Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Different Requirements for GFRα2-Signaling in Three Populations of Cutaneous Sensory Neurons

Many primary sensory neurons in mouse dorsal root ganglia (DRG) express one or several GFRα’s, the ligand-binding receptors of the GDNF family, and their common signaling receptor Ret. GFRα2, the principal receptor for neurturin, is expressed in most of the small nonpeptidergic DRG neurons, but also in some large DRG neurons that start to express Ret earlier. Previously, GFRα2 has been shown to be crucial for the soma size of small nonpeptidergic nociceptors and for their target innervation of glabrous epidermis. However, little is known about this receptor in other Ret-expressing DRG neuron populations. Here we have investigated two populations of Ret-positive low-threshold mechanoreceptors that innervate different types of hair follicles on mouse back skin: the small C-LTMRs and the large Aβ-LTMRs. Using GFRα2-KO mice and immunohistochemistry we found that, similar to the nonpeptidergic nociceptors, GFRα2 controls the cell size but not the survival of both C-LTMRs and Aβ-LTMRs. In contrast to the nonpeptidergic neurons, GFRα2 is not required for the target innervation of C-LTMRs and Aβ-LTMRs in the back skin. These results suggest that different factors drive target innervation in these three populations of neurons. In addition, the observation that the large Ret-positive DRG neurons lack GFRα2 immunoreactivity in mature animals suggests that these neurons switch their GFRα signaling pathways during postnatal development.
The Ghosts of Galaxies: Tidal Debris in Clusters

Gravitational interactions in rich clusters can strip material from the outer parts of galaxies or even completely disrupt entire systems, giving rise to large scale, low surface brightness ghostly features stretching across intergalactic space. The nearby Coma and Centaurus clusters both have striking examples of galaxy ghosts, in the form of 100 kpc-long plumes of intergalactic debris. By searching HST archival images, we have found numerous other examples of galaxy ghosts in rich clusters at low redshift, evidence that galaxy destruction and recycling are ubiquitous, important in cluster formation and evolution, and continue to mold clusters at the present epoch. Many ghosts appear in X-ray bright clusters, perhaps signaling a connection with energetic subcluster mergers. The fate of such material has important ramifications for cluster evolution. Our new HST WFPC2 V & I images of a portion of the Centaurus plume reveal that it contains an excess of discrete objects with −12 M V
The capacity of the arbitrarily varying channel revisited: Positivity, constraints

A well-known result of R. Ahlswede (1970) asserts that the deterministic code capacity of an arbitrarily varying channel (AVC), under the average-error-probability criterion, either equals its random code capacity or else is zero. A necessary and sufficient condition is identified for deciding between these alternative, namely, the capacity is zero if and only if the AVC is symmetrizable. The capacity of the AVC is determined with constraints on the transmitted codewords as well as on the channel state sequences, and it is demonstrated that it may be positive but less than the corresponding random code capacity. A special case of the results resolves a weakened version of a fundamental problem of coding theory. >
A Survey on Register Allocation

Register allocation is the problem of mapping program variables to either machine registers or memory addresses. A good compiler should strive to allocate as many variables in registers as possible, as they provide faster access time; however, registers exist in limited number, as some variables might have to be sent to memory. These are called spilled variables. Register allocation is one of the most important problems in compiler optimization, as a good allocator can improve a naive algorithm in over 250%. It is also one of the most studied problems in compiler theory, and a vast number of diﬀerent algorithms exist to solve it. In this survey we describe diﬀerent strategies that compilers use to perform register allocation, and we study the diﬀerent tradeoﬀs involved in each algorithm. The ﬁrst half of the survey touches register allocation from a general perspective, whereas the second half gives special attention to the recent breakthroughs in the ﬁeld of SSA-based register allocation.
Increasing Accuracy of Vehicle Detection from Conventional Vehicle Detectors- Counts, Speeds, Classification, and Travel Time

Vehicle classification is an important traffic parameter for transportation planning and infrastructure management. Length-based vehicle classification from dual loop detectors is among the lowest cost technologies commonly used for collecting these data. Like many vehicle classification technologies, the dual loop approach works well in free flow traffic. Effective vehicle lengths are measured from the quotient of the detector dwell time and vehicle traversal time between the paired loops. This approach implicitly assumes that vehicle acceleration is negligible, but unfortunately at low speeds this assumption is invalid and length-based classification performance degrades in congestion. To addresses this problem, the authors seek a solution that relies strictly on the measured effective vehicle length and measured speed. The authors analytically evaluate the feasible range of true effective vehicle lengths that could underlie a given combination of measured effective vehicle length, measured speed, and unobserved acceleration at a dual loop detector. From this analysis the authors find that there are small uncertainty zones where the measured length class can differ from the true length class, depending on the unobserved acceleration. In other words, a given combination of measured speed and measured effective vehicle length falling in the uncertainty zones could arise from vehicles with different true length classes. Outside of the uncertainty zones, any error in the measured effective vehicle length due to acceleration will not lead to an error in the measured length class. Thus, by mapping these uncertainty zones, most vehicles can be accurately sorted to a single length class, while the few vehicles that fall within the uncertainty zones are assigned to two or more classes. The authors find that these uncertainty zones remain small down to about 10 mph and then grow exponentially as speeds drop further. Using empirical data from stop-and-go traffic at a well-tuned loop detector station the best conventional approach does surprisingly well; however, this new approach does even better, reducing the classification error rate due to acceleration by at least a factor of four relative to the best conventional method. Meanwhile,this approach still assigns over 98% of the vehicles to a single class.
Quality model for the selection of floss-based issue tracking system

The complexity of the issue tracking systems (ITS) which meet the requirements of the Infrastructure Technology Information Library (ITIL) encumbers their selection. In addition, we have to consider some other variables, such as the wide range of tools, their functionality level and their costs. Regarding the cost of the ITS, nowadays the use of ITS based on Free/Libre Open Source Software (FLOSS) is an increasing trend. Therefore, the purpose of this article is to present a model to evaluate the quality characteristics of the FLOSS-ITS according to ITIL recommendations. This quality model is aimed at selecting the best of the available tools. The set of characteristics evaluated is presented based on the product perspective of the Software Quality Systemic Model (MOSCA). This perspective is inspired on the ISO/IEC 9126 standard and Dromey's quality model. Also it was applied to a case study -a venezuelan company-, which is willing to exploit and extend the capabilities of this type of tools to its customers. The case study allowed us to establish the FLOSS-ITS's quality requirements: functionality, reliability and usability. Lastly, validation of the model through its application to three FLOSS-ITS tools is presented.
Semantic Graph Clustering for POMDP-Based Spoken Dialog Systems

Dialog managers (DM) in spoken dialogue systems make decisions in highly uncertain conditions, due to errors from the speech recognition and spoken language understanding (SLU) modules. In this work a framework to interface efﬁcient proba-bilistic modeling for both the SLU and the DM modules is described and investigated. Thorough representation of the user semantics is inferred by the SLU in the form of a graph of frames and, complemented with some contextual information, is mapped to a summary space in which a stochastic POMDP dialogue manager can perform planning of actions taking into account the uncertainty on the current dialogue state. Tractabil-ity is ensured by the use of an intermediate summary space. Also to reduce the development cost of SDS an approach based on clustering is proposed to automatically derive the master-summary mapping function. A preliminary implementation is presented in the M EDIA domain (touristic information and hotel booking) and tested with a simulated user.
Study on thermal conductivity of boron nitride in hexagonal structure in atomistic scale by using Non-Equilibrium Molecular Dynamics technique

In this paper study on algorithms for evaluation the thermal conductivity of nanomaterials by using molecular dynamics technique was presented. First one is based on algorithm proposed by Ikeshoji and Hafskjold, the second one is developed by authors. As a reference material the boron nitride in hexagonal form was taken into consideration. The heat transfer was studied in-plane of BN layers as well as through-plane. From the results can be concluded that the Ikeshoji's algorithm was better for the structure with low thermal conductivity (through-plane of BN) while for the structure with higher conductivity (in-plane of BN) better results gave algorithm proposed by authors.
Voluntary Cooperation in Terms of International Financial Supervision

This article analyzes the issue of voluntary cooperation in terms of international financial supervision. A simple modeling framework is provided where financial supervision is an international public good and thus may be underprovided globally. The article asks a simple question: would national supervisors cooperate and increase the level of global supervision, and by how much? I use coalition formation game theory to address this question. The main results are the following. If the situation is completely symmetric (identical‐sized countries and symmetric externalities), the amount of cooperation is relatively high and full cooperation could be achieved for particular numbers of countries involved in the negotiations. However, in general, full cooperation would not be an equilibrium because countries have incentives to free ride on the cooperation of other countries. Introducing asymmetries in the size of the countries and/or in the externalities between countries reduces the scope for cooperation. However, higher asymmetries are not necessarily related to lower cooperation if the distribution of asymmetries has a particular shape, such that big countries are generating large externalities on small countries, as it might be the case in reality.
Fundamental limit of nanophotonic light trapping in solar cells

Establishing the fundamental limit of nanophotonic light-trapping schemes is of paramount importance and is becoming increasingly urgent for current solar cell research. The standard theory of light trapping demonstrated that absorption enhancement in a medium cannot exceed a factor of 4n2/ sin2θ, where n is the refractive index of the active layer, and θ is the angle of the emission cone in the medium surrounding the cell. This theory, however, is not applicable in the nanophotonic regime. Here we develop a statistical temporal coupled-mode theory of light trapping based on a rigorous electromagnetic approach. Our theory reveals that the conventional limit can be substantially surpassed when optical modes exhibit deep-subwavelength-scale field confinement, opening new avenues for highly efficient next-generation solar cells.
Primary Human Ovarian Epithelial Cancer Cells Broadly Express HER2 at Immunologically-Detectable Levels

The breadth of HER2 expression by primary human ovarian cancers remains controversial, which questions its suitability as a universal antigen in this malignancy. To address these issues, we performed extensive HER2 expression analysis on a wide panel of primary tumors as well as established and short-term human ovarian cancer cell lines. Conventional immunohistochemical (IHC) analysis of multiple tumor sites in 50 cases of high-grade ovarian serous carcinomas revealed HER2 overexpression in 29% of evaluated sites. However, more sensitive detection methods including flow cytometry, western blot analysis and q-PCR revealed HER2 expression in all fresh tumor cells derived from primary ascites or solid tumors as well as all established and short-term cultured cancer cell lines. Cancer cells generally expressed HER2 at higher levels than that found in normal ovarian surface epithelial (OSE) cells. Accordingly, genetically-engineered human T cells expressing an HER2-specific chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) recognized and reacted against all established or primary ovarian cancer cells tested with minimal or no reactivity against normal OSE cells. In conclusion, all human ovarian cancers express immunologically-detectable levels of HER2, indicating that IHC measurement underestimates the true frequency of HER2-expressing ovarian cancers and may limit patient access to otherwise clinically meaningful HER2-targeted therapies.
Parametrization of stabilizing controllers subject to subspace constraints

We consider the problem of designing optimal stabilizing decentralized controllers subject to arbitrary subspace constraints. Recent work considered structural constraints, where each part of the controller has access to some measurements but not others, and developed a parametrization of the stabilizing structured controllers such that the objective is a convex function of the parameter, with the parameter subject to a single quadratic equality constraint. Here we further show that other types of controller constraints arising in decentralized control and other areas of constrained control can be simultaneously encapsulated in this framework with one additional quadratic equality constraint.
Using MPEG Standards for Content‐Based Indexing of Broadcast Television, Web, and Enterprise Content

1. Background on content based indexing and retrieval MPEG-2 has been very successful in delivering high quality video content to users. Its use in DVDs, Direct Broadcast Satellite (DBS), Cable, Digital Video Broadcast (DVB) systems as well as the recent U.S. transition to digital TV (ATSC) ensures that MPEG-2 will remain in use for many years given the large installed base of MPEG-2 decoders. The emergence of IPTV systems, which promise to offer several hundred channels to consumers, has accelerated the deployment of H.264 / MPEG-4 AVC in set-top applications, while it had already been gaining ground on the Internet and personal media player applications. IPTV as well as next generation IP enabled Cable and DBS set top boxes and televisions have motivated the establishment of home networks that allow users to view personal media on a wide range of consumer electronics devices. Widely adopted standards are essential for these systems and devices to function seamlessly, not only at the video codec and transport level, but also with respect to metadata for program descriptions so that users can find the content they want. MPEG standards play a key role in meeting this need for coding and transport, but also at the metadata 10/01/09 2 level through embodiment in standards such as the Digital Living Network Alliance (DLNA) which adopts the Universal Plug and Play Forum's [UPnP] Digital Item Definition Language – Lite (DIDL-Lite) built from elements defined by MPEG-21 [3]. Similarly, for broadcast television, MPEG-7 and MPEG-21 elements are employed in standards such as ETSI TV-Anytime, and the emerging ATIS IPTV Interoperability Forum (IIF) specifications. The capability of today's IPTV systems to deliver nearly unlimited content choices to users brings with it a challenge: users may become overwhelmed and frustrated as they attempt to find what they want to watch. To meet this challenge, MPEG-7 provides tools to represent user's content preferences as well as their usage history to support recommendation engines and content filtering systems. To increase the specificity and accuracy of these systems, it is advantageous to include as much detail in the program description as possible, beyond the typical bibliographic title, genre, and description tags found in an electronic program guide (EPG) or as represented by Dublin Core metadata. MPEG-7 allows for extremely detailed content descriptions, annotations, and can even represent low-level media features such as audio pitch. Populating these metadata elements with valuable semantic descriptions of …
Development-focused educational texts as a basis for learners’ intellectual development in studying mathematics (DET technology)

The article discusses an innovative teaching technology that uses development-focused educational texts (DET Technology) to stimulate school pupils’ intellectual development in grades 5 to 9. It describes the psychological and psychodidactic framework of DET Technology. Development-focused educational texts are distinctive in that they use a framework of academic mathematical knowledge to build up the key components of pupils’ mental experience (cognitive, conceptual, metacognitive, and intentional). Such texts also provide the conditions for the development and usage of students’ personal learning styles. The article outlines the psychodidactic types of development-focused educational texts and the requirements that the psychodidactics proposes for educational texts.
Networking Ability and the Financial Performance of New Ventures: A Mediation Analysis Among Younger and More Mature Firms

We hypothesize that entrepreneurs’ networking ability –– an individual-level skill widely studied in career research –– has a positive impact on new ventures’ financial performance. Additionally, we propose that this impact is mediated by a new venture’s network characteristics and moderated by venture age. When testing our hypotheses based on a sample of 146 German entrepreneurs, we find them largely confirmed. Our results show a significant relationship between entrepreneurs’ networking ability and their new ventures’ financial performance, which is mediated by new ventures’ network size and the strength of network relationships. Additionally, the relationships observed are salient for younger but not for more-mature firms.
Trade Agreements as Venues for 'Market Power Europe'? The Case of Immigration Policy

In the absence of an international migration regime, the rising salience of migration issues and the limits of unilateral policies led the European Union to seek appropriate venues for co-operation with the sending and transit countries of migrants. Many of the newer relevant multilateral or regional venues are soft law frameworks. Conversely, trade agreements provide a formal, hard law instrument for inserting migration clauses. Based on a quantitative analysis of EU trade agreements and expert interviews, this article investigates how far the EU is engaging in strategic issue-linkage when including migration clauses in its trade agreements. Testing hypotheses derived from rationalist and institutionalist approaches, it thereby provides an empirical test of its acclaimed identity as ‘trade power’ or ‘market power’.
Cystatin C as a Predictor of Mortality and Cardiovascular Events in a Population with Chronic Kidney Disease

Background. We examine whether cystatin C, a surrogate marker of renal function, could identify patients with chronic kidney disease (CKD) with an increased risk of renal disease progression, death, or cardiovascular events. Methods. Data were obtained for 180 patients, with a diagnosis of chronic renal failure based on serum creatinine estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFRcreat) <90 mL/min/1.73 m2. This population was grouped in tertiles according to cystatin C and creatinine values at baseline. Cardiovascular events and overall mortality were estimated for each tertile. Predictors of overall mortality and for the development of renal disease progression were analyzed. Results. The median age was 75 years (interquartile range 69–82) and the median eGFRcreat 38 mL/min m2 (interquartile range 33–49). Overall mortality was lower on the first and on the second tertiles of cystatin C than on the third one (HR = 0.060; 95% CI: 0.008–0.447 and HR = 0.094; 95% CI: 0.022–0.406, resp.). Deaths related to the creatinine tertiles followed the same pattern, but differences were not as large. Cardiovascular mortality was lower on the second than on the third cystatin C tertile (HR = 0.198; 95% CI: 0.040–0.987), but it did not show differences on the first and the second creatinine tertiles compared with the third one (HR = 0.126; 95% CI: 0.013–1.265 and HR = 0.403; 95% CI: 0.093–1.740). The only independent predictors of mortality during followup were baseline cystatin C (OR = 0.100; 95% CI: 0.021–0.463) and baseline uric acid (OR = 1.377; 95% CI: 1.070–1.773). Conclusion. Cystatin C may be an alternative to creatinine for detecting a high risk of death and cardiovascular events in a population with CKD.
Effect of Relay Nodes on End-to-End Delay in Multi-hop Wireless Ad-hoc Networks

Channel access delay in a wireless adhoc network is the major source of delay while considering the total end to-end delay. Channel access delays experienced by different relay nodes are different in multi-hop adhoc network scenario. These delays in multi-hop network are analysed in the literature assuming channel access delays are independent and are of same magnitude at all the nodes in the network. In this work, the end to-end delay in a multi-hop adhoc network is analysed taking into account the silent relay nodes. Along with silent relay node effect, Channel access probability (p), transmission radius (r) analogous to transmit power, network throughput and density of nodes arête other factors considered for the end-to-end delay analysis. Effect of network parameters along with silent relay nodes on end-to-end delay is found to be considerably high compared to the previous literature results. Given a bound on end-to-end delay with percentage of silent relay nodes, throughput, node density requirements for a multi-hop adhoc network, optimal ranges of transmission radius and channel access probability can be obtained from the proposed analysis. End-to-end delay increases with silent relay nodes along with transmission radius(r), channel access probability(p), node density and throughput. It is clear from the analysis, that the effect of silent relay nodes on end to-end delay cannot be ignored to maintain certain Quality of service (QoS) metrics for the multi-hop wireless adhoc network.
Motor Control-Learning Model for Reaching Movements

One of the great abilities of the central nervous system (CNS) is that it can learn by itself how to control our body to execute required tasks. Although several motor control models have been proposed to explain well-learned arm reaching movements, those models do not fully consider how the CNS learns to control our body. In this paper, we propose a new motor control model that can learn to generate accurate reaching movements without prior knowledge of arm dynamics. In our model, the control law is learned in a trial-and-error manner using the reward signal. We focus on point-to-point arm reaching task in the sagittal plane and show that accurate reaching movements toward any given point can be learned and generated by our model. Furthermore, the model can predict human subjects' hand trajectories without specifying desired trajectories.