Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Visualization and Adjustment of Evaluation Functions Based on Evaluation Values and Win Probability

We present a method of visualizing and adjusting the evaluation functions in game programming in this paper. It is widely recognized that an evaluation function should assign a higher evaluation value to a position with greater probability of a win. However, this relation has not been utilized directly to tune evaluation functions because of the difficulty of measuring the probability of wins in deterministic games. We present the use of win percentage to utilize this relation in positions having the same evaluation value as win probability, where the positions we used were stored in a large database of game records. We introduce an evaluation curve formed by evaluation values and win probabilities, to enable evaluation functions to be visualized. We observed that evaluation curves form a sigmoid in various kinds of games and that these curves may split depending on the properties of positions. Because such splits indicate that an evaluation function that is visualized misestimates positions with less probability of winning, we can improve this by fitting evaluation curves to one. Our experiments with Chess and Shogi revealed that deficiencies in evaluation functions could be successfully visualized, and that improvements by automatically adjusting their weights were confirmed by self-plays.
Design of a compact planar inverted-F antenna (PIFA) for RFID applications

This paper presents the design of a compact planar inverted-F antenna for Radio Frequency identification (RFID). The antenna has a reading range more than 5 m with resonant frequency 915 MHz. The antenna is designed as two parallel patches. The dimensions of the lower patch control the resonant frequency and the reading range. The paper presents how to choose the dimensions of each of the patches and the shorting wall to control the resonant frequencies and the gain of the antenna. A design and simulation of PIFA based on this geometry for RFID technology is also presented.
Capacity of a class of diamond channels

We study a special class of diamond channels which was introduced by Schein in 2001. In this special class, each diamond channel consists of a transmitter, a noisy relay, a noiseless relay and a receiver. We prove the capacity of this class of diamond channels by providing an achievable scheme and a converse. The capacity we show is strictly smaller than the cut-set bound. Our result also shows the optimality of a combination of decode-and-forward (DAF) and compress-and-forward (CAF) at the noisy relay node. This is the first example where a combination of DAF and CAF is shown to be capacity achieving. Finally, we note that there exists a duality between this diamond channel coding problem and the Kaspi-Berger source coding problem.
Molecular Dynamics Simulation of Tryptophan Hydroxylase-1: Binding Modes and Free Energy Analysis to Phenylalanine Derivative Inhibitors

Serotonin is a neurotransmitter that modulates many central and peripheral functions. Tryptophan hydroxylase-1 (TPH1) is a key enzyme of serotonin synthesis. In the current study, the interaction mechanism of phenylalanine derivative TPH1 inhibitors was investigated using molecular dynamics (MD) simulations, free energy calculations, free energy decomposition analysis and computational alanine scanning. The predicted binding free energies of these complexes are consistent with the experimental data. The analysis of the individual energy terms indicates that although the van der Waals and electrostatics interaction contributions are important in distinguishing the binding affinities of these inhibitors, the electrostatic contribution plays a more crucial role in that. Moreover, it is observed that different configurations of the naphthalene substituent could form different binding patterns with protein, yet lead to similar inhibitory potency. The combination of different molecular modeling techniques is an efficient way to interpret the interaction mechanism of inhibitors and our work could provide valuable information for the TPH1 inhibitor design in the future.
A Robust Approach to Lattice Thermal Conductivity

Thermal conductivity is a key parameter in designing high performance thermoelectric materials. A multitude of computational methods have been developed to calculate lattice thermal conductivity. Molecular dynamics (MD) based techniques, including equilibrium and non-equilibrium methods, in addition to non MD-based solutions, such as the Boltzmann Transport Equation (BTE), are all capable of calculating thermal conductivity, but each comes with different sets of limitations and difficulties. After extensive use of these different methods, we have developed a robust set of tools for obtaining high-quality lattice thermal conductivity values of crystalline solids. The crux of our method involves a novel compressive sensing (CS) based approach for efficiently calculating high quality force constants for crystalline materials. The result is a technique for building lattice dynamical models that can treat compounds with large, complex unit cells and strong anharmonicity, including those with harmonically unstable phonon modes.
Gene Expression Profiles for the Identification of Prevalent Atrial Fibrillation

Background Diagnosis of atrial fibrillation (AF) can be difficult, requiring cumbersome investigations. We aimed to determine the association of established whole‐blood gene expression scores with prevalent AF and to evaluate their performance for the identification of AF in a SIRS (Steroids in Cardiac Surgery) trial cohort. Methods and Results Whole‐blood, transcriptome‐wide gene expression profiling was performed using the Illumina HumanHT‐12 Expression BeadChip in 416 participants (65% men) before surgery, including 91 with a diagnosis of AF. An AF gene score (GS) calculated from 7 genes reported to be upregulated in AF and a validated GS for biological age based on 1254 genes related to aging were both independently associated with AF diagnosis before surgery in multivariate logistic regression analyses adjusting for known risk factors (P=0.0006 and P=0.003). Addition of AF and biological age GSs to clinical risk factors led to significant improvement in area under the receiver operating characteristic curve (from 0.77 to 0.80; P=0.03), continuous net reclassification improvement index (P<0.0001), and integrated discrimination improvement index (P=0.0002). When stratifying AF by subtype, AF GS was mainly associated with paroxysmal AF (P=0.003), whereas the biological age GS was mainly associated with permanent AF (P=0.017). Conclusions We validated the existence of a blood gene expression signature for prevalent AF and showed that biological age derived from gene expression is significantly associated with prevalent AF. These findings suggest a potential utility of blood gene expression for the identification of patients with AF, particularly paroxysmal AF. This result could have implications for the prevention and management of cryptogenic stroke. Clinical Trial Registration URL: http://www.clinicaltrials. gov. Unique identifier: NCT00427388.
AN INTERACTIVE SCHEME FOR BUILDING MODELING USING THE SPLIT-MERGE-SHAPE ALGORITHM

The most important feature in urban modeling is the 3D building model. It is essential in many applications, such as 3D GIS, cyber city, true-orthophoto generation, etc. Due to the huge demand of 3D building model, an effective solution for geometrical building modeling is required. In this paper, a 3D building modeling based on the Split-Merge-Shape (SMS) algorithm is presented. Since the SMS algorithm adapts 3D visible roof-edges for building modeling, a semi-automatic scheme for measuring 3D visible roof-edges from multi-view aerial images is proposed. In the SMS algorithm, the SPLIT and MERGE steps are the procedures for topology reconstruction from isolated roof-edges. The SHAPE step uses the available roof-edge height information to define an appropriate rooftop. With the SMS method, the topographic mapping of buildings, and geometric building modeling, can be seamlessly integrated into a unified procedure. In the paper, we will start with an overview of state-of-the-art technologies on the subject of building modeling. The SMS algorithm is then presented and integrated with the proposed semi-automatic scheme for 3D roof-edges measurement. A preliminary test utilizing a set of four 1:5,000 aerial images is demonstrated. Experimental results indicate that high reliability and accuracy may be reached with limited manual efforts.
CCR2 signaling contributes to the differentiation of protective inflammatory dendritic cells in Leishmania braziliensis infection

In vertebrate hosts, Leishmania braziliensis parasites infect mainly mononuclear phagocytic system cells, which when activated by T helper cell type 1 cytokines produce nitric oxide and kill the pathogens. Chemokine (C–C motif) receptor 2 is a chemokine receptor that binds primarily chemokine (C–C motif) ligand 2 and has an important role in the recruitment of monocytic phagocytes. Although it has been reported that Leishmania braziliensis infection induces CCR2 expression in the lesions, the role of CCR2 during Leishmania braziliensis infection remains unknown. Here, we showed that CCR2 has a role in mediating protection against Leishmania braziliensis infection in mice. The absence of CCR2 resulted in increased susceptibility to infection and was associated with low amounts of Ly6C+ inflammatory dendritic cells in the lesions, which we found to be the major sources of tumor necrosis factor production and induced nitric oxide synthase expression in C57BL/6 mice lesions. Consequently, CCR2−/− mice showed decreased tumor necrosis factor production and induced nitric oxide synthase expression, resulting in impaired parasite elimination. We also demonstrated that CCR2 has a role in directly mediating the differentiation of monocytes into inflammatory dendritic cells at the infection sites, contributing to the accumulation of inflammatory dendritic cells in Leishmania braziliensis lesions and subsequent control of parasite replication. Therefore, these data provide new information on the role of chemokines during the immune response to infections and identify a potential target for therapeutic interventions in cutaneous leishmaniasis.
Visual Data Mining and Machine Learning

Information visualization and visual data mining leverage the human visual system to provide insight and understanding of unorganized data. In order to scale to massive sets of high dimensional data, simplification methods are needed, so as to select important dimensions and objects. Some machine learning algorithms try to solve those problems. We give in this paper an overview of information visualization and survey the links between this field and machine learning.
Mantoo - A Set of Management Tools for Controlling SDN Experiments

OSHI -- Open Source Hybrid IP/SDN networking is a hybrid approach allowing the coexistence of traditional IP routing with SDN based forwarding within the same provider domain. In this demo, we will show a set of Open Source management tools for the emulation of the proposed solution over the Mininet emulator and over distributed test beds. We refer to this suite of tools as Mantoo (Management tools). Mantoo includes an extensible web-based graphical topology designer providing different layered network "views" (e.g. From physical links to service relationships among nodes). The framework is able to validate a topology, to automatically deploy it over a Mininet emulator or a distributed SDN test bed, to access nodes by opening consoles directly via the web GUI.
Exact Analysis of Dual-Hop AF Maximum End-to-End SNR Relay Selection

New, exact closed-form expressions are derived for the probability density function and the cumulative distribution function of the end-to-end signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) of opportunistic dual-hop amplify-and-forward (AF) relaying systems with relay selection. The expressions are used to obtain the first exact integral solutions for the ergodic capacity and average symbol error probability, and the first exact closed-form solution for outage probability of an opportunistic AF relaying system where the best node is selected from a number of candidate intermediate nodes to relay the data signal between the source and the destination. The selection follows a maximum end-to-end SNR policy, based on the available channel state information. The results are precise for any number of candidate relays and Rayleigh, Nakagami-m or Rician fading distributions. The effects of different channel fading parameters and the number of relays in the relay selection pool are studied. The system performance is compared to that of dual-hop AF systems without relay selection and to dual-hop AF relaying systems with maximum relay-to-destination SNR relay selection. The adopted selection method provides diversity gain over dual-hop AF relaying systems without relay selection and over maximum relay-to-destination SNR relay selection. The diversity gain is proportional to the relay selection pool size.
The WFPC2 Archival Pure Parallels Project

We introduce the WFPC2 Archival Pure Parallels Project, in which the methods and procedures described here are used to obtain a near‐automatic combination of WFPC2 images obtained as part of the WFPC2 Archival Parallels Program. Several techniques have been developed or refined to ensure proper alignment, registration, and combination of overlapping images that can be obtained at different times and with different orientations. We quantify the success rate and the accuracy of the registration of different types of images, and we develop techniques that are suitable to equalize the sky background without unduly affecting extended emission. About 600 combined images of the 1500 eventually planned have already been publicly released through the STScI Archive. The images released to date are especially suited to the study of star formation in the Magellanic Clouds, the stellar population in the halo of nearby galaxies, and the properties of star‐forming galaxies at z∼3.
Manufacturing techniques for polymer matrix composites (PMCs)

Introduction to composites and manufacturing processes. Part 1 Manufacturing of polymer matrix composites (PMC): short fiber and nanoparticle based processing: Injection molding in polymer matrix composites Processing of polymer nanocomposites Compression molding in polymer matrix composites. Part 2 Manufacturing of polymer matrix composites (PMC): thermoplastic based processing: Sheet forming in polymer matrix composites Fabric thermostamping in polymer matrix composites Filament winding process in thermoplastics Continuous fiber reinforced profiles in polymer matrix composites. Part 3 Manufacturing of polymer matrix composites (PMC): Thermoset based processing: Resin transfer molding (RTM) in polymer matrix composites Vacuum assisted resin transfer molding (VARTM) in polymer matrix composites Compression resin transfer molding (CRTM) in polymer matrix composites The pultrusion process in polymer matrix composites Autoclave processing for composites Out-of-autoclave curing process in polymer matrix composites.
Acarbose, 17-α-estradiol, and nordihydroguaiaretic acid extend mouse lifespan preferentially in males

Four agents — acarbose (ACA), 17‐α‐estradiol (EST), nordihydroguaiaretic acid (NDGA), and methylene blue (MB) — were evaluated for lifespan effects in genetically heterogeneous mice tested at three sites. Acarbose increased male median lifespan by 22% (P < 0.0001), but increased female median lifespan by only 5% (P = 0.01). This sexual dimorphism in ACA lifespan effect could not be explained by differences in effects on weight. Maximum lifespan (90th percentile) increased 11% (P < 0.001) in males and 9% (P = 0.001) in females. EST increased male median lifespan by 12% (P = 0.002), but did not lead to a significant effect on maximum lifespan. The benefits of EST were much stronger at one test site than at the other two and were not explained by effects on body weight. EST did not alter female lifespan. NDGA increased male median lifespan by 8–10% at three different doses, with P‐values ranging from 0.04 to 0.005. Females did not show a lifespan benefit from NDGA, even at a dose that produced blood levels similar to those in males, which did show a strong lifespan benefit. MB did not alter median lifespan of males or females, but did produce a small, statistically significant (6%, P = 0.004) increase in female maximum lifespan. These results provide new pharmacological models for exploring processes that regulate the timing of aging and late‐life diseases, and in particular for testing hypotheses about sexual dimorphism in aging and health.
Stress Response and Translation Control in Rotavirus Infection

The general stress and innate immune responses are closely linked and overlap at many levels. The outcomes of these responses serve to reprogram host expression patterns to prevent viral invasions. In turn, viruses counter attack these cell responses to ensure their replication. The mechanisms by which viruses attempt to control host cell responses are as varied as the number of different virus families. One of the most recurrent strategies used by viruses to control the antiviral response of the cell is to hijack the translation machinery of the host, such that viral proteins are preferentially synthesized, while the expression of the stress and antiviral responses of the cell are blocked at the translation level. Here, we will review how rotaviruses, an important agent of acute severe gastroenteritis in children, overcome the stress responses of the cell to establish a productive infectious cycle.
Fusion of driver-information based driver status recognition for co-pilot system

This paper presents a driver status recognition method based on data fusion that changes the autonomous driving mode in our co-pilot system. Our research has the following two novelties: first, the fusion of information-based driver-status recognition between a direct method using the states of the driver's face and eyes and an indirect method of recognition based on the driver's driving patterns using vehicle information; and second, the ability to transfer from the driving mode to an autonomous mode through fusion of the information of the two methods. Four parameters are calculated in the fusion of these direct and indirect methods: the percent of eye closure, gaze direction, steering wheel angle, and vehicle speed. These parameters are combined to infer the level of drowsiness and attention dispersion of the driver. The system was tested under different circumstances for day and night driving conditions using different driving scenarios on a roadway. Our driver status recognition method utilized a smart device connected to our prototype autonomous vehicle.
Calcium Absorption Varies within the Reference Range for Serum 25-Hydroxyvitamin D

Background: Calcium absorption is generally considered to be impaired under conditions of vitamin D deficiency, but the vitamin D status that fully normalizes absorption is not known for humans. Objective: To quantify calcium absorption at two levels of vitamin D repletion, using pharmacokinetic methods and commercially marketed calcium supplements. Design: Two experiments performed in the spring of the year, one year apart. In the first, in which participants were pretreated with 25-hydroxyvitamin D (25OHD), mean serum 25OHD concentration was 86.5 nmol/L; and in the other, with no pretreatment, mean serum concentration was 50.2 nmol/L. Participants received 500 mg oral calcium loads as a part of a standard low calcium breakfast. A low calcium lunch was provided at mid-day. Blood was obtained fasting and at frequent intervals for 10 to 12 hours thereafter. Methods: Relative calcium absorption at the two 25OHD concentrations was estimated from the area under the curve (AUC) for the load-induced increment in serum total calcium. Results: AUC9 (± SEM), was 3.63 mg hr/dL ± 0.234 in participants pretreated with 25OHD and 2.20 ± 0.240 in those not pretreated (P < 0.001). In brief, absorption was 65% higher at serum 25OHD levels averaging 86.5 nmol/L than at levels averaging 50 nmol/L (both values within the nominal reference range for this analyte). Conclusions: Despite the fact that the mean serum 25OHD level in the experiment without supplementation was within the current reference ranges, calcium absorptive performance at 50 nmol/L was significantly reduced relative to that at a mean 25OHD level of 86 nmol/L. Thus, individuals with serum 25-hydroxyvitamin D levels at the low end of the current reference ranges may not be getting the full benefit from their calcium intake. We conclude that the lower end of the current reference range is set too low.
Explaining the Decline in Coronary Heart Disease Mortality in England and Wales Between 1981 and 2000

Background—Coronary heart disease mortality rates have been decreasing in the United Kingdom since the 1970s. Our study aimed to examine how much of the decrease in England and Wales between 1981 and 2000 could be attributed to medical and surgical treatments and how much to changes in cardiovascular risk factors. Methods and Results—The IMPACT mortality model was used to combine and analyze data on uptake and effectiveness of cardiological treatments and risk factor trends in England and Wales. The main data sources were published trials and meta-analyses, official statistics, clinical audits, and national surveys. Between 1981 and 2000, coronary heart disease mortality rates in England and Wales decreased by 62% in men and 45% in women 25 to 84 years old. This resulted in 68 230 fewer deaths in 2000. Some 42% of this decrease was attributed to treatments in individuals (including 11% to secondary prevention, 13% to heart failure treatments, 8% to initial treatments of acute myocardial infarction, and 3% to hypertension treatments) and 58% to population risk factor reductions (principally smoking, 48%; blood pressure, 9.5%; and cholesterol, 9.5%). Adverse trends were seen for physical activity, obesity and diabetes. Conclusions—More than half the coronary heart disease mortality decrease in Britain between 1981 and 2000 was attributable to reductions in major risk factors, principally smoking. This emphasizes the importance of a comprehensive strategy that promotes primary prevention, particularly for tobacco and diet, and that maximizes population coverage of effective treatments, especially for secondary prevention and heart failure. These findings may be cautiously generalizable to the United States and other developed countries.