Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Statistical symbolic execution with informed sampling

Symbolic execution techniques have been proposed recently for the probabilistic analysis of programs. These techniques seek to quantify the likelihood of reaching program events of interest, e.g., assert violations. They have many promising applications but have scalability issues due to high computational demand. To address this challenge, we propose a statistical symbolic execution technique that performs Monte Carlo sampling of the symbolic program paths and uses the obtained information for Bayesian estimation and hypothesis testing with respect to the probability of reaching the target events. To speed up the convergence of the statistical analysis, we propose Informed Sampling, an iterative symbolic execution that first explores the paths that have high statistical significance, prunes them from the state space and guides the execution towards less likely paths. The technique combines Bayesian estimation with a partial exact analysis for the pruned paths leading to provably improved convergence of the statistical analysis. We have implemented statistical symbolic execution with informed sampling in the Symbolic PathFinder tool. We show experimentally that the informed sampling obtains more precise results and converges faster than a purely statistical analysis and may also be more efficient than an exact symbolic analysis. When the latter does not terminate symbolic execution with informed sampling can give meaningful results under the same time and memory limits.
Male song quality affects circulating but not yolk steroid concentrations in female canaries (Serinus canaria)

SUMMARY Male song complexity is a sexually selected trait found in many songbirds, including strains of the domestic canary. Studies on several species have shown that male song can affect the hormonal state of females and may also influence concentrations of maternal hormones in the yolk of their eggs. In this study, we show that the level of circulating androgens and oestrogens of female canaries, as measured in faeces, varies with the quality of male song to which they are exposed. The female-perceived quality of male canary song depends on the production of special `sexy syllables' to which females respond with more sexual displays. Using playback of synthetic song we show that females hearing songs with sexy syllables have higher levels of faecal testosterone than control females hearing songs without them. However, unlike previous studies on the canary, we found no evidence that such females laid eggs with more testosterone (or other steroids) in their egg yolks. We discuss these results in relation to the evolution of male signalling and maternal investment strategies.
Speaker-Dependent Dictionary-Based Speech Enhancement for Text-Dependent Speaker Verification

The problem of text-dependent speaker verification under noisy conditions is becoming ever more relevant, due to increased usage for authentication in real-world applications. Classical methods for noise reduction such as spectral subtraction and Wiener filtering introduce distortion and do not perform well in this setting. In this work we compare the performance of different noise reduction methods under different noise conditions in terms of speaker verification when the text is known and the system is trained on clean data (mis-matched conditions). We furthermore propose a new approach based on dictionary-based noise reduction and compare it to the baseline methods.
Simian Foamy Virus Infection of Rhesus Macaques in Bangladesh: Relationship of Latent Proviruses and Transcriptionally Active Viruses

ABSTRACT Simian foamy viruses (SFV) are complex retroviruses that are ubiquitous in nonhuman primates (NHP) and are zoonotically transmitted to humans, presumably through NHP saliva, by licking, biting, and other behaviors. We have studied SFV in free-ranging rhesus macaques in Bangladesh. It has been previously shown that SFV in immunocompetent animals replicates to detectable levels only in superficial epithelial cells of the oral mucosa, although latent proviruses are found in most, if not all, tissues. In this study, we compare DNA sequences from latent SFV proviruses found in blood cells of 30 Bangladesh rhesus macaques to RNA sequences of transcriptionally active SFV from buccal swabs obtained from the same animals. Viral strains, defined by differences in SFV gag sequences, from buccal mucosal specimens overlapped with those from blood samples in 90% of animals. Thus, latent proviruses in peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMC) are, to a great extent, representative of viruses likely to be transmitted to other hosts. The level of SFV RNA in buccal swabs varied greatly between macaques, with increasing amounts of viral RNA in older animals. Evidence of APOBEC3-induced mutations was found in gag sequences derived from the blood and oral mucosa.
Blindness, Art and Exclusion in Museums and Galleries

Drawing on interviews with blind people, this paper examines both their exclusion from museums and galleries and their responses to the art educational provision that is specifically designed to remedy that marginalisation. Blind visitors’ responses to these educational projects were polarised; respondents were either highly critical or very enthusiastic. This paper begins by outlining the interviewees’ criticisms which included; education officers’ misconception of how touch facilitates learning and aesthetic response, a lack of educational progression and blind people's exclusion from mainstream events. I then ask why, given these problems, did other respondents reply so favourably, suggest that these high levels of satisfaction had little to do with museum provision but were in fact the result of social interaction and of rare inclusion within the sighted community. I argue that, ironically, this sense of inclusion is premised on blind visitors’ structural exclusion from art institutions. Finally, the article examines those visitors who, illicitly or otherwise, already experience some aspects of the museum in multisensory terms, but maintain that until museums’ and galleries’ ocularcentric orientation is reconfigured, there will be little possibility for these rogue visitors to develop their knowledge of art. Likewise, without institutional change, educational events for the blind will continue to be an inadequate supplement to a structure that is and remains inequitable.
Exploring Consensus in Machine Translation for Quality Estimation

This paper presents the use of consensus among Machine Translation (MT) systems for the WMT14 Quality Estimation shared task. Consensus is explored here by comparing the MT system output against several alternative machine translations using standard evaluation metrics. Figures extracted from such metrics are used as features to complement baseline prediction models. The hypothesis is that knowing whether the translation of interest is similar or dissimilar to translations from multiple different MT systems can provide useful information regarding the quality of such a translation.
Development of a sensitive monoclonal-based enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay for monitoring T-2 toxin in food and feed

ABSTRACT The consumption of food or feed contaminated with high levels of T-2 toxin may cause adverse health effects in humans and other animals. In this study, to monitor T-2 toxin rapidly in food and feed, a sensitive and specific monoclonal antibody (mAb) against T-2 toxin was generated and a simple and rapid indirect competitive enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ic-ELISA) developed. T-2 toxin was first converted to T-2-hemisuccinate (T-2HS) and T-2-hemiglutarate (T-2HG), which were then conjugated to bovine serum albumin (BSA) and ovalbumin (OVA) to prepare an immunogen and coating antigen, respectively. After the inoculation of female Balb/c mice and cell fusions, one cell line, 4D8, with the IgG1 isotype was obtained. The 4D8 antibody exhibited the ability specifically to recognise T-2 toxin with IC50 1.46 µg l−1. Based on this 4D8 mAb, an optimised ic-ELISA protocol was developed using only methanol–water (7:3, v/v) in feed and cereal samples and ethyl acetate in muscle samples. The limits of detection of T-2 toxin in various sample matrices varied from 0.07 to 15.8 µg kg−1; the recoveries ranged from 50.3% to 113.6%; and the CVs were less than 19.0%. These results suggest that the prepared mAb and the developed ic-ELISA method will be a useful tool for detecting T-2 toxin in foods and feeds.
SENSITIVITY ANALYSIS OF OSCILLATORY SYSTEM DYNAMICS MODELS

Sensitivity analysis of oscillatory models is very di cult with standard statistical methods, such as correlation-based screening. On the other hand, behavior pattern sensitivity analysis, which focuses on the sensitivity of pattern characteristics such as equilibrium level or oscillation amplitude, is appropriate for oscillatory models. This approach also provides insights for controlling the pattern characteristics of oscillations. In this article an analysis procedure is suggested for pattern sensitivity of system dynamics models and this procedure is applied to the inventory workforce model described by Sterman(2000), using regression method.
Another look at generic groups

Starting with Shoup's seminal paper [24], the generic group model has been an important tool in reductionist security arguments. After an informal explanation of this model and Shoup's theorem, we discuss the danger of flaws in proofs. We next describe an ontological difference between the generic group assumption and the random oracle model for hash unctions. We then examine some criticisms that have been leveled at the generic group model and raise some questions of our own.
DDD—a free graphical front-end for UNIX debuggers

The Data Display Debugger (DDD) is a novel graphical user interface to GDB and DBX, the popular UNIX debuggers. Besides "usual" features such as viewing source texts and breakpoints, DDD provides a graphical data display, where data structures are displayed as graphs. A simple mouse click dereferences pointers or reveals structure contents. Complex data structures can be explored incrementally and interactively, using automatic layout if preferred. Each time the program stops, the data display reflects the current variable values. DDD has been designed to compete with well-known commercial debuggers; however, it is free software, protected by the GNU general public license. In this paper, we give a quick presentation of DDD and describe its architecture and basic functionality from a technical point of view.
Sustentabilidad ambiental y contradicciones sociales

In this article we analyze the definitions and measures of sustainability. We show that while definitions include an inter-generation element and another of intra-generation equity, most of the measures only consider the former. We explain the methodological reasons for that, as well as demonstrating the possibility of including other criteria -such as social productivity and potential surplus- which explain environmental problems derived from social relations.
Sleep Duration, Insomnia Symptoms, and Emotion Regulation among Black Women

Introduction This study explored the associations between sleep duration and emotion regulation among urban black women (mean age=59 ± 7 yrs). Method Eligible women (n=523) provided sociodemographic data during face-to-face interviews. We used the Comprehensive Assessment and Referral Examination Physical to measure health status; women also estimated their habitual sleep duration. We utilized a modified version of Weinberger’s conceptual model of repression, the Index of Self-Regulation (ISE) to measure emotion regulation. ISE scores were derived by amalgamating the defensive subscale from the Social Desirability Scale and the anxiety subscale from the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory. Results The median habitual sleep duration was 7 hours; 20% of the women were short sleepers (<6 hours) and 6% were long sleepers (>8 hours). Short sleepers, rather than long sleepers, had a greater likelihood of reporting insomnia symptoms than those sleeping 6–8 hours [63.4% vs. 28.1%; Χ2 = 41.87, p<0.001]. In the first logistic regression model, the odds of being a short sleeper for low regulators were 3 times greater than for high regulators [OR = 3.22 95% CI: 2.05–5.06; p<0.0001]. In multivariate-adjusted analysis, OR was reduced to 2.06, but remained significant. In the second logistic model, the likelihood of being a long sleeper among low regulators were 37% greater than for high regulators, but results were not significant [OR=1.37, 95% CI: 0.62–3.01; NS]. Discussion Short and long sleep duration are associated with reduced ability for emotion regulation. Women sleeping 6–8 hrs might be more adept at regulating emotions in their daily lives. Insomnia symptoms might mediate associations between emotion regulations and sleep durations.
Dissecting the Critical Factors for Thermodynamic Stability of Modular Proteins Using Molecular Modeling Approach

Repeat proteins have recently attracted much attention as alternative scaffolds to immunoglobulin antibodies due to their unique structural and biophysical features. In particular, repeat proteins show high stability against temperature and chaotic agents. Despite many studies, structural features for the stability of repeat proteins remain poorly understood. Here we present an interesting result from in silico analyses pursuing the factors which affect the stability of repeat proteins. Previously developed repebody structure based on variable lymphocytes receptors (VLRs) which consists of leucine-rich repeat (LRR) modules was used as initial structure for the present study. We constructed extra six repebody structures with varying numbers of repeat modules and those structures were used for molecular dynamics simulations. For the structures, the intramolecular interactions including backbone H-bonds, van der Waals energy, and hydrophobicity were investigated and then the radius of gyration, solvent-accessible surface area, ratio of secondary structure, and hydration free energy were also calculated to find out the relationship between the number of LRR modules and stability of the protein. Our results show that the intramolecular interactions lead to more compact structure and smaller surface area of the repebodies, which are critical for the stability of repeat proteins. The other features were also well compatible with the experimental results. Based on our observations, the repebody-5 was proposed as the best structure from the all repebodies in structure optimization process. The present study successfully demonstrated that our computer-based molecular modeling approach can significantly contribute to the experiment-based protein engineering challenge.
Compact, Wearable Antennas for Battery-Less Systems Exploiting Fabrics and Magneto-Dielectric Materials

In this paper, we describe some promising solutions to the modern need for wearable, energy-aware, miniaturized, wireless systems, whose typical envisaged application is a body area network (BAN). To reach this goal, novel materials are adopted, such as fabrics, in place of standard substrates and metallizations, which require a systematic procedure for their electromagnetic characterization. Indeed, the design of such sub-systems represents a big issue, since approximate approaches could result in strong deviations from the actual system performance. To face this problem, we demonstrate our design procedure, which is based on the concurrent use of electromagnetic software tools and nonlinear circuit-level techniques, able to simultaneously predict the actual system behavior of an antenna system, consisting of the radiating and of the nonlinear blocks, at the component level. This approach is demonstrated for the design of a fully-wearable tri-band rectifying antenna (rectenna) and of a button-shaped, electrically-small antenna deploying a novel magneto-dielectric substrate. Simulations are supported by measurements, both in terms of antenna port parameters and far-field results.
Recruitment of OCRL and Inpp5B to phagosomes by Rab5 and APPL1 depletes phosphoinositides and attenuates Akt signaling

Sealing of phagosomes is accompanied by the disappearance of phosphatidylinositol (4,5)‐bisphosphate (PtdIns(4,5)P2) from their cytoplasmic leaflet. Elimination of PtdIns(4,5)P2, which is required for actin remodeling during phagosome formation, has been attributed to hydrolysis by phospholipase C and phosphorylation by phosphatidylinositol 3‐kinase. We found that two inositol 5‐phosphatases, OCRL and Inpp5B, become associated with nascent phagosomes. Both phosphatases, which are Rab5 effectors, associate with the adaptor protein APPL1, which is itself recruited to the phagosomes by active Rab5. Knock‐down of APPL1 or inhibition of Rab5 impair association of OCRL and Inpp5B with phagosomes and prolong the presence of PtdIns(4,5)P2 and actin on their membranes. Even though APPL1 can serve as an anchor for Akt, its depletion accentuated the activation of the kinase, likely by increasing the amount of PtdIns(4,5)P2 available to generate phosphatidylinositol (3,4,5)‐trisphosphate (PtdIns(3,4,5)P3). Thus, inositol 5‐phosphatases are important contributors to the phosphoinositide remodeling and signaling that are pivotal for phagocytosis.
Volume versus surface-based cortical thickness measurements: A comparative study with healthy controls and multiple sclerosis patients

The cerebral cortex is a highly folded outer layer of grey matter tissue that plays a key role in cognitive functions. In part, alterations of the cortex during development and disease can be captured by measuring the cortical thickness across the whole brain. Available software tools differ with regard to labor intensity and computational demands. In this study, we compared the computational anatomy toolbox (CAT), a recently proposed volume-based tool, with the well-established surface-based tool FreeSurfer. We observed that overall thickness measures were highly inter-correlated, although thickness estimates were systematically lower in CAT than in FreeSurfer. Comparison of multiple sclerosis (MS) patients with age-matched healthy control subjects showed highly comparable clusters of MS-related thinning for both methods. Likewise, both methods yielded comparable clusters of age-related cortical thinning, although correlations between age and average cortical thickness were stronger for FreeSurfer. Our data suggest that, for the analysis of cortical thickness, the volume-based CAT tool can be regarded a considerable alternative to the well-established surface-based FreeSurfer tool.
Incident microalbuminuria and complement factor mannan‐binding lectin‐associated protein 19 in people with newly diagnosed type 1 diabetes

Evidence links the lectin pathway of complement activation to diabetic kidney disease. Upon carbohydrate‐recognition by pattern‐recognition molecules, eg, mannan‐binding lectin (MBL), the MBL‐associated serine protease (MASP‐2) is activated and initiates the complement cascade. The MASP2 gene encodes MASP‐2 and the alternative splice product MBL‐associated protein 19 (MAp19). Both MAp19 and MASP‐2 circulate in complex with MBL. We tested the hypothesis that MAp19 and MASP‐2 concentrations predict the risk of incident microalbuminuria.
Facility Location Problem in Emergency Logistic

Facility location is one of the important problems affecting the relief operations. The location model in this paper is motivated by arranging the flow of relief materials from the main warehouse to continent warehouse and further to regional warehouse and from these to the disaster area. This flow makes the relief organization always ready to deal with the disaster situation during shortest possible time. The main purpose of this paper is merge the concept of just in time and the campaign system in emergency supply chain,so that when the disaster happens the affected country can request help from the nearest regional warehouse, which will supply the relief material and the required stuff to support and assist the victims in the disaster area. Furthermore, the regional warehouse places an order to the continent warehouse to replenish the material that is distributed to the disaster area. This way they will always be ready to respond to any type of disaster.
Are Americans more Optimistic than the Chinese?

A total of 613 subjects, including257 White American students, 312 mainland Chinese students, and 44 Chinese American students, completed the Attributional Style Questionnaire. It was found that (a) mainland Chinese were more pessimistic than Chinese Americans, who were more pessimistic than White Americans, (b) mainland Chinese were less self-blaming (i.e., attributed their failure less internally than the traditional Chinese culture expects) and attributed their success to other people or circumstances, and (c) White Americans had more lopsidedness or self-serving bias than Chinese Americans and mainland Chinese-that is, White Americans attributed their success to themselves and their failure to others or circumstances more often than did mainland Chinese. The authors also found that mainland Chinese optimism was associated more with academic and financial accomplishment, psychological confidence and persistence, and physical health.
Reflective Control for an Elastic Cloud Application: An Automated Experiment Workbench

This paper addresses "reflective" control for applications that use server resources from a shared cloud infrastructure opportunistically. In this approach, an external reflective controller launches application functions based on knowledge of what resources are available from the cloud, their cost, and their value to the application through time. As a driving example, we consider reflective control for an important use of elastic computing: a virtual workbench for digital experiments, focusing on automated benchmarking. We report progress on a Workbench Automation/Intelligence Framework (Waif), and show how it can adapt to available cloud resources by planning and launching experiments in parallel. Waif is part of the ongoing Automat project - an open testbed for programmable hosting centers, built on the ORCA resource leasing platform. We designed a prototype Waif, directed at constructing server performance models by mapping server behavior within a multi-dimensional parameter space. The planner estimates the value and cost of candidate experiments based on the results of completed experiments. In this setting, we show the potential of reflective control to accelerate progress toward a benchmarking objective in a way that balances speed, accuracy, and cost.
Social network analysis of the Short Message Service

In this paper, we analyze patterns in the Short Message Service (SMS) behavior of customers in a large telecom service provider network. Toward this, we construct SMS Graphs, which are graphs induced by people exchanging SMSs, from the SMS Call Detail Records of the concerned service provider. These patterns are modeled by a weighted graph G(V, E, W), in which the vertices represent the customers, and the edges and weights characterize the SMS transactions. We analyze properties of this graph, such as the distribution of component sizes, cliques, and vertex degrees. It is our belief that this study should enable the telecom operators to utilize the social behavior of their customers to design better service plans, and generate optimum incentives.