Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Multi-objective optimization for security games

The burgeoning area of security games has focused on real-world domains where security agencies protect critical infrastructure from a diverse set of adaptive adversaries. There are security domains where the payoffs for preventing the different types of adversaries may take different forms (seized money, reduced crime, saved lives, etc) which are not readily comparable. Thus, it can be difficult to know how to weigh the different payoffs when deciding on a security strategy. To address the challenges of these domains, we propose a fundamentally different solution concept, multi-objective security games (MOSG), which combines security games and multi-objective optimization. Instead of a single optimal solution, MOSGs have a set of Pareto optimal (non-dominated) solutions referred to as the Pareto frontier. The Pareto frontier can be generated by solving a sequence of constrained single-objective optimization problems (CSOP), where one objective is selected to be maximized while lower bounds are specified for the other objectives. Our contributions include: (i) an algorithm, Iterative e-Constraints, for generating the sequence of CSOPs; (ii) an exact approach for solving an MILP formulation of a CSOP (which also applies to multi-objective optimization in more general Stackelberg games); (iii) heuristics that achieve speedup by exploiting the structure of security games to further constrain a CSOP; (iv) an approximate approach for solving an algorithmic formulation of a CSOP, increasing the scalability of our approach with quality guarantees. Additional contributions of this paper include proofs on the level of approximation and detailed experimental evaluation of the proposed approaches.
Reduction of PKCα decreases cell proliferation, migration, and invasion of human malignant hepatocellular carcinoma

Protein kinase C (PKC) superfamily play key regulatory roles on the development of cancer. However, the exact role of these enzymes in human hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) has not been well established. Using the RT‐PCR and Western blotting to analyze the levels of PKC isoforms mRNA and protein in the five different differentiated hepatoma cell lines, we found that PKCα was highly expressed in the poor‐differentiated HCC cell lines (SK‐Hep‐1 and HA22T/VGH) as compared with that in the well‐differentiated HCC cell lines (PLC/PRF/5, Hep3B, and HepG2). When treated with PKCα antisense oligonucleotides (ODN), both HA22T/VGH and SK‐Hep‐1 cells lines showed the reduction of PKCα expression, as well as a deceleration in the growth rate and in the level of cyclin D1, but the increase in the levels of p53 and p21WAF1/CIP1. Moreover, the reduction of PKCα expression also inhibited the migratory and invasive potential of both HA22T/VGH and SK‐Hep‐1 cells lines, and revealed a down‐regulation of several migration/invasion‐related genes (MMP‐1, u‐PA, u‐PAR, and FAK). These phenomenon were also confirmed by DNA‐based small interfering RNA (siRNA) PKCα and PKCα/β specific inhibitor Go6976. Thus, the results indicated that PKCα may be associated with regulation of cell proliferation/migration/invasion in human poorly differentiated HCC cells, suggesting a role for the PKCα in the malignant progression of human HCC. J. Cell. Biochem. 103: 9–20, 2008. © 2007 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
LS3MIP (v1.0) Contribution to CMIP6: The Land Surface, Snow and Soil Moisture Model Intercomparison Project Aims, Setup and Expected Outcome.

The Land Surface, Snow and Soil Moisture Model Intercomparison Project (LS3MIP) is designed to provide a comprehensive assessment of land surface, snow and soil moisture feedbacks on climate variability and climate change, and to diagnose systematic biases in the land modules of current Earth system models (ESMs). The solid and liquid water stored at the land surface has a large influence on the regional climate, its variability and predictability, including effects on the energy, water and carbon cycles. Notably, snow and soil moisture affect surface radiation and flux partitioning properties, moisture storage and land surface memory. They both strongly affect atmospheric conditions, in particular surface air temperature and precipitation, but also large-scale circulation patterns. However, models show divergent responses and representations of these feedbacks as well as systematic biases in the underlying processes. LS3MIP will provide the means to quantify the associated uncertainties and better constrain climate change projections, which is of particular interest for highly vulnerable regions (densely populated areas, agricultural regions, the Arctic, semi-arid and other sensitive terrestrial ecosystems). The experiments are subdivided in two components, the first addressing systematic land biases in offline mode (“LMIP”, building upon the 3rd phase of Global Soil Wetness Project; GSWP3) and the second addressing land feedbacks attributed to soil moisture and snow in an integrated framework (“LFMIP”, building upon the GLACE-CMIP blueprint).
Learning, Growth and Climate Feedbacks Does the Fat Tail Wag the Dog? *

We study the effect of potentially severe climate change on near-term optimal climate change policy, accounting for learning and uncertainty in the climate system. In particular, we study the possibility that a doubling of greenhouse gasses causes very high temperature changes (a high climate sensitivity). We build an integrated assessment model to test how fat tails in the distribution of the climate sensitivity caused by uncertainties in the climate system affect economic growth and abatement policy. In addition, we examine whether and how fast uncertainties could be diminished through Bayesian learning. Preliminary results indicate that while learning is slow, fat tails diminish quickly if no climate disaster exists, since observations near the mean provide evidence against fat tails. However, the larger the true climate sensitivity, the slower the fat tails diminish. Thus, if the true climate sensivity is large, fat tailed uncertainty diminishes more slowly.
On spatial smoothing for two-dimensional direction-of-arrival estimation of coherent signals

We present an analysis of the spatial smoothing schemes extended for the estimation of two-dimensional directions of arrival of coherent signals using a uniform rectangular array. The scheme extended from the plain spatial smoothing technique is shown requiring at least (2K-1) specifically chosen square subarrays, each with size (K+1)x(K+1) at least, in order to guarantee the "decorrelation" of K coherent signals in all possible situations. The minimum size of the total array is shown to be 2K/spl times/2K. <<ETX>>
Utilization of excitation signal harmonics for control of nonlinear systems

Many model based control methods exist in the literature. Producing a sufficient system model can be cumbersome and a new non-model based method for control of nonlinear systems with input/output maps exhibiting sigmoid function properties is therefore proposed. The method utilizes an excitation signal together with Fourier analysis to generate a feedback signal and simulations have shown that different system gains and time constants does not change the global equilibrium/operating point. An evaporator in a refrigeration system was used as example in the simulations, however, it is anticipated that the method is applicable in a wide variety of systems satisfying the sigmoid function properties.
Apolipoprotein E e4 Allele Increases the Risk of Early Postoperative Delirium in Older Patients Undergoing Noncardiac Surgery

Background:Whether patients who subsequently develop early postoperative delirium have a genetic predisposition that renders them at risk for postoperative delirium has not been determined. Methods:The authors conducted a nested cohort study to include patients aged ≥ 65 yr who were scheduled to undergo major noncardiac surgery requiring anesthesia. A structured interview was conducted preoperatively and for the first 2 days postoperatively to determine the presence of delirium, defined using the Confusion Assessment Method. Blood was drawn for measurement of the apolipoprotein genotypes. Bivariate tests of association were conducted between delirium and apolipoprotein genotypes and other potentially important risk factors. Variables that had significant bivariate association with postoperative delirium were entered in a forward multivariable logistic regression model. Results:Of the 190 patients studied, 15.3% developed delirium on both days 1 and 2 after surgery. Forty-six patients (24.2%) had at least one copy of the apolipoprotein e4 allele. The presence of one copy of the e4 allele was associated with an increased risk of early postoperative delirium (28.3% vs. 11.1%; P = 0.005). Even after adjusting for covariates, patients with one copy of the e4 allele were still more likely to have an increased risk of early postoperative delirium (odds ratio, 3.64; 95% confidence interval, 1.51–8.77) compared with those without the e4 allele. Conclusions:Apolipoprotein e4 carrier status was associated with an increased risk for early postoperative delirium after controlling for known demographic and clinical risk factors. These results suggest that genetic predisposition plays a role and may interact with anesthetic/surgical factors contributing to the development of early postoperative delirium.
Business Compliance Governance in Service-Oriented Architectures

Governing business compliance with regulations, laws, best practices, contracts, and the like is not an easy task, and so far there are only limited software products available that help a company to express compliance rules and to analyze its compliance state. We argue that today’s SOA-based way of implementing and conducting business (e.g., using Web services and business process engines) lends itself very well to the development of a comprehensive compliance government solution that effectively aids companies in being compliant. In this paper, we contextualize the compliance problem in SOA-based businesses, we highlight which are the most salient research challenges that need to be addressed, and we describe our approach to compliance governance, spanning design, execution, and evaluation concerns.
WLAN security processor

A novel wireless local area network (WLAN) security processor is described in this paper. It is designed to offload security encapsulation processing from the host microprocessor in an IEEE 802.11i compliant medium access control layer to a programmable hardware accelerator. The unique design, which comprises dedicated cryptographic instructions and hardware coprocessors, is capable of performing wired equivalent privacy, temporal key integrity protocol, counter mode with cipher block chaining message authentication code protocol, and wireless robust authentication protocol. Existing solutions to wireless security have been implemented on hardware devices and target specific WLAN protocols whereas the programmable security processor proposed in this paper provides support for all WLAN protocols and thus, can offer backwards compatibility as well as future upgrade ability as standards evolve. It provides this additional functionality while still achieving equivalent throughput rates to existing architectures.
ISOLATION OF BOVINE VIRAL DIARRHEA VIRUS FROM A FREE-RANGING MULE DEER IN WYOMING

A noncytopathic type 1a bovine viral diarrhea virus (BVDV) was isolated from a free-ranging yearling female mule deer (Odocoileus hemionus) from northwestern Wyoming (USA). The mule deer was emaciated, weak, and salivating, and Arcanobacterium pyogenes was cultured from lung abscesses. Bovine viral diarrhea virus was isolated from lung, however, BVDV antigen was not detected by immunohistochemistry. The BVDV genotype was determined by reverse transcriptase polymerase chain reaction and the RNA sequences from the 5′UTR and E2 genes compared with sequences of a type 1a BVDV isolated from cattle from the same area as the deer. The sequences from the deer BVDV were distinct from those of the bovine type 1a BVDV, but similar to other bovine type 1a BVDVs. Seventy-four (60%) of 124 sera collected from mule deer in this area had serum neutralizing antibody titers to type 1a BVDV of ≥1:32. The high prevalence of seropositive mule deer and isolation of BVDV suggests that this virus circulates in the mule deer population. The isolate described in this report is the second reported BVDV isolate from free-ranging deer in North America and the first from a mule deer.
In vivo metabolism of 2,6,9-trisubstituted purine-derived cyclin-dependent kinase inhibitor bohemine in mice: glucosidation as the principal metabolic route.

Synthetic cyclin-dependent kinase inhibitors have recently been referred to as effective antiproliferative agents. This study was conducted to characterize clearance of a 3H-labeled, trisubstituted purine-type inhibitor, 8-[3H]bohemine [6-benzylamino-2-(3-hydroxypropylamino)-9-isopropylpurine], in mice. Radioactivity profiles were analyzed by liquid scintillation counting and by thin layer chromatography followed by autoradiography. Metabolite structures were elucidated by mass spectrometry, NMR, and enzymatic analyses. Bohemine was rapidly and completely metabolized in vivo and disappeared from circulation during the first 60 min following intravenous administration. The metabolites were partly eliminated by the hepatobiliary tract and partly by renal excretion. The terminal hydroxyl group located at the C2 side chain of bohemine made the compound susceptible to main metabolic attacks, i.e., distinct types of conjugation reactions with glycosyl donors as well as an oxidative reaction. Other pathways were of relatively minor significance. Bohemine O-beta-D-glucoside was the most abundant metabolite to be excreted. The enzymatic mechanism responsible for bohemine glucosidation in vitro required the presence of a UDP-glucoside donor. Additional glycosidation products were observed after inclusion of UDP-glucuronide, UDP-xylose, UDP-galactose, or UDP-N-acetylglucosamine into microsomal incubates. Glycosidations occurred faster in the kidney incubates than in hepatic ones. The second principal bohemine metabolite was a carboxylic acid, 6-benzylamino-2-(2-carboxyethylamino)-9-isopropylpurine. A cytosolic, 4-methylpyrazole-sensitive alcohol dehydrogenase class I was shown to mediate oxidation of the terminal hydroxyl group of bohemine into this acid, which was the only metabolite found in the blood in significant amounts. However, it displayed only weak cyclin-dependent kinase-1-inhibitory activity (IC(50) > 100 microM) when compared with that of bohemine (IC(50) approximately 1 microM).
A Comparative Study on Interpolation Methods in Rebinning Circular Fan-Beam Data into Parallel-Beam Data

Computed Tomography (CT) scanners evolved from simple parallel-beam geometry into more complex fan-beam geometry. The rebinning mechanism to convert fan-beam projections to parallel-beam projections is one of the methods simplifying the reconstruction of the CT image. Various interpolation methods result in different numerical presentations and noisy textures in the reconstructed CT images. This paper evaluates three interpolation methods, linear, frequency domain and higher order in rebinning fan-beam data into parallel-beam data in the framework of the FBP algorithm in parallel-beam CTs. The high-contrast spatial resolution, modulation transfer function (MTF), and noise are used to quantify the image quality. The noise is expressed as the noise power spectrum (NPS) and noise variance of the reconstructed image containing only Poisson distributed noise. Our results show that the higher order interpolation, cubic-spline, is the most helpful to improve the image quality in rebinning. We further demonstrate that the rebinning data gives more satisfactory results for assessment of noise variance in comparison with the fan-beam data.
Steroids and bronchodilators for acute bronchiolitis in the first two years of life: systematic review and meta-analysis

Objective To evaluate and compare the efficacy and safety of bronchodilators and steroids, alone or combined, for the acute management of bronchiolitis in children aged less than 2 years. Design Systematic review and meta-analysis. Data sources Medline, Embase, Central, Scopus, PubMed, LILACS, IranMedEx, conference proceedings, and trial registers. Inclusion criteria Randomised controlled trials of children aged 24 months or less with a first episode of bronchiolitis with wheezing comparing any bronchodilator or steroid, alone or combined, with placebo or another intervention (other bronchodilator, other steroid, standard care). Review methods Two reviewers assessed studies for inclusion and risk of bias and extracted data. Primary outcomes were selected by clinicians a priori based on clinical relevance: rate of admission for outpatients (day 1 and up to day 7) and length of stay for inpatients. Direct meta-analyses were carried out using random effects models. A mixed treatment comparison using a Bayesian network model was used to compare all interventions simultaneously. Results 48 trials (4897 patients, 13 comparisons) were included. Risk of bias was low in 17% (n=8), unclear in 52% (n=25), and high in 31% (n=15). Only adrenaline (epinephrine) reduced admissions on day 1 (compared with placebo: pooled risk ratio 0.67, 95% confidence interval 0.50 to 0.89; number needed to treat 15, 95% confidence interval 10 to 45 for a baseline risk of 20%; 920 patients). Unadjusted results from a single large trial with low risk of bias showed that combined dexamethasone and adrenaline reduced admissions on day 7 (risk ratio 0.65, 0.44 to 0.95; number needed to treat 11, 7 to 76 for a baseline risk of 26%; 400 patients). A mixed treatment comparison supported adrenaline alone or combined with steroids as the preferred treatments for outpatients (probability of being the best treatment based on admissions at day 1 were 45% and 39%, respectively). The incidence of reported harms did not differ. None of the interventions examined showed clear efficacy for length of stay among inpatients. Conclusions Evidence shows the effectiveness and superiority of adrenaline for outcomes of most clinical relevance among outpatients with acute bronchiolitis, and evidence from a single precise trial for combined adrenaline and dexamethasone.
Phase-Priority based Directory Coherence for Multicore Processor

As the number of cores in a single chip increases, a typical implementation of coherence protocol adds significant hardware and complexity overhead. Besides, the performance of CMP system depends on the data access latency, which is highly affected by coherence protocol and on-chip interconnect. In this paper, we propose PPB (Phase-Priority Based) cache coherence protocol, an optimization of modern directory coherence protocol. We take advantage of the observation that transient states occur in directory coherence protocol, resulting in some unnecessary transient states and stalling. PPB cache coherence protocol decouples a coherence transaction and introduces the idea of phase message. This phase is considered as the priority of the message. Additionally, we also add new priority-based arbitrators in on-chip network to support PPB cache coherence protocol. This mechanism in on-chip network can support effective cache access, which makes the on-chip network more efficient. Our analysis on an execution-driven full system simulator using SPLASH-2 benchmark shows that PPB cache coherence outperforms a MESI based directory, and the number of unnecessary transient states and stalling reduces up to 24%. Also it reported the speedup of 7.4%. Other advantages of this strategy are reduced delay of flits and significantly less energy consumption in on-chip network.
Thermal Balancing Policy for Multiprocessor Stream Computing Platforms

Die-temperature control to avoid hotspots is increasingly critical in multiprocessor systems-on-chip (MPSoCs) for stream computing. In this context, thermal balancing policies based on task migration are a promising approach to redistribute power dissipation and even out temperature gradients. Since stream computing applications require strict quality of service and timing constraints, the real-time performance impact of thermal balancing policies must be carefully evaluated. In this paper, we present the design of a lightweight thermal balancing policy MiGra, which bounds on-chip temperature gradients via task migration. The proposed policy exploits run-time temperature as well as workload information of streaming applications to define suitable run-time thermal migration patterns, which minimize the number of deadline misses. Furthermore, we have experimentally assessed the effectiveness of our thermal balancing policy using a complete field-programmable-gate-array-based emulation of an actual three-core MPSoC streaming platform coupled with a thermal simulator. Our results indicate that MiGra achieves significantly better thermal balancing than state-of-the-art thermal management solutions while keeping the number of migrations bounded.
Comparison of Localization Algorithms for AGVs in Industrial Environments

Estimating the position and orientation of Automated Guided Vehicles (AGVs) in industrial environments is an important and difficult task. The main problems of this task are the changing industrial environments and the requirements on the positioning accuracy for docking applications. In current AGVs, special sensors for localization, which can guarantee accurate positioning with a high repeatability, are used. The drawbacks are their prices, the requirements concerning the construction of the AGV and the additional required safety sensors. In this paper three frequently discussed algorithms for position tracking are compared: the Extended Kalman Filter, the Unscented Kalman Filter and the Monte Carlo Particle Filter. To reduce costs of an AGV, distance measurements of the required safety laser range finder (LRF) are used. The positioning accuracy and the time behavior of the algorithms are analyzed and the movement and measurement functions of the used omnidirectional AGV are presented.
On the Film Thickness of Grease-Lubricated Contacts at Low Speeds

The contribution of the thickener to the thickness of the lubricating film in grease-lubricated contacts is investigated. Four different types of greases were tested in a ball/spherical roller-on-disc machine, where the film thickness was measured using the interferometry method, varying the temperature, load, and slip. The test results show that there are two lubrication regimes. Below a transition speed the grease thickener plays an important role where the film thickness increases with decreasing speed. At higher speeds the film thickness is primarily governed by the base oil. This transition speed is a function of the temperature and not of the load and slip. At higher speeds the grease film thickness can be calculated using the base oil viscosity. The electrical capacitance method was applied to measure the film thickness at ultralow speed in a real bearing, showing that the single contact results are indeed applicable to a full rolling bearing.