Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Associative memory model with long-tail-distributed Hebbian synaptic connections

The postsynaptic potentials of pyramidal neurons have a non-Gaussian amplitude distribution with a heavy tail in both hippocampus and neocortex. Such distributions of synaptic weights were recently shown to generate spontaneous internal noise optimal for spike propagation in recurrent cortical circuits. However, whether this internal noise generation by heavy-tailed weight distributions is possible for and beneficial to other computational functions remains unknown. To clarify this point, we construct an associative memory (AM) network model of spiking neurons that stores multiple memory patterns in a connection matrix with a lognormal weight distribution. In AM networks, non-retrieved memory patterns generate a cross-talk noise that severely disturbs memory recall. We demonstrate that neurons encoding a retrieved memory pattern and those encoding non-retrieved memory patterns have different subthreshold membrane-potential distributions in our model. Consequently, the probability of responding to inputs at strong synapses increases for the encoding neurons, whereas it decreases for the non-encoding neurons. Our results imply that heavy-tailed distributions of connection weights can generate noise useful for AM recall.
RT-VNE: A real-time strategy for Virtual Network Embedding towards resource efficiency

Network Virtualization is one of the most promising technologies for future networking. Network Virtualization allows multiple virtual networks to coexist on same shared physical infrastructure simultaneously. One of the crucial keys in Network Virtualization is Virtual Network Embedding, which provides a method to allocate physical substrate resource to virtual network requests. In this paper, we focus on Virtual Network Embedding strategies and related issues for resource allocation of an Internet Provider(InP) to efficiently embed virtual networks that are requested by virtual network operators who share the same infrastructure provided by the InP. In order to achieve that goal, we propose a heuristic Virtual Network Embedding algorithm that simultaneously embed virtual nodes and virtual links onto substrate infrastructure. Through extensive simulations, we demonstrate that our proposed algorithm improves the performance of Virtual Network Embedding by enhancing the long-term average revenue as well as acceptance rate of virtual network requests compared to existing algorithms.
Do System Test Cases Grow Old?

Companies increasingly use either manual or automated system testing to ensure the quality of their software products. As a system evolves and is extended with new features the test suite also typically grows as new test cases are added. To ensure software quality throughout this process the test suite is continously executed, often on a daily basis. It seems likely that newly added tests would be more likely to fail than older tests but this has not been investigated in any detail on large-scale, industrial software systems. Also it is not clear which methods should be used to conduct such an analysis. This paper proposes three main concepts that can be used to investigate aging effects in the use and failure behaviour of system test cases: test case activation curves, test case hazard curves, and test case half-life. To evaluate these concepts and the type of analysis they enable we apply them on an industrial software system containing more than one million lines of code. The data sets comes from a total of 1,620 system test cases executed a total of more than half a million times over a time period of two and a half years. For the investigated system we find that system test cases stay active as they age but really do grow old, they go through an infant mortality phase with higher failure rates which then decline over time. The test case half-life is between 5 to 12 months for the two studied data sets.
Understanding the Challenges for Infrastructure Finance

What is holding back infrastructure investment, even though real long-term interest rates are low and the potential supply of long-term finance is ample? The answer matters to policy makers, because infrastructure is a key determinant of the growth potential of an economy. This paper identifies some key obstacles for better and greater infrastructure finance and investment. One such obstacle is the lack of investable projects. Often, projects are not properly designed and contractual arrangements imply a distribution of risks and returns that create the wrong incentives among the various partners. The greater involvement of private investors and the design of economically rational financing structures can mitigate such problems. They also improve the efficiency and success of infrastructure projects. A pipeline of investable projects would allow large investors to commit a greater share of their financial resources to infrastructure. Tapping the vast resources of capital markets, which thus far have been underutilised, could significantly boost infrastructure finance. A greater variety of financial instruments for infrastructure finance would help to make infrastructure more attractive for a broader group of investors and would allow a better diversification of risks.
The most neglected moderator in group research 1

This paper argues that the group’s task is the most neglected moderator in group research. After offering a broad conception of group task, I draw on various sources to illustrate the powerful moderating role of group task and the field’s broad neglect of this moderation. I conclude with some suggestions for how we might better acknowledge and address the importance of group task for group behavior.
Support vector method for robust ARMA system identification

This paper presents a new approach to auto-regressive and moving average (ARMA) modeling based on the support vector method (SVM) for identification applications. A statistical analysis of the characteristics of the proposed method is carried out. An analytical relationship between residuals and SVM-ARMA coefficients allows the linking of the fundamentals of SVM with several classical system identification methods. Additionally, the effect of outliers can be cancelled. Application examples show the performance of SVM-ARMA algorithm when it is compared with other system identification methods.
Investor Protection and Corporate Valuation

We present a model of the effects of legal protection of minority shareholders and of cash-f low ownership by a controlling shareholder on the valuation of firms. We then test this model using a sample of 539 large firms from 27 wealthy economies. Consistent with the model, we find evidence of higher valuation of firms in countries with better protection of minority shareholders and in firms with higher cashf low ownership by the controlling shareholder. RECENT RESEARCH SUGGESTS THAT THE EXTENT of legal protection of investors in a country is an important determinant of the development of its financial markets. Where laws are protective of outside investors and well enforced, investors are willing to finance firms, and financial markets are both broader and more valuable. In contrast, where laws are unprotective of investors, the development of financial markets is stunted. Moreover, systematic differences among countries in the structure of laws and their enforcement, such as the historical origin of their laws, account for the differences in financial development ~La Porta et al. ~1997, 1998! How does better protection of outside investors ~both shareholders and creditors! promote financial market development? When their rights are better protected by the law, outside investors are willing to pay more for financial assets such as equity and debt. They pay more because they recognize that, with better legal protection, more of the firm’s profits would come back to them as interest or dividends as opposed to being expropriated by the entrepreneur who controls the firm. By limiting expropriation, the law raises the price that securities fetch in the marketplace. In turn, this enables more entrepreneurs to finance their investments externally, leading to the expansion of financial markets. Although the ultimate benefit of legal investor protection for financial development has now been well documented, the effect of protection on valuation has received less attention. In this paper, we present a theoretical and empirical analysis of this effect.
A new entropy power inequality for integer-valued random variables

The entropy power inequality (EPI) provides lower bounds on the differential entropy of the sum of two independent real-valued random variables in terms of the individual entropies. Versions of the EPI for discrete random variables have been obtained for special families of distributions with the differential entropy replaced by the discrete entropy, but no universal inequality is known (beyond trivial ones). More recently, the sumset theory for the entropy function yields a sharp inequality H(X + X') - H(X) ≥ 1/2 - o(l) when X,X' are i.i. d. with high entropy. This paper provides the inequality H(X + X') - H(X) ≥ g(H(X)), where X, X' are arbitrary i.i. d. integer-valued random variables and where g is a universal strictly positive function on R+ satisfying g(0) = 0. Extensions to non identically distributed random variables and to conditional entropies are also obtained.
Lurker demographics: counting the silent

As online groups grow in number and type, understanding lurking is becoming increasingly important. Recent reports indicate that lurkers make up over 90% of online groups, yet little is known about them. This paper presents a demographic study of lurking in email-based discussion lists (DLs) with an emphasis on health and software-support DLs. Four primary questions are examined. One, how prevalent is lurking, and do health and software-support DLs differ? Two, how do lurking levels vary as the definition is broadened from zero posts in 12 weeks to 3 or fewer posts in 12 weeks? Three, is there a relationship between lurking and the size of the DL, and four, is there a relationship between lurking and traffic level? When lurking is defined as no posts, the mean lurking level for all DLs is lower than the reported 90%. Health-support DLs have on average significantly fewer lurkers (46%) than software-support DLs (82%). Lurking varies widely ranging from 0 to 99%. The relationships between lurking, group size and traffic are also examined.
Image deblurring using maps of highlights

In deblurring an image, we seek to recover the original sharp image. However, without knowledge of the blurring process, we cannot expect to recover the image perfectly. We propose a deblurring method of a single-image where the blur kernel is directly estimated from highlight spots or streaks with high intensity value. These highlighted points can be represented by specular reflection of light that may appear in the eye, on a shiny surface, or in small light sources present in the image. In this work, we detect automatically these high-lighted points in a blurred image. Therefore, creating a map of highlight, which is used as a guide to extract automatically a single highlight from the blurred image. Due to its unique nature, it is demosntrated that the highlighted points are a good estimation of the blur kernel and a sharp image is restored using these kernel. The experimental results show the performance of this method in comparison to several other deblurring methods.
To Vote or Not to Vote

Organized crime-related violence has important electoral consequences. Analyses of aggregate panel data on Mexican elections and an original postelectoral survey conducted in Mexico show that the strategic use of violence by organized crime groups during electoral campaigns demobilizes voters at large. Regions where criminal organizations attempted to influence elections and politics by targeting government officials and party candidates exhibited significantly lower levels of electoral participation. Consistently, at the individual level, results reveal that voters living in regions where organized crime engaged in high-profile violence were more cautious when deciding whether to vote or not. Prior research has focused on the role of crime victimization in nonelectoral participation, but the empirical evidence presented here suggests that the impact of a criminal context on turnout transcends personal victimization experiences.
MOC-31 Exhibits Superior Reactivity Compared With Ber-EP4 in Invasive Lobular and Ductal Carcinoma of the Breast: A Tissue Microarray Study

Distinguishing between reactive mesothelial proliferations and adenocarcinoma is often very difficult. Ancillary studies, in particular immunohistochemistry, are often critical in detecting malignant epithelial cells, especially in serous effusion specimens. MOC-31 and Ber-EP4 are antibodies which target the epithelial cell adhesion molecule (Ep-CAM, TACSTD1) expressed in epithelial cells, and both are useful in distinguishing metastatic adenocarcinoma from reactive mesothelial cells. However, the reactivity of MOC-31 and Ber-EP4 with breast carcinoma, one of the more common carcinomas involving serous effusions, has not been extensively studied. We analyzed the immunohistochemical expression of MOC-31 and Ber-EP4 using tissue microarrays containing invasive ductal carcinoma (191 cases), invasive lobular carcinoma (44 cases), and 102 other carcinoma types comprising primary carcinomas of lung, gynecologic tract, pancreas, colon, gastric, esophageal, prostate, head and neck, hepatic, and renal origin. For MOC-31, 184 of 191 (96%) invasive ductal carcinomas and 39 of 44 (89%) invasive lobular carcinomas exhibited diffuse positive staining. In contrast, for Ber-EP4, 121 of 183 (66%) invasive ductal carcinomas and 11 of 40 (27.5%) invasive lobular carcinomas exhibited diffuse positive staining. With the exception of 1 case of esophageal adenocarcinoma, all other adenocarcinomas (86 of 87 cases) exhibited diffuse staining with both Ber-EP4 and MOC-31. MOC-31 and Ber-EP4 exhibited identical staining with all other carcinoma types. Our findings indicate that MOC-31 is superior to Ber-EP4 in detecting both invasive lobular and ductal carcinoma of the breast.
Motor Learning Conundrums (and Possible Solutions)

What value is there in effective practice regimes if these same regimes do not, in themselves, engage the learner to continue to practice? This question was discussed in the context of two practice schedules that have been shown to be effective in studies of motor learning. But recent evidence has found these practice schedules to be either inefficient in their use of practice time (distributed practice), or results in metacognitive judgments of incompetence (random practice). We discuss these conundrums, possible ramifications relative to the law of practice, and potential resolutions of these issues by recent research efforts.
TAFII40 Protein Is Encoded by thee(y)1 Gene: Biological Consequences of Mutations

ABSTRACT The enhancer of yellow 1 gene, e(y)1, ofDrosophila melanogaster has been cloned and demonstrated to encode the TAFII40 protein. The e(y)1 gene is expressed in females much more strongly than in males due to the accumulation of e(y)1 mRNA in the ovaries. Two differente(y)1 mutations have been obtained. Thee(y)1ul mutation, induced by the insertion ofStalker into the coding region, leads to the replacement of 25 carboxy-terminal amino acids by 17 amino acids encoded by theStalker sequences and to a decrease of thee(y)1 transcription level. The latter is the main cause of dramatic underdevelopment of the ovaries and sterility of females bearing the e(y)1 mutation. This follows from the restoration of female fertility upon transformation ofe(y)1u1 flies with a construction synthesizing the mutant protein. The e(y)1P1 mutation induced by P element insertion into the transcribed nontranslated region of the gene has almost no influence on the phenotype of flies. However, in combination with thephP1 mutation, which leads to a strongP element-mediated suppression of e(y)1transcription, this mutation is lethal. Genetic studies of thee(y)1u1 mutation revealed a sensitivity of theyellow and white expression to the TAFII40/e(y)1 level. The su(Hw)-binding region,Drosophila insulator, stabilizes the expression of thewhite gene and makes it independent of thee(y)1u1 mutation.
Role of spirituality and religiosity on employee commitment and performance

Organisations aim to accomplish and progress with contented, inventive, innovative and committed employees. With momentous impact on the life of people, both religiosity and spirituality subsume the way in which people live, behave and work. Religious beliefs as well as spiritual practices could make a consequential difference in an employee's behaviour and performance, besides contributing to the organisations in attaining competitive advantage. Realising this, numerous organisations have initiated yoga and meditation in their training programs and seek to increase connectedness among employees. These are the estimable and effective factors that can accelerate job satisfaction, employee commitment and employee performance. Despite of deep understanding on the role of these two constructs, there exists a significant research gap connecting religiosity and spirituality with employee job satisfaction and thereupon employee commitment and employee performance. Using structural equation modelling, this study examines the importance of design elements in enabling job satisfaction, commitment and performance of an employee. Data from teachers of six institutional categories was collected and analysed. Findings suggest that spirituality has a direct influence on job satisfaction, which further has mediating effect on employees' commitment and performance. The paper closes with requisite implications and limitations.
Short-Term Intensified Cycle Training Alters Acute and Chronic Responses of PGC1α and Cytochrome C Oxidase IV to Exercise in Human Skeletal Muscle

Reduced activation of exercise responsive signalling pathways have been reported in response to acute exercise after training; however little is known about the adaptive responses of the mitochondria. Accordingly, we investigated changes in mitochondrial gene expression and protein abundance in response to the same acute exercise before and after 10-d of intensive cycle training. Nine untrained, healthy participants (mean±SD; VO2peak 44.1±17.6 ml/kg/min) performed a 60 min bout of cycling exercise at 164±18 W (72% of pre-training VO2peak). Muscle biopsies were obtained from the vastus lateralis muscle at rest, immediately and 3 h after exercise. The participants then underwent 10-d of cycle training which included four high-intensity interval training sessions (6×5 min; 90–100% VO2peak) and six prolonged moderate-intensity sessions (45–90 min; 75% VO2peak). Participants repeated the pre-training exercise trial at the same absolute work load (64% of pre-training VO2peak). Muscle PGC1-α mRNA expression was attenuated as it increased by 11- and 4- fold (P<0.001) after exercise pre- and post-training, respectively. PGC1-α protein expression increased 1.5 fold (P<0.05) in response to exercise pre-training with no further increases after the post-training exercise bout. RIP140 protein abundance was responsive to acute exercise only (P<0.01). COXIV mRNA (1.6 fold; P<0.01) and COXIV protein expression (1.5 fold; P<0.05) were increased by training but COXIV protein expression was decreased (20%; P<0.01) by acute exercise pre- and post-training. These findings demonstrate that short-term intensified training promotes increased mitochondrial gene expression and protein abundance. Furthermore, acute indicators of exercise-induced mitochondrial adaptation appear to be blunted in response to exercise at the same absolute intensity following short-term training.
Parents’ and facilitators’ perceptions of children with autism spectrum disorder in an equine-assisted learning programme

ii OPSOMMING.iii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS.iv TABLE OF CONTENTS.v LIST OF APPENDICES.x LIST OF TABLES.xi LIST OF FIGURES.xii LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS.xiii CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION AND BACKGROUND TO THE PROBLEM.1 1.
Kronecker-Markov Prior for Dynamic 3D Reconstruction

Recovering dynamic 3D structures from 2D image observations is highly under-constrained because of projection and missing data, motivating the use of strong priors to constrain shape deformation. In this paper, we empirically show that the spatiotemporal covariance of natural deformations is dominated by a Kronecker pattern. We demonstrate that this pattern arises as the limit of a spatiotemporal autoregressive process, and derive a Kronecker Markov Random Field as a prior distribution over dynamic structures. This distribution unifies shape and trajectory models of prior art and has the individual models as its marginals. The key assumption of the Kronecker MRF is that the spatiotemporal covariance is separable into the product of a temporal and a shape covariance, and can therefore be modeled using the matrix normal distribution. Analysis on motion capture data validates that this distribution is an accurate approximation with significantly fewer free parameters. Using the trace-norm, we present a convex method to estimate missing data from a single sequence when the marginal shape distribution is unknown. The Kronecker-Markov distribution, fit to a single sequence, outperforms state-of-the-art methods at inferring missing 3D data, and additionally provides covariance estimates of the uncertainty.
What Conditions Make Minimum Entropy Production Equivalent to Maximum Power Production?

Optimization of processes can yield a variety of answers, depending not only on the objective of the optimization but also on the constraints that define the problem. Within the context of thermodynamic optimization, the role of the constraints is particularly important because, among other things, their choice can make some objectives either equivalent or inequivalent, and can limit or broaden the possible kinds of processes one might choose. After a general discussion of the principles, a specific example of a model power plant is analyzed to see how the constraints govern the possible solutions.
Antimetastatic Effects of Norcantharidin on Hepatocellular Carcinoma by Transcriptional Inhibition of MMP-9 through Modulation of NF-kB Activity

Background The rate of morbidity and mortality of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) in Taiwan has not lessened because of difficulty in treating tumor metastasis. Norcantharidin (NCTD) is currently used as an anticancer drug for hepatoma, breast cancer, and colorectal adenocarcinoma. NCTD possesses various biological anticancer activities, including apoptosis. However, detailed effects and molecular mechanisms of NCTD on metastasis are unclear. Thus, HCC cells were subjected to treatment with NCTD and then analyzed to determine the effects of NCTD on cell metastasis. Methodology/Principal Findings Modified Boyden chamber assays revealed that NCTD treatment inhibited cell migration and invasion capacities of HCC cells substantially. Results of zymography and western blotting showed that activities and protein levels of matrix metalloproteinase-9 (MMP-9) and urokinase plasminogen activator (u-PA) were inhibited by NCTD. Western blot analysis showed that NCTD inhibits phosphorylation of ERK1/2. Testing of mRNA level, quantitative real-time PCR, and promoter assays evaluated the inhibitory effects of NCTD on MMP-9 and u-PA expression in HCC cells. The chromatin immunoprecipitation (ChIP) assay for analyzing the genomic DNA sequences bound to these proteins was reactive to the transcription protein nuclear factor (NF)-kappaB, which was inhibited by NCTD. The expression of NF-kappa B was measured by western blot analysis, which revealed decreased nuclear-factor DNA-binding activity after NCTD treatment. Conclusions NCTD inhibited MMP-9 and u-PA expression through the phosphorylation of ERK1/2 and NF-kappaB signaling pathway which serves as a powerful chemopreventive agent in HCC cell metastasis.