Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Operating instructions for intelligent agent coordination

In contrast to standard approaches based on agent communication languages (ACLs), environment-based coordination is emerging as an interesting alternative for structuring interactions in multiagent systems (MASs). In particular, the notion of coordination artifacts has been proposed as an engineering methodology to build runtime abstractions effectively providing collaborating agents with specifically designed coordination tasks. In this paper, we study the semantics for the interaction of agents with coordination artifacts playing the same role of ACL semantics, that is, supporting semantic interoperability between agents developed by different parties through the connection between rationality and interaction. Our approach is rooted on the notion of operating instructions of coordination artifacts, which—as with a manual for a human exploiting a device—describe the interaction protocols the agent can follow as well as the mentalistic semantics of each single interaction. By tackling some of the most relevant issues raised in the context of ACL semantics, our framework allows intelligent, BDI-like agents to carry on complex interactions through coordination artifacts in a rational way.
Does Index Insurance Crowd In or Crowd Out Informal Risk Sharing? Evidence from Rural Ethiopia

&NA; We study how the introduction of a formal index insurance product affects informal risk‐sharing among pastoralists in southern Ethiopia. Using detailed social networks data, randomized incentives to purchase the insurance product, and hypothetical informal transfer data that mirror the existing customary arrangements, we find respondents' own formal insurance uptake has no significant effect on their willingness to share risk through customary institutions. We also find weak evidence that a randomly matched peer's insurance uptake positively influences respondents' willingness to make informal transfers to that match. Overall, our results imply that in this context index insurance does not crowd out informal risk‐sharing mediated by social networks.
H.264/MPEG-AVC, H.265/MPEG-HEVC and VP9 codec comparison for live gaming video streaming

Gaming videos are increasingly being streamed live over the Internet, as evident by the increasing popularity of services such as Twitch.tv and YouTube-Gaming, with Twitch.tv alone consisting of approx. two million streamers and over nine million daily active users. We present here an objective evaluation of eight most popular games encoded using H.264/MPEG-AVC, H.265/MPEG-HEVC and VP9 encoders for live game video streaming applications as currently used by Twitch.tv and YouTube-Gaming. The results are reported in terms of three objective video quality metrics (PSNR, SSIM, VIFp), Bjontegaard-Delta Bitrate (BD-BR) analysis, and encoding duration. For the encoding settings and the encoders used, in terms of BD-BR analysis, H.265/MPEG-HEVC is found to provide the best compression efficiency but is 2.6 times slower than H.264/MPEG-AVC. The magnitude of bitrate savings for VP9 compared to H.264/MPEG-AVC is found to be highly dependent on the content type, with H.264/MPEG-AVC resulting in higher average bitrate savings with an encoding speed four times faster than VP9.
Analysis, Design, and Test of CDMA LFSR with Offset Mask Using Standard ICs

Hardware implementation of Linear Feedback Shift Register (LFSR) plays a great and very important role in communication systems, and in many security devices. In this paper, a design of LFSR with offset mask has been presented, for Direct Sequence Code Division Multiple Access (DS-CDMA) applications. Integrated electronic components have been used. An accessible model facilitating the synthesis on Printed Circuit Boards (PCB) and implementation on Field Programmable Gate Array (FPGA) is offered. In addition, a temporal and spectral analysis of the circuit is performed in order to validate the design. This latter facilitates the generation of pseudo-random codes based on LFSR and their integration into electronic systems.
Generalized Conditional Random Fields

Conditional random fields (CRFs) have shown significant improvements over existing methods for structured data labeling. However independence assumptions made by CRFs decrease the usability of the models produced. Currently, CRF models accomodate dependence between only adjacent labels. Generalized CRFs proposed in this study relaxes assumptions of CRFs without reducing tractability of inference and training. Since constraints can be generalized arbitrarily in the proposed framework, linear-chain CRFs become the simplest case of generalized CRFs. Although relaxed independence assumptions require additional overhead, arbitrarily large dependencies introduce only polynomial computational complexity. Experimental results confirmed that the proposed framework increases both accuracy and applicability of CRFs.
Substrate selection by class III adenylyl cyclases and guanylyl cyclases

The second messengers cAMP and cGMP are of central importance in signal transduction pathways. To assure pathway specificity adenylyl and guanylyl cyclases are highly selective for their substrates, ATP and GTP, respectively. The universal class III cyclases are equipped with a variety of purine‐binding modes, which have been identified by structure determination and mutagenesis. Most selection mechanisms rely on a pair of residues which form hydrogen bonds to N1 and the N6‐amino or O6‐keto group of adenine and guanine, respectively. Furthermore, selection is supported by hydrogen bonds involving the peptide backbone and by constraints imposed by hydrophobic side‐chains.
Effects of somatostatin on the secretion of thyrotropin and prolactin.

Somatostatin, a tetradecapeptide isolated from ovine hypothalamic extracts on the basis of its ability to inhibit the spontaneous secretion of growth hormone (GH) by pituitary cell cultures, has been found to inhibit the stimulated secretion of thyrotropin (TSH) mediated by TRF(pGlu-His- Pro-NH2), 10 × [K†], or theophylline in vitro, while having no effect on the secretion of luteinizing hormone (LH) due to LRF. The spontaneous release of PRL in vitro is also inhibited by somatostatin but to a lesser extent than is the spontaneous secretion of GH. In vivo, the TRF-triggered secretion of TSH but not of PRL is suppressed by somatostatin in the estrogen-progesteronepretreated male rat. The injection of TRF leads to a greater rise in both plasma TSH and PRL in estrogen-progesterone-pretreated male rats than in untreated male rats. Somatostatin acts rapidly but reversibly to inhibit the secretion of TSH due to TRF in a dose-dependent manner. Thyroid hormones and somatostatin exhibit summation in their inhibiti.
A silicon/solder bilayer thermal actuator for compensating thermal drift of silicon suspensions

We introduce a novel thermal compensation scheme to passively compensate the temperature coefficient of Young's modulus with a thermal actuator using solder encapsulated by silicon cavities. Our approach produces a silicon/solder bilayer within the base of a suspension to effect an angular strain deflecting the proof mass supported by the suspension. A proof-of-principal thermal actuator has been fabricated. Temperature cycling experiments give a good agreement with both closed form and FEA models. We apply this technique to produce a thermally compensated low-frequency vertical microseismometer, without affecting the mechanical and electrical properties of the suspension. Using this approach we demonstrate the thermal coefficient of a vertical suspension is reduced from -60ppm to less than 1ppm/C.
Deletion of PSCA increases metastasis of TRAMP‐Induced prostate tumors without altering primary tumor formation

Prostate stem cell antigen (PSCA) is expressed in normal epithelium of various tissues, in embryos and adult animals. PSCA expression is upregulated in up to 70% of prostate tumors and metastases, and a subset of bladder and pancreatic cancers. However, its function is unknown. We studied the effect of targeted gene deletion of PSCA on normal organ development and prostate carcinogenesis.
The Hexameric Eukaryotic MCM Helicase: Building Symmetry from Nonidentical Parts*

The separation of the two strands of the DNA duplex is a prerequisite in the propagation or transfer of genetic information during replication, transcription, and repair. The energydependent unwinding of DNA involves a reaction catalyzed by enzymes called helicases. Helicases are protein motors that use the energy of NTP hydrolysis to displace one of the DNA strands and to translocate along the complementary strand (1, 2). Serving both of these functions, helicases move along DNA as an integral part of a macromolecular machine that tracks one of the separated strands for hundreds of kilobases without falling off (3). Processivity of these DNA helicases is therefore crucial to the fidelity of information-transferring mechanisms. A distinct feature of processive helicases is their hexameric ring-shaped structure that enables the enzyme complex to encircle DNA. By encircling DNA, these helicases are topologically linked to DNA, allowing them to travel long distances on DNA without dissociation. To date, over 10 processive helicases from various organisms have been extensively studied (for a comprehensive review, see Patel and Picha (4)). Helicases associated with replication machines include the bacteriophage T7 Gp4 (5, 6), the Escherichia coli DnaB (7), and the SV40 large T-antigen (8, 9). In each of these well studied helicases, the hexameric enzyme is composed of six identical subunits arranged in a ring-shaped structure that has a 6-fold symmetry (10). This 6-fold rotational symmetry coupled to the sequential hydrolysis of NTP by subunits of the hexamer is believed to effect conformational changes that drive the helicase along DNA (11). It is no wonder that enzymologists greeted the latest reports on the eukaryotic MCM helicase with astonishment; recent studies revealed that the helicase is a hexameric enzyme consisting of nonidentical subunits. In this review, we will discuss some of the latest findings related to the eukaryotic MCM helicase, the implied symmetry for this asymmetric complex, and the excitement and new challenges that lie ahead.
An Audio Watermarking Technique That Is Robust Against Random Cropping

Computer Music Journal, 27:4, pp. 58–68, Winter 2003 2003 Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Recent years have seen increased Internet traffic and the proliferation of digital audio distribution in the form of MP3 files. As such, copyright protection of digital audio works is becoming increasingly important. As a complement to conventional encryption techniques, watermarking provides powerful tools for copyright protection and has become a very active research area in recent years. Audio watermarking is a technique that embeds information with specific meaning into the host media without interference to the quality of the original work. Proposed applications of audio watermarking include copyright protection, annotation, authentication, broadcast monitoring, and tamper proofing. Depending on the application, the inserted watermark data can include copyright information, serial numbers, text (e.g., the name of the composer and title of the work), a small image, or even a small clip of audio. The watermark is hidden in host media and is usually imperceptible to humans. The watermark must also be able to withstand signal-processing manipulations. In general, a good audio watermarking scheme should possess the following properties:
Antenna design considerations for MIMO TV white-space handsets

The trend in wireless communication is to provide high-speed services utilizing MIMO antenna systems. Moreover, cognitive radio (CR) technology targets to exploit the so-called TV white space (TVWS) utilizing tunable antennas operating over vacant TV bands. The joint requirements for cognition and spatial multiplexing expressed by sufficient antenna matching and decoupling bandwidth, frequency agility over the TVWS as well as minimum occupying space and complexity impose significant challenges to antenna engineers. The paper discusses the major design considerations for compact TVWS terminals and presents a promising approach that empowers the TVWS device with CR-MIMO capabilities under modern smartphone size constraints. The idea is to aggregate a pair of antennas per communication port for a) providing attractive bandwidth properties across the desired TV bands and b) isolating the communication ports within a local interference cancellation setup.
Workability and Requests for Flexible Work Arrangements Among Older Adults: The Role of a Time and Place Management Intervention

This article investigates the effect of an intervention on the workability of older adults (i.e., the competence, health, and other mental and physical characteristics that workers need to meet the demands of their jobs). We used data from health care workers (N = 437) who participated in a “time and place management” (TPM) intervention. Although related to flexible work options that aim to give workers more choice and control over the time and place of their work, TPM is conceptually distinct in that it focuses on the processes and guidelines necessary to the successful management of choice and control rather than the options alone. We focused on how the TPM intervention moderated the relationship between age and workability over time, with a particular focus on variation by baseline workability. Our results indicated that the intervention can benefit older workers with low workability.
Signal Transduction Targeting Constitutively Activated b 1 Integrins Inhibits Prostate Cancer Metastasis

Disseminated prostate cancer cells must survive in circulation for metastasis to occur. Mechanisms by which these cells survive are not well understood. By immunohistochemistry of human tissues, we found that levels ofb1 integrins and integrin-induced autophosphorylation of FAK (pFAK-Y397) are increased in prostate cancer cells in primary prostate cancer and lymph node metastases, suggesting that b1 integrin activation occurs in metastatic progression of prostate cancer. A conformation-sensitive antibody, 9EG7,was used to examineb1 integrin activation.We found that b1 integrins are constitutively activated in highly metastatic PC3 and PC3-mm2 cells, with less activation in low metastatic LNCaP andC4-2B4 cells. Increasedb1 integrin activation as well as the anoikis resistance in prostate cancer cells correlated withmetastatic potential in vivo. Knockdown of b1 integrin abrogated anoikis resistance in PC3-mm2 cells. In agreement with b1 integrin activation, PC3-mm2 cells strongly adhered to type I collagen and fibronectin, a process inhibited by the b1 integrin-neutralizing antibody mAb 33B6. mAb 33B6 also inhibited the phosphorylation of b1 integrin downstream effectors, focal adhesion kinase (FAK) and AKT, leading to a 3-fold increase in PC3-mm2 apoptosis. Systemic delivery of mAb 33B6 suppressed spontaneous metastasis of PC3-mm2 from the prostate to distant lymph nodes following intraprostatic injection and suppressed metastasis of PC3-mm2 to multiple organs following intracardiac injection. Thus, constitutively activated b1 integrins play a role in survival of PC3-mm2 cells in circulation and represent a potential target for metastasis prevention. Visual Overview: http://mcr.aacrjournals. org/content/11/4/405/F1.large. jpg. Mol Cancer Res; 11(4); 405–17. 2013 AACR.
Tissue sectioning for epifluorescence microscopy

Department of Molecular Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, University of Malaya, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia *Corresponding author: email: a.meedeniya@griffith.edu. au. Phone: +61 7 3735 4417. Specimens labelled with multiple fluorophores illuminating a variety of cellular targets, facilitated by developments in probes, data acquisition and analysis technologies, have extended the capabilities of anatomical investigations. However, the field has largely neglected development and consensus in optimal techniques of specimen preparation. The optical properties of the specimen largely determines study outcomes in epifluorescence microscopy. Thus, we discuss tissue preparation protocols and their application in multiple anatomical investigations. The processing of tissues optimised for multiple studies are detailed. The conservation of cytoarchitecture and antigenicity, reduced tissue autofluorescence, increased permeabilisation and applications for thick tissue sections are examined. Multiple analytical assays of the same tissue sections for the cross correlation of multiple data sets are presented. The application of multiple labelling immunofluorescence, fluorescent
Severe aortic stenosis with preserved ejection fraction and evidence of impairment in structure, myocardial strain and ventricular function: A new contribution to clinical decision making.

BACKGROUND Left ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF) is among the parameters that are usually employed to define surgical timing of severe aortic stenosis (AS). Our hypothesis states that even when their LVEF is preserved, patients with severe symptomatic AS have impaired myocardial structure and function, and such impairment is related to the deleterious progression of left ventricular hypertrophy (LVH) from the compensated to the decompensated stage, as shown by the changes in diastolic function and the increase in left ventricular end-diastolic pressure (LVEDP). METHODS AND RESULTS A total of 26 patients with severe AS and LVEF > 50% referred for aortic valve replacement underwent catheterization, echocardiography and an intraoperative biopsy. Patients with severe symptomatic AS were classified as: group 1 (G1; compensated LVH, LVEDP < 15 mm Hg without coronary artery disease [CAD], n = 7), group 2a (G2a, decompensated LVH, without CAD, n = 7), and group 2b (G2b, decompensated LVH with CAD, n = 12). Differences were seen in the following: myocyte area [µm2]: G1: 328 ± 66, G2a: 376 ± 22, G2b: 385 ± 13, p < 0.01; collagen volume [%]: G1: 4.77 ± 1.27, G2a: 8.40 ± 1.27, G2b: 11.05 ± 3.08, p < 0.01; LVEDP normalized by diastolic diameter [mm Hg/mm]: G1: 0.27 ± 0.01, G2a: 0.39 ± 0.06, G2b: 0.44 ± 0.11, p < 0.02; +dP/dtmax/LVEDP [mm Hg/s/mm Hg]: G1: 176 ± 45, G2a: 89.6 ± 20, G2b: 113.1 ± 41, p < 0.01; two-dimensional peak systolic longitudinal strain [%]: G1: –17.7 ± 4.75, G2a: –13.4 ± 3.04, G2b: –13.5 ± 3.13, p < 0.05. CONCLUSIONS Patients with severe symptomatic AS and preserved ejection fraction who develop decompensated LVH characterized by increased LVEDP, exhibit an abnormal myocardial structure and diastolic and systolic impairment.
Pharmacological and biochemical analysis of FPL 67156, a novel, selective inhibitor of ecto‐ATPase

1 FPL 67156 (6‐N,N‐diethyl‐β,γ‐dibromomethylene‐d‐ATP), is a newly synthesized analogue of ATP. 2 In a rabbit isolated tracheal epithelium preparation, measuring P2U‐purinoceptor‐dependent chloride secretion, FPL 67156 was discovered to potentiate the responses to UTP but not those to ATP‐γ‐S. UTP agonist‐concentration effect (E/[A]) curves were shifted to the left by 5‐fold in the presence of 100 μm FPL 67156. The differential effect of FPL 67156 on UTP and ATP‐γ‐S was hypothesized to be due to the greater susceptibility of UTP to enzymatic dephosphorylation and the ability of FPL 67156 to inhibit this process. 3 FPL 67156 was tested as an ecto‐ATPase inhibitor in a human blood cell assay, measuring [γ32P]‐ATP dephosphorylation. The compound inhibited [γ32P]‐ATP degradation with a pIC50 of 4.6. 4 FPL 67156 was then tested for its effects on ATP and α,β‐methylene‐ATP responses at P2X‐purinoceptors in the rabbit isolated ear artery. In the concentration range 30 μm‐1 mm, the compound potentiated the contractile effects of ATP but not those of α,β‐methylene‐ATP. At 1 mm, FPL 67156 produced a 34‐fold leftward shift of ATP E/[A] curves. 5 The effects of FPL 67156 on ATP E/[A] curves in the rabbit ear artery were analysed using a theoretical model (Furchgott, 1972) describing the action of an enzyme inhibitor on the effects of a metabolically unstable agonist. This analysis provided an estimate of the pK1 for FPL 67156 as an ecto‐ATPase inhibitor of 5.2. 6 Using appropriate assays, FPL 67156 was shown to have weak antagonist effects at P2X‐ and P2T‐purinoceptors (pA2 ≅ 3.3 and 3.5 respectively), and weak agonist effects at P2U‐purinoceptors (p[A50] ≅ 3.5). 7 The degree of potentiation of ATP and UTP effects elicited by FPL 67156 confirms previous results concerning the influence that ecto‐ATPase has on the position of E/[A] curves for metabolically unstable agonists. The magnitude of this influence is predicted to have a major effect on the agonist potency orders currently used to designate purinoceptors. 8 This study indicates FPL 67156 to be a potentially valuable probe in studies on the action of nucleotides and in the classification of purinoceptors.
An associative communication network for fine and large grain dataflow

The Associative Communication Network consists of a crossbar switch melted with a distributed associative memory. The network supports the design of scalable multiprocessor systems with low programming effort for communication. Information between the processors is automatically routed by the network. Based on the Associative Communication Network the Associative Dataflow Architecture ADARC has been developed and implemented. ADARC supports fine grain as well as large grain parallelism. The ADARC architecture has been implemented based on standard off-the-shelf components and an ASIC for the Communication Network. Programming tools are currently under development. This paper is focused on the Associative Communication Network. It furthermore contains a summary on ADARC, a description of the programming method, and reports on the hardware implementation. <<ETX>>
Menstrual cycle variation of apparent diffusion coefficients measured in the normal breast using MRI

Recent investigations have shown that tumors may be distinguished from benign lesions in the breast based on differences in apparent diffusion coefficient (ADC) values. The goal of this study was to assess the magnitude of normal variations in the measured ADC of breast parenchyma during the menstrual cycle. Eight healthy female subjects were scanned once a week for 4 weeks, using a diffusion‐weighted single‐shot fast spin‐echo (DW‐SSFSE) sequence. The ADC of breast fibroglandular tissue was calculated for each woman at each time point. Results showed a trend of decreased ADC during the second week of the cycle, and increased ADC during the final week. However, no significant influence of menstrual cycle on breast ADC values was identified. The results of this study show that the normal fluctuation of breast ADC is relatively small, and the coefficient of variation was determined to be 5.5% for our group of volunteers during a menstrual cycle. Nonetheless, breast diffusion measurements for tumor differentiation and evaluation of treatment response should be interpreted with consideration of normal variability. J. Magn. Reson. Imaging 2001;14:433–438. © 2001 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
Decentralised robust H∞ control of fractional-order interconnected systems with uncertainties

ABSTRACT The decentralied robust H∞ control problem is considered for fractional-order interconnected systems subject to time-invariant norm-bounded uncertainties in the system, control input and interconnection matrices. First, sufficient conditions for designing a decentralised robust H∞ state feedback controller to guarantee that the closed-loop fractional-order interconnected systems are asymptotically stable with prescribed H∞ performance for all admissible uncertainties are given in terms of linear matrix inequalities. Second, a convex optimisation problem with linear matrix inequality constraints is formulated to design a decentralised robust H∞ state feedback controller with lower gains. Finally, one illustrative example is given to demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed theoretical results.