Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
A Functional Abstraction of Typed Contexts

This report investigates abstracting control with functions. This is achieved by defining continuations as functions abstracting lexically a delimited context [C[ ]] rather than dynamically an unlimited one C[ ], as it is usually the case. Because their co-domain is distinguished from the final domain of Answers, such continuations can be composed, and this contrasts with the simple exceptions of ML and Lisp and the unlimited first-class continuations of Scheme. Making these functional control abstractions first-class offers a new area in programming which this paper explores. The key points obtained here are: a denotational semantics for a simple, call-by-value, strongly typed expression language with higher-order functions and first-class continuations; its congruence with a continuation semantics; a polymorphic type inference system for that language; a systematic translation to higher-order functions (continuation-passing style); some worked examples of programming with functional abstractions of control; and an extension towards gaining control over embedding contexts. Sections 1 and 2 present the denotational semantics of the simple expression language and its congruence with a traditional continuation semantics. Section 3 illustrates programming with control abstractions. Section 4 describes its translation to an extended continuation-passing style with higher-order functions, and section 5 describes its type system. Section 6 compares this approach with related work.
Bank cost of capital and international competition

The rising share of U.S. corporate loans booked by foreign-owned banks and the withdrawal of U.S. banks from foreign lending raise concerns about the competitiveness of U.S. banks. This article investigates how differential capital costs may have placed U.S. banks at a disadvantage relative to their foreign competitors. The authors compare the capital costs facing commercial banks in the United States and five other industrial countries and present explanations for the observed differences.
Client-based ad insertion for adaptive video streaming

Advertisement is a crucial factor in business models of Internet video streaming. So far, most methods for advertisement video insertion are of server-based type. In this paper, we present an approach for client-based advertisement insertion in HTTP streaming, which has become a cost effective means for multimedia delivery. The advantages of our approach include client's unawareness of advertisement and smooth transition between content and advertisement.
An Octree-Based Approach towards Efficient Variational Range Data Fusion

Volume-based reconstruction is usually expensive both in terms of memory consumption and runtime. Especially for sparse geometric structures, volumetric representations produce a huge computational overhead. We present an efficient way to fuse range data via a variational Octree-based minimization approach by taking the actual range data geometry into account. We transform the data into Octree-based truncated signed distance fields and show how the optimization can be conducted on the newly created structures. The main challenge is to uphold speed and a low memory footprint without sacrificing the solutions' accuracy during optimization. We explain how to dynamically adjust the optimizer's geometric structure via joining/splitting of Octree nodes and how to define the operators. We evaluate on various datasets and outline the suitability in terms of performance and geometric accuracy.
HDAC Family Members Intertwined in the Regulation of Autophagy: A Druggable Vulnerability in Aggressive Tumor Entities

The exploitation of autophagy by some cancer entities to support survival and dodge death has been well-described. Though its role as a constitutive process is important in normal, healthy cells, in the milieu of malignantly transformed and highly proliferative cells, autophagy is critical for escaping metabolic and genetic stressors. In recent years, the importance of histone deacetylases (HDACs) in cancer biology has been heavily investigated, and the enzyme family has been shown to play a role in autophagy, too. HDAC inhibitors (HDACi) are being integrated into cancer therapy and clinical trials are ongoing. The effect of HDACi on autophagy and, conversely, the effect of autophagy on HDACi efficacy are currently under investigation. With the development of HDACi that are able to selectively target individual HDAC isozymes, there is great potential for specific therapy that has more well-defined effects on cancer biology and also minimizes toxicity. Here, the role of autophagy in the context of cancer and the interplay of this process with HDACs will be summarized. Identification of key HDAC isozymes involved in autophagy and the ability to target specific isozymes yields the potential to cripple and ultimately eliminate malignant cells depending on autophagy as a survival mechanism.
INDEPENDENT DIRECTORS , INTERNAL DISAGREEMENT , AND STRATEGIC CHANGE

What happens when the CEO and the board chair have different strategic visions? We suggest that independent directors play a significant role in resolving any resulting disagreements. We evaluate our theory by focusing on a specific CEO turnover context that prior research suggests is likely to lead to disagreements – a new outsider CEO who prefers change and a board chair who is the immediate predecessor CEO and prefers consistency. Our empirical results show that board independence is positively related to strategic change in this specific CEO succession context, but not in other contexts. This study underscores the contingent role of independent directors, and contributes to research on corporate governance and strategic change.
On the exploitation of hidden Markov models and linear dynamic models in a hybrid decoder architecture for continuous speech recognition

Linear dynamic models (LDMs) have been shown to be a viable alternative to hidden Markov models (HMMs) on small-vocabulary recognition tasks, such as phone classification. In this paper we investigate various statistical model combination approaches for a hybrid HMM-LDM recognizer, resulting in a phone classification performance that outperforms the best individual classifier. Further, we report on continuous speech recognition experiments on the AURORA4 corpus, where the model combination is carried out on wordgraph rescoring. While the hybrid system improves the HMM system in the case of monophone HMMs, the performance of the triphone HMM model could not be improved by monophone LDMs, asking for the need to introduce context-dependency also in the LDM model inventory.
The Effect of an Intervening Promoter Nucleosome on Gene Expression

Nucleosomes, which are the basic packaging units of chromatin, are stably positioned in promoters upstream of most stress-inducible genes. These promoter nucleosomes are generally thought to repress gene expression due to exclusion; they prevent transcription factors from accessing their target sites on the DNA. However, the role of promoter nucleosomes that do not directly occlude transcription factor binding sites is not obvious. Here, we varied the stability of a non-occluding nucleosome positioned between a transcription factor binding site and the TATA box region in an inducible yeast promoter and measured downstream gene expression level. We found that gene expression level depends on the occupancy of the non-occluding nucleosome in a non-monotonic manner. We postulated that a non-occluding nucleosome can serve both as a vehicle of and a barrier to chromatin remodeling activity and built a quantitative, nonequilibrium model to explain the observed nontrivial effect of the intervening nucleosome. Our work sheds light on the dual role of nucleosome as a repressor and an activator and expands the standard model of gene expression to include irreversible promoter chromatin transitions.
Research on time characteristic of the pulse wave propagation through the polar region ionosphere

The pulse wave will be affected by the dispersion of the background medium and the scattering of the electron density irregularities while it propagates through the ionosphere turbulent medium. In this article, based on the time moment and the analytical solution of the two-frequency mutual coherence function which obtained by the method of the integral equation iteration. The time characteristic of the pulse signal propagates through the ionospheric media of the polar region was detailedly discussed. By using the ionospheric datum of the south pole, the average arrival time changing with the spectrum index of the irregularities, the inner scale, the outer scale and so on was also analyzed. The numerical simulation show the average arrival time is mainly dominated by the propagation items of the group velocity, and was less affected by the higher-order dispersion of the background medium and the random scattering of the irregularities.
IC Postprocessing Stage for Random Number Generators and an Alternative Design Methodology

This paper explains post processing techniques used in random number generators. Popular post processing techniques have been reviewed and integrated by using HHNEC's 0.25 um eFlash process with a supply voltage of 2.5V. Furthermore these post processing techniques are compared with each other in point of throughput, simplicity, area occupation and power consumption. An alternative design methodology is also presented for random number generation which considers its underlying entropy source instead of blindly applying complicated post processing techniques. Then, introduced design methodology, which provides sufficient output randomness without any further post-processing necessity, is compared with other implementations. High-performance random number generators can be realized in the light of this design methodology.
Equilibria, prudent Compromises,and the "Waiting" game

While evaluation of many e-negotiation agents are carried out through empirical studies, this work supplements and complements existing literature by analyzing the problem of designing market-driven agents (MDAs) in terms of equilibrium points and stable strategies. MDAs are negotiation agents designed to make prudent compromises taking into account factors such as time preference, outside option, and rivalry. This work shows that 1) in a given market situation, an MDA negotiates optimally because it makes minimally sufficient concession, and 2) by modeling negotiation of MDAs as a game /spl Gamma/ of incomplete information, it is shown that the strategies adopted by MDAs are stable. In a bilateral negotiation, it is proven that the strategy pair of two MDAs forms a sequential equilibrium for /spl Gamma/. In a multilateral negotiation, it is shown that the strategy profile of MDAs forms a market equilibrium for /spl Gamma/.
Fast and Accurate Tactile Sensor System for a Human-Interactive Robot

With the advent of the aging society, the demand for nursing care for the elderly is becoming much larger. The application of robotics to helping on-site caregivers is consequently one of the most important new areas of robotics research. Such humaninteractive robots, which share humans’ environments and interact with them, should be covered with soft areal tactile sensors for safety, communication, and dextrous manipulation. Tactile sensors have interested many researchers and various types of tactile sensors have been proposed so far. Many tactile sensors have been developed on the basis of microelectro-mechanical system (MEMS) technology (for example, (Suzuki, 1993; Souza & Wise, 1997)). They have a high-density and narrow covering area realized by applying MEMS technology, and as a result, are not suitable for covering a large area of a robot’s surface. Some tactile sensors suitable for use on robot fingers or grippers have also been developed (Nakamura & Shinoda, 2001; Yamada et al., 2002; Shimojo et al., 2004). Many of them have the ability to detect tangential stress and can be used in grasping force control. Their main target is robot fingers, and consequently they were not designed to cover a large area. There are also commercially available tactile sensors such as those offered by Tekscan (Tekscan, 2008) based on pressure-sensitive ink or rubber, and KINOTEXTM tactile sensors (Reimer & Danisch, 1999) utilizing the change in the intensity of light scattered by the covering urethane foam when deformed. However, they are not sufficiently accurate because of strong hysteresis and creep characteristics. The idea of covering a large area of a robot’s surface with soft tactile skinlike sensors is attracting researchers (Lumelsky et al., 2001). Some human-interactive robots for which a large area of their surface is covered with soft tactile sensors have actually been developed (Inaba et al. 1996; Tajima et al. 2002; Kanda et al. 2002; Mitsunaga et al. 2006; Ohmura et al., 2006; Ohmura & Kuniyoshi, 2007). However, the tactile sensors are not suitable for humaninteractive robots, particularly when physical labor using tactile sensation is required. For example, one tactile sensor in (Tajima et al. 2002) has only 3 values as its output, and another tactile sensor in (Tajima et al. 2002) is gel-type and cannot be used over a long period because of the evaporation of the contained water. The tactile sensor in (Mitsunaga et al. 2006) has only 56 elements in total. Flexible fabric-based tactile sensors using an electrically conductive fabric have also been proposed for covering a robot (Inaba et al. 1996), but the O pe n A cc es s D at ab as e w w w . in te ch w eb . o rg
Characterization of Mice with Targeted Deletion of Glycine Receptor Alpha 2

ABSTRACT Glycine receptors are ligand-gated chloride channels that mediate inhibitory neurotransmission in the adult nervous system. During development, glycine receptor alpha 2 (GlyRα2) is expressed in the retina, in the spinal cord, and throughout the brain. Within the cortex, GlyRα2 is expressed in immature cells and these receptors have been shown to be active and excitatory. In the developing retina, inhibition of glycine receptor activity prevents proper rod photoreceptor development. These data suggest that GlyRα2, the developmentally expressed glycine receptor, may play an important role in neuronal development. We have generated mice with a targeted deletion of glycine receptor alpha 2 (Glra2). Although these mice lack expression of GlyRα2, no gross morphological or molecular alterations were observed in the nervous system. In addition, the cerebral cortex does not appear to require glycine receptor activity for proper development, as Glra2 knockout mice did not show any electrophysiological responses to glycine.
The Value Relevance of Accounting Variables and Analysts’ Forecasts: The Case of Biotechnology Firms

Purpose - This paper seeks to address the value relevance of summary accounting measures and fundamental income statement variables in the market valuation of biotech firms. Design/methodology/approach - A biotech firm's stock price was related to its underlying financial accounting variables. Using the Ohlson model, the linear function of book value and earnings was employed, and the basic model was augmented with additional accounting variables. These accounting variables may provide information relevant for forming an approximation on the present value of expected future abnormal earnings. Findings - Results show non-linearities in the pricing of accounting variables Both book value and earnings are value relevant, but positive earnings are positively priced while negative earnings are negatively priced. R&D spending and selling, general and administrative expenses are also priced as assets for loss-reporting firms, and as expenses for profit-reporting observations. Including analysts’ forecasts of future earnings and long-term growth rate in the model results in an insignificant increase in the explanatory power of the regressions. Research limitations/implications - Future research could attempt to examine the role of non-financial variables which can proxy for the soft variables and intangibles like strategic alliances and product pipeline. Decomposing revenue into product sales, interest income and collaborative research revenue may further enhance our understanding on the determinants of the market value of biotech stocks. Originality/value - This paper provides insights into the valuation of biotechnology stocks. Results show non-linearities in the pricing of summary accounting measures and fundamental income statement variables.
SMART: An Application Framework for Real Time Big Data Analysis on Heterogeneous Cloud Environments

The amount of data that human activities generate poses a challenge to current computer systems. Big data processing techniques are evolving to address this challenge, with analysis increasingly being performed using cloud-based systems. Emerging services, however, require additional enhancements in order to ensure their applicability to highly dynamic and heterogeneous environments and facilitate their use by Small & Medium-sized Enterprises (SMEs). Observing this landscape in emerging computing system development, this work presents Small & Medium-sized Enterprise Data Analytic in Real Time (SMART) for addressing some of the issues in providing compute service solutions for SMEs. SMART offers a framework for efficient development of Big Data analysis services suitable to small and medium-sized organizations, considering very heterogeneous data sources, from wireless sensor networks to data warehouses, focusing on service composability for a number of domains. This paper presents the basis of this proposal and preliminary results on exploring application deployment on hybrid infrastructure.
A Proof-of-concept Demonstrator for Cognitive Radio

The Adaptive Ad-hoc Free Band Wireless Communications (AAF) project is researching the possibility of using Software Defined Radio for wireless networks that needs to operate in an unknown or even hostile radio environment. Each node in the network needs to be cognitive of nearby transceivers in order to prevent radio frequency interference from and to other users and to survive jamming. So, in our system each node scans the radio spectrum to see which bands are free, so that these bands can be used for communication by the AAF network. The target application of our system is in a disaster relief wireless network. Since the chance of occurrence of a major emergency is very low, it will be very economical if the communication network of the rescue team can find free spectrum when it is needed, instead of reserving a fixed portion of the spectrum. In this paper we present a concept of a physical layer architecture of the scanning system of an AAF network node, and we will elaborate on the question of how it can be evaluated with of the shelf hardware.
PILOT-BASED 2 D CHANNEL ESTIMATION FOR OFDM OVER FAST FADING CHANNELS

Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing (OFDM) is considered an effective technique in high speed digital transmission because of its spectral efficiency, robustness in different multipath propagation, and capability to fight with inter-symbol interference (ISI). On the other hand, as the speed of the mobile terminal increases, the channel becomes time-selective and variations of the channel within a multicarrier symbol lead to a loss of subchannel orthogonality, resulting in interchannel interference (ICI). Conventional channel estimators assume a time-invariant model for the channel during one OFDM symbol and do not take ICI into account caused by the high mobility. In order to get optimum performance from OFDM system over fast fadinf channels, very efficient channel estimators are required. Pilot-aided channel estimation for OFDM systems mostly need an interpolation method to estimate the channel response on non-pilot subcarriers. Selection of interpolation method effects the performance and complexity of the system. In this paper, we propose a two-dimensional (2D) pilot-symbol assisted channel estimation for wireless OFDM systems by using low-pass interpolation which is applied in both time and frequency domains. The proposed method has the advantage of minimising the system complexity and processing delay, providing a good approximation to the real mobile channel.
Phenothiazines and Thioxanthenes Inhibit Multidrug Efflux Pump Activity in Staphylococcus aureus

ABSTRACT Efflux-related multidrug resistance (MDR) is a significant means by which bacteria can evade the effects of selected antimicrobial agents. Genome sequencing data suggest that Staphylococcus aureus may possess numerous chromosomally encoded MDR efflux pumps, most of which have not been characterized. Inhibition of these pumps, which may restore clinically relevant activity of antimicrobial agents that are substrates for them, may be an effective alternative to the search for new antimicrobial agents that are not substrates. The inhibitory effects of selected phenothiazines and two geometric stereoisomers of the thioxanthene flupentixol were studied using strains of S. aureus possessing unique efflux-related MDR phenotypes. These compounds had some intrinsic antimicrobial activity and, when combined with common MDR efflux pump substrates, resulted in additive or synergistic interactions. For S. aureus SA-1199B, which overexpresses the NorA MDR efflux pump, and for two additional strains of S. aureus having non-NorA-mediated MDR phenotypes, the 50% inhibitory concentration (IC50) for ethidium efflux for all tested compounds was between 4 and 15% of their respective MICs. Transport of other substrates was less susceptible to inhibition; the prochlorperazine IC50 for acriflavine and pyronin Y efflux by SA-1199B was more than 60% of its MIC. Prochlorperazine and trans(E)-flupentixol were found to reduce the proton motive force (PMF) of S. aureus by way of a reduction in the transmembrane potential. We conclude that the mechanism by which phenothiazines and thioxanthenes inhibit efflux by PMF-dependent pumps is multifactorial and, because of the unbalanced effect of these compounds on the MICs and the efflux of different substrates, may involve an interaction with the pump itself and, to a lesser extent, a reduction in the transmembrane potential.
Interactive web-wrapper construction for extracting relational information from web documents

In this paper, we propose a new user interface to interactively specify Web wrappers to extract relational information from Web documents. In this study, we focused on improving user's trial-and-error repetitions for constructing a wrapper. Our approach is a combination of a light-weight wrapper construction method and the dynamic previewing interface which quickly previews how generated wrapper works. We adopted a simple algorithm which can construct a Web wrapper from given extraction examples in less than 100 milliseconds. By using the algorithm, our system dynamically generates a new wrapper from a stream of user's mouse events for specifying extraction examples, and immediately updates a preview result that shows how the generated wrapper extracts HTML nodes from a source Web document. Through this animated display, a user can make a lot of wrapper construction trials with various different combinations of extraction examples by only moving a mouse on the Web document, and reach a good set of examples to obtain an intended wrapper in a short time.