Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
A CENTENNIAL CELEBRATION FOR QUANTITATIVE GENETICS

Abstract Quantitative genetics is at or is fast approaching its centennial. In this perspective I consider five current issues pertinent to the application of quantitative genetics to evolutionary theory. First, I discuss the utility of a quantitative genetic perspective in describing genetic variation at two very different levels of resolution, (1) in natural, free-ranging populations and (2) to describe variation at the level of DNA transcription. Whereas quantitative genetics can serve as a very useful descriptor of genetic variation, its greater usefulness is in predicting evolutionary change, particularly when used in the first instance (wild populations). Second, I review the contributions of Quantitative trait loci (QLT) analysis in determining the number of loci and distribution of their genetic effects, the possible importance of identifying specific genes, and the ability of the multivariate breeder's equation to predict the results of bivariate selection experiments. QLT analyses appear to indicate that genetic effects are skewed, that at least 20 loci are generally involved, with an unknown number of alleles, and that a few loci have major effects. However, epistatic effects are common, which means that such loci might not have population-wide major effects: this question waits upon (QTL) analyses conducted on more than a few inbred lines. Third, I examine the importance of research into the action of specific genes on traits. Although great progress has been made in identifying specific genes contributing to trait variation, the high level of gene interactions underlying quantitative traits makes it unlikely that in the near future we will have mechanistic models for such traits, or that these would have greater predictive power than quantitative genetic models. In the fourth section I present evidence that the results of bivariate selection experiments when selection is antagonistic to the genetic covariance are frequently not well predicted by the multivariate breeder's equation. Bivariate experiments that combine both selection and functional analyses are urgently needed. Finally, I discuss the importance of gaining more insight, both theoretical and empirical, on the evolution of the G and P matrices.
Endocytosis Pathways of the Folate Tethered Star-Shaped PEG-PCL Micelles in Cancer Cell Lines

This study reports on the cellular uptake of folate tethered micelles using a branched skeleton of poly(ethylene glycol) and poly(e-caprolactone). The chemical structures of the copolymers were characterized by proton nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy, and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy. Doxorubicin (DOX) was utilized as an anticancer drug. The highest drug loading efficiencies of DOX in the folate decorated micelle (DMCF) and folate-free micelle (DMC) were found to be 88.5% and 88.2%, respectively, depending on the segment length of the poly(e-caprolactone) in the copolymers. A comparison of fluorescent microscopic images of the endocytosis pathway in two cell lines, human breast cancer cells (MCF-7) and human oral cavity carcinoma cells (KB), revealed that the micelles were engulfed by KB and MCF-7 cells following in vitro incubation for one hour. Flow cytometric analysis revealed that free folic acid can inhibit the uptake of DOX by 48%–57% and 26%–39% in KB cells and MCF-7 cells, respectively. These results prove that KB cells are relatively sensitive to folate-tethered micelles. Upon administering methyl-β-cyclodextrin, an inhibitor of the caveolae-mediated endocytosis pathway, the uptake of DOX by KB cells was reduced by 69% and that by MCF-7 cells was reduced by 56%. This finding suggests that DMCF enters cells via multiple pathways, thus implying that the folate receptor is not the only target of tumor therapeutics.
Android as a telecommunication medium with a human-like presence

In this research, we realize human telepresence by developing a remote-controlled android system called Geminoid HI-1. Experimental results confirm that participants felt stronger presence of the operator when he talked through the android than when he appeared on a video monitor in a video conference system. In addition, participants talked with the robot naturally and evaluated its human likeness as equal to a man on a video monitor. At this paper's conclusion, we will discuss a remote-control system for telepresence that uses a human-like android robot as a new telecommunication medium.
Shape distributions on voxel surfaces for 3D object classification from depth images

In this work we address the problem of 3D shape based object class recognition directly from point cloud data obtained from RGB-D cameras like the Kinect sensor from Microsoft. A novel shape descriptor is presented, capable of classifying 'never before seen objects' at their first occurrence in a single view in a fast and robust manner. The classification task is stated as a matching problem, finding the most similar 3D model and view from a database of CAD models gathered from the web to a given depth image. We further show how locally sensitive hashing can be easily adapted to implement fast matching against a database of 2500 CAD models with more than 200000 views in 160 categories. This shape descriptor utilizes distributions on voxel surfaces and can be used in various applications: As a pure 3D descriptor for 3D model retrieval, as a 2.5D descriptor for finding 3D models to partial views or as our main indention as a classification system in the home-robotics domain to enable recognition and manipulation of everyday objects. Experimental evaluation against the baseline descriptors on a dataset of real-world objects in table scene contexts and on a 3D database shows significant improvements.
High-Efficient Hybrid Buck Converter With Switch-on-Demand Modulation and Switch Size Control for Wide-Load Low-Ripple Applications

Considering the tradeoff between efficiency and output ripple over a wide load range, a monolithic dc-dc buck converter with switch-on-demand modulation (SODM) and switch size control (SSC) is presented in this paper. SODM achieves a hybrid mode of pulse skip and pulse width modulation (PWM) without mode detection circuit. The converter's on time is adaptively adjusted with the load demand, achieving low output voltage ripple. Detecting the output of the error amplifier by a comparator, the SSC circuit can select appropriate switch size according to load current for reducing switching loss in a light load. The threshold level of the comparator varies with respect to the amount of slope compensation, which maintains a substantially constant switch size changing point. Experimental results show that the fabricated converter with the proposed scheme achieves high efficiency from 83% to 96% over a wide load range from 10 mA to 5 A. The switch size is 1/4 of the maximum value when load current is below 1 A with 0.5-A hysteresis. Also, the measured maximum output ripple is less than 10 mV.
Arabidopsis ETA2, an Apparent Ortholog of the Human Cullin-Interacting Protein CAND1, Is Required for Auxin Responses Mediated by the SCFTIR1 Ubiquitin Ligase

Auxin response in Arabidopsis thaliana requires the SCFTIR1 ubiquitin ligase. In response to the hormone, SCFTIR1 targets members of the auxin/indoleacetic acid (Aux/IAA) family of transcriptional regulators for ubiquitin-mediated proteolysis. To identify additional regulators of SCFTIR1 activity, we conducted a genetic screen to isolate enhancers of the tir1-1 auxin response defect. Here, we report our analysis of the eta2 mutant. Mutations in ETA2 confer several phenotypes consistent with reduced auxin response. ETA2 encodes the Arabidopsis ortholog of human Cullin Associated and Neddylation-Dissociated (CAND1)/TIP120A, a protein recently identified as a cullin-interacting factor. Previous biochemical studies of CAND1 have suggested that it specifically binds to unmodified CUL1 to negatively regulate SCF assembly. By contrast, we find that ETA2 positively regulates SCFTIR1 because Aux/IAA protein stability is significantly increased in eta2 mutants. Modification of CUL1 by the RUB1/NEDD8 ubiquitin-like protein has been proposed to free CUL1 from CAND1 and promote SCF assembly. We present double mutant analyses of eta2 axr1 plants indicating that liberating CUL1 from ETA2/CAND1 is not the primary role of the RUB modification pathway in the regulation of SCF activity. Our genetic and molecular analysis of SCFTIR1 function in eta2 mutants provides novel insight into the role of CAND1 in the regulation of SCF ubiquitin-ligase activity.
Security Through Publicity

Current large-scale authentication and non-repudiation systems offer various security measures, but do not meet the needs of today's Internet-scale applications. Though several designs exist, there have been no significant deployments of Internet-scale security infrastructures. In this paper we propose a novel concept called the public-space that makes complete information of digital entities' actions publicly available to every user. It is a structured framework that maintains a large number of entities, their actions, relationships, and histories. Posting such information in public does not endorse the information's correctness, but it does provide users with a quantifiable set of information that enables them to detect faults and make informed security decisions. Combined with traditional cryptographic techniques, the public-space system can support the intrinsic heterogeneity of user security requirements in Internetscale infrastructures and applications.
Filgrastim‐Mediated Neutrophil Recovery in Patients with Breast Cancer Treated with Docetaxel and Doxorubicin

Study Objectives. To study the impact of filgrastim 5 μg/kg given once/day through absolute neutrophil count (ANC) recovery on the duration of grade 4 neutropenia (ANC < 0.5 × 103/mm3) and time to ANC recovery. Additional objectives were to study the average number of filgrastim injections/cycle required to achieve ANC recovery and differences in outcome by cycle.
Learning Probabilistic Hierarchical Task Networks to Capture User Preferences

While much work on learning in planning focused on learning domain physics (i.e., action models), and search control knowledge, little attention has been paid towards learning user preferences on desirable plans. Hierarchical task networks (HTN) are known to provide an effective way to encode user prescriptions about what constitute good plans. However, manual construction of these methods is complex and error prone. In this paper, we propose a novel approach to learning probabilistic hierarchical task networks that capture user preferences by examining user-produced plans given no prior information about the methods (in contrast, most prior work on learning within the HTN framework focused on learning "method preconditions"--i.e., domain physics--assuming that the structure of the methods is given as input). We will show that this problem has close parallels to the problem of probabilistic grammar induction, and describe how grammar induction methods can be adapted to learn task networks. We will empirically demonstrate the effectiveness of our approach by showing that task networks we learn are able to generate plans with a distribution close to the distribution of the user-preferred plans.
An Image Encryption Algorithm Based on Scrambling and Substitution Using Hybrid Chaotic Systems

The paper presents an image encryption algorithm based on two-dimensional (2D) Logistic map and complicated Chua's system. Firstly it utilizes two chaotic sequences generated by 2D Logistic map to scramble a color image, and then uses the chaotic sequences generated by optimization models of Chua's system to produce new pixel values. The simulation results demonstrate that the algorithm has good properties of confusion and diffusion, and the key space is large. For the encrypted image the distribution of pixel value has a random behavior and the values of adjacent pixels satisfy the property of zero correlation, showing that the proposed algorithm is of relatively high security and efficiency.
Management of hypersplenism by partial splenic embolization with ethylene vinyl alcohol copolymer.

OBJECTIVE Partial splenic embolization has been used for more than 20 years to manage thrombocytopenia secondary to hypersplenism. Both temporary and permanent embolic agents have been used without definition of an optimal agent. The purposes of this report are to describe the use of the Onyx nonadhesive liquid embolization system to treat three patients with severe hypersplenism precluding administration of systemic chemotherapy and to report on the hematologic response and clinical outcome after partial splenic embolization with this agent. CONCLUSION The platelet counts of three patients treated by partial splenic embolization with the Onyx agent improved sufficiently for administration of systemic chemotherapy. In addition, severe postembolization syndrome, a common occurrence after partial splenic embolization, did not occur in our patient population.
Tableau Machine: A Creative Alien Presence

We present the design of Tableau Machine (TM), an AIbased, interactive, visual art generator for shared living spaces. TM is an instance of what we call “alien pr esence”: an ambient, non-human, embodied, intelligent agent. From overhead video in key public spaces, TM interprets its environment, including its human audience, and expresses its interpretation by displaying a sequence of abst ract images of its own design. This paper is a case stud y in the design of an art generator with deep and long-term connections to its physical and social environment.
Search-based decision ordering to facilitate product line engineering of Cyber-Physical System

Industrial Cyber Physical Systems (CPSs) are naturally complex. Manual configuration of CPS product lines is error-prone and inefficient, which warrants the need for automated support of product configuration activities such as decision inference and decision ordering. A fully automated solution is often impossible for CPSs since some decisions must be made manually by configuration engineers and thus requiring an interactive and step-by-step configuration solution. Having an interactive solution with tool support in mind, we propose a search-based solution (named as Zen-DO) to support optimal ordering of configuration steps. The optimization objective has three parts: 1) minimizing overall manual configuration steps, 2) configuring most constraining decisions first, and 3) satisfying ordering dependencies among variabilities. We formulated our optimization objective as a fitness function and investigated it along with four search algorithms: Alternating Variable Method (AVM), (1+1) Evolutionary Algorithm (EA), Genetic Algorithm, and Random Search (a comparison baseline). Their performance is evaluated in terms of finding an optimal solution for two real-world case studies of varying complexity and results show that AVM and (1+1) EA significantly outperformed the others.
Wordometer Systems for Everyday Life

We present in this paper a detailed comparison of different algorithms and devices to determine the number of words read in everyday life. We call our system the “Wordometer”. We used three kinds of eye tracking systems in our experiment: mobile video-oculography (MVoG); stationary video-oculography (SVoG); and electro-oculography (EoG). By analyzing the movement of the eyes we were able to estimate the number of words that a user read. Recently, inexpensive eye trackers have appeared on the market. Thus, we undertook a large-scale experiment that compared three devices that can be used for daily reading on a screen: the Tobii Eye X SVoG; the JINS MEME EoG; and the Pupil MVoG. We found that the accuracy of the everyday life devices and professional devices was similar when used with the Wordometer. We analyzed the robustness of the systems for special reading behaviors: rereading and skipping. With the MVoG, SVoG and EoG systems, we obtained estimation errors respectively, 7.2%, 13.0%, and 10.6% in our main experiment. In all our experiments, we obtained 300 recordings by 14 participants, which amounted to 109,097 read words.
Secure Clustering in DSN with Key Predistribution and WCDS

This paper proposes an efficient approach of secure clustering in distributed sensor networks. The clusters or groups in the network are formed based on offline rank assignment and predistribution of secret keys. Our approach uses the concept of weakly connected dominating set (WCDS) to reduce the number of cluster-heads in the network. The formation of clusters in the network is secured as the secret keys are distributed and used in an efficient way to resist the inclusion of any hostile entity in the clusters. Along with the description of our approach, we present an analysis and comparison of our approach with other schemes. We also mention the limitations of our approach considering the practical implementation of the sensor networks
From RBAC to ABAC: Constructing Flexible Data Access Control for Cloud Storage Services

This paper addresses how to construct an RBAC-compatible secure cloud storage service with a user-friendly and easy-to-manage attribute-based access control (ABAC) mechanism. Similar to role hierarchies in RBAC, attribute hierarchies (considered as partial ordering relations) are introduced into attribute-based encryption (ABE) in order to define a seniority relation among all values of an attribute, whereby a user holding senior attribute values acquires permissions of his/her juniors. Based on these notations, we present a new ABE scheme called attribute-based encryption with attribute hierarchies (ABE-AH) to provide an efficient approach to implement comparison operations between attribute values on a poset derived from an attribute lattice. By using bilinear groups of a composite order, we present a practical construction of ABE-AH based on forward and backward derivation functions. Compared with prior solutions, our scheme offers a compact policy representation approach that can significantly reduce the size of private-keys and ciphertexts. To demonstrate how to use the presented solution, we illustrate how to provide richer expressive access policies to facilitate flexible access control for data access services in clouds.
The Role of Social Media in the Discussion of Controversial Topics

In recent years, social media has revolutionized how people communicate and share information. Twitter and other blogging sites have seen an increase in political and social activism. Previous studies on the behaviors of users in politics have focused on electoral candidates and election results. Our paper investigates the role of social media in discussing and debating controversial topics. We apply sentiment analysis techniques to classify the position (for, against, neutral) expressed in a tweet about a controversial topic and use the results in our study of user behavior. Our findings suggest that Twitter is primarily used for spreading information to like-minded people rather than debating issues. Users are quicker to rebroadcast information than to address a communication by another user. Individuals typically take a position on an issue prior to posting about it and are not likely to change their tweeting opinion.
Flow-based conflict detection in OpenFlow networks using first-order logic

The OpenFlow architecture is a proposal from the Clean Slate initiative to define a new Internet architecture where the network devices are simple, and the control and management plane is performed by a centralized controller. The simplicity and centralization architecture makes it reliable and inexpensive. However, this architecture does not provide mechanisms to detect conflicting in flows, allowing that unreachable flows can be configured in the network elements, and the network may not behave as expected. This paper proposes an approach to conflict detection using first-order logic to define possible antagonisms and employ an inference engine to detect conflicting flows before the OpenFlow controller implement in the network elements.
Marsh persistence under sea-level rise is controlled by multiple, geologically variable stressors

ABSTRACT Introduction: Marshes contribute to habitat and water quality in estuaries and coastal bays. Their importance to continued ecosystem functioning has led to concerns about their persistence. Outcomes: Concurrent with sea-level rise, marshes are eroding and appear to be disappearing through ponding in their interior; in addition, in many places, they are being replaced with shoreline stabilization structures. We examined the changes in marsh extent over the past 40 years within a subestuary of Chesapeake Bay, the largest estuary in the United States, to better understand the effects of sea-level rise and human pressure on marsh coverage. Discussion: Approximately 30 years ago, an inventory of York River estuary marshes documented the historic extent of marshes. Marshes were resurveyed in 2010 to examine shifts in tidal marsh extent and distribution. Marsh change varied spatially along the estuary, with watershed changes between a 32% loss and an 11% gain in marsh area. Loss of marsh was apparent in high energy sections of the estuary while there was marsh gain in the upper/riverine section of the estuary and where forested hummocks on marsh islands have become inundated. Marshes showed little change in the small tributary creeks, except in the creeks dominated by fringing marshes and high shoreline development. Conclusions: Differential resilience to sea-level rise and spatial variations in erosion, sediment supply, and human development have resulted in spatially variable changes in specific marsh extents and are predicted to lead to a redistribution of marshes along the estuarine gradient, with consequences for their unique communities.
Social Specialization of Space: Clustering Households on the French Riviera

The aim of this paper is to estimate the extent of social specialization of residential space within the French Riviera metropolitan area. Unlike classical approaches, where social groups are pre-defined through given characteristics of households, our approach determines clusters of households inductively. Socio-demographic characteristics of households are thus measured through 16 different indicators. Clustering is then carried out through the optimization of two distinct criteria. Simulated annealing, simple and multi-objective Genetic Algorithm were adapted for this purpose and has produced pertinent results.
Towards a credential-based implementation of compound access control policies

We describe a layered approach to access control for distributed and interoperable computing systems. Firstly, compound access control policies are conceptually specified, using the policy algebra proposed by Bonatti, Capitani di Vimercati and Samarati. Secondly, SPKI/SDSI is exploited to implement and to enforce a policy specification by means of credentials. Therefore, SPKI/SDSI is slightly extended, in particular in order to allow algebra expressions over local names as subjects in authorisation certificates and to deal with the subtraction operator of the algebra. Besides presenting the overall approach, the paper elaborates some details for a still powerful fraction of the policy algebra, thereby examining the correctness of the credential-based implementation.