Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Database Mediation Using Multi-agent Systems

This paper first proposes a multi-agent architecture to mediate access to data sources. The mediator follows the classical approach to process user queries. However, in the background, it post-processes query results to gradually construct matchings between the export schemas and the mediated schema. The central theme of the paper is an extensional schema matching strategy based on similarity functions. The paper concludes with experimental results that assess the quality of the matching strategy.
Biomarkers of Heavy Drinking

In recent years significant advances have been made in biological assessment of heavy drinking. These advances include development of new labo­ ratory tests, formulation of algorithms to combine results on multiple measures, and more extensive applications of biomarkers in alcoholism treat­ ment and research. Biomarkers differ from the psychometric measures discussed in other chapters of this Guide in at least four major ways. Most importantly, they do not rely on valid self-reporting, and, hence, are not vulnerable to problems of inaccurate recall or reluctance of individuals to give candid reports of their drinking behaviors or attitudes. They can thus add credibility to research dealing with alcohol treatment efficacy and can provide clini­ cians with an additional source of objective infor­ mation on patients. Second, although biomarkers are subject to many of the usual psychometric issues of validity and reliability, some, such as internal consistency and construct validity, are not relevant to their evaluation. Instead, major concerns in evaluating biomarkers deal with criterion validity, stability, test-retest consistency, and interrater reliability. These issues have a bearing particularly for new markers for which fully automated test procedures have yet to be developed. Third, the expertise required to ensure valid results from biomarkers is somewhat different from that needed to obtain maximally valid self-report information, where rapport, assurance of confiden­ tiality, motivation for honesty, current state of sobri­ ety, and testing conditions are important considerations. The accuracy of biomarker informa­ tion is rarely a function of sample collection, but rather is closely related to sample handling, storage, and transmittal; quality assurance of laboratory procedures for isolation of the biomarker; and methods for quantifying and interpreting results. Finally, although often used as screens for diagnosis of alcohol abuse or dependence, strictly speaking, biomarkers are reflections of physiolog­ ical reactions to heavy drinking. Self-report screening scales, on the other hand, generally use a diagnosis of alcohol dependence as the criterion against which they are evaluated. Assessment of drinking behavior per se and severity of alcohol dependence are both important, albeit somewhat non-overlapping phenomena. This chapter addresses the following issues: criteria for selection of biomarkers, traditional
View and Time Interpolation in Image Space

The ability to interpolate between images taken at different time and viewpoints directly in image space opens up new possiblities. The goal of our work is to create plausible in‐between images in real time without the need for an intermediate 3D reconstruction. This enables us to also interpolate between images recorded with uncalibrated and unsynchronized cameras. In our approach we use a novel discontiniuity preserving image deformation model to robustly estimate dense correspondences based on local homographies. Once correspondences have been computed we are able to render plausible in‐between images in real time while properly handling occlusions. We discuss the relation of our approach to human motion perception and other image interpolation techniques.
The effect of air cavity convection on the wetting and drying behavior of wood-frame walls using a multi-physics approach.

The moisture performance of building envelope systems are strongly dependent on the materials used, the workmanship, and the exposure loads from the interior and exterior environments. The authors have long recognized the need to include the effects of exterior cladding ventilation in the predictive capability of software tools used for hygrothermal analysis. Exterior cladding ventilation has been studied, but no conclusive recommendations have been generated until recently (Burnett, E., Straube, J., and Karagiozis, A., “Synthesis Report and Guidelines,” ASHRAE TRP-1091 Report No. 12, Nov. 2004). While the physics describing the thermal and moisture transport in the presence of air convection is understood, the pressure dynamics is still somewhat qualitatively known. With the addition of new literature data and available field generated monitored data, a simplified model for the wall air cavity ventilation was developed. The scientific approach followed initially included the benchmarking of multi-dimensional advanced hygrothermal model with laboratory and field data. The flow was understood for a wide range of exterior loadings, and once this was completed, an attempt to reduce the complex three-dimensional air flow characteristics into a simple one-dimensional analogue was made. The paper describes how this important feature was included into the WUFI-4.1 software. The paper also describes how users may employ this feature in hygrothermal designs to investigate the advantages and disadvantages of cavity ventilation. Results are also presented on the hygrothermal performance of two walls, one ventilated and the other is unvented. Results show that major differences were predicted and the wall with the ventilation cavity dried out nearly five times faster than the wall without the ventilation. Field monitored stucco wall systems with and without cavity ventilation are also included compared to the prediction provided by the hygrothermal model. Good agreement is shown between the field and WUFI 4.1 model.
Deterministic decremental single source shortest paths: beyond the o(mn) bound

In this paper we consider the decremental single-source shortest paths (SSSP) problem, where given a graph G and a source node s the goal is to maintain shortest paths between s and all other nodes in G under a sequence of online adversarial edge deletions. In their seminal work, Even and Shiloach [JACM 1981] presented an exact solution to the problem with only O(mn) total update time over all edge deletions. Their classic algorithm was the best known result for the decremental SSSP problem for three decades, even when approximate shortest paths are allowed. The first improvement over the Even-Shiloach algorithm was given by Bernstein and Roditty [SODA 2011], who for the case of an unweighted and undirected graph presented an approximate (1+) algorithm with constant query time and a total update time of O(n2+O(1/√logn)). This work triggered a series of new results, culminating in a recent breakthrough of Henzinger, Krinninger and Nanongkai [FOCS 14], who presented a -approximate algorithm whose total update time is near linear O(m1+ O(1/√logn)). In this paper they posed as a major open problem the question of derandomizing their result. In fact, all known improvements over the Even-Shiloach algorithm are randomized. All these algorithms maintain some truncated shortest path trees from a small subset of nodes. While in the randomized setting it is possible to “hide” these nodes from the adversary, in the deterministic setting this is impossible: the adversary can delete all edges touching these nodes, thus forcing the algorithm to choose a new set of nodes and incur a new computation of shortest paths. In this paper we present the first deterministic decremental SSSP algorithm that breaks the Even-Shiloach bound of O(mn) total update time, for unweighted and undirected graphs. Our algorithm is (1 + є) approximate and achieves a total update time of Õ(n2). Our algorithm can also achieve the same bounds in the incremental setting. It is worth mentioning that for dense instances where m = Ω(n2 − 1/√log(n)), our algorithm is also faster than all existing randomized algorithms.
The Hsp70 chaperone machines of Escherichia coli: a paradigm for the repartition of chaperone functions

Molecular chaperones are highly conserved in all free‐living organisms. There are many types of chaperones, and most are conveniently grouped into families. Genome sequencing has revealed that many organisms contain multiple members of both the DnaK (Hsp70) family and their partner J‐domain protein (JDP) cochaperone, belonging to the DnaJ (Hsp40) family. Escherichia coli K‐12 encodes three Hsp70 genes and six JDP genes. The coexistence of these chaperones in the same cytosol suggests that certain chaperone–cochaperone interactions are permitted, and that chaperone tasks and their regulation have become specialized over the course of evolution. Extensive genetic and biochemical analyses have greatly expanded knowledge of chaperone tasking in this organism. In particular, recent advances in structure determination have led to significant insights of the underlying complexities and functional elegance of the Hsp70 chaperone machine.
The Positives , Protocols , and Perils of Genome-Wide Association

Benjamin M. Neale* and Shaun Purcell Social, Genetic, and Developmental Psychiatry Centre, Institute of Psychiatry, King’s College London, De Crespigny Park, London, UK The Broad Institute of Harvard and MIT, Cambridge, Massachusetts Center for Human Genetic Research, Massachusetts General Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boson, Massachusetts Psychiatric and Neurodevelopmental Genetics Unit, Center for Human Genetic Research, Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, Massachusetts Department of Psychiatry, Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, Massachusetts
Enhancing Health and Productivity at Work: towards an Evaluation Model for Job Crafting Information Systems

Today’s work environments are characterized by steadily increasing demands, such as high workloads and job-related pressure, resulting in negative health and productivity outcomes for employees, organizations and society. In this regard, the concept of job crafting suggests that individuals can take actions to reduce imbalances of job demands and available job resources by proactively shaping the characteristics of their jobs. However, job crafting interventions require trained work and health specialists, resulting in restricted dissemination in practice. Information systems supporting employees’ job crafting activities, denoted as job crafting information systems (JCISs), have the potential to be both cost-efficient and effective in preventing negative health and productivity outcomes, such as stress and burnout. Building on foundations derived from IS research, psychology and research on organizational and public health, the current research-in-progress develops an integrated evaluation model of JCISs and describes an approach to experimentally test the assumptions of the model. Both individual antecedents (e.g. self-efficacy) as well as organizational factors (e.g. team climate) are identified as main predictors of successful JCIS-based interventions. Furthermore, the role of intrinsic motivation and continued system use are discussed in this context.
Routing for security in networks with adversarial nodes

We consider the problem of secure unicast transmission between two nodes in a directed graph, where an adversary eavesdrops/jams a subset of nodes. This adversarial setting is in contrast to traditional ones where the adversary controls a subset of links. In particular, we study, in the main, the class of routing-only schemes (as opposed to those allowing coding inside the network). Routing-only schemes usually have low implementation complexity, yet a characterization of the rates achievable by such schemes was open prior to this work. We first propose an LP based solution for secure communication against eavesdropping, and show that it is information-theoretically rate-optimal among all routing-only schemes. The idea behind our design is to balance information flow in the network so that no subset of nodes observe “too much” information. Interestingly, we show that the rates achieved by our routing-only scheme are always at least as good as, and sometimes better, than those achieved by “naïve” network coding schemes (i.e. the rate-optimal scheme designed for the traditional scenario where the adversary controls links in a network rather than nodes.) We also demonstrate non-trivial network coding schemes that achieve rates at least as high as (and again sometimes better than) those achieved by our routing schemes, but leave open the question of characterizing the optimal rate-region of the problem under all possible coding schemes. We then extend these routing-only schemes to the adversarial node-jamming scenarios and show similar results. During the journey of our investigation, we also develop a new technique that has the potential to derive nontrivial bounds for general secure-communication schemes.
Exposure to the Neurotoxic Dinoflagellate, Alexandrium catenella, Induces Apoptosis of the Hemocytes of the Oyster, Crassostrea gigas

This study assessed the apoptotic process occurring in the hemocytes of the Pacific oyster, Crassostrea gigas, exposed to Alexandrium catenella, a paralytic shellfish toxins (PSTs) producer. Oysters were experimentally exposed during 48 h to the toxic algae. PSTs accumulation, the expression of 12 key apoptotic-related genes, as well as the variation of the number of hemocytes in apoptosis was measured at time intervals during the experiment. Results show a significant increase of the number of hemocytes in apoptosis after 29 h of exposure. Two pro-apoptotic genes (Bax and Bax-like) implicated in the mitochondrial pathway were significantly upregulated at 21 h followed by the overexpression of two caspase executor genes (caspase-3 and caspase-7) at 29 h, suggesting that the intrinsic pathway was activated. No modulation of the expression of genes implicated in the cell signaling Fas-Associated protein with Death Domain (FADD) and initiation-phase (caspase-2) was observed, suggesting that only the extrinsic pathway was not activated. Moreover, the clear time-dependent upregulation of five (Bcl2, BI-1, IAP1, IAP7B and Hsp70) inhibitors of apoptosis-related genes associated with the return to the initial number of hemocytes in apoptosis at 48 h of exposure suggests the involvement of strong regulatory mechanisms of apoptosis occurring in the hemocytes of the Pacific oyster.
Show me the child at seven II: Childhood intelligence and later outcomes in adolescence and young adulthood.

BACKGROUND There has been ongoing interest in the role of intelligence in longer-term educational and occupational achievement and social adjustment. The aims of this study were to examine the extent to which IQ in middle childhood (8-9 years) was prognostic of future outcomes when due allowance was made for confounding personal and social factors. METHODS Data were gathered on (WISC-R) IQ at ages 8-9 years and a range of educational and social adjustment measures over the course of the Christchurch Health and Development Study, a 25-year longitudinal study of a birth cohort of 1,265 New Zealand children. RESULTS IQ assessed at ages 8-9 years was related to a range of outcomes: later crime (offending, arrest/conviction); substance use disorders (nicotine dependence, illicit drug dependence); mental health (anxiety, suicidality); sexual adjustment (number of sexual partners, pregnancy); educational achievement (school leaving qualifications, tertiary qualifications); and occupational outcomes (unemployment, income). However, intelligence was largely unrelated to many of these outcomes: crime, mental health, sexual behaviours, and illicit substance dependence after statistical adjustment for early behaviour problems and family background. Strong relationships remained between childhood intelligence and later educational and occupational outcomes. CONCLUSIONS Much of the association between early intelligence and later social adjustment is mediated by childhood conduct problems and family social circumstances. However, strong relationships exist between early intelligence and later academic achievement and income independently of these factors.
Influences of TCP congestion control mechanisms to multi-fractal nature of generated traffic

TCP traffic has been reported to have not only self-similarity but a multi-fractal nature. The multi-fractal nature of a traffic volume, in general, is well known to have a significant influence on queueing behavior in the short time scale. We investigate what component of the TCP congestion control mechanism affects the multi-fractal nature of generated traffic. We artificially divide the TCP congestion control mechanism into several components and evaluate the multi-fractal nature of the generated traffic based on multi-fractal scaling analysis. Our simulation results show that the retransmission time out mechanism plays an important role in the multi-fractal nature of TCP traffic.
Nonlinear optical properties of Rh610 sensitized DNA-CTMA characterized by Z-Scan

In this paper, we show our preliminary results in the investigation of the nonlinear optical properties of dye sensitized DNA. We are measuring the nonlinear refractive indices of the DNA with cetyltrimethylammonium (CTMA) surfactant, doped with Rhodamine 610 dissolved in butanol. The measurements are made using the Double Z-Scan method using a femtosecond laser at 1030nm as light source working in mode-locked and un-mode-locked regime respectively for discriminating fast nonlinearities from the slow ones.
Clinical advantages of carbon-ion radiotherapy

Carbon-ion radiotherapy (C-ion RT) possesses physical and biological advantages. It was started at NIRS in 1994 using the Heavy Ion Medical Accelerator in Chiba (HIMAC); since then more than 50 protocol studies have been conducted on almost 4000 patients with a variety of tumors. Clinical experiences have demonstrated that C-ion RT is effective in such regions as the head and neck, skull base, lung, liver, prostate, bone and soft tissues, and pelvic recurrence of rectal cancer, as well as for histological types including adenocarcinoma, adenoid cystic carcinoma, malignant melanoma and various types of sarcomas, against which photon therapy could be less effective. Furthermore, when compared with photon and proton RT, a significant reduction of overall treatment time and fractions has been accomplished without enhancing toxicities. Currently, the number of irradiation sessions per patient averages 13 fractions spread over approximately three weeks. This means that in a carbon therapy facility a larger number of patients than is possible with other modalities can be treated over the same period of time.
Should ISPs adopt hybrid CDN-P2P in IP-over-WDM networks: An energy-efficiency perspective?

Content based services are becoming more popular in recent times. Traditional content distribution networks (CDN) are being employed for efficient content hosting and distribution. To increase scalability and reduce the cost of content distribution, peer-to-peer (P2P) systems are being considered to complement the traditional CDN systems in a hybrid manner. Research works and real life deployments have shown that hybrid CDN-P2P systems are feasible, cheap, and scalable options. However, with increasing concern for energy consumption and hence carbon footprint, energy efficiency of such a hybrid system must be taken into consideration before wider implementation. In our study, we analyze the energy consumption of hybrid CDN-P2P systems and provide indicators to help make decision for service providers. We show that the hybrid systems not only help the CDN providers to reduce server bandwidth, but also reduce a significant amount of energy in the core network. For a moderately popular content, core network will consume 20-40% less energy with a hybrid system compared to a traditional CDN. This will provide incentive for the service providers to adopt hybrid systems and reduce carbon footprint and operational expenses.
Characterization of Glycine SarcosineN-Methyltransferase and Sarcosine DimethylglycineN-Methyltransferase

ABSTRACT Glycine betaine is accumulated in cells living in high salt concentrations to balance the osmotic pressure. Glycine sarcosineN-methyltransferase (GSMT) and sarcosine dimethylglycineN-methyltransferase (SDMT) of Ectothiorhodospira halochloris catalyze the threefold methylation of glycine to betaine, with S-adenosylmethionine acting as the methyl group donor. These methyltransferases were expressed inEscherichia coli and purified, and some of their enzymatic properties were characterized. Both enzymes had high substrate specificities and pH optima near the physiological pH. No evidence of cofactors was found. The enzymes showed Michaelis-Menten kinetics for their substrates. The apparent Km andVmax values were determined for all substrates when the other substrate was present in saturating concentrations. Both enzymes were strongly inhibited by the reaction productS-adenosylhomocysteine. Betaine inhibited the methylation reactions only at high concentrations.
The role of threats in animal cooperation

In human societies, social behaviour is strongly influenced by threats of punishment, even though the threats themselves rarely need to be exercised. Recent experimental evidence suggests that similar hidden threats can promote cooperation and limit within-group selfishness in some animal systems. In other animals, however, threats appear to be ineffective. Here I review theoretical and empirical studies that help to understand the evolutionary causes of these contrasting patterns, and identify three factors—impact, accuracy and perception—that together determine the effectiveness of threats to induce cooperation.
Variable-size multipacket segments in buffered crossbar (CICQ) architectures

Buffered crossbars can directly switch variable size packets, but require large cross point buffers to do so, especially when jumbo frames are to he supported. When this is not feasible, segmentation and reassembly (SAR) must be used. We propose a novel SAR scheme for buffered crossbars that uses variable-size segments while merging multiple packets (or fragments thereof) into each segment. This scheme eliminates padding overhead, reduces header overhead, reduces crosspoint buffer size and is suitable for use with external, modern DRAM buffer memory in the ingress line cards. We evaluate the new scheme using simulation, and show that it outperforms existing segmentation schemes in buffered as well as unbuffered crossbars. We also study how the size of the maximum segment affects system performance.
Impact of multipath angular distribution on performance of MIMO systems

The objective of this paper is to analyze the impact of multipath angular distribution on the channel correlation and performance of MIMO systems. A full breadth of AOA models is used in this study, and they cover most scattering scenarios of the physical propagation channel. Closed-form expressions for parameters and corresponding correlation of these AOA models are derived. A simulation model was developed and extensive Monte Carlo simulations were performed to obtain the MIMO channel capacity, correlation, and diversity gain for various scenarios. Two major results are (i) the distribution shape has minor impact on the correlation, capacity and diversity gain; the major impact is due to the angular spread; (ii) the continuous and impulsive distribution have dramatically different impacts on the correlation, capacity and diversity gain.