Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Randomized Gossip Algorithm with Unreliable Communication

In this paper, we study an asynchronous randomized gossip algorithm under unreliable communication. At each instance, two nodes are selected to meet with a given probability. When nodes meet, two unreliable communication links are established with communication in each direction succeeding with a time-varying probability. It is shown that two particularly interesting cases arise when these communication processes are either perfectly dependent or independent. Necessary and sufficient conditions on the success probability sequence are proposed to ensure almost sure consensus or $\epsilon$-consensus. Weak connectivity is required when the communication is perfectly dependent, while double connectivity is required when the communication is independent. Moreover, it is proven that with odd number of nodes, average preserving turns from almost forever (with probability one for all initial conditions) for perfectly dependent communication, to almost never (with probability zero for almost all initial conditions) for the independent case. This average preserving property does not hold true for general number of nodes. These results indicate the fundamental role the node interactions have in randomized gossip algorithms.
cient Planning in MDPs by Small Backups

E cient planning plays a crucial role in model-based reinforcement learning. Traditionally, the main planning operation is a full backup based on the current estimates of the successor states. Consequently, its computation time is proportional to the number of successor states. In this paper, we introduce a new planning backup that uses only the current value of a single successor state and has a computation time independent of the number of successor states. This new backup, which we call a small backup, opens the door to a new class of model-based reinforcement learning methods that exhibit much finer control over their planning process than traditional methods. We empirically demonstrate that this increased flexibility allows for more e cient planning by showing that an implementation of prioritized sweeping based on small backups achieves a substantial performance improvement over classical implementations.
Who's your best friend?: targeted privacy attacks In location-sharing social networks

This paper presents a study that aims to answer two important questions related to targeted location-sharing privacy attacks: (1) given a group of users and their social graph, is it possible to predict which among them is likely to reveal most about their whereabouts, and (2) given a user, is it possible to predict which among her friends knows most about her whereabouts. To answer these questions we analyse the privacy policies of users of a real-time location sharing application, in which users actively shared their location with their contacts. The results show that users who are central to their network are more likely to reveal most about their whereabouts. Furthermore, we show that the friend most likely to know the whereabouts of a specific individual is the one with most common contacts and/or greatest number of contacts.
CD 8 T-cells initiate spontaneous autoimmunity to a sequestered model antigen of the central nervous system

Present address: Laboratory of Molecular and Experimental Pathology, Key Laboratory of Animal Models and Human Disease Mechanisms, Kunming Institute of Zoology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Kunming, P.R. China. yPresent address: Department of Genetics, University of Erlangen, D-91058 Erlangen,Germany. zShared senior authorship. Correspondence to: Thomas Hu« nig, Institute for Virology and Immunobiology, University of Wu« rzburg,Verbacher Stra e 7, D-97078 Wu« rzburg,Germany E-mail: huenig@vim.uni-wuerzburg.de
Abnormal Reaction to Central Nervous System Injury in Mice Lacking Glial Fibrillary Acidic Protein and Vimentin

In response to injury of the central nervous system, astrocytes become reactive and express high levels of the intermediate filament (IF) proteins glial fibrillary acidic protein (GFAP), vimentin, and nestin. We have shown that astrocytes in mice deficient for both GFAP and vimentin (GFAP−/−vim−/−) cannot form IFs even when nestin is expressed and are thus devoid of IFs in their reactive state. Here, we have studied the reaction to injury in the central nervous system in GFAP−/−, vimentin−/−, or GFAP−/−vim−/− mice. Glial scar formation appeared normal after spinal cord or brain lesions in GFAP−/− or vimentin−/− mice, but was impaired in GFAP−/−vim−/− mice that developed less dense scars frequently accompanied by bleeding. These results show that GFAP and vimentin are required for proper glial scar formation in the injured central nervous system and that some degree of functional overlap exists between these IF proteins.
An integrated soft handoff approach to IP fast reroute in wireless mobile networks

This paper presents an integrated approach to IP fast reroute (IPFRR) of both unicast and multicast paths in wireless mobile networks. A distinct feature of the proposed approach is that, instead of modifying existing routing protocols, it employs a soft handoff technique, i.e., temporarily installs pre-computed Loop Free Alternative Paths (LFAPs) until the co-existing routing protocol converges to new routes. The proposed approach builds on our previously proposed IPFRR technology and uses the concept of pre-computed LFAPs not only for local but also for remote link failures within a certain neighborhood to achieve full alternative path coverage for a single link failure. This paper's contributions include: i) bandwidth efficient fast failure detection by integrating two novel mechanisms, namely probing and link quality prediction, ii) a novel method for calculating LFAPs, iii) a framework for switching seamlessly between LFAPs and OSPF paths, iv) a multicast fast reroute mechanism, and v) implementation in eXtensible Open Router Platform (XORP). We also present a generic framework for handling multiple simultaneous failures in the integrated IPFRR. The performance evaluation has been performed in both indoor and outdoor environments with real 802.11 radio links. The results confirm that our IPFRR technology consistently provides significant convergence time improvement during a single link failure event.
Speech Preparation and Articulation Time in Bilinguals and Men

The current study investigated the relationship between word utterance preparation time and word articulation duration in young adults. In a stratified sample, 40 monolinguals’ (20 males and 20 females) and 40 bilinguals’ (20 males and 20 females) word pronunciation of English words vs. derived, scrambled non-words as well as the hesitation before speaking were measured in milliseconds. Positive effects of bilingualism were found as these speakers showed significantly faster articulation of new non-words than their monolingual counterparts. Sex differences showed that independently of the number of languages men were able to speak, they needed more speech preparation time than women, but no difference in the duration of their word articulation time was observed. Preparation and articulation were correlated in monolingual speakers, but not in bilingual speakers. This suggests that the phonological loop was circumvented in bilingual speakers. We presume that bilinguals map multi-lingual phonology and were thus not saving time during preparation for articulation, but they appeared to have benefited from knowing multiple fine motor mouth movements of various languages during articulation itself. Future research may benefit from controlling the psychological factor of confidence when preparing to speak.
Symbolic Dynamic Programming for First-Order MDPs

We present a dynamic programming approach for the solution of first-order Markov decisions processes. This technique uses an MDP whose dynamics is represented in a variant of the situation calculus allowing for stochastic actions. It produces a logical description of the optimal value function and policy by constructing a set of first-order formulae that minimally partition state space according to distinctions made by the value function and policy. This is achieved through the use of an operation known as decision-theoretic regression. In effect, our algorithm performs value iteration without explicit enumeration of either the state or action spaces of the MDP. This allows problems involving relational fluents and quantification to be solved without requiring explicit state space enumeration or conversion to propositional form.
Automatic Evaluation of Voice Quality Using Text-Based Laryngograph Measurements and Prosodic Analysis

Due to low intra- and interrater reliability, perceptual voice evaluation should be supported by objective, automatic methods. In this study, text-based, computer-aided prosodic analysis and measurements of connected speech were combined in order to model perceptual evaluation of the German Roughness-Breathiness-Hoarseness (RBH) scheme. 58 connected speech samples (43 women and 15 men; 48.7 ± 17.8 years) containing the German version of the text “The North Wind and the Sun” were evaluated perceptually by 19 speech and voice therapy students according to the RBH scale. For the human-machine correlation, Support Vector Regression with measurements of the vocal fold cycle irregularities (CFx) and the closed phases of vocal fold vibration (CQx) of the Laryngograph and 33 features from a prosodic analysis module were used to model the listeners' ratings. The best human-machine results for roughness were obtained from a combination of six prosodic features and CFx (r = 0.71, ρ = 0.57). These correlations were approximately the same as the interrater agreement among human raters (r = 0.65, ρ = 0.61). CQx was one of the substantial features of the hoarseness model. For hoarseness and breathiness, the human-machine agreement was substantially lower. Nevertheless, the automatic analysis method can serve as the basis for a meaningful objective support for perceptual analysis.
An Adaptive Clustering Procedure with Applications to Fault Detection

—A novel adaptive clustering procedure is presented in this paper. Among the basic properties of the proposed algorithm is that the number of clusters is not known a priori, it is updated automatically based on the available data. Previous knowledge regarding data source (data generating process), if available, can be used for initialization purposes. However, the algorithm can be used even if such information is not available. The entire data set need not be known in advance, and further, the algorithm does not store previously seen data points. The computation complexity is relatively low and the entire procedure may be implemented recursively (in " real-time "). The proposed procedure is designed primarily for condition monitoring and fault detection in industrial plants. Performances of the proposed algorithm have been demonstrated by an illustrative example.
From Detection to Remediation: A Self-Organized System for Addressing Flash Crowd Problems

A flash crowd event can be characterised by a dramatic increase in requests for a service over a relatively short period of time. Often, these events lead to a loss of service because of the saturation of the target server and associated network resources. This paper presents a set of mechanisms that can be used to make Web servers and associated resources more resilient to flash crowd events. Specifically, we present a novel admission control mechanism that uses a detection mechanism we developed in earlier work to adjust the admission rate of HTTP requests to a Web server. We demonstrate, via simulations, that the admission control mechanism can be used to protect a Web server from the effects of a flash crowd event, protect the traffic of other services that are hosted on the same network as a targeted Web server, and in combination with a push-back mechanism reduce the effect of flash crowd traffic on an ISP's network that is serving the Web server. The mechanisms presented here are exemplars that fit within a resilience strategy we are developing - D2R2+DR - which is summarised here.
On a spatial-temporal decomposition of the optical flow

In this paper we present a decomposition algorithm for computation of the spatial-temporal optical flow of a dynamic image sequence. We consider several applications, such as the extraction of temporal motion features and motion detection in dynamic sequences under varying illumination conditions, such as they appear for instance in psychological flickering experiments. For the numerical implementation we are solving an integro-differential equation by a fixed point iteration. For comparison purposes we use a standard time dependent optical flow algorithm, which in contrast to our method, constitutes in solving a spatial-temporal differential equation.
The relationship between exposure to natural and urban environments and children’s self-regulation

Abstract Research suggests that children living in areas with more greenspace may have better self-regulation, but to date no studies have investigated this capacity immediately following exposure to natural vs. urban environments. To explore this, two studies using between-subjects experimental designs were conducted. Participants, between eight and eleven years old, completed a delay of gratification task (as an indicator of self-regulation) before and after a short (3 min) video of either a natural or built environment or a control display. Potential cognitive and emotional mechanisms underpinning any self-regulation effects were explored using a selective attention task (Stroop test) and by monitoring mood (adapted Cantril’s ladder). Results were mixed. Supporting earlier work, post-test delay of gratification scores were significantly better after exposure to a natural than urban environment, however, compared to controls, it appeared that this effect was due to the depleting effect of the built condition, rather than any restorativeness of the natural condition. Although we also found a marginally significant increase in mood after exposure to the natural environment, this did not mediate the effects of environment on self-regulation.
Unexpected origins of the enhanced pairing affinity of 2′-fluoro-modified RNA

Various chemical modifications are currently being evaluated for improving the efficacy of short interfering RNA (siRNA) duplexes as antisense agents for gene silencing in vivo. Among the 2′-ribose modifications assessed to date, 2′deoxy-2′-fluoro-RNA (2′-F-RNA) has unique properties for RNA interference (RNAi) applications. Thus, 2′-F-modified nucleotides are well tolerated in the guide (antisense) and passenger (sense) siRNA strands and the corresponding duplexes lack immunostimulatory effects, enhance nuclease resistance and display improved efficacy in vitro and in vivo compared with unmodified siRNAs. To identify potential origins of the distinct behaviors of RNA and 2′-F-RNA we carried out thermodynamic and X-ray crystallographic analyses of fully and partially 2′-F-modified RNAs. Surprisingly, we found that the increased pairing affinity of 2′-F-RNA relative to RNA is not, as commonly assumed, the result of a favorable entropic contribution (‘conformational preorganization’), but instead primarily based on enthalpy. Crystal structures at high resolution and osmotic stress demonstrate that the 2′-F-RNA duplex is less hydrated than the RNA duplex. The enthalpy-driven, higher stability of the former hints at the possibility that the 2′-substituent, in addition to its important function in sculpting RNA conformation, plays an underappreciated role in modulating Watson–Crick base pairing strength and potentially π–π stacking interactions.
SNP specific extraction and analysis using shrunken dissimilarity measure

The identification of genetic variations associated with common disease now plays an important role in human genetics research. In this paper, a new nearest shrunken centroid method was performed to select relevant single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) on a WTCCC Coronary Artery Disease data. This method can succinctly characterize each class (case and control) by shrinking each centroid with respect to the overall centroid by a certain threshold. A relatively high average accuracy of 87% among all 22 chromosomes can be obtained. There are 221 out of 490032 SNPs selected using the proposed shrunken centroid method under a 10-fold cross validation setting. The average number of SNPs being selected is around 10 for each of the chromosome. Comparisons with other shrunken centroid methods were performed, results showed that the performance of the proposed method in terms of accuracy and numbers of selected SNPs is better than others. All computational results show that the proposed shrunken centroid method is a suitable and useful tool to select relevant SNPs with genetic variations in a genome-wide association disease study.
Calcium Dependence and Recovery Kinetics of Presynaptic Depression at the Climbing Fiber to Purkinje Cell Synapse

Short-term depression is a widespread form of use-dependent plasticity found in the peripheral and central nervous systems of invertebrates and vertebrates. The mechanism behind this transient decrease in synaptic strength is thought to be primarily the result of presynaptic “depletion” of a readily releasable neurotransmitter pool, which typically recovers with a time constant of a few seconds. We studied the mechanism and dynamics of recovery from depression at the climbing fiber to Purkinje cell synapse, where marked presynaptic depression has been described previously. Climbing fibers are well suited to studies of recovery from depression because they display little, if any, facilitation (even under conditions of low-release probability), which can obscure rapid recovery from depression for hundreds of milliseconds after release. We found that recovery from depression occurred in three kinetic phases. The fast and intermediate components could be approximated by exponentials with time constants of 100 msec and 3 sec at 24° C. A much slower recovery phase was also present, but it was only prominent during prolonged stimulus trains. The fast component was enhanced by raising extracellular calcium and was eliminated by lowering presynaptic calcium, suggesting that, on short time scales, recovery from depression is driven by residual calcium. During regular and Poisson stimulus trains, recovery from depression was dramatically accelerated by accumulation of presynaptic residual calcium, maintaining synaptic efficacy under conditions that would otherwise deplete the available transmitter pool. This represents a novel form of presynaptic plasticity in that high levels of activity modulate the rate of recovery as well as the magnitude of depression.
Regulation of the cardiac Na(+)-Ca2+ exchanger by Ca2+. Mutational analysis of the Ca(2+)-binding domain

The sarcolemmal Na(+)-Ca2+ exchanger is regulated by intracellular Ca2+ at a high affinity Ca2+ binding site separate from the Ca2+ transport site. Previous data have suggested that the Ca2+ regulatory site is located on the large intracellular loop of the Na(+)-Ca2+ exchange protein, and we have identified a high-affinity 45Ca2+ binding domain on this loop (Levitsky, D. O., D. A. Nicoll, and K. D. Philipson. 1994. Journal of Biological Chemistry. 269:22847-22852). We now use electrophysiological and mutational analyses to further define the Ca2+ regulatory site. Wild-type and mutant exchangers were expressed in Xenopus oocytes, and the exchange current was measured using the inside- out giant membrane patch technique. Ca2+ regulation was measured as the stimulation of reverse Na(+)-Ca2+ exchange (intracellular Na+ exchanging for extracellular Ca2+) by intracellular Ca2+. Single-site mutations within two acidic clusters of the Ca2+ binding domain lowered the apparent Ca2+ affinity at the regulatory site from 0.4 to 1.1-1.8 microM. Mutations had parallel effects on the affinity of the exchanger loop for 45Ca2+ binding (Levitsky et al., 1994) and for functional Ca2+ regulation. We conclude that we have identified the functionally important Ca2+ binding domain. All mutant exchangers with decreased apparent affinities at the regulatory Ca2+ binding site also have a complex pattern of altered kinetic properties. The outward current of the wild-type Na(+)-Ca2+ exchanger declines with a half time (th) of 10.8 +/- 3.2 s upon Ca2+ removal, whereas the exchange currents of several mutants decline with th values of 0.7-4.3 s. Likewise, Ca2+ regulation mutants respond more rapidly to Ca2+ application. Study of Ca2+ regulation has previously been possible only with the exchanger operating in the reverse mode as the regulatory Ca2+ and the transported Ca2+ are then on opposite sides of the membrane. The use of exchange mutants with low affinity for Ca2+ at regulatory sites also allows demonstration of secondary Ca2+ regulation with the exchanger in the forward or Ca2+ efflux mode. In addition, we find that the affinity of wild-type and mutant Na(+)-Ca2+ exchangers for intracellular Na+ decreases at low regulatory Ca2+. This suggests that Ca2+ regulation modifies transport properties and does not only control the fraction of exchangers in an active state.
Towards Embedded RAIDs-on-Chip

The dual effects of larger die sizes and technology scaling, combined with aggressive voltage scaling for power reduction, increase the error rates for on-chip memories. Traditional on-chip memory reliability techniques (e.g., ECC) incur significant power and performance overheads. In this paper, we propose a low-power-and-performance-overhead Embedded RAID (E-RAID) strategy and present Embedded RAIDs-on-Chip (E-RoC), a distributed dynamically managed reliable memory subsystem. E-RoC achieves reliability through redundancy by optimizing RAID-like policies tuned for on-chip distributed memories. We achieve on-chip reliability of memories through the use of Distributed Dynamic ScratchPad Allocatable Memories (DSPAMs) and their allocation policies. We exploit aggressive voltage scaling to reduce power consumption overheads due to parallel DSPAM accesses, and rely on the E-RoC manager to automatically handle any resulting voltage-scaling-induced errors. We demonstrate how E-RAIDs can further enhance the fault tolerance of traditional memory reliability approaches by designing E-RAID levels that exploit ECC. Finally, we show the power and flexibility of the E-RoC concept by showing the benefits of having a heterogeneous E-RAID levels that fit each application's needs (fault tolerance, power/energy, performance). Our experimental results on multimedia benchmarks show that E-RoC's fully distributed redundant reliable memory subsystem can reduce up to 85% in dynamic power consumption, and up to 61% lower latency due to error checks/corrections. On average, we see that our E-RAID levels converge to 100% Yield much faster than traditional ECC approaches. Moreover, E-RAID levels that exploit ECC (e.g., E-RAID ECC + 1, E-RAID RP + ECC) can guarantee 99.9% Yield at ultra low Vdd on average, where as SECDED and DECTED were able to attain 99.1% and 99.4% Yield respectively. Our E-RAID levels (detection and correction) achieved a worst case 93.9% Yield, where as the traditional ECC approaches achieved a worst case of 34.1% Yield. We observe an average of 22% dynamic power consumption increase by using traditional ECC approaches (EDC1, EDC8, SEC, SECDED, DEC, DECTED), where as we observe average savings of ECC, E-RAID TMR). We see that on average traditional ECC approaches are able to save static energy by 6.4%, where as our E-RAID approaches achieve 23.4% static energy savings. We observe that on average TMR) incur 2% higher overheads than traditional ECC approaches (EDC1, EDC8, SEC, SECDED, DEC, DECTED). We observe that for Vdd above 0.45, on average, our E-RAID levels with error correction support (SEC) incur 3% lower overheads over the more traditional SECDED/DECTED schemes. Finally, we observe that mixing …