Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Dynamics of Multiple Kaluza-Klein Monopoles in M- and String Theory

We analyse the world-volume theory of multiple Kaluza-Klein monopoles in string and M-theory by identifying the appropriate zero modes of various fields. The results are consistent with supersymmetry, and all conjectured duality symmetries. In particular for M-theory and type IIA string theory, the low energy dynamics of N Kaluza-Klein monopoles is described by supersymmetric U(N) gauge theory, and for type IIB string theory, the low energy dynamics is described by a (2,0) supersymmetric field theory in (5+1) dimensions with N tensor multiplets and tensionless self-dual strings. It is also argued that for the Kaluza-Klein monopoles in heterotic string theory, the apparently flat moduli space gets converted to the moduli space of BPS monopoles in SU(2) gauge theory when higher derivative corrections to the supergravity equations of motion are taken into account.
Secure Group Testing

The principal mission of Group Testing (GT) is to identify a small subset of “defective” items from a large population, by grouping items into as little as possible test pools. The test outcome of a pool is positive if it contains at least one defective item, and is negative otherwise. GT algorithms are utilized in numerous applications, and in most of them the privacy of the tested subjects, namely, whether they are defective or not, is critical. In this paper, we consider a scenario where there is an eavesdropper (Eve) which is able to observe a subset of the GT outcomes (pools). We propose a new non-adaptive Secure Group Testing (SGT) algorithm based on information theoretic principles, which keeps the eavesdropper ignorant regarding the items' status. Specifically, when the fraction of tests observed by Eve is 0 ≤ δ <; 1, we prove that the number of tests required for both correct reconstruction at the legitimate user (with high probability) and negligible mutual information at Eve's side is 1/1-δ times the number of tests required with no secrecy constraint.
Search result exploration: a preliminary study of blind and sighted users' decision making and performance

We conducted a preliminary study to examine sighted and blind users' decision-making behavior and performance during the search process. We manipulated the search result's relevance to a task, the search result presentation, and the effort required to process the corresponding web page. We found that users leveraged page features to gauge the amount of effort that is required to explore search pages and made exploration decisions accordingly. Users' desire to know additional page details varied based on their visual ability and the results' relevance. We quantified the cost/benefit tradeoff of additional page features and suggest ways to better support diverse Web searchers.
Innervation by a GABAergic Neuron Depresses Spontaneous Release in Glutamatergic Neurons and Unveils the Clamping Phenotype of Synaptotagmin-1

The role of spontaneously occurring release events in glutamatergic and GABAergic neurons and their regulation is intensely debated. To study the interdependence of glutamatergic and GABAergic spontaneous release, we compared reciprocally connected “mixed” glutamatergic/GABAergic neuronal pairs from mice cultured on astrocyte islands with “homotypic” glutamatergic or GABAergic pairs and autaptic neurons. We measured mEPSC and mIPSC frequencies simultaneously from both neurons. Neuronal pairs formed both interneuronal synaptic and autaptic connections indiscriminately. We find that whereas mEPSC and mIPSC frequencies did not deviate between autaptic and synaptic connections, the frequency of mEPSCs in mixed pairs was strongly depressed compared with either autaptic neurons or glutamatergic pairs. Simultaneous imaging of synapses, or comparison to evoked release amplitudes, showed that this decrease was not caused by fewer active synapses. The mEPSC frequency was negatively correlated with the mIPSC frequency, indicating interdependence. Moreover, the reduction in mEPSC frequency was abolished when established pairs were exposed to bicuculline for 3 d, but not by long-term incubation with tetrodotoxin, indicating that spontaneous GABA release downregulates mEPSC frequency. Further investigations showed that knockout of synaptotagmin-1 did not affect mEPSC frequencies in either glutamatergic autaptic neurons or in glutamatergic pairs. However, in mixed glutamatergic/GABAergic pairs, mEPSC frequencies were increased by a factor of four in the synaptotagmin-1-null neurons, which is in line with data obtained from mixed cultures. The effect persisted after incubation with BAPTA-AM. We conclude that spontaneous GABA release exerts control over mEPSC release, and GABAergic innervation of glutamatergic neurons unveils the unclamping phenotype of the synaptotagmin-1-null neurons.
Asynchronous Clock Synchronization in Delay Tolerant Networks

In this paper, we propose a distributed asynchronous clock synchronization (DCS) protocol for Delay Tolerant Networks (DTNs). Different from existing clock synchronization protocols, the proposed DCS protocol can achieve global clock synchronization among mobile nodes within the network over asynchronous and intermittent connections with long delays. Convergence of the clock values can be reached by compensating for clock errors using mutual relative clock information that is propagated in the network by contacted nodes. The level of clock accuracy is depreciated with respect to time in order to account for long delays between contact opportunities. Mathematical analysis and simulation results for various network scenarios are presented to demonstrate the convergence and performance of the DCS protocol. It is shown that the DCS protocol can achieve faster clock convergence speed and, as a result, reduce energy cost by half for neighbor discovery. Index Terms Delay Tolerant Networks, clock synchronization, mobility, power management.
Mazama Pocket Gopher Occupancy Modeling December 2011

This study used state-of-the-art methods to model site occupancy, within-site use, and detection probabilities of Mazama pocket gophers in Thurston and Pierce Counties. Data on pocket gopher presence (using mounds as indicators of presence) and a suite of habitat variables were collected from surveys of 41 sites in Spring 2008, and repeated on 40 sites in Fall 2008. Most sites (n=33) were on public lands including 24 sites on Joint Base Lewis McChord. Sites with low levels of Scots broom cover, shorter average vegetation, and soils containing fewer rock fragments (especially those 5.0-10.cm in size) tended to have higher occupancy probabilities. Within occupied sites, plot use was higher when broom density was low, fall vegetation was taller and the soil was of a sandy-loam type. Detection probabilities were most strongly influenced by time of year, with surveys in September and October having 6 times greater detectability than Mar-May, and about double that of November surveys. This study investigated the relationship between pocket gopher mounds and abundance at two sites in Thurston County: the Olympia Airport and Wolf Haven International. Replicate square plots that were 25m on each side were established at each site in Spring and Fall 2008. All pocket gopher mounds located in each plot were mapped and subsequently live-trapped to determine their association with individual gophers. Overall, there was a positive relationship between the number of mounds and number of gophers, but the Airport had about 3 times more mounds per gopher than did Wolf Haven in both seasons. Both sites had about the same number of mounds per gophers across seasons within sites. An evaluation of the general utility of mound surveys as an index to pocket gopher abundance (including results from this study and those from other published studies) concluded that establishing a site-specific relationship between the two metrics is necessary. This is likely practical only on the most important sites for which the effort required to simultaneously estimate abundance and conduct mound counts is worthwhile. Otherwise, mound surveys should be restricted to use in establishing pocket gopher presence.
Type I Interferons (IFNs) Regulate Tumor Necrosis Factor–related Apoptosis-inducing Ligand (TRAIL) Expression on Human T Cells: A Novel Mechanism for the Antitumor Effects of  Type I IFNs

Tumor necrosis factor (TNF)-related apoptosis-inducing ligand (TRAIL) is a proapoptotic member of the TNF family of type II membrane proteins, which constitutes one component of T cell cytotoxicity. In this study, we investigated the expression and function of TRAIL in human peripheral blood T (PBT) cells. Although freshly isolated PBT cells did not express a detectable level of TRAIL on their surface, a remarkable TRAIL expression was rapidly induced on the surface of both CD4+ and CD8+ PBT cells upon stimulation with anti-CD3 monoclonal antibody and type I interferons (IFNs). This enhancement of TRAIL expression was a unique feature of type I IFNs (IFN-α and IFN-β), and neither type II IFN (IFN-γ) nor various other cytokines enhanced TRAIL expression on anti-CD3–stimulated PBT cells. Type I IFNs have been used for clinical treatment of renal cell carcinomas (RCCs), and we found that most RCC cell lines were susceptible to TRAIL-induced apoptosis. Type I IFNs substantially augmented cytotoxic activity of anti-CD3–stimulated PBT cells against RCC cell lines in a TRAIL-dependent manner. These results indicate a unique feature of type I IFNs to regulate TRAIL-mediated T cell cytotoxicity, which may be involved in the antitumor effects of type I IFNs against various tumors.
The Determination of Affirmative and Negative Intentions for Indirect Speech Acts by a Recommendation Tree

For context-based recommendation systems, it is necessary to detect affirmative and negative intentions from answers. However, traditional studies can not determine these intentions from indirect speech acts. In order to determine these intentions from indirect speech acts, this paper defines a recommendation tree and proposes an algorithm of deriving intentions of indirect speech acts by the tree. In the proposed method, a recommendation condition (RC) is introduced and it is classified into a required RC, a selectable RC, and a not-selectable RC. The recommendation tree is constructed by nodes and edges corresponding to these three conditions. The deriving algorithm determines affirmative and negative intentions of indirect speech acts by tracing the trees. From experimental results, it is verified that the accuracy of the proposed method is about 40 points higher than the traditional method.
Modeling Malaria Infection and Immunity against Variant Surface Antigens in Príncipe Island, West Africa

After remarkable success of vector control campaigns worldwide, concerns about loss of immunity against Plasmodium falciparum due to lack of exposure to the parasite are relevant since an increase of severe cases in less immune individuals is expected. We present a mathematical model to investigate the impact of reducing exposure to the parasite on the immune repertoire against P. falciparum erythrocyte membrane protein 1 (PfEMP1) variants. The model was parameterized with data from Príncipe Island, West Africa, and applied to simulate two alternative transmission scenarios: one where control measures are continued to eventually drive the system to elimination; and another where the effort is interrupted after 6 years of its initiation and the system returns to the initial transmission potential. Population dynamics of parasite prevalence predict that in a few years infection levels return to the pre-control values, while the re-acquisition of the immune repertoire against PfEMP1 is slower, creating a window for increased severity. The model illustrates the consequences of loss of immune repertoire against PfEMP1 in a given setting and can be applied to other regions where similar data may be available.
Wavelet-based electrogram onset identification for ventricular electroanatomical mapping

Identification of the earliest activation area is a common task in focal tachycardia catheter ablation treatments. In these procedures the detection of the electrogram (EGM) activation onset during electroanatomical mapping (EAM) helps to define the ablation target area. However, EAM systems do not automatically detect the EGM activation onset and this is currently done manually in clinical routine, thus highly dependent on observer experience and very time consuming. In this work we propose a method that combines surface electrocardiogram (ECG) information with EGM signals in order to determine each activation onset for helping the determination of the ablation target area. The algorithm detects those instants from the wavelet decomposition of the EGM signal envelope using the QRS complex width as a reference search window. The automatically detected activation onsets were compared with those made manually during the intervention by an expert technician, obtaining a difference of 4.0 ± 13.7 ms evaluated in 10 patients suffering from ventricular extrasystole beats, in a total of 2163 EGM mapping points.
A study on integrating penetration testing into the information security framework for Malaysian higher education institutions

With the rapid development of information technology, hackers are provided powerful tools and therefore ensuring the security of the information is becoming a complex task. Using hacking tools and techniques also known as penetration testing or ethical hacking can contribute to mitigate the security risks. However, due to the misinformation on penetration testing, some managers refused to adopt this arm to protect their information against hackers. As a result, in Malaysian Higher Education Institutions domain, the number of victims of hackers keeps increasing considerably. The research objectives are to enable a paradigm shift on higher management level on penetration testing as part of the essential IT security components. To demonstrate how penetration testing contributes to improve the security. To provide security managers and top managers a positive vision of pen-testing through a revised security framework based on an existing one. This research will be carried out qualitatively and quantitatively, and its output will be based on numeric analysis, case study, survey and literature reviews.
Dynamic conceptualizations of threat in obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD)

abstract Obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) is a severe mental health problem of a heterogeneous nature. To add to discussions around defining coherent subtypes of OCD, this paper uses qualitative, cognitive linguistic analysis to show how episodes of OCD can be differentiated based on their underlying conceptualizations of threat. Spoken narratives of OCD episodes told by people with OCD were analyzed using image schema theory and cognitive approaches to deixis in discourse. Through an exploration of the participants’ subjective experiences of time, space, and uncertainty in their recounted OCD episodes, the findings demonstrate that perceptions of threats fluctuate as OCD episodes unfold, and that it is the perceived movement (or not) of the threat that induces distress. Moreover, the dynamism of the threat is conceptualized differently for different subtypes of OCD. This variation can in part be explained by the role of two image schemas in structuring OCD episodes: the SOURCE–PATH–GOAL image schema and the CONTAINER image schema. It is argued that the blanket notion of threat as often investigated in clinical models of OCD is not sensitive enough to capture these shifting perspectives. It is thus recommended that threat perception in OCD is researched as a dynamic, evolving, and highly subjective experience.
Study of a Particle Based Films Cure Process by High-Frequency Eddy Current Spectroscopy

Particle-based films are today an important part of various designs and they are implemented in structures as conductive parts, i.e., conductive paste printing in the manufacture of Li-ion batteries, solar cells or resistive paste printing in IC. Recently, particle based films were also implemented in the 3D printing technique, and are particularly important for use in aircraft, wind power, and the automotive industry when incorporated onto the surface of composite structures for protection against damages caused by a lightning strike. A crucial issue for the lightning protection area is to realize films with high homogeneity of electrical resistance where an in-situ noninvasive method has to be elaborated for quality monitoring to avoid undesirable financial and time costs. In this work the drying process of particle based films was investigated by high-frequency eddy current (HFEC) spectroscopy in order to work out an automated in-situ quality monitoring method with a focus on the electrical resistance of the films. Different types of particle based films deposited on dielectric and carbon fiber reinforced plastic substrates were investigated in the present study and results show that the HFEC method offers a good opportunity to monitor the overall drying process of particle based films. Based on that, an algorithm was developed, allowing prediction of the final electrical resistance of the particle based films throughout the drying process, and was successfully implemented in a prototype system based on the EddyCus® HFEC device platform presented in this work. This prototype is the first solution for a portable system allowing HFEC measurement on huge and uneven surfaces.
TGF-β1 upregulates the expression of hyaluronan synthase 2 and hyaluronan synthesis in culture models of equine articular chondrocytes

We investigated the effect of transforming growth factor beta 1 (TGF-β1) on equine hyaluronan synthase 2 (HAS2) gene expression and hyaluronan (HA) synthesis in culture models of articular chondrocytes. Equine chondrocytes were treated with TGF-β1 at different concentrations and times in monolayer cultures. In three-dimensional cultures, chondrocyte-seeded gelatin scaffolds were cultured in chondrogenic media containing 10 ng/mL of TGF-β1. The amounts of HA in conditioned media and in scaffolds were determined by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assays. HAS2 mRNA expression was analyzed by semi-quantitative reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction. The uronic acid content and DNA content of the scaffolds were measured by using colorimetric and Hoechst 33258 assays, respectively. Cell proliferation was evaluated by using the alamarBlue assay. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM), histology, and immunohistochemistry were used for microscopic analysis of the samples. The upregulation of HAS2 mRNA levels by TGF-β1 stimulation was dose and time dependent. TGF-β1 was shown to enhance HA and uronic acid content in the scaffolds. Cell proliferation and DNA content were significantly lower in TGF-β1 treatments. SEM and histological results revealed the formation of a cartilaginous-like extracellular matrix in the TGF-β1-treated scaffolds. Together, our results suggest that TGF-β1 has a stimulatory effect on equine chondrocytes, enhancing HA synthesis and promoting cartilage matrix generation.
Tools and Services for Long-Term Preservation of Digital Archives

We have been working on a technology model to support the preservation and reliable access of long term digital archives. The model is built around a layered object architecture involving modular, extensible components that can gracefully adapt to the evolving technology, standards, and protocols. This has led to the development of methodologies, tools and services to handle a number of core requirements of long term digital archives. Specifically, we have built flexible tools for implementing general ingestion workflows, active monitoring and auditing of the archive’s collections to ensure their long-term availability and integrity, storage organization and indexing to optimize access. These tools are platform and architecture independent, and have been tested using a wide variety of collections on heterogeneous computing platforms. In this paper, we will primarily focus on describing the underpinnings of our software called ACE (Auditing Control Environment), and report on its performance on a large scale distributed environment called Chronopolis. Built on top of rigorous cryptographic techniques, ACE provides a policydriven, scalable environment to monitor and audit the archive’s contents in a cost effective way. In addition, we will briefly introduce some our recent efforts to deal with storage organization and access of web archives. Long term preservation is a process that must begin before an object is ingested into the archive and must remain active throughout the lifetime of the archive. The ACE tool provides a very flexible environment to actively monitor and audit the contents of a digital archive throughout its lifetime, so as to ensure the availability and integrity of the archive’s holdings with extremely high probability. ACE is based on rigorous cryptographic techniques, and enables periodic auditing of the archive’s holdings at the granularity and frequency set by the manager of the archive. The scheme is cost effective and very general, does not depend on the archive’s architecture, and can detect any alterations, including alterations made by a malicious user. ACE can gracefully adapt to format migrations and changes to the archive’s policies.
Automated Extraction of Buildings and Roads in a Graph Partitioning Framework

This paper presents an original unsupervised framework to identify regions belonging to buildings and roads from monocular very high resolution (VHR) satellite images. The proposed framework consists of three main stages. In the first stage, we extract information only related to building regions using shadow evidence and probabilistic fuzzy landscapes. Firstly, the shadow areas cast by building objects are detected and the directional spatial relationship between buildings and their shadows is modelled with the knowledge of illumination direction. Thereafter, each shadow region is handled separately and initial building regions are identified by iterative graph-cuts designed in a two-label partitioning. The second stage of the framework automatically classifies the image into four classes: building, shadow, vegetation, and others. In this step, the previously labelled building regions as well as the shadow and vegetation areas are involved in a four-label graph optimization performed in the entire image domain to achieve the unsupervised classification result. The final stage aims to extend this classification to five classes in which the class road is involved. For that purpose, we extract the regions that might belong to road segments and utilize that information in a final graph optimization. This final stage eventually characterizes the regions belonging to buildings and roads. Experiments performed on seven test images selected from GeoEye-1 VHR datasets show that the presented approach has ability to extract the regions belonging to buildings and roads in a single graph theory framework.
A model-driven methodology to the content layout problem in web applications

This article presents a model-driven approach for the design of the layout in a complex Web application, where large amounts of data are accessed. The aim of this work is to reduce, as much as possible, repetitive tasks and to factor out common aspects into different kinds of rules that can be reused across different applications. In particular, exploiting the conceptual elements of the typical models used for the design of a Web application, it defines presentation and layout rules at different levels of abstraction and granularity. A procedure for the automatic layout of the content of a page is proposed and evaluated, and the layout of advanced Web applications is discussed.