Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
New Results in the Simultaneous Message Passing Model via Information Theoretic Techniques

Consider the following {\em Simultaneous Message Passing} ($\smp$) model for computing a relation $f \subseteq \cX \times \cY \times \cZ$. In this model $\alice$, on input $x \in \cX$ and $\bob$, on input $y\in\cY$, send one message each to a third party $\referee$ who then outputs a $z \in \cZ$ such that $(x,y,z)\in f$. We first show optimal {\em Direct sum} results for all relations $f$ in this model, both in the quantum and classical settings, in the situation where we allow shared resources (shared entanglement in quantum protocols and public coins in classical protocols) between $\alice$ and $\referee$ and $\bob$ and $\referee$ and no shared resource between $\alice$ and $\bob$. This implies that, in this model, the communication required to compute $k$ simultaneous instances of $f$, with constant success overall, is at least $k$-times the communication required to compute one instance with constant success. This in particular implies an earlier Direct sum result, shown by Chakrabarti, Shi, Wirth and Yao~\cite{ChakrabartiSWY01} for the Equality function (and a class of other so-called robust functions), in the classical $\smp$ model with no shared resources between any parties. Furthermore we investigate the gap between the $\smp$ model and the one-way model in communication complexity and exhibit a partial function that is exponentially more expensive in the former if quantum communication with entanglement is allowed, compared to the latter even in the deterministic case.
One-pot synthesis of amino acid precursors with insoluble organic matter in planetesimals with aqueous activity

Both amino acids and macromolecular organic solids can be synthesized from simple molecules in small solar system bodies. The exogenous delivery of organic molecules could have played an important role in the emergence of life on the early Earth. Carbonaceous chondrites are known to contain indigenous amino acids as well as various organic compounds and complex macromolecular materials, such as the so-called insoluble organic matter (IOM), but the origins of the organic matter are still subject to debate. We report that the water-soluble amino acid precursors are synthesized from formaldehyde, glycolaldehyde, and ammonia with the presence of liquid water, simultaneously with macromolecular organic solids similar to the chondritic IOM. Amino acid products from hydrothermal experiments after acid hydrolysis include α-, β-, and γ-amino acids up to five carbons, for which relative abundances are similar to those extracted from carbonaceous chondrites. One-pot aqueous processing from simple ubiquitous molecules can thus produce a wide variety of meteoritic organic matter from amino acid precursors to macromolecular IOM in chondrite parent bodies.
Social encounters in daily life and 2-year changes in metabolic risk factors in young women

Abstract Research shows that poor social ties increase risks of morbidity and mortality from cardiovascular disease (CVD). However, little is known about the nature of everyday social encounters that give rise to this association, or when in the course of development they begin to shape disease-relevant biological processes. In this study, 122 adolescent females recorded the qualities of their everyday social interactions using electronic diaries. At the same time we measured components of the metabolic syndrome, a precursor to CVD that includes central adiposity, high blood pressure, insulin resistance, and lipid dysregulation. Metabolic symptoms were reassessed 12 and 24 months later. Hierarchical linear modeling revealed an association between negative social interactions and metabolic symptom trajectories. To the extent that participants had more intense negative social encounters in daily life, they showed increasing scores on a composite indicator of metabolic risk over 2 years. This association was independent of a variety of potential confounders, and persisted when symptoms of depression and broader personality traits were controlled. There was no association between positive social encounters and metabolic risk trajectories. These findings suggest that even in otherwise healthy adolescents, abrasive social encounters may accelerate the progression of early stages of CVD.
Enhanced activity of human serotonin transporter variants associated with autism

Rare, functional, non-synonymous variants in the human serotonin (5-hydroxytryptamine, 5-HT) transporter (hSERT) gene (SLC6A4) have been identified in both autism and obsessive–compulsive disorder (OCD). Within autism, rare hSERT coding variants associate with rigid–compulsive traits, suggesting both phenotypic overlap with OCD and a shared relationship with disrupted 5-HT signalling. Here, we document functional perturbations of three of these variants: Ile425Leu; Phe465Leu; and Leu550Val. In transiently transfected HeLa cells, the three variants confer a gain of 5-HT transport phenotype. Specifically, enhanced SERT activity was also observed in lymphoblastoid lines derived from mutation carriers. In contrast to previously characterized Gly56Ala, where increased transport activity derives from catalytic activation, the three novel variants exhibit elevated surface density as revealed through both surface antagonist-binding and biotinylation studies. Unlike Gly56Ala, mutants Ile425Leu, Phe465Leu and Leu550Val retain a capacity for acute PKG and p38 MAPK regulation. However, both Gly56Ala and Ile425Leu demonstrate markedly reduced sensitivity to PP2A antagonists, suggesting that deficits in trafficking and catalytic modulation may derive from a common basis in perturbed phosphatase regulation. When expressed stably from the same genomic locus in CHO cells, both Gly56Ala and Ile425Leu display catalytic activation, accompanied by a striking loss of SERT protein.
Revisit network anomaly ranking in datacenter network using re-ranking

With the continuous growth of modern datacenter networks in recent years, network intrusions targeting those datacenters have also been growing rapidly. In this situation, system monitoring and intrusion detection become essential to control the risks of such networks. There are many network anomaly detection systems being used to identify significant anomalies in datacenter networks. However, they often focus on detecting significant anomalies, while ignoring insignificant anomalies oftentimes. Existing anomaly ranking models are not accurate in detecting insignificant anomalies. This becomes an issue when attacks are from insignificant anomaly traffic. In this paper, we revisit the network anomaly ranking problem and propose a re-ranking model based on a commonly used unsupervised network anomaly ranking method. We introduce several new features into the re-ranking model to capture extra information about outliers. Our experimental results based on real datacenter network data demonstrate that the proposed re-ranking model improves the ranking quality over the unsupervised method, especially for insignificant outliers.
Towards Standardized Reporting in Studies of Encapsulating Peritoneal Sclerosis

Encapsulating peritoneal sclerosis (EPS), a serious but uncommon complication of peritoneal dialysis (PD), initially well described in the Japanese patient population (1–3), is now widely recognized. Because of the severe morbidity and mortality attached, EPS has the potential to negatively affect perceptions of the value of PD as a long-term therapy and so affect the take-on rate and increase early transfer to HD. It is now well established that EPS is strongly associated with duration of PD therapy (4,5), with ultrafiltration failure associated with membrane fibrosis (6,7), and also, paradoxically, with stopping PD. Nevertheless, significant deficits in the understanding of EPS remain. That lack of understanding is implicit in nonspecific diagnostic criteria and an uncertain association with peritonitis, issues that arise in a study by Wong et al. (8) in this issue of Peritoneal Dialysis International.
The Phylogeny and Classification of Anopheles

Anopheles was introduced as a genus of mosquitoes in 1818 by Johann Wilhelm Meigen [1], a German entomologist famous for his revolutionary studies of Diptera. Little was done on the taxonomy of Anopheles until the discovery during the last two decades of the 19th century that mosquitoes transmit microfilariae and malarial protozoa, which initiated a drive to collect, name and classify these insects. In 1898, the Royal Society and the Rt. Hon. Joseph Chamber‐ lain, Secretary of State for the Colonies of Britain, appointed a Committee to supervise the investigation of malaria. On 6 December 1898, Mr. Chamberlain directed the Colonies to collect and send mosquitoes to the British Museum (Natural History) (Figure 1), and in 1899 the Committee appointed Frederick V. Theobald to prepare a monograph on the mosquitoes of the world, which was published in five volumes between 1901 and 1910 [2‒6]. As a conse‐ quence, many new generic names were introduced in an effort to classify numerous new mosquito species into seemingly natural groups. Theobald proposed 18 genera for species of Anopheles based on the distribution and shape of scales on the thorax and abdomen. Four of these proposed genera, Cellia, Kerteszia, Nyssorhynchus and Stethomyia, are currently recognized as subgenera of Anopheles and the other 14 are regarded as synonyms of one or other of subgenera Anopheles, Cellia or Nyssorhynchus. Theobald, however, was not the only person to propose generic names for species of Anopheles. During the first three decades of the 20th century, 37 genera (including the 18 recognized by Theobald) were established for species of Anopheles [7].
$\vec{BV\!RI}$ Photometry of 27 Kuiper Belt Objects with ESO/Very Large Telescope

We present visible (BVRI) photometric measurements of 27 Trans-Neptunian objects, obtained with the FORS2 instrument on the ESO/8 m Very Large Telescope (Unit 2) from runs during September and November 2000. The objects display a broad and continuous range of colors from neutral-bluish to very red. Most of the objects also have a linear reflectivity spectrum over the VRIrange. There is no evidence of a bi- modal color distribution as has been previously reported by other groups. Several objects (1994 TB, 1995 SM55, 1998 UR43, 1999CF119 and 2000 OK67) show evidence of changing color, and should be investigated further. The object 1995 SM55 deserves a more complete study since its neutral-blue colors suggest it could be a good candidate for hosting cometary activity.
Preoperative Predictors for Postoperative Clinical Outcome in Lumbar Spinal Stenosis: Systematic Review

Study Design. Systematic review. Objective. To define preoperative factors predicting clinical outcome after lumbar spinal stenosis (LSS) surgery. Summary of Background Data. LSS is the most common reason requiring lumbar spine surgery in adults older than 65 years. There are no published systematic reviews on this topic. Methods. A literature search was done until April 30, 2005. Included were randomized controlled or controlled trials or prospective studies dealing with operated LSS. The preoperative predictors had to be presented. Included articles were assessed as high-quality (HQ) and low-quality studies. The predictors in HQ studies were considered as the main results. Results. A total of 21 articles were included. Depression and walking capacity were predictors according to 2 HQ studies. Predictors reported in 1 HQ study were cardiovascular/overall comorbidity, disorder influencing walking ability, self-rated health, income, severity of central stenosis, and scoliosis. Conclusion. Depression, cardiovascular comorbidity, disorder influencing walking ability, and scoliosis predicted poorer subjective outcome. Better walking ability, self-rated health, higher income, less overall comorbidity, and pronounced central stenosis predicted better subjective outcome. Male gender and younger age predicted better postoperative walking ability. The predictive value may be outcome specific; thus, the use of all relevant outcome measures is recommended when studying predictors of LSS.
Learning concise models of human activity from ambient video via a structure-inducing M-step estimator

We introduce a method for structure discovery in data and use it to learn a normative theory about the behavior of the visual world from coarse image representations. The theory takes the form of a concise probabilistic automaton—specifically, a continuous-output hidden Markov model (HMM)—but the induction method applies generally to any conditional probability model. The learning algorithm introduces and exploits an entropic prior for fast, simultaneous estimation of model structure and parameters. Although not motivated as such, the prior and its maximum a posteriori (MAP) estimator can be understood as an exact formulation of minimum description length (MDL) for Bayesian point estimation; we present an exact solution for the MAP estimator which thus folds MDL into the M-step of expectation-maximization (EM) algorithms. Consequently there is no speculative or wasted computation as in search-based MDL approaches. In contrast to conventionally trained HMMs, entropically trained models are so concise and highly structured that they are interpretable, and can be automatically converted into a flowchart and/or a map of characteristic activities (motion patterns) in the field of view. In this paper we examine the model formed by the system from roughly a half-hour of video of office activity, then demonstrate its ability to detect unusual behavior.
Inferring the Mode of Speciation From Genomic Data

The strictly allopatric model of speciation makes definable predictions on the pattern of divergence, one of which is the uniformity in the divergence time across genomic regions. Using 345 coding and 143 intergenic sequences from the African great apes, we were able to reject the null hypothesis that the divergence time in the coding sequences (CDSs) and intergenic sequences (IGSs) is the same between human and chimpanzee. The conclusion is further supported by the analysis of whole-genome sequences between these species. The difference suggests a prolonged period of genetic exchange during the formation of these two species. Because the analysis should be generally applicable, collecting DNA sequence data from many genomic regions between closely related species should help to settle the debate over the prevalence of the allopatric mode of speciation.
Particulate Matter–Induced Airway Hyperresponsiveness Is Lymphocyte Dependent

Background Exposure to airborne particulate matter (PM), a major component of air pollution, has been associated with increases in both exacerbations of and hospitalizations for asthma. We have previously shown that exposure to ambient PM collected in urban Baltimore (AUB) induces airway hyperresponsiveness (AHR), eosinophilic and neutrophilic inflammation, and the recruitment of T cells. However, the mechanism(s) by which it induces these features of asthma remains unknown. Objective We investigated whether T lymphocytes play a role in AUB-induced AHR. Methods We compared the effects of AUB exposure on the allergic phenotype in wild-type (WT) BALB/c mice and in mice deficient in recombinase-activating gene-1 (Rag1−/−) that lack mature lymphocytes. Results We found that exposure of WT mice to AUB induced AHR concomitant with increases in the numbers of bronchoalveolar lavage (BAL) fluid lymphocytes, eosinophils, neutrophils, and mucus-containing cells in the lungs of WT mice. Interestingly, we show for the first time that these effects were associated with significant elevations in interleukin (IL)-17A, IL-17F, and T-helper 2 cell (TH2) (IL-13, IL-5) cytokine levels in lung cells, as well as reductions in the levels of the suppressive cytokine IL-10. Interestingly, Rag1−/− mice failed to develop AUB-induced AHR; however, AUB-induced BAL fluid cellularity, and mucus cell changes were only partially inhibited in Rag1−/− mice. Conclusions Taken together, our results suggest that AUB exposure increases the pathophysiological features of asthma via activation of lymphocyte-dependent pathways. These results provide a plausible biological mechanism for the strong association between PM exposure and the increased severity of asthma.
Acute‐phase response in chronic urticaria

The patterns of acute‐phase response (APR) biomarkers differ upon various inflammatory conditions. Little information is available on the systemic inflammatory response in urticaria/angio‐oedema. It has been shown that concentrations of circulating APR biomarkers, IL‐6 and C‐reactive protein (CRP), are elevated more in severe chronic urticaria (CU) than in patients showing milder urticarial symptoms. It is not clear whether the increase of IL‐6 and CRP is merely an epiphenomenon or may contribute to the pathogenesis of CU. It is tempting to speculate that mediators of APR may enhance urticarial inflammation. In addition, there is some association between APR and activation of coagulation/fibrinolysis in CU. It is well known that even slight elevation in CRP baseline concentration is enough to produce significant increase in cardiovascular risk. In this light, one should ask whether CU patients, in particular those showing stronger systemic inflammatory response and long‐lasting course are more vulnerable to the cardiovascular events. Apart from highly troublesome symptoms and low quality of life, CU may then involve some remote, serious systemic consequences. Taken together, CU can be identified as a mast cell‐ and basophil‐dependent inflammatory disorder of the skin, which is accompanied by APR. Characterization of APR in CU may appear essential for an insight into the activity of this disease and for assessment of the inflammation degree. Moreover, measurement of these biomarkers might be particularly relevant while assessing CU patients demanding an anti‐inflammatory or immunosuppressive therapy. This review summarizes information regarding APR in the course of urticaria/angio‐oedema.
The Effects of Plyometric versus Dynamic Stabilization and Balance Training on Lower Extremity Biomechanics

Background Neuromuscular training that includes both plyometric and dynamic stabilization/balance exercises alters movement biomechanics and reduces ACL injury risk in female athletes. The biomechanical effects of plyometric and balance training utilized separately are unknown. Hypothesis A protocol that includes balance training without plyometric training will decrease coronal plane hip, knee, and ankle motions during landing, and plyometric training will not affect coronal plane measures. The corollary hypothesis was that plyometric and balance training effects on knee flexion are dependent on the movement task tested. Study Design Controlled laboratory study. Methods Eighteen high school female athletes participated in 18 training sessions during a 7-week period. The plyometric group (n= 8) performed maximum-effort jumping and cutting exercises, and the balance group (n = 10) used dynamic stabilization/ balance exercises during training. Lower extremity kinematics were measured during the drop vertical jump and the medial drop landing before and after training using 3D motion analysis techniques. Results During the drop vertical jump, both plyometric and balance training reduced initial contact (P= .002), maximum hip adduction angle (P= .015), and maximum ankle eversion angle (P= .020). During the medial drop landing, both groups decreased initial contact (P= .002) and maximum knee abduction angle (P= .038). Plyometric training increased initial contact knee flexion (P= .047) and maximum knee flexion (P= .031) during the drop vertical jump, whereas the balance training increased maximum knee flexion (P= .005) during the medial drop landing. Conclusion Both plyometric and balance training can reduce lower extremity valgus measures. Plyometric training affects sagittal plane kinematics primarily during a drop vertical jump, whereas balance training affects sagittal plane kinematics during single-legged drop landing. Clinical Relevance Both plyometric and dynamic stabilization/balance exercises should be included in injury-prevention protocols.
Assessing the Willingness to Elaborate among Young Students: Psychometric Evaluation of a Swedish Need for Cognition Scale

The personality trait Need for Cognition (NFC) has been studied for many years, and found to be important for individuals’ educational achievement. The original NFC-scale was developed in the eighties, and during the following decade the scale was translated and adapted into a number of other languages. A renewed interest for the personality trait of NFC has made these scales interesting to use. It is though vital that instruments used for studies of individual differences in the area of educational research, or in any other area, can portray valid results today. The aim of the present paper was to evaluate validity and reliability of the short version of the Mental Effort Tolerance Questionnaire, a Swedish adaption of the NFC-scale made in 1991, which has not been previously evaluated. This study involved 420 young students, and the evaluation of reliability includes a study of temporal stability (test-retest), as well as internal stability. Further, the evaluation of validity includes construct and criterion validity. Regarding reliability, the results showed a test-retest reliability coefficient of . 88 (n = 108), and an internal stability (Cronbach’s alpha) of . 88 (n = 420). Evaluation of construct validity found evidence for a five factor dimensional structure (n = 420), discriminant validity to measures of general intelligence (r = .25; n = 122), working memory (r = .22; n =164), and the personality trait Grit (r = .26; n = 169). Finally, criterion validity was found for grades (r =.35; n =125). Overall, the results of the evaluation show that the inferences made from the results of the short version of the Swedish NFC-scale exhibits satisfactory reliability and validity, suggesting that the questionnaire can be used in educational contexts. The questionnaire might, however, benefit from being even more shortened.
Seiberg-Witten prepotential from instanton counting

Direct evaluation of the Seiberg-Witten prepotential is accomplished following the localization programme suggested in [1]. Our results agree with all low-instanton calculations available in the literature. We present a two-parameter generalization of the Seiberg-Witten prepotential, which is rather natural from the M-theory/five dimensional perspective, and conjecture its relation to the tau-functions of KP/Toda hierarchy.
The use of polyelectrolyte multilayers of cationic starch and CMC to enhance strength properties of papers formed from mixtures of unbleached chemical pulp and CTMP. Part I

The construction of alternating multilayers of cationic potato starch and anionic carboxymethylcellulose (CMC) was investigated in two parts. In the first part, stagnation point adsorption reflectometry (SPAR) showed that the chosen chemicals formed polyelectrolyte multilayers (PEM) upon adsorption to the silicon oxide surface. This was in accordance with earlier work. The chosen polyelectrolytes adsorbed to similar extents on the silicon oxide surface and recharged the surface enough to allow for adsorption of a consecutive layer. In the second part, the multilayer concept was tested on 80/20, 20/80% of total in mixture of mixed spruce CTMP and bleached chemical pulp in order to enhance the sheet strength properties of a typical packaging board furnish. The multilayers yielded a significant improvement in Scott Bond values and tensile index and a marginal improvement in tensile stiffness index. The Scott Bond values were improved more than 150% for papers prepared from a furnish consisting of 80% spruce CTMP and 20% chemical pulp. Polyelectrolyte multilayers treatment also led to a slight densification of the sheets, but the polyelectrolyte multilayers treatment resulted in a more favourable density/strength relationship than that achieved with a change in the amount of chemical pulp.