Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Expressiveness and Nash Equilibrium in Iterated Boolean Games

We define and investigate a novel notion of expressiveness for temporal logics that is based on game theoretic equilibria of multi-agent systems. We use iterated Boolean games as our abstract model of multi-agent systems [Gutierrez et al. 2013, 2015a]. In such a game, each agent has a goal , represented using (a fragment of) Linear Temporal Logic ( ) . The goal captures agent ’s preferences, in the sense that the models of represent system behaviours that would satisfy . Each player controls a subset of Boolean variables , and at each round in the game, player is at liberty to choose values for variables in any way that she sees fit. Play continues for an infinite sequence of rounds, and so as players act they collectively trace out a model for , which for every player will either satisfy or fail to satisfy their goal. Players are assumed to act strategically, taking into account the goals of other players, in an attempt to bring about computations satisfying their goal. In this setting, we apply the standard game-theoretic concept of (pure) Nash equilibria. The (possibly empty) set of Nash equilibria of an iterated Boolean game can be understood as inducing a set of computations, each computation representing one way the system could evolve if players chose strategies that together constitute a Nash equilibrium. Such a set of equilibrium computations expresses a temporal property—which may or may not be expressible within a particular fragment. The new notion of expressiveness that we formally define and investigate is then as follows: What temporal properties are characterised by the Nash equilibria of games in which agent goals are expressed in specific fragments of ? We formally define and investigate this notion of expressiveness for a range of fragments. For example, a very natural question is the following: Suppose we have an iterated Boolean game in which every goal is represented using a particular fragment of : is it then always the case that the equilibria of the game can be characterised within ? We show that this is not true in general.
Regulation of Peroxisome Proliferator-Activated Receptors by E6-Associated Protein

Peroxisome proliferator-activated receptors (PPARs) are nuclear receptors (NRs) that regulate genes involved in lipid and glucose metabolism. PPAR activity is regulated by interactions with cofactors and of interest are cofactors with ubiquitin ligase activity. The E6-associated protein (E6-AP) is an E3 ubiquitin ligase that affects the activity of other NRs, although its effects on PPARs have not been examined. E6-AP inhibited the ligand-independent transcriptional activity of PPARα and PPARβ, with marginal effects on PPARγ, and decreased basal mRNA levels of PPARα target genes. Inhibition of PPARα activity required the ubiquitin ligase function of E6-AP, but occurred in a proteasome-independent manner. PPARα interacted with E6-AP, and in mice treated with PPARα agonist clofibrate, mRNA and protein levels of E6-AP were increased in wildtype, but not in PPARα null mice, indicating a PPARα-dependent regulation. These studies suggest coordinate regulation of E6-AP and PPARα, and contribute to our understanding of the role of PPARs in cellular metabolism.
Limits to sustained energy intake VII. Milk energy output in laboratory mice at thermoneutrality

SUMMARY The limits to sustained energy intake at peak lactation could be imposed peripherally, by the capacity of the mammary glands, or centrally, by the capacity of the animal to dissipate body heat generated as a by-product of processing food and producing milk. To distinguish between the two hypotheses, we examined milk energy output at peak lactation in MF1 laboratory mice exposed to 30°C (N=12), 21°C (N=10; published data) and 8°C (N=10; published data). The peripheral limitation hypothesis predicts that milk energy output will remain constant at different temperatures, while the heat dissipation limit hypothesis predicts a decline in milk energy output as temperature increases. Since estimates of milk energy output in small mammals can vary depending on the calculation method used, we evaluated the milk energy output of mice (N=24) using four different methods: (1) as the difference between metabolizable energy intake and daily energy expenditure of the female, (2) from female water turnover, (3) from pup water turnover and (4) from the energy budget of the litter. We assessed these four methods by comparing their accuracy, precision and sensitivity to changes in parameters involved in the calculations. Methods 1, 3 and 4 produced similar estimates of milk energy output, while those derived from female water turnover were significantly lower and more variable. On average, mice at 30°C exported significantly less energy as milk (87.7 kJ day–1) than mice at 21°C (166.7 kJ day–1) and 8°C (288.0 kJ day–1). This reduction in milk energy output at 30°C was caused by a significant decline in both milk flow (20.0 g day–1, 12.9 g day–1 and 8.5 g day–1 at 8°C, 21°C and 30°C, respectively) and gross energy content of milk (14.6 kJ g–1, 13.1 kJ g–1 and 10.5 kJ g–1 at 8°C, 21°C and 30°C, respectively). Milk produced at 30°C contained significantly less total solids (34.4%) than milk at 21°C (40.9%) and 8°C (41.5%) and significantly less fat (20.0%) than milk at 21°C (26.4%) and 8°C (30.3%). The reduced milk energy output in mice exposed to 30°C, paralleled by their reduced food intake and low reproductive output, argues against the peripheral limitation hypothesis and provides strong support for the heat dissipation limit hypothesis.
Nitric Oxide Accelerates Interleukin-13 Cytotoxin-Mediated Regression in Head and Neck Cancer Animal Model

Receptors for interleukin-13 (IL-13R) are overexpressed on several types of solid cancers including gliobastoma, renal cell carcinoma, AIDS Kaposi’s sarcoma, and head and neck cancer. Recombinant fusion proteins IL-13 cytotoxin (IL13-PE38QQR or IL13-PE38) have been developed to directly target IL-13R-expressing cancer cells. Although it has been found that IL-13 cytotoxin has a direct potent antitumor activity in vivo in nude mice models of human cancers, the involvement of indirect antitumor effecter molecules such as nitric oxide (NO) is unknown. To address this issue, we assessed the effect of NO inhibiter Nω-monomethyl-l-arginine on IL-13 cytotoxin-mediated cytotoxicity and NO2/NO3 production in HN12 head and neck cancer cells. In addition, antitumor effects and NO levels in HN12 and KCCT873 head and neck tumors xenografted s.c. in nude mice when treated with IL-13 cytotoxin were evaluated by tumor measurement, Western blot, and immunohistochemistry analyses. Pretreatment of animals with Nω-monomethyl-l-arginine significantly decreased the NO levels and IL-13 cytotoxin-mediated antitumor effects. In addition, depletion of macrophages, known to produce NO, also decreased antitumor activity of IL-13 cytotoxin. Based on these studies, we concluded that NO accelerates antitumor effect of IL-13 cytotoxin on head and neck tumor cells. Because IL-13 cytotoxin is currently being tested in the clinic for the treatment of patients with recurrent glioblastoma maltiforme, our current findings suggest maintaining macrophage and NO-producing cellular function for optimal therapeutic effect of this targeted agent.
Learner motivation and E-learning design: A multinationally validated process

A general model for motivational design of instruction is described and reviewed in terms of its application to E-learning contexts. Following a description of what is meant by E-learning environments and an overview of the four category model and design process known as the ARCS model, a variety of studies are summarized. The ARCS model is based on a synthesis of motivational concepts and a problem-solving approach to design, rather than the application of specific motivational solutions that are advocated without regard to the specific characteristics of a given situation. The first group of reviewed studies illustrates the results of testing the motivational design process in several different E-learning settings, in relation to learner self-regulation and in terms of the interaction of personality characteristics and motivational strategies. The second group of studies includes tests of the validity of a simplified motivational design process that has been used in diverse types of E-learning settings, including multiple countries and cultures. Overall, the results of these empirical studies have confirmed the validity of this model for the systematic design of motivationally enhanced instruction in E-learning settings with regard to lowering drop-out rates and other positive motivational outcomes.
INVERTING CONTROL, A NEW STRATEGY ON TIME DELAYED SYSTEMS

Abstract In this paper we introduce a new control strategy for linear time invariant (LTI) systems with a single time delay. The delay appears within the feedback control logic. Earlier research on this class of systems determines the delay intervals for stable operations, exhaustively, exactly and completely. The newly developed inverting control logic suggests a very practical procedure of reversing the sign of the feedback control gain, in order to enlarge the stable delay intervals. This gives some additional capabilities to control system designer. The sign inversion idea is based on a critical mathematical feature of LTI-TDS (Time Delay Systems) which was first recognized under a paradigm called the Cluster Treatment of Characteristic Roots (CTCR). Several example case studies demonstrate the practicality and the advantages of the new control law.
FlexBulk: Intelligently forming atomic blocks in blocked-execution multiprocessors to minimize squashes

Blocked-execution multiprocessor architectures continuously run atomic blocks of instructions - also called Chunks. Such architectures can boost both performance and software productivity, and enable unique compiler optimization opportunities. Unfortunately, they are handicapped in that, if they use large chunks to minimize chunk-commit overhead and to enable more compiler optimization, inter-thread data conflicts may lead to frequent chunk squashes. In this paper, we present automatic techniques to form chunks in these architectures to minimize the cycles lost to squashes. We start by characterizing the operations that frequently cause squashes. We call them Squash Hazards. We then propose squash-removing algorithms tailored to these Squash Hazards. We also describe a software framework called FlexBulk that profiles the code and transforms it following these algorithms. We evaluate FlexBulk on 16-threaded PARSEC and SPLASH-2 codes running on a simulated machine. The results show that, with 17,000-instruction chunks, FlexBulk eliminates, on average, over 90% of the squash cycles in the applications. As a result, compared to a baseline execution with 2,000-instruction chunks as in previous work, the applications run on average 1.43x faster.
Optimal workflow-aware authorizations

Balancing protection and empowerment is a central problem when specifying authorizations. The principle of least privilege, the classical approach to balancing these two conflicting objectives, says that users shall only be authorized to execute the tasks necessary to complete their job. However, when there are multiple authorization policies satisfying least privilege, which one should be chosen? In this paper, we model the tasks that users must execute as workflows, and the risk and cost associated with authorization policies and their administration. We then formulate the balancing of empowerment and protection as an optimization problem: finding a cost-minimizing authorization policy that allows a successful workflow execution. We show that finding an optimal solution for a role-based cost function is NP-complete. We support our results with a series of examples, which we also use to measure the performance of our prototype implementation.
Stability of the wMel Wolbachia Infection following Invasion into Aedes aegypti Populations

The wMel infection of Drosophila melanogaster was successfully transferred into Aedes aegypti mosquitoes where it has the potential to suppress dengue and other arboviruses. The infection was subsequently spread into two natural populations at Yorkeys Knob and Gordonvale near Cairns, Queensland in 2011. Here we report on the stability of the infection following introduction and we characterize factors influencing the ongoing dynamics of the infection in these two populations. While the Wolbachia infection always remained high and near fixation in both locations, there was a persistent low frequency of uninfected mosquitoes. These uninfected mosquitoes showed weak spatial structure at both release sites although there was some clustering around two areas in Gordonvale. Infected females from both locations showed perfect maternal transmission consistent with patterns previously established pre-release in laboratory tests. After >2 years under field conditions, the infection continued to show complete cytoplasmic incompatibility across multiple gonotrophic cycles but persistent deleterious fitness effects, suggesting that host effects were stable over time. These results point to the stability of Wolbachia infections and their impact on hosts following local invasion, and also highlight the continued persistence of uninfected individuals at a low frequency most likely due to immigration.
How the use of ICT can contribute to a misleading picture of conditions : A five-step process

This paper contributes to the limited research on roles ICT can play in impression-management strategies and is based on case studies done in the Swedish Police. It also gives a theoretical contribution by adopting a holistic approach to explain how ICT can contribute to giving a misleading picture of conditions. Output generated by ICT has nowadays a central role in follow-up activities and decision-making. Even if this type of output, often in colourful, presentable, graphical arrangements, gives the impression of being accurate and reliable there is a risk of defective data quality. The phenomena can be described as a process divided into five steps. The first step is about how the data is generated and/or collected. The second step is linked to how the data is registered. The third step is about the output generated from the ICT-systems. The fourth step is how the output of ICT is selected for presentation. The fifth step concerns how output generated by ICT is interpreted. This paper shows that ICT can easily be used in impression-management strategies. For example, that personnel take shortcuts to affect the statistics rather than applying methods that may give the desired effects.
The General Vector Addition System Reachability Problem by Presburger Inductive Invariants

The reachability problem for Vector Addition Systems (VASs) is a central problem of net theory. The general problem is known decidable by algorithms exclusively based on the classical Kosaraju-Lambert-Mayr-Sacerdote-Tenney decomposition. This decomposition is used in this paper to prove that the Parikh images of languages accepted by VASs are semi-pseudo-linear; a class that extends the semi-linear sets, a.k. a. the sets definable in the Presburger arithmetic. We provide an application of this result; we prove that a final configuration is not reachable from an initial one if and only if there exists a Presburger formula denoting a forward inductive invariant that contains the initial configuration but not the final one. Since we can decide if a Preburger formula denotes an inductive invariant, we deduce that there exist checkable certificates of non-reachability. In particular, there exists a simple algorithm for deciding the general VAS reachability problem based on two semi-algorithms. A first one that tries to prove the reachability by enumerating finite sequences of actions and a second one that tries to prove the non-reachability by enumerating Presburger formulas.
A new text representation model enriched with semantic relations

In this paper we present a novel approach based on efficient text representation which employs semantic relations between words. We use singular value decomposition of the co-occurrence matrix to overcome its noise and sparseness. Thereby, we obtain a new refined co-occurrence matrix, which allows us to determine relations between words as distances in it. We use these distances as correction factors for the Bag-of-words text representation. In other words, we transform text representation vectors by inclusion relations between words. To validate our representation model, we apply it to binary classification task. We study how our model improves classification of documents, which are relevant to a given domain (topic). For this purpose, we implement Support Vector Machine and classify documents from Reuters-21578 collection. Results of our experiments demonstrate the superiority of our model.
A basis for information retrieval in context

Information retrieval (IR) models based on vector spaces have been investigated for a long time. Nevertheless, they have recently attracted much research interest. In parallel, context has been rediscovered as a crucial issue in information retrieval. This article presents a principled approach to modeling context and its role in ranking information objects using vector spaces. First, the article outlines how a basis of a vector space naturally represents context, both its properties and factors. Second, a ranking function computes the probability of context in the objects represented in a vector space, namely, the probability that a contextual factor has affected the preparation of an object.
Link the Fluorescence and TEM Studies on Amyloid Fiber Formation -- To Reconstruct the Fiber Length Distribution Based on the Knowledge of Moments Evolution

In the study of amyloid fiber formation, the fiber length distribution plays a central role. From this microscopic distribution, all macroscopic statistical quantities, like the fiber number concentration P(t) and mass concentration M(t), can be easily achieved. However the inverse problem is usually non-trivial. In this paper, a practical method is introduced to show how to reconstruct the fiber length distribution function based on the knowledge of P(t) and M(t). Compared to directly solving mass-action equations, our method speeds up the calculation by at least ten thousand times (from days to seconds). And the accuracy is also quite satisfactory. Furthermore our method provides an interesting linkage between the fluorescence imaging and more detailed TEM studies, which may inspire wider applications in this field.
An efficient cache invalidation scheme to support strong data consistency in a mobile ad-hoc network

Caching consistency in a MANET environment is an important issue as it is directly related to MANET connectivity. However, existing cooperative caching schemes mostly focus on delta and/or weak consistency. Recently, RPCC was proposed, but it cannot overcome traditional PUSH and PULL methods in terms of ensuring a strong consistency. In this paper, we propose three algorithms that are based on the PUSH method. They not only satisfy strong consistency but also reduce the amount of query delay by adaptively adjusting the IR interval. The first algorithm gradually sends an IR more frequently when some data items receive an increasing number of requests. The second algorithm adjusts the IR interval by predicting which data items will become more popular. The last algorithm is a hybrid of the first two which covers diverse environments. Simulation results demonstrate that our algorithms reduce the delay time by 61% and improve success ratio by 6%. However, they also increase the traffic cost by 20% compared to the PUSH method.
Design of a embedded embroidery machine controller based on dual processors

The sophisticated computerized embroidery machine controller is urgently needed in embroidery industry. We designed a kind of scheme with dual-core processor to implement its function. The controller can be divided into two parts, the host computer part takes S3C2410X as its core controller, it fulfills function of network, graphic user interface and etc through transplanting embedded Linux and GUI software; and the lower computer takes TMS320LF2407A as its core controller, all electrical motors are under its control. Results obtained in this work, demonstrate both the theoretical and practical possibility of designing this controller and provide a feasible method.
A reusable IP FFT core for DSP applications

In this paper, reusable intellectual property cores for the efficient implementation of digital signal processing (DSP) applications such as wireless LAN are presented. More specifically, a split-radix FFT algorithm implementation architecture, whose applicability for these communication systems has been proven, was designed using reusable VHDL. Four different implementations of the split-radix butterfly element are presented. These different butterfly elements allow tradeoffs between performance, power consumption and hardware complexity. Finally, for demonstration purpose, comparison results of split-radix and radix-4 implementations on Virtex and Virtex-II devices are also presented.
Neighbourhood walkability, leisure-time and transport-related physical activity in a mixed urban–rural area

Objectives. To develop a walkability index specific to mixed rural/suburban areas, and to explore the relationship between walkability scores and leisure time physical activity. Methods. Respondents were geocoded with 500 m and 1,000 m buffer zones around each address. A walkability index was derived from intersections, residential density, and land-use mix according to built environment measures. Multivariable logistic regression models were used to quantify the association between the index and physical activity levels. Analyses used cross-sectional data from the 2007–2008 Canadian Community Health Survey (n = 1158; ≥18 y). Results. Respondents living in highly walkable 500 m buffer zones (upper quartiles of the walkability index) were more likely to walk or cycle for leisure than those living in low-walkable buffer zones (quartile 1). When a 1,000 m buffer zone was applied, respondents in more walkable neighbourhoods were more likely to walk or cycle for both leisure-time and transport-related purposes. Conclusion. Developing a walkability index can assist in exploring the associations between measures of the built environment and physical activity to prioritize neighborhood change.
Bayesian non-parametric matrix factorization for discovering words in spoken utterances

In earlier work, we have formulated word discovery from speech as a latent component analysis problem. In more recent work, we proposed a Bayesian approach for estimating the model order, i.e. the vocabulary size, by evaluation of the marginal likelihood for different order values. That technique was expensive since the algorithm should be repeated for several order values to estimate the proper order. Here, we develop a Bayesian non-parametric approach to decompose the spoken utterances into word models. The number of latent components can be automatically discovered through taking a large number of latent components for the model and a weight vector representing the overall gain of each component. A sparse prior for the gain parameters lead to a limited number of activated model components. The word representations as well as the model order are then obtained from a single iterative variational Bayesian inference procedure, which constitutes a substantial advantage over the previous approach of trying multiple model orders. Experiments are performed on synthetic as well as real speech data.