Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
The Manufacture of Northern Fluted Points: A Production Sequence Hypothesis

ABSTRACT Recent research has begun to shed light on the role the Northern Fluted Complex (NFC) played in the peopling of the Americas. Our understanding of NFC chronology and origins has increased with the discovery of new sites with buried and datable fluted-point components and digital means of morphological and technological continent-wide analyses. However, we have had few opportunities to observe examples of NFC points discarded early in the manufacturing process, hindering our understanding of NFC technology and, ultimately, Paleoindian behavior in the North. To resolve this problem, this research contributes a hypothesis of the NFC manufacture process developed from examination of exhausted fluted-point fragments and the addition of a small collection of artifacts that potentially represent earlier stages in the NFC reduction continuum. Flaking Index is used to identify the appropriate placement of artifacts in the reduction sequence. Experimental replication of NFC points is used to test the production sequence hypothesis.
NMF With Time–Frequency Activations to Model Nonstationary Audio Events

Real-world sounds often exhibit time-varying spectral shapes, as observed in the spectrogram of a harpsichord tone or that of a transition between two pronounced vowels. Whereas the standard non-negative matrix factorization (NMF) assumes fixed spectral atoms, an extension is proposed where the temporal activations (coefficients of the decomposition on the spectral atom basis) become frequency dependent and follow a time-varying autoregressive moving average (ARMA) modeling. This extension can thus be interpreted with the help of a source/filter paradigm and is referred to as source/filter factorization. This factorization leads to an efficient single-atom decomposition for a single audio event with strong spectral variation (but with constant pitch). The new algorithm is tested on real audio data and shows promising results.
Coalgebraic logic programming: from Semantics to Implementation

Coinductive definitions, such as that of an infinite stream, may often be described by elegant logic programs, but ones for which SLD-refutation is of no value as SLD-derivations fall into infinite loops. Such definitions give rise to questions of lazy corecursive derivations and parallelism, as execution of such logic programs can have both recursive and corecursive features at once. Observational and coalgebraic semantics have been used to study them abstractly. The programming developments have often occurred separately and have usually been implementation-led. Here, we give a coherent semantics-led account of the issues, starting with abstract category theoretic semantics, developing coalgebra to characterize naturally arising trees and proceeding towards implementation of a new dialect, CoALP, of logic programming, characterised by guarded lazy corecursion and parallelism.
Integration of dependent bayesian filters for robust tracking

Robotics applications based on computer vision algorithms are highly constrained to indoor environments where conditions may be controlled. The development of robust visual algorithms is necessary for improving the capabilities of many autonomous systems in outdoor and dynamic environments. In particular, this paper proposes a tracking algorithm robust to several artifacts which may be found in real world applications, such as lighting changes, cluttered backgrounds and unexpected target movements. In order to deal with these difficulties the proposed tracking methodology integrates several Bayesian filters. Each filter estimates the state of a particular object feature which is conditionally dependent on another feature estimated by a distinct filter. This dependence provides improved representations of the target, allowing to segment it out from the background of the image. We describe the updating procedure of the Bayesian filters by a 'hypotheses generation and correction' scheme. The main difference with respect to previous approaches is that the dependence between filters is considered during the feature observation, i.e., into the 'hypotheses correction' stage, instead of considering it when generating the hypotheses. This proves to be much more effective in terms of accuracy and reliability
mHealth Quality: A Process to Seal the Qualified Mobile Health Apps

A large number of mobile health applications (apps) are currently available with a variety of functionalities. The user ratings in the app stores seem not to be reliable to determine the quality of the apps. The traditional methods of evaluation are not suitable for fast paced nature of mobile technology. In this study, we propose a collaborative multidimensional scale to assess the quality of mHealth apps. During our process, the app quality is assessed in various aspects including medical reliability, legal consistency, ethical consistency, usability aspects, personal data privacy and IT security. A hypothetico-deductive approach was used in various working groups to define the audit criteria based on the various use cases that an app could provide. These criteria were then implemented into a web based self-administered questionnaires and the generation of automatic reports were considered. This method is on the one hand specific to each app because it allows to assess each health app according to its offered functionalities. On the other hand, this method is automatic, transferable to all apps and adapted to the dynamic nature of mobile technology.
A Comparison of Peer-to-Peer Search Methods

Peer-to-Peer networks have become a major research topic over the last few years. Object location is a major part in the operation of these distributed systems. In this work, we present an overview of several search methods for unstructured peer-to-peer networks. Popular file-sharing applications, through which enormous amounts of data are daily exchanged, operate on such networks. We analyze the performance of the algorithms relative to their success rates, bandwidth consumption and adaptation to changing topologies. Simulation results are used to empirically evaluate their behavior in direct comparison.
The Ageing Body as a Bordering Site

Abstract This article explores how the concept of dependency is used when scrutinising residence permit applicants of the elderly who fall into the category of “other family members” for family reunion. Through an analysis of interviews with immigration officers, as well as Finnish and European Union (EU) legal documents, the article shows that contestations of the concept of dependency become part of bordering practices. Bordering thus enters the everyday lives of transnational families with elderly family members in the form of investigating health conditions and the availability of care facilities. The ageing body of the elderly becomes a site of bordering. In opposition to the state individualistic system of a Nordic welfare state that aims at independency from the family, immigration regulations actually stress family dependencies. Only if immigration authorities perceive the applicant’s dependency on the sponsor to be high enough, the applicant can become part of the Finnish welfare system.
Dynamics of soil water content during depletion cycles in peach orchards in a semiarid region

[L. ] Batsch) orchard under various soil water regimes. To do this, four depletion cycles were studied after irrigation application in two treatments: fully irrigated (T1) and water stressed (T2), in a semiarid region of Romania. Soil water potential was continuously measured with Watermark resistance blocks. Daylight soil water discharge (SWD) is higher than night SWD (1.87 ratio in T1 and 1.50 in T2) mainly due to solar radiation (Rs), higher vapor pressure deficit (VPD), and wind speed (U), with crop transpiration and crop water uptake being higher during daylight
Molecular and biological characterization of a herpes simplex virus type 1 (HSV-1) neuroinvasiveness gene

Pathogenetic studies of herpes simplex virus type 1 (HSV-1) strains ANG and its mouse brain-passaged descendant ANG path revealed no difference in neurovirulence but a significant difference in neuroinvasiveness. Thus, both viruses induced a fatal encephalitis in mice after direct injection into the brain, but only ANG path induced lethal neurologic disease after inoculation on rear footpads. The difference in neuroinvasiveness is not related to the capacity to replicate in mouse neural tissues or mouse cells in general, but is specifically related to virus entry into the peripheral nervous system in the footpad. Marker rescue experiments in which ANG path genes were used to confer neuroinvasiveness on ANG indicated that the gene that codes for glycoprotein D (gD) is responsible for the phenotypic difference. Analyses of the gD genes by dideoxy-sequencing techniques identified a base difference in the coding sequences and predicted that the ANG gD gene codes for alanine (GCC codon) at amino acid position 84 in the open reading frame and the ANG path gD gene codes for glycine (GGC codon) at this site. Using these data, an oligonucleotide probe predicted to be specific for the ANG path gD gene was prepared, and in Southern blot analyses, this probe revealed that neuroinvasiveness- rescued agents had incorporated the base change seen in the ANG path gD gene. We conclude that HSV-1 glycoprotein D functions to effect neuroinvasiveness and we discuss potential mechanisms that may be involved.
Error-Constrained Filtering for a Class of Nonlinear Time-Varying Delay Systems With Non-Gaussian Noises

In this technical note, the quadratic error-constrained filtering problem is formulated and investigated for discrete time-varying nonlinear systems with state delays and non-Gaussian noises. Both the Lipschitz-like and ellipsoid-bounded nonlinearities are considered. The non-Gaussian noises are assumed to be unknown, bounded, and confined to specified ellipsoidal sets. The aim of the addressed filtering problem is to develop a recursive algorithm based on the semi-definite programme method such that, for the admissible time-delays, nonlinear parameters and external bounded noise disturbances, the quadratic estimation error is not more than a certain optimized upper bound at every time step. The filter parameters are characterized in terms of the solution to a convex optimization problem that can be easily solved by using the semi-definite programme method. A simulation example is exploited to illustrate the effectiveness of the proposed design procedures.
Content retrieval method in cooperation with CDN and ICN-based in-network guidance over IP network

These days, in addition to host-to-host communication, Information-Centric Network (ICN) has emerged to reflect current content-centric network usage that many users are now interested not in where the content is but in acquired contents themselves. However, the authors believe that current IP network still remains, at least from deployment perspective, as one of near future network architectures. This is because ICN has various scalability and feasibility challenges, and host-to-host communication is also diffused like remote login, VoIP, and so on. Therefore, the authors' research aims to establish the feature of information-centric network on conventional IP network to achieve feasible architecture. In this paper, we propose to operate Breadcrumbs (BC) and Content Delivery Network (CDN) frameworks coordinately on IP network to improve the performance on content retrieval and acquisition. Both BC and CDN are important as a content-centric technique. Finally, we compare the proposed method with CDN that we carefully modeled through simulation. Simulation results show that our approach can reduce server load.
FOXO1a acts as a selective tumor suppressor in alveolar rhabdomyosarcoma

Rhabdomyosarcoma (RMS), the most common pediatric soft-tissue sarcoma, has two major histological subtypes: embryonal RMS (ERMS), which has a favorable prognosis, and alveolar RMS (ARMS), which has a poor outcome. Although both forms of RMS express muscle cell–specific markers, only ARMS cells express PAX3-FOXO1a or PAX7-FOXO1a chimeric proteins. In mice, Pax3 and Pax7 play key roles in muscle cell development and differentiation, and FoxO1a regulates myoblast differentiation and fusion; thus, the aberrant regulation of these proteins may contribute to the development of ARMS. In this paper, we report that FOXO1a is not expressed in primary ARMS tumors or ARMS-derived tumor cell lines and that restoration of FOXO1a expression in ARMS cells is sufficient to induce cell cycle arrest and apoptosis. Strikingly, the effects of FOXO1a are selective, as enforced expression of FOXO1a in ERMS-derived tumor cell lines had no effect. Furthermore, FOXO1a induced apoptosis in ARMS by directly activating the transcription of caspase-3. We conclude that FOXO1a is a potent and specific tumor suppressor in ARMS, suggesting that agents that restore or augment FOXO1a activity may be effective as ARMS therapeutics.
A Comprehensive BIST Solution for Polar Transceivers Using On-Chip Resources

This article presents a Built-in self-test (BIST) solution for polar transceivers with low cost and high accuracy. Radio frequency (RF) Polar transceivers are desirable for portable devices due to higher power efficiency compared to traditional RF Cartesian transceivers. Unfortunately, their design is quite challenging due to substantially different signal paths that need to work coherently to ensure signal quality. In the receiver, phase and gain mismatches degrade sensitivity and error vector magnitude. In the transmitter, delay skew between the envelope and phase signals and the finite envelope bandwidth can create intermodulation distortion, which leads to violation of spectral mask requirements. Typically, these parameters are not directly measured but calibrated through spectral analysis using expensive RF equipment, leading to lengthy and costly measurement/calibration cycles. However, characterization and calibration of these parameters with analytical model would reduce the test time and cost considerably. In this article, we propose a technique to measure with the intent to calibrate impairments of the polar transceiver in the loop-back mode. Simulation and hardware measurement results show that the proposed technique can characterize the targeted impairments accurately.
Usability of Browser-Based Tools for Web-Search Privacy

Abstract : Web search is currently a source of growing concern about personal privacy. It is an essential and central part of most users' activity online and therefore one through which a significant amount of personal information may be revealed. In an earlier paper, we showed that there are security weaknesses in some popular general-purpose Web-privacy tools. We went on to show that, if one is willing to use a tool aimed specifically at search privacy, it is possible to avoid these weaknesses and we presented PWS (for Private Web search), a Firefox extension that avoids them. In [8], we also claimed that PWS is easier to use than Firefox extensions aimed at general Web privacy. This paper presents the results of a user study that supports that claim. Specifically, subjects had significantly more difficulty using the TPTV bundle (Tor, Privoxy, Torbutton, Vidalia) for web search than they did simply using Google with no privacy enhancements. Users of PWS did much better. In an attempt to understand the reasons for adoption of web-privacy technology (or the lack thereof) we also surveyed the study participants about their level of concern about web privacy and their reasons for using or not using brower-based privacy tools. Most users expressed concern about privacy and willingness to take action to address it, but they also said that they would do not use Firefox extensions such as TPTV or PWS because of the latency that these extensions introduce to the search process.
The Finite-Sample Properties of Autoregressive Approximations of Fractionally-Integrated and Non-Invertible Processes

This paper investigates the empirical properties of autoregressive approximations to two classes of process for which the usual regularity conditions do not apply; namely the non-invertible and fractionally integrated processes considered in Poskitt (2006). In that paper the theoretical consequences of fitting long autoregressions under regularity conditions that allow for these two situations was considered, and convergence rates for the sample autocovariances and autoregressive coefficients established. We now consider the finite-sample properties of alternative estimators of the AR parameters of the approximating AR(h) process and corresponding estimates of the optimal approximating order h. The estimators considered include the Yule-Walker, Least Squares, and Burg estimators.
A thousand points of light: The application of fluorescence detection technologies to two‐dimensional gel electrophoresis and proteomics

As proteomics evolves into a high‐throughput technology for the study of global protein regulation, new demands are continually being placed upon protein visualization and quantitation methods. Chief among these are increased detection sensitivity, broad linear dynamic range and compatibility with modern methods of microchemical analyses. The limitations of conventional protein staining techniques are increasingly being encountered as high sensitivity electrophoresis methods are interfaced with automated gel stainers, image analysis workstations, robotic spot excision instruments, protein digestion work stations, and mass spectrometers. Three approaches to fluorescence detection of proteins in two‐dimensional (2‐D) gels are currently practiced: covalent derivatization of proteins with fluorophores, intercalation of fluorophores into the sodium dodecyl sulfate (SDS) micelle, and direct electrostatic interaction with proteins by a Coomassie Brilliant Blue‐type mechanism. This review discusses problems encountered in the analysis of proteins visualized with conventional stains and addresses advances in fluorescence protein detection, including immunoblotting, as well as the use of charge‐coupled device (CCD) camera‐based and laser‐scanner‐based image acquisition devices in proteomics.
Computational Algorithms for Wavelet Identification of Nonlinearities in Hammerstein Systems With Random Inputs

Simple and efficient computational algorithms for nonparametric wavelet-based identification of nonlinearities in Hammerstein systems driven by random signals are proposed. They exploit binary grid interpolations of compactly supported wavelet functions. The main contribution consists in showing how to use the wavelet values from the binary grid together with the fast wavelet algorithms to obtain the practical counterparts of the wavelet-based estimates for irregularly and randomly spaced data, without any loss of the asymptotic accuracy. The convergence and the rates of convergence are examined for the new algorithms and, in particular, conditions for the optimal convergence speed are presented. Efficiency of the algorithms for a finite number of data is also illustrated by means of the computer simulations.
Arabidopsis aux1rcr1 mutation alters AUXIN RESISTANT1 targeting and prevents expression of the auxin reporter DR5:GUS in the root apex

Multilevel interactions of the plant hormones ethylene and auxin coordinately and synergistically regulate many aspects of plant growth and development. This study isolated the AUXIN RESISTANT1 (AUX1) allele aux1rcr1 (RCR1 for REVERSING CTR1-10 ROOT1) that suppressed the root growth inhibition conferred by the constitutive ethylene-response constitutive triple response1-10 (ctr1-10) allele. The aux1rcr1 mutation resulted from an L126F substitution at loop 2 of the plasma membrane-associated auxin influx carrier protein AUX1. aux1rcr1 and the T-DNA insertion mutant aux1-T were both defective in auxin transport and many aspects of the auxin response. Unexpectedly, expression of the auxin-response reporter DR5:GUS in the root apex was substantially prevented by the aux1rcr1 but not the aux1-T mutation, even in the presence of the wild-type AUX1 allele. Following treatment with the synthetic auxin 1-naphthaleneacetic acid (NAA), DR5:GUS expression in aux1rcr1 and aux1-T occurred mainly in the root apex and mature zone. NAA-induced DR5:GUS expression in the root apex was markedly prevented by ethylene in genotypes with aux1rcr1 but not in aux1-T genotypes and the wild type. The effect of aux1rcr1 on DR5:GUS expression seemed to be associated with AUX1-expressing domains. Green fluorescence protein-fused aux1rcr1 was localized in the cytoplasm and probably not to the plasma membrane, indicating important roles of the Lys126 residue at loop 2 in AUX1 targeting. The possible effects of aux1rcr1 on DR5:GUS expression are discussed.
Sedimentary architecture of an ancient linear megadune (Barremian, Neuquén Basin): Insights into the long‐term development and evolution of aeolian linear bedforms

Linear aeolian bedforms are the most abundant bedform type in Earth's dune fields, and are very common in the Solar System. Despite their abundance, the long‐term development of these bedforms and its impact upon the resulting sedimentary architecture in the geological record is still poorly understood. The aim of this paper is to study the exposed record of an ancient linear megadune in order to discuss its development and the factors that impact the sedimentary architecture of aeolian linear bedforms. The outcrops of the ancient Troncoso Sand Sea (Barremian, Neuquén Basin, Argentina) provide a unique opportunity to study a preserved megadune record with an external body geometry that confirms its linear morphology. Architectural analysis reveals significant differences in cross‐stratified set bodies and bounding surfaces’ features and allows for the identification of three architectural complexes within the bedform's record. Analysis of deterministic models, sedimentary body relative chronology and distribution suggest that these architectural complexes result from distinctive phases in bedform development. It also clearly shows that construction of the megadune was achieved by expansion from a core, and that its development was characterized by sustained growth and strong longitudinal dynamics, without net accumulation. This study indicates how sustained bedform growth, rather than accretion, can be a critical factor conditioning linear bedform architecture towards a more ‘classic’ (bimodal bounding surface and cross‐bedding dip directions) concentric sedimentary architecture style. Furthermore, this research reveals how this style of architecture could only be relatively common in the geological record when related to bedform topography preservation.
Quickly Generating Representative Samples from an RBM-Derived Process

Two recently proposed learning algorithms, herding and fast persistent contrastive divergence (FPCD), share the following interesting characteristic: they exploit changes in the model parameters while sampling in order to escape modes and mix better during the sampling process that is part of the learning algorithm. We justify such approaches as ways to escape modes while keeping approximately the same asymptotic distribution of the Markov chain. In that spirit, we extend FPCD using an idea borrowed from Herding in order to obtain a pure sampling algorithm, which we call the rates-FPCD sampler. Interestingly, this sampler can improve the model as we collect more samples, since it optimizes a lower bound on the log likelihood of the training data. We provide empirical evidence that this new algorithm displays substantially better and more robust mixing than Gibbs sampling.