Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Modeling Customer Lifetime Value

As modern economies become predominantly service-based, companies increasingly derive revenue from the creation and sustenance of long-term relationships with their customers. In such an environment, marketing serves the purpose of maximizing customer lifetime value (CLV) and customer equity, which is the sum of the lifetime values of the company’s customers. This article reviews a number of implementable CLV models that are useful for market segmentation and the allocation of marketing resources for acquisition, retention, and cross-selling. The authors review several empirical insights that were obtained from these models and conclude with an agenda of areas that are in need of further research.
Polysaccharide Synthesis of the Levansucrase SacB from Bacillus megaterium Is Controlled by Distinct Surface Motifs*

Despite the widespread biological function of carbohydrates, the polysaccharide synthesis mechanisms of glycosyltransferases remain largely unexplored. Bacterial levansucrases (glycoside hydrolase family 68) synthesize high molecular weight, β-(2,6)-linked levan from sucrose by transfer of fructosyl units. The kinetic and biochemical characterization of Bacillus megaterium levansucrase SacB variants Y247A, Y247W, N252A, D257A, and K373A reveal novel surface motifs remote from the sucrose binding site with distinct influence on the polysaccharide product spectrum. The wild type activity (kcat) and substrate affinity (Km) are maintained. The structures of the SacB variants reveal clearly distinguishable subsites for polysaccharide synthesis as well as an intact active site architecture. These results lead to a new understanding of polysaccharide synthesis mechanisms. The identified surface motifs are discussed in the context of related glycosyltransferases.
Progress in Field Spectroscopy

The measurement of spectral data in the field has an important role in remote sensing, and a long history, but instruments and methods to achieve this have serious limitations under all but the most ideal conditions. Problems arise from the instruments themselves, from the environment in which they are used, and from the methodologies that are commonly adopted. The variable most commonly sought from field measurements is spectral reflectance, or more strictly the bidirectional reflectance factor (BRF), but this is dependent to some extent on the instrument used to make the measurement, and the conditions of measurement, notably the sky irradiance distribution. In this paper we argue that field spectral measurements should be recorded in the appropriate SI units, which will normally be the derived units of radiance for the flux reflected from the target and irradiance for the incident energy. Reflectance data remain a convenient way to represent the energy interactions occurring at the surface, and they have value in generic spectral libraries, but ultimately they lack reproducibility unless accompanied by much more detailed metadata than is the norm in most spectral libraries.
IoT based data processing for automated industrial meter reader using Raspberry Pi

With the increasing importance of information processing in industries arises the need for efficient data logging systems that are compatible with existing measuring devices such as LCD and LED meters. This paper presents the framework for an Internet of Things (IoT) device as an automated industrial meter reader that uploads the collected numeral data to a cloud storage for centralized data processing. The implementation of the device is done using Raspberry Pi as the platform. The device follows a four-step process-Image Acquisition using Raspberry Pi camera module, Optical Character Recognition using feature extraction technique, Internet Upload Mechanism using Google Forms and Online Data Processing using Google Spreadsheet. The performance of the device and techniques for debugging are also discussed.
Production of civic websites for young people

This report by Dr Shakuntala Banaji is contained in deliverable report no.13 of CIVICWEB Young People, the Internet and Civic Participation, a Project co-funded by the European Commission within the Sixth Framework Programme (2002-2006) Project no. 028357. The report contains a series of country-specific discussions of interviews with the producers of online civic initiatives that are available to youth in Europe. Samples of 12-14 producers from seven countries were analysed: Hungary, the Netherlands, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Turkey and the United Kingdom The section on the UK is pages 132-165.
Reciprocity in Online Markets: Empirical Studies of Auction and Barter Markets.

Title of Document: RECIPROCITY IN ONLINE MARKETS: EMPIRICAL STUDIES OF AUCTION AND BARTER MARKETS Shun Ye, Doctor of Philosophy, 2013 Directed By: Professor Siva Viswanathan, Department of Decision, Operations and Information Technologies Professor Il-Horn Hann, Department of Decision, Operations and Information Technologies My dissertation seeks to understand how reciprocity affects transaction outcomes and mechanism design in online markets. The first essay examines negative reciprocity illustrated as feedback-revoking behavior in the eBay auction market, focusing on its impact and implications for reputation system design. I utilize the biggest policy change of eBay’s reputation system in its history as a natural experiment setting to infer the causal impact of the reputation system on seller behavior. I find that strategic engagement in negative reciprocity enables low quality sellers to manipulate their reputations and masquerade as high-quality sellers. I further show that these sellers react strongly to eBay’s announcement of a ban on revoking. Interestingly, disallowing negative reciprocity motivates these sellers to significantly improve their service quality. The second essay examines positive reciprocity in one of the leading online barter markets for books, focusing on participants’ different reciprocity strategies and their impacts on transaction outcomes. I find that, whereas market participants who use the immediate reciprocity strategy are able to motivate higher service quality for the current transaction from the other partner, participants who use the delayed reciprocity strategy derive more benefits for future transactions by fulfilling their wishlists sooner. I further show that the market participants can be segmented into different reciprocity strategies based on their book avidness, breadth of interest, and psychographic profiles. Overall, the two studies provide important theoretical and practical implications for the design and regulation of online markets. RECIPROCITY IN ONLINE MARKETS: EMPIRICAL STUDIES OF AUCTION AND BARTER MARKETS
Multilayer Traffic Engineering for IP Over WDM Networks Based on Bayesian Decision Theory

Network operators are migrating their networks to IP over WDM architectures. In such multilayer networks, it is necessary to define mechanisms that efficiently use the resources available from both layers in a coordinated manner. Thanks to the development of the control plane (GMPLS), it is feasible to both set up and tear down lightpaths automatically. Thus the WDM layer can now adapt its configuration to both meet a set of resource constraints and fulfill some predefined quality-of-service (QoS) requirements. To this end, we define a multilayer traffic engineering algorithm that efficiently manages the resources from both layers. This algorithm, which is based on Bayesian decision theory, finds the optimal number of label-switched paths that must be switched over the optical and electronic domains. Such an optimal value is found by trading off the QoS required by the users and the limited availability of network resources.
On the Problem of Energy Efficiency of Multi-Hop vs One-Hop Routing in Wireless Sensor Networks

The hop distance strategy in wireless sensor networks (WSNs) has a major impact on energy consumption of each sensor mote. Long-hop routing minimizes reception cost. However, a substantial power demand is incurred for long distance transmission. Since the transceiver is the major source of power consumption in the node, optimizing the routing for hop length can extend significantly the lifetime of the network. This paper explores when multi-hop routing is more energy efficient than direct transmission to the sink and the conditions for which the two-hop strategy is optimal. Experimental evidence is provided in to support of these conclusions. The tests showed that the superiority of the multi-hop scheme depends on the source-sink distance and reception cost. They also demonstrated that the two- hop strategy is most energy efficient when the relay is at the midpoint of the total transmission radius. Our results may be used in existing routing protocols to select optimal relays or to determine whether it is better to send packets directly to the base station or through intermediate nodes.
cdec: A Decoder, Alignment, and Learning Framework for Finite- State and Context-Free Translation Models

We present cdec, an open source framework for decoding, aligning with, and training a number of statistical machine translation models, including word-based models, phrase-based models, and models based on synchronous context-free grammars. Using a single unified internal representation for translation forests, the decoder strictly separates model-specific translation logic from general rescoring, pruning, and inference algorithms. From this unified representation, the decoder can extract not only the 1or k-best translations, but also alignments to a reference, or the quantities necessary to drive discriminative training using gradient-based or gradient-free optimization techniques. Its efficient C++ implementation means that memory use and runtime performance are significantly better than comparable decoders.
PhotoMot, collaborative image management. Interacting with use traces

PhotoMot is an online collaborative image management system which traces the actions of users and provides them assistance based on the capitalized experience according to the case based reasoning paradigm. How to imply the user in the assistance a system provides? PhotoMot shows the trace of user actions being built and lets users interact on the manner they are followed. This way they can help the system provide pertinent assistance. Manual image annotation and keyword based image search is a difficult and hardly formalizable problem. In this paper we present a model and a system which addresses this issue. The system provides basic online image gallery features: uploading single or zipped images, describing images with keywords, managing galleries . In addition the system helps image annotation tracing the actions of the user in order to propose additional keywords and images as well in the description as in the search phase. This help is provided by the capitalization and the reuse of users' experience based on the case based reasoning paradigm. After a short introduction we describe our use trace model, the assistance strategies and present the developed prototype.
A Dynamic Kick for the Nao Robot

Our research is concerned with making a dynamic, closed loop, stabilized kick for the Nao robot. The Nao is a humanoid robot made by Aldebaran Robotics. It is used in the Standard Platform League of the RoboCup, an organization which organizes football (soccer) competitions for autonomous robots. Kicking, of course, is an important part of football, and thus a good kick is vital to achieving good results in the RoboCup. There are essentially two ways of making a humanoid robot kick a ball:
Position-specific effects within the SERIOL framework of letter-position coding

In the SERIOL (sequential encoding regulated by inputs to oscillations within letter units) framework, letter position within a word is encoded by the temporal firing pattern ofletter units. As opposed to channel-specific schemes, a letter unit can potentially represent any position. This lack of positional specificity is consistent with studies showing that priming can occur across different positions within a letter string (Grainger and Jacobs 1991, European Journal of Cognitive Psychology , 3: 413-434, Peressotti and Grainger 1995, Perception of Psychophysics , 57: 875-890). However, these studies also showed that same-position priming is more robust than this cross-position priming. This result seems inconsistent with non-position-specific letter units. Here we give an explanation of these results under the SERIOL framework. Using mathematical models, we show that broadly tuned feature detectors and an activational gradient can account for the complex experimental data on position-specific and cross-position letter priming.
Decreased Myocardial Injury and Improved Contractility After Administration of a Peptide Derived Against the Alpha‐Interacting Domain of the L‐Type Calcium Channel

Background Myocardial infarction remains the leading cause of morbidity and mortality associated with coronary artery disease. The L‐type calcium channel (ICa‐L) is critical to excitation and contraction. Activation of the channel also alters mitochondrial function. Here, we investigated whether application of a alpha‐interacting domain/transactivator of transcription (AID‐TAT) peptide, which immobilizes the auxiliary β2 subunit of the channel and decreases metabolic demand, could alter mitochondrial function and myocardial injury. Methods and Results Treatment with AID‐TAT peptide decreased ischemia‐reperfusion injury in guinea‐pig hearts ex vivo (n=11) and in rats in vivo (n=9) assessed with uptake of nitroblue tetrazolium, release of creatine kinase, and lactate dehydrogenase. Contractility (assessed with catheterization of the left ventricle) was improved after application of AID‐TAT peptide in hearts ex vivo (n=6) and in vivo (n=8) up to 12 weeks before sacrifice. In search of the mechanism for the effect, we found that intracellular calcium ([Ca2+]i, Fura‐2), superoxide production (dihydroethidium fluorescence), mitochondrial membrane potential (Ψm, JC‐1 fluorescence), reduced nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide production, and flavoprotein oxidation (autofluorescence) are decreased after application of AID‐TAT peptide. Conclusions Application of AID‐TAT peptide significantly decreased infarct size and supported contractility up to 12 weeks postcoronary artery occlusion as a result of a decrease in metabolic demand during reperfusion.
NKCC1 Knockdown Decreases Neuron Production through GABAA-Regulated Neural Progenitor Proliferation and Delays Dendrite Development

Signaling through GABAA receptors controls neural progenitor cell (NPC) development in vitro and is altered in schizophrenic and autistic individuals. However, the in vivo function of GABAA signaling on neural stem cell proliferation, and ultimately neurogenesis, remains unknown. To examine GABAA function in vivo, we electroporated plasmids encoding short-hairpin (sh) RNA against the Na-K-2Cl cotransporter NKCC1 (shNKCC1) in NPCs of the neonatal subventricular zone in mice to reduce GABAA-induced depolarization. Reduced GABAA depolarization identified by a loss of GABAA-induced calcium responses in most electroporated NPCs led to a 70% decrease in the number of proliferative Ki67+ NPCs and a 60% reduction in newborn neuron density. Premature loss of GABAA depolarization in newborn neurons resulted in truncated dendritic arborization at the time of synaptic integration. However, by 6 weeks the dendritic tree had partially recovered and displayed a small, albeit significant, decrease in dendritic complexity but not total dendritic length. To further examine GABAA function on NPCs, we treated animals with a GABAA allosteric agonist, pentobarbital. Enhancement of GABAA activity in NPCs increased the number of proliferative NPCs by 60%. Combining shNKCC1 and pentobarbital prevented the shNKCC1 and the pentobarbital effects on NPC proliferation, suggesting that these manipulations affected NPCs through GABAA receptors. Thus, dysregulation in GABAA depolarizing activity delayed dendritic development and reduced NPC proliferation resulting in decreased neuronal density.
Control of oxygen sensor based on Dspace real-time simulation system

Oxygen sensor is an important measurement device of the automobile that is utilized to detect the oxygen concentration of automobile exhaust. The measuring precise mainly depends on the performance of the oxygen sensor controller. In this paper, the essential operating principle and controller design of the wide rang oxygen sensor have been introduced. According to the characteristics of the object and the control performance requirement, PID control algorithm is introduced to control temperature and the pumping cell. A simulink control model is built based on the Dspace real-time simulation platform, the control model in the matlab can be used as an virtual controller which can be combined with real object to form closed loop control system, a real time simulation is conducted. Optimization of the control algorithm can be made based on the simulation result. The working performance of the oxygen sensor can satisfy the requirement of practical application under the relative optimal algorithm, and the measurement accuracy is acceptable. At the same time, a streamlined and efficient control C code is generated by TargetLink Software,which can be used to embedded development for designing real controller.
A Joint Receiver-Decoder for Convolutionally Coded Binary Phase-Shift Keying (BPSK)

A medical catheter (10) having a balloon (3) adapted to be folded into a predetermined configuration. The catheter comprises a flexible inflation member (2) with a balloon (3) disposed on the inflation member (2). The balloon has a flexible wall defining an inflation chamber and the inflation chamber is in fluid flow relation with an inflation lumen in the inflation member. The balloon (3) is adapted for inflation from a folded configuration to an inflated, expanded configuration and back to the folded configuration. An array of longitudinally and circumferentially arranged ribs (6) is disposed in said wall (3a). The ribs (6) are either more stiff or less stiff than the wall (3a) whereby upon evacuation of inflation fluid from the balloon (3) either portions of the wall between the ribs will collapse between the ribs or the ribs will collapse within the wall.
Fuzzy Parameterized Interval-Valued Fuzzy Soft Set

In this work, we introduce the concept of fuzzy parameterized intervalvalued fuzzy soft set theory (fpivfss) and study their operations. We then define fpivfss-aggregation operator to form fpivfss-decision making method that allows constructing more efficient decision processes. Finally, some numerical examples are employed to substantiate the conceptual arguments.
Depth and height aware semantic RGB-D perception with convolutional neural networks

Convolutional neural networks are popular for image labeling tasks, because of built-in translation invariance. They do not adopt well to scale changes, however, and cannot easily adjust to classes which regularly appear in certain scene regions. This is especially true when the network is applied in a sliding window. When depth data is available, we can address both problems. We propose to adjust the size of processed windows to the depth and to supply inferred height above ground to the network, which signicantly improves object-class segmentation results on the NYU depth dataset.
NUDT2 Disruption Elevates Diadenosine Tetraphosphate (Ap4A) and Down-Regulates Immune Response and Cancer Promotion Genes

Regulation of gene expression is one of several roles proposed for the stress-induced nucleotide diadenosine tetraphosphate (Ap4A). We have examined this directly by a comparative RNA-Seq analysis of KBM-7 chronic myelogenous leukemia cells and KBM-7 cells in which the NUDT2 Ap4A hydrolase gene had been disrupted (NuKO cells), causing a 175-fold increase in intracellular Ap4A. 6,288 differentially expressed genes were identified with P < 0.05. Of these, 980 were up-regulated and 705 down-regulated in NuKO cells with a fold-change ≥ 2. Ingenuity® Pathway Analysis (IPA®) was used to assign these genes to known canonical pathways and functional networks. Pathways associated with interferon responses, pattern recognition receptors and inflammation scored highly in the down-regulated set of genes while functions associated with MHC class II antigens were prominent among the up-regulated genes, which otherwise showed little organization into major functional gene sets. Tryptophan catabolism was also strongly down-regulated as were numerous genes known to be involved in tumor promotion in other systems, with roles in the epithelial-mesenchymal transition, proliferation, invasion and metastasis. Conversely, some pro-apoptotic genes were up-regulated. Major upstream factors predicted by IPA® for gene down-regulation included NFκB, STAT1/2, IRF3/4 and SP1 but no major factors controlling gene up-regulation were identified. Potential mechanisms for gene regulation mediated by Ap4A and/or NUDT2 disruption include binding of Ap4A to the HINT1 co-repressor, autocrine activation of purinoceptors by Ap4A, chromatin remodeling, effects of NUDT2 loss on transcript stability, and inhibition of ATP-dependent regulatory factors such as protein kinases by Ap4A. Existing evidence favors the last of these as the most probable mechanism. Regardless, our results suggest that the NUDT2 protein could be a novel cancer chemotherapeutic target, with its inhibition potentially exerting strong anti-tumor effects via multiple pathways involving metastasis, invasion, immunosuppression and apoptosis.
Mining User Similarity Using Spatial-temporal Intersection

The booming industry of location-based services has accumulated a huge collection of users’ location trajectories and also brings us opportunities and challenges to automatically discover valuable knowledge from these trajectories. In this paper, we investigate the problem of measuring the similarity between users. Such user similarity is significant to individuals, communities and businesses by helping them effectively retrieve the information. To achieve this goal, we firstly propose a storage structure to represent the user’s trajectories, which not only stores the sequence of user ’s trajectory, but also stores regions with indexing of trajectories which pass the regions. After that, we give the similarity function between users using the spatialtemporal intersection in regions which are passed by the two users. Finally, we develop a spatial-temporal intersection algorithm to measure user similarity based on the definition and storage structure, and we illustrate the results and performance of the algorithm by extensive experiments.
A Hackathon for Classical Tibetan

We describe the course of a hackathon dedicated to the development of linguistic tools for Tibetan Buddhist studies. Over a period of five days, a group of seventeen scholars, scientists, and students developed and compared algorithms for intertextual alignment and text classification, along with some basic language tools, including a stemmer and word segmenter.