Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Communication in the Service of Coordination

Agent communication can be in the service of many different possible goals, or even many simultaneous goals. One such goal is inter-agent coordination—managing the complex interdependencies between agent activities. Our model of coordination suggests that communicative acts in service of coordination are based on the detection and response to certain coordination relationships that exist between interrelated sets of tasks known by multiple agents. These relationships indicate both when results should be communicated (‘technical’ communication directly in the service of problem solving), as well as when metalevel (‘decision-oriented’) information should be communicated. We will illustrate this with an example in the hospital scheduling domain. This position paper will briefly discuss how agents may generate communicative goals for coordination, how they may rely on the recipient’s inferences to achieve those goals, be sensitive to prior plans and communications, and carry out concurrent execution in time-sensitive domains using Generalized Partial Global Planning (GPGP). GPGP is a family of coordination mechanisms for multi-agent teams that generates communication actions in a domain-independent manner, while working in conjunction with an existing agent planner/scheduler.
Coordinated beamforming in multicell networks with Channel State Information exchange delays

Coordinated beamforming is an important technique for dealing with interference channels arising in multicell systems. However, the performance of coordinated beamforming suffers significantly from Channel State Information (CSI) feedback delay and back-haul delay caused by exchanging CSI through the back-haul link. Hence, designing a beamforming scheme that takes into consideration the different delays incurred by the local and interfering channel links is an important problem. In this paper, average Virtual SINR based criterion is used to design an optimal combination of Maximum Ratio Transmission (MRT) and Intercell Interference Cancellation (IIC) beamformers as a function of the feedback and back-haul delays. Although it is well known that MRT is close to optimality at low SNR and IIC better at high SNR, we demonstrate how the optimal solution is modified when taking feedback delays into account. In particular, our results suggest the egoistic strategy is much more robust with respect to delays, thus affecting the shape of the optimal beamformer and giving extra performance for a wide range of scenarios.
Encoded Semantic Tree for Automatic User Profiling Applied to Personalized Video Summarization

We propose an innovative method of automatic video summary generation with personal adaptations. User interests are mined from their personal image collections. To reduce the semantic gap, we propose to extract visual representations based on a novel semantic tree (SeTree). A SeTree is a hierarchy that captures the conceptual relationships between the visual scenes in a codebook. This idea builds upon the observation that such semantic connections among the elements have been overlooked in the previous work. To construct the SeTree, we adopt a normalized graph cut clustering algorithm by conjunctively exploiting visual features, textual information, and social user-image connections. Using this technique, we obtain an 8.1% improvement of normalized discounted cumulative gain in personalized video segments ranking compared with existing methods. Furthermore, to promote the interesting parts of a video, we extract a space–time saliency map and estimate the attractiveness of segments by kernel fitting and matching. A linear function is utilized to combine the two factors, based on which the playback rate of a video is adapted to generate the summary. We play the less important segments in a fast-forward mode to keep users updated with the context. Subjective experiments were conducted which showed that our proposed video summarization approach outperformed the state-of-the-art techniques by 6.2%.
Parallel test generation and execution with Korat

We present novel algorithms for parallel testing of code that takes structurally complex test inputs. The algorithms build on the Korat algorithm for constraint-based generation of structurally complex test inputs. Given an imperative predicate that specifies the desired structural constraints and a finitization that bounds the desired input size, Korat performs a systematic search to generate all test inputs (within the bounds) that satisfy the constraints. We present how to generate test inputs with a parallel search in Korat and how to execute test inputs in parallel, both off-line (when the inputs are saved on disk) and on-line (when execution immediately follows generation). The inputs that Korat generates enable bounded-exhaustive testing that checks the code under test exhaustively for all inputs within the given bounds. We also describe a novel methodology for reducing the number of equivalent inputs that Korat can generate. Our development of parallel Korat and the methodology for reducing equivalent inputs are motivated by testing an application developed at Google. The experimental results on running parallel Korat across up to 1024 machines on the Google's infrastructure show that parallel test generation and execution can achieve significant speedup, up to 543.55 times.
Visual feature-based violent video detection

In this paper, a novel violent video detection scheme is presented based on visual views. The violent segment is detected by using motion angle, motion intensity, shot & explosion and blood analysis. In addition, in order to improve the compute efficiency and time savings Hidden Information SVM is used. Experimental result shows that the proposed method is effective in violent video detection.
Radiolytic Reduction of Methane Monooxygenase Dinuclear Iron Cluster at 77 K

The soluble form of methane monooxygenase (MMO) consists of three components: reductase, hydroxylase (MMOH), and “B” (MMOB). Resting MMOH contains a diferric bis-μ-hydroxodinuclear iron “diamond core” cluster which is the site of oxygen activation chemistry after reduction. Here it is shown that γ-irradiation of MMOH at 77 K results in reduction of the diiron cluster to an EPR active Fe(II)·Fe(III) mixed valence state. At this temperature, the conformation of the enzyme remains essentially unchanged during reduction, so the EPR-spectrum becomes a probe of the conformation of the diferric state. The γ-irradiated MMOH exhibits EPR spectra that differ in lineshape and saturation properties from those of the mixed valence MMOH generated by chemical reduction in solution; annealing the γ-irradiated sample at 230 K yields the spectra of the chemically reduced sample. This demonstrates that the conformation of diferric MMOH in the vicinity of the diiron cluster changes during reduction to the mixed valence state. The analogous experiment for the MMOB·MMOH complex gives a new mixed valence species following γ-irradiation that differs from all previously reported mixed valence species. Thus, binding of MMOB also causes a change in the conformation of diferric MMOH. It is hypothesized that the structural changes observed for the first time here may involve conversion of the dihydroxo-bridged diamond core structure to one with more readily dissociable bridging oxygen ligands to facilitate reaction with O2 following cluster reduction.
Hemispheric Asymmetry of Frequency-Dependent Suppression in the Ipsilateral Primary Motor Cortex During Finger Movement: A Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging Study

Electrophysiological studies have suggested that the activity of the primary motor cortex (M1) during ipsilateral hand movement reflects both the ipsilateral innervation and the transcallosal inhibitory control from its counterpart in the opposite hemisphere, and that their asymmetry might cause hand dominancy. To examine the asymmetry of the involvement of the ipsilateral motor cortex during a unimanual motor task under frequency stress, we conducted block-design functional magnetic resonance imaging with 22 normal right-handed subjects. The task involved visually cued unimanual opponent finger movement at various rates. The contralateral M1 showed symmetric frequency-dependent activation. The ipsilateral M1 showed task-related deactivation at low frequencies without laterality. As the frequency of the left-hand movement increased, the left M1 showed a gradual decrease in the deactivation. This data suggests a frequency-dependent increased involvement of the left M1 in ipsilateral hand control. By contrast, the right M1 showed more prominent deactivation as the frequency of the right-hand movement increased. This suggests that there is an increased transcallosal inhibition from the left M1 to the right M1, which overwhelms the right M1 activation during ipsilateral hand movement. These results demonstrate the dominance of the left M1 in both ipsilateral innervation and transcallosal inhibition in right-handed individuals.
Bursts of beta oscillation differentiate postperformance activity in the striatum and motor cortex of monkeys performing movement tasks

Significance Studies of beta oscillations, highlighted clinically because of exaggerated beta-band activity in Parkinson’s disease, have focused on measures averaged over multiple trials, and readers outside the field could have the misperception that beta oscillations persist over seconds. We show that brief bursts of oscillation are responsible for virtually all beta-band activity in healthy monkeys. The state called “beta synchronization” consists of numerous brief (∼40–120 ms) bouts of oscillation within a nonoscillatory background, and these bouts can also occur during periods of “desynchronization. ” Thus, postmovement “synchronization” of beta represents a transient increase in oscillation probability, with different time courses in the motor cortex and striatum. We suggest that the timing and duration of these bursts are critical parameters for network function. Studies of neural oscillations in the beta band (13–30 Hz) have demonstrated modulations in beta-band power associated with sensory and motor events on time scales of 1 s or more, and have shown that these are exaggerated in Parkinson’s disease. However, even early reports of beta activity noted extremely fleeting episodes of beta-band oscillation lasting <150 ms. Because the interpretation of possible functions for beta-band oscillations depends strongly on the time scale over which they occur, and because of these oscillations’ potential importance in Parkinson’s disease and related disorders, we analyzed in detail the distributions of duration and power for beta-band activity in a large dataset recorded in the striatum and motor-premotor cortex of macaque monkeys performing reaching tasks. Both regions exhibited typical beta-band suppression during movement and postmovement rebounds of up to 3 s as viewed in data averaged across trials, but single-trial analysis showed that most beta oscillations occurred in brief bursts, commonly 90–115 ms long. In the motor cortex, the burst probabilities peaked following the last movement, but in the striatum, the burst probabilities peaked at task end, after reward, and continued through the postperformance period. Thus, what appear to be extended periods of postperformance beta-band synchronization reflect primarily the modulated densities of short bursts of synchrony occurring in region-specific and task-time-specific patterns. We suggest that these short-time-scale events likely underlie the functions of most beta-band activity, so that prolongation of these beta episodes, as observed in Parkinson’s disease, could produce deleterious network-level signaling.
A global quality measurement of pan-sharpened multispectral imagery

This letter focuses on quality assessment of fusion of multispectral (MS) images with high-resolution panchromatic (Pan) observations. A new quality index suitable for MS imagery having four spectral bands is defined from the theory of hypercomplex numbers, or quaternions. Both spectral and radiometric distortion measurements are encapsulated in a unique measurement, simultaneously accounting for local mean bias, changes in contrast, and loss of correlation of individual bands, together with spectral distortion. Results are presented and discussed on very high-resolution QuickBird data, through comparisons between state-of-the-art and advanced MS+Pan merge algorithms.
Sub-Lethal Dose of Shiga Toxin 2 from Enterohemorrhagic Escherichia coli Affects Balance and Cerebellar Cytoarchitecture

Shiga toxin producing Escherichia coli may damage the central nervous system before or concomitantly to manifested hemolytic–uremic syndrome symptoms. The cerebellum is frequently damaged during this syndrome, however, the deleterious effects of Shiga toxin 2 has never been integrally reported by ultrastructural, physiological and behavioral means. The aim of this study was to determine the cerebellar compromise after intravenous administration of a sub-lethal dose of Shiga toxin 2 by measuring the cerebellar blood–brain barrier permeability, behavioral task of cerebellar functionality (inclined plane test), and ultrastructural analysis (transmission electron microscope). Intravenous administration of vehicle (control group), sub-lethal dose of 0.5 and 1 ηg of Stx2 per mouse were tested for behavioral and ultrastructural studies. A set of three independent experiments were performed for each study (n = 6). Blood–brain barrier resulted damaged and consequently its permeability was significantly increased. Lower scores obtained in the inclined plane task denoted poor cerebellar functionality in comparison to their controls. The most significant lower score was obtained after 5 days of 1 ηg of toxin administration. Transmission electron microscope micrographs from the Stx2-treated groups showed neurons with a progressive neurodegenerative condition in a dose dependent manner. As sub-lethal intravenous Shiga toxin 2 altered the blood brain barrier permeability in the cerebellum the toxin penetrated the cerebellar parenchyma and produced cell damaged with significant functional implications in the test balance.
Somewhat Practical Fully Homomorphic Encryption

In this paper we port Brakerski’s fully homomorphic scheme based on the Learning With Errors (LWE) problem to the ring-LWE setting. We introduce two optimised versions of relinearisation that not only result in a smaller relinearisation key, but also faster computations. We provide a detailed, but simple analysis of the various homomorphic operations, such as multiplication, relinearisation and bootstrapping, and derive tight worst case bounds on the noise caused by these operations. The analysis of the bootstrapping step is greatly simpliﬁed by using a modulus switching trick. Finally, we derive concrete parameters for which the scheme provides a given level of security and becomes fully homomorphic.
Positional update handling in column stores

In this paper we investigate techniques that allow for on-line updates to columnar databases, leaving intact their high read-only performance. Rather than keeping differential structures organized by the table key values, the core proposition of this paper is that this can better be done by keeping track of the tuple position of the modifications. Not only does this minimize the computational overhead of merging in differences into read-only queries, but this makes the differential structure oblivious of the value of the order keys, allowing it to avoid disk I/O for retrieving the order keys in read-only queries that otherwise do not need them - a crucial advantage for a column-store. We describe a new data structure for maintaining such positional updates, called the Positional Delta Tree (PDT), and describe detailed algorithms for PDT/column merging, updating PDTs, and for using PDTs in transaction management. In experiments with a columnar DBMS, we perform microbenchmarks on PDTs, and show in a TPC-H workload that PDTs allow quick on-line updates, yet significantly reduce their performance impact on read-only queries compared with classical value-based differential methods.
Eclipse: A New Dynamic Delay-based Congestion Control Algorithm for Background Traffic

Initially, the Internet transport protocol TCP has been designed to provide a "best effort" service: it is meant to share the network resources with other users and applications. However, there is nowadays also a growing demand for transmitting big amounts of data in the background, namely background transport that uses spare capacity, but with minimal effect on other traffic. For instance, systems can proactively download content that the user/system would need in the future (e.g. update packages, video files, etc.). Efforts have therefore been made in the IETF for the sake of such a service with Low Extra Delay Background Traffic (LEDBAT) congestion control. While LEDBAT works in some cases, there are however known situations where it causes serious performance problems, particularly in combination with the ubiquitous bufferbloat for example in current broadband networks. In this paper, we analyse the issues of LEDBAT and propose a new approach for background traffic. Inspired by an astronomical event, we have named this approach Eclipse. Unlike LEDBAT, Eclipse can dynamically adapt to the network characteristics not only to minimise the additional network delay but also to maximise the utilisation of spare network capacity. We will show the usefulness of Eclipse by simulations.
Reliable Discourse Markers for Contrast Relations

Using the RST annotated corpus [Carlson et al., 2003], we use simple statistics on the distribution of discourse markers or cue phrases as evidence of the three-way distinction of Contrast relations, Contrast, Antithesis and Concession, recognized in standard Rhetorical Structure Theory (RST, Mann and Thompson 1987). We also show that however, an intuitive marker of Contrast, is not actually used statistically significantly more often in Contrast relations than in Cause-Effect relations. These results highlight the need for empirically based discourse marker identification rather than the intuitive method that is the current norm.
Interferon Enhances Tumor Necrosis Factor–induced Vascular Cell Adhesion Molecule 1 (CD106) Expression in Human Endothelial Cells by an Interferon-related Factor 1–dependent Pathway

Tumor necrosis factor (TNF) and interleukin 1 are known to initiate endothelial vascular cell adhesion molecule (VCAM)-1 transcription primarily by activating nuclear factor (NF)-κB, which translocates to the nucleus. In addition to two NF-κB elements found within the minimal cytokine-inducible VCAM-1 promoter, an interferon-related factor (IRF) element (IRF-1) has been identified close to the transcription initiation site, suggesting that cytokines that induce IRF-1 might affect VCAM-1 expression levels. We therefore investigated the effects of interferons (IFNs), which strongly induce IRF-1, on VCAM-1 transcription and expression. We show that IFN-α and -γ enhance TNF-induced VCAM-1 mRNA transcription and protein expression in human endothelial cells. IFN enhancement of TNF-induced expression is also seen using chloramphenicol acetyl transferase reporter genes linked to the minimal cytokine inducible VCAM-1 promoter. Nuclear IRF-1 is the molecular basis of IFN enhancement, because (a) IFN plus TNF–treated cells displayed increased nuclear IRF-1 levels and increased IRF-1 binding to the VCAM-1 promoter, compared with cells treated with TNF alone; (b) kinetics of nuclear IRF-1 levels correlated with VCAM-1 mRNA levels; (c) transfection with an IRF-1 construct substituted for IFN treatment; and (d) transfection with an expression construct encoding IRF-2, a competitive inhibitor of IRF-1, reduced TNF-induced VCAM-1 expression. Our experiments show that IFN amplifies TNF-induced VCAM-1 expression at the transcriptional level by an IRF-1–dependent pathway.
Type and Timing of Rehabilitation Following Acute and Subacute Spinal Cord Injury: A Systematic Review

Objectives: The objective of this study was to conduct a systematic review of the literature to address the following clinical questions: In adult patients with acute and subacute complete or incomplete traumatic SCI, (1) does the time interval between injury and commencing rehabilitation affect outcome? ; (2) what is the comparative effectiveness of different rehabilitation strategies, including different intensities and durations of treatment? ; (3) are there patient or injury characteristics that affect the efficacy of rehabilitation? ; and (4) what is the cost-effectiveness of various rehabilitation strategies? Methods: A systematic search was conducted for literature published through March 31, 2015 that evaluated rehabilitation strategies in adults with acute or subacute traumatic SCI at any level. Studies were critically appraised individually and the overall strength of evidence was evaluated using methods proposed by the GRADE (Grades of Recommendation Assessment, Development and Evaluation) working group. Results: The search strategy yielded 384 articles, 19 of which met our inclusion criteria. Based on our results, there was no difference between body weight–supported treadmill training and conventional rehabilitation with respect to improvements in Functional Independence Measure (FIM) Locomotor score, Lower Extremity Motor Scores, the distance walked in 6 minutes or gait velocity over 15.2 m. Functional electrical therapy resulted in slightly better FIM Motor, FIM Self-Care, and Spinal Cord Independence Measure Self-Care subscores compared with conventional occupational therapy. Comparisons using the Toronto Rehabilitation Institute Hand Function Test demonstrated no differences between groups in 7 of 9 domains. There were no clinically important differences in Maximal Lean Test, Maximal Sidewards Reach Test, T-shirt Test, or the Canadian Occupational Performance Measure between unsupported sitting training and standard in-patient rehabilitation. Conclusion: The current evidence base for rehabilitation following acute and subacute spinal cord injury is limited. Methodological challenges have contributed to this and further research is still needed.
Tumor Regression and Autoimmunity after Reversal of a Functionally Tolerant State of Self-reactive CD8+ T Cells

Many tumor-associated antigens are derived from nonmutated “self” proteins. T cells infiltrating tumor deposits recognize self-antigens presented by tumor cells and can be expanded in vivo with vaccination. These T cells exist in a functionally tolerant state, as they rarely result in tumor eradication. We found that tumor growth and lethality were unchanged in mice even after adoptive transfer of large numbers of T cells specific for an MHC class I–restricted epitope of the self/tumor antigen gp100. We sought to develop new strategies that would reverse the functionally tolerant state of self/tumor antigen-reactive T cells and enable the destruction of large (with products of perpendicular diameters of >50 mm2), subcutaneous, unmanipulated, poorly immunogenic B16 tumors that were established for up to 14 d before the start of treatment. We have defined three elements that are all strictly necessary to induce tumor regression in this model: (a) adoptive transfer of tumor-specific T cells; (b) T cell stimulation through antigen-specific vaccination with an altered peptide ligand, rather than the native self-peptide; and (c) coadministration of a T cell growth and activation factor. Cells, vaccination, or cyto-kine given alone or any two in combination were insufficient to induce tumor destruction. Autoimmune vitiligo was observed in mice cured of their disease. These findings illustrate that adoptive transfer of T cells and IL-2 can augment the function of a cancer vaccine. Furthermore, these data represent the first demonstration of complete cures of large, established, poorly immunogenic, unmanipulated solid tumors using T cells specific for a true self/tumor antigen and form the basis for a new approach to the treatment of patients with cancer.