Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Rendezvous in Highly-dynamic CRNs : A Frequency Hopping Approach

Establishing communications in a dynamic spectrum access (DSA) network requires communicating nodes to “rendezvous” before transmitting their data packets. Frequency hopping (FH) provides an effective method for rendezvousing without relying on a predetermined control channel. Current FH rendezvous designs have two main limitations. First, they do not account for fast primary user (PU) dynamics. Second, they mainly target pairwise rendezvous, and do not intrinsically support multicast rendezvous. In this paper, we first design a grid-quorum-based FH algorithm, denoted by NGQFH, for pairwise rendezvous. NGQFH can achieve efficient rendezvous under fast PU dynamics. It is also robust against node compromise. Using the uniform k-arbiter and Chinese Remainder Theorem quorum systems, we then propose three multicast rendezvous algorithms: AMQFH, CMQFH, and nestedCMQFH, which provide different tradeoffs between the time-to-rendezvous and robustness to node compromise. Our pairwise and multicast rendezvous algorithms are tailored for asynchronous and spectrum-heterogeneous DSA networks. To account for fast PU dynamics, we develop an algorithm for adapting the proposed FH designs on the fly. This adaptation is done through an optimal mechanism for channel sensing and assignment, and a quorum selection mechanism. Extensive simulations are used to evaluate our algorithms. Index Terms Control channel, dynamic frequency hopping, dynamic spectrum access, quorum systems.
Communicating risk for issues that involve ‘uncertainty bias’: what can the Israeli case of water fluoridation teach us?

Water fluoridation is a controversial issue in public health. Despite the uncertainty regarding its efficacy and safety, health officials continue to communicate it as ‘unequivocally’ safe and effective. Our focus is on how health officials and policy-makers in Israel frame the issue of water fluoridation in terms of certainty while promoting a mandatory fluoridation policy. According to van Asselt and Vos, the uncertainty paradox describes situations in which uncertainty is acknowledged, but the role of science is framed as providing certainty. Our study is an analysis of documents and media articles emphasizing the paradoxical language used by official representatives on the controversial topic of fluoridation. A central contribution of this study is that we coin the term ‘uncertainty bias,’ in which policy-makers do exactly what they accuse laypeople of doing, framing uncertainty in biased terms. We found that in order to establish mandatory regulation, health ministry officials expressed information in an unbalanced format, promoting the topic of fluoridation by framing it in exclusively positive terms. This study does not focus on the practice of water fluoridation per se, and is not intended to decide for or against it, but rather, to explore how the debate regarding it is communicated. Understanding this particular case can shed light on how other controversial topics are transformed into health policy that is characterized in equivocal terms.
Effect of zinc supplementation on insulin resistance and metabolic risk factors in obese Korean women

Zinc deficiency is known to be associated with insulin resistance in obese individuals. This study was performed to evaluate the effect of zinc supplementation on insulin resistance and metabolic risk factors in obese Korean women. Forty obese women (body mass index (BMI) ≥ 25 kg/m2) aged 19-28 years were recruited for this study. Twenty women of the study group took 30 mg/day of supplemental zinc as zinc gluconate for 8 weeks and 20 women of control group took placebo. Usual dietary zinc intake was estimated from 3-day diet records. Insulin resistances were measured using Homeostasis model assessment (HOMA) indices, and insulin sensitivities Matsuda indices, which were calculated using oral glucose tolerance test data. Metabolic risk factors, such as waist circumference, blood pressure, fasting glucose, triglyceride, high density lipoprotein (HDL) cholesterol, and adipocyte hormones such as leptin, and adiponectin were also measured. At the beginning of study, dietary zinc averaged 7.31 mg/day and serum zinc averaged 12.98 µmol/L in the study group. Zinc supplementation increased serum zinc by 15% and urinary zinc by 56% (P < 0.05). HOMA values tended to decrease and insulin sensitivity increased slightly in the study group, but not significantly so. BMI, waist circumference, blood pressure, blood glucose, triglyceride, HDL cholesterol, and adipocyte hormones did not change in either the study or control group. These results suggest that zinc status may not affect insulin resistance and metabolic risk factors in obese Korean women. Further research is required on a larger cohort with a longer follow-up to determine the effects of zinc status on insulin resistance and metabolic variables.
Enhanced functional connectivity involving the ventromedial hypothalamus following methamphetamine exposure

Methamphetamine (MA) consumption causes disruption of many biological rhythms including the sleep-wake cycle. This circadian effect is seen shortly following MA exposure and later in life following developmental MA exposure. MA phase shifts, entrains the circadian clock and can also alter the entraining effect of light by currently unknown mechanisms. We analyzed and compared immunoreactivity of the immediate early gene c-Fos, a marker of neuronal activity, to assess neuronal activation 2 h following MA exposure in the light and dark phases. We used network analyses of correlation patterns derived from global brain immunoreactivity patterns of c-Fos, to infer functional connectivity between brain regions. There were five distinct patterns of neuronal activation. In several brain areas, neuronal activation following exposure to MA was stronger in the light than the dark phase, highlighting the importance of considering circadian periods of increased effects of MA in defining experimental conditions and understanding the mechanisms underlying detrimental effects of MA exposure to brain function. Functional connectivity between the ventromedial hypothalamus (VMH) and other brain areas, including the paraventricular nucleus of the hypothalamus and basolateral and medial amygdala, was enhanced following MA exposure, suggesting a role for the VMH in the effects of MA on the brain.
Requirement for E2F4 in development of ventral telencephalon and visual system

New functions of the Rb/E2F pathway in developmental processes are emerging. The goal of this research was to identify the role of the E2F4 transcription factor during early nervous system development. First, I addressed whether E2F4 was required for the development of the telencephalon. Analysis of E2F4 deficient mouse embryos revealed that loss of E2F4 led to severe morphological defects in early ventral telencephalic development. Specifically, ganglionic eminences were absent and expression of the regional homeobox transcription factors was significantly reduced, suggesting that E2F4 is involved in the regulation of genes important for brain patterning. E2F4 deficiency also caused a reduction in neural stem cell number, indicating the requirement for E2F4 in regulation of neural stem cell self-renewal. To account for the aberrant telencephalic development, we showed that E2F4 deficiency lead to aberrant Shh signaling and impaired activity of forebrain-specific Shh enhancers. Activation of the Shh pathway with a Hh agonist restored cells expressing Nkx2.1 in explant cultures, as well as neural stem cell self-renewal. Finally, I identified a novel genetic interaction between E2F4 and Shh pathway in early telencephalic development. These studies demonstrated that E2F4 was required for ventral telencephalic development. Next, I determined whether E2F4 was required for eye patterning, which is closely linked to ventral telencephalic development and is regulated by Shh. I found that early eye morphogenesis and patterning was perturbed, such that optic stalk specific genes extended into the ventral optic cup with simultaneous reduction of the neural retinal markers. Also, Shh signaling was disrupted in the absence of E2F4. The Shh expression domain in the ventral hypothalamus was split and Shh activity was expanded into the ventral optic cup. These studies revealed a key
Web Assimilation and the Market Orientation-Performance Relationship

Occupying the center stage of the theory and practice of marketing strategy for the past three decades is the concept of market orientation. The fundamental assumption that firms exhibiting a greater market orientation will show better financial and market performance has received mixed support to date. It overlooks the fact that a market oriented organization may fail to respond to market needs because it lacks the capability to do so. In an e-commerce context, the relationship between a firm’s market orientation and its business performance is contingent on web assimilation, i.e. the extent to which web technologies have been infused into marketing activities and strategies that support e-commerce initiatives. This study will examine the impact of this important moderator. A content analysis of CEO letters to shareholders from corporate annual reports will serve as the data source.
Estimating the duration of visual stimuli in motion environments

The aim of this research is to determine the influence of visual motion on the temporal estimation of a static object. Previous research has shown that the magnitude of temporal distortion caused by movement depends on objects’ speed, although those studies have not taken into account the possible interference of the environment in which objects are embedded. On the basis of the results obtained in a psychophysical task in which the constant-stimuli method was used, we suggest that high-speed conditions produce an overestimation of the duration of an static object whilst, in contrast, low-speed conditions do not show an appreciable effect. The implications of these results are discussed within the comparative framework of the main theoretical models of temporal estimation.
Early Adolescents’ Views on Engagement and Achievement in Mathematical Learning

ABSTRACT By giving early adolescents in their last 2 years of primary/elementary schooling opportunities to voice their ideas, teacher educators, school leaders, and teachers gain insight into how children view their mathematics learning. This article explores the views and aspirations of 34 11- to 13-year-old students from a range of socioeconomic schools within New Zealand. They represent students from a variety of cultural ethnicities and achievement levels in mathematics. The study found that children who were new immigrants who were situated within low and middle socioeconomic schools were grouped together in the bottom band of achievement in mathematics. Also, the students identified by their teachers as average and below average in mathematics preferred to continue practicing their basic number facts, play computer games, and complete worksheets. Of concern is the finding that most of the students did not like discussing deeper mathematical conceptual understandings. Many, despite having positive attitudes toward mathematics, were anxious about the transition to secondary schooling, where they perceived mathematical learning would be more complex and “harder. ”
NLP and Industry: Transfer and Reuse of Technologies

This paper describes a useful set of NLP tools which has been successfully applied to many different kinds of industrial requirements spanning multiple domains and applications at Boeing. The tools can be combined to constitute a full-spectrum natural language system and can be customized for new domains relatively easily. To date, this array of formal and natural language processing technologies has been used to perform mass changes to legacy textual databases and to facilitate user interfacing to relational databases and software applications.
NCHRP Report 522 – A Review of DOT Compliance With GASB 34 Requirements

Systematic, well-designed research provides the most effective approach to the solution of many problems facing highway administrators and engineers. Often, highway problems are of local interest and can best be studied by highway departments individually or in cooperation with their state universities and others. However, the accelerating growth of highway transportation develops increasingly complex problems of wide interest to highway authorities. These problems are best studied through a coordinated program of cooperative research. In recognition of these needs, the highway administrators of the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials initiated in 1962 an objective national highway research program employing modern scientific techniques. This program is supported on a continuing basis by funds from participating member states of the Association and it receives the full cooperation and support of the Federal Highway Administration, United States Department of Transportation. The Transportation Research Board of the National Academies was requested by the Association to administer the research program because of the Board's recognized objectivity and understanding of modern research practices. The Board is uniquely suited for this purpose as it maintains an extensive committee structure from which authorities on any highway transportation subject may be drawn; it possesses avenues of communications and cooperation with federal, state and local governmental agencies, universities, and industry; its relationship to the National Research Council is an insurance of objectivity; it maintains a full-time research correlation staff of specialists in highway transportation matters to bring the findings of research directly to those who are in a position to use them. The program is developed on the basis of research needs identified by chief administrators of the highway and transportation departments and by committees of AASHTO. Each year, specific areas of research needs to be included in the program are proposed to the National Research Council and the Board by the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials. Research projects to fulfill these needs are defined by the Board, and qualified research agencies are selected from those that have submitted proposals. Administration and surveillance of research contracts are the responsibilities of the National Research Council and the Transportation Research Board. The needs for highway research are many, and the National Cooperative Highway Research Program can make significant contributions to the solution of highway transportation problems of mutual concern to many responsible groups. The program, however, is intended to complement rather than to substitute for or duplicate …
Intergenerational Correlations of Skills

A number of studies have found that social skills (e.g., communication, interpersonal interactions, and leadership skills) are important determinants of labor market outcomes, including occupation and wages. This paper examines whether social skills are linked across generations; and whether a child’s occupational choice is determined by his/her parent’s abilities and personality traits. There are few studies on the intergenerational transmission of adult social skills due to a lack of data on parents’ social skills. To resolve this problem, we use occupational characteristics from the Dictionary of Occupational Titles (DOT) to proxy for the parents’ skills. Also utilized is the U.S. National Longitudinal Survey of Youth 1979 (NLSY79) and the U.S. Panel Study of Income Dynamics (PSID). A model of intergenerational skill following is presented. Subsequently, by constructing the appropriate measure of social skills, we find that social skills (also technical skills) link across generations. The correlation coefficient is computed, which measures the closeness of the direction of the multidimensional parent-child skill vectors. Skill correlation is found along the gender line. White sons earn a wage premium for working in occupations that require similar skills to their fathers; whereas, black sons incur a wage penalty. This implies a transfer of occupationally-related human capital for whites, but not for blacks. Evidence for nepotism is found, when sons earn a wage premium for working in the same occupation as their fathers. JEL Classification: J62; J24.
Enhancing Behavior Protocols

2 I would like to express my thanks to my family that supported me during the years I studied. I thank my advisor Stanislav Višňovský for his dedication in guiding this work. His rich experience in the field helped me facilitate my progress in this work and aroused my interest for further research. I declare that I have elaborated this master thesis on my own and listed all used references. I agree with lending of this master thesis. The thesis may be reproduced for academic purposes. Abstract In this work, a case study of a non-trivial application described in the SOFA CDL language was made, primarily targeting the issue of behavior protocols as a notation for component semantics description. During the case study, the possibility of an incorrect behavior called environment-to-frame incorrectness was identified. According the fact that the operator used for constructing the representation of a composed component in SOFA ignores the incorrectness, a new operator, which describes behavior of composed component in better way, was defined. Further, the concept of correct architecture, which solve the problem of environment-to-frame incorrectness, was proposed. Finally, the relation between the architecture correctness and SOFA protocol conformance is discussed.
Restoration of Conductivity with TTF‐TCNQ Charge‐Transfer Salts

The formation of the conductive TTF‐TCNQ (tetrathiafulvalene–tetracyanoquinodimethane) charge‐transfer salt via rupture of microencapsulated solutions of its individual components is reported. Solutions of TTF and TCNQ in various solvents are separately incorporated into poly(urea‐formaldehyde) core–shell microcapsules. Rupture of a mixture of TTF‐containing microcapsules and TCNQ‐containing microcapsules results in the formation of the crystalline salt, as verified by FTIR spectroscopy and powder X‐ray diffraction. Preliminary measurements demonstrate the partial restoration of conductivity of severed gold electrodes in the presence of TTF‐TCNQ derived in situ. This is the first microcapsule system for the restoration of conductivity in mechanically damaged electronic devices in which the repairing agent is not conductive until its release.
BUILDING EFFICIENT BLUETOOTH SCATTERNET TOPOLOGIES FROM 1-FACTORS

Bluetooth introduces ad hoc connectivity into the personal area. Although only the basic single-hop star-shaped topology called piconet is currently available, Bluetooth will surely evolve towards multi-hop connectivity in the near future. These multi-hop networks (called scatternets) offer a wide range of possible topologies. In this paper it is argued that the overall efficiency of scatternets heavily depends on the specific network topology employed. Furthermore, we introduce a class of network topologies that are efficient with respect to the aggregate bandwidth possible. A distributed algorithm for automatic network establishment is outlined.
The Arctic Circle Revisited

The problem of limit shapes in the six-vertex model with domain wall boundary conditions is addressed by considering a specially tailored bulk correlation function, the emptiness formation probability. A closed expression of this correlation function is given, both in terms of certain determinant and multiple integral, which allows for a systematic treatment of the limit shapes of the model for full range of values of vertex weights. Specifically, we show that for vertex weights corresponding to the free-fermion line on the phase diagram, the emptiness formation probability is related to a one-matrix model with a triple logarithmic singularity, or Triple Penner model. The saddle-point analysis of this model leads to the Arctic Circle Theorem, and its generalization to the Arctic Ellipses, known previously from domino tilings.
Strategies for an HIV vaccine.

The development of an HIV vaccine poses an unprecedented challenge to the scientific community. The inexorable spread of HIV worldwide and the devastating clinical consequences of AIDS can only be contained by an effective vaccine. Yet, almost two decades after the first demonstration of HIV and its etiologic role in AIDS, this vaccine still is a goal, not a reality. In this Perspective, I consider the unique problems for vaccine development posed by the biology of HIV infection, and I summarize recent advances in our understanding of the immune control of HIV and the implications of these advances for vaccine development. After reviewing the sobering history of failed traditional vaccine strategies, I discuss the rationale for vaccines with novel designs and their experimental successes to date.
Foxp1 Regulates the Proliferation of Hair Follicle Stem Cells in Response to Oxidative Stress during Hair Cycling

Hair follicle stem cells (HFSCs) in the bugle circularly generate outer root sheath (ORS) through linear proliferation within limited cycles during anagen phases. However, the mechanisms controlling the pace of HFSC proliferation remain unclear. Here we revealed that Foxp1, a transcriptional factor, was dynamically relocated from the nucleus to the cytoplasm of HFSCs in phase transitions from anagen to catagen, coupled with the rise of oxidative stress. Mass spectrum analyses revealed that the S468 phosphorylation of Foxp1 protein was responsive to oxidative stress and affected its nucleocytoplasmic translocation. Foxp1 deficiency in hair follicles led to compromised ROS accrual and increased HFSC proliferation. And more, NAC treatment profoundly elongated the anagen duration and HFSC proliferation in Foxp1-deficient background. Molecularly, Foxp1 augmented ROS levels through suppression of Trx1-mediated reductive function, thereafter imposing the cell cycle arrest by modulating the activity of p19/p53 pathway. Our findings identify a novel role for Foxp1 in controlling HFSC proliferation with cellular dynamic location in response to oxidative stress during hair cycling.
Founder Center: Enabling Access to Collective Social Capital

Social costs and limited reach inhibit our use of social capital to solicit help. However, individuals are not the only holders of social capital: groups also possess reputations and social capital, and are often prepared to vouch for their own members. In this paper, we design methods for mobilizing this collective social capital in sociotechnical systems, enabling an individual to ask a trusted group whether it is willing to invest its reputation in doing them a favor. We instantiate this concept with Founder Center, a web platform in which members of a local entrepreneurship accelerator ask the accelerator community to collectively make them introductions to potential funders. In a field experiment, enabling access to collective social capital in this community nearly doubled the odds of members making a social capital request. Requests fulfilled utilizing collective social capital were at least as effective as ones utilizing traditional interpersonal social capital.