Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Another Look at Principal Curves and Surfaces

Principal curves have been defined as smooth curves passing through the “middle” of a multidimensional data set. They are nonlinear generalizations of the first principal component, a characterization of which is the basis of the definition of principal curves. We establish a new characterization of the first principal component and base our new definition of a principal curve on this property. We introduce the notion of principal oriented points and we prove the existence of principal curves passing through these points. We extend the definition of principal curves to multivariate data sets and propose an algorithm to find them. The new notions lead us to generalize the definition of total variance. Successive principal curves are recursively defined from this generalization. The new methods are illustrated on simulated and real data sets.
Pancreas-enriched miRNA refines endocrine cell differentiation

Genome-encoded microRNAs (miRNAs) provide a post-transcriptional regulatory layer that is important for pancreas development. However, how specific miRNAs are intertwined into the transcriptional network, which controls endocrine differentiation, is not well understood. Here, we show that microRNA-7 (miR-7) is specifically expressed in endocrine precursors and in mature endocrine cells. We further demonstrate that Pax6 is an important target of miR-7. miR-7 overexpression in developing pancreas explants or in transgenic mice led to Pax6 downregulation and inhibition of α- and β-cell differentiation, resembling the molecular changes caused by haploinsufficient expression of Pax6. Accordingly, miR-7 knockdown resulted in Pax6 upregulation and promoted α- and β-cell differentiation. Furthermore, Pax6 downregulation reversed the effect of miR-7 knockdown on insulin promoter activity. These data suggest a novel miR-7-based circuit that ensures precise control of endocrine cell differentiation.
Revisiting Exports and Foreign Direct Investment in Vietnam

Since 1986, Vietnam has undertaken various reform measures in the trade and foreign investment area. This paper finds significant contributions of world trade, and competitiveness and liberalization effects to Vietnam's export growth over the period 1997–2008. Vietnam's exports became more competitive and better complemented the import demand of Vietnam's trade partners. In addition, dynamic comparative advantage became evident in many products, but significant room remains for improving export competitiveness. Foreign direct investment (FDI) inflows also increased and helped stimulate Vietnam's exports. FDI inflows have increased in both the short‐ and long‐term, yet are only of a limited magnitude. This necessitates more effective measures to enhance the linkages between FDI and domestic enterprises.
On Bandlimited Signals Associated With Linear Canonical Transform

We first show that the bandlimited signals associated with linear canonical transform (LCT) form a reproducing kernel Hilbert space. An orthogonal basis for the class of bandlimited signals associated with LCT is then proposed by use of the reproducing kernel, with respect to which the coordinates of signal are actually values taken by the signal at certain instants of time. Finally, a nonuniform sampling theorem for bandlimited signals associated with LCT is presented.
A Smart Home Agent for Plan Recognition of Cognitively-impaired Patients

Assistance to people suffering from cognitive deficiencies in a smart home raises complex issues. Plan recognition is one of them. We propose a formal framework for the recognition process based on lattice theory and action description logic. The framework minimizes the uncertainty about the prediction of the observed agent’s behaviour by dynamically generating new implicit extra-plans. This approach offers an effective solution to actual plan recognition problem in a smart home, in order to provide assistance to persons suffering from cognitive deficits. An implementation of this model was incorporated in our smart home laboratory, in order to validate the approach. We currently planning the experimentation phase of the system, which will be based on a set of real case scenarios.
LINK-CONNECTED : A NEW APPROACH OF CLUSTERING ALGORITHM FOR CATEGORICAL ATTRIBUTES

Clustering is the process of grouping the data into classes (cluster) so that objects within a cluster have high similarity in comparison to one other, but are very dissimilar to objects in other clusters. The clustering algorithms for categorical attributes employ an attribute domain contribution similarity measure in order to partition the database such that data points in the same partition are more similar than points in different attributes (see [2]). In this paper, we proposed a new approach based on a novel concept of a cluster. Our concept is based on the definition of a link in [3], a link-graph is determined after building the link between two data points based on the common neighbors. A connected subgraph is a cluster; on the other hand we also considered the case in which two points are not belonged to a connected sub-graph but they are in a cluster visually. The experimental data downloaded from [5], we used some typical categorical data sets to prove the effect of our algorithm compared with the traditional algorithms. In addition, our approach is better in the complexity and the simplification (see [1],[7],[9]).
Trust in a Time of Increasing Diversity: On the Relationship between Ethnic Heterogeneity and Social Trust in Denmark from 1979 until Today

This article examines the impact of ethnic diversity in Danish municipalities on citizens' social trust over the last three decades. During this period, Danish society has grown increasingly ethnically diverse, and this begs the question whether this has influenced trust in others negatively. Existing evidence from the Anglo-Saxon countries would suggest that this is the case, whereas evidence from the European continent mainly suggests that no link exists between ethnic diversity and social trust. The empirical analysis uses individual-level data on social trust from several surveys in Denmark in the period from 1979 to 2009 coupled with diversity at the municipality level. Individual-level measures of trust over time enable estimation of the impact of changes in ethnic diversity within municipalities on social trust and, it is argued, thereby a more precise estimate of the effect of ethnic diversity on trust. The results suggest that social trust is negatively affected by ethnic diversity. The article concludes by discussing this result and suggest avenues for further research.
Situation analysis of students' welfare services in universities in South-Western Nigeria: Implications for students' personnel management practice

Motivating learners in university depends largely on those services, processes and procedures whose primary purpose is to enhance and maintain learners' physical, social, intellectual and emotional well-being. This study examined the situation of welfare services in the context of university education vis-a-vis students' perceived motivation to learning. The study involved public universities in South-Western Nigeria with different characteristics, such as curriculum focus, year of establishment, ownership and residential statuses. Using a descriptive survey research design, the target population for the study was the final-year undergraduate students drawn from three faculties and a college using multi-stage, stratified and simple random sampling techniques. The SWESAQ (students' welfare service assessment questionnaire) instrument was administered on 800 students that constituted the sample frame. The major findings among others were that provision of welfare services in all universities was inadequate and seemed to be responsible for learners' low level of satisfaction and poor motivation to learning. Consequently, the implications of these findings for students' personnel management practice were discussed and necessary suggestions were given.
GABA Transmission in the Nucleus Accumbens Is Altered after Withdrawal from Repeated Cocaine

Repeated cocaine causes enduring changes in dopamine and glutamate transmission in the nucleus accumbens, and dopamine and glutamate terminals synapse on GABAergic accumbens neurons. The present study demonstrates that there are changes in GABA transmission in the accumbens at 3 weeks after discontinuing daily cocaine injections. No-net flux microdialysis revealed a significant increase in the basal levels of extracellular GABA in the accumbens of cocaine-treated rats. The elevated extracellular GABA was normalized by blocking voltage-dependent Na+ channels and provided increased tone on GABAB presynaptic autoreceptors and heteroreceptors because blocking GABAB receptors produced a greater elevation in extracellular GABA, dopamine, and glutamate in cocaine-treated compared with control subjects. For many G-protein-coupled receptors, increased agonist can cause receptor desensitization. Consistent with GABAB receptor desensitization, baclofen-stimulated GTPγS binding was reduced, and the reduction in G-protein coupling was accompanied by reduced Ser phosphorylation of the GABAB2 receptor subunit. No effect by repeated cocaine was found in the levels of total GABAB1or GABAB2 protein. Together, these data demonstrate that withdrawal from repeated cocaine treatment produces an increase in the basal levels of extracellular GABA in the accumbens that depends on neuronal activity. The increase may be mediated in part by functional desensitization of GABAB receptors, likely the result of diminished Ser phosphorylation of the GABAB2 receptor.
Social Inequality in Cigarette Consumption, Cigarette Dependence, and Intention to Quit among Norwegian Smokers

Background. The study aim was to examine the influence of education and income on multiple measures of risk of smoking continuation. Methods. Three logistic regression models were run on cigarette consumption, dependence, and intention to quit based on nationally representative samples (2007–2012) of approximately 1 200 current smokers aged 30–66 years in Norway. Results. The relative risk ratio for current versus never smokers was RRR 5.37, 95% CI [4.26–6.77] among individuals with low educational level versus high and RRR 1.53, 95% CI [1.14–2.06] in the low-income group versus high (adjusted model). Low educational level was associated with high cigarette consumption, high cigarette dependence, and no intention to quit. The difference in predicted probability for having high cigarette consumption, high cigarette dependence, and no intention to quit were in the range of 10–20 percentage points between smokers with low versus those with high educational level. A significant difference between low- and high-income levels was observed for intention to quit. The effect of education on high consumption and dependence was mainly found in smokers with high income. Conclusion. Increased effort to combat social differences in smoking behaviour is needed. Implementation of smoking cessation programmes with high reach among low socioeconomic groups is recommended.
MATMT 2008 workshop Mixing Approaches to Machine Translation

Constructing a classifier that distinguishes machine translations from human translations is a promising approach to automatically evaluating machine-translated sentences. We developed a classifier with this approach that distinguishes translations based on word-alignment distributions between source sentences and human/machine translations. We used Support Vector Machines as machinelearning algorithms for this classifier. Our experimental results revealed that our method of evaluation had a weak correlation with human evaluations. We further found that our method outperformed wellknown automatic-evaluation metrics with respect to correlation with the manual evaluation, and that it could identify the qualitative characteristics of machine translations, which greatly help improve their quality.
Image acquisition forensics: Forensic analysis to identify imaging source

With widespread availability of digital images and easy-to-use image editing softwares, the origin and integrity of digital images has become a serious concern. This paper introduces the problem of image acquisition forensics and proposes a fusion of a set of signal processing features to identify the source of digital images. Our results show that the devices' color interpolation coefficients and noise statistics can jointly serve as good forensic features to help accurately trace the origin of the input image to its production process and to differentiate between images produced by cameras, cell phone cameras, scanners, and computer graphics. Further, the proposed features can also be extended to determining the brand and model of the device. Thus, the techniques introduced in this work provide a unified framework for image acquisition forensics.
On Computing Explanations in Argumentation

Argumentation can be viewed as a process of generating explanations. However, existing argumentation semantics are developed for identifying acceptable arguments within a set, rather than giving concrete justifications for them. In this work, we propose a new argumentation semantics, related admissibility, designed for giving explanations to arguments in both Abstract Argumentation and Assumption-based Argumentation. We identify different types of explanations defined in terms of the new semantics. We also give a correct computational counterpart for explanations using dispute forests.
The Effect of Antismoking Advertisement Executional Characteristics on Youth Comprehension, Appraisal, Recall, and Engagement

ABSTRACT This article examines how two executional characteristics of antismoking advertising may interact with other relevant advertising features to affect youth comprehension, appraisal, recall of, and engagement with antismoking ads. Fifty antismoking ads made by tobacco control agencies, tobacco companies, and pharmaceutical companies were appraised by 268 youth using an audience response methodology with a follow-up component. Analyses show that thematic and executional characteristics varied both across and within ad sponsor, and that executional characteristics of “personal testimonial” and “visceral negative” clearly had the strongest and most consistent effect on appraisal, recall, and level of engagement. Antismoking advertisements are not alike in their ability to engage youth. Advocates attempting to develop increasingly successful antismoking campaigns should consider the executional characteristics of proposed ads.
Aerosol Impacts on Climate and Biogeochemistry

Aerosols are suspensions of solid and/or liquid particles in the atmosphere and modify atmospheric radiative fluxes and chemistry. Aerosols move mass from one part of the earth system to other parts of the earth system, thereby modifying biogeochemistry and the snow surface albedo. This paper reviews our understanding of the impacts of aerosols on climate through direct radiative changes, aerosol-cloud interactions (indirect effects), atmospheric chemistry, snow albedo, and land and ocean biogeochemistry. Aerosols play an important role in the preindustrial (natural) climate system and have been perturbed substantially over the anthropocene, often directly by human activity. The most important impacts of aerosols, in terms of climate forcing, are from the direct and indirect effects, with large uncertainties. Similarly large impacts of aerosols on land and ocean biogeochemistry have been estimated, but these have larger uncertainties.
Interpreting the procyclical productivity of manufacturing sectors: external effects or labor hoarding?

This paper investigates whether procyclical productivity is due to cyclical variations in the rate of utilization of labor or to technological externalities. By looking at the relation between sectoral productivity and the level of aggregate activity, empirical evidence is presented to distinguish the two hypotheses. Analysis of two-digit U.S. manufacturing industries shows that sectoral productivity is more closely related to the rate of change of aggregate activity than to its level. This result is consistent with the interpretation that cyclical productivity is due to cyclical variations in the rate of utilization of labor, which responds to expected future industry conditions. Aggregate variables in production-function regressions have therefore the role of forecasting variables for future industry conditions. Copyright 1997 by Ohio State University Press.
Shadow Economy and Entrepreneurial Entry

We analyze theoretically and empirically the impact of the shadow economy on entrepreneurial entry, utilising 1998-2005 individual-level Global Entrepreneurship Monitor data merged with macro level variables. A simple correlation coefficient suggests a positive linear link between the size of the shadow economy and entrepreneurial entry. However, this masks more complex relationships. With appropriate controls and instrumenting for potential endogeneity where required, the impact of the shadow economy on entry is found to be negative, based on a linear specification. Moreover, there is also evidence of nonlinearity: entrepreneurial entry is least likely when the shadow economy is of medium size. We attribute the negative effects of shadow economy on entry to perceived strong competition faced by new entrants when the shadow economy is widespread. At the individual level, an extensive shadow economy has a more negative impact on respondents who are risk averse. In addition, in the economies where property rights are strong, the negative impact of the shadow economy is weaker.
A Controversial Role for IL-12 in Immune Response and Bone Resorption at Apical Periodontal Sites

Periapical lesions are inflammatory conditions of tooth periapical tissues, triggered by dental pulp infection and characterized by exudation of immune cells to the affected tissues and production of inflammatory mediators such as cytokines. The inflammatory periapical reaction is mainly driven by Th1, Th2, and Th17 responses, and such polarization may modulate progression of the disease and expression of bone proresorptive cytokines. IL-12 is a potent inducer of IFN-γ production, which stimulates Th1 effector cells. Many evidences have shown a positive correlation between the bone resorptive cytokine IL-1β and the production of IL-12 and IFN-γ. Furthermore, IL-12 may have a potential role in the release of bone resorptive mediators and blockade of Th2 cytokines, affecting the progression of periapical bone loss. Nevertheless, IL-12 and IFN-γ have also been described as suppressors of osteoclast differentiation and activation, favoring bone maintenance. This paper focuses on the controversial roles of IL-12 in periapical lesions.
Speech translation: past, present and future

A decade after its first beginnings, the grand challenge of building automatic systems that translate speech has grown into an active research area, a focus for speech and language researchers worldwide. Workshops, conferences, sessions, journal issues are devoted to it, and research is supported by governments in Asia, Europe and the US. The problem has attracted much attention, as practical needs in an increasingly globalized world converge with scientific advances that bring possible solutions within reach. While great progress has been made, the problem is certainly not solved and much remains to be done. At a midway point along the way, we present this paper as a review of the past, of the successes so far, and as an attempt to chart a course for the future.
Rendering techniques of final fantasy XV

We present the core graphics technologies used to render and light the world of Final Fantasy XV. The latest iteration of the franchise displays a seamless environment more dynamic than ever before, with special features such as dynamic weather, time of day, and procedural sky and clouds. We first describe the hybrid global illumination system based on both dynamic and static elements that is used to handle reflection and bounced light from the different light sources in the game, then move on to explain how the engine procedurally renders sky and clouds and how these dynamic components are intertwined with both the lighting pipeline and the weather system. During the presentation, details on implementation and optimization will be given.
ECONOMICS OF TARIFF-RATE QUOTA ADMINISTRATION

The 1996 Uruguay Round Agreement on Agriculture was a step toward free trade. The Agreement lifts bans and quotas on imports, but allows their conversion into tariff-rate quotas (TRQs), which function like quotas. At present, many of the 1,300 TRQs increased market access to imports, but some have preserved pre-Agreement levels of protection. The World Trade Organization's intent as to the administration of TRQs is open to interpretation. This report analyzes seven administrative methods in light of the principle of nondiscrimination. We conclude that auctions are the best way to administer a TRQ. First-come, first-served and license-on-demand methods present a moderate risk of biased trade. State trading organizations and producer groups that directly administer TRQs can also bias trade. Historical allocation is the method most likely to be discriminatory. Two case studies illustrate our conclusion.
Industrial Organization and Trade Liberalization: Evidence from Korea

Drawing on evidence about industrial organization and market structure, the authors develop a computable general equilibrium model in selected industrial sectors with increasing returns to scale. They use this model to estimate the welfare gains Korea would realize from abolishing the import restraints prevailing in 1982. Under constant returns to scale, they estimate welfare gains to be 1 percent of GDP. With increasing returns to scale in three industrial sectors, they estimate welfare gains ranging from -0.5 percent to 10 percent of 1982 GDP, depending on assumptions about the pricing behavior (markup pricing or Cournot competition) and profit levels that existed under protection.
Demographic Change and R&D-Based Economic Growth: Reconciling Theory and Evidence

In recent decades, most industrialized countries experienced declining population growth rates caused by declining fertility and associated with rising life expectancy. We analyze the effect of continuing demographic change on medium- and long-run economic growth by setting forth an R&D-based growth model including an analytically tractable demographic structure. Our results show that, in response to demographic change, technological progress and economic growth accelerate in the medium run but slow down in the long run. Numerical investigation reveals that the time period during which technological progress and economic growth are faster than without demographic change can be very long. Since the theoretical predictions for the medium run are consistent with the negative association between population growth and economic growth found in the empirical literature, the present framework can reconcile R&D-based growth theory with the available empirical evidence.