Coronary Artery Stenosis Severity: Experimental Validation

Background—The effect of epicardial artery stenosis on myocardial microvascular resistance remains controversial. Recruitable collateral flow, which may affect resistance, was not incorporated into previous measurements. Methods and Results—In an open-chest pig model, distal coronary pressure was measured with a pressure wire, and the apparent minimal microvascular resistance was calculated during peak hyperemia as pressure divided by flow, measured either with a flow probe around the coronary artery (Rmicro app) or with a novel thermodilution technique (apparent index of microcirculatory resistance [IMRapp]). These apparent resistances were compared with the actual Rmicro and IMR after the coronary wedge pressure and collateral flow were incorporated into the calculation. Measurements were made at baseline (no stenosis) and after creation of moderate and severe epicardial artery stenoses. In 6 pigs, 189 measurements of Rmicro and IMR were made under the various epicardial artery conditions. Without consideration of collateral flow, Rmicro app (0.43±0.12 to 0.46±0.10 to 0.51±0.11 mm Hg/mL per minute) and IMRapp (14±4 to 17±7 to 20±10 U) increased progressively and significantly with increasing epicardial artery stenosis (P <0.001 for both). With the incorporation of collateral flow, neither Rmicro nor IMR increased as a result of increasing epicardial artery stenosis. Conclusions—After collateral flow is taken into account, the minimum achievable microvascular resistance is not affected by increasing epicardial artery stenosis.
The Kcnq1ot1 Long Non-Coding RNA Affects Chromatin Conformation and Expression of Kcnq1, but Does Not Regulate Its Imprinting in the Developing Heart

Although many of the questions raised by the discovery of imprinting have been answered, we have not yet accounted for tissue- or stage-specific imprinting. The Kcnq1 imprinted domain exhibits complex tissue-specific expression patterns co-existing with a domain-wide cis-acting control element. Transcription of the paternally expressed antisense non-coding RNA Kcnq1ot1 silences some neighboring genes in the embryo, while others are unaffected. Kcnq1 is imprinted in early cardiac development but becomes biallelic after midgestation. To explore this phenomenon and the role of Kcnq1ot1, we used allele-specific assays and chromosome conformational studies in wild-type mice and mice with a premature termination mutation for Kcnq1ot1. We show that Kcnq1 imprinting in early heart is established and maintained independently of Kcnq1ot1 expression, thus excluding a role for Kcnq1ot1 in repressing Kcnq1, even while silencing other genes in the domain. The exact timing of the mono- to biallelic transition is strain-dependent, with the CAST/EiJ allele becoming activated earlier and acquiring higher levels than the C57BL/6J allele. Unexpectedly, Kcnq1ot1 itself also switches to biallelic expression specifically in the heart, suggesting that tissue-specific loss of imprinting may be common during embryogenesis. The maternal Kcnq1ot1 transcript is shorter than the paternal ncRNA, and its activation depends on an alternative transcriptional start site that bypasses the maternally methylated promoter. Production of Kcnq1ot1 on the maternal chromosome does not silence Cdkn1c. We find that in later developmental stages, however, Kcnq1ot1 has a role in modulating Kcnq1 levels, since its absence leads to overexpression of Kcnq1, an event accompanied by an aberrant three-dimensional structure of the chromatin. Thus, our studies reveal regulatory mechanisms within the Kcnq1 imprinted domain that operate exclusively in the heart on Kcnq1, a gene crucial for heart development and function. We also uncover a novel mechanism by which an antisense non-coding RNA affects transcription through regulating chromatin flexibility and access to enhancers.
Lowered heart rate response during competition in figure skaters with greater aerobic fitness

The purpose of this study was to compare the cardiovascular stress responses to a simulated and a real competition in female artistic roller skaters; and to evaluate the potential influence of aerobic fitness on these responses. Eleven competitive female figure skaters recorded their heart rate during the same figure skating program under real and simulated competitive situations. Mean heart rate and the area under the heart rate curve method analyses were compared between conditions and correlated with maximum oxygen consumption (VO2max). There were significant differences between training and competition for mean heart rate (p=0.044) and area under the heart rate curve (p=0.002). A significant negative correlation between the estimated VO2max and the Δ of the area under the heart rate curve (r = - 0.867, p = 0.001) was also revealed. These findings suggest that competition induces a greater heart rate response during a figure skating program when compared to a simulated competition. A greater aerobic fitness might attenuate this greater heart rate response. The area under the heart rate curve method is a simple and effective method for detecting differences in cardiac stress between exercises with different psycho-physiological demands.
Bookmark-Coloring Algorithm for Personalized PageRank Computing

We introduce a novel bookmark-coloring algorithm (BCA) that computes authority weights over the web pages utilizing the web hyperlink structure. The computed vector (BCV) is similar to the PageRank vector defined for a page-specific teleportation. Meanwhile, BCA is very fast, and BCV is sparse. BCA also has important algebraic properties. If several BCVs corresponding to a set of pages (called hub) are known, they can be leveraged in computing arbitrary BCV via a straightforward algebraic process and hub BCVs can be efficiently computed and encoded.
Keck spectroscopy of the faint dwarf elliptical galaxy population in the Perseus Cluster core: mixed stellar populations and a flat luminosity function

We present the result of a photometric and Keck low-resolution imaging spectrometer (LRIS) spectroscopic study of dwarf galaxies in the core of the Perseus Cluster, down to a magnitude of M B = -12.5. Spectra were obtained for 23 dwarf-galaxy candidates, from which we measure radial velocities and stellar population characteristics from absorption line indices. From radial velocities obtained using these spectra, we confirm 12 systems as cluster members, with the remaining 11 as non-members. Using these newly confirmed cluster members, we are able to extend the confirmed colour-magnitude relation for the Perseus Cluster down to M B = -12.5. We confirm an increase in the scatter about the colour-magnitude relationship below M B = - 15.5, but reject the hypothesis that very red dwarfs are cluster members. We measure the faint-end slope of the luminosity function between M B = -18 and -12.5, finding a = -1.26 ± 0.06, which is similar to that of the field. This implies that an overabundance of dwarf galaxies does not exist in the core of the Perseus Cluster. By comparing metal and Balmer absorption line indices with α-enhanced single stellar population models, we derive ages and metallicities for these newly confirmed cluster members. We find two distinct dwarf elliptical populations: an old, metal-poor population with ages ∼8 Gyr and metallicities [Fe/H] -0.33. Dwarf galaxies in the Perseus Cluster are therefore not a simple homogeneous population, but rather exhibit a range in age and metallicity.
Synergistic Design of a Bio-Inspired Micro Aerial Vehicle with Articulated Wings

The sophisticated and intricate connection between bat morphology and flight capabilities makes it challenging to employ conventional flying robots to replicate the aerial locomotion of these creatures. In recent work, a bat inspired soft Micro Aerial Vehicle (MAV) called Bat Bot (B2) with five Degrees of Actuation (DoA) has been constructed to mimic the flight behavior of a biological bat. Major differences in structural topology resulted from this simpler kinematic complexity, and thus it is necessary to find the dimensions of B2’s structure and the behavior of its actuators such that the wingbeat cycle of B2 closely mimics that of a biological bat. The current work assumes the previously designed structure of B2 and presents a synergistic design approach to imitate the kinematic synergies of a biological bat. Recent findings have unveiled that the most dominant synergies in a biological bat could be combined to accurately represent the original kinematic movement, therefore simplifying its dimensional complexity. In this work, Principal Component Analysis (PCA) has been employed in order to extract dominant principal components of biological bat flight kinematics. Thereafter, first and second principal components are chosen to shape the parametric kinematics and actuator trajectories of B2 through finite state nonlinear constrained optimization. The method yields a robot mechanism that despite having a few DoAs, it possesses several biologically meaningful morphing specializations.