Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Near-Surface Long-Range Order at the Ordinary Transition.

Motivated by recent experimental activities on surface critical phenomena, we present a detailed theoretical study of the near-surface behavior of the local order parameter m(z) in Ising-like spin systems. Special attention is paid to the crossover regime between “ordinary” and “normal” transition in the three-dimensional semi-infinite Ising model, where a finite magnetic field H1 is imposed on the surface which itself exhibits a reduced tendency to order spontaneously. As the theoretical foundation, the spatial behavior of m(z) is discussed by means of phenomenological scaling arguments, and a finite-size scaling analysis is performed. Then we present Monte Carlo results for m(z) obtained with the Swendsen-Wang algorithm. In particular the sharp power-law increase of the magnetization, m(z) ≈ H1z1−η∼ord, predicted for a smallH1 by previous work of the authors, is corroborated by the numerical results. The relevance of these findings for experiments on critical adsorption in systems where a small effective surface field occurs is pointed out.
Hydrodynamic Galaxy Cluster Simulations: a challenge for physics, parallel computng and visualisation

N-body/hydrodynamic numerical simulations of galaxy clusters including the interaction of the intra-cluster medium (ICM) with the galaxies are one of the outstanding challenges in computational astrophysics. We include metal enrichment processes like galactic winds and ram-pressure stripping. Galactic winds are calculated with an additional code which takes into account cosmic rays as well as magnetic fields for supernovae driven winds. To treat higher star formation rates due to galaxy galaxy interactions smoothed particle hydrodynamic simulations are performed. This combination of different techniques allows us to determine the enrichment efficiency of different processes. Additionally, methods for the investigation of huge 3 dimensional data sets with state of the art visualisation techniques are shown.
Reinforced blocking matrix with cross channel projection for speech enhancement

In this paper, we propose a reinforced Blocking Matrix of TF-GSC by incorporating a cross channel projection for speech enhancement. Transfer function GSC (TF-GSC) proposed by Gannot was aimed at improving speech quality but the desired speech signal becomes somewhat distorted since the reference signal resulting from blocking matrix significantly contains the desired signal. The proposed reinforcement on the Blocking Matrix is a scheme to remove the highly correlated components between the inter-channel reference signals using orthogonal projection, thereby completely eliminating the desired signal. Representative experiments show that the proposed scheme is effective and its strength is demonstrated in terms of improved averaged signal noise ratio (SNR) and Log Spectral Distance (LSD).
Local Gain Adaptation in Stochastic Gradient Descent

Gain adaptation algorithms for neural networks typically adjust learning rates by monitoring the correlation between successive gradients. Here we discuss the limitations of this approach, and develop an alternative by extending Sutton''s work on linear systems to the general, nonlinear case. The resulting online algorithms are computationally little more expensive than other acceleration techniques, do not assume statistical independence between successive training patterns, and do not require an arbitrary smoothing parameter. In our benchmark experiments, they consistently outperform other acceleration methods, and show remarkable robustness when faced with non-i.i. d. sampling of the input space.
Combining Secondary Structure Element Alignment and Profile-Profile Alignment for Fold Recognition

One of the most intensely studied problems of bioinformatics is the prediction of a protein structure from an amino acid sequence. In fold recognition, one reduces this problem to assigning a protein of unknown structure to one of the known fold classes as defined in the SCOP or CATH classifications. Here, we combine two alignment methods, secondary structure element alignment and log average profileprofile alignment that have been proven to perform well on this task. Our results show that the combination yields remarkably better fold recognition accuracy on wellknown benchmark sets obtained from the literature. Especially on a difficult set built by McGuffin and Jones this new approach significantly outperforms other recently proposed fold recognition methods.
From Complex Event Processing to Simple Event Processing

Many problems in Computer Science can be framed as the computation of queries over sequences, or "streams" of data units called events. The field of Complex Event Processing (CEP) relates to the techniques and tools developed to efficiently process these queries. However, most CEP systems developed so far have concentrated on relatively narrow types of queries, which consist of sliding windows, aggregation functions, and simple sequential patterns computed over events that have a fixed tuple structure. Many of them boast throughput, but in counterpart, they are difficult to setup and cumbersome to extend with user-defined elements. This paper describes a variety of use cases taken from real-world scenarios that present features seldom considered in classical CEP problems. It also provides a broad review of current solutions, that includes tools and techniques going beyond typical surveys on CEP. From a critical analysis of these solutions, design principles for a new type of event stream processing system are exposed. The paper proposes a simple, generic and extensible framework for the processing of event streams of diverse types; it describes in detail a stream processing engine, called BeepBeep, that implements these principles. BeepBeep's modular architecture, which borrows concepts from many other systems, is complemented with an extensible query language, called eSQL. The end result is an open, versatile, and reasonably efficient query engine that can be used in situations that go beyond the capabilities of existing systems.
A Capability Maturity Model for Corporate Performance Management – An Empirical Study in Large Finnish Manufacturing Companies

The paper presents a conceptual model for assessing the maturity of a Corporate Performance Management (CPM) in an organization. The CPM maturity development process was studied in five case companies where the author participated into CPM development projects in various consultation roles. Constructive and action-oriented research approaches were used with different methods for data collection and analysis. Through a literature study and the development process in each company, the author has made observations, and has identified 16 key components that can be used to assess the maturity of the CPM. The findings of this study further extend the CPM research by providing a deeper understanding about the process, components, and levels of CPM maturity. The paper also provides organizations with an understanding about CPM and its potential value.
Decoding error of Sudoku for erasure channels

Sudoku is a pencil puzzle. The aim of the solver is to complete the 9×9 grid by filling in a digit in every cell in a certain rule. In this study, we regard the process of solving Sudoku as a process of decoding a codeword from a received word, and show the expected decoding error probability obtained by experiments for erasure channels.
Three dimensional euclidean Voronoi diagrams of lines with a fixed number of orientations

(MATH) We show that the combinatorial complexity of the Euclidean Voronoi diagram of n lines in $\reals3 that have at most c distinct orientations, is O(c 4 n 2+ε), for any ε>0. This result is a step towards proving the long-standing conjecture that the Euclidean Voronoi diagram of lines in three dimensions has near-quadratic complexity. It provides the first natural instance in which this conjecture is shown to hold. In a broader context, our result adds a natural instance to the (rather small) pool of instances of general 3-dimensional Voronoi diagrams for which near-quadratic complexity bounds are known.
Zooming On All Actors: Automatic Focus+Context Split Screen Video Generation

Recordings of stage performances are easy to capture with a high‐resolution camera, but are difficult to watch because the actors' faces are too small. We present an approach to automatically create a split screen video that transforms these recordings to show both the context of the scene as well as close‐up details of the actors. Given a static recording of a stage performance and tracking information about the actors positions, our system generates videos showing a focus+context view based on computed close‐up camera motions using crop‐and zoom. The key to our approach is to compute these camera motions such that they are cinematically valid close‐ups and to ensure that the set of views of the different actors are properly coordinated and presented. We pose the computation of camera motions as convex optimization that creates detailed views and smooth movements, subject to cinematic constraints such as not cutting faces with the edge of the frame. Additional constraints link the close up views of each actor, causing them to merge seamlessly when actors are close. Generated views are placed in a resulting layout that preserves the spatial relationships between actors. We demonstrate our results on a variety of staged theater and dance performances.
Oppositional Defiant Disorder Is Better Conceptualized as a Disorder of Emotional Regulation

Objective: It has been reported that Oppositional Defiant Disorder (ODD) can be differentiated into distinct subtypes associated with different outcomes in adulthood. We examined whether ODD is conceptually independent and coherent, and whether ODD and Conduct Disorder (CD) are expressions of the same core deficit. Method: The data come from a sample of 4,380 children for whom SNAP rating scales were available. Parallel analysis was performed on the eight-item ODD diagnostic items and on the SNAP-90 scale. These were factor analyzed and the components were correlated. Results: ODD has one underlying factor, whereas the parent-rated SNAP has nine underlying factors. ODD items grouped together with emotional lability and irritability items, which did not group with CD. Confirmatory factor analysis supported the separation of ODD and CD but not ODD and emotion dysregulation. Conclusion: The expanded ODD factor more likely captures a disorder of emotion regulation, rather than a disruptive behavior disorder.
Barnes-Evans relations for dwarfs with an application to the determination of distances to cataclysmic variables

Context. Barnes-Evans type relations provide an empirical relationship between the surface brightness of stars and their color. They are widely used for measuring the distances to stars of known radii, as the Roche-lobe filling secondaries in cataclysmic variables (CVs). Aims. The calibration of the surface brightness of field dwarfs of near-solar metalicity with spectral types A0 to L8 covers all secondary spectral types detectable in CVs and related objects and will aid in the measurement of their distances. Methods. The calibrations are based on the radii of field dwarfs measured by the Infrared Flux Method and by interferometry. Published photometry is used and homogenized to the Cousins Rc and Ic and the CIT JHK photometric systems. The narrow band surface brightness at 7500 A is based on our own and published spectrophotometry. Care is taken to select the dwarfs for near-solar metalicity, appropriate to CVs, and to avoid errors caused by unrecognized binarity. Results. Relations are provided for the surface brightness in V, Rc, Ic, J, H, K and in a narrow band at 7500 A as functions of V–K and of spectral type. The method is tested with selected CVs for which independent information on their distances is available. The observed spread in the radii of early M-dwarfs of given mass or luminosity and its influence on the distance measurements of CVs is discussed. Conclusions. As long as accurate trigonometric parallaxes are not routinely available for a large number of CVs, the surface brightness method remains a reliable means of determining distances to CVs in which a spectral signature of the secondary star can be discerned.
The role of the N-terminal domain in dimerization and nucleocytoplasmic shuttling of latent STAT3

STAT3 is an important transcription factor involved in immunity and cancer. In response to cytokine stimulation, STAT3 becomes phosphorylated on a single tyrosine residue. Tyrosine-phosphorylated STAT3 accumulates in the nucleus, binds to specific DNA response elements and induces gene expression. Unphosphorylated, latent STAT3 shuttles constitutively between cytoplasm and nucleus. We analysed the importance of previously identified putative nuclear localization sequences (NLS) and nuclear export sequences (NES) for nucleocytoplasmic shuttling of latent STAT3 using STAT3-deficient cells reconstituted with fluorescently labelled STAT3 mutants. Mutation of a putative NLS or NES sequence did not impair nucleocytoplasmic shuttling of latent STAT3. We were also interested in the structural requirements for dimerization of unphosphorylated STAT3 and its relevance for nucleocytoplasmic shuttling. By native gel electrophoresis and dual-focus fluorescence correlation spectroscopy (2f-FCS) we identified the N-terminal domain (amino acids 1–125) to be essential for formation of unphosphorylated STAT3 dimers but not for assembly of tyrosine-phosphorylated STAT3 dimers. In resting cells, the monomeric N-terminal deletion mutant (STAT3-ΔNT) shuttles faster between the cytoplasm and nucleus than the wild-type STAT3, indicating that dimer formation is not required for nucleocytoplasmic shuttling of latent STAT3. STAT3-ΔNT becomes phosphorylated and dimerizes in response to interleukin-6 stimulation but, surprisingly, does not accumulate in the nucleus. These results highlight the importance of the N-terminal domain in the formation of unphosphorylated STAT3 dimers and nuclear accumulation of STAT3 upon phosphorylation.
A Combinatorial G Protein-coupled Receptor Reconstitution System on Budded Baculovirus

To investigate the coupling selectivity of G proteins and G protein-coupled receptors (GPCRs), we developed a reconstitution system made up of GPCR and heterotrimeric G proteins on extracellular baculovirus particles (budded virus (BV)). BV released from Sf9 cells infected with a recombinant baculovirus coding for human leukotriene B4 receptor (BLT1) cDNA exhibited a high level of BLT1 expression (27.3 pmol/mg of protein) and specific [3H]leukotriene B4 binding activity (Kd = 3.67 nm). The apparent low affinity of the expressed BLT1 is thought to be due to relative non-availability of the Gαi isoform, which couples to BLT1, in BV. Co-infection of heterotrimeric G protein recombinant viruses led to co-expression of BLT1 and G protein subunits on BV. A guanosine-5′-(β,γ-imido)triphosphate-sensitive, high affinity ligand binding was observed in the BLT1 BV co-expressing Gαi1β1γ2 (Kd = 0.17 nm). A relatively large amount of high affinity receptor protein was recovered in the co-expressing BV fraction (6.81 pmol/mg of protein). A combination of BLT1 and Gαi1 without Gβ1γ2 did not exhibit high affinity ligand binding on BV, indicating the low background environment for the GPCR-G protein coupling in this BV reconstitution system. To test other G proteins for coupling, various Gα subunits were combinatorially expressed in BV with BLT1 and Gβ1γ2. The BLT1 BV co-expressing GαoAβ1γ2 exhibited a comparably high affinity ligand binding as well as ligand-stimulated guanosine 5′-3-O-(thio)triphosphate binding to Gαi1β1γ2. Co-expression of other Gα isoforms such as Gαs, Gα11, Gα14, Gα16, Gα12, or Gα13 did not exhibit any significant effects on ligand binding affinity in this system. These results reveal that BLT1 and coupled trimeric G proteins were functionally reconstituted on BV and that Gαo as well as Gαi couples to BLT1. This expression system should prove highly useful for pharmacological characterization, biosensor chip applications, and also drug discovery directed at highly important targets of the membrane receptor proteins.
Deterministic high-speed simulation of complex systems including fault-injection

FAUmachine is a virtual machine for the highly detailed simulation of standard PC hardware together with an environment. FAUmachine comes with fault injection capabilities and an automatic experiment controller facility. Due to its use of just-in-time compiler techniques, it offers good performance. This tool description introduces the new feature of FAUmachine to simulate systems deterministically. This will enable developers to design and test complex systems for fault tolerance by running identically reproducible automated tests in reasonable time and thus even allow testing for real time constraints.
Influenza A nucleoprotein binding sites for antivirals: current research and future potential

This document is the Accepted Manuscript version of the following article: Andreas Kukol and Hershna Patel, ‘Influenza A nucleoprotein binding sites for antivirals: current research and future potential’, Future Biology, Vol 9(7): 625-627, July 2014. The version of record is available online at doi: 10.2217/fvl.14. 45
Mining a Data Reasoning Model for Personalized Text Classification

It is a big challenge to acquire correct user profiles for personalized text classification since users may be unsure in providing their interests. Traditional approaches to user profiling adopt machine learning (ML) to automatically discover classification knowledge from explicit user feedback in describing personal interests. However, the accuracy of ML-based methods cannot be significantly improved in many cases due to the term independence assumption and uncertainties associated with them. This paper presents a novel relevance feedback approach for personalized text classification. It basically applies data mining to discover knowledge from relevant and non-relevant text and constraints specific knowledge by reasoning rules to eliminate some conflicting information. We also developed a Dempster-Shafer (DS) approach as the means to utilise the specific knowledge to build high-quality data models for classification. The experimental results conducted on Reuters Corpus Volume 1 and TREC topics support that the proposed technique achieves encouraging performance in comparing with the state-of-the-art relevance feedback models.
Multiband jamming strategies with minimum rate constraints

We consider a channel with N parallel sub-bands. There is a single user that can access exactly k channels, while maintaining some minimum rate at each accessed channel. The transmission takes place in the presence of a jammer which can access at most m channels. We cast the problem as an extensive-form game and derive the optimal power allocation strategies for both the user and the jammer. We present extensive simulation results regarding convergence of rates, effect of changing the number of accessed bands for the user and the jammer, and the minimum rate constraint.
(2-{[2-Carboxylato-1-(4-chlorophenyl)ethyl]iminomethyl}phenolato-κ3 O,N,O′)(1H-imidazole-κN 3)copper(II) monohydrate

The CuII atom of the title complex, [Cu(C16H12ClNO3)(C3H4N2)]·H2O, has a distorted square-planar coordination geometry formed by a tridentate Schiff base dianion and an imidazole ligand. The imidazole is nearly coplanar with the coordination plane, the dihedral angle between the planes being 3.73 (12)°. In the Schiff base ligand, the two benzene rings are oriented at a dihedral angle of 75.87 (12)°. O—H⋯O and N—H⋯O hydrogen bonding is present in the crystal structure. One H atom of the uncoordinated water molecule is disordered equally over two sites.
Impact of oil price shocks on China's economy: A DSGE-based analysis

This paper constructs a DSGE model to investigate the influences of oil price shocks on China's economy. Parameter estimation indicates that China's money supply mechanism does not target oil price shock, but makes a significant pro-cyclical response to output and a counter-cyclical reaction to inflation. It also shows that the persistence and volatility of oil price shocks are much stronger than that of other exogenous shocks. Impulse analysis exhibits that oil price shocks exert a lasting contraction effect on output and consumption, and meanwhile push inflation up. Furthermore, forecast error variance decomposition and historical decomposition reveal that the impact of oil price shock is stronger than other five shocks, and it is one of the main sources of China's economic fluctuation.
Identifying bridging rules between conceptual clusters

A bridging rule in this paper has its antecedent and action from different conceptual clusters. We first design two algorithms for mining bridging rules between clusters in a database, and then propose two non-linear metrics for measuring the interestingness of bridging rules. Bridging rules can be distinct from association rules (or frequent itemsets). This is because (1) bridging rules can be generated by infrequent itemsets that are pruned in association rule mining; and (2) bridging rules are measured by the importance that includes the distance between two conceptual clusters, whereas frequent itemsets are measured by only the support.
Dynamic class selection: From relative differentiation to absolute QoS

The relative differentiation architecture does not require per-flow state at the network core or edges, nor admission control, but it can only provide higher classes with better service than lower classes. A central premise in this context is that users with absolute QoS requirements should search dynamically for an appropriate class. We investigate this dynamic class selection (DCS) framework, and illustrate that, under certain conditions, DCS-capable users can meet absolute QoS requirements, even though the network only offers relative differentiation. For a single link model, we can examine whether it is feasible to satisfy all users, and when this is the case, compute the minimum acceptable class selection for each user. Users converge in a distributed manner to this minimum acceptable class, if the DCS equilibrium is unique. However, suboptimal DCS equilibria may also exist. Simulations of a delay-based DCS algorithm show the relation between class differentiation and DCS, and demonstrate how to control the trade-off between the performance and cost of a flow.