Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
H3 Histone Tail Conformation within the Nucleosome and the Impact of K14 Acetylation Studied Using Enhanced Sampling Simulation

Acetylation of lysine residues in histone tails is associated with gene transcription. Because histone tails are structurally flexible and intrinsically disordered, it is difficult to experimentally determine the tail conformations and the impact of acetylation. In this work, we performed simulations to sample H3 tail conformations with and without acetylation. The results show that irrespective of the presence or absence of the acetylation, the H3 tail remains in contact with the DNA and assumes an α-helix structure in some regions. Acetylation slightly weakened the interaction between the tail and DNA and enhanced α-helix formation, resulting in a more compact tail conformation. We inferred that this compaction induces unwrapping and exposure of the linker DNA, enabling DNA-binding proteins (e.g., transcription factors) to bind to their target sequences. In addition, our simulation also showed that acetylated lysine was more often exposed to the solvent, which is consistent with the fact that acetylation functions as a post-translational modification recognition site marker.
Instability of sleep patterns in children with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder.

OBJECTIVE To compare the stability of the sleep-wake system of children with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and controls by objective and subjective measures. METHOD Thirty-eight school-age boys with diagnosed ADHD and 64 control school-age boys were examined using actigraphic monitoring and sleep diaries, over 5 consecutive nights. RESULTS Increased instability in sleep onset, sleep duration, and true sleep were found in the ADHD group compared with the control group. Discriminant analysis revealed that children's classification (ADHD versus control) could be significantly predicted on the basis of their sleep measures. CONCLUSIONS The findings support the hypothesis that instability of the sleep-wake system is a characteristic of children with ADHD. Given the potential negative effects of disturbed or unstable sleep on daytime functioning, it is recommended that a thorough sleep assessment be conducted when a sleep disturbance is suspected or when symptoms associated with daytime sleepiness or decreased arousal level are present.
Statistical design of macro-models for RT-level power evaluation

This paper introduces the notion of cycle-accurate macro-models for RT-level power evaluation. These macro-models provide us with the capability to estimate the circuit power dissipation cycle by cycle at RT-level without the need to invoke low level simulations. The statistical framework allows us to compute the error interval for the predicted value from the user specified confidence level. The proposed macro-model generation strategy has been applied to a number of RT-level blocks and detailed results and comparisons are provided.
Incentive Compensation , Corporate Governance Regulation and Acquisition Decisions

Examining the impact of incentive compensation on acquisition decisions over an 18year period we document a significant change in the relation between equity-based compensation (EBC) of acquirer‟s managers and investment decisions after the enactment of Sarbanes-Oxley Act (SOX). The passage of SOC has reduced the destruction of value on corporate acquisitions by significantly decreasing acquisition premiums but these changes have been more costly to Low EBC firms. They experience a stock price underperformance in relation to High EBC acquirers after SOX both around and following acquisition announcements. However, we find strong evidence that incentive compensation is a less effective mechanism in aligning the interests of managers to those of shareholders than corporate governance regulation. The results remain robust after controlling for means of payment, acquirer‟s growth prospects and executive ownership.
Study of JPEG2000 on Android

Even though it has been improved that network, multimedia technology and mobile system provide users more convenience nowadays, better performance of data transmission and storage is in urgent need. In this paper, a still image compression, JPEG2000 is transplanted on smart phone based on Android to enhance efficiency of image compression compared with traditional JPEG. JPEG2000, which is wavelet-based, has the features of multi-level image resolution and image quality; and Android has powered more and more embedded terminal devices in recent years. The combination of them will make an excellent influence. Some key technologies about JPEG2000 and Android are introduced and discussed during the transplanting in the paper.
Determining Mood from Facial Expressions CS 229 Project , Fall 2014

Facial expressions play an extremely important role in human communication. As society continues to make greater use of human-machine interactions, it is important for machines to be able to interpret facial expressions in order to improve their authenticity. If machines can be trained to determine mood to a better extent than humans can, especially for more subtle moods, then this could be useful in fields such as counseling. This could also be useful for gauging reactions of large audiences in various contexts, such as political talks.
Improvement of the radiation and impedence performance for the SIW H-plane horn antenna

In this paper, the impedance matching and radiation performance of the SIW H-plane horn antenna is improved by the modification of the probe and the adoption of a capacitive post in the feeding structure. The simulation results show that using the capacitive post and the modified probe, the reflection coefficient can be reduced, and the gain of the design can be improved in H-plane in the operation bandwidth from 27 GHz to 35.5 GHz as a result of the more uniform phase distribution at the radiation aperture.
Parameter Estimation under Gaussian Model Uncertainties by Iterative Covariance Approximation

We propose a novel iterative algorithm for estimating a deterministic but unknown parameter vector in the presence of Gaussian model uncertainties. This iterative algorithm is based on a system model where an overall noise term describes both, the measurement noise and the noise resulting from the model uncertainties. This overall noise term is a function of the true parameter vector. The proposed iterative algorithm can be applied on structured as well as unstructured models and it outperforms prior art algorithms for a broad range of applications.
A Comparison of the Forecasting Ability of Immediate Price Impact Models

As a consequence of recent technological advances and the proliferation of algorithmic and high frequency trading, the cost of trading in financial markets has irrevocably changed. One important change relates to how trading affects prices; known as price impact. Price impact represents the largest cost associated with trading. Forecasting price impact is very important as it can provide estimates of trading profits after costs and also suggest optimal execution strategies. Although several models have recently been developed which may forecast the immediate price impact of individual trades, limited work has been done to compare their relative performance. We provide a comprehensive performance evaluation of these models and test for statistically significant outperformance amongst candidate models using out-of-sample forecasts. We find that normalizing price impact by its average value significantly enhances the performance of traditional non-normalized models as the normalization factor captures some of the dynamics of price impact.
The Structure of the Inner HH 34 Jet from Optical Integral Field Spectroscopy

We present high spatial resolution optical integral field spectroscopy of a collimated Herbig-Haro jet viewed nearly edge-on. Maps of the line emission, velocity centroid, and velocity dispersion were generated for the Hα and [S II] emission features from the inner collimated jet and exciting source region of the HH 34 outflow. The kinematic structure of the jet shows several maxima and minima in both velocity centroid value and velocity dispersion along the jet axis. Perpendicular to the flow direction the velocity decreases outward from the axis to the limb of the jet, but the velocity dispersion increases. Maps of the electron density structure were derived from the line ratio of [S II] λ6731/λ6716 emission. We have found that the jet exhibits a pronounced "striped" pattern in electron density; the high ne regions are at the leading side of each of the emission knots in the collimated jet, and low ne regions in the downflow direction. On average, the measured electron density decreases outward from the inner regions of the jet, but the highest ne found in the outflow is spatially offset from the nominal position of the exciting star. The results of our high spatial resolution optical integral field spectroscopy show very good agreement with the kinematics and electron density structure predicted by the existing internal working surface models of the HH 34 outflow.
Catheter Virtual Lumbar Discectomy (Early and 5 Year Follow-up Results) A New Minimally Invasive Alternative, on an Outpatient Bases

Background: After at least six weeks of conservative management of lumbar disc disease patients, some will require additional treatment. Surgeries available do not offer clear, safe options free of complications in all cases. Moreover, some reported postoperative complications are more difficult to treat than the original illness. I am offering a new modified intervention for such cases. Objectives: The purpose of this study was to assess the safety and effectiveness of epidural cocktail instillation for lumbar degenerative diseases, confirm its indications, and evaluate the clinical outcomes of patients. Study Design: Patients were prospectively selected to receive catheter virtual discectomy (CVD) in a prospective, randomized, blinded, crossover cohort study. Setting: The enrollment took place from January 2007 through February 2012 in major tertiary Hospitals in Cairo, including Cairo University Hospitals, Naser Institute Hospital, and Al-Helal Hospital. Material & Methods: A total of 100 patients underwent epidural cocktail injections for lumbar degenerative indications by one neurological spine surgeon. The mean follow-up was 48 months. Outcomes Assessment: After one week, one month and every 3 month thereafter, for the first year, then yearly, the pain was assessed using visual analogue score (VAS). Any decrease in VAS of more than two scales was defined as a significant VAS improvement. Patients were screened for any major or minor complications. The patients were then followed for three up to five years to determine the outcome of treatment. Follow-up images were taken to assess results and determine any injection-related issues. Results The most prevalent diagnoses were disc bulges, especially in young ages. The mean severity of LBP decreased by 80% at 3-month follow-up, and 60% at 1-year follow-up. The results of pain relief were best at early follow-up visits. Forty two patients (70%) stated that they would undergo this procedure again. The late 5 year follow up, if not superimposed by an additional new insult, and after exclusion of the 14 patients who did not complete the study, had a stationary clinical course. Limitations: Fourteen patients did not complete the study, with reasons ranging from loss to follow-up (not returning) to pursuing exclusion criteria items. Eighty six patients were included in the final analysis. Conclusion Despite the supposed argue, the current study provides evidence that immediate pain relief and increase in function can be provided by the epidural cocktail injections with a very low rate of morbidity. The follow-up images showed, in addition to the clinical improvement, definite structural decrease of the disc bulges in a way as if discectomy was done without any surgical or interventional intervention. That is why the name catheter virtual discectomy (CVD) was introduced.
Handling missing data in medical questionnaires using tensor decompositions

Questionnaires are often used to understand the quality of life of patients, treatment and disease burden and to obtain their feedback on the provided health care. However, a common problem with questionnaires is missing data. Some level of missing data is common and unavoidable. For example, patients may elect to leave one or more items unanswered either inadvertently or because they feel inhibited in responding to items dealing with a sensitive topic. Such missing data may lead to biased parameter estimates and inflated errors. In this paper, we propose an innovative collaborative filtering technique to complete missing data in medical questionnaires. The proposed technique is based on canonical tensor decomposition (CANDECOMP) and parallel factor decomposition (PARAFAC). It is very fast and effective especially with repeated medical questionnaires. To assess the different algorithms and our methods, we used SLEQOL questionnaires (“systemic lupus erythematosus-specific quality-of-life instrument”) completed by one hundred patients from TTSH and hospitals in China and Vietnam. Our results demonstrate that the tensor decomposition based method provides significant improvement on many existing methods and overcome their limitations in terms of various statistical measures.
Annotated Suffix Trees for Text Clustering

In this paper an extension of tf -idf weighting on annotated suffix tree (AST) structure is described. The new weighting scheme can be used for computing similarity between texts, which can further serve as in input to clustering algorithm. We present preliminary tests of using AST for computing similarity of Russian texts and show slight improvement in comparison to the baseline cosine similarity after applying spectral clustering algorithm.
BUSINESS CYCLE AND SECTORAL FLUCTUATIONS: A NONLINEAR MODEL FOR CÔTE D’IVOIRE

Although the share of service sector in Cote d’Ivoire’s real GDP is higher than other sectors, it is widely recognized that the Ivorian economy is mainly based on agricultural sector and thus the fluctuations in this ‘motor’ sector could have a huge impact on the growth process of the country. We examine the issue of existence, identification and interaction of business cycle in Cote d’Ivoire’s GDP and compare its fluctuations with the disaggregated main economic sectors (agriculture, industry and service), by using a univariate Markov regime switching model and its multivariate version over the period 1970-2001. We found similarities and simultaneity of business cycle between the sectors of the economy. While the real GDP’s business cycle can be characterized, according to its mean duration (around 10 years) as a Juglar type cycle, the sectors’ cycles mean duration is shorter from 4 to 5 years.
Intrusion detection using artificial neural networks with best set of features

An Intrusion Detection System (IDS) monitors the behavior of a given environment and identifies the activities are malicious (intrusive) or legitimate (normal) based on features obtained from the network traffic data. In the proposed method, instead of considering all features for intrusion detection and wasting up the time in analyzing it, only the relevant feature for the particular attack is selected and intrusion detection is done with help of supervised learning Neural Network (NN). The feature selection is done with the help of information gain algorithm and genetic algorithm. The Multi Layer Perceptron (MLP) supervised NN is used to train the relevant features alone in our proposed system. This system improves the Detection Rate (DTR) for all types of attacks when compared to Intrusion detection system which uses all features and selected features using genetic algorithm with MLP NN as the classifier. Our proposed system results, in detecting intrusions with higher accuracy, especially for Remote to Local (R2L), User to Root (U2R) and Denial of Service (DoS) attacks.
Do Private Schools Provide Competition for Public Schools?

Arguments in favor of school choice depend on the idea that competition between schools improves the quality of education. However, we have almost no empirical evidence on whether competition actually affects school quality. In this study, I examine the effects of inter-school competition on public schools by using exogenous variation in the availability and costs of private school alternatives to public schools. Because low public school quality raises the demand for private schools as substitutes for public schools, we cannot simply compare public school students' outcomes in areas with and without substantial private school enrollment. Such simple comparisons confound the effect of greater private school competitiveness with the increased demand for private schools where the public schools are poor in quality. I derive instruments for private school competition from the fact that it is less expensive and difficult to set up religious schools, which accounts for 9 out of 10 private school students in the U.S., in areas densely populated by members of the affiliated religion. I find that greater private school competitiveness significantly raises the quality of public schools, as measured by the educational attainment, wages, and high school graduation rates of public school students. In addition, I find some evidence that public schools react to greater competitiveness of private schools by paying higher teacher salaries.
Maturity in the virtual organizations – the influence of IT architecture and strategic alignment

Number: 025-1576 Maturity in the virtual organizations – the influence of IT architecture and strategic alignment Kumiko Oshio Kissimoto Rua Maracá, 266 – ap 122 – CEP 04313-210 – São Paulo-SP 11-8261-9944, kkissimoto@usp.br Fernando José Barbin Laurindo Av. Prof. Almeida Prado, Travessa 2, No 128, CEP 05508-070, Cidade Universitária , São Paulo – SP 11-3091-5363 r. 454, fjblau@usp.br POMS 23rd Annual Conference Chicago, Illinois, U.S.A. April 20 to April 23, 2011 Maturity in the virtual organizations – the influence of IT architecture and strategic alignment Kumiko O. Kisimoto; Fernando J. B. Laurindo Abstract: It is increasing the number of organizations that are operating in the virtual space. Virtual organizations are companies that join primarily through the use of technology, mostly the internet resources. In this new economy, the environment suffers constant and dynamic changes, and more and more companies suffer the pressure to adopt a new posture in the marketplace. As customers become more knowledgeable, informed, networked and empowered, they seek to exercise their influence in the business process, changing for once the nature of the customer-company interaction. In this article, it is discussed how IT and business strategy have changed to accommodate all these changes. Also it is analyzed the importance of aligning both strategies in order to sustain their competitiveness in the market and give them capacity to innovate constantly. Through case study approach in e-commerce companies, the present paper investigated how companies are working the IT architecture to achieve the operations maturity in the virtual space and how the IT strategic alignment between IT and business strategies contributes to give to companies a competitive advantage. Key-words: New economy, Virtual Organization, Strategic Alignment It is increasing the number of organizations that are operating in the virtual space. Virtual organizations are companies that join primarily through the use of technology, mostly the internet resources. In this new economy, the environment suffers constant and dynamic changes, and more and more companies suffer the pressure to adopt a new posture in the marketplace. As customers become more knowledgeable, informed, networked and empowered, they seek to exercise their influence in the business process, changing for once the nature of the customer-company interaction. In this article, it is discussed how IT and business strategy have changed to accommodate all these changes. Also it is analyzed the importance of aligning both strategies in order to sustain their competitiveness in the market and give them capacity to innovate constantly. Through case study approach in e-commerce companies, the present paper investigated how companies are working the IT architecture to achieve the operations maturity in the virtual space and how the IT strategic alignment between IT and business strategies contributes to give to companies a competitive advantage. Key-words: New economy, Virtual Organization, Strategic Alignment
Online Learning for Multi-Agent Local Navigation

In this paper, we present an adaptive framework for improving the local navigation in multi-agent simulations. Our framework uses techniques from Reinforcement Learning allowing the agents to adapt their behavior online while the simulation is still running. It is general and can be easily combined with existing schemes for local navigation. As an example, we demonstrate its application using the Optimal Reciprocal Collision Avoidance method introduced in robotics. Preliminary results show that, using our adaptive approach, the agents exhibit a more polite and respectful behavior toward each other, as compared to approaches that do not use learning. This alleviates congestion phenomena observed in non-adaptive local navigation methods and helps the agents reach their goal destinations faster.
Nucleosomes Indicate the in vitro Radiosensitivity of Irradiated Bronchoepithelial and Lung Cancer Cells

Nucleosomes, which are typical cell death products, are elevated in the serum of cancer patients and are known to rapidly increase during radiotherapy. As both normal and malignant cells are damaged by irradiation, we investigated to which extent both cell types contribute to the release of nucleosomes. We cultured monolayers of normal bronchoepithelial lung cells (BEAS-2B, n = 18) and epithelial lung cancer cells (EPLC, n = 18), exposed them to various radiation doses (0, 10 and 30 Gy) and observed them for 5 days. Culture medium was changed every 24 h. Subsequently, nucleosomes were determined in the supernatant by the Cell Death Detection-ELISAplus (Roche Diagnostics). Additionally, the cell number was estimated after harvesting the cells in a second preparation. After 5 days, the cell number of BEAS-2B cultures in the irradiated groups (10 Gy: median 0.03 × 106 cells/culture, range 0.02–0.08 × 106 cells/culture; 30 Gy: median 0.08 × 106 cells/culture, range 0.02–0.14 × 106 cells/culture) decreased significantly (10 Gy: p = 0.005; 30 Gy p = 0.005; Wilcoxon test) compared to the non-irradiated control group (median 4.81 × 106 cells/culture, range 1.50–9.54 × 106 cells/culture). Consistently, nucleosomes remained low in the supernatant of non-irradiated BEAS-2B. However, at 10 Gy, BEAS-2B showed a considerably increasing release of nucleosomes, with a maximum at 72 h (before irradiation: 0.24 × 103 arbitrary units, AU, range 0.13–4.09 × 103 AU, and after 72 h: 1.94 × 103 AU, range 0.11–5.70 × 103 AU). At 30 Gy, the release was even stronger, reaching the maximum earlier (at 48 h, 11.09 × 103 AU, range 6.89–18.28 × 103 AU). In non-irradiated EPLC, nucleosomes constantly increased slightly. At 10 Gy, we observed a considerably higher release of nucleosomes in EPLC, with a maximum at 72 h (before irradiation: 2.79 × 103 AU, range 2.42–3.80 × 103 AU, and after 72 h: 7.16 × 103 AU, range 4.30–16.20 × 103 AU), which was more than 3.5 times higher than in BEAS-2B. At 30 Gy, the maximum (6.22 × 103 AU, range 5.13–9.71 × 103 AU) was observed already after 24 h. These results indicate that normal bronchoepithelial and malignant lung cancer cells contribute to the release of nucleosomes during irradiation in a dose- and time-dependent manner with cancer cells having a stronger impact at low doses.