Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Feature selection for accurate short-term forecasting of local wind-speed

There is increasing demand for accurate short-term forecasting of weather conditions at specified locations. This demand arises partly from the growing numbers of renewable energy facilities. In order successfully to integrate renewable energy supplies with grid sources, the short term (e.g. next 24 hrs) output profile of the renewable system needs to be forecast as accurately as possible, to avoid over-reliance on fossil fuels at times when renewables are available, and to avoid deficit in supply when they aren't. In particular, the inherent variability in wind-speed poses an additional challenge. Several approaches for wind-speed forecasting have previously been developed, ranging from simple time series analysis to the use of a combination of global weather forecasting, computational fluid dynamics and machine learning methods. For localized forecasting, statistical methods that rely on historical location data come to the forefront. Recent such work (building localized forecast models with multivariate linear regression) has found that accuracy can gain significantly by learning from multiple types of local weather features. Here, we build on that work by investigating the potential benefits of simple additional `derived' features, such as the gradient in wind-speed or other variables. Following extensive experimentation using data from sites in Nigeria (primarily), Scotland and Italy, we conclude that the ideal forecasting model for a given location will use a judicious combination of direct and derived features.
Parametric Local Metric Learning for Nearest Neighbor Classification

We study the problem of learning local metrics for nearest neighbor classification. Most previous works on local metric learning learn a number of local unrelated metrics. While this "independence" approach delivers an increased flexibility its downside is the considerable risk of overfitting. We present a new parametric local metric learning method in which we learn a smooth metric matrix function over the data manifold. Using an approximation error bound of the metric matrix function we learn local metrics as linear combinations of basis metrics defined on anchor points over different regions of the instance space. We constrain the metric matrix function by imposing on the linear combinations manifold regularization which makes the learned metric matrix function vary smoothly along the geodesics of the data manifold. Our metric learning method has excellent performance both in terms of predictive power and scalability. We experimented with several large-scale classification problems, tens of thousands of instances, and compared it with several state of the art metric learning methods, both global and local, as well as to SVM with automatic kernel selection, all of which it outperforms in a significant manner.
A Keyword Spotting Based Sports Type Determination System

This paper proposes a novel system to automatically determine the sports type of a sports game by conducting keywords spotting on short fragments (around 10 minutes) of a sports game. In this system, we first develop an audio segmentation module as a front-end to separate announcers' speech efficiently from the complex sports audio stream. Then we employ speech recognition technology on these speech segments to extract keywords as the features of each kind of sports. Finally, based on the KWS (keyword spotting) results and the specific keywords we defined for each kind of sports, the classification is conducted based on a score ranking strategy. In order to improve the classification accuracy, acoustic model adaptation and language model adaptation are performed to improve the KWS results. MAP (Maximum A Posterior) adaptation is employed for acoustic model and a keyword-frequency-based adaptation method is proposed for the language model adaptation. Both adaptations give significant improvements to the KWS results. By integrating all the techniques, a sports type determination accuracy rate of 92.2% is achieved on the test set consisting of 154 fragments from 17 game programs of ten kinds of sports.
Principled design of the modern Web architecture

The World Wide Web has succeeded in large part because its software architecture has been designed to meet the needs of an Internet-scale distributed hypermedia application. The modern Web architecture emphasizes scalability of component interactions, generality of interfaces, independent deployment of components, and intermediary components to reduce interaction latency, enforce security, and encapsulate legacy systems. In this article we introduce the Representational State Transfer (REST) architectural style, developed as an abstract model of the Web architecture and used to guide our redesign and definition of the Hypertext Transfer Protocol and Uniform Resource Identifiers. We describe the software engineering principles guiding REST and the interaction constraints chosen to retain those principles, contrasting them to the constraints of other architectural styles. We then compare the abstract model to the currently deployed Web architecture in order to elicit mismatches between the existing protocols and the applications they are intended to support.
One-loop maximal helicity violating amplitudes in N = 4 super Yang-Mills theories

One-loop maximal helicity violating (MHV) amplitudes in N = 4 super Yang-Mills (SYM) theories are analyzed, using the prescription of Cachazo, Svrcek, and Witten (CSW). The relations between leading Nc amplitudes An;1 and sub-leading amplitudes An;c obtained by the CSW prescription are found to be identical to those obtained from conventional field theory calculations. Combining with existing results, this establishes the validity of the CSW prescription to one-loop in the calculation of MHV amplitudes in N = 4 SYM theories of finite Nc.
IgA antibodies to Toxoplasma gondii in human tears.

PURPOSE To investigate whether mucosal immune responses directed against the ubiquitous parasite Toxoplasma gondii can be detected in tears of healthy humans. METHODS Nonstimulated tears and blood were obtained from 62 healthy humans (mean age, 35 +/- 10 [SD] years). Serum anti-T. gondii immunoglobulin titers were determined by Sabin-Feldman (SF) dye test. Western blot analysis was used to compare the anti-T. gondii repertoire in tears and serum, and antibody avidity was determined by urea elution. Diluted tear and serum samples were incubated with the intact parasite to determine whether the antibodies found in tears and serum are capable of binding to surface exposed antigens of T. gondii. RESULTS Eighty-one percent of the individuals tested had an anti-T. gondii IgA response in their tears, whereas only 23% had evidence of systemic immunity against the parasite. There was no apparent relation between chronic infection and presence of anti-T. gondii IgA in tears. Characteristically, the antigens recognized by the IgA antibodies in tears were often limited to at least one of four antigens with molecular weights of 74, 70, 49, and 34 kDa. The avidity of the anti-T. gondii IgA antibodies in tears was similar to the avidity of serum IgG antibodies. IgA antibodies directed against the 49- and 74-kDa antigens recognized epitopes exposed on the surface of the parasite. CONCLUSIONS A major finding of this study is that tears of many individuals, chronically infected or not, contain IgA antibodies against T. gondii. It is not known whether these frequently observed antibody responses are the result of common mucosal immune responses against T. gondii or represent the natural antibody repertoire.
Climate Simulators and Climate Projections

We provide a statistical interpretation of current practice in climate modeling. In this review, we define weather and climate, clarify the relationship between simulator output and simulator climate, distinguish between a climate simulator and a statistical climate model, provide a statistical interpretation of the ubiquitous practice of anomaly correction along with a substantial generalization (the best-parameter approach), and interpret simulator/data comparisons as posterior predictive checking, including a simple adjustment to allow for double counting. We also discuss statistical approaches to simulator tuning, assessing parametric uncertainty, and responding to unrealistic outputs. We finish with a more general discussion of larger themes.
A possible link between famine exposure in early life and future risk of gastrointestinal cancers: Implications from age‐period‐cohort analysis

The Chinese famine in 1958–1962 was one of the worst in human history, but its potential influence on cancer risks is uncertain. Using cancer incidence data in Shanghai, China, during 1983–2007, we calculated age‐specific incidence rates of gastrointestinal cancers in birth cohorts exposed to the Chinese famine in different periods of life and a non‐exposed reference cohort. Age‐period‐cohort regressions estimated the overall relative risks of gastrointestinal cancers in each birth cohort. A total of 212,098 new cases of gastrointestinal cancer were identified during the study period (129,233 males and 82,865 females), among whom 18,146 had esophageal cancer, 71,011 gastric cancer, 55,864 colorectal cancer, 42,751 liver cancer, 9,382 gallbladder cancer and 14,944 had pancreatic cancer. The risk of esophageal, gastric, colorectal and liver cancers was higher in cohorts exposed to the Chinese famine in early life than in the reference cohort, except for esophageal cancer in women. The risk of esophageal, liver and colorectal cancers was particularly high in men exposed to famine during early childhood (0–9 years). There were no clear associations between famine exposure and the risk of pancreatic or gallbladder cancer. This study suggests an increased risk of esophageal, gastric, liver and colorectal cancers associated with childhood exposure to the Chinese famine. These findings indicate a need for further investigations confirming the results and identifying the underlying mechanisms.
Cancer Biology and Signal Transduction Akt-activated Endothelium Constitutes the Niche for Residual Disease and Resistance to Bevacizumab in Ovarian Cancer

Ovarian cancer is the second leading cause of cancer-related death in women worldwide. Despite optimal cytoreduction and adequate adjuvant therapies, initial tumor response is often followed by relapse suggesting the existence of a tumor niche. Targeted therapies have been evaluated in ovarian cancer to overcome resistant disease. Among them, antiangiogenic therapies inhibit new blood vessel growth, induce endothelial cell apoptosis, and block the incorporation of hematopoietic and endothelial progenitor cells into new blood vessels. Despite in vitro and in vivo successes, antivascular therapy with bevacizumab targeting VEGF-A has limited efficacy in ovarian cancer. The precise molecular mechanisms underlying clinical resistance to anti-VEGF therapies are not yet well understood. Among them, tumor and stromal heterogeneity might determine the treatment outcomes. The present study investigates whether abnormalities in the tumor endothelium may contribute to treatment resistance to bevacizumab and promote a residual microscopic disease. Here, we showed that ovarian cancer cells activate Akt phosphorylation in endothelial cells inducing resistance to bevacizumab leading to an autocrine loop based on FGF2 secretion. Altogether, our results point out the role of an activated endothelium in the resistance to bevacizumab and in the constitution of a niche for a residual disease.
Modeling of Aluminum Extrusion Process Using Non-Orthogonal Block Structured Grids Based FVM

The mathematic model of 3D aluminum extrusion processes using finite volume method (FVM) was established in this paper. The basic theories and rigid-plastic flow theories of this model were researched and built. Non-orthogonal structured grids were used to match complex geometric boundaries and local refinement of grids was also realized. The collocated arrangement is used to discretize the governing equations on non-orthogonal grids directly, pressure oscillations bring by this arrangement and error caused by grid’s non-orthogonality is eliminated by special treatment. A pocket die extrusion process was simulated using the program developed in this paper. The simulation results were also compared with that simulated by FEM software Deform in the same process, material and die conditions. The feasibility and efficiency of the mathematic model built in this paper was demonstrated by the simulation results and the comparison.
Tic suppression in the treatment of Tourette's syndrome with exposure therapy: The rebound phenomenon reconsidered

Exposure and response prevention (ER), a behavioral treatment program consisting of exposure to premonitory sensory experiences during prolonged tic suppression, was shown to be a promising new treatment for tics in Tourette's syndrome (TS). In this study, the commonly reported paradoxical increase in tic frequency following voluntary tic suppression, i.e., rebound phenomenon, was examined. Tic frequency was rated in 20 TS patients during 15‐minute videotaped conversations taken both before and following 10 ER sessions. In addition, tic frequency was obtained at home by family members of the patients during 15‐minute daily tic frequency registrations. Ratings following ER sessions were compared with ratings obtained before the sessions. Neither the ratings at the institute nor the ratings at home supported a rebound effect following ER tic suppression. © 2007 Movement Disorder Society
Video-based hand manipulation capture through composite motion control

This paper describes a new method for acquiring physically realistic hand manipulation data from multiple video streams. The key idea of our approach is to introduce a composite motion control to simultaneously model hand articulation, object movement, and subtle interaction between the hand and object. We formulate video-based hand manipulation capture in an optimization framework by maximizing the consistency between the simulated motion and the observed image data. We search an optimal motion control that drives the simulation to best match the observed image data. We demonstrate the effectiveness of our approach by capturing a wide range of high-fidelity dexterous manipulation data. We show the power of our recovered motion controllers by adapting the captured motion data to new objects with different properties. The system achieves superior performance against alternative methods such as marker-based motion capture and kinematic hand motion tracking.
Theory of Injection-Locked Oscillator Phase Noise

The paper describes the development of a model for the calculation of noise-driven phase response of an injection-locked oscillator perturbed by Gaussian white sources. Being based on the state space formalism the framework is unified encompassing all circuit topologies and methods of unilateral coupling. We thus avoid reverting to the kind of simplified block-diagram description that one finds in previously published works on the topic and our approach furthermore allows for all the main results and model parameters to be derived numerically based on the netlist description of the circuit. To our knowledge this constitutes the first attempt at an ILO phase-noise description not relying on block diagrams or other such phenomenological modelling strategies.
Who Added That Permission to My App? An Analysis of Developer Permission Changes in Open Source Android Apps

Android applications rely on a permission-based model to carry out core functionality. Appropriate permission usage is imperative for ensuring device security and protecting the user's desired privacy levels. But who is making the important decisions of which permissions the app should request? Are they experienced developers with the appropriate project knowledge to make such important decisions, or are these crucial choices being made by those with relatively minor amounts of contributions to the project? When are these permission-related decisions being made in the app's development life cycle? We examined 1,402 Android version control repositories containing over 331,318 commits including 18,751 AndroidManifest.xml versions to better understand when, why, and who is adding permissions to apps. We found that (I) developers with more experience are more likely to make permission-based changes (II) permissions are typically added earlier in apps' commit lifetime, but their removal is more sustained throughout the commit lifetime (III) developers reverting permission-based changes are typically more experienced than developers who initially made the change being reverted.
Halothane attenuates nitroglycerin-induced vasodilation and a decrease in intracellular Ca2+ in the rat thoracic aorta.

UNLABELLED Although halothane inhibits endothelium-mediated vasorelaxation, the sites of inhibition remain controversial. Because the cytosolic concentration of Ca2+ ([Ca2+]i) has crucial roles for tension development, we examined the effects of halothane on nitroglycerin-induced vasorelaxation from the standpoint of [Ca2+]i. Isolated spiral strips of rat thoracic aorta without endothelium were suspended for isometric tension recordings in a physiologic salt solution. Muscle contraction was evoked with 10(-8) M norepinephrine, followed by endothelium-independent vasorelaxation with nitroglycerin 10(-7) and 10(-6) M. The effects of halothane 1.5% and 3% on nitroglycerin-induced vasorelaxation were evaluated along with the concomitant measurement of [Ca2+]i using fura-2-Ca2+ fluorescence. In other muscle strips, incremental doses of norepinephrine were administered during halothane exposure to induce contractions comparable to those without halothane. Nitroglycerin dose-dependently reduced norepinephrine-induced muscle contractions, but the decrease in [Ca2+]i reached a plateau at 10(-7) M, which indicates that nitroglycerin induced [Ca2+]i-dependent and [Ca2+]i-independent vasorelaxation. Both concentrations of halothane inhibited nitroglycerin-induced decreases in muscle tension and [Ca2+]i, not only when the same dose of norepinephrine was used for contraction during halothane exposure, but also at incremental doses of norepinephrine. In conclusion, halothane inhibits nitroglycerin-induced vasorelaxation partly by suppressing Ca2+ changes in the smooth muscle. IMPLICATIONS We examined nitroglycerin-induced vasorelaxation in the rat thoracic aorta, along with the concomitant measurement of the cytosolic concentrations of Ca2+, and found that halothane attenuated endothelium-independent vasorelaxation by suppressing Ca2+ dynamics in the smooth muscle.
Ganglioside GM3 Participates in the Pathological Conditions of Insulin Resistance*

Gangliosides are known as modulators of transmembrane signaling by regulating various receptor functions. We have found that insulin resistance induced by tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α) in 3T3-L1 adipocytes was accompanied by increased GM3 ganglioside expression caused by elevating GM3 synthase activity and its mRNA. We also demonstrated that TNF-α simultaneously produced insulin resistance by uncoupling insulin receptor activity toward insulin receptor substrate-1 (IRS-1) and suppressing insulin-sensitive glucose transport. Pharmacological depletion of GM3 in adipocytes by an inhibitor of glucosylceramide synthase prevented the TNF-α-induced defect in insulin-dependent tyrosine phosphorylation of IRS-1 and also counteracted the TNF-α-induced serine phosphorylation of IRS-1. Moreover, when the adipocytes were incubated with exogenous GM3, suppression of tyrosine phosphorylation of insulin receptor and IRS-1 and glucose uptake in response to insulin stimulation was observed, demonstrating that GM3 itself is able to mimic the effects of TNF on insulin signaling. We used the obese Zuckerfa/fa rat and ob/ob mouse, which are known to overproduce TNF-α mRNA in adipose tissues, as typical models of insulin resistance. We found that the levels of GM3 synthase mRNA in adipose tissues of these animals were significantly higher than in their lean counterparts. Taken together, the increased synthesis of cellular GM3 by TNF may participate in the pathological conditions of insulin resistance in type 2 diabetes.
Gamut Mapping for Pictorial Images

A psychophysical evaluation was performed to test the quality of several color gamut mapping algorithms. The task was to determine which mapping strategy produced the best matches to the original image. Observer preference was not considered. The algorithms consisted of both devicedependent and image-dependent mappings. Three types of lightness scaling functions (linear compression, chroma weighted linear compression, and imagedependent sigmoidal compression) and four types of chromatic mapping functions were tested (linear compression, knee-point compression, OsigmoidlikeO compression, and clipping). The source and destination devices considered were a monitor and a plain-paper inkjet printer respectively. The results showed that, for all of the images tested, the algorithms that used image-dependent sigmoidal lightness remapping functions produced superior matches to those that utilized linear lightness scaling. In addition, the results support using chromatic compression functions that were closely related to chromatic clipping functions.
Knowledge integration in virtual teams: The potential role of KMS

Virtual teams are becoming a preferred mechanism for harnessing, integrating, and applying knowledge that is distributed across organizations and in pockets of collaborative networks. In this article we recognize that knowledge application, among the three phases of knowledge management, has received little research attention. Paradoxically, this phase contributes most to value creation. Extending communication theory, we identify four challenges to knowledge integration in virtual team environments: constraints on transactive memory, insufficient mutual understanding, failure in sharing and retaining contextual knowledge, and inflexibility of organizational ties. We then propose knowledge management system (KMS) approaches to meet these challenges. Finally, we identify promising avenues for future research in this area.
Unexpected means of protocol inference

Network managers are inevitably called upon to associate network traffic with particular applications. Indeed, this operation is critical for a wide range of management functions ranging from debugging and security to analytics and policy support. Traditionally, managers have relied on application adherence to a well established global port mapping: Web traffic on port 80, mail traffic on port 25 and so on. However, a range of factors - including firewall port blocking, tunneling, dynamic port allocation, and a bloom of new distributed applications - has weakened the value of this approach. We analyze three alternative mechanisms using statistical and structural content models for automatically identifying traffic that uses the same application-layer protocol, relying solely on flow content. In this manner, known applications may be identified regardless of port number, while traffic from one unknown application will be identified as distinct from another. We evaluate each mechanism's classification performance using real-world traffic traces from multiple sites.