Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Soft-TDMAC : A Software-based 802 . 11 Overlay TDMA MAC Protocol with Microsecond Synchronization

We implement a new software-based multi-hop TDMA MAC protocol (Soft-TDMAC) with microsecond synchronization using a novel system interface for development of 802.11 overlay TDMA MAC protocols (SySI-MAC). SySI-MAC provides a simple, kernel independent, message based interface for overlay MAC protocol implementations to schedule transmissions, send packets, and receive packets. The key feature of SySI-MAC is that it provides near deterministic timers and transmission times, which allows for implementation of highly synchronized TDMA MAC protocols. Building on SySI-MAC’s predictable transmission times we implement Soft-TDMAC, a software based 802.11 overlay multi-hop TDMA MAC protocol. Soft-TDMAC has a synchronization mechanism, which synchronizes all pairs of network clocks to within microseconds of each other. Building on pairwise synchronization, Soft-TDMAC achieves tight network-wide synchronization. With networkwide synchronization independent of data transmissions, Soft-TDMAC can schedule arbitrary TDMA transmission patterns. For example, Soft-TDMAC enables schedules that decrease end-to-end delay and take end-to-end rate demands into account. We summarize hundreds of hours of testing Soft-TDMAC on a multi-hop test-bed, showing the synchronization capabilities of the protocol and the benefits of flexible
5-ASAs in the Treatment of Inflammatory Bowel Disease

Epidemiologic data on IBD are fractionated into the pigeon holes of separate diagnoses, with an incidence of 7 to 9 per 100,000 and a prevalence of 200 to 250 per 100,000 for UC; the incidence and prevalence of CD is 6 to 8 per 100,000 and 130 to 200 per 100,000, respectively. Although there are patients who fall more clearly into one category than another, the concept of indeterminate colitis (IC) is poorly defined and therapeutic guidelines are lacking. Thus IC might represent part of an immunologic continuum, rather than a well-defined clinical subset of UC and CD. A lthough the dogma of dividing the
Design of Systems with Prescribed Impulse Response Based on Second-Order Cone Programming

A method for the design of continuous-time systems approximating prescribed impulse response is presented. The design uses weighted least squares criterion, which is applied in the time domain. The method is developed based on iterative procedure solving a second-order cone programming (SOCP) subproblem in each iteration. It supports design criteria such as stability and minimum phase. Features of the proposed method are illustrated with a design of pulse-shaping filter for ultra-wideband (UWB) transmission systems.
A New Vaccinia Virus Intermediate Transcription Factor

ABSTRACT Transcription of the vaccinia virus genome is mediated by a virus-encoded multisubunit DNA-dependent RNA polymerase in conjunction with early-, intermediate-, and late-stage-specific factors. Previous studies indicated that two virus-encoded proteins (capping enzyme and VITF-1) and one unidentified cellular protein (VITF-2) are required for specific transcription of an intermediate promoter template in vitro. We have now extensively purified an additional virus-induced intermediate transcription factor with a native mass of approximately 100 kDa.
Achtsamkeit und Depression als Mediatoren von Hilflosigkeit auf die Lebensqualität bei Krebspatienten

Zusammenfassung Insgesamt wurden ca. 50 Krebspatienten zu vier Messzeitpunkten über einen Zeitraum von jeweils 1 Jahr mit dem Freiburger Fragebogen zur Achtsamkeit (FFA; 56), der deutschen Version der Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS-D; 19), der Schedule for the Evaluation of Individual Quality of Life − DW (SEIQoL-DW; 42) sowie nach der Psychoonkologischen Basisdokumentation (PO-BaDo) untersucht. Die Beziehungen zwischen Hilflosigkeit, Achtsamkeit, Depression und Lebensqualität wurden nach Hayes 17 mithilfe des computergestützten Instruments PROCESS analysiert. Es zeigte sich, dass die Verringerung der Hilflosigkeit die Lebensqualität der Krebspatienten nicht direkt, sondern indirekt erhöhte. Zwei indirekte Effekte wurden festgestellt: Zum einen wirkte sich − vermittelt durch die seriell wirkenden Mediatoren Achtsamkeit (Erhöhung) und Depression (Verminderung) − die Verringerung der Hilflosigkeit positiv auf die Lebensqualität der Krebspatienten aus. Zum anderen zeigte sich vorübergehend ein weiterer indirekter negativer Effekt, den Hilflosigkeit, unabhängig von Achtsamkeit, allein über Depression auf die Lebensqualität der Krebspatienten ausübte.
On the Complexity of Top-k Querying for Incomplete Data under Order Constraints

Obtaining data values is often expensive, e.g., when they are retrieved from human workers, from remote data repositories, or via complex computations. As a result, it may be challenging to answer queries, because we can only use the incomplete fragment of the data that we could afford to obtain. In this paper, we consider a scenario where the values are taken from a numerical domain, and where some partial order constraints are given over the missing and known values. In such a setting, we study the evaluation of top-k selection queries over incomplete data. Our work is the first to provide a way to estimate the value of the top-k items (rather than just determining the items), doing so through a novel interpolation scheme. It is also the first, to our knowledge, to formally study the computational complexity of the problem. To set the background, we first formulate the problem of top-k selection under a possible-world semantics. We then present a general solution, whose complexity is polynomial in the number of possible orderings of the data tuples. While this number is infeasibly large in the worst case, we prove that the problem is hard and thus the dependency is probably unavoidable. We then consider the case of tree-shaped partial orders, and show a polynomial-time, constructive solution.
'El Niño' Effects and Biomass Endogeneity in a Harvest Function: The Chilean Jack Mackerel Fishery

The main goal of this paper consists in estimating the input parameters of an annual harvest function for the Chilean jack mackerel stock; particularly, the effects of biomass on catch. One of the main problems faced is that the biomass variable is possibly endogenous, which would bias the estimators if the problem remains unsolved. Our empirical strategy consists in estimating a per vessel harvest function using panel data, which allows us to control for vessels' unobserved heterogeneity, and episodes of 'El Nino' phenomenon as valid instrumental variable for biomass, which allows us to control for the potential biomass endogeneity. This strategy produces consistent estimates of the biomass coefficient. The results, using a panel of industrial vessels operating in the central-southern region of Chile during the period 1985-2002, show that the endogeneity of the biomass variable biases upwardly the magnitude of its coefficient in a Cobb-Douglas harvest function. In the case of our data, the endogeneity bias even changes the sign of the catch-to-biomass elasticity. A first contribution of the paper is to address the endogeneity of biomass in a harvest function, an issue often underestimated in the empirical literature. A second contribution is related to 'El Nino' effects on the Chilean jack mackerel stock. The results show that an oceanic 'El Nino' episode not only has negative contemporaneous effects on jack mackerel biomass but also negative biomass effects lasting for at least two additional years.
Linear Design of a Nonlinear Observer for Perspective Systems

Estimation of three-dimensional information from two-dimensional images is an important requirement in many computer vision applications. The estimation task can often be formulated as a problem of estimating states and/or parameters in nonlinear dynamic systems. This paper presents an algorithm for recursive state estimation in nonlinear dynamic systems, where the estimated states correspond to three-dimensional positions of feature points on an observed object. The algorithm is designed as a nonlinear observer, with a gain matrix that can be determined using methods from linear control theory. A stability criterion for the resulting nonlinear system is derived, and simulations are presented in order to illustrate the estimation performance.
MotifViz: an analysis and visualization tool for motif discovery

Detecting overrepresented known transcription factor binding motifs in a set of promoter sequences of co-regulated genes has become an important approach to deciphering transcriptional regulatory mechanisms. In this paper, we present an interactive web server, MotifViz, for three motif discovery programs, Clover, Rover and Motifish, covering most available flavors of algorithms for achieving this goal. For comparison, we have also implemented the simple motif-matching program Possum. MotifViz provides uniform and intuitive input and output formats for all four programs. It can be accessed at http://biowulf.bu. edu/MotifViz.
A Twin-Candidate Model for Learning-Based Anaphora Resolution

The traditional single-candidate learning model for anaphora resolution considers the antecedent candidates of an anaphor in isolation, and thus cannot effectively capture the preference relationships between competing candidates for its learning and resolution. To deal with this problem, we propose a twin-candidate model for anaphora resolution. The main idea behind the model is to recast anaphora resolution as a preference classification problem. Specifically, the model learns a classifier that determines the preference between competing candidates, and, during resolution, chooses the antecedent of a given anaphor based on the ranking of the candidates. We present in detail the framework of the twin-candidate model for anaphora resolution. Further, we explore how to deploy the model in the more complicated coreference resolution task. We evaluate the twin-candidate model in different domains using the Automatic Content Extraction data sets. The experimental results indicate that our twin-candidate model is superior to the single-candidate model for the task of pronominal anaphora resolution. For the task of coreference resolution, it also performs equally well, or better.
Dexamethasone Inhibits High Glucose – , TNF-– , and IL-1 – Induced Secretion of Inflammatory and Angiogenic Mediators from Retinal Microvascular Pericytes

METHODS. HRMP and HREC phenotypes were verified by growth factor stimulation of intracellular calcium–ion mobilization. Glucocorticoid receptor phosphorylation was assessed with an anti-phospho-Ser glucocorticoid receptor antibody. Secretion of 89 inflammatory and angiogenic proteins were compared in cells incubated with (1) normal (5 mM) or high (25 mM) D-glucose and (2) control medium, TNF(10 ng/mL), or IL-1 (10 ng/mL), with or without dexamethasone (1 nM to 1 M). The proteins were compared by using multianalyte profile testing.
A design of miniaturized half-mode SIW cavity backed antenna

A miniaturized half-mode substrate integrated waveguide (HMSIW) antenna is presented which resonates at a frequency of 6.78 GHz. The S-parameters and radiation patterns are investigated by full-wave simulation and the simulated results show the unidirectional radiation pattern. The proposed is single layered, compact in size, and can be easily integrated with planar PCB technology. It also takes the features of conventional cavity-backed antennas including high gain and good radiation pattern.
Freehand 3D Curve Recognition and Oversketching

In the CAD/CAS field, the increasing domination of spline-based graphic objects has driven a great attention to methods focusing on the management of free-form curves. Based on the quick brainstorm illustration and stepwise refinement characteristics in conceptual designing stage, we present a method, which automatically reconstructs the designer’s free-form 3D curve through recognizing his design “intention”. This algorithm automatically extracts the relevant control points through corner detection and dynamic-threshold sampling mechanism; as a result the B-spline curve is approximately produced. Furthermore, considering the ambiguity of designer’s intention during the conceptual designing, this redraw operation feature is implemented through the so-called “over-sketching”. For this we introduce constrained length and tangent angle features, which supports fully free form 3D curve sketching, and it is capable of effectively smoothen transition interval. The method has been tested with various types of sketches, which are rendered in 3D scene environment. We further discuss the modification and its application to surfaces.
An Estimation Method of Degree of Speaker's Anger Emotion with Acoustic and Linguistic Features

音声認識の精度の向上にともなって, コールセンターなどへの自動音声応答システムの導入の要求が高まり, 人間がコンピュータと対話する機会も増加する傾向にある. これまでの対話システムは言語情報のみを扱い, そのパラ言語情報を扱うことは少ないため, 人間同士の対話と比較すると, コンピュータとの対話ではコンピュータが得る人間の情報は小さい. 本研究では音声の音響的特徴と言語表現の特徴から推定可能な「怒り」の感情を検出するために, 感情の程度による音響的・言語的変化を分析し, コンピュータと人間とのインタラクションにおける人間の感情を捉えることを目指す. 非対面の擬似対話により, 認識性能に対する不満からくる「苛立ち」や, クレーム対応時におけるユーザの「腹立ち」の内的感情を表現した怒りの音声を収録し, 主観評価により感情の程度を付与した音声データを作成した. 本論では, 怒りの感情を含むと判定された発話について, つぎの3種の特性, 声の高さや強さ等の音響的特徴, 言語形態上の語彙使用の特徴, 語用論的な特徴である文末表現の特徴に着目し, 発話者の感情表現とその言語表現・音響的特徴との定量的な関係を分析し, 怒り表現の音声言語の特徴付けを試みた. とくに, 接続助詞「けど」, 「ので」の主節が現れずに発話が中止する接続助詞中止型において, 怒りの程度が高いことを明らかにした.
Improving Human-Agent Conversations by Accessing Contextual Knowledge from Wikipedia

In order to talk to each other meaningfully, conversational partners utilize different types of conversational knowledge. Due to the fact that speakers often use grammatically incomplete and incorrect sentences in spontaneous language, knowledge about conversational and terminological context turns out to be as much important in language understanding as traditional linguistic analysis. In the context of the KnowCIT project we want to improve human-agent conversations by connecting the agent to an adequate representation of such contextual knowledge drawn from the online encyclopedia Wikipedia. Thereby we make use of additional components provided by Wikipedia which goes beyond encyclopedical information to identify the current dialog topic and to implement human like look-up abilities.
The Neuronal Growth-Associated Protein GAP-43 Interacts with Rabaptin-5 and Participates in Endocytosis

Structural plasticity of nerve cells is a requirement for activity-dependent changes in the brain. The growth-associated protein GAP-43 is thought to be one determinant of such plasticity, although the molecular mechanism by which it mediates dynamic structural alterations at the synapse is not known. GAP-43 is bound by calmodulin when Ca2+ levels are low, and releases the calmodulin when Ca2+ levels rise, suggesting that calmodulin may act as a negative regulator of GAP-43 during periods of low activity in the neurons. To identify the function of GAP-43 during activity-dependent increases in Ca2+ levels, when it is not bound to calmodulin, we sought proteins with which GAP-43 interacts in the presence of Ca2+. We show here that rabaptin-5, an effector of the small GTPase Rab5 that mediates membrane fusion in endocytosis, is one such protein. We demonstrate that GAP-43 regulates endocytosis and synaptic vesicle recycling. Modulation of endocytosis by GAP-43, in association with rabaptin-5, may constitute a common molecular mechanism by which GAP-43 regulates membrane dynamics during its known roles in activity-dependent neurotransmitter release and neurite outgrowth.
The Languages of History-Dependent Automata

History-Dependent Automata have been seminal in the study and automation of mobile process calculi, and have contributed substantial insights in the specification of computation with names. However successful, these machines have not been studied as language acceptors. We initiate just such a study here. We introduce the notion of language-accepting history-dependent automata over infinite alphabets. Moreover, we relate them to existing formalisms for languages over infinite alphabets, in particular to the recently introduced Fresh-Register Automata. Finally, we examine their closure properties and their inherent minimisation capabilities, the latter due to the incorporated notion of symmetries.
Comparison of Different Scheduling Algorithms for WiMAX Base Station: Deficit Round-Robin vs. Proportional Fair vs. Weighted Deficit Round-Robin

In this paper, we present a performance comparison of different WiMAX base station (BS) scheduling algorithms: deficit round-robin (DRR) vs. proportional fair (PF) vs. weighted deficit round-robin (WDRR). Our simulations show that when the radio channel conditions are taken into account (in PF and WDRR schedulers), the improvements in throughput can be considerable.
Identification of the temporal source of frequency domain characteristics of SiC MOSFET based power converter waveforms

Certain Electromagnetic Interference (EMI) performance characteristics that occur in data taken from practical systems are often difficult to attribute to time domain features as waveforms will tend to deviate from the idealized analytical case. This paper shows that by taking multiple derivatives of experimental data and comparing this with the expected characteristics of a typical switching waveform it is possible to understand exactly which features of a given temporal waveform lead to certain spectral characteristics. It is also shown through analysis of analytical methods and experimental data that the smoother the transitions of a waveform the faster the roll off of the spectral content and hence the better the EMI performance.
NMDA Receptor Activation Inhibits Neuronal Volume Regulation after Swelling Induced by Veratridine-Stimulated Na+ Influx in Rat Cortical Cultures

Neurons and glia experience rapid fluctuations in transmembrane solute and water fluxes during normal brain activity. Cell volume must be regulated under these conditions to maintain optimal neural function. Almost nothing is known, however, about how brain cells respond to volume challenges induced by changes in transmembrane solute flux. As such, we characterized the volume-regulatory mechanisms of cultured cortical neurons swollen by veratridine-stimulated Na+ influx. Exposure of cortical neurons to 100 μm veratridine for 10–15 min caused a 1.8- to 2-fold increase in cell volume that persisted for at least 90 min. This volume increase was blocked by extracellular Na+ removal or by exposure to 5 μm tetrodotoxin, indicating that swelling is a result of Na+ entry via Na+ channels. Treatment of cells with veratridine together with various NMDA receptor antagonists had no effect on the magnitude of swelling. NMDA receptor antagonist-treated cells, however, underwent nearly complete volume recovery within 50–70 min after veratridine exposure. This recovery suggests that NMDA receptor activation disrupts neuronal osmoregulatory pathways. Volume regulation was blocked by Ba2+, quinidine, or 5-nitro-2-(3-phenylpropylamino) benzoic acid, indicating that swelling activates volume regulatory K+ and Cl− channels. Veratridine also caused a rapid, transient increase in intracellular Ca2+. Extracellular Ca2+ removal or intracellular Ca2+ chelation prevented or dramatically reduced veratridine-induced increases in intracellular Ca2+ and completely blocked volume recovery. These findings indicate that increases in Ca2+ during cell swelling induced by Na+ influx are required for activation of neuronal volume-regulatory pathways.
Direction of arrival estimation using pseudo-intensity vectors with direct-path dominance test

The accuracy of direction of arrival estimation tends to degrade under reverberant conditions due to the presence of reflected signal components which are correlated with the direct path. The recently proposed direct-path dominance test provides a means of identifying time-frequency regions in which a single signal path is dominant. By analysing only these regions it was shown that the accuracy of the FS-MUSIC algorithm could be significantly improved. However, for real-time implementation a less computationally demanding localisation algorithm would be preferable. In the present contribution we investigate the direct-path dominance test as a preprocessing step to pseudo-intensity vector-based localisation. A novel formulation of the pseudo-intensity vector is proposed which further exploits the direct path dominance test and leads to improved localisation performance.
Critical Features of Program Improvement: Lessons from Five Minority Serving Universities.

Nationwide, personnel preparation programs are responding to the changing population demographics and its impact on Pre K-12 classrooms. Needs surveys conducted by the Monarch Center over the past ten years have consistently yielded a need for support in redesigning program course and fieldwork components to better prepare their teachers and other professionals for effectively serving children who are culturally and linguistically diverse and have disabilities. The five university programs featured in this special journal issue each described their work in a context of their past program work, specific needs grounded in the populations of teacher candidates they were preparing, and the children that the graduates would be serving in schools. All of the programs had a shared set of overlapping foci in their plans and actions that included (a) diversity and the need to link coursework to field experiences, (b) the use of stakeholder input and feedback, and (c) the use of multiple formative and summative assessments of teacher candidates and of the programs themselves. We discuss these similarities across the programs, discuss their relevance to the field of teacher education, and provide a summary of lessons learned.
Hydrodynamical Simulations of the Barred Spiral Galaxy NGC 6782

NGC 6782 is an early-type barred spiral galaxy exhibiting a rich and complex morphology with multiple ring patterns. To provide a physical understanding of its structure and kinematical properties, two-dimensional hydrodynamical simulations have been carried out. Numerical calculations reveal that the striking features in NGC 6782 can be reproduced provided that the gas flow is governed by the gravitational potential associated with a slowly rotating strong bar. In particular, the response of the gaseous disk to the bar potential leads to the excitation of spiral density waves at the inner Lindblad resonance, giving rise to the appearance of a nearly circular nuclear ring with a pair of dust lanes. For a sufficiently strong bar potential, the inner 4:1 spiral density waves are also excited. The interaction of the higher harmonic waves with the waves excited at the inner Lindblad resonance and confined by the outer Lindblad resonance results in the observed diamond-shaped (or pointy oval) inner ring structure. The overall gas morphology and kinematical features are both well reproduced by the model, provided that the pattern speed of the bar is ~25 km s−1 kpc−1.