Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Space-Optimal Semi-Streaming for (2+ε)-Approximate Matching

In a recent breakthrough, Paz and Schwartzman [SODA'17] presented a single-pass ($2+\epsilon$)-approximation algorithm for the maximum weight matching problem in the semi-streaming model. Their algorithm uses $O(n\log^2 n)$ bits of space, for any constant $\epsilon>0$. In this note, we present a different analysis, for essentially the same algorithm, that improves the space complexity to the optimal bound of $O(n\log n)$ bits, while also providing a more intuitive explanation of the process.
Error related negativity in observing interactive tasks

Error Related Negativity is triggered when a user either makes a mistake or the application behaves differently from their expectation. It can also appear while observing another user making a mistake. This paper investigates ERN in collaborative settings where observing another user (the executer) perform a task is typical and then explores its applicability to HCI. We first show that ERN can be detected on signals captured by commodity EEG headsets like an Emotiv headset when observing another person perform a typical multiple-choice reaction time task. We then investigate the anticipation effects by detecting ERN in the time interval when an executer is reaching towards an answer. We show that we can detect this signal with both a clinical EEG device and with an Emotiv headset. Our results show that online single trial detection is possible using both headsets during tasks that are typical of collaborative interactive applications. However there is a trade-off between the detection speed and the quality/prices of the headsets. Based on the results, we discuss and present several HCI scenarios for use of ERN in observing tasks and collaborative settings.
A restrictive dose of crystalloids in patients during laparoscopic cholecystectomy is safe and cost-effective: prospective, two-arm parallel, randomized controlled trial

Purpose There are no evidence-based guidelines for volume replacement during surgical procedures such as laparoscopic cholecystectomy. However, the administration of a restrictive volume of crystalloids could be more cost-effective and safe. This trial aimed to determine the effectiveness and safety of a restrictive regimen of crystalloids in patients during laparoscopic cholecystectomy by analyzing its cost-effectiveness and 1-year morbidity rate. Patients and methods In this randomized, prospective study, patients were assigned to one of three groups based on the volume of fluid administered: the restrictive group received 1 mL/kg/hr, the low liberal group received 5 mL/kg/hr, and the high liberal group received 15 mL/kg/hr of Ringer’s solution intraoperatively. There were 40 patients in each group. Each patient’s hemodynamic parameters and laboratory values (arterial blood gas and lactate levels) were measured together with their consumption of crystalloids, volatile anesthetics, and analgesics. Results Analysis of the hemodynamic and laboratory parameters revealed no signs of global hypoperfusion in any of the groups analyzed. There was no significant difference in the duration of surgery and anesthesia, but the consumption of crystalloids, volatile anesthetics, and opioids was significantly lower in the restrictive group, compared with the low and high liberal groups. Although there was no significant difference in the 1-year morbidity among the groups, heart failure was observed in one patient in the high liberal group in the early postoperative period. Conclusion Restrictive fluid therapy during laparoscopic cholecystectomy is justified, safe, and more cost-effective than other options.
Multiple hypothesis classification with laser range finders

An algorithm for tracking and classifying objects in urban areas using a multi-layer laser range finder is presented. Due to object disintegration caused by occlusions and fine segmentation of the data in order to separate close objects, classification is not always simple. Therefore, a multiple hypothesis approach is proposed, which keeps track of all feasible combinations of segments. The algorithm takes all segment combinations to create hypotheses and these are tracked over time using a Kalman filter. Due to the large number of hypotheses, restrictions are applied to reduce the number of hypotheses. Since applications need a description of the environment, which is described by objects, hypotheses are selected by their qualities and are provided as objects.
Polymeric Micelles, a Promising Drug Delivery System to Enhance Bioavailability of Poorly Water-Soluble Drugs

Oral administration is the most commonly used and readily accepted form of drug delivery; however, it is find that many drugs are difficult to attain enough bioavailability when administered via this route. Polymeric micelles (PMs) can overcome some limitations of the oral delivery acting as carriers able to enhance drug absorption, by providing (1) protection of the loaded drug from the harsh environment of the GI tract, (2) release of the drug in a controlled manner at target sites, (3) prolongation of the residence time in the gut by mucoadhesion, and (4) inhibition of efflux pumps to improve the drug accumulation. To explain the mechanisms for enhancement of oral bioavailability, we discussed the special stability of PMs, the controlled release properties of pH-sensitive PMs, the prolongation of residence time with mucoadhesive PMs, and the P-gp inhibitors commonly used in PMs, respectively. The primary purpose of this paper is to illustrate the potential of PMs for delivery of poorly water-soluble drugs with bioavailability being well maintained.
Performance of menu-augmented soft keyboards

We report results on the performance of the combination of soft keyboards and marking menus. A model of expert user performance indicated an 11 - 37% (depending on the keyboard layout) improvement in text entry rate over the same keyboard without the menu. To verify the advantage in real usage, we conducted two experiments using the QWERTY keyboard layout with and without the menu. The first experiment imitated nearly perfect cognitive performance and measured motor performance. Using the menu saved time. The second experiment measured performance in a realistic text entry task. Initially using the menu slows down text entry. By the end of the 20-session experiment both conditions were equally fast. With continued practice text entry is likely to be faster with the menu.
NUMERICAL METHODS FOR SECOND-ORDER STOCHASTIC EQUATIONS

We seek numerical methods for second-order stochastic differential equations that accurately reproduce the stationary distribution for all values of damping. A complete analysis is possible for linear second-order equations (damped harmonic oscillators with noise), where the statistics are Gaussian and can be calculated exactly in the continuous-time and discrete-time cases. A matrix equation is given for the stationary variances and correlation for methods using one Gaussian random variable per timestep. The only Runge-Kutta method with a nonsingular tableau matrix in the class that gives the exact steady state density for all values of damping is the implicit midpoint rule. Numerical experiments comparing the implicit midpoint rule with Heun and leapfrog methods suggest that the qualitative behavior is similar to the linear case for nonlinear equations with additive or multiplicative noise.
Markov Chain Monte Carlo and Related Topics

This article provides a brief review of recent developments in Markov chain Monte Carlo methodology. The methods discussed include the standard Metropolis-Hastings algorithm, the Gibbs sampler, and various special cases of interest to practitioners. It also devotes a section on strategies for improving mixing rate of MCMC samplers, e.g., simulated tempering, parallel tempering, parameter expansion, dynamic weighting, and multigrid Monte Carlo with its generalizations. Other related topics are the simulated annealing, the reversible jump method, and the multiple-try Metropolis rule. Theoretical issues such as bounding the mixing rate, diagnosing convergence, and conducting perfect simulations are only brieey mentioned.
Optimization of transit operation strategies: A Case Study of Guangzhou,

13 Jian Wang 14 Professor 15 School of Transportation Science and Engineering 16 Harbin Institute of Technology 17 Email: wang_jian@hit.edu. cn 18 19 20 21 22 23 Guanglin Sun 24 School of Transportation Science and Engineering 25 Harbin Institute of Technology 26 Email: guanglin.sun@gmail.com 27 28 29 30 31 32 Xiaowei Hu 33 School of Transportation Science and Engineering 34 Harbin Institute of Technology 35 Email: hxwhit@163.com 36 37 38 39 40 41 Submitted for possible presentation only at the 92st Annual Meeting of the Transportation Research Board, 42 Washington DC, January 2013. 43 44 45 46 Approximate number of words: 7473 (5473 + 8 tables/figures) 47 48 1 Corresponding author.
Involvement of corneal epithelial cells in the Th17 response in an in vitro bacterial inflammation model

Purpose Staphylococcus aureus (SA) and Pseudomonas aeruginosa (PA) are frequent causes of bacterial keratitis, an inflammatory process that can lead to vision loss. We used a human corneal epithelial (HCE) cell line to study the Th17 inflammatory pathway, including interleukin (IL-) 6, IL-17, and associated receptors, in response to stimulation by SA and PA culture supernatants. Methods Cells of the HCE cell line were exposed to either SA or PA supernatants in dilutions of 1:100 or 1:50, or to human recombinant IL-17A (20 ng/ml). Cell culture supernatants were collected at 6, 24, and 72 h, and protein and RNA were isolated. Expression of cytokine (IL-6, IL-17A), receptor (sIL-6R, IL-17RA), and mediator (soluble glycoprotein [sgp] 130, MIP3α) proteins and mRNAs were determined with enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay, immunohistochemistry, western blotting, and real-time, reverse-transcription quantitative PCR. In addition, IL-17RA was localized by transmission electron microscopy after immunogold labeling. Results Basal secretion of IL-6 and IL-17A by HCE cells occurred in a time-dependent manner. Expression of IL-6 was significantly enhanced by SA stimulation, but not by PA stimulation. IL-6 mRNA expression was higher in the control and SA-stimulated cells at 6 and 24 h, but not at 72 h. In the PA-stimulated cells, mRNA levels were significantly lower than the controls at 6 and 24 h. Expression of sIL-6R was not altered by SA or PA supernatants, but sgp130 expression was greater than controls at 6 h, less than controls at 24 h, and the same as controls at 72 h. HCE cells secreted IL-17A in a time-dependent manner that was not altered by stimulation; however, the IL-17A mRNA levels were lower than those of the controls at 6 h. With immunohistochemistry, IL-17RA was localized in perinuclear vesicles and in the cytosol and membranes of HCE cells. IL-17RA was also present in the epithelial cells from human ocular surface tissues. As quantified with western blotting, expression of IL-17RA was unchanged in HCE cells stimulated by SA or PA supernatants. Conclusions HCE cells react to bacterial inflammation by enhancing the secretion of IL-6 and by regulating the proinflammatory response with differential secretion of sgp130. Under normal conditions, HCE cells and ocular surface tissues express IL-17RA. Additionally, HCE cells express IL-17RA after bacterial stimulation. All of these molecules are involved in the Th17 differentiation pathway, suggesting that corneal epithelial cells may act as indirect participants in the Th17 signaling pathway.
B2B e-commerce readiness assessment indicators based on the critical success factors

The main aim of this paper is to generate understanding of the range of internal and external factors which impact the Business-to-business electronic commerce (B2B EC) development of the smaller firms in agro- based industry. Drawing on existing research on e- readiness models of information, communications and technology (ICT) specifically B2B EC technologies, this paper formulates a conceptual model of B2B EC assessment constructs together with the specific research approach towards the development of a more robust electronic readiness (e- readiness) model. The research presents a conceptual model that highlights the key indicators of the B2B EC implementation based on individual, organizational and environmental dimensions.
Vibration and Fluorescence Spectra of Porphyrin-Cored 2,2-Bis(methylol)-propionic Acid Dendrimers

Bis-MPA dendron-coated free-base tetraphenylporphyrin and zinc-tetraphenyl-porphyrin (TPPH2 and TPPZn) were studied in comparison with simple porphyrins (H2P, ZnP) by theoretical simulation of their infrared, Raman and electronic absorption spectra, as well as fluorescense emission. Infrared and fluorescence spectra of the dendrimers were measured and interpreted along with time-resolved measurements of the fluorescence. The 0–1 emission band of the dendron substituted TPPZn was found to experience a “heavy substitution”-effect. The 0–1 vibronic emission signal is associated with a longer decay time (approx. 7 - 8 ns) than the 0-0 emission (approx. 1 - 1.5 ns). The former contributed with more relative emission yield for larger dendron substituents, in agreement with the appearance of steady-state emission spectra showing increased contribution from the 0–1 vibronic fluorescence band at 650 nm. No such substitution effect was observed in the electronic or vibrational spectra of the substituted free-base variant, TPPH2. Vibration spectra of the parent porphyrins (H2P, ZnP, TPPH2 and TPPZn) were calculated by density functional theory (DFT) using the B3LYP/6-31G** approximation and a detailed analysis of the most active vibration modes was made based on both literature and our own experimental data. Based on the results of theoretical calculations the wide vibronic bands in the visible region were assigned. The vibronic structure also gave a qualitative interpretation of bands in the electronic absorption spectra as well as in fluorescence emission depending on the size of dendrimer substitution. From the results of time-dependent DFT calculations it is suggested that the TPPZn-cored dendrimers indicate strong vibronic interaction and increased Jahn-Teller distortion of the prophyrin core for larger dendrimer generations. Specifically, this leads to the entirely different behaviour of the emission spectra upon substitution of the TPPH2 and TPPZn variants, which was also experimentally observed. Since TPPH2 is originally of lower symmetry the specific distortion upon dendron substitution is not expected to the same extent, which also was in agreement with the experimental findings.
Is the Antiproteinuric Effect of Cyclosporine A Independent of Its Immunosuppressive Function in T Cells?

The antiproteinuric effect of cyclosporine A(CsA) has been believed to result from its immunosuppressive effect on the transcription factor NFAT in T cells. However, current evidences supporting this hypothesis are missing. A recent study showed that CsA has a direct antiproteinuric effect on podocytes, suggesting a novel non-immunosuppressive mechanism for CsA's antiproteinuric effect. Conditional NFATc1 activation in podoyctes per se is sufficient to induce proteinuria in mice, indicating that NFAT activation in podocytes is a critical pathogenic molecular event leading to podocyte injury and proteinuria. Meanwhile, evidence showed that TRPC6-mediated Ca2+ influx stimulates NFAT-dependent TRPC6 expression. Altogether, these advances in podocyte research indicate that calcineurin-NFAT signal or calcineurin-synaptopodin axis has a direct proteinuric effect on podocytes which raises the possibility of developing specific antiproteinuric drugs that lack the unwanted effects of calcineurin or NFAT inhibition.
Endogenous testosterone and cortisol modulate neural responses during induced anger control

Research with violent offenders and delinquent adolescents suggests that endogenous testosterone concentrations have the strongest positive correlations with violence among men who have low concentrations of cortisol. The present study tested the hypothesis that testosterone and cortisol would similarly interact to determine neural activation in regions supporting self-regulation in response to anger provocation. Nineteen healthy Asian male participants were insulted and asked to control their anger during functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI). When cortisol levels were low, testosterone positively correlated with activation in the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (dlPFC) and thalamus, but not when cortisol levels were high. During induced anger control, functional connectivity was increased between the amygdala and a top-down prefrontal cortical control network. Moreover, the amygdala-PFC connectivity was strongest among those high in testosterone and low in cortisol. This research highlights a possible neural mechanism by which testosterone and cortisol may influence anger control.
Single-Dose Gadoterate Meglumine for 3T Late Gadolinium Enhancement MRI for the Assessment of Chronic Myocardial Infarction: Intra-Individual Comparison with Conventional Double-Dose 1.5T MRI

Objective To intra-individually compare 3T magnetic resonance (MR) images obtained with one dose gadoterate meglumine to 1.5T MR using conventional double dose for assessment of chronic myocardial infarction. Materials and Methods Sixteen patients diagnosed with chronic myocardial infarctions were examined on single-dose 3T MR within two weeks after undergoing double-dose 1.5T MR. Representative short-axis images were acquired at three points after administration of gadoterate meglumine. Contrast-to-noise ratios between infarcted and normal myocardium (CNRinfarct-normal) and between infarct and left ventricular cavity (CNRinfarct-LVC) were calculated and compared intra-individually at each temporal scan. Additionally, two independent readers assessed relative infarct size semi-automatically and inter-observer reproducibility was evaluated using intraclass correlation coefficient. Results While higher CNRinfarct-normal was revealed at single-dose 3T at only 10 minutes scan (p = 0.047), the CNRinfarct-LVC was higher at single-dose 3T MR at each temporal scan (all, p < 0.05). Measurement of relative infarct size was not significantly different between both examinations for both observers (all, p > 0.05). However, inter-observer reproducibility was higher at single-dose 3T MR (all, p < 0.05). Conclusion Single-dose 3T MR is as effective as double-dose 1.5T MR for delineation of infarcted myocardium while being superior in detection of infarcted myocardium from the blood cavity, and provides better reproducibility for infarct size quantification.
Functional Link Adaptive Filters for Nonlinear Acoustic Echo Cancellation

This paper introduces a new class of nonlinear adaptive filters, whose structure is based on Hammerstein model. Such filters derive from the functional link adaptive filter (FLAF) model, defined by a nonlinear input expansion, which enhances the representation of the input signal through a projection in a higher dimensional space, and a subsequent adaptive filtering. In particular, two robust FLAF-based architectures are proposed and designed ad hoc to tackle nonlinearities in acoustic echo cancellation (AEC). The simplest architecture is the split FLAF, which separates the adaptation of linear and nonlinear elements using two different adaptive filters in parallel. In this way, the architecture can accomplish distinctly at best the linear and the nonlinear modeling. Moreover, in order to give robustness against different degrees of nonlinearity, a collaborative FLAF is proposed based on the adaptive combination of filters. Such architecture allows to achieve the best performance regardless of the nonlinearity degree in the echo path. Experimental results show the effectiveness of the proposed FLAF-based architectures in nonlinear AEC scenarios, thus resulting an important solution to the modeling of nonlinear acoustic channels.
An application of fuzzy Topsis method for supplier selection

Supplier selection is vital to the success of a manufacturing firm. Supplier selection is a multi criteria decision making (MCDM) problem and has a strategic importance for most companies. As the conventional methods for supplier selection are inadequate for dealing with the imprecise or vague nature of linguistic assessment, a new method called fuzzy technique for order preference by similarity to ideal solution (TOPSIS) is proposed. The aim of this study is to compare and contrast crisp and fuzzy TOPSIS methods for the supplier selection. The proposed methods are applied to a manufacturing company in Turkey. After determining the criteria that affect the supplier selection decisions, the results for both crisp and fuzzy TOPSIS methods are presented.
Teacher as Researcher, Teacher as Scholar, and Teacher as Leader

ABSTRACT Too often, because of the static nature of schools and the dominant existence of high-stakes testing, professional learning for teachers is determined by administrators or policy and is facilitated by those who are not part of the school community using prepackaged programs. These initiatives run counter to authentic teacher inquiry where teachers enhance their understanding of students and learning and, ideally, develop new teaching practices (Borko, 2004; Cochran-Smith & Lytle, 1999, 2009; Darling-Hammond, 1997). In this article, we focus on how teachers participating in action research begin to position themselves as teacher leaders.
MODEL ORDER REDUCTION AND CONTROLLER DESIGN OF DISCRETE SYSTEM EMPLOYING REAL CODED GENETIC ALGORITHM

Address for Correspondence Maulana Azad National Institute of Technology, Bhopal, Madhya Pradesh, India, Pin: 462051 e-mails: jsy1@rediffmail.com, nppatidar@yahoo.com, j_singhai@manit.ac. in ABSTRACT One of the main objectives of order reduction is to design a controller of lower order which can effectively control the original high order system so that the overall system is of lower order and easy to understand. In this paper, a simple method is presented for controller design of a higher order discrete system. First the original higher order discrete system in reduced to a lower order model. Then a Proportional Integral Derivative (PID) controller is designed for lower order model. An error minimization technique is employed for both order reduction and controller design. For the error minimization purpose, Real-Coded Genetic Algorithm (RCGA) has been employed. RCGA method is based on the minimization of the Integral Squared Error (ISE) between the desired response and actual response pertaining to a unit step input. Finally the designed PID controller is connected to the original higher order discrete system to get the desired specification. The validity of the proposed method is illustrated through a numerical example.
Interactive multistage simulation of goal-driven agents

Multistage simulation is employed to help predicting the future actions of collaborating or competing agents, interacting in the mini-world covered by a temporal database. At each stage, their goals are inferred from the current situation, with the help of rules designed to model their behavioural patterns, in turn extracted from records of their past actions. Besides goal-inference rules, the simulation machinery adapts and combines plan-recognition and generation algorithms. The resulting environment is highly interactive, allowing the user to interfere in various ways. A prototype tool (IPG), implemented in Prolog augmented with constraint programming features, was developed and is being used to run experiments.