Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
PDetect: A Clustering Approach for Detecting Plagiarism in Source Code Datasets

Efficient detection of plagiarism in programming assignments of students is of a great importance to the educational procedure. This paper presents a clustering oriented approach for facing the problem of source code plagiarism. The implemented software, called PDetect, accepts as input a set of program sources and extracts subsets (the clusters of plagiarism) such that each program within a particular subset has been derived from the same original. PDetect proposes the use of an appropriate measure for evaluating plagiarism detection performance and supports the idea of combining different plagiarism detection schemes. Furthermore, a cluster analysis is performed in order to provide information beneficial to the plagiarism detection process. PDetect is designed such that it may be easily adapted over any keyword-based programming language and it is quite beneficial when compared with earlier (state-of-the-art) plagiarism detection approaches.
Financing Investment

We examine investment behavior when firms face costs in the access to external funds. We find that despite the existence of liquidity constraints, standard investment regressions predict that cash flow is an important determinant of investment only if one ignores q. Conversely, we also obtain significant cash flow effects even in the absence of financial frictions. These findings provide support to the argument that the success of cash flow augmented investment regressions is probably due to a combination of measurement error in q and identification problems.
Computer-Aided Design of Fragment Mixtures for NMR-Based Screening

Fragment-based drug discovery is widely applied both in industrial and in academic screening programs. Several screening techniques rely on NMR to detect binding of a fragment to a target. NMR-based methods are among the most sensitive techniques and have the further advantage of yielding a low rate of false positives and negatives. However, NMR is intrinsically slower than other screening techniques; thus, to increase throughput in NMR-based screening, researchers often assay mixtures of fragments, rather than single fragments. Herein we present a fast and straightforward computer-aided method to design mixtures of fragments taken from a library that have minimized NMR signal overlap. This approach enables direct identification of one or several active fragments without the need for deconvolution. Our approach entails encoding of NMR spectra into a computer-readable format that we call a fingerprint, and minimizing the global signal overlap through a Monte Carlo algorithm. The scoring function used favors a homogenous distribution of the global signal overlap. The method does not require additional experimental work: the only data required are NMR spectra, which are generally recorded for each compound as a quality control measure before its insertion into the library.
Relative biological effectiveness of photon energies used in brachytherapy and intraoperative radiotherapy techniques for two breast cancer cell lines

Abstract Background. Partial breast irradiation (IORT or brachytherapy) differ from external radiation of whole breast in terms of irradiated volumes, fractionation, radiation energy and dose rate; all factors influencing the treatment outcome in a complex manner. Theoretically obtained RBE values comparing effects of radiation used in IORT and external therapy are published, but experimental studies are required to confirm these data. The aim of this study is to establish such RBE values for two breast cancer cell lines. Materials and methods. Colony formation of breast cancer cell lines (MCF-7 and T-47D) were studied after photon irradiation with qualities and dose rates used in IORT, brachytherapy and external radiation. RBE values from survival data were used to compare effects. Results. Increasing the photon energy (dose rate 0.2 Gy/min) from 50 kV (Intrabeam) to 380 keV (192Ir source) and 6 MV (linear accelerator) yielded an increase in the cell survival, whereas increasing the dose rate to 6 Gy/min had minor effect. Average RBE values for 50 kV with 6 MV as reference radiation varied from about 1.4 (for doses < 5 Gy) to > 1.9 (for doses < 0.02 Gy) for MCF-7 cells and from about 1.4 to > 3.1 for T-47D cells for the same dose levels. Corresponding RBE values for 380 keV radiation were about 1.4 for MCF-7 cells and 1.3–2.3 for T-47D cells. Conclusion. RBE data for breast cancer cells exposed to radiation used in IORT, brachytherapy or external radiation differ among the cell lines tested. The values are in agreement with published theoretical and experimental work.
A consensus algorithm for synchronous distributed systems using mobile agent

In this paper, we present a consensus algorithm for synchronous distributed systems using cooperating mobile agents. The algorithm is designed within a framework for mobile agent enabled distributed server groups (MADSG), where cooperating mobile agents are used to achieve coordination among the servers. Being autonomous and cooperative, cooperating mobile agents exchange information among themselves to achieve consensus. The correctness proof of the proposed algorithm is presented. Performance evaluation of the algorithm has been carried out by both theoretical analysis and simulation.
wzi Gene Sequencing, a Rapid Method for Determination of Capsular Type for Klebsiella Strains

ABSTRACT Pathogens of the genus Klebsiella have been classified into distinct capsular (K) types for nearly a century. K typing of Klebsiella species still has important applications in epidemiology and clinical microbiology, but the serological method has strong practical limitations. Our objective was to evaluate the sequencing of wzi, a gene conserved in all capsular types of Klebsiella pneumoniae that codes for an outer membrane protein involved in capsule attachment to the cell surface, as a simple and rapid method for the prediction of K type. The sequencing of a 447-nucleotide region of wzi distinguished the K-type reference strains with only nine exceptions. A reference wzi sequence database was created by the inclusion of multiple strains representing K types associated with high virulence and multidrug resistance. A collection of 119 prospective clinical isolates of K. pneumoniae were then analyzed in parallel by wzi sequencing and classical K typing. Whereas K typing achieved typeability for 81% and discrimination for 94.4% of the isolates, these figures were 98.1% and 98.3%, respectively, for wzi sequencing. The prediction of K type once the wzi allele was known was 94%. wzi sequencing is a rapid and simple method for the determination of the K types of most K. pneumoniae clinical isolates.
Focus+Glue+Context: an improved fisheye approach for web map services

This paper proposes a method for generating a Focus+Glue+Context map for Web map services by improving existing fisheye views methods for cartographic data. While many studies have focused on fisheye views, the problems of the excessively large distortions that maps have over their entire area and/or the high density of roads in the borders of the maps have yet to be resolved. To completely remove the distortions in both the Focus and the Context areas, we propose the inclusion of a Glue area between the two areas. Moreover, we propose the following features. (1) We propose the Dynamic Displacement function to generate a Focus and a Glue having an arbitrary convex or star-shaped polygon. (2) Since the Glue area absorbs all distortion from the Focus and the Context areas, the density of roads along the angular direction of the Glue will be excessively high. To reduce the density of roads, we propose the Following Paths algorithm to display only those roads that are along the radial direction and that are reached from the Focus area to the Context area. This method enables users to understand a map easily with high visibility of the Glue area. (3) To realize Web map services, we have to generate a map quickly. Therefore, the Glue area is generated dynamically, while the Focus and the Context areas display previously generated static maps. These maps are composited in a client Web browser by the Dynamic Map Composition method. We developed a prototype of our system that implements these features and evaluated the advantages of the proposed method. The new system can contribute to novel Web map services with fisheye views.
Continuous Foraging and Information Gathering in a Multi-Agent Team

We are interested in continuous foraging with multi-agent teams, where resources are replenished over time, and the goal is to maximize the rate of foraging. Existing algorithms for continuous foraging and area sweeping typically consider homogeneous agents. We are interested in heterogeneous teams, where agents have radically different capabilities. In particular, we consider two types of agents: a foraging agent that moves in the environment and forages resources, and a reconnaissance agent that gathers information by visiting locations and determining the number of resources available. In this paper, we consider three models of resource replenishment: a Bernoulli model and a Poisson model where resources appear probabilistically, and a stochastic Logistic model where resources increase based on the existing number of resources. We contribute three foraging algorithms that are inspired by existing algorithms, and contribute a novel algorithm for the reconnaissance agent to gather information. We extensively evaluate our algorithms in simulation, showing that our foraging algorithms outperform the existing algorithms. We demonstrate the efficacy of our information gathering algorithm in improving the overall team performance, even without communication between the foraging agents, and with noisy observations.
Lack of tolerance to the protective effect of montelukast in exercise-induced bronchoconstriction in children

The effect over time of regular treatment with montelukast (MNT) in inhibiting exercise-induced bronchoconstriction (EIB) has never been evaluated in children. The aim of the present study was to examine the preventive effect of MNT against EIB in children at different time-points over a 4-week treatment period. Thirty-two asthmatic children (aged 6–12 yrs) were enrolled in a double-blinded, randomised, parallel group design to receive a 4-week treatment with MNT (5 mg chewable tablets administered once daily in the evening) or placebo. Exercise challenge was performed at baseline and after 3, 7 and 28 days of treatment, 20–24 h after dosing. MNT was significantly more protective than placebo against EIB at each time. The mean percentage drop of forced expiratory volume in one second (FEV1) was 24.6, 13.6, 12.0 and 11.6 for MNT, and 24.4, 22.4, 21.8 and 21.0 for placebo, at baseline and after 3, 7 and 28 days, respectively. For each drug, no significant difference in the percentage drop of FEV1 was found between different days. Regular treatment with montelukast provided significant protection against exercise-induced bronchoconstriction in asthmatic children over a 4-week period with no tolerance to the bronchoprotective effect.
Spatial–Temporal Distribution of Whisker-Evoked Activity in Rat Somatosensory Cortex and the Coding of Stimulus Location

Rats use their facial vibrissae (“whiskers”) to locate and identify objects. To learn about the neural coding of contact between whiskers and objects, we investigated the representation of single-vibrissa deflection by populations of cortical neurons. Microelectrode arrays, arranged in a geometric 10 × 10 grid, were inserted into the thalamo-recipient layers of “barrel cortex” (the vibrissal region of somatosensory cortex) in urethane-anesthetized rats, and neuronal activity across large sets of barrel-columns was measured. Typically, 5 msec after deflection of a whisker a 0.2 mm2 focus of activity emerged. It rapidly expanded, doubling in size by 7 msec, before retracting and disappearing 28–59 msec after stimulus onset. The total territory engaged by the stimulus ranged from 0.5 to 2.9 mm2 (2–11 barrels). Stimulus site dictated the domain of activity. To quantify the coding of whisker location, we applied the population d′ measure of discriminability. Activity patterns elicited by two whiskers were highly discriminable at the initial cortical response; peak discriminability typically occurred within 16 msec of stimulus onset. To determine how widely information about stimulus location was distributed, we measured population d′ while excluding response data from the on-center electrodes of the two tested whiskers. Response patterns remained discriminable, indicating that information about stimulus location was distributed across barrel cortex. Taken together, these results show that single-whisker deflections are represented in a multicolumn region constrained by barrel cortex map topography. The nature of this coding allows information about stimulus location to be coded extremely rapidly and unambiguously by one to two spikes per neuron.
Estimating antemortem drug concentrations from postmortem blood samples: the influence of postmortem redistribution

Aims—To compare blood drug concentrations during life with postmortem drug concentrations measured from a peripheral site and a central site. Methods—Coroner's cases from October 1990 to July 1997 were reviewed. Six cases had data on both antemortem and postmortem blood drug concentrations. The postmortem to antemortem ratio was compared with the postmortem central to peripheral ratio, using cardiac blood as a central site and femoral blood as a peripheral site. Results—Drugs that have a high postmortem central to peripheral ratio; that is, drugs that exhibit considerable postmortem redistribution, also have high postmortem to antemortem ratios. Conclusions—A large degree of error can arise from attempting to estimate antemortem drug concentrations and the ingested dose from postmortem measurements. The chosen site and technique for postmortem blood sampling can greatly influence the concentration of drug measured.
Chapter 14. Neural Coding and Auditory Perception Neural Coding and Auditory Perception Neural Coding of Sound in Complex Acoustic Environments Sponsor: Nih-nidcd Grants Dc02258, Dc00038 and Dc05209

The long-term goal of this project is to understand the neural mechanisms that mediate the ability of normal-hearing people to understand speech and localize sounds in complex acoustic environments comprising reverberation and competing sound sources. In the past year, we focused on two research projects: (1) Physiological and psychophysical studies of sound localization in reverberant environments (Aim 1); (2) Spatio-temporal representation of pitch in the auditory nerve and cochlear nucleus (Aim 2).
Variance heterogeneity in direct and maternal weight traits by sex and percent purebred for Simmental-sired calves.

Phenotypic variances for linear and transformed weight traits were partitioned into residual, direct genetic (D) and maternal genetic (M) components using REML techniques with American Simmental Association data from calves born 1969 to 1985. Variance components were estimated separately from subclasses defined by sex (male, female) and percent Simmental (50, greater than or equal to 75). The model included fixed effects of contemporary group and age-of-dam (less than 3, 3 to 5, greater than 5 yr). Additive relationships among sires and maternal grandsires were included. Results follow for a sire-maternal grandsire model for greater than or equal to 75% Simmental untransformed data based on 143,280 male and 281,805 female weaning weights (WW) representing 4,763 and 7,406 sires, respectively. Female results are bracketed. For computational simplification, 47,650 [30,909] postweaning gain (PW) records were included in the analysis only for 114,404 [182,255] calves with birth weight (BW). Phenotypic standard deviations (kg) were: BW, 4.5 [4.1]; WW, 26.9 [23.2]; and PW, 25.9 [19.9]. Heritabilities were: BWD, . 40 [. 45]; WWD, . 32 [. 39]; PWD, . 26 [. 32]; BWM, . 13 [. 15]; WWM, . 20 [. 16]; and PWM, . 01 [. 01]. These heritabilities are higher than previously used for genetic evaluations in this breed. Moderate and positive correlations . 26 to . 50, existed between direct effects and were similar for both sexes. Direct and maternal effects on the same trait were correlated negatively: BW, -. 45 [-. 31]; and WW, -. 27 [-. 34]. Genetic correlation between BWM and WWM was . 53 [. 49]. First-cross progeny exhibited less genetic and residual variation and had lower heritabilities than Simmental calves of higher percent. Correlations between sire evaluations on the subsets were consistent with those expected given a perfect genetic correlation between traits for each sex and percent Simmental. Logarithmic transformed records were no more homogeneous than untransformed records.
Managing Increasing Product Variety at Integrated Steel Mills

Intense market competition in recent years has made it increasingly important for integrated steel mills (ISMs) to differentiate themselves from competitors based on customer service, two key attributes of which are the duration and the reliability of order-fulfillment time. To improve responsiveness, some ISMs are shifting from a pure make-to-order system toward a hybrid make-to-stock, make-to-order system. They can then match certain customer orders to existing semifinished inventory, thereby reducing the time it takes to fill those orders. However, choosing which semifinished products to make to stock and how to manage their inventory are difficult problems. We developed an optimization model that one ISM implemented as a decision-support tool for choosing the designs of made-for-stock (MFS) slabs. Use of the model has reduced the number of MFS slab designs and increased the proportion of orders covered by those designs.
A 10 MHz BW 50 fJ/conv. continuous time ΔΣ modulator with high-order single opamp integrator using optimization-based design method

This paper proposes a new power and area efficient circuit configurations, and also an optimization design method for such configurations. Two types of loopfilters are fabricated, one is a third-order integrator with single opamp for mobile TV-tuners (Modulator A) and the other is a fourth-order (Modulator B) for wide-band mobile receivers. Modulator A and Modulator B are fabricated in 65 nm and 40 nm CMOS processes, respectively. Results show that the new filter with an efficient optimization tool is a very powerful way to develop high efficient ΔΣ.
The Power of Tuning: A Novel Approach for the Efficient Design of Survivable Networks

Current survivability schemes typically offer two degrees of protection, namely full protection (from a single failure) or no protection at all. Full protection translates into rigid design constraints, i.e., the employment of disjoint paths. We introduce the concept of tunable survivability that bridges the gap between full and no protection. First, we establish several fundamental properties of connections with tunable survivability. With that at hand, we devise efficient polynomial (optimal) connection establishment schemes for both and protection architectures. Then, we show that the concept of tunable survivability gives rise to a novel hybrid protection architecture, which offers improved performance over the standard and architectures. Next, we investigate some related QoS extensions. Finally, we demonstrate the advantage of tunable survivability over full survivability. In particular, we show that, by just slightly alleviating the requirement of full survivability, we obtain major improvements in terms of the ldquofeasibilityrdquo as well as the ldquoqualityrdquo of the solution.
Evaluation of hemilaminectomy use in microsurgical resection of intradural extramedullary tumors

The aim of this study was to investigate the microsurgical techniques of hemilaminectomy, used in the excision of intradural extramedullary (IDEM) tumors, and to illustrate its clinical effects. Clinical data obtained from 16 patients (seven males, nine females) with IDEM tumors, which were treated at the China-Japan Union Hospital between January 2009 and December 2011, were retrospectively analyzed. The mean age of patients was 49 years, ranging from 34–72 years. The IDEM tumors were located cervically in three patients, thoracically in four patients and at the thoracico-lumbar level in nine patients. Fourteen patients underwent hemilaminectomy, while two patients were treated with laminectomy during surgery. The clinical effect of hemilaminectomy was evaluated based on Frankel grade. The mean bleeding volume was 300 ml (range, 150–500 ml) and the mean duration of surgery was 140 min (range, 90–200 min). The maximum and minimum tumor volumes were 4×1.5×1.5 cm and 1.5×1.0×1.0 cm, respectively. Neurinoma was evident in 11 patients, meningioma in four cases and neurofibroma in one case. Three cases improved from Frankel grade B to C, five cases improved from grade C to D and seven cases improved from grade D to grade E. All patients were followed up for a period of 6–40 months, with a mean follow-up time of 23.7 months. None of the patients exhibited tumor recurrence or spinal instability. The mean bleeding volume of patients that underwent hemilaminectomy and laminectomy was 275 and 475 ml, respectively. The advantages of hemilaminectomy are minor invasion, less bleeding and retention of spinal stability. In general, hemilaminectomy for the excision of IDEM tumors has a satisfactory outcome.
Expectation-maximization approach to Boolean factor analysis

Methods for hidden structure of high-dimensional binary data discovery are one of the most important challenges facing machine learning community researchers. There are many approaches in literature that try to solve this hitherto rather ill-defined task. In the present study, we propose a most general generative model of binary data for Boolean factor analysis and introduce new Expectation-Maximization Boolean Factor Analysis algorithm which maximizes likelihood of Boolean Factor Analysis solution. Using the so-called bars problem benchmark, we compare efficiencies of Expectation-Maximization Boolean Factor Analysis algorithm with Dendritic Inhibition neural network. Then we discuss advantages and disadvantages of both approaches as regards results quality and methods efficiency.
Exploiting global features for tempo octave correction

Tempo estimation is a fundamental problem in music information retrieval. Most approaches attempt to solve two problems: first finding a dominant pulse and second correcting the metrical level of this pulse. The latter has also been dubbed fixing the octave error. We propose an algorithm for tempo estimation that addresses both problems mostly independently. While using a standard pulse detection technique, for octave error correction, we exploit a simple relationship between a single global feature, average spectral novelty, and listener perception of musical tempo. The proposed method is extremely simple. Nevertheless, it outperforms most existing tempo estimation methods and is on par with the best-performing ones. It thus exemplifies that a global feature-based approach can significantly improve tempo estimation.