Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Principles of a brain-computer interface (BCI) based on real-time functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI)

A brain-computer interface (BCI) based on functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) records noninvasively activity of the entire brain with a high spatial resolution. We present a fMRI-based BCI which performs data processing and feedback of the hemodynamic brain activity within 1.3 s. Using this technique, differential feedback and self-regulation is feasible as exemplified by the supplementary motor area (SMA) and parahippocampal place area (PPA). Technical and experimental aspects are discussed with respect to neurofeedback. The methodology now allows for studying behavioral effects and strategies of local self-regulation in healthy and diseased subjects.
The phase transition in 1-in-k SAT and NAE 3-SAT

Determining bounds for the random k-SAT threshold has been an active area of research in recent years [1, 3]. Yet, in spite of significant efforts, neither a tight analysis nor the structural properties of this threshold have been determined. In this paper we study random instances of two other canonical variations of satisfiability, 1-in-k SAT and Not-All-Equal 3-SAT. Like random k-SAT, each generative model has one parameter c = m / n , the ratio of clauses to variables. Also similarly to random k-SAT, we focus on "threshold phenomena" occurring in these models and how they might relate to computational hardness. For 1-in-k SAT, k ~ 3, we obtain the exact location of the threshold:
Testing Cyber Security with Simulated Humans

Human error is one of the most common causes of vul- nerability in a secure system. However it is often overlooked when these systems are tested, partly because human tests are costly and very hard to repeat. We have developed a community of agents that test secure systems by running standard windows software while performing collaborative group tasks, mimicking more realistic patterns of communication and traffic, as well as human fatigue and errors. This system is being deployed on a large cyber testing range. One key attribute of humans is flexibility of response in order to achieve their goals when unexpected events occur. Our agents use reactive planning within a BDI architecture to flexibly replan if needed. Since the agents are goal-oriented, we are able to measure the impact of cyber attacks on mission accomplishment, a more salient measure of protection than raw penetration. We show experimentally how the agent teams can be resilient under attacks that are partly successful, and also how an organizational structure can lead to emergent properties of the traffic in the network.
Some Experiments with Real-time Decision Algorithms

Real-time Decision algorithms are a class of incremental resource-bounded [Horvitz, 89] or anytime [Dean, 93] algorithms for evaluating influence diagrams. We present a test domain for real-time decision algorithms, and the results of experiments with several Real-time Decision Algorithms in this domain. The results demonstrate high performance for two algorithms, a decision-evaluation variant of Incremental Probabilisitic Inference [D'Ambrosio, 93] and a variant of an algorithm suggested by Goldszmidt, [Goldszmidt, 95], PK-reduced. We discuss the implications of these experimental results and explore the broader applicability of these algorithms.
Prairie strips improve biodiversity and the delivery of multiple ecosystem services from corn–soybean croplands

Significance Prairie strips are a new conservation technology designed to alleviate biodiversity loss and environmental damage associated with row-crop agriculture. Results from a multiyear, catchment-scale experiment comparing corn and soybean fields with and without prairie vegetation indicated prairie strips raised pollinator and bird abundance, decreased water runoff, and increased soil and nutrient retention. These benefits accrued at levels disproportionately greater than the land area occupied by prairie strips. Social surveys revealed demand among both farm and nonfarm populations for the outcomes prairie strips produced. We estimated prairie strips could be used to improve biodiversity and ecosystem services across 3.9 million ha of cropland in Iowa and a large portion of the 69 million ha under similar management in the United States. Loss of biodiversity and degradation of ecosystem services from agricultural lands remain important challenges in the United States despite decades of spending on natural resource management. To date, conservation investment has emphasized engineering practices or vegetative strategies centered on monocultural plantings of nonnative plants, largely excluding native species from cropland. In a catchment-scale experiment, we quantified the multiple effects of integrating strips of native prairie species amid corn and soybean crops, with prairie strips arranged to arrest run-off on slopes. Replacing 10% of cropland with prairie strips increased biodiversity and ecosystem services with minimal impacts on crop production. Compared with catchments containing only crops, integrating prairie strips into cropland led to greater catchment-level insect taxa richness (2.6-fold), pollinator abundance (3.5-fold), native bird species richness (2.1-fold), and abundance of bird species of greatest conservation need (2.1-fold). Use of prairie strips also reduced total water runoff from catchments by 37%, resulting in retention of 20 times more soil and 4.3 times more phosphorus. Corn and soybean yields for catchments with prairie strips decreased only by the amount of the area taken out of crop production. Social survey results indicated demand among both farming and nonfarming populations for the environmental outcomes produced by prairie strips. If federal and state policies were aligned to promote prairie strips, the practice would be applicable to 3.9 million ha of cropland in Iowa alone.
Regulation of Photosynthesis in C 3 and C 4 Plants: A Molecular Approach

Most plants use the C3 pathway of photosynthesis, also called the photosynthetic carbon reduction cycle (PCR), shown in Figure 1A. C3 plants have a single chloroplast type that performs all of the reactions that convert light energy into the chemical energy that is used to fix COp and to synthesize the reduced carbon compounds upon which all life depends. Ribulose-i ,5-bisphosphate carboxylaseloxygenase (Rubisco) catalyzes primary carbon fixation, in which a fivecarbon sugar phosphate, ribulose-l,5-bisphosphate (RuBP), and COp are converted to two molecules of the threecarbon compound 3-phosphoglycerate (hence the name C3). Phosphoglycerate is then phosphorylated and reduced by the products of the light reactions of photosynthesis (ATP and NADPH) to produce triose phosphate (TP). TP can be exported from the chloroplast via the chloroplast envelope phosphate (Pi) transporter to the cytosol and used in the synthesis of sucrose, which is then translocated throughout the plant (see Sonnewald et al., 1994), or it can be retained within the chloroplast for starch synthesis or recycling to RuBP. Rubisco also catalyzes the fixation of Op in a process known as photorespiration, which competes directly with fixation of COp. At air levels of Coa, for every three COp molecules fixed by Rubisco to form 3-phosphoglycerate, approximately one O2 molecule is fixed, producing Sphosphoglycerate and 3-phosphoglycolate (Figure 1A). Because 3-phosphoglycolate cannot be used in the PCR cycle, it must be recycled to phosphoglycerate via the photorespiratory pathway, expending ATP and NADPH. This competition between 0 2 and COp and the energy costs associated with recycling phosphoglycolate largely determine the efficiency of C3 photosynthesis in air (Hatch, 1988; Woodrow and Berry, 1988). The C4 pathway is a complexadaptation of the C3 pathway that overcomes the limitation of photorespiration and is found in a diverse collection of species, many of which grow in hot climates with sporadic rainfall. The C4 pathway effectively suppresses photorespiration by elevating the C02 concentration at the site of Rubisco using a biochemical C02 pump. C4 plants have two chloroplast types, each found in a specialized cell type. Leaves of C4 plants show extensive vascularization,
Prediction of Postoperative Complications After Urgent Laparotomy by Intraperitoneal Microdialysis: A Pilot Study

Objective:The aim of the present study was to investigate the role of intraperitoneal microdialysis (IPM) techniques in monitoring the evolution of postoperative critically ill patients requiring urgent laparotomy. Summary Background Data:Postoperative intraabdominal sepsis is associated with an important degree of morbidity and mortality in acutely ill patients. Early diagnosis is critical to improve outcomes. Methods:The study included 25 consecutive patients admitted to the intensive care unit (ICU) after urgent laparotomy. Measurements of microdialysate fluid were performed through a microdialysis catheter, positioned intraperitoneally, during the first 5 postoperative days and lactate/pyruvate (L/P) ratios calculated. Patients were followed until hospital discharge. Results:Ten patients had a complicated postoperative course, including 4 deaths (3 refractory shock, 1 mesenteric ischemia), 3 reinterventions (1 necrotic collection, 1 mesenteric ischemia, 1 biliary leak), 2 secondary peritonitis, and 1 intraabdominal collection. The IPM L/P ratio in these patients was already significantly higher during the first 24 postoperative hours compared with patients who had no complications (35 ± 21 vs. 18 ± 6, P < 0.01). An IPM L/P ratio above 22 on postoperative day 1 had a sensitivity of 0.64 and a specificity of 0.79 for complications. There were no significant differences between the two groups in pH, lactate, white blood cell count, or subcutaneous L/P ratio. No complication was associated with the technique. Conclusions:IPM is safe and reliable and provides valuable information after urgent laparotomy. Persistently high L/P values should raise the possibility of serious postoperative complications.
A robust subspace classifier

In this paper we study the problem of missing features and the issues of robustness of subspace classification methods. We propose a new robust method for subspace classification which can cope with missing features and/or outliers. The main idea of our method is to use a robust projection of the patterns onto a subspace. We demonstrate our approach on cervicomotography data and compare our results to the results obtained by using various decision tree algorithms.
Server selection using dynamic path characterization in wide-area networks

Replication is a commonly proposed solution to problems of scale associated with distributed services. However, when a service is replicated, each client must be assigned a server. Prior work has generally assumed the assignment to be static. In contrast, we propose a dynamic server selection, and show that it enables application-level congestion avoidance. Using tools to measure the available bandwidth and round trip latency (RTT), we demonstrate the dynamic server selection and compare it to previous static approaches. We show that because of the variability of paths in the Internet, dynamic server selection consistently outperforms static policies, reducing response times by as much as 50%. However, we also must adopt a systems perspective and consider the impact of the measurement method on the network. Therefore, we look at alternative low-cost approximations and find that the careful measurements provided by our tools can be closely approximated by much lighter-weight measurements. We propose a protocol using this method which is limited to at most a 1% increase in network traffic but which often costs much less in practice.
Pain intensity and cervical range of motion in women with myofascial pain treated with acupuncture and electroacupuncture: a double-blinded, randomized clinical trial.

BACKGROUND Acupuncture stimulates points on the body, influencing the perception of myofascial pain or altering physiologic functions. OBJECTIVE The aim was to evaluate the effect of electroacupuncture (EAC) and acupuncture (AC) for myofascial pain of the upper trapezius and cervical range of motion, using SHAM acupuncture as control. METHOD Sixty women presenting at least one trigger point at the upper trapezius and local or referred pain for more than six months were randomized into EAC, AC, and SHAM groups. Eight sessions were scheduled and a follow-up was conducted after 28 days. The Visual Analog Scale assessed the intensity of local and general pain. A fleximeter assessed cervical movements. Data were analyzed using paired t or Wilcoxon's tests, ANOVA or Friedman or Kruskal-Wallis tests and Pearson's correlation (α=0.05). RESULTS There was reduction in general pain in the EAC and AC groups after eight sessions (P<0.001). A significant decrease in pain intensity occurred for the right trapezius in all groups and for the left trapezius in the EAC and AC groups. Intergroup comparisons showed improvement in general pain in the EAC and AC groups and in local pain intensity in the EAC group (P<0.05), which showed an increase in left rotation (P=0.049). The AC group showed increases in inclination (P=0.005) sustained until follow-up and rotation to the right (P=0.032). CONCLUSION EAC and AC were effective in reducing the pain intensity compared with SHAM. EAC was better than AC for local pain relief. These treatments can assist in increasing cervical range of motion, albeit subtly.
THE USE OF BLASTFURNACE SLAG AND STEEL SLAG AS AGGREGATES

Blastfurnace slag and steel slag are widely used as aggregates, in particular for highways construction and maintenance. The various types of slag products have different properties and characteristics. This paper provides information on the types of slag products currently available and their recommended uses. For the covering abstract see ITRD E117840.
Utterance verification using modified segmental probability model

Today speech recognition is requested not only to decode utterances into transcriptions, but also to determine the reliabilities of the result, by Utterance Verification (UV). With the conventional HMM, the measure of reliabilities can not be determined directly by the likelihoods of models. Whereas, Modified Segmental Probability Model (MSPM), suggested in this paper, with its normalized likelihood, facilitates rendering UV and speech recognition at the same time and as a whole. In the paper, Integrated Anti-word Model (IAM) is suggested, which is used to advance the measure of UV likelihood of MSPM. Some experiments show high perfor-mance and moderate computation with IAM.
Effect of Gas Injection Condition on Fluid Flow in a Two-Strand Tundish

A water modeling approach was employed to investigate the effects of gas injection condition on the fluid flow in a two-strand tundish. The rational parameter of argon injection was determined as the optimized positions. Adopting the Case of weir-gas-dam could prolongs fluid’s retention, stagnation and peak periods in the tundish properly. The dead zone could be reduced to 17.4%. The flow pattern which was oberved with ink showed that the flow condition was improved greatly in Case 2(WGD), favoring the mixture of liquid steel and the inclusion removal.
Histological study of the frontopremaxillary suture in mice.

The normal histomorphology of the frontopremaxillary suture in mice was observed, and sutural function was then examined by the incisor excision method.The suture was of the overlapping type, and was modified by secondarily developed interdigitations constructed of plate-like bony protrusions arranged sagittally at the sutural surfaces of the frontal bone and premaxilla. Well developed collagen fiber bundles, arising from the surface of the bony protrusions of the frontal bone, were oriented oblique to the postero-medial and postero-lateral directions and were inserted into the surface of the bony protrusions of the premaxilla. After incisor excision, the suture showed a decrease in the connecting ability. However, the suture's connecting ability was almost restored following regeneration of the incisors.The bony construction and orientation of the collagen fiber bundles in the frontopremaxillary suture are believed to correspond to the bite force of the incisors and to act as a shock absorber to decrease this force.
Diagnosability in concurrent probabilistic systems

Diagnosability is a key attribute of systems to enable the detection of failure events by partial observations. This paper addresses the diagnosability in concurrent probabilistic systems. Four different notions (L-, P-, A-, and AA-diagnosability) are characterised by formulas of a logic of knowledge, time and probability. Also, we investigate the computational complexities of verifying them: the L-diagnosability is NL-complete, the A-diagnosability is PTIME-complete, and the P-diagnosability is in PSPACE.
A quaternion‐based model for optimal control of an airborne wind energy system

Airborne wind energy systems are capable of extracting energy from higher wind speeds at higher altitudes. The configuration considered in this paper is based on a tethered kite flown in a pumping orbit. This pumping cycle generates energy by winching out at high tether forces and driving a generator while flying figures‐of‐eight, or lemniscates, as crosswind pattern. Then, the tether is reeled in while keeping the kite at a neutral position, thus leaving a net amount of generated energy. In order to achieve an economic operation, optimization of pumping cycles is of great interest. In this paper, first the principles of airborne wind energy will be briefly revisited. The first contribution is a singularity‐free model for the tethered kite dynamics in quaternion representation, where the model is derived from first principles. The second contribution is an optimal control formulation and numerical results for complete pumping cycles. Based on the developed model, the setup of the optimal control problem (OCP) is described in detail along with its numerical solution based on the direct multiple shooting method in the CasADi optimization environment. Optimization results for a pumping cycle consisting of six lemniscates show that the approach is capable to find an optimal orbit in a few minutes of computation time. For this optimal orbit, the power output is increased by a factor of two compared to a sophisticated initial guess for the considered test scenario.
Accordion: Elastic Scalability for Database Systems Supporting Distributed Transactions

Providing the ability to elastically use more or fewer servers on demand (scale out and scale in) as the load varies is essential for database management systems (DBMSes) deployed on today's distributed computing platforms, such as the cloud. This requires solving the problem of dynamic (online) data placement, which has so far been addressed only for workloads where all transactions are local to one sever. In DBMSes where ACID transactions can access more than one partition, distributed transactions represent a major performance bottleneck. Scaling out and spreading data across a larger number of servers does not necessarily result in a linear increase in the overall system throughput, because transactions that used to access only one server may become distributed. In this paper we present Accordion, a dynamic data placement system for partition-based DBMSes that support ACID transactions (local or distributed). It does so by explicitly considering the affinity between partitions, which indicates the frequency in which they are accessed together by the same transactions. Accordion estimates the capacity of a server by explicitly considering the impact of distributed transactions and affinity on the maximum throughput of the server. It then integrates this estimation in a mixed-integer linear program to explore the space of possible configurations and decide whether to scale out. We implemented Accordion and evaluated it using H-Store, a shared-nothing in-memory DBMS. Our results using the TPC-C and YCSB benchmarks show that Accordion achieves benefits compared to alternative heuristics of up to an order of magnitude reduction in the number of servers used and in the amount of data migrated.
Optimal bandwidth-aware VM allocation for Infrastructure-as-a-Service

Infrastructure-as-a-Service (IaaS) providers need to offer richer services to be competitive while optimizing their resource usage to keep costs down. Richer service offerings include new resource request models involving bandwidth guarantees between virtual machines (VMs). Thus we consider the following problem: given a VM request graph (where nodes are VMs and edges represent virtual network connectivity between the VMs) and a real data center topology, find an allocation of VMs to servers that satisfies the bandwidth guarantees for every virtual network edge---which maps to a path in the physical network---and minimizes congestion of the network. Previous work has shown that for arbitrary networks and requests, finding the optimal embedding satisfying bandwidth requests is $\mathcal{NP}$-hard. However, in most data center architectures, the routing protocols employed are based on a spanning tree of the physical network. In this paper, we prove that the problem remains $\mathcal{NP}$-hard even when the physical network topology is restricted to be a tree, and the request graph topology is also restricted. We also present a dynamic programming algorithm for computing the optimal embedding in a tree network which runs in time $O(3^kn)$, where $n$ is the number of nodes in the physical topology and $k$ is the size of the request graph, which is well suited for practical requests which have small $k$. Such requests form a large class of web-service and enterprise workloads. Also, if we restrict the requests topology to a clique (all VMs connected to a virtual switch with uniform bandwidth requirements), we show that the dynamic programming algorithm can be modified to output the minimum congestion embedding in time $O(k^2n)$.
DBridge: A program rewrite tool for set-oriented query execution

We present DBridge, a novel static analysis and program transformation tool to optimize database access. Traditionally, rewrite of queries and programs are done independently, by the database query optimzier and the language compiler respectively, leaving out many optimization opportunities. Our tool aims to bridge this gap by performing holistic transformations, which include both program and query rewrite.
Ternary cubic forms having bounded invariants, and the existence of a positive proportion of elliptic curves having rank 0

We prove an asymptotic formula for the number of ${\rm SL}_3({\mathbb Z})$-equivalence classes of integral ternary cubic forms having bounded invariants. We use this result to show that the average size of the 3-Selmer group of all elliptic curves, when ordered by height, is 4. This implies that the average rank of all elliptic curves, when ordered by height, is less than 1.17. Combining our counting techniques with a recent result of Dokchitser and Dokchitser, we prove that a positive proportion of all elliptic curves have rank 0. Assuming the finiteness of the Tate-Shafarevich group, we also show that a positive proportion of elliptic curves have rank 1. Finally, combining our counting results with the recent work of Skinner and Urban, we show that a positive proportion of elliptic curves have analytic rank 0; i.e., a positive proportion of elliptic curves have non-vanishing $L$-function at $s=1$. It follows that a positive proportion of all elliptic curves satisfy BSD.