Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Dynamical quantum groups at roots of 1

Given a dynamical twist for a finite dimensional Hopf algebra we construct two weak Hopf algebras, using methods of Xu and Etingof-Varchenko, and show that they are dual to each other. We generalize the theory of dynamical quantum groups to the case when the quantum parameter q is a root of unity. These objects turn out to be self-dual -- which is a fundamentally new property, not satisfied by the usual Drinfeld-Jimbo quantum groups.
A survey of multivariate aspects of the contraction method

We survey multivariate limit theorems in the framework of the contraction method for recursive sequences as arising in the analysis of algorithms, random trees or branching processes. We compare and improve various general conditions under which limit laws can be obtained, state related open problems and give applications to the analysis of algorithms and branching recurrences.
Stochastic Analysis on RAID Reliability for Solid-State Drives

Solid-state drives (SSDs) have been widely deployed in desktops and data centers. However, SSDs suffer from bit errors, and the bit error rate is time dependent since it increases as an SSD wears down. Traditional storage systems mainly use parity-based RAID to provide reliability guarantees by striping redundancy across multiple devices, but the effectiveness of RAID in SSDs remains debatable as parity updates aggravate the wearing and bit error rates of SSDs. In particular, an open problem is that how different parity distributions over multiple devices, such as the even distribution suggested by conventional wisdom, or uneven distributions proposed in recent RAID schemes for SSDs, may influence the reliability of an SSD RAID array. To address this fundamental problem, we propose the first analytical model to quantify the reliability dynamics of an SSD RAID array. Specifically, we develop a "non-homogeneous" continuous time Markov chain model, and derive the transient reliability solution. We validate our model via trace-driven simulations and conduct numerical analysis to provide insights into the reliability dynamics of SSD RAID arrays under different parity distributions and subject to different bit error rates and array configurations. Designers can use our model to decide the appropriate parity distribution based on their reliability requirements.
It’s All in the Name, or Is It? The Impact of Labeling on Health State Values

Background. Many descriptions of health used in vignettes and condition-specific measures name the medical condition. This article assesses the impact of referring to the medical condition in the descriptions of health states valued by members of the general population. Methods. A valuation study was conducted using face-to-face interviews involving the time trade-off valuation technique. All respondents valued essentially the same health states, but for each respondent, the descriptions featured an irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) label, a cancer label, or no label. Random effects generalized least squares regressions were used to estimate the impact of each label and experience of the condition on health state values. Data. A sample of 241 members of the UK general population each valued 8 states, generating 1910 observations (response rate = 39%, completion rate = 99% for all states). Results. The authors find no significant difference between health state values when the description contains no label or an IBS label. They find that the inclusion of a cancer label in health state descriptions affects health state values and that the impact is dependent on the severity of the state, with a significant reduction in values for more severe health states (up to −0.25 for the worst possible state) but no significant difference for mild states. Conclusions. A condition label can affect health state values, but this is dependent on the specific condition and severity. The authors recommend avoiding condition labels in health state descriptions (where possible) to ensure that values are not affected by prior knowledge or preconception of the condition that may distort the health state being valued.
Velocity-matched distributed photodetectors with high-saturation power and large bandwidth

A high-power, high-bandwidth photodetector is experimentally demonstrated using a novel velocity-matched distributed photodetector (VMDP). The distributed photodetector structure can achieve large absorption volume and high-saturation power while maintaining the high-speed performance of the fast photodiodes. The VMDP with 56 mA saturation photocurrent and an instrument-limited 3-dB bandwidth of 49 GHz is achieved. The results show that VMDP is ideal for high-performance microwave fiber-optic links and high-power optical-microwave applications.
Pesticide Exposure and Inherited Variants in Vitamin D Pathway Genes in Relation to Prostate Cancer

Background: Vitamin D and its metabolites are believed to impede carcinogenesis by stimulating cell differentiation, inhibiting cell proliferation, and inducing apoptosis. Certain pesticides have been shown to deregulate vitamin D's anticarcinogenic properties. We hypothesize that certain pesticides may be linked to prostate cancer via an interaction with vitamin D genetic variants. Methods: We evaluated interactions between 41 pesticides and 152 single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNP) in nine vitamin D pathway genes among 776 prostate cancer cases and 1,444 male controls in a nested case–control study of Caucasian pesticide applicators within the Agricultural Health Study. We assessed Pinteraction values using likelihood ratio tests from unconditional logistic regression and a false discovery rate (FDR) to account for multiple comparisons. Results: Five significant interactions (P < 0.01) displayed a monotonic increase in prostate cancer risk with individual pesticide use in one genotype and no association in the other. These interactions involved parathion and terbufos use and three vitamin D genes (VDR, RXRB, and GC). The exposure–response pattern among participants with increasing parathion use with the homozygous CC genotype for GC rs7041 compared with unexposed participants was noteworthy [low vs. no exposure: OR, 2.58, 95% confidence interval (CI), 1.07–6.25; high vs. no exposure: OR, 3.09, 95% CI, 1.10–8.68; Pinteraction = 3.8 × 10−3]. Conclusions: In this study, genetic variations in vitamin D pathway genes, particularly GC rs7041, an SNP previously linked to lower circulating vitamin D levels, modified pesticide associations with prostate cancer risk. Impact: Because our study is the first to examine this relationship, additional studies are needed to rule out chance findings. Cancer Epidemiol Biomarkers Prev; 22(9); 1557–66. ©2013 AACR.
VANET routing protocol for V2V implementation: A suitable solution for developing countries

Abstract During the last decade Intelligent Transportation System (ITS) research and development, including its implementation in a real life going through the optimization in order to have the best and accurate results is growing exponentially. Now ITS topics are standing on a solid ground. Many European countries and USA started to implement and use them. In the developing countries the infrastructure is not established well with a lot of challenges (ex. Infrastructure cost, …). In this paper, Vehicle-to-Vehicle (V2V) implementation will be used as a standalone for ITS architecture in the developing countries without Road site units (RSU) infrastructure to overcome the current challenges. To do that, a full simulation for different Vehicular Ad-Hoc Network (VANET) routing protocols will be done using Opnet simulator to select the best protocol for V2V Implementation. Then the best V2V routing protocol based on the paper’s Key Performance Indicators and point of view will be used to compare between two different architectures, one with V2V + RSU implementation and the other one with proposed V2V only implementation. The results demonstrate that the proposed ITS architecture based on V2V only without RSU is capable of implementing ITS in developing countries.
Modelling landfill degradation behaviour

Landfill gas is a term used to describe the mixture of gases created by the decomposition of waste within a landfill. A landfill gas generation model is a tool that describes in simple terms the complex changes that occur during decomposition of waste in a landfill. The majority of simple models take into account microbial growth and decay only. The more complex models (known as component models) include not only microbial growth and decay, but also liquid, gas and heat transport through the waste, settlement and the chemical reactions that take place within the landfill. The majority of these models have been verified using laboratory scale data only and are highly parameter hungry. Landfill operators are very unlikely to use such complex models; since the majority of the required parameters are expensive and difficult to obtain at full-scale, or the historical data required to obtain them has never been collected. A better model for full-scale landfills is required based on the more sophisticated component models, but with fewer parameters, and able to be used by operators. To work towards developing such a model, an investigation is required examining existing models to determine the effect of the data set scale on the predictions from models and the sensitivity of the input parameters. An explanation of the processes involved in the generation of landfill gas, and a comparison of existing landfill models is presented. This thesis compares the predictions from five landfill models: two state of the art component models, a commonly used simple microbial growth and decay model and two simple Monod degradation models developed by the author. The scope of this thesis is the examination of the degradation component of landfill models and not subsequent transport and settlement components. The five models were selected to examine the parameter sensitivity of the various models at three different scales: laboratory scale: HPM2 challenge, UK (0.15 m), field test cell: Brogborough test cells, UK (20,000 m) and full-scale: Narre Warren landfill, Australia (3.5 x10 m). Detailed information on the three data sets is provided. Relationships are developed between the critical model input parameters and the cumulative gas generation. These developed relationships will aid in the selection of input parameters for other landfills. The most sensitive input parameters required for
Topological Hochschild homology of ℓ and ko

We calculate the integral homotopy groups of THH $(\ell)$ at any prime and of THH $(ko)$ at $p=2$, where $\ell$ is the Adams summand of the connective complex $p$-local $K$-theory spectrum and $ko$ is the connective real $K$-theory spectrum.
Social Complexification and Pig (Sus scrofa) Husbandry in Ancient China: A Combined Geometric Morphometric and Isotopic Approach

Pigs have played a major role in the economic, social and symbolic systems of China since the Early Neolithic more than 8,000 years ago. However, the interaction between the history of pig domestication and transformations in Chinese society since then, have not been fully explored. In this paper, we investigated the co-evolution from the earliest farming communities through to the new political and economic models of state-like societies, up to the Chinese Empire, using 5,000 years of archaeological records from the Xiawanggang (XWG) and Xinzhai (XZ) sites (Henan Province). To trace the changes of pig populations against husbandry practices, we combined the geometric morphometric analysis of dental traits with a study of the stable carbon and nitrogen isotope ratios from bone collagen. The domestication process intensified during the Neolithic Yangshao, prompted by greater selective pressure and/or better herd control against wild introgression. After that, pig farming, in XWG, relied on local livestock and a gradual change of husbandry practices overtime. This was characterized by a gentle increase in millet foddering and animal protein intake, until a complete change over to household management during the Han dynasty. The only rupture in this steady trend of husbandry occurred during the Longshan period, with the appearance of small sized and idiosyncratic pigs with specific feeding practices (relying on millet and household scraps). From three exploratory hypothesis, we explored the possibility of anti-elite pig production in XWG during the Longshan period, as a means to resist incorporation into a new economic model promoting intensified domestic production. This exploratory hypothesis is the most suitable to our dataset; however, numerous areas need to be explored further in order to adequately document the role of pigs in the rise of China’s complex societies.
Crop discrimination with multitemporal SPOT/HRV data in the Saga Plains, Japan

Nine scenes of SPOT/HRV data obtained in eight different months in 1997 were evaluated for crop discrimination in the Saga Plains, Japan. All images were atmospherically corrected with the 6S code. Annual Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) profiles were generated to characterize seasonal trends in six cropping systems (rice, rice-winter cereal, soybean, soybean-winter cereal, lotus, and rush). The dataset of this study showed the unique temporal change patterns of NDVI for each cropping system. Separability analyses determined optimal scene combinations for the highest accuracy in classifying the cropping systems. The scene combinations for the accurate classification of cropping systems were obtained from three separability measurements (Euclidean spectral distance, divergence, and Jeffries-Matsushita distance). Kappa statistics were applied to evaluate the classification accuracies. The four-scene combination that was derived from April, June, July and September classified the cropping systems almost as well as those combinations including more scenes. A colour composition technique applied to the three-scene combination that showed the highest separability also discriminated each cropping system. Based on these results, we can request observations during specific time intervals considering local crop calendars and environmental conditions.
Complex regulation of the TIR1/AFB family of auxin receptors

Auxin regulates most aspects of plant growth and development. The hormone is perceived by the TIR1/AFB family of F-box proteins acting in concert with the Aux/IAA transcriptional repressors. Arabidopsis plants that lack members of the TIR1/AFB family are auxin resistant and display a variety of growth defects. However, little is known about the functional differences between individual members of the family. Phylogenetic studies reveal that the TIR1/AFB proteins are conserved across land plant lineages and fall into four clades. Three of these subgroups emerged before separation of angiosperms and gymnosperms whereas the last emerged before the monocot-eudicot split. This evolutionary history suggests that the members of each clade have distinct functions. To explore this possibility in Arabidopsis, we have analyzed a range of mutant genotypes, generated promoter swap transgenic lines, and performed in vitro binding assays between individual TIR1/AFB and Aux/IAA proteins. Our results indicate that the TIR1/AFB proteins have distinct biochemical activities and that TIR1 and AFB2 are the dominant auxin receptors in the seedling root. Further, we demonstrate that TIR1, AFB2, and AFB3, but not AFB1 exhibit significant posttranscriptional regulation. The microRNA miR393 is expressed in a pattern complementary to that of the auxin receptors and appears to regulate TIR1/AFB expression. However our data suggest that this regulation is complex. Our results suggest that differences between members of the auxin receptor family may contribute to the complexity of auxin response.
Effects of Conditional Overexpression of Spermidine/Spermine N 1-Acetyltransferase on Polyamine Pool Dynamics, Cell Growth, and Sensitivity to Polyamine Analogs*

Acetylation of polyamines by spermidine/spermineN 1-acetyltransferase (SSAT) has been implicated in their degradation and/or export out of the cell. The relationship of SSAT to polyamine pool dynamics and cell growth is not yet clearly understood. MCF-7 human breast carcinoma cells were transfected with tetracycline-regulated (Tet-off) SSAT human cDNA or murine gene. Doxycycline removal for >2 days caused a ∼20-fold increase in SSAT RNA and a ∼10-fold increase in enzyme activity. After 4 days, intracellular putrescine and spermidine pools were markedly lowered, and cell growth was inhibited. Growth inhibition could not be prevented with exogenous polyamines due to a previously unrecognized ability of SSAT to rapidly acetylate influxing polyamines and thereby prevent restoration of the endogenous pools. Instead, cells accumulated high levels of N 1 -acetylspermidine,N 1 -acetylspermine, andN 1,N 12 -diacetylspermine, a metabolite not previously reported in mammalian cells. Doxycycline deprivation before treatment withN 1,N 11-diethylnorspermine markedly increased analog induction of SSAT mRNA and activity and enhanced growth sensitivity to the analog by ∼100-fold. Overall, the findings demonstrate that conditional overexpression of SSAT lowers polyamine pools, inhibits cell growth, and markedly enhances growth sensitivity to certain analogs. The enzyme also plays a remarkably efficient role in maintaining polyamine pool homeostasis during challenges with exogenous polyamines.
A Comparative Study of Reaching-definitions Analyses

Reaching-deenitions analysis (RDA), i.e., computing the use sites of the left-hand sides of assignments, is a classical data-ow analysis (DFA) problem. For scalar variables, classical DFA provides a completely satisfying solution. It is simple, eecient, precise, general, automatically generable, and interprocedurally extensible without sacriicing any of the former properties. On the other hand, the level of granularity the RD-problem is investigated on is too coarse for many practically relevant applications, in particular, automatic parallelization. This led to the development of a broad variety of approaches enjoying quite diierent characteristics. Here, we consider these approaches under the perspective of the properties above, ordering them additionally in terms of a new taxonomy. The beneets of this approach are threefold. First, revealing the strengths and limitations of the diierent approaches under a uniform perspective, which, as a by-product, supports the well-founded choice of that approach being most appropriate for a speciic application proole; second, revealing the common shortcomings of current approaches, pointing directly to important issues of future work; and last but not least, third, bridging the gap between communities working (too often) independently on these issues. 1 Motivation Intuitively, reaching-deenitions analysis (RDA) is the problem of computing the set of use sites of the left-hand sides of assignments. This allows, for example, to say at compile-time whether, at a given point of program's execution, a speciic variable is initialized or not. Actually, this is a classical data-ow problem being a member of Hecht's famous taxonomy of data-ow problems (cf. 20]). In the variant considered by Hecht, RDA amounts to computing for every deenition in a program (i.e., for every assignment), the set of program points where the value assigned to the left-hand side of the deenition under consideration can be referenced without an intervening modiication. Actually, Hecht considered this problem for scalar variables allowing him his elegant formulation and eecient solution in terms of a bitvector problem. This notion stems from the fact that the reachability information can be simultaneously computed for all deenitions of a program: every deenition of the program is related to a speciic bit of the bitvector, which is suucient for encoding the Boolean information \reaching or not". Actually, Hecht's approach to RDA is not limited to scalar variables. It can straightforwardly be extended to uniformly capture subscripted variables, too. However, for a lot of practically relevant applications the level of granularity the RD-problem is investigated on, statement-wise …
Dynamic Encoding of Natural Luminance Sequences by LGN Bursts

In the lateral geniculate nucleus (LGN) of the thalamus, visual stimulation produces two distinct types of responses known as tonic and burst. Due to the dynamics of the T-type Ca 2+ channels involved in burst generation, the type of response evoked by a particular stimulus depends on the resting membrane potential, which is controlled by a network of modulatory connections from other brain areas. In this study, we use simulated responses to natural scene movies to describe how modulatory and stimulus-driven changes in LGN membrane potential interact to determine the luminance sequences that trigger burst responses. We find that at low resting potentials, when the T channels are de-inactivated and bursts are relatively frequent, an excitatory stimulus transient alone is sufficient to evoke a burst. However, to evoke a burst at high resting potentials, when the T channels are inactivated and bursts are relatively rare, prolonged inhibitory stimulation followed by an excitatory transient is required. We also observe evidence of these effects in vivo, where analysis of experimental recordings demonstrates that the luminance sequences that trigger bursts can vary dramatically with the overall burst percentage of the response. To characterize the functional consequences of the effects of resting potential on burst generation, we simulate LGN responses to different luminance sequences at a range of resting potentials with and without a mechanism for generating bursts. Using analysis based on signal detection theory, we show that bursts enhance detection of specific luminance sequences, ranging from the onset of excitatory sequences at low resting potentials to the offset of inhibitory sequences at high resting potentials. These results suggest a dynamic role for burst responses during visual processing that may change according to behavioral state.