Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
A phase transition for measure-valued SIR epidemic processes

We consider measure-valued processes Xt that solve the following martingale prob- lem: For a given initial measure X0, and for all smooth, compactly supported test functions ϕ, Xt(ϕ) = X0(ϕ) + 1 Z t 2 ) ds. Such processes arise as scaling limits of SIR epidemic models. We show that there exist critical values θc(d) ∈ (0,∞) for dimensions d = 2,3 such that if θ > θc(d), then the solution survives forever with positive probability, but if θ < θc(d), then the solution dies out in finite time with probability 1. For d = 1 we prove that the solution dies out almost surely for all values of θ. We also show that in dimensions d = 2,3 the process dies out locally almost surely for any value of θ, that is, for any compact set K, the process Xt(K) = 0 eventually.
Identification and Functional Characterization of Three NoLS (Nucleolar Localisation Signals) Mutations of the CDC73 Gene

Hyperparathyroidism Jaw-Tumour Syndrome (HPT-JT) is characterized by primary hyperparathyroidism (PHPT), maxillary/mandible ossifying fibromas and by parathyroid carcinoma in 15% of cases. Inactivating mutations of the tumour suppressor CDC73/HRPT2 gene have been found in HPT-JT patients and also as genetic determinants of sporadic parathyroid carcinoma/atypical adenomas and, rarely, typical adenomas, in familial PHPT. Here we report the genetic and molecular analysis of the CDC73/HRPT2 gene in three patients affected by PHPT due to atypical and typical parathyroid adenomas, in one case belonging to familial PHPT. Flag-tagged WT and mutant CDC73/HRPT2 proteins were transiently transfected in HEK293 cells and functional assays were performed in order to investigate the effect of the variants on the whole protein expression, nuclear localization and cell overgrowth induction. We identified four CDC73/HRPT2 gene mutations, three germline (c.679_680delAG, p.Val85_Val86del and p.Glu81_Pro84del), one somatic (p.Arg77Pro). In three cases the mutation was located within the Nucleolar Localisation Signals (NoLS). The three NoLS variants led to instability either of the corresponding mutated protein or mRNA or both. When transfected in HEK293 cells, NoLS mutated proteins mislocalized with a predeliction for cytoplasmic or nucleo-cytoplasmic localization and, finally, they resulted in overgrowth, consistent with a dominant negative interfering effect in the presence of the endogenous protein.
Fixed-Parameter Tractable Combinatorial Algorithms for Metabolic Networks Alignments

The accumulation of high-throughput genomic and proteomic data allows for the reconstruction of the increasingly large and complex metabolic networks. In order to analyze accumulated data and reconstructed networks, it is critical to identify network patterns and evolutionary relations between metabolic networks. But even finding similar networks is computationally challenging. Based on the property of gene duplication and function sharing in biological network, we have formulated the network alignment problem which asks the optimal vertex-to-vertex mapping allowing path contraction, vertex deletion, and vertex insertions. In this paper we present fixed parameter tractable combinatorial algorithms, which take into account the enzymes' functions and the similarity of arbitrary network topologies such as trees and arbitrary graphs wit hallowing the different types of vertex deletions. The proposed algorithms are fixed parameter tractable in the liner or square of the size of feedback vertex set respectively for the case of disallowing or allowing the deletions. We have developed the web service tool MetNetAligner which aligns metabolic networks. We evaluated our results by the randomizedP-Value computation. In the computation, we followed two standard randomization procedures and further developed two other random graph generators which keep the more stringent and consistent topology constraints. By comparing their distribution of the significant alignment pairs, we observed that the more stringent constraints in the topology the random graph generator has, the more pairs of significant alignments there exist. We also performed pair wise mapping of all pathways for four organisms and found a set of statistically significant pathway similarities. We have applied the network alignment to identifying pathway holes which are resulted by inconsistency and missing enzymes. MetNetAligner is available athttp://\\alla.cs. gsu.edu:8080/MinePW/pages/gmapping/GMMain.html \Two random graph generations and the list of identified pathway holes are available online.
Combining final score with winning percentage by sigmoid function in Monte-Carlo simulations

Monte-Carlo method recently has produced good results in Go. Monte-Carlo Go uses a move which has the highest mean value of either winning percentage or final score. In a past research, winning percentage is superior to final score in Monte-Carlo Go. We investigated them in BlokusDuo, which is a relatively new game, and showed that Monte-Carlo using final score is superior to the one that uses winning percentage in cases where many random simulations are used. Besides, we showed that using final score is unfavorable for UCT, which is the most famous algorithm in Monte-Carlo Go. To introduce the effectivity of final score to UCT, we suggested a way to combine winning percentage and final score by using sigmoid function. We show the effectivity of the suggested method and show that the method improves a bias where Monte-Carlo Go plays very safe moves when it has advantage.
Teacher Job Satisfaction and Retention: A Comparison Study between the U.S. and China.

Through a literature review regarding teacher job satisfaction in the U.S. and in China, in terms of community factors, school factors, and teacher characteristics, this paper finds that most teachers in both countries are satisfied with their jobs, but teachers cited various factors influencing their job satisfaction. This paper makes a comparison on teacher job satisfaction between the U.S. and China and proposes a framework for teacher retention.
Deservingness and political preference in opinions on distant suffering

This article argues that opinions on distant suffering must be understood via three variables: recipients of aid and sympathy; cause of suffering; and providers of aid and sympathy. These insights are present in the literature but have not to date been combined. One advantage of such a combination is that it allows us to explore the extent to which providers of aid and sympathy employ deservingness criteria in their opinion formation. Theoretically, the article thus opens a dialogue between the distant issue literature and theories of deservingness in welfare state research. Methodologically, it builds on an original survey of 2003 Danish respondents. The article’s main ambition is to probe (1) the relationships between political preference and opinions on distant suffering; (2) the extent to which Danes engage in deservingness calculations when they relate to it; and (3) whether deservingness calculations are patterned along political preference. The data show that political preference predicts opinions and that deservingness calculations are indeed prevalent. Yet they also demonstrate that these differences should be interpreted against the background of a high aggregate level of support for distant issue engagement. The effect of political preference is most pronounced at the outer poles of the political spectrum, and less so at the centre. And while deservingness logics are most prevalent on the right, the pattern is moderate and non-consistent.
An RNA-binding tropomyosin recruits kinesin-1 dynamically to oskar mRNPs

Localization and local translation of oskar mRNA at the posterior pole of the Drosophila oocyte directs abdominal patterning and germline formation in the embryo. The process requires recruitment and precise regulation of motor proteins to form transport-competent mRNPs. We show that the posterior-targeting kinesin-1 is loaded upon nuclear export of oskar mRNPs, prior to their dynein-dependent transport from the nurse cells into the oocyte. We demonstrate that kinesin-1 recruitment requires the DmTropomyosin1-I/C isoform, an atypical RNA-binding tropomyosin that binds directly to dimerizing oskar 3’UTRs. Finally, we show that a small but dynamically changing subset of oskar mRNPs gets loaded with inactive kinesin-1 and that the motor is activated during mid-oogenesis by the functionalized spliced oskar RNA localization element. This inefficient, dynamic recruitment of Khc decoupled from cargo-dependent motor activation constitutes an optmized, coordinated mechanism of mRNP transport, by minimizing interference with other cargo-transport processes and between the cargo associated dynein and kinesin-1.
Finding All Mixed Cells for Polyhedral Homotopies

Acknowledgment I would like to express my sincerely gratitude to my adviser Prof. Masakazu Kojima. He introduced me to homotopy methods for solving a polynomial system and in addition, provided a great research environment. A lot of his advice encouraged me to continue to study. I am very thankful for his warm encouragement. I am largely indebted to Dr. Akiko Takeda for valuable suggestions and comments on my research. Without her help, my dissertation would not attain completion. Many thanks to Prof. Antoine Deza of McMaster University from whom I have learned combinatorics of polytopes during my undergraduate and graduate course. Special thanks to Dr. Makoto Yamashita of Kanagawa University for giving me various knowledge and skills in parallel computing. His support was absolutely necessary when I utilize a parallel computing system. I wish to thank Dr. Mituhiro Fukuda for his support in my research and Prof. Sunyoung Kim of Ewha Women's University for her kindness. Through discussions with her for homotopy methods, my English communication skill has been enhanced. I would like to express my deep thanks to Prof. Tien-Yien Li of Michigan State University for providing the opportunity to study under his supervision. His advice was very beneficial so that it deepens my understanding of solving a polynomial system by polyhedral homotopies. Also, his lecture about numerical polynomial algebra stimulated my research interests. The six month stay at his place was wonderful experience. During the stay, I have been supported by many friends. In particular, I am very grateful to Mr. Chih-Hsiung Tsai who will soon take a Ph.D degree in this May and Dr. Tsung-Lin Lee. I have discussed many things about polyhedral homotopy methods with them.
The role of tag suggestions in folksonomies

Most tagging systems support the user in the tag selection process by providing tag suggestions, or recommendations, based on a popularity measurement of tags other users provided when tagging the same resource. The majority of theories and mathematical models of tagging found in the literature assume that the emergence of power laws in tagging systems is mainly driven by the imitation behavior of users when observing tag suggestions provided by the user interface of the tagging system. We present experimental results that show that the power law distribution forms regardless of whether or not tag suggestions are presented to the users.
Dedicated to Vesselin Petkov on the occasion of his 65th birthday

We consider the Hamiltonian H of a 3D spinless non-relativistic quantum particle subject to parallel constant magnetic and non-constant electric field. The operator H has infinitely many eigenvalues of infinite multiplicity embedded in its continuous spectrum. We perturb H by appropriate scalar potentials V and investigate the transformation of these embedded eigenvalues into resonances. First, we assume that the electric potentials are dilation-analytic with respect to the variable along the magnetic field, and obtain an asymptotic expansion of the resonances as the coupling constant { of the perturbation tends to zero. Further, under the assumption that the Fermi Golden Rule holds true, we deduce estimates for the time evolution of the resonance states with and without analyticity assumptions; in the second case we obtain these results as a corollary of suitable Mourre estimates and a recent article of Cattaneo, Graf and Hunziker (11). Next, we describe sets of perturbations V for which the Fermi Golden Rule is valid at each embedded eigenvalue of H; these sets turn out to be dense in various suitable topologies. Finally, we assume that V decays fast enough at infinity and is of definite sign, introduce the Krein spectral shift function for the operator pair (H + V, H), and study its singularities at the energies which coincide with eigenvalues of infinite multiplicity of the unperturbed operator H.
Drought induced leaf protein alterations in sensitive and tolerant wheat varieties

Wheat plants with a fully developed first leaf were subjected to severe but recoverable water stress. Leaves from drought tolerant (Katya and Zlatitza) and drought sensitive (Sadovo and Miziya) varieties in control, drought and recovery conditions were used for the experiments. The physiological response of drought tolerant varieties did not differ from the one of drought sensitive varieties at early seedling stage under these conditions. A comparative study of the ultrathin sections by transmission electron microscopy from control and drought stressed plants revealed prominent changes in mitochondrion fine structures. The relative cell area occupied by mitochondria was reduced in the drought sensitive varieties. An increased quantity of abscisic acid (ABA) was detected in drought stressed wheat plants. The drought sensitive varieties (Miziya and Sadovo) possessed higher azocaseinolytic activity. An immunoblotting analysis was performed for some specificity detection of protein response under drought conditions of Rubisco, Rubisco activase (RA), Rubisco binding protein (RBP), dehydrins (DHN), some heat shock proteins (HSP) and ATP dependent calpain protease (Clp) proteins. The obtained results showed that the drought tolerant varieties Katya and Zlatitza had higher levels of these proteins, especially RBP and Clp proteases. Our attention was focused on the coordinated response of Rubisco, RA, RBP, DHNs, HSPs and Clp proteases in stress conditions, such as drought. The biochemical response diversity in susceptible and tolerant wheat varieties is discussed.
An agent model of social network and travel behavior interdependence

Travel is a prerequisite for activities which maintain social and business connections, building the vital social networks which conduct the flow of values, services, and opportunity. This paper presents a multi-agent simulation to study linked geographical and social spaces. The model simultaneously generates a social network and travel behavior by defining social-networking visits as travel activities. Information about space and other agents flows only via the social network. Social ties are added/removed depending on co-presence/lack of visits, introducing the dynamic feedback to the model. A random utility model (RUM) trades off socializing with the cost of travel and the activity attributes to generate probabilities for link attachments. The focus on link attachment probabilities allows the model to be verified within the analytical framework of random, small-world, and exponential (preferential attachment) graphs. New measures are suggested to compare social and geographical space. The model response to changes in utility parameters is sometimes unexpected due to the feedback. Ensemble results of a base case and sensitivity tests are presented.
The Effects of Shariah Board Composition on Islamic Equity Indices' Performance

Based on a sample of 54 Islamic indices over the period 2007&#8211;2014, we investigate the effect of Shariah board members' educational background on Islamic indices' risk and return characteristics via the screening criteria. Using a capital asset pricing model benchmark analysis, we assess the sensitivity of Islamic indices to their conventional peers in terms of beta and derive a measure of return (Jensen's alpha). First, we observe that the higher the number of members in common among the boards, the higher the risk&#8211;return profile of Islamic indices. Second, commonalities among board members lead to standardization of the screening criteria and to similar Islamic indices' performance. Third, we show that different betas across providers depend on the screening criteria, while the economic educational background of board members affects performance in terms of Jensen's alpha. Our study aims at contributing to the governance literature related to board composition and its importance as a possible driver of performance. In addition, given the impressive growth that Islamic finance has experienced during the last decade, this topic is of great interest to the asset management industry.
Studying Smartphone Usage: Lessons from a Four-Month Field Study

Many emerging mobile applications and services are based on smartphones. We have performed a four-month field study of the adoption and usage of smartphone-based services by 14 novice teenage users. From the field study, we present the application usage and usage characteristics of our participants. We show that their usage is highly mobile, location-dependent, and serves multiple social purposes. Furthermore, we report qualitative lessons regarding the evaluation of smartphone-based services. In particular, we highlight the cases that an accurate evaluation would require a long-term and/or field study instead of a short or lab-based study, and the cases where studying a particular application independently is insufficient and a holistic study, i.e., involving the whole device, is necessary. We further present guidelines on effectively shortening the length of a study. These lessons are supported in part by five identified contributing factors to usage evolution.
EFNS guidelines on pharmacological treatment of neuropathic pain

Neuropathic pain treatment remains unsatisfactory despite a substantial increase in the number of trials. This EFNS Task Force aimed at evaluating the existing evidence about the pharmacological treatment of neuropathic pain. Studies were identified using first the Cochrane Database then Medline. Trials were classified according to the aetiological condition. All class I and II controlled trials (according to EFNS classification of evidence) were assessed, but lower‐class studies were considered in conditions that had no top level studies. Only treatments feasible in an outpatient setting were evaluated. Effects on pain symptoms/signs, quality of life and comorbidities were particularly searched for. Most of the randomized controlled trials included patients with postherpetic neuralgia (PHN) and painful polyneuropathies (PPN) mainly caused by diabetes. These trials provide level A evidence for the efficacy of tricyclic antidepressants, gabapentin, pregabalin and opioids, with a large number of class I trials, followed by topical lidocaine (in PHN) and the newer antidepressants venlafaxine and duloxetine (in PPN). A small number of controlled trials were performed in central pain, trigeminal neuralgia, other peripheral neuropathic pain states and multiple‐aetiology neuropathic pains. The main peripheral pain conditions respond similarly well to tricyclic antidepressants, gabapentin, and pregabalin, but some conditions, such as HIV‐associated polyneuropathy, are more refractory. There are too few studies on central pain, combination therapy, and head‐to‐head comparison. For future trials, we recommend to assess quality of life and pain symptoms or signs with standardized tools.
Oceanographic regime shifts and tuna recruitment in the western and central Pacific Ocean

This analysis aims to establish whether the ‘regime shifts’ documented for the north Pacific Ocean are seen in the western and central Pacific Ocean (WCPO) and are relevant to recruitment variation for tropical tunas. Quantitative indicators of oceanographic state are derived by multivariate analysis of physical and biological variables output from an ocean general circulation and biogeochemical model. Tests are applied to determine the existence of statistically significant regime shifts in time series of both ecosystem indicators and tuna recruitment estimates. Shifts are found at times that are broadly consistent with other studies for the north Pacific (1976, 1989, 1998) although earlier shifts (ca. 1964) appear to be just as significant. The methods are sound for the purposes of oceanographic monitoring and analysis but are inadequate to build causal or predictive relationships between the ocean environment and tuna recruitment. Other statistical models have proved useful in that regard and the best single indicator for monitoring the effect of long-term environmental variability on yellowfin tuna recruitment appears to be the area of the western Pacific warm pool. Kirby et al.: Regime shifts and recruitment *Email: david@kirby.ie MANUSCRIPT SUBMITTED TO CANADIAN JOURNAL OF FISHERIES AND AQUATIC SCIENCES PLEASE DO NOT CITE WITHOUT FIRST CONTACTING THE CORRESPONDING AUTHOR
Journal of Theoretical and Applied Information Technology Image and Video Coding with a New Wash Tree Algorithm for Multimedia Services

In this paper, a weighted adaptive scalable hierarchical (WASH) tree based video coding algorithm is proposed with low-memory usage. The standard coding uses three separate lists to store and organize tree data structures and their significance, which can grow large at high rate and consume large amounts of memory. In the proposed algorithm, value added adaptive scale down operator discards unnecessary lists and the process length of the sorting phase is shortened to reduce coding time and memory usage. Spatial and temporal scalability can be easily incorporated into the system to meet various types of display parameter requirements and self-adapting rate allocations are automatically achieved. Results show that the proposed method reduces memory usage, run time and improves PSNR.
From Deliberative to Routine Behaviors: A Cognitively Inspired Action-Selection Mechanism for Routine Behavior Capture

Long-term human—robot interaction, especially in the case of humanoid robots, requires an adaptable and varied behavior base. In this paper, we present a method for capturing, or learning, sequential tasks by transferring serial behavior execution from deliberative to routine control. The incorporation of this approach leads to the natural development of complex and varied behaviors, with lower demands for planning, coordination and resources. We demonstrate how this process can be performed autonomously as part of the normal function of the robot, without the need for an explicit learning stage or user guidance. The complete implementation of this algorithm on the Sony QRIO humanoid robot is described.
Beyond the Stars: Towards a Novel Sentiment Rating to Evaluate Applications in Web Stores of Mobile Apps

This paper proposes an approach to evaluate mobile applications which complements the information provided by the number of stars and downloads in app stores. The goal is to provide novel information to assist users in the decision-making process regarding the choice of applications. In this sense, we conducted experiments to verify the relationship between the number of stars and the content of review comments. Results indicated that there is information in reviews not properly represented by stars. Thus, we present a sentiment rating generated automatically by aggregating opinions reported in the reviews related to each application. We evaluated this new rating using 26,996 reviews related to six applications present on the Google Play Store. The obtained results allow us to demonstrate that: (1) it is possible and feasible to generate a sentiment rating automatically and (2) the rating is useful for web stores of mobile applications to improve their mechanisms of ranking and recommendation as well as to assist users and developers to evaluate the quality and/or acceptance of the offered mobile applications.