Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Efficient Random-Walk Methods for Approximating Polytope Volume

We experimentally study the fundamental problem of computing the volume of a convex polytope given as an intersection of linear inequalities. We implement and evaluate practical randomized algorithms for accurately approximating the polytope's volume in high dimensions (e.g. one hundred). To carry out this efficiently we experimentally correlate the effect of parameters, such as random walk length and number of sample points, on accuracy and runtime. Moreover, we exploit the problem's geometry by implementing an iterative rounding procedure, computing partial generations of random points and designing fast polytope boundary oracles. Our publicly available code is significantly faster than exact computation and more accurate than existing approximation methods. We provide volume approximations for the Birkhoff polytopes B11, …, B15, whereas exact methods have only computed that of B10.
A new structure-from-motion ambiguity

This paper demonstrates the existence of a generic approximate ambiguity in Euclidean structure from motion (SFM) which applies to scenes with large depth variation. In projective SFM the ambiguity is absent, but the maximum-likelihood reconstruction is more likely to have occasional very large errors. The analysis gives a semi-quantitative characterization of the least-squares error surface over a domain complementary to that analyzed by Jepson/Heeger/Maybank.
Autonomous grid scheduling using probabilistic job runtime forecasting

Computational Grids are evolving into a global, service-oriented architecture a universal platform for delivering future computational services to a range of applications of varying complexity and resource requirements. The thesis focuses on developing a new scheduling model for general-purpose, utility clusters based on the concept of user requested job completion deadlines. In such a system, a user would be able to request each job to finish by a certain deadline. and possibly to a certain monetary cost. Implementing deadline scheduling is dependent on the ability to predict the execution time of each queued job. and on an adaptive scheduling algorithm able to use those predictions to maximise deadline adherence. The thesis proposes novel solutions to these two problems and documents their implementation in a largely autonomous and self-managing way. The starting point of the work is an extensive analysis of a representative Grid workload revealing consistent workflow patterns, usage cycles and correlations between the execution times of jobs and its properties commonly collected by the Grid middleware for accounting purposes. An automated approach is proposed to identify these dependencies and use them to partition the highly variable workload into subsets of more consistent and predictable behaviour. A range of time-series forecasting models, applied in this context for the first time, were used to model the job execution times as a function of their historical behaviour and associated properties. Based on the resulting predictions of job runtimes a novel scheduling algorithm is able to estimate the latest job start time necessary to meet the requested deadline and sort the queue accordingly to minimise the amount of deadline overrun. The testing of the proposed approach was done using the actual job trace collected from a production Grid facility. The best performing execution time predictor (the auto-regressive moving average method) coupled to workload partitioning based on three simultaneous job properties returned the median absolute percentage error eentroid of only 4.75CX. This level of prediction accuracy enabled the proposed deadline scheduling method to reduce the average deadline overrun time ten-fold compared to the benchmark batch scheduler. Overall, the thesis demonstrates that deadline scheduling of computational jobs on the Grid is achievable using statistical forecasting of job execution times based on historical information. The proposed approach is easily implementable, substantially self-managing and better matched to the human workflow making it well suited for implementation in the utility Grids of the future.
Cross-National Analysis of the Associations between Traumatic Events and Suicidal Behavior: Findings from the WHO World Mental Health Surveys

Background Community and clinical data have suggested there is an association between trauma exposure and suicidal behavior (i.e., suicide ideation, plans and attempts). However, few studies have assessed which traumas are uniquely predictive of: the first onset of suicidal behavior, the progression from suicide ideation to plans and attempts, or the persistence of each form of suicidal behavior over time. Moreover, few data are available on such associations in developing countries. The current study addresses each of these issues. Methodology/Principal Findings Data on trauma exposure and subsequent first onset of suicidal behavior were collected via structured interviews conducted in the households of 102,245 (age 18+) respondents from 21 countries participating in the WHO World Mental Health Surveys. Bivariate and multivariate survival models tested the relationship between the type and number of traumatic events and subsequent suicidal behavior. A range of traumatic events are associated with suicidal behavior, with sexual and interpersonal violence consistently showing the strongest effects. There is a dose-response relationship between the number of traumatic events and suicide ideation/attempt; however, there is decay in the strength of the association with more events. Although a range of traumatic events are associated with the onset of suicide ideation, fewer events predict which people with suicide ideation progress to suicide plan and attempt, or the persistence of suicidal behavior over time. Associations generally are consistent across high-, middle-, and low-income countries. Conclusions/Significance This study provides more detailed information than previously available on the relationship between traumatic events and suicidal behavior and indicates that this association is fairly consistent across developed and developing countries. These data reinforce the importance of psychological trauma as a major public health problem, and highlight the significance of screening for the presence and accumulation of traumatic exposures as a risk factor for suicide ideation and attempt.
Organelle Acidification and Disease

A subset of cellular compartments maintain acidic interior environments that are critical for the specific functions of each organelle and for cell growth and survival in general. The pH of each organelle reflects the balance between proton pumping, counterion conductance, and proton leak. Alterations in steady‐state organelle pH due to defects in either proton pumping activity or counterion conductance have been suggested to contribute to the pathology of several diseases; however, definitive evidence remains elusive. This review describes recent evidence for the misregulation of organelle pH in the progression of cancer, Dent's disease, and cystic fibrosis.
Structural Analysis of Sequences O-Linked to Mannose Reveals a Novel Lewis X Structure in Cranin (Dystroglycan) Purified from Sheep Brain*

The Lewis X epitope, Galβ1–4(Fucα1–3)GlcNAc-R, has been implicated in cell-cell recognition events in a number of systems including the central nervous system and is expressed on diverse glycoconjugates including cell adhesion molecules, glycolipids, and the proteoglycan phosphacan. Although Lewis X sequences 3-linked to mannose have been described within proteoglycan fractions of mammalian brain, these have not been reported in other contexts and have been widely believed to be peculiar constituents of brain proteoglycans. In the present paper, we confirm the existence of Lewis X structuresO-linked to mannose within the mammalian brain, demonstrate that these structures are present on a well defined mucin-like glycoprotein, cranin (dystroglycan), and report studies suggesting that the linkages involved may be predominantly 2-linked to mannose. Mannose-linked Lewis X is the latest in an increasing list of oligosaccharide recognition “tags” that have been shown to be expressed on cranin (dystroglycan) purified from brain.
Synaptosomal plasma membrane transport of excitatory sulphur amino acid transmitter candidates: Kinetic characterisation and analysis of carrier specificity

The transport kinetics of the excitatory sulphur‐containing amino acid (SAA) transmitter candidates, L‐cysteine sulphinate (L‐CSA), L‐cysteate (L‐CA), L‐homocysteine sulphinate (L‐HCSA), and L‐homocysteate (L‐HCA), together with their plasma membrane carrier specificity, was studied in cerebrocortical synaptosome fractions by a sensitive high performance liquid chromatographic assay. A high affinity uptake system could be demonstrated for L‐CSA (Km =; 57 ± 6 μM; Vmax =; 1.2 ± 0.1 nmol/min/mg protein) and L‐CA (Km =; 23 ± 3 μM; Vmax =; 3.6 ± 0.1 nmol/min/mg protein), whereas L‐HCSA (Km =; 502 ± 152 μM; Vmax =; 6.1 ± 1.3 nmol/min/mg protein) and L‐HCA (Km =; 1550 ± 169 μM; Vmax =; 10.3 ± 1.1 nmol/min/mg protein) exhibited much lower affinity as transport substrates. In all cases, only a single, saturable Na+‐dependent component of uptake could be identified, co‐existing with a non‐saturable, Na+‐independent influx component. Plasma membrane carrier specificity of the SAAs was established following comparison with other high‐affinity neurotransmitter systems. High‐affinity L‐CSA and L‐CA transport and low‐affinity L‐HCSA and L‐HCA transport demonstrate strong positive correlations in inhibition profiles when compared against each other or individually against the high‐affinity transport of L‐[3H]glutamate, L‐[3H]aspartate, or D‐[3H]aspartate. Moreover, the transport systems for the excitatory SAAs exhibited a negative correlation when compared in inhibition profiles with the high affinity transport of both [3H] γ‐aminobutyric acid (GABA) and [3H]taurine. Taken together, these results strongly suggest that L‐CSA, L‐CA, L‐HCSA, and L‐HCA share a common synaptosomal plasma membrane transport system with L‐glutamate, L‐aspartate, and D‐aspartate. © 1992 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
Unification of Neuronal Spikes, Seizures, and Spreading Depression

The pathological phenomena of seizures and spreading depression have long been considered separate physiological events in the brain. By incorporating conservation of particles and charge, and accounting for the energy required to restore ionic gradients, we extend the classic Hodgkin–Huxley formalism to uncover a unification of neuronal membrane dynamics. By examining the dynamics as a function of potassium and oxygen, we now account for a wide range of neuronal activities, from spikes to seizures, spreading depression (whether high potassium or hypoxia induced), mixed seizure and spreading depression states, and the terminal anoxic “wave of death. ” Such a unified framework demonstrates that all of these dynamics lie along a continuum of the repertoire of the neuron membrane. Our results demonstrate that unified frameworks for neuronal dynamics are feasible, can be achieved using existing biological structures and universal physical conservation principles, and may be of substantial importance in enabling our understanding of brain activity and in the control of pathological states.
Vertebral Osteomyelitis Due to Candida Species: A Cohort Study and Review of the Literature

Objective: To describe the demographics and outcome of patients with candidal vertebral osteomyelitis (CVO). CVO is a rare and frequently misdiagnosed condition. It may lead to destruction of the vertebral bodies, spinal cord compression and neurological deficits. Methods: The medical records of all patients diagnosed with CVO at our institution between 01/01/1990-12/31/2009 were reviewed. The cumulative probability of treatment success was assessed by the Kaplan-Meier survival method. Patients were followed until death, failure, or loss of follow-up. Results: Nine patients developed CVO during the 20 year study period. The cervical spine was involved in 5 cases. Seven patients presented with mechanical-type pain, while 2 patients had an elevated temperature at diagnosis. A contiguous infection between the upper airways and the cervical spine was present in 4 patients. One patient presented with concomitant candidemia. Candida albicans, Candida parapsilosis, and Candida glabrata were cultured in 3 of 9 cases respectively. Eight of 9 were treated with azole-based therapy. Patients were followed for an average of 20 months (range 1 - 75 months). The cumulative incidence of success was 66% ± 19% at 1 year and 55% ± 20% at 2 years of follow-up. Conclusions: CVO presents insidiously and is associated with a long duration of symptoms. It most frequently affects the cervical spine and is associated with a poor outcome.
Multi-task joint-learning of deep neural networks for robust speech recognition

Although deep neural networks (DNNs) have achieved great success in automatic speech recognition (ASR), significant performance degradation still exists in noisy environments. In this paper, a novel multi-task joint-learning framework is proposed to address the noise robustness for speech recognition. The architecture integrates two different DNNs, including the regressive denoising DNN and the discriminative recognition DNN, into a complete multi-task structure and all the parameters can be optimized in a real joint-learning mode just from the beginning in model training. In addition, the basic multi-task structure is further explored and reorganized into a more general framework which can get substantial gains. Furthermore, noise adaptive training can also be easily incorporated within this architecture to achieve further performance improvement. Experiments on the Aurora4 task showed that the proposed approach can achieve a WER below 10% without using adaptation or sequence training, a very large and significant (more than 20% relative) improvement over a strong DNN-HMM baseline.
Should moral decisions be different for human and artificial cognitive agents?

Moral judgments are elicited using dilemmas presenting hypothetical situations in which an agent must choose between letting several people die or sacrificing one person in order to save them. The evaluation of the action or inaction of a human agent is compared to those of two artificial agents – a humanoid robot and an automated system. Ratings of rightness, blamefulness and moral permissibility of action or inaction in incidental and instrumental moral dilemmas are used. The results show that for the artificial cognitive agents the utilitarian action is rated as more morally permissible than inaction. The humanoid robot is found to be less blameworthy for his choices compared to the human agent or to the automated system. Action is found to be more appropriate, morally permissible, more right, and less blameworthy than inaction only for the incidental scenarios. The results are interpreted and discussed from the perspective of perceived moral agency.
Mechanisms of Eye Gaze Perception during Infancy

Previous work has shown that infants are sensitive to the direction of gaze of another's face, and that gaze direction can cue attention. The present study replicates and extends results on the ERP correlates of gaze processing in 4-month-olds. In two experiments, we recorded ERPs while 4-month-olds viewed direct and averted gaze within the context of averted and inverted heads. Our results support the previous finding that cortical processing of faces in infants is enhanced when accompanied by direct gaze. However, this effect is only found when eyes are presented within the context of an upright face.
Transduction of a Functional Domain of the AT1 Receptor in Neurons by HIV-Tat PTD

Abstract—Despite advances in transgenic and gene transfer technologies, in vivo structure–function studies of the angiotensin II type I receptor (AT1R) have revealed limited information on the diverse actions of angiotensin II. Our objective in the present study was to determine if protein transduction technology with the use of the HIV-Tat protein transduction domain could fill this gap. Recombinant HIV-Tat protein transduction domain fused to EGFP and to the third intracellular loop of the AT1R was expressed. Incubation of hypothalamus and brainstem neurons with this peptide indicated an efficient transport of the protein to most of the cells. This transduction was accompanied by an increase in neuronal firing rate, an effect similar to that observed with angiotensin II stimulation of the neuronal AT1R. The characteristics of the chronotropic effects of recombinant third intracellular loop and its synthetic counterpart were similar and comparable to the effects of angiotensin II on these neurons. In addition, in the presence of the protein kinase C inhibitor calphostin C, the peptide failed to increase firing rate. These observations demonstrated that transduction of neurons with the third intracellular loop of the AT1R produces chronotropic effects similar to those induced by angiotensin II. The data suggests that protein transduction technology could be useful for in vivo AT1R domain transduction.
Prevalence of musculoskeletal symptoms among employees of Iranian petrochemical industries: October 2009 to December 2012.

BACKGROUND Work-related musculoskeletal disorders (WMSDs) are a common health problem throughout the world and a major cause of disability in the workplace. OBJECTIVE To determine the prevalence rate of MSDs, assessment of ergonomics working conditions and identification of major risk factors associated with MSDs symptoms among employees of Iranian petrochemical industries between October 2009 and December 2012. METHODS In this study, we studied 1184 randomly selected employees of 4 Iranian petrochemical companies with at least one year of work experience in office or operational units. For those with office jobs, data were collected using Nordic Musculoskeletal disorders Questionnaire (NMQ) and ergonomics checklist for the assessment of working conditions. For those with operational jobs, NMQ and Quick Exposure Check (QEC) method were used for data collection. RESULTS The most prevalent MSD symptoms were reported in lower back (41.5%) and neck (36.5%). The prevalence of MSDs in all body regions but elbows and thighs of the office staff was significantly higher than that of operational workers. Assessment of working conditions in office staff revealed that the lowest index was attributed to workstation. QEC technique among operational workers showed that in 73.8% of the workers studied, the level of exposure to musculoskeletal risks was "high" or "very high. " MSDs were associated with type of job, age, body mass index, work experience, gender, marital status, educational level and type of employment. CONCLUSION The prevalence of MSDs in the office staff was higher than that of operational workers. Level of exposure to MSDs risk was high in operational workers. Corrective measures are thus necessary for improving working conditions for both office and operational units.
J un 2 00 5 Neyman-Pearson Detection of Gauss-Markov Signals in Noise : Closed-Form Error Exponent and Properties

The performance of Neyman-Pearson detection of correlate d stochastic signals using noisy observations is investigat ed via the error exponent for the miss probability with a fixed level. Using the statespace structure of the signal and observation model, a close d-form expression for the error exponent is derived, and the connec tion between the asymptotic behavior of the optimal detector and that of t he Kalman filter is established. The properties of the error exponent are investigated for the scalar case. It is shown that the error exponent has di stinct characteristics with respect to correlation strength: for signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) > 1 the error exponent decreases monotonically as the correlation becomes stronger, whereas for SNR< 1 there is an optimal correlation that maximizes the error exponent for a given SNR.
Integrin-linked kinase is required for epidermal and hair follicle morphogenesis

Integrin-linked kinase (ILK) links integrins to the actin cytoskeleton and is believed to phosphorylate several target proteins. We report that a keratinocyte-restricted deletion of the ILK gene leads to epidermal defects and hair loss. ILK-deficient epidermal keratinocytes exhibited a pronounced integrin-mediated adhesion defect leading to epidermal detachment and blister formation, disruption of the epidermal–dermal basement membrane, and the translocation of proliferating, integrin-expressing keratinocytes to suprabasal epidermal cell layers. The mutant hair follicles were capable of producing hair shaft and inner root sheath cells and contained stem cells and generated proliferating progenitor cells, which were impaired in their downward migration and hence accumulated in the outer root sheath and failed to replenish the hair matrix. In vitro studies with primary ILK-deficient keratinocytes attributed the migration defect to a reduced migration velocity and an impaired stabilization of the leading-edge lamellipodia, which compromised directional and persistent migration. We conclude that ILK plays important roles for epidermis and hair follicle morphogenesis by modulating integrin-mediated adhesion, actin reorganization, and plasma membrane dynamics in keratinocytes.
What is the influence of single-entry models on access to elective surgical procedures? A systematic review

Background Single-entry models (SEMs) for the management of patients awaiting elective surgical services are designed to increase access and flow through the system of care. We assessed scope of use and influence of SEMs on access (waiting times/throughput) and patient-centredness (patient/provider acceptability). Methods Systematic review of articles published in 6 relevant electronic databases included studies from database inception to July 2016. Included studies needed to (1) report on the nature of the SEM; (2) specify elective service and (3) address at least 1 of 3 research questions related to (1) scope of use of SEMs; (2) influence on timeliness and access; (3) patient-centredness and acceptability. Article quality was assessed using a modified Downs and Black checklist. Results 11 studies from Canada, Australia and the UK were included with mostly weak observational design—2 simulations, 5 before–after, 2 descriptive and 2 cross-sectional studies. 9 studies showed a decrease in patient waiting times; 6 showed that more patients were meeting benchmark waiting times; and 5 demonstrated that waiting lists decreased using an SEM as compared with controls. Patient acceptability was examined in 6 studies, with high levels of satisfaction reported. Acceptability among general practitioners/surgeons was mixed, as reported in 1 study. Research varied widely in design, scope, reported outcomes and overall quality. Conclusions This is the first review to assess the influence of SEMs on access to elective surgery for adults. This review demonstrates a potential ability for SEMs to improve timeliness and patient-centredness of elective services; however, the small number of low-quality studies available does not support firm conclusions about the effectiveness of SEMs to improve access. Further evaluation with higher quality designs and rigour is required.