Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
The $C^*$-Algebras of Arbitrary Graphs

To an arbitrary directed graph we associate a row-finite directed graph whose C*-algebra contains the C*-algebra of the original graph as a full corner. This allows us to generalize results for C*-algebras of row-finite graphs to C*-algebras of arbitrary graphs: the uniqueness theorem, simplicity criteria, descriptions of the ideals and primitive ideal space, and conditions under which a graph algebra is AF and purely infinite. Our proofs require only standard Cuntz-Krieger techniques and do not rely on powerful constructs such as groupoids, Exel-Laca algebras, or Cuntz-Pimsner algebras.
The Interactive Effects of Listwide Control, Item-based Control, and Working Memory Capacity on Stroop Performance and Holly Vander Vos for Scheduling and Running Participants for This Study. I Am Also Grateful To

Hypothesized top-down and bottom-up mechanisms of control within conflict-rich environments were examined by presenting participants with a Stroop task in which specific words were usually presented in either congruent or incongruent colors. Incongruent colors were either frequently (high contingency) or infrequently (low contingency) paired with the word. These items were embedded within lists consisting of either 100% congruent or 100% incongruent filler items to create mostly congruent or mostly incongruent lists. Results indicated a significant item-specific congruency effect, which was largest for high contingency responses and within mostly congruent lists. In addition, a significant listwide congruency effect was obtained, and this interacted with working memory capacity (WMC). There were larger listwide congruency effects for low WMC individuals. Finally, the pattern of Stroop interference across lists for low WMC individuals was dependent upon the congruency of the preceding trial. These results support multiple forms of cognitive control, as well as contingency learning, as mechanisms underlying proportion congruence effects in Stroop and other conflict tasks. These findings are interpreted within Braver, Gray, and Burgess's (2007) dual mechanisms of control theory. Attentional control refers to our ability to orchestrate thought and action in accord with internal goals and to use a goal to modulate competition between relevant and irrelevant information (Balota & Faust, 2001). This ability is often examined experimentally through use of congruency tasks (e.g., Stroop, Simon, & Eriksen flanker) in which one must respond only to relevant target information in a display while suppressing responses to irrelevant information. For instance, in the Stroop task (Stroop, 1935), participants must name the ink color of presented words while ignoring the words themselves. The irrelevant words can be congruent, incongruent, or unrelated to the appropriate color response. The typical finding is that participants are slower and less accurate in naming the ink color of incongruent words than neutral words and faster in naming the ink color of congruent words than neutral words (for a review, see MacLeod, 1991). In Cohen, Dunbar, and McClelland's (1990) model (see also Cohen & Huston, 1994), interference in congruency tasks arises from conflicting responses generated by the relevant and irrelevant response processing pathways and greater conflict arises when the response generated via the irrelevant pathway is dominant (e.g., the word response in a Stroop task). To overcome such conflict, Cohen et al.'s model includes a task demand unit, thought to reflect top-down control, that increases activation for information within …
A Parsimony Approach to Biological Pathway Reconstruction/Inference for Genomes and Metagenomes

A common biological pathway reconstruction approach—as implemented by many automatic biological pathway services (such as the KAAS and RAST servers) and the functional annotation of metagenomic sequences—starts with the identification of protein functions or families (e.g., KO families for the KEGG database and the FIG families for the SEED database) in the query sequences, followed by a direct mapping of the identified protein families onto pathways. Given a predicted patchwork of individual biochemical steps, some metric must be applied in deciding what pathways actually exist in the genome or metagenome represented by the sequences. Commonly, and straightforwardly, a complete biological pathway can be identified in a dataset if at least one of the steps associated with the pathway is found. We report, however, that this naïve mapping approach leads to an inflated estimate of biological pathways, and thus overestimates the functional diversity of the sample from which the DNA sequences are derived. We developed a parsimony approach, called MinPath (Minimal set of Pathways), for biological pathway reconstructions using protein family predictions, which yields a more conservative, yet more faithful, estimation of the biological pathways for a query dataset. MinPath identified far fewer pathways for the genomes collected in the KEGG database—as compared to the naïve mapping approach—eliminating some obviously spurious pathway annotations. Results from applying MinPath to several metagenomes indicate that the common methods used for metagenome annotation may significantly overestimate the biological pathways encoded by microbial communities.
Fractional-order viscoelasticity applied to describe uniaxial stress relaxation of human arteries

Viscoelastic models can be used to better understand arterial wall mechanics in physiological and pathological conditions. The arterial wall reveals very slow time-dependent decays in uniaxial stress-relaxation experiments, coherent with weak power-law functions. Quasi-linear viscoelastic (QLV) theory was successfully applied to modeling such responses, but an accurate estimation of the reduced relaxation function parameters can be very difficult. In this work, an alternative relaxation function based on fractional calculus theory is proposed to describe stress relaxation experiments in strips cut from healthy human aortas. Stress relaxation (1 h) was registered at three incremental stress levels. The novel relaxation function with three parameters was integrated into the QLV theory to fit experimental data. It was based in a modified Voigt model, including a fractional element of order α, called spring–pot. The stress-relaxation prediction was accurate and fast. Sensitivity plots for each parameter presented a minimum near their optimal values. Least-squares errors remained below 2%. Values of order α = 0.1–0.3 confirmed a predominant elastic behavior. The other two parameters of the model can be associated to elastic and viscous constants that explain the time course of the observed relaxation function. The fractional-order model integrated into the QLV theory proved to capture the essential features of the arterial wall mechanical response.
Centralized Management of HVAC Energy in Large Multi-AHU Zones

HVAC control strategies that exploit temporal variations in zone occupancy have been well studied. However, at a given time, occupancy can also vary spatially within a single large zone with no internal wall partitions, that is served by multiple AHUs. We complement prior work by studying how spatial variations in a large zone can be leveraged to save energy and improve occupant comfort. Specifically, we propose a novel strategy for centralized reactive control of all the AHUs serving a large zone, MAZIC (Multi-AHU Zone Intelligent Control). To decide control outputs, we use a thermal model to capture the mixing of heat loads across different regions of the large zone served by different AHUs. We study MAZIC's performance in terms of energy consumption and comfort using real-world occupancy data. When the spatial skew in occupancy is high, MAZIC reduces energy consumption by 11% over individual PID controllers running at each AHU, while maintaining similar comfort levels. Sensing temperature and occupancy at finer spatial resolution helps both MAZIC and PID controllers to save more energy when the occupancy is skewed. Finer spatial sensing does not add much value when the occupancy is not so skewed. We also find that augmenting MAZIC with a MPC (Model Predictive Control) approach yields insignificant improvement (< 3%) during normal occupancy. With ON-OFF occupancy patterns, MPC improves energy savings by up to 6% over reactive MAZIC.
Harsh Parenting Beliefs as Related to Demographic Factors

Parents differ in the extent to which they believe harsh parenting behaviors are beneficial for their children. This study examined whether parents’ demographic factors (e.g., ethnicity, marital status, educational attainment, employment status, age, and gender) are related to their beliefs about harsh parenting. Previously-collected survey data from parents (N = 1,111) was used for the current study. This data included demographic information as well as a self-report measure entitled “Belief in the Beneficence of Harsh Parenting Scale” (McCarthy, 2014) which was used to measure parents’ beliefs about how beneficial harsh parenting is for children. Fathers reported higher beliefs in harsh parenting compared to mothers, employed parents reported higher beliefs in harsh parenting compared to unemployed parents, and younger age predicted higher beliefs in harsh parenting. The relationship between education and harsh parenting beliefs was also found to be moderated by gender with mothers reporting lower harsh parenting beliefs with more education. All other demographic factors were unrelated to parents’ beliefs in harsh parenting. Because such harsh parenting beliefs are believed to mediate the relationship between parent demographic factors and harsh parenting behaviors, the goal of such research is to identify factors that could be targeted to improve parent-child relationships. HARSH PARENTING BELIEFS AND DEMOGRAPHIC FACTORS 3 Harsh Parenting Beliefs as Related to Demographic Factors Parents sometimes spank, slap, yell at, or otherwise behave harshly toward their child. These behaviors broadly fall into the category of harsh parenting behaviors. Parents also have beliefs about whether or not harsh parenting behaviors have long-term benefits for their children. Harsh parenting behaviors are distinct from harsh parenting beliefs because instead of referring to a specific discipline strategy, harsh parenting beliefs refer to whether harsh parenting behaviors are effective and beneficial to a child (Frías-Armenta & McCloskey, 1998). Parents differ in the extent to which they believe harsh parenting behaviors are beneficial for their children. The use of harsh parenting practices such as spanking is still widely accepted in the United States (Enten, 2014). In fact, according to the General Social Survey, as much as 70% of the United States population still supported spanking in 2012 (Smith, Marsden, & Hout, 2012). Giles-Sims, Straus, and Sugarman (1995) noted that more research needs to be done on the meaning that parents attach to harsh parenting behaviors. The primary purpose of this study is to assess whether parents’ demographic factors are related to their beliefs about harsh parenting. Such demographic factors include parents’ ethnicity, marital status, educational attainment, employment status, age, and gender. A secondary purpose of this study is to explore whether parents’ gender may moderate the effect of other demographic factors and make harsh parenting beliefs more likely among particular groups of people.
High-Bandwidth Explicit Model Predictive Control of Electrical Drives

Field-oriented control (FOC) has proven effective for controlling ac drives with good dynamic performance. However, operation at low-switching frequencies and the sensitivity of traditional feedforward loops to system parameters pose severe limitations on the achievable performance and require a tedious tuning procedure. In this paper, we present a systematic cascade explicit model predictive control framework for the FOC of electrical drives, resolving the aforementioned issues while being sufficiently simple to be widely implemented on various ac drive systems. The resulting closed-loop system exhibits high dynamic performance for all operating points, even at low-switching frequencies. We present experiments with a permanent-magnet machine and an induction motor, demonstrating the practical feasibility and the merits of the proposed framework over traditional controller designs for electrical drives.
Estimating the Burden of Paratyphoid A in Asia and Africa

Despite the increasing availability of typhoid vaccine in many regions, global estimates of mortality attributable to enteric fever appear stable. While both Salmonella enterica serovar Typhi (S. Typhi) and serovar Paratyphi (S. Paratyphi) cause enteric fever, limited data exist estimating the burden of S. Paratyphi, particularly in Asia and Africa. We performed a systematic review of both English and Chinese-language databases to estimate the regional burden of paratyphoid within Africa and Asia. Distinct from previous reviews of the topic, we have presented two separate measures of burden; both incidence and proportion of enteric fever attributable to paratyphoid. Included articles reported laboratory-confirmed Salmonella serovar classification, provided clear methods on sampling strategy, defined the age range of participants, and specified the time period of the study. A total of 64 full-text articles satisfied inclusion criteria and were included in the qualitative synthesis. Paratyphoid A was commonly identified as a cause of enteric fever throughout Asia. The highest incidence estimates in Asia came from China; four studies estimated incidence rates of over 150 cases/100,000 person-years. Paratyphoid A burden estimates from Africa were extremely limited and with the exception of Nigeria, few population or hospital-based studies from Africa reported significant Paratyphoid A burden. While significant gaps exist in the existing population-level estimates of paratyphoid burden in Asia and Africa, available data suggest that paratyphoid A is a significant cause of enteric fever in Asia. The high variability in documented incidence and proportion estimates of paratyphoid suggest considerable geospatial variability in the burden of paratyphoid fever. Additional efforts to monitor enteric fever at the population level will be necessary in order to accurately quantify the public health threat posed by S. Paratyphi A, and to improve the prevention and treatment of enteric fever.
A Relational Hyperlink Analysis of an Online Social Movement

In this paper we propose relational hyperlink analysis (RHA) as a distinct approach for empirical social science research into hyperlink networks on the World Wide Web. We demonstrate this approach, which employs the ideas and techniques of social network analysis (in particular, exponential random graph modeling), in a study of the hyperlinking behaviors of Australian asylum advocacy groups. We show that compared with the commonly-used hyperlink counts regression approach, relational hyperlink analysis can lead to fundamentally different conclusions about the social processes underpinning hyperlinking behavior. In particular, in trying to understand why social ties are formed, counts regressions may over-estimate the role of actor attributes in the formation of hyperlinks when endogenous, purely structural network effects are not taken into account. Our analysis involves an innovative joint use of two software programs: VOSON, for the automated retrieval and processing of considerable quantities of hyperlink data, and LPNet, for the statistical modeling of social network data. Together, VOSON and LPNet enable new and unique research into social networks in the online world, and our paper highlights the importance of complementary research tools for social science research into the web.
Portraying the Contribution of Individual Behaviors to Team Cohesion and Performance

Behaviors of individuals in teams both contribute to and are molded by team dynamics. How they do so has been the subject of much research. A method of portraying individuals’ behaviors in teams, the Team Diagramming Method (TDM) is presented. Behaviors are rated by other team members on three important dimensions: positivity/negativity, dominant/submissive, and task-orientedness/expressiveness. A study of 5-person teams engaging in a 3-day moon simulation task demonstrated that measures of these perceived behaviors as well as the variances of these behaviors correlated with cohesion measures and performance. The method shows strengths and weaknesses of particular teams and, by comparison with high-performing teams, suggests interventions based on individual as well as team behaviors.
A NEARBY M STAR WITH THREE TRANSITING SUPER-EARTHS DISCOVERED BY K2

Small, cool planets represent the typical end-products of planetary formation. Studying the architectures of these systems, measuring planet masses and radii, and observing these planets’ atmospheres during transit directly informs theories of planet assembly, migration, and evolution. Here we report the discovery of three small planets orbiting a bright (Ks = 8.6 mag) M0 dwarf using data collected as part of K2, the new ecliptic survey using the re-purposed Kepler spacecraft. Stellar spectroscopy and K2 photometry indicate that the system hosts three transiting planets with radii 1.5–2.1 R ⨁ ? > , straddling the transition region between rocky and increasingly volatile-dominated compositions. With orbital periods of 10–45 days the planets receive just 1.5–10× the flux incident on Earth, making these some of the coolest small planets known orbiting a nearby star; planet d is located near the inner edge of the system’s habitable zone. The bright, low-mass star makes this system an excellent laboratory to determine the planets’ masses via Doppler spectroscopy and to constrain their atmospheric compositions via transit spectroscopy. This discovery demonstrates the ability of K2 and future space-based transit searches to find many fascinating objects of interest.
Scalable unidirectional routing with zone routing protocol (ZRP) extensions for mobile ad-hoc networks

Ad-hoc networks consist of peer-to-peer communicating nodes that are highly mobile. As such, an ad-hoc network lacks infrastructure and the topology of the network changes dynamically. The task of routing data from a source to a destination in such a network is challenging. Several routing protocols have been proposed for wireless ad-hoc networks. Most of these protocols, however, pre-suppose the presence of bi-directional links between the nodes in the network. In reality the ad-hoc network may consist of heterogeneous nodes with different power capabilities and hence, different transmission ranges. When this is the case, a given node might be able to receive the transmission of another given node but might not be able to successfully transmit to the latter. Thus, unidirectional links are formed. Most of the current routing protocols are unsuitable for deployment when such unidirectional links are present. We consider a routing protocol called the zone routing protocol (ZRP) that has been proposed for wireless ad-hoc networks with bi-directional links. The zone routing protocol employs a hybrid proactive (table driven) and reactive (on-demand) methodology to provide scalable routing in the ad-hoc network. However, in the presence of unidirectional links some routes remain undiscovered if ZRP is used. We propose extensions to ZRP to support its deployment when unidirectional links are present. In particular, we propose a query enhancement mechanism that recursively builds partial routes to a destination. Simulation results show that even at a high mobility of 20 m/s, the queries resulting due to the enhancement mechanism result in the computation of valid routes more than 80% of the time. These results are valid even when a large number (40% of nodes have half the transmission range as that of the remaining nodes) of unidirectional links are present in the network.
Deficits of Affect Mentalization in Patients with Drug Addiction: Theoretical and Clinical Aspects

Traditionally treated with wariness, drug addictions have provoked a serious interest in psychodynamically oriented clinicians in recent decades. This paper discusses the development of contemporary psychodynamic conceptualizations of addictions, focusing specifically on mentalization-based theories. The concept of mentalization refers to a complex form of self-regulation which includes attribution of psychological meaning to one's own behavior and affective states, as well as those of the others. We hypothesize that drug-addicted patients have severe impairments in mentalizing, associated with developmental deficits, characteristic for the borderline personality disorder and psychosomatic conditions. Psychodynamic models of mentalization and their corresponding research operationalizations are reviewed, and implications for a contemporary understanding of drug addictions and psychotherapy are drawn. The authors propose that mentalization-oriented theories provide an adequate conceptualization, which is open to empirical testing and has clear and pragmatic guidelines for treatment.
Therapeutic intragastric vaccination against Helicobacter pylori in mice eradicates an otherwise chronic infection and confers protection against reinfection

Chronic infection of the gastroduodenal mucosae by the gram-negative spiral bacterium Helicobacter pylori is responsible for chronic active gastritis, peptic ulcers, and gastric cancers such as adenocarcinoma and low-grade gastric B-cell lymphoma. The success of eradication by antibiotic therapy is being rapidly hampered by the increasing occurrence of antibiotic-resistant strains. An attractive alternative approach to combat this infection is represented by the therapeutic use of vaccines. In the present work, we have exploited the mouse model of persistent infection by mouse-adapted H. pylori strains that we have developed to assess the feasibility of the therapeutic use of vaccines against infection. We report that an otherwise chronic H. pylori infection in mice can be successfully eradicated by intragastric vaccination with H. pylori antigens such as recombinant VacA and CagA, which were administered together with a genetically detoxified mutant of the heat-labile enterotoxin of Escherichia coli (referred to as LTK63), in which the serine in position 63 was replaced by a lysine. Moreover, we show that therapeutic vaccination confers efficacious protection against reinfection. These results represent strong evidence of the feasibility of therapeutic use of VacA- or CagA-based vaccine formulations against H. pylori infection in an animal model and give substantial preclinical support to the application of this kind of approach in human clinical trials.