Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
A high-performance approach to string similarity using most frequent K characters

The amount of available data has been growing significantly over the last decades. Thus, linking entries across heterogeneous data sources such as databases or knowledge bases, becomes an increasingly difficult problem, in particular w.r. t. the runtime of these tasks. Consequently, it is of utmost importance to provide time-efficient approaches for similarity joins in the Web of Data. While a number of scalable approaches have been developed for various measures, the Most Frequent k Characters (MFKC) measure has not been tackled in previous works. We hence present a sequence of filters that allow discarding comparisons when executing bounded similarity computations without losing recall. Therewith, we can reduce the runtime of bounded similarity computations by approximately 70%. Our experiments with a single-threaded, a parallel and a GPU implementation of our filters suggest that our approach scales well even when dealing with millions of potential comparisons.
Identification and characterization of genomic regions on chromosomes 4 and 8 that control the rate of photosynthesis in rice leaves

DNA marker-assisted selection appears to be a promising strategy for improving rates of leaf photosynthesis in rice. The rate of leaf photosynthesis was significantly higher in a high-yielding indica variety, Habataki, than in the most popular Japanese variety, Koshihikari, at the full heading stage as a result of the higher level of leaf nitrogen at the same rate of application of nitrogen and the higher stomatal conductance even when the respective levels of leaf nitrogen were the same. The higher leaf nitrogen content of Habataki was caused by the greater accumulation of nitrogen by plants. The higher stomatal conductance of Habataki was caused by the higher hydraulic conductance. Using progeny populations and selected lines derived from a cross between Koshihikari and Habataki, it was possible to identify the genomic regions responsible for the rate of photosynthesis within a 2.1 Mb region between RM17459 and RM17552 and within a 1.2 Mb region between RM6999 and RM22529 on the long arm of chromosome 4 and on the short arm of chromosome 8, respectively. The designated region on chromosome 4 of Habataki was responsible for both the increase in the nitrogen content of leaves and hydraulic conductance in the plant by increasing the root surface area. The designated region on chromosome 8 of Habataki was responsible for the increase in hydraulic conductance by increasing the root hydraulic conductivity. The results suggest that it may be possible to improve photosynthesis in rice leaves by marker-assisted selection that focuses on these regions of chromosomes 4 and 8.
A Study of Well-composedness in n-D. (Une étude du bien-composé en dimension n)

Digitization of the real world using real sensors has many drawbacks; in particular, we loose ``well-composedness'' in the sense that two digitized objects can be connected or not depending on the connectivity we choose in the digital image, leading then to ambiguities. Furthermore, digitized images are arrays of numerical values, and then do not own any topology by nature, contrary to our usual modeling of the real world in mathematics and in physics. Loosing all these properties makes difficult the development of algorithms which are ``topologically correct'' in image processing: e.g., the computation of the tree of shapes needs the representation of a given image to be continuous and well-composed; in the contrary case, we can obtain abnormalities in the final result. Some well-composed continuous representations already exist, but they are not in the same time n-dimensional and self-dual. n-dimensionality is crucial since usual signals are more and more 3-dimensional (like 2D videos) or 4-dimensional (like 4D Computerized Tomography-scans), and self-duality is necessary when a same image can contain different objects with different contrasts. We developed then a new way to make images well-composed by interpolation in a self-dual way and in n-D; followed with a span-based immersion, this interpolation becomes a self-dual continuous well-composed representation of the initial n-D signal. This representation benefits from many strong topological properties: it verifies the intermediate value theorem, the boundaries of any threshold set of the representation are disjoint union of discrete surfaces, and so on
Proof of threshold saturation for spatially coupled sparse superposition codes

Recently, a new class of codes, called sparse superposition or sparse regression codes, has been proposed for communication over the AWGN channel. It has been proven that they achieve capacity using power allocation and various forms of iterative decoding. Empirical evidence has also strongly suggested that the codes achieve capacity when spatial coupling and approximate message passing decoding are used, without need of power allocation. In this note we prove that state evolution (which tracks message passing) indeed saturates the potential threshold of the underlying code ensemble, which approaches in a proper limit the optimal threshold. Our proof uses ideas developed in the theory of low-density parity-check codes and compressive sensing.
Changing Organizational Performance: Examining the Change Process

A survey of hospital chief executive officers found financial challenges to be the most important issue facing their organizations (American College of Healthcare Executives 2007). However, researchers (Griffith et al. 2006; Langabeer 2008) have found that hospitals have been unsuccessful in significantly improving or changing their financial performance. In the present case study, the author reports how hospital leaders achieved cost reductions while maintaining quality patient care in the complex and messy reality of their organization. The author (serving as a consultant to leadership and using an action research methodology) examined the process of leading change in a hospital organization and the associated reactions of individual organizational members to change interventions. The author tried to link current theory and practice while identifying those factors most crucial to leading this financial change initiative, the major challenges faced, and what seemed most effective in addressing those challenges. The author also examined 4 phases of the change process: realizing the need to change, planning the change, implementing the change, and sustaining the change.
Detection of an ancient principle and an elegant solution to the protein classification problem

This work is concerned with the development of a well-founded, theoretically justified, and least complicated metric for the classification of proteins with reference to enzymes. As the signature of an enzyme family, a catalytic domain is easily fingerprinted. Given that the classification problem has so far seemed intractable, a classification schema derived from the catalytic domain would be satisfying. Here I show that there exists a natural ab initio if nonobvious basis to theorize that the catalytic domain of an enzyme is uniquely informative about its regulation. This annotates its function. Based on this hypothesis, a method that correctly classifies potassium ion channels into their respective subfamilies is described. To put the principle on firmer ground, extra validation was sought and obtained through co-evolutionary analyses. The co-evolutionary analyses reveal a departure from the notion that potassium ion channel proteins are functionally modular. This finding is discussed in light of the prevailing notion of domain. These studies establish that significant co-evolution of the catalytic domain of a gene with its conjoint domain is a specialized, necessary process following fusion and swapping events in evolution. Instances of this discovery are likely to be found pervasive in protein science.
Fission Yeast HMT1 Lowers Seed Cadmium through Phytochelatin-Dependent Vacuolar Sequestration in Arabidopsis1[C][W]

Much of our dietary uptake of heavy metals is through the consumption of plants. A long-sought strategy to reduce chronic exposure to heavy metals is to develop plant varieties with reduced accumulation in edible tissues. Here, we describe that the fission yeast (Schizosaccharomyces pombe) phytochelatin (PC)-cadmium (Cd) transporter SpHMT1 produced in Arabidopsis (Arabidopsis thaliana) was localized to tonoplast, and enhanced tolerance to and accumulation of Cd2+, copper, arsenic, and zinc. The action of SpHMT1 requires PC substrates, and failed to confer Cd2+ tolerance and accumulation when glutathione and PC synthesis was blocked by l-buthionine sulfoximine, or only PC synthesis is blocked in the cad1-3 mutant, which is deficient in PC synthase. SpHMT1 expression enhanced vacuolar Cd2+ accumulation in wild-type Columbia-0, but not in cad1-3, where only approximately 35% of the Cd2+ in protoplasts was localized in vacuoles, in contrast to the near 100% found in wild-type vacuoles and approximately 25% in those of cad2-1 that synthesizes very low amounts of glutathione and PCs. Interestingly, constitutive SpHMT1 expression delayed root-to-shoot metal transport, and root-targeted expression confirmed that roots can serve as a sink to reduce metal contents in shoots and seeds. These findings suggest that SpHMT1 function requires PCs in Arabidopsis, and it is feasible to promote food safety by engineering plants using SpHMT1 to decrease metal accumulation in edible tissues.
Online Multi-Task Learning Framework for Ensemble Forecasting

Ensemble forecasting is a widely-used numerical prediction method for modeling the evolution of nonlinear dynamic systems. To predict the future state of such systems, a set of ensemble member forecasts is generated from multiple runs of computer models, where each run is obtained by perturbing the starting condition or using a different model representation of the system. The ensemble mean or median is typically chosen as a point estimate for the ensemble member forecasts. These approaches are limited in that they assume each ensemble member is equally skillful and may not preserve the temporal autocorrelation of the predicted time series. To overcome these limitations, we present an online multi-task learning framework called ORION to estimate the optimal weights for combining the ensemble member forecasts. Unlike other existing formulations, the proposed framework is novel in that its learning algorithm must backtrack and revise its previous forecasts before making future predictions if the earlier forecasts were incorrect when verified against new observation data. We termed this strategy as online learning with restart. Our proposed framework employs a graph Laplacian regularizer to ensure consistency of the predicted time series. It can also accommodate different types of loss functions, including $\epsilon$ -insensitive and quantile loss functions, the latter of which is particularly useful for extreme value prediction. A theoretical proof demonstrating the convergence of our algorithm is also given. Experimental results on seasonal soil moisture forecasts from 12 major river basins in North America demonstrate the superiority of ORION compared to other baseline algorithms.
Bayesian brain : probabilistic approaches to neural coding

A Bayesian approach can contribute to an understanding of the brain on multiple levels, by giving normative predictions about how an ideal sensory system should combine prior knowledge and observation, by providing mechanistic interpretation of the dynamic functioning of the brain circuit, and by suggesting optimal ways of deciphering experimental data. Bayesian Brain brings together contributions from both experimental and theoretical neuroscientists that examine the brain mechanisms of perception, decision making, and motor control according to the concepts of Bayesian estimation.After an overview of the mathematical concepts, including Bayes' theorem, that are basic to understanding the approaches discussed, contributors discuss how Bayesian concepts can be used for interpretation of such neurobiological data as neural spikes and functional brain imaging. Next, contributors examine the modeling of sensory processing, including the neural coding of information about the outside world. Finally, contributors explore dynamic processes for proper behaviors, including the mathematics of the speed and accuracy of perceptual decisions and neural models of belief propagation.
Major histocompatibility complex class II DAB alleles associated with intestinal parasite load in the vulnerable Chinese egret (Egretta eulophotes)

Abstract The maintenance of major histocompatibility complex (MHC) polymorphism has been hypothesized to result from many mechanisms such as rare‐allele advantage, heterozygote advantage, and allele counting. In the study reported herein, 224 vulnerable Chinese egrets (Egretta eulophotes) were used to examine these hypotheses as empirical results derived from bird studies are rare. Parasite survey showed that 147 (65.63%) individuals were infected with 1–3 helminths, and 82.31% of these infected individuals carried Ascaridia sp. Using asymmetric polymerase chain reaction technique, 10 DAB1, twelve DAB2, and three DAB3 exon 2 alleles were identified at each single locus. A significant association of the rare allele Egeu‐DAB2*05 (allele frequency: 0.022) with helminth resistance was found for all helminths, as well as for the most abundant morphotype Ascaridia sp. in the separate analyses. Egeu‐DAB2*05 occurred frequently in uninfected individuals, and individuals carrying Egeu‐DAB2*05 had significantly lower helminth morphotypes per individual (HMI) (the number of HMI) and the fecal egg count values. Further, the parasite infection measurements were consistently lower in individuals with an intermediate number of different alleles in the duplicated DAB loci. Significantly, heterozygosity within each DAB locus was not correlated with any parasite infection measurements. These results indicate that the diversity in MHC Egeu‐DAB gene is associated with intestinal parasite load and maintained by pathogen‐driven selection that probably operate through both the rare‐allele advantage and the allele counting strategy, and suggest that Egeu‐DAB2*05 might be a valuable indicator of better resistance to helminth diseases in the vulnerable Chinese egret.
Three is a crowd? Our experience of testing large-scale social software in a usability lab

'In the wild' testing has been the cornerstone of HCI in past attempts to create large scale social software, such as conference software. Conversely mobile software is frequently tested in a lab environment, thus banishing typical context of use. In this paper we present our attempt at merging the two approaches for conference social software. We tested in the lab, but attempted to replicate some of the social context of field-based testing. We report our learnings and propose future research for this type of hybrid testing.
OCP effects on Japanese phonological processing

The Obligatory Contour Principle (OCP) refers to a linguistic constraint on similar or same phonological elements or features from being repeated (e.g., Fukazawa, 1999, 2000; Itô & Mester, 1986; Kubozono, 1999; Kubozono & Ôta, 1998). Kubozono and Ôta (1998) suggested the possibility that vowel dissimilation in Japanese may be a result of the OCP. For example, the two Japanese morphemes /nana/ meaning ‘seven’ and /ka/ meaning ‘day’ combine to form the compound word /nanoka/ meaning ‘the seventh day’ instead of /nanaka/, which would seem to be the likely combination. This process of vowel dissimilation occurs so as to avoid vowel repetition of /a/ in sequence within the three mora CVCVCV word structure (C referring to ‘consonant’ and V referring to ‘vowel’). Thus, it would be expected that naming visually-presented Japanese words and nonwords violating the OCP (i.e., same vowel repetition in a series of CV strings) would result in slower processing speeds and higher error rates. To test this hypothesis, two experiments were conducted. The first experiment examined OCP effects in naming real words with and without same vowel repetition. The second experiment investigated OCP effects in naming nonwords under both conditions.
Brain Drain and Brain Return: Theory and Application to Eastern-Western Europe

Abstract This paper develops a novel model of optimal education, migration and return by heterogeneous, forward-looking agents. The model is parameterized and simulated to analyze the effects of immigration policies, identifying the brain-drain, brain-gain and brain-return effects when barriers to migration are reduced. We use parameters from the literature to inform our model and simulate migration and return from middle-income to industrialized countries. In particular, we apply the model to study migration and return between Eastern and Western Europe. We find that, for plausible degrees of openness, the possibility of return migration combined with the education incentive channel turns the brain drain into a brain gain for Eastern Europe.
Diagnosis , transfer and preoperative care

Abdominal aortic aneurysm (AAA) rupture (RAAA) is defined as bleeding outside the adventitia of a dilated aortic wall. Ruptures are classified as free when they flow into the peritoneal cavity causing massive blood loss, usually associated with a high mortality rate, and as retroperitoneal which are characterized by minor blood loss since retroperitoneal tissues contain the hematoma. In a minority of cases AAAs rupture into the intestinal tract (frequently in the last portion of the duodenum) creating an aortic enteric fistula or into the cava vein. Differentiation between symptomatic and ruptured aneurysm is essential. Like patients with RAAA, individuals with symptomatic AAAs may present with a variable symptomatology ranging from mild tenderness to severe pain, but there is no blood outside the aortic wall at computed tomography angiography (CTA) or intraoperatively (Fig. 1).
Influence of bone marrow stem cells on left ventricle perfusion and ejection fraction in patients with acute myocardial infarction of anterior wall: randomized clinical trial: Impact of bone marrow stem cell intracoronary infusion on improvement of microcirculation.

AIMS Randomized trial to assess change in left ventricle ejection fraction (LVEF) and myocardial perfusion in patients with acute myocardial infarction (AMI) of anterior wall treated with bone marrow stem cells (BMSCs), compared with control group-from baseline in the acute phase up to 12 months of follow-up. METHODS AND RESULTS Forty-five patients were randomized 2:1 to BMSC group (n= 31) or to control group (n = 14). Bone marrow stem cells were administered into infarct-related artery (IRA) at 4-6 day after primary PCI. Groups were followed up with Tc-99m-MIBI SPECT, radionuclide ventriculography (EF-RNV), echocardiography (ECHO), and spiroergometric stress test. Coronary angiography was repeated after 6 months. EF-RNV did not differ significantly in both groups, but trend towards increase in EF at 6 months and its maintenance after 12 months was noticed in the BMSC group. At rest study, perfusion index (PI) of region supplied with blood by IRA distal to its previous occlusion (PI-IRA) improved significantly in the BMSC group at 6 months: PI-IRA at 4-6 days vs. PI-IRA at 6 months (3.00 +/- 0.97 vs. 2.65 +/- 0.64; P = 0.017). At 12 months, PI-IRA at rest was 2.66 +/- 0.55; P = 0.07. The difference between BMSC and control groups at rest study in PI-IRA was not observed. At dipyridamole study (PI-dip), perfusion in the BMSC group was better compared with controls at 6 months (2.26 +/- 0.44 vs. 2.47 +/- 0.40; P = 0.033) and at 12 months (2.34 +/- 0.55 vs. 2.52 +/- 0.42; P = 0.014), also for region supplied with blood by IRA (PI-IRA-dip; at 6 months 2.63 +/- 0.77 vs. 3.06 +/- 0.46; P = 0.021 and at 12 months 2.71 +/- 0.63 vs. 3.15 +/- 0.51; P = 0.001). Results of LVEF, LVEDV, LVESV in ECHO and results of spiroergometric stress test did not differ significantly between groups. Major adverse cardiac events occurred more often in the control group (P = 0.027). CONCLUSION In our study, BMSC intracoronary transplantation in patients with anterior AMI did not result in increase in EF. Slight improvement of myocardial perfusion was noticed in the BMSC group. This finding may indicate better microcirculation enhanced by BMSCs, but small number of patients allow for hypothesis rather than final statement.
The generation gap and cultural influence: a Taiwan empirical investigation

It is well researched and reported that the culture of a nation has a major impact on employees’ work related values, attitudes and expectations. The objective of this study was to investigate if western research on the generation gap applies equally to generational groups in Taiwan’s workplaces, specifically in the higher education sector and manufacturing industry. The research found that groups in the manufacturing industry share generational differences with their western counterparts. However, the research has demonstrated that western research results in respect to generational differences do not apply to the generational workers in the Taiwan education sector. In addition to these findings, the reseach has uncovered some anomalies with specific research findings in the western literature.