Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Approximation and Heuristic Algorithms for Probabilistic Physical Search on General Graphs

We consider an agent seeking to obtain an item, potentially available at different locations in a physical environment. The traveling costs between locations are known in advance, but there is only probabilistic knowledge regarding the possible prices of the item at any given location. Given such a setting, the problem is to find a plan that maximizes the probability of acquiring the good while minimizing both travel and purchase costs. Sample applications include agents in search-and-rescue or exploration missions, e.g., a rover on Mars seeking to mine a specific mineral. These probabilistic physical search problems have been previously studied, but we present the first approximation and heuristic algorithms for solving such problems on general graphs. We establish an interesting connection between these problems and classical graph-search problems, which led us to provide the approximation algorithms and hardness of approximation results for our settings. We further suggest several heuristics for practical use, and demonstrate their effectiveness with simulation on real graph structure and synthetic graphs.
System identification of modal parameters in dual-stage Hard Disk Drives

To shorten the development and production time of Hard Disk Drives (HDDs), an integrated servo-mechanical design procedure combining mechanical structure prototyping and fast servo evaluation is essential. In this paper, a system identification procedure is developed for estimation of residues, damping ratios, and natural frequencies of resonant modes for the actuators in a dual-stage HDD. The coefficients and residues of the transfer function model are optimized via two subsequent Least Squares (LS) error optimization criterions in modal summation form. The proposed methodology is verified with experimental frequency responses measured from a commercial dual-stage HDD using the Laser Doppler Vibrometer (LDV). Our results show the effectiveness of the proposed system identification algorithm in estimating the modal parameters of flexible mechanical actuators.
Interactions between Auxin, Microtubules and XTHs Mediate Green Shade- Induced Petiole Elongation in Arabidopsis

Plants are highly attuned to translating environmental changes to appropriate modifications in growth. Such phenotypic plasticity is observed in dense vegetations, where shading by neighboring plants, triggers rapid unidirectional shoot growth (shade avoidance), such as petiole elongation, which is partly under the control of auxin. This growth is fuelled by cellular expansion requiring cell-wall modification by proteins such as xyloglucan endotransglucosylase/hydrolases (XTHs). Cortical microtubules (cMTs) are highly dynamic cytoskeletal structures that are also implicated in growth regulation. The objective of this study was to investigate the tripartite interaction between auxin, cMTs and XTHs in shade avoidance. Our results indicate a role for cMTs to control rapid petiole elongation in Arabidopsis during shade avoidance. Genetic and pharmacological perturbation of cMTs obliterated shade-induced growth and led to a reduction in XTH activity as well. Furthermore, the cMT disruption repressed the shade-induced expression of a specific set of XTHs. These XTHs were also regulated by the hormone auxin, an important regulator of plant developmental plasticity and also of several shade avoidance responses. Accordingly, the effect of cMT disruption on the shade enhanced XTH expression could be rescued by auxin application. Based on the results we hypothesize that cMTs can mediate petiole elongation during shade avoidance by regulating the expression of cell wall modifying proteins via control of auxin distribution.
Identifying the amylome, proteins capable of forming amyloid-like fibrils

The amylome is the universe of proteins that are capable of forming amyloid-like fibrils. Here we investigate the factors that enable a protein to belong to the amylome. A major factor is the presence in the protein of a segment that can form a tightly complementary interface with an identical segment, which permits the formation of a steric zipper—two self-complementary beta sheets that form the spine of an amyloid fibril. Another factor is sufficient conformational freedom of the self-complementary segment to interact with other molecules. Using RNase A as a model system, we validate our fibrillogenic predictions by the 3D profile method based on the crystal structure of NNQQNY and demonstrate that a specific residue order is required for fiber formation. Our genome-wide analysis revealed that self-complementary segments are found in almost all proteins, yet not all proteins form amyloids. The implication is that chaperoning effects have evolved to constrain self-complementary segments from interaction with each other.
Order selection for same-realization predictions in autoregressive processes

Assume that observations are generated from an infinite-order autoregressive [AR(∞)] process. Shibata [Ann. Statist. 8 (1980) 147-164] considered the problem of choosing a finite-order AR model, allowing the order to become infinite as the number of observations does in order to obtain a better approximation. He showed that, for the purpose of predicting the future of an independent replicate, Akaike's information criterion (AIC) and its variants are asymptotically efficient. Although Shibata's concept of asymptotic efficiency has been widely accepted in the literature, it is not a natural property for time series analysis. This is because when new observations of a time series become available, they are not independent of the previous data. To overcome this difficulty, in this paper we focus on order selection for forecasting the future of an observed time series, referred to as same-realization prediction. We present the first theoretical verification that AIC and its variants are still asymptotically elficient (in the sense defined in Section 4) for same-realization predictions. To obtain this result, a technical condition, easily met in common practice, is introduced to simplify the complicated dependent structures among the selected orders, estimated parameters and future observations. In addition, a simulation study is conducted to illustrate the practical implications of AIC. This study shows that AIC also yields a satisfactory saute-realization prediction in finite samples. On the other hand, a limitation of AIC in same-realization settings is pointed out. It is interesting to note that this limitation of AIC does not exist for corresponding independent cases.
Novel Arenavirus, Zambia

To investigate arenavirus in Zambia, we characterized virus from the kidneys of 5 arenavirus RNA–positive rodents (Mastomys natalensis) among 263 captured. Full-genome sequences of the viruses suggested that they were new strains similar to Lassa virus–related arenaviruses. Analyzing samples from additional rodents and other species can elucidate epizootiologic aspects of arenaviruses.
Benchmark Pricing of Weather Derivatives ∗

This paper proposes an integrated approach to price weather derivatives based on the existence of an optimal benchmark portfolio for discrete time modelling. This portfolio, known as the growth optimal portfolio, when used as the numeraire ensures all benchmarked price processes are supermartingales. No further measure transformation is needed for the pricing of derivatives in a fair market, in the presence of completeness or incompleteness. An application of this approach in the pricing of weather derivatives is given. Since weather derivatives are not traded in a complete market, arbitragefree models cannot be used to determine fair prices, and therefore the use of actuarial pricing methods is required. A discrete time model is used to approximate historical values obtaining Gaussian distributed residuals. From this, fair weather contract prices are derived. JEL Classification: C15, G10, G13
A CMOS low-power variable-gain amplifier with RSSI for a noncoherent low data rate IR-UWB receiver

A low-power variable-gain amplifier (VGA) with integrated received signal strength indicator (RSSI) for a low data-rate impulse radio ultra-wideband (IR-UWB) receiver is designed and implemented in a CMOS 0.18 µm technology. The VGA achieves a gain range from −9 dB to 63 dB and bandwidth from 31 to 187 MHz. An input P1dB of −15.4 dBm is achieved at zero-dB gain. The RSSI has a dynamic range more than 70 dB. The RSSI linearity error is within ±1.2 dB for an input power from −77.5 dBm to −36.2 dBm. The VGA with integrated RSSI draws 5.4 mA from a 1.8V single supply and the test chip occupies an area of 970 µm × 750 µm, including two huge output buffers and digital gain control circuit.
A File System for Information Management

Nebula is a le system that explicitly supports information management. It di ers from traditional systems in three important ways. First, Nebula implements les as sets of attributes. Each attribute describes some property of the le such as owner, protection, functions de ned, sections speci ed, project, or le type. The content of the le is represented by a special text attribute. Second, Nebula supports associative access of les within a scoped index. A scoped index restricts associative access to a subset of the les in one or more le systems. Finally, Nebula replaces traditional directories with database views. A directory implements a naming closure; i.e. the name of a le is assigned by the directories in which it resides. A view is a query that selects le objects from a scoped index. Thus, the name of a le is a property of the le, not the view. Like directories, views can be named and included in other views. When a le (or view) is created, it is placed in an index, not a directory. The le appears in the appropriate set of views when the le system is refreshed. In this way, views dynamically classify les. The unique properties of the Nebula le system enable users to locate, classify, and identify information quickly and easily as demonstrated by several Nebula-based applications.
A Secure Password-Based Remote User Authentication Scheme without Smart Cards

There are many remote user authentication schemes proposed in literatures for preventing unauthorized parties from accessing resources in an insecure environment. Due to inherent tamper-resistance, most of them are based on smart card authentication schemes. Unfortunately, the cost of cards and readers make these schemes costly. In the real world, common storage devices, such as universal serial bus (USB) thumb drives, portable HDDs, mobile phones, Laptop or Desktop PCs, are widely used, and they are much cheaper or more convenient for storing user authentication information. However, since these devices do not provide tamper-resistance, it is a challenge to design a secure authentication scheme using these kinds of memory devices. In this paper, we will propose a secure password-based remote user authentication and key agreement scheme without using smart cards. According to our analysis, the proposed scheme guarantees mutual authentication and also resists off-line dictionary, replay, forgery, and impersonation attacks. Compared to related scheme, the proposed scheme’s computation cost is lower and the total message length is shorter. Therefore, our scheme is suitable even for applications in limited power computing environments. DOI: http://dx.doi. org/10.5755/j01.itc. 41.1. 975
Privacy Enforcement and Accountability with Semantics ( PEAS 2007 ) Workshop 11

We show that the semantic formal model for Open Digital Right Language (ODRL)-based rights delegation policies can be enforced and expressed as a combination of ontologies and rules, e.g., Semantic Web Rule Language (SWRL). Based on ODRL’s expressions and data dictionary, a rights delegation ontology is proposed in this study. Furthermore, we express the rights delegation policy as a set of ontology statements, rules, and facts for usage and transfer rights delegation. When verifying ODRL formal semantics, our SWRL approach is superior to the generic restricted First Order Logic (FOL) model because we have an understandable formal semantics of policies for automatic machine processing and a higher expressive power for policy compliance checking. On the other hand, the rights delegation semantics shown as a generic full FOL might have a higher complexity of license verification, which results in a policy compliance checking that is possibly undecidable. A real usage rights delegation scenario for digital content is demonstrated in order to justify the feasibility of our formal semantic model for digital rights delegation. We hope this study will shed some light on future sensitive information usage and delegation rights controlled from a privacy protection perspective.
Semantics argument classification using Word/POS in constituent and left argument features

Semantic argument classification is process to classify argument refers to the meaning of the argument. In the process of the semantic argument classification used the baseline features and enhance with First and Last Word/POS (Part of Speech) in Constituent features to improve semantic argument classification. In addition to these features, authors add Left Argument feature that utilizes the previous constituent label. Experiment result using Support Vector Machine (SVM), our addition features (First and Last Word/POS in Constituent features and Left Argument features) increase the effectiveness F1 7.27% compare to baseline features only.
Hypothalamic Expression and Moonlight-Independent Changes of Cry3 and Per4 Implicate Their Roles in Lunar Clock Oscillators of the Lunar-Responsive Goldlined Spinefoot

Lunar cycle-associated physiology has been found in a wide variety of organisms. Studies suggest the presence of a circalunar clock in some animals, but the location of the lunar clock is unclear. We previously found lunar-associated expression of transcripts for Cryptochrome3 gene (SgCry3) in the brain of a lunar phase-responsive fish, the Goldlined spinefoot (Siganus guttatus). Then we proposed a photoperiodic model for the lunar phase response, in which SgCry3 might function as a phase-specific light response gene and/or an oscillatory factor in unidentified circalunar clock. In this study, we have developed an anti-SgCRY3 antibody to identify SgCRY3-immunoreactive cells in the brain. We found immunoreactions in the subependymal cells located in the mediobasal region of the diencephalon, a crucial site for photoperiodic seasonal responses in birds. For further assessment of the lunar-responding mechanism and the circalunar clock, we investigated mRNA levels of Cry3 as well as those of the other clock(-related) genes, Period (Per2 and Per4), in S. guttatus reared under nocturnal moonlight interruption or natural conditions. Not only SgCry3 but SgPer4 mRNA levels showed lunar phase-dependent variations in the diencephalon without depending on light condition during the night. These results suggest that the expressions of SgCry3 and SgPer4 are not directly regulated by moonlight stimulation but endogenously mediated in the brain, and implicate that circadian clock(-related) genes may be involved in the circalunar clock locating within the mediobasal region of the diencephalon.
Community Structure in Methanogenic Enrichments Provides Insight into Syntrophic Interactions in Hydrocarbon-Impacted Environments

The methanogenic biodegradation of crude oil involves the conversion of hydrocarbons to methanogenic substrates by syntrophic bacteria and subsequent methane production by methanogens. Assessing the metabolic roles played by various microbial species in syntrophic communities remains a challenge, but such information has important implications for bioremediation and microbial enhanced energy recovery technologies. Many factors such as changing environmental conditions or substrate variations can influence the composition and biodegradation capabilities of syntrophic microbial communities in hydrocarbon-impacted environments. In this study, a methanogenic crude oil-degrading enrichment culture was successively transferred onto the single long chain fatty acids palmitate or stearate followed by their parent alkanes, hexadecane or octadecane, respectively, in order to assess the impact of different substrates on microbial community composition and retention of hydrocarbon biodegradation genes. 16S rRNA gene sequencing showed that a reduction in substrate diversity resulted in a corresponding loss of microbial diversity, but that hydrocarbon biodegradation genes (such as assA/masD encoding alkylsuccinate synthase) could be retained within a community even in the absence of hydrocarbon substrates. Despite substrate-related diversity changes, all communities were dominated by hydrogenotrophic and acetotrophic methanogens along with bacteria including Clostridium sp. , members of the Deltaproteobacteria, and a number of other phyla. Microbial co-occurrence network analysis revealed a dense network of interactions amongst syntrophic bacteria and methanogens that were maintained despite changes in the substrates for methanogenesis. Our results reveal the effect of substrate diversity loss on microbial community diversity, indicate that many syntrophic interactions are stable over time despite changes in substrate pressure, and show that syntrophic interactions amongst bacteria themselves are as important as interactions between bacteria and methanogens in complex methanogenic communities.
Novel social behaviors in a threatened apex marine predator, the oceanic whitetip shark Carcharhinus longimanus

Novel social behaviors in a threatened apex marine predator, the oceanic whitetip shark Carcharhinus longimanus Austin J. Gallagher, Joe Romeiro, Debra Canabal, Vincent Canabal & Neil Hammerschlag a Leonard and Jayne Abess Center for Ecosystem Science and Policy, University of Miami, Coral Gables, FL, USA b RJ Dunlap Marine Conservation Program, University of Miami, Miami, FL, USA c 333 Productions, Exeter, RI, USA d Epic Diving, Belleville, NJ, USA e Rosenstiel School of Marine and Atmospheric Science, University of Miami, Miami, FL, USA Published online: 30 May 2014.
Object recognition with top-down visual attention modeling for behavioral studies

Behavioural analysis in instrumental activities of daily living has become a powerful tool in clinical studies and rises the question of what objects are manipulated by patients. In this paper we present a top-down probabilistic visual attention model for manipulated object recognition in egocentric video content. Although arms often occlude objects and are usually seen as a burden for many vision systems, they become an asset in our approach, as we extract both global and local features describing their geometric layout and pose, as well as the objects being manipulated. We integrate this information in a probabilistic generative model, provide update equations that automatically compute the model parameters optimizing the likelihood of the data, and design a method to generate maps of visual attention that are later used in an object-recognition framework. This task-driven assessment reveals that the proposed method outperforms the state of the art in object recognition for egocentric video content.
On the Cohen–Macaulay Property of Modular Invariant Rings

Abstract If V is a faithful module for a finite group G over a field of characteristic p , then the ring of invariants need not be Cohen–Macaulay if p divides the order of G . In this article the cohomology of G is used to study the question of Cohen–Macaulayness of the invariant ring. One of the results is a classification of all groups for which the invariant ring with respect to the regular representation is Cohen–Macaulay. Moreover, it is proved that if p divides the order of G , then the ring of vector invariants of sufficiently many copies of V is not Cohen–Macaulay. A further result is that if G is a p -group and the invariant ring is Cohen–Macaulay, then G is a bireflection group, i.e., it is generated by elements which fix a subspace of V of codimension at most 2.
Socioeconomic status within social class and mortality: a prospective study in middle-aged British men.

OBJECTIVE It has been suggested that mortality differences between groups in society may be greater than are indicated by social class based on occupation. We have examined the relationship between social class and mortality using home and car ownership as additional indices of socioeconomic status within social class. DESIGN A prospective study of a cohort of men representative of the social class distribution of middle-aged men in Great Britain. SETTING One general practice in each of 24 towns in England, Wales and Scotland. SUBJECTS Five years after the initial screening of 7735 men aged 40-59 years, 7262 men (94% of the original cohort) provided information on housing tenure and car ownership by completing a postal questionnaire. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURE Deaths from all causes, cardiovascular, cancer and other non-cardiovascular causes during an average follow-up of 9.8 years (range 8.5-11.0 years) after the postal questionnaire. RESULTS During the follow-up period there were 946 deaths from all causes among the 7262 men. The lowest mortality rates for all causes, cardiovascular, cancer and other non-cardiovascular causes were seen in non-manual social classes I and II. Manual social classes III and IV+V showed a significant 40% increase in risk of death compared to social classes I+II, even after adjustment for a wide range of risk factors (relative risk [RR] = 1.4, 95% confidence interval [CI]: 1.2-1.7 and RR = 1.4, 95% CI: 1.1-1.7 respectively). Within all social class groups, those owning both home and car showed lower rates than those who owned neither, even after adjustment for a wide range of risk factors and employment status. Compared with social classes I+II owning both home and car, all those not owning home and/or car, in each social group, showed a significant approximately twofold increase in risk of death. Adjusted RR for non-manual I+II = 2.1 (95% CI: 1.5-2.9), non-manual III RR = 2.0 (95% CI: 1.3-2.9), manual III RR = 1.8 (95% CI: 1.4-2.4) and manual IV+V RR = 1.8 (95% CI: 1.3-2.5). Similar relationships were seen in all major geographical regions of Great Britain. CONCLUSION Mortality differences within society are greater than indicated by social class based on occupation alone. Irrespective of social class, men with greater material assets have lower rates of mortality from all causes than men less well endowed, independent of a wide range of lifestyle and biological factors. These findings suggest that mortality differences within our society are closely related to relative wealth.
The Design of a Simulation Systemfor Persistent Object Storage

EEcient storage management of objects is an important part of any persistent object system. Storage management algorithms, such as those for clustering, caching, and garbage collection, are often complex, since they must simultaneously satisfy a number of constraints, including low CPU overhead, minimum space usage, and low latency. We have designed a simulation system that can be used to evaluate a wide variety of such algorithms. The system is innovative in that it uses trace-driven simulation as well as a loosely-coupled architecture that separates out diierent aspects of storage management policy, machine hardware, and simulation control into separate modules. Examples of such modules are those for storage allocation, object connectivity, physical characteristics, and cost modeling. The modules communicate using message multicast (i.e., selective broadcast). This approach supports rapid prototyping and rapid evaluation of alternative storage management algorithms.