Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Approximation algorithms for planar traveling salesman tours and minimum-length triangulations

This p~per gives a partitioning scheme for the geometric, planar traveling salesman problem, under the Euclidean metric: given a set S of n points in the Diane. find a shortest ;losed tour (path) v;siting all the “point’s. The scheme employs randomization, and gives a tour that can be expected to be short, if S satisfies the condition that a random subset R C S has o]: average a tour much shorter than an optimal tour of S. ‘~his condition holds for points independently, identiccdly distributed in the plane, for example, for which a tour within 1 -I-c of shortest can be found in expected time nk22k, whew k = O(log log n)3/e2. One algorithm employed in the scheme is of interest in its own right: when given a simple polygon P, it finds a Steiner triangulation of the interior of P. If P has n sides and perimeter LP, the edges of the triangulation have total length LP O(log n). If this algorithm is applied to a simple polygon induced by a minimum spanning tree of a point set, the result is a Steiner triangulation of the set with total length within a factor of O(log n) of the minimum possible.
Rapid eye movement sleep promotes cortical plasticity in the developing brain

Rapid eye movement sleep plays a critical role in shaping developing circuits in the cerebral cortex. Rapid eye movement sleep is maximal during early life, but its function in the developing brain is unknown. We investigated the role of rapid eye movement sleep in a canonical model of developmental plasticity in vivo (ocular dominance plasticity in the cat) induced by monocular deprivation. Preventing rapid eye movement sleep after monocular deprivation reduced ocular dominance plasticity and inhibited activation of a kinase critical for this plasticity (extracellular signal–regulated kinase). Chronic single-neuron recording in freely behaving cats further revealed that cortical activity during rapid eye movement sleep resembled activity present during monocular deprivation. This corresponded to times of maximal extracellular signal–regulated kinase activation. These findings indicate that rapid eye movement sleep promotes molecular and network adaptations that consolidate waking experience in the developing brain.
Cobalt-Alloy Implant Debris Induce HIF-1α Hypoxia Associated Responses: A Mechanism for Metal-Specific Orthopedic Implant Failure

The historical success of orthopedic implants has been recently tempered by unexpected pathologies and early failures of some types of Cobalt-Chromium-Molybdenum alloy containing artificial hip implants. Hypoxia-associated responses to Cobalt-alloy metal debris were suspected as mediating this untoward reactivity at least in part. Hypoxia Inducible Factor-1α is a major transcription factor involved in hypoxia, and is a potent coping mechanism for cells to rapidly respond to changing metabolic demands. We measured signature hypoxia associated responses (i.e. HIF-1α, VEGF and TNF-α) to Cobalt-alloy implant debris both in vitro (using a human THP-1 macrophage cell line and primary human monocytes/macrophages) and in vivo. HIF-1α in peri-implant tissues of failed metal-on-metal implants were compared to similar tissues from people with metal-on-polymer hip arthroplasties, immunohistochemically. Increasing concentrations of cobalt ions significantly up-regulated HIF-1α with a maximal response at 0.3 mM. Cobalt-alloy particles (1 um-diameter, 10 particles/cell) induced significantly elevated HIF-1α, VEGF, TNF-α and ROS expression in human primary macrophages whereas Titanium-alloy particles did not. Elevated expression of HIF-1α was found in peri-implant tissues and synovial fluid of people with failing Metal-on-Metal hips (n = 5) compared to failed Metal-on-Polymer articulating hip arthroplasties (n = 10). This evidence suggests that Cobalt-alloy, more than other metal implant debris (e.g. Titanium alloy), can elicit hypoxia-like responses that if unchecked can lead to unusual peri-implant pathologies, such as lymphocyte infiltration, necrosis and excessive fibrous tissue growths.
Rostral overnight fluid shift in end-stage renal disease: relationship with obstructive sleep apnea.

BACKGROUND In both healthy male subjects and men with heart failure, the severity of obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) is related to the amount of fluid displaced from their legs into the neck overnight. Whether overnight rostral fluid shift contributes to the pathogenesis of OSA in patients with end-stage renal disease (ESRD) is unknown. We hypothesized that the change in neck circumference (NC) and severity of OSA are related to the extent of overnight change in leg fluid volume (LFV) in patients with ESRD. METHODS We studied 26 patients with ESRD (14 men) on conventional hemodialysis. All subjects underwent polysomnography. LFV was measured by bioelectric impedance at bedtime and repeated in the next morning on awakening. RESULTS Our cohort's overall apnea-hypopnea index was 22.8±26.8 episodes/h of sleep. Their overnight change in LFV was -243±278 mL. The change in LFV correlated with apnea-hypopnea time (AHT) (P=0.001) and NC (P=0.0016). Other independent factors associated with AHT included age (P=0.005), baseline neck (P=0.0002), sitting time (P=0.008) and male gender. Stepwise multiple regression analysis revealed that age, change in LFV and male gender remained independent related to AHT. CONCLUSIONS Nocturnal rostral fluid shift is associated with the severity of OSA in ESRD. Prospective evaluation of the effect of reducing fluid overload and severity of OSA in ESRD patients warrants further examination.
Exact distributions of envelopes of sums of stochastic sinusoids with general random amplitudes and phases

I consider a model used in many communication systems where the sum of n stochastic sinusoidal signals, each with general random amplitudes as well as phase angles is present. The exact probability distribution of the resulting signal’s amplitude is of particular interest in many important applications, however the general problem has remained open. I use probabilistic methods to prove new formulae for the Exact General Envelope Density (EGED), in terms of any given general joint density of all the random variables involved. New exact probability densities of cases of interest follow from the general formulae. The resultant amplitude distribution is also obtained when a the signal comprises of a single sinusoidal sum corrupted by a Gaussian noise. Further, I derive a new general formula for the resultant signal’s Amplitude Characterisitc Function (ACF) and the Exact Envelope Characteristic function EECF. The characteristic function is transformed to obtain exact formulae for the pdf (probability density function). The Fourier transform of the ACF formula is further used to derive a general formula for the exact peak resultant amplitude in the presence of a Gaussian noise. In important cases interest it is shown that it is possible to represent the amplitude pdf in terms of the Fourier transform of Bessel functions and thus derive simpler exact expressions. I Consider two signals of sinusoidal sums corrupted by a Gaussian noise, for which previously the Ricean envelope density had only been verified for the very special case where n = 1 and the phase is uniform and independent of amplitude. Here a new formula for the exact density of the envelope of noisy stochastic sinusoids (EDENSS) is presented, which leads to the generalization of Ricean envelope density (GRED) formula under the most general conditions, namely n ≥ 1 signals, dependent amplitudes and phases having an arbitrary joint pdf. The power of our EECF and FT methods are further demonstrated by their ability to give an alternative derivation of the EGED formula.
Option Valuation using Fourier Space Time Stepping

It is well known that the Black-Scholes-Merton model suffers from several deficiencies. Jump-diffusion and Levy models have been widely used to partially alleviate some of the biases inherent in this classical model. Unfortunately, the resulting pricing problem requires solving a more difficult partial-integro differential equation (PIDE) and although several approaches for solving the PIDE have been suggested in the literature, none are entirely satisfactory. All treat the integral and diffusive terms asymmetrically and are difficult to extend to higher dimensions. We present a new, efficient algorithm, based on transform methods, which symmetrically treats the diffusive and integrals terms, is applicable to a wide class of path-dependent options (such as Bermudan, barrier, and shout options) and options on multiple assets, and naturally extends to regime-switching Levy models. We present a concise study of the precision and convergence properties of our algorithm for several classes of options and Levy models and demonstrate that the algorithm is second-order in space and first-order in time for path-dependent options.
Deterministic Sensor Data Scheduling Under Limited Communication Resource

We consider finite time-horizon sensor data scheduling under limited communication resource. A sensor can only send d of its measurement data to a remote estimator within a time-horizon T >;>; d. When use the terminal estimation error covariance of the estimator as a performance metric, we provide an explicit form of the optimal data schedule; when use the average estimation error covariance as a performance metric, we provide a necessary condition for a schedule to be optimal for a general T . When T has a special form, the necessary condition allows us to construct an explicit optimal data schedule.
Probing the Proper Motion of the Central Compact Object in Puppis-A

For further information, please contact: dhui@mpe.mpg. de ABSTRACT: Using two observations taken with the High Resolution Camera (HRC-I) aboard the Chandra X-ray satellite, we have examined the central compact object RX J0822-4300 for a possible proper motion. The position of RX J0822-4300 is found to be different by 0.574±0.184 arcsec, implying a proper motion of 107.49±34.46 mas/yr with a position angle of 241±24 degree. For a distance of 2.2 kpc, this proper motion is equivalent to a recoil velocity of 1121.79±359.60 km/s. Both the magnitude and the direction of the proper motion are in agreement with the birth place of RX J0822-4300 being near to the optical expansion center of the supernova remnant. Although this is a promissing indication of a fast moving compact object in a supernova remnant, the relative large error prevents any constraining conclusion.
Depressive symptoms, anxiety, and perceived competence as predictors of goal orientation

Research has established that there are important psychological and educational consequences to the goal orientations that students adopt (Harackiewicz, Barron, Tauer, Carter, & Elliot, 2000). Therefore, it is important to understand the antecedents of such goal orientations, an area that has received little empirical work (Braten & Stromso, 2006; Pintrich & Schunk, 2002). Given this need, and the relevance of depression and anxiety to student learning and well being (Pekrun, Elliot, & Maier, 2006), this study provides important information by examining the relationship between these two domains. Multiple-regression analyses conducted on data collected from 196 post secondary students revealed performance avoid and mastery orientation were significantly predicted by measures of depressive symptoms and perceived academic competence. Different affect and goal patterns were found for males and females, with trait anxiety being a strong predictor of performance avoid orientation for females but not males. There were different affect and goal patterns for students in their first semester
A Sufficient Condition for Secure Ping-Pong Protocols

A su(cid:14)cient condition for secure ping{pong protocols is repretsented. This condition, called name{ su(cid:14)xing , is essentially to insert identities of participants in messages. We prove its su(cid:14)ciency and discuss the feature of security in terms of name{su(cid:14)xing.
Knowledge, Technology and Economic Growth: Recent Evidence from OECD Countries

This paper discusses some of the recent developments in growth theory, doing so from the perspective of a small open economy. After setting out a basic generic model, we show how it may yield two of the key models that have played a prominent role in the recent literature, the endogenous growth model and the non-scale growth model. We focus initially on the former, emphasizing how the simplest such model leads to an equilibrium in which the economy is always on its balanced growth path. One aspect of the model is the importance of fiscal policy as a determinant of the equilibrium growth rate, an aspect that is discussed in detail. We also show how the endogeneity or otherwise of the labor supply is crucial in determining the equilibrium growth rate and its responsiveness to macroeconomic policy. But transitional dynamics are an important aspect of the growth process and indeed much research has been directed to determining the speed with which the economy converges to its balanced growth path. We discuss alternative ways that such transitional dynamics may be introduced. These include (i) restricted access to the world capital market; (ii) the introduction of government capital , and (iii) the two-sector production model, pioneered by Lucas. In the original analysis, the two capital goods relate to physical and human capital and in the international context these naturally can be identified with traded and nontraded capital, respectively. Criticism of the endogenous growth model has led to the development of the nonscale growth model. This too is characterized by transitional dynamics, which are more flexible than those of the corresponding endogenous growth model. This model is much closer to the neoclassical model; in particular, the long-run growth rate is independent of macroeconomic policy. However, since such models are typically associated with slow convergence speeds, policy can influence the accumulation of capital for extended periods of time, leading to significant long-run level effects. The discussion seeks to emphasize the adaptability of the models to a wide range of issues. A final extension addresses the impact of volatililty on growth. This has been extensively analyzed empirically and a stochastic extension of the endogenous growth model provides a convenient framework within which to interpret this research.
A COMPREHENSIVE LONGITUDINAL TEST OF THE ACQUIRED PREPAREDNESS MODEL FOR MARIJUANA USE AMONG ADOLESCENTS

Title of Thesis: A COMPREHENSIVE LONGITUDINAL TEST OF THE ACQUIRED PREPAREDNESS MODEL FOR MARIJUANA USE AMONG ADOLESCENTS Andrew Lee Ninnemann, Master of Science, 2016 Thesis directed by: Dr. Edward Bernat, Psychology Department The acquired preparedness model (APM) proposes that drug expectancies mediate the influence of disinhibited personality traits on substance use. The APM provides a useful theoretical basis for the study of marijuana use initiation with a particular emphasis on marijuana-relevant outcome expectancies regarding the function of marijuana use. This prospective study sought to examine how different expectancies about the use of marijuana may mediate the relation between trait disinhibition and eventual marijuana use. To our knowledge, our study is the first to perform a longitudinal examination of the APM as it relates to marijuana use as well as the first to examine this theoretical process across middle adolescence. We found no support for the APM among the higher-order domains of positive or negative marijuana expectancies. Second, among our exploratory analyses, we failed to find support for any of the lower-order domains of marijuana expectancies as a mediator between disinhibition and marijuana use. A COMPREHENSIVE LONGITUDINAL TEST OF THE ACQUIRED PREPAREDNESS MODEL FOR MARIJUANA USE AMONG ADOLESCENTS by Andrew Lee Ninnemann Thesis submitted to the Faculty of the Graduate School of the University of Maryland College Park, in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Science 2016 Advisory Committee: Dr. Jack Blanchard, Chair Dr. Edward Bernat Dr. Julia Felton © Copyright by Andrew Lee Ninnemann 2016
A 3D passive dynamic biped with yaw and roll compensation

Autonomous walking bipedal machines, possibly useful for rehabilitation and entertainment purposes, need a high energy efficiency, offered by the concept of ‘Passive Dynamic Walking' (exploitation of the natural dynamics of the robot). 2D passive dynamic bipeds have been shown to be inherently stable, but in the third dimension two problematic degrees of freedom are introduced: yaw and roll. We propose a design for a 3D biped with a pelvic body as a passive dynamic compensator, which will compensate for the undesired yaw and roll motion, and allow the rest of the robot to move as if it were a 2D machine. To test our design, we perform numerical simulations on a multibody model of the robot. With limit cycle analysis we calculate the stability of the robot when walking at its natural speed. The simulation shows that the compensator, indeed, effectively compensates for both the yaw and the roll motion, and that the walker is stable.
(corticales, sous-corticales et mixtes) : jugements moraux et conventionnels

La sociocognition est un acteur important dans les interactions humaines. Les sujets souffrant de demence peuvent presenter des troubles dans ce domaine. Dans cette etude, nous presentons un protocole permettant d'evaluer les habiletes sociocognitives, en particulier les normes sociales a travers une tâche de jugements moraux et conventionnels (JMC), chez des patients cerebroleses. 17 patients ont ete inclus : 7 atteints de demence fronto-temporale (DFT), 4 de demence a corps de Lewy (DCL) et 6 de la maladie de Parkinson (MdP). Ils ont ete compares a 52 sujets sains dans le but d'etudier leurs justifications verbales et d'ameliorer la grille d'analyse elaboree par Ehrle et al. (2011). Le but etant de chercher des troubles de la sociocognition a des fins diagnostiques. Dans cette tâche, les sujets doivent juger de la permissivite de l'acte presente et du degre de gravite sur une echelle de 1 a 5. Ensuite, ils doivent justifier leur choix et evaluer de nouveau la permissivite en imaginant que la loi autorise l'acte. Les patients DCL et MdP n'ont pas fait l'objet d'une analyse suffisamment poussee. Les patients DFT presentent des troubles sociocognitifs. Dans la tâche de JMC, ils sont plus permissifs apres levee de la juridiction en comparaison des sujets controle. De plus, ils produisent des justifications verbales jamais rencontrees dans d'autres pathologies, nous amenant a creer 2 nouvelles categories plus adaptees dans la grille d'analyse.
THE HOST GALAXIES OF SHORT-DURATION GAMMA-RAY BURSTS: LUMINOSITIES, METALLICITIES, AND STAR FORMATION RATES

The association of some short-duration gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) with elliptical galaxies established that their progenitors, unlike those of long GRBs, belong to an old stellar population. However, the majority of short GRBs appear to occur in star forming galaxies, raising the possibility that some progenitors are related to recent star formation activity. Here, we present optical spectroscopy of these hosts and measure their luminosities, star formation rates, and metallicities. We find luminosities of LB ≈ 0.1–1.5 L*, star formation rates of SFR ≈ 0.2–6 M☉ yr−1, and metallicities of 12 + log(O/H) ≈ 8.5–8.9 (Z ≈ 0.6–1.6 Z☉). A detailed comparison to the hosts of long GRBs reveals systematically higher luminosities, lower specific star formation rates (SFR/LB) by about an order of magnitude, and higher metallicities by about 0.6 dex. The Kolmogorov–Smirnov probability that the short and long GRB hosts are drawn from the same underlying galaxy distribution is only ∼10−3. Short GRB hosts exhibit excellent agreement with the specific star formation rates and the luminosity–metallicity relation of field galaxies at z ∼ 0.1–1. We thus conclude that short GRB hosts are not dominated by young stellar populations like long GRB hosts. Instead, short GRB hosts appear to be drawn uniformly from the underlying field galaxy distribution, indicating that the progenitors have a wide age distribution of several Gyr.
Fundamental classes not representable by products

We prove that rationally essential manifolds with suitably large fundamental groups do not admit any maps of non‐zero degree from products of closed manifolds of positive dimension. Particular examples include all manifolds of non‐positive sectional curvature of rank one and all irreducible locally symmetric spaces of non‐compact type. For closed manifolds from certain classes, say non‐positively curved ones, or certain surface bundles over surfaces, we show that they do admit maps of non‐zero degree from non‐trivial products if and only if they are virtually diffeomorphic to products.
Wireless sensor network faulty scenes diagnosis using high dimensional Neighborhood Hidden Conditional Random Field

Wireless sensor networks are widely deployed in different industrial applications. Fault diagnosis of sensors is essential for maintaining a robust WSN operation. In this paper, we show faulty sensors diagnosis can be transformed into a pattern classification problem. We also introduce an efficient algorithm, called, Neighborhood Hidden Conditional Random Field, to recognize sensor states and the faulty scene of an WSN. Compared to conventional methods, the proposed diagnosis method incorporating hidden states can estimate the posterior probability of different faulty scenes. In addition, nearest neighbors are selected for estimating the dependencies among sensors, and the dependencies are subsequently used for diagnosing faulty scenes. Simulations based on an WSN are presented to show the effectiveness of the proposed methods. The results demonstrate that our proposed algorithm can achieve better classification performance compared with other state-of-art methods.
Does a 'Two-Pillar Phillips Curve' Justify a Two-Pillar Monetary Policy Strategy?

Arguments for a prominent role for attention to the growth rate of monetary aggregates in the conduct of monetary policy are often based on references to low-frequency reduced-form relationships between money growth and inflation. The 'two-pillar Phillips curve' proposed by Gerlach (2004) has recently attracted a great deal of interest in the euro area, where it is sometimes supposed to provide empirical support for the wisdom of a 'two-pillar strategy' that uses distinct analytical frameworks to assess shorter-run and longer-run risks to price stability. I show, however, that regression coefficients of the kind reported by Assenmacher-Wesche and Gerlach (2006a) among others are quite consistent with a 'new Keynesian' model of inflation determination, in which the quantity of money plays no role in inflation determination, at either high or low frequencies. I also show that empirical results of this kind do not in themselves establish that money growth must be useful in forecasting inflation, either in the short run or over a longer run. Hence they provide little support for the ECB's monetary 'pillar'.