Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Essays on Strategic Voting and Mechanism Design

In the first chapter, we consider the problem of first-best implementation in dynamic, interdependent-value environments where agents have quasi-linear preferences and private types are correlated. Our first candidate solution (I.M.) relies on methods typically seen in games with imperfect monitoring. We derive conditions under which this approach gives the planner the flexibility to implement efficient mechanisms that are ex-post budget balanced and collusion proof. If agents are required to make one final payment after they exit the system, the I.M. mechanism can also satisfy individual rationality and adapt to finite horizon settings. When such payments cannot be enforced, but a cyclic monotonicity condition is satisfied, the planner may adopt our second mechanism (P.A.). This alternative approach employs a technique originally developed for surplus extraction in static auctions. It allows the planner to align every agent’s preferences with his own and implement socially optimal outcomes while satisfying ex-ante budget balance and individual rationality. Both mechanisms permit the planner to implement any sharing rule when redistributing surplus. In the second chapter (co-authored with Sambuddha Ghosh), we examine a paradox of strategic voting. Consider an electorate whose individual rankings of alternative policies may change between the time they vote for a candidate and the date a policy is implemented. Rankings may change following common or idiosyncratic shocks. Voters choose, via a simple majority election, between a candidate who is committed to one alternative, and an unbiased candidate who implements the ex-post optimum. We show that, even when idiosyncratic shocks lead to slight changes in rankings, the unique symmetric pure strategy Nash equilibrium often entails strategic voters choosing the committed candidate. The resulting welfare loss increases with the likelihood of a common shock. In the third chapter (co-authored with Konstantinos Rokas), we examine an electoral framework in which agents can strategically choose when to vote and can observe the
Fault tolerant cellular Genetic Algorithm

This paper presents a cellular Genetic Algorithm (cGA) which aims at realizing a fault tolerant platform based on the inherent ability of cGAs to deal with Single Hard Errors (SHE) that could permanently affect the operation of a system. To attain this objective it is indispensable to control the parameters of the cGA which directly affect the efficiency and accuracy of its search process. Among the overall set of parameters, the migration rate and frequency, the grid size, and the shape and size of local neighbourhoods have a remarkable effect on the cGA performance. By appropriately controlling these parameters, the complex search space (presenting multi-peak fitness-function) associated with the practical case study of the investigation herein presented, is conveniently explored in terms of efficiency and efficacy. Initially, fitness score registers have been identified as critical for proper systempsilas operation. In case, SHEs occur at these registers, the algorithm will ignore possible good solutions and rapidly spread bad individuals. Experiments results show the faults effects regarding convergence time, search rate and results accuracy, as well as the cGA improvement on faulty scenarios when migration is applied following different selection and replacement criteria or increasing selection intensity through different local neighbourhoods configurations.
Event detection in wireless sensor networks using fuzzy logic system

Wireless sensor networks (WSN) are designed to monitor physical phenomena. The main task of WSN is to perform event detection, tracking, and classification. So, compared with traditional ad-hoc networks, WSN is event-centric. Therefore, an important question in WSN is to detect events. In this paper, we present two methods to do event detection, one is double sliding window detection, and the other one is fuzzy logic approach. The accuracy of the results is established via sensor network testbed and simulations
Design of flow control system on sprayer

This paper presents an on-line flow control system for variable rate spray based on LabVIEW. To solve the control problem of micro-flow or low flow on pesticide in the course of variable rate spraying, a variable rate control system was developed with a NI DAQ, a flowmeter, an electronic control injector of vehicle, etc. The characteristics of the flow control system, such as development platform, fuzzy control, PID algorithm, PWM, temperature property, response speed and so on verify that it is much better than that of traditional architecture exploitured by single chip, and it is good linearity between flow of the injector and PWM dutyfactor, the flow rate will automatically change with the variation of dutyfactor at the fix frequency. Experimental results show that this flow controls system has an advantage over other control system.
Progenitor Cells for Arterial Repair: Incremental Advancements towards Therapeutic Reality

Coronary revascularization remains the standard treatment for obstructive coronary artery disease and can be accomplished by either percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) or coronary artery bypass graft surgery. Considerable advances have rendered PCI the most common form of revascularization and improved clinical outcomes. However, numerous challenges to modern PCI remain, namely, in-stent restenosis and stent thrombosis, underscoring the importance of understanding the vessel wall response to injury to identify targets for intervention. Among recent promising discoveries, endothelial progenitor cells (EPCs) have garnered considerable interest given an increasing appreciation of their role in vascular homeostasis and their ability to promote vascular repair after stent placement. Circulating EPC numbers have been inversely correlated with cardiovascular risk, while administration of EPCs in humans has demonstrated improved clinical outcomes. Despite these encouraging results, however, advancing EPCs as a therapeutic modality has been hampered by a fundamental roadblock: what constitutes an EPC? We review current definitions and sources of EPCs as well as the proposed mechanisms of EPC-mediated vascular repair. Additionally, we discuss the current state of EPCs as therapeutic agents, focusing on endogenous augmentation and transplantation.
Subtractive hybridization identifies novel differentially expressed ncRNA species in EBV-infected human B cells

Non-protein-coding RNAs (ncRNAs) fulfill a wide range of cellular functions from protein synthesis to regulation of gene expression. Identification of novel regulatory ncRNAs by experimental approaches commonly includes the generation of specialized cDNA libraries encoding small ncRNA species. However, such identification is severely hampered by the presence of constitutively expressed and highly abundant ‘house-keeping’ ncRNAs, such as ribosomal RNAs, small nuclear RNAs or transfer RNAs. We have developed a novel experimental strategy, designated as subtractive hybridization of ncRNA transcripts (SHORT) to specifically select and amplify novel regulatory ncRNAs, which are only expressed at certain stages or under specific growth conditions of cells. The method is based on the selective subtractive hybridization technique, formerly applied to the detection of differentially expressed mRNAs. As a model system, we applied SHORT to Epstein–Barr virus (EBV) infected human B cells. Thereby, we identified 21 novel as well as previously reported ncRNA species to be up-regulated during virus infection. Our method will serve as a powerful tool to identify novel functional ncRNAs acting as genetic switches in the regulation of fundamental cellular processes such as development, tissue differentiation or disease.
Using the geographic scopes of web documents for contextual advertising

Geotargeting is a specialization of contextual advertising where the objective is to target ads to Website visitors concentrated in well-defined areas. Current approaches involve targeting ads based on the physical location of the visitors, estimated through their IP addresses. However, there are many situations where it would be more interesting to target ads based on the geographic scope of the target pages, i.e., on the general area implied by the locations mentioned in the textual contents of the pages. Our proposal applies techniques from the area of geographic information retrieval to the problem of geotargeting. We address the task through a pipeline of processing stages, which involves (i) determining the geographic scope of target pages, (ii) classifying target pages according to locational relevance, and (iii) retrieving ads relevant to the target page, using both textual contents and geographic scopes. Experimental results attest for the adequacy of the proposed methods in each of the individual processing stages.
A thread-safe communication mechanism for message-passing interface based on MPI Standard

Current high-performance applications development is increasing due to breakthrough advances in microprocessor and power management technologies, network speed and reliability. By this way, distributed parallel applications make use of message-passing interface and multithreaded programming libraries. Nevertheless, drawbacks in Message-Passing implementations limit the use of thread-safe network communication. This paper presents a thread-safe message-passing interface based on MPI Standard assuring correct message ordering and sender/receiver synchronization.
Design of Seamless Changing Method for AUV Integrated Navigation System

A seamless changing method for AUV integrated navigation system was proposed considering the SINS/DVL and Compass/DVL integrated navigation method have their own advantage for linear motion and curvilinear motion. Bearing consistent check combining with the measure remnant method was discussed as the maneuver checking method, and the adaptive Kalman filter was used by SINS/DVL integrated navigation system for the motion changing state. The simulation results confirm the new approach could improve the accuracy of the integrated navigation system, and enhance the motion capability for AUV.
Immobilized contrast‐enhanced MRI: Gadolinium‐based long‐term MR contrast enhancement of the vein graft vessel wall

An implantable MR contrast agent that can be covalently immobilized on tissue during surgery has been developed. The rationale is that a durable increase in tissue contrast using an implantable contrast agent can enhance postsurgical tissue differentiation using MRI. For small‐vessel (e.g., vein graft) MRI, the direct benefit of such permanent “labeling” of the vessel wall by modification of its relaxation properties is to achieve more efficient imaging. This efficiency can be realized as either increased contrast leading to more accurate delineation of vessel wall and lesion tissue boundaries, or, faster imaging without penalizing contrast‐to‐noise ratio, or a combination thereof. We demonstrate, for the first time, stable long‐term MRI enhancement using such an exogenous contrast mechanism based on immobilizing a modified diethylenetriaminepentaacetic acid gadolinium3+ dihydrogen complex on a human vein using a covalent amide bond. Signal enhancement due to the covalently immobilized contrast agent is demonstrated for excised human vein specimens imaged at 3 T, and its long‐term stability is demonstrated during a 4‐month incubation period. Magn Reson Med, 2010. © 2010 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
Hierarchically classifying documents with multiple labels

This paper describes the evaluation of a hierarchical classifier for classifying multi-labeled documents organized in a two-level taxonomy. The hierarchical classifier consists of a tree of independent naïve Bayes classifiers, with output probabilities from parent classifiers propagated to child classifiers as additional features. Each classifier uses Bi-Normal Feature Separation for word feature selection. Experiments were performed using the Weka Toolkit [7] adapted to deal with multi-labeled documents. The hierarchical classifier accuracy marginally out-performed a set of independent binary classifiers trained to classify documents for each class in the taxonomy.
Statistic Complexity: Combining Kolmogorov Complexity with an Ensemble Approach

Background The evaluation of the complexity of an observed object is an old but outstanding problem. In this paper we are tying on this problem introducing a measure called statistic complexity. Methodology/Principal Findings This complexity measure is different to all other measures in the following senses. First, it is a bivariate measure that compares two objects, corresponding to pattern generating processes, on the basis of the normalized compression distance with each other. Second, it provides the quantification of an error that could have been encountered by comparing samples of finite size from the underlying processes. Hence, the statistic complexity provides a statistical quantification of the statement ‘ is similarly complex as ’. Conclusions The presented approach, ultimately, transforms the classic problem of assessing the complexity of an object into the realm of statistics. This may open a wider applicability of this complexity measure to diverse application areas.
Anonymous DoS-Resistant Access Control Protocol Using Passwords for Wireless Networks

Wireless networks have gained overwhelming popularity over their wired counterpart due to their great flexibility and convenience, but access control of wireless networks has been a serious problem because of the open medium. Passwords remain the most popular way for access control as well as authentication and key exchange. But existing password-based access control protocols are not satisfactory in that they do not provide DoS-resistance or anonymity. In this paper we analyze the weaknesses of an access control protocol using passwords for wireless networks in IEEE LCN 2001, and propose a different access control protocol using passwords for wireless networks. Our new protocol avoids the weaknesses of the previous protocol, and the client can anonymously authenticate himself to the server with a human-memorable password, while the server is free of DoS attacks. We also present detailed security and performance analysis for our protocols, and show that our protocol is both secure and efficient for access control in wireless networks
Test Data Compression Using Variable Prefix Run Length (VPRL) Code

One of the major challenges in testing a system-on-a-chip (SoC) is dealing with the large test data volume and large scan power consumption. To reduce the volume of test data, several test data compression techniques have been proposed. This paper presents a new test data compression scheme, which reduces test data volume for a system-on-a-chip (SoC). The proposed approach is based on the use of MT (Minimum Transition)-fill technique and Variable Prefix Run Length (VPRL) codes for test data compression. These VPRL codes can efficiently compress the data streams, that are composed of both runs of 0s and 1s. Experimental results for ISCAS’89 benchmark circuits supports and proves the proposed approach, better to the other existing techniques, by reducing test data volume.
Heart rate variability during treatment of breakthrough pain in patients with advanced cancer: a pilot study

Background Decisions on the intensity of analgesic therapy and judgments regarding its efficacy are difficult at the end of life, when many patients are not fully conscious and pain is a very common symptom. In healthy individuals and in postoperative settings, nociception and subsequent pain relief have been shown to induce changes in the autonomic nervous system (ANS), which can be detected by measuring heart rate variability (HRV). Objectives The changes in the ANS were studied by measuring HRV during opioid therapy for cancer breakthrough pain (CBTP) in palliative-care patients with cancer and compared these changes with patient-reported pain levels on a numeric rating scale (NRS). Patients and methods The study included ten patients with advanced cancer and baseline opioid therapy. In each patient, a 24-hour peak-to-peak HRV measurement with a sampling rate of 4,000 Hz was performed. High frequency (HF), low frequency (LF), total power, pNN50 (indicating parasympathetic activity), and log LF/HF were obtained in two intervals prior to therapy and in four intervals thereafter. Intensity of CBTP was recorded using a patient-reported NRS prior to therapy and 30 minutes afterward. Results CBTP occurred in seven patients (three males and four females; mean age: 62 ± 5.2 years) and was treated with opioids. A highly significant positive correlation was found between opioid-induced reduction in patient-reported pain intensity based on NRS and changes in log LF/HF (r > 0.700; p < 0.05). Log LF/HF decreased in patients who had a reduction in pain of >2 points on the NRS but remained unchanged in the other patients. Conclusion Our data suggest that log LF/HF may be a useful surrogate marker for alleviation of CBTP in patients with advanced cancer and might allow detection of pain without active contribution from patients.
Quantitative evaluation of hybridization and the impact on biodiversity conservation

Abstract Anthropogenic hybridization is an increasing conservation threat worldwide. In South Africa, recent hybridization is threatening numerous ungulate taxa. For example, the genetic integrity of the near‐threatened bontebok (Damaliscus pygargus pygargus) is threatened by hybridization with the more common blesbok (D. p. phillipsi). Identifying nonadmixed parental and admixed individuals is challenging based on the morphological traits alone; however, molecular analyses may allow for accurate detection. Once hybrids are identified, population simulation software may assist in determining the optimal conservation management strategy, although quantitative evaluation of hybrid management is rarely performed. In this study, our objectives were to describe species‐wide and localized rates of hybridization in nearly 3,000 individuals based on 12 microsatellite loci, quantify the accuracy of hybrid assignment software (STRUCTURE and NEWHYBRIDS), and determine an optimal threshold of bontebok ancestry for management purposes. According to multiple methods, we identified 2,051 bontebok, 657 hybrids, and 29 blesbok. More than two‐thirds of locations contained at least some hybrid individuals, with populations varying in the degree of introgression. HYBRIDLAB was used to simulate four generations of coexistence between bontebok and blesbok, and to optimize a threshold of ancestry, where most hybrids will be detected and removed, and the fewest nonadmixed bontebok individuals misclassified as hybrids. Overall, a threshold Q‐value (admixture coefficient) of 0.90 would remove 94% of hybrid animals, while a threshold of 0.95 would remove 98% of hybrid animals but also 8% of nonadmixed bontebok. To this end, a threshold of 0.90 was identified as optimal and has since been implemented in formal policy by a provincial nature conservation agency. Due to widespread hybridization, effective conservation plans should be established and enforced to conserve native populations that are genetically unique.
Anti-inflammatory effect of egg white-chalcanthite and purple bamboo salts mixture on arthritis induced by monosodium iodoacetate in Sprague-Dawley rats

The aim of this study is to investigate the potential of anti-osteoarthritis effects on egg white-chalcanthite (EC), purple bamboo salts (PBS), and a mixture of EC and PBS (EC+PBS). EC is a mixture of egg white and pulverized chalcanthite. PBS has been widely used as one of functional foods in Korea and shows unique features compared with common salt. Osteoarthritis was induced by intra-articular injection of monosodium iodoacetate (MIA, 4mg/kg bw) in Sprague-Dawley (SD) rats. Test substances were administered once daily for 6 weeks at doses of 10 mg EC, EC+100 mg PBS, EC+200 mg PBS before and after MIA injection. Each substance was assessed by blood chemistry parameters, and by serum cytokines including IL-1β and IL-6, and nitric oxide (NO) and prostaglandin-E2 (PGE2). Structural changes of articular cartilage were also evaluated by histopathological examination. As a result, body weight and blood chemistry parameter were not different in all experimental groups. EC+PBS mixture reduced the production of PGE2, NO, IL-1β, and IL-6. In histological grade of osteoarthritis, EC+PBS mixture had a tendency to ameliorate damage of articular cartilage induced by MIA in a dose-dependent manner. In conclusion, EC+PBS mixture was demonstrated to have a potential for anti-inflammatory effect against osteoarthritis induced by MIA in a dose-dependent manner.
A Strong Correlation between Circumnuclear Dust and Black Hole Accretion in Early-Type Galaxies

We present a detailed investigation of the incidence of circumnuclear dust structure in a large, well-matched sample of early-type galaxies with and without active galactic nuclei (AGNs). All 34 early-type AGN hosts in our sample have circumnuclear dust, while dust is only observed in 26% (9) of a pair-matched sample of 34 early-type, inactive galaxies. This result demonstrates a strong correlation between the presence of circumnuclear dust and accretion onto the central, supermassive black hole in elliptical and lenticular galaxies. This correlation is not present at later Hubble types, where a sample of 31 active and 31 inactive galaxies all contain circumnuclear dust. These archival, Hubble Space Telescope observations reveal a wide range of mostly chaotic dust morphologies. Current estimates suggest the dust settling or destruction time is on order of 108 yr, and therefore the presence of dust in ~50% of early-type galaxies requires frequent replenishment and similarly frequent fueling of their central supermassive black holes. The observed dust could be internally produced (via stellar winds) or externally accreted, although there are observational challenges for both of these scenarios. Our analysis also reveals that approximately one-third of the early-type galaxies without circumnuclear dust have nuclear stellar disks. These nuclear stellar disks may provide a preferred kinematic axis to externally accreted material, and this material may in turn form new stars in these disks. The observed incidence of nuclear stellar disks and circumnuclear dust suggests that episodic replenishment of nuclear stellar disks occurs and is approximately concurrent with the fueling of the central AGN.
Kanji-to-hiragana conversion based on a language model

In speech recognition systems, a common problem is transcription of new additions to the recognition lexicon into their phonetic symbols. Specific to the Japanese language, such a problem can be dealt with in two steps. We focus on the first step, in which the new lexical entry is converted into a set of hiragana syllabaries, which is almost a phonetic transcription. We propose a conversion scheme which yields the most likely hiragana syllabaries, based on a language model. Results from our evaluations on three test sets are also reported. Although the study is conducted on Japanese only, our approach has applications to Chinese.