Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Delayed Proximal Gradient Methods

We analyze distributed optimization algorithms where parts of data and variables are distributed over several machines and synchronization occurs asynchronously. We prove convergence for the general case of a nonconvex objective plus a convex and possibly nonsmooth penalty. We demonstrate two challenging applications, `1-regularized logistic regression and reconstruction ICA, and present experiments on real datasets with billions of variables using both CPUs and GPUs.
Graphene-Oxide Nano Composites for Chemical Sensor Applications

Of late, graphene has occupied the attention of almost all researchers working globally in the area of materials science. Graphene nanocomposites are the latest additions to the wonder applications of graphene. One of the promising applications of the graphene-oxide nanocomposites is chemical sensing which is useful for monitoring the toxicity, inflammability, and explosive nature of chemicals. Well known binary oxides like ZnO, TiO2, SnO2, WO3, and CuO when combined with graphene in the form of nanocomposites have excellent potential for detecting trace amounts of hazardous gases and chemicals. In this article the preparations, characterizations, and the chemical sensor applications of graphene-oxide nanocomposites are presented in detail.
Convergent Validity of the Occupational Therapy Adult Perceptual Screening Test (OT-APST) with Two other Cognitive-Perceptual Tests

Background: It is common for individuals with a neurological impairment, such as a stroke, to present with cognitive-perceptual impairments. The early identification of such problems can assist with rehabilitation efforts. Standardised cognitive and perception tests are often used by practitioners to make such identifications; therefore, it is important to examine the measurement properties of these tests. Objective: This study investigated the convergent validity of the Occupational Therapy Adult Perceptual Screening Test (OT-APST) with two other cognitive-perceptual tests: the Neurobehavioural Cognitive Status Examination (Cognistat) and the Developmental Test of Visual Perception — Adolescent and Adult (DTVP-A). The Cognistat is primarily a test of cognition but has some subscales that evaluate perceptual skills. The convergent validity between the Cognistat and the DTVP-A was also investigated. It is imperative that tests used by therapists have documented validity to ensure that the results obtained actually measure the skills and abilities that the tests claim they measure. Method: Thirty-two adult patients, ranging in age between 46 and 91 years (mean = 73, SD = 4.6) with a primary diagnosis of stroke, completed the OT-APST, the Cognistat and the DTVP-A. Spearman's rho was used to analyse the correlations between the tests' subscales. Results: Three of the Cognistat subscales were significantly correlated with OT-APST subscales: Cognistat Constructional Ability and OT-APST Body Scheme; Cognistat Memory and OT-APST Functional Skills; and Cognistat Calculations and OT-APST Body Scheme. Only one of the OT-APST subscales, Body Scheme, had statistically significant correlations with the DTVP-A's Figure-Ground, Visual-Motor Search and Visual Closure subscales. There were significant correlations between the Cognistat's Constructional Ability and Judgment subscales and five of the six DTVP-A's subscales. Conclusion: Given that only a few of the subscales from the Cognistat and DTVP-A were significantly correlated with those of the OT-APST, this indicates that many of the constructs assessed by the three tests are not associated; hence, limited convergent validity evidence for the OT-APST was present. Further inquiry is required because it is important that such instruments are assessing what they purport to test, particularly when they are used to determine clients' strengths and weaknesses in clinical practice.
The Crystal Structure of the Phosphorylation Domain in PhoP Reveals a Functional Tandem Association Mediated by an Asymmetric Interface

ABSTRACT PhoP from Bacillus subtilis belongs to the OmpR subfamily of response regulators. It regulates the transcription of several operons and participates in a signal transduction network that controls adaptation of the bacteria to phosphate deficiency. The receiver domains of two members of this subfamily, PhoB from Escherichia coli and DrrD from Thermotoga maritima, have been structurally characterized. These modules have similar overall folds but display remarkable differences in the conformation of the β4-α4 and α4 regions. The crystal structure of the receiver domain of PhoP (PhoPN) described in this paper illustrates yet another geometry in this region. Another major issue of the structure determination is the dimeric state of the protein and the novel mode of association between receiver domains. The protein-protein interface is provided by two different surfaces from each protomer, and the tandem unit formed through this asymmetric interface leaves free interaction surfaces. This design is well suited for further association of PhoP dimers to form oligomeric structures. The interprotein interface buries 970 Å2 from solvent and mostly involves interactions between charged residues. As described in the accompanying paper, mutations of a single residue in one salt bridge shielded from solvent prevented dimerization of the unphosphorylated and phosphorylated response regulator and had drastic functional consequences. The three structurally documented members of the OmpR family (PhoB, DrrD, and PhoP) provide a framework to consider possible relationships between structural features and sequence signatures in critical regions of the receiver domains.
A 2.4-to-5.2fJ/conversion-step 10b 0.5-to-4MS/s SAR ADC with charge-average switching DAC in 90nm CMOS

In this paper, a 10b 0.5-to-4MS/s asynchronous SAR ADC is proposed and prototyped in 90nm CMOS. The supply voltage is scaled down appropriately (0.4 to 0.7V) for different speeds to minimize power consumption of SAR control and switching energy. Moreover, a charge average switching (CAS) DAC is developed to reduce the switching energy of the DAC without an extra voltage reference and common-mode shift. In near-threshold operation with a scaled-down supply, a double-boosted sample-and-hold (S/H) circuit and a local-boosted switch are implemented for the linearity and accuracy requirements of the 10b ADC.
Prekopa-Leindler type inequalities on Riemannian manifolds, Jacobi fields, and optimal transport

We investigate Prekopa-Leindler type inequalities on a Riemannian manifold M equipped with a measure with density e V where the potential V and the Ricci curvature satisfy Hessx V + Ricx I for all x 2 M, with some 2 R. As in our earlier work (14), the argument uses optimal mass transport on M, but here, with a special emphasis on its connection with Jacobi fields. A key role will be played by the dierential equation satisfied by the determinant of a matrix of Jacobi fields. We also present applications of the method to logarithmic Sobolev inequalities (the Bakry-Emery criterion will be recovered) and to transport inequalities. A study of the displacement convexity of the entropy functional completes the exposition. Resume Nousl'extension d'inegalites de type Prekopa-Leindler au cas d'une variete riemannienne Mee d'une mesure ayant une densite e V ou le potentiel V et la courbure de Ricci verifient Hessx V + Ricx I (8x 2 M), pour un certain 2 R. Nous ferons appel, comme dans notre travail precedent (14), au transport optimal de mesure. Mais nous exploiterons plus encore son lien avec les champs de Jacobi, ce qui permettra de ramener la discussionl'´etude du determinant d'une matrice de champs de Jacobi. Nous presentonsd'autres applications de la methode, en particulier aux inegalites de Sobolev logarithmiques (critere de Bakry-
Cholinergic Inhibition of Ventral Midbrain Dopamine Neurons

Muscarinic acetylcholine receptors are common throughout the CNS. The predominant subtypes in the brain are positively coupled to phosphoinositide hydrolysis and have been found to modulate multiple conductances. Muscarinic receptor activation is most often observed to be excitatory because of suppression of various potassium conductances. Here it is reported that three distinct effects of muscarinic receptor activation can be observed in isolation from one another, depending on the duration of receptor activation and the concentration of agonist. Brief activation of muscarinic receptors, as is likely to occur with normal synaptic transmission, hyperpolarized dopamine neurons of the ventral midbrain through a calcium-activated potassium conductance. With repeated or persistent activation of muscarinic receptors, the hyperpolarizing response was entirely desensitized in the absence of any change in resting membrane potential. With sustained activation by higher concentrations of agonist, dopamine neurons were depolarized. This demonstrates that muscarinic receptors can mediate very diverse, and even opposing, postsynaptic effects on neurons depending on the pattern of acetylcholine release.
10-028 Approximate dynamic programming and reinforcement learning ∗

Dynamic Programming (DP) and Reinforcement Learning (RL) can be used to address problems from a variety of fields, including automatic control, artificial intelligence, operations research, and economy. Many problems in these fields are described by continuous variables, whereas DP and RL can find exact solutions only in the discrete case. Therefore, approximation is essential in practical DP and RL. This chapter provides an in-depth review of the literature on approximate DP and RL in large or continuous-space, infinite-horizon problems. Value iteration, policy iteration, and policy search approaches are presented in turn. Model-based (DP) as well as online and batch model-free (RL) algorithms are discussed. We review theoretical guarantees on the approximate solutions produced by these algorithms. Numerical examples illustrate the behavior of several representative algorithms in practice. Techniques to automatically derive value function approximators are discussed, and a comparison between value iteration, policy iteration, and policy search is provided. The chapter closes with a discussion of open issues and promising research directions in approximate DP and RL. Lucian Buşoniu Delft Center for Systems and Control, Delft University of Technology, Mekelweg 2, 2628CD Delft, The Netherlands, e-mail: i.l. busoniu@tudelft.nl Bart De Schutter Delft Center for Systems and Control & Marine and Transport Technology Department, Delft University of Technology, Mekelweg 2, 2628CD Delft, The Netherlands, e-mail: b@deschutter.info Robert Babuška Delft Center for Systems and Control, Delft University of Technology, Mekelweg 2, 2628CD Delft, The Netherlands, e-mail: r.babuska@tudelft.nl
Optimal state based control of LTI systems over unreliable communication channels

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Two-process learning theory: Relationships between Pavlovian conditioning and instrumental learning.

The history of 2-process learning theory is described, and the logical and empirical validity of its major postulates is examined. The assumption of 2 acquisition processes requires the demonstration of an empirical interaction between 2 types of reinforcement contingencies and (a) response classes, (b) reinforcing stimulus classes, or (c) characteristics of the learned behavior itself. The mediation postulates of 2-process theory which argue that CRs are intimately involved in the control of instrumental responding are emphasized, and 2 major lines of evidence that stem uniquely from these postulates are examined : (a) the concurrent development and maintenance of instrumental responses and conditioned reflexes, and (b) the interaction between separately conducted Pavlovian conditioning contingencies and instrumental training contingencies in the control of instrumental behavior. The evidence from concurrent measurement studies provides, at the very best, only weak support for the mediational hypotheses of 2-process theory. In contrast, the evidence from interaction studies shows the strong mediating control of instrumental responses by Pavlovian conditioning procedures, and demonstrates the surprising power of Pavlovian concepts in predicting the outcomes of many kinds of interaction experiments.
Hardware Design and Description Languages in IBM

Hardware design languages (HDLs) allow computer hardware to be described in sufficient detail to be simulated and built, such a description being at a sufficiently high level of abstraction to make the complete design readily intelligible to anyone skilled in that language. A number of HDLs have been developed and are in use in IBM. To date, no overwhelming case can be made for choosing any one HDL over the others. The major trends in HDL are discussed. Several examples of HDLs are presented in some detail. VHDL, the yet-to-be released HDL which is to serve as a front end to the U. S. Government's Very High Speed Integrated Circuits program, is among these.
A SERUM MARKER FOR HEPATOBLASTOMA IN YOUNG INFANTS

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Generalised sphere decoder for asymmetrical space-time communication architecture

A generalised sphere decoding (GSD) algorithm is presented. Its application to the detection of information symbols in a multiantenna cellular system with N antennas at the mobile and M/spl ges/N antennas at the base station is explored. The GSD algorithm has the maximum likelihood (ML) performance for both the uplink and downlink with moderate complexity.
Role of LDL subfraction heterogeneity in the reduced binding of low density lipoproteins to arterial proteoglycans in cynomolgus monkeys fed a fish oil diet.

Previous studies using cynomolgus monkeys have shown that isocaloric substitution of dietary fish oil for lard reduced the in vitro binding of plasma low density lipoproteins (LDL) to arterial proteoglycans (PG) (Edwards, I.J., A.K. Gebre, W. D. Wagner, and J. S. Parks. 1991. Arterioscler. Thromb., 11: 1778-1785). The purpose of the present study was to determine whether all LDL subfractions were equally affected by the type of dietary fat with regard to PG binding and to identify compositional changes in LDL subfractions that might relate to the differential in PG binding. Two groups of cynomolgus monkeys (n = 5 each) were fed atherogenic diets (40% calories as fat; 0.26 mg cholesterol/kcal) containing 20% of calories as egg yolk and 20% as either lard or menhaden fish oil. LDL were isolated from plasma by ultracentrifugation and size exclusion chromatography and subfractionated by density gradient centrifugation. Three density ranges of LDL subfractions were collected from the gradients for determination of chemical composition, apoE and apoB content by ELISA, and binding to arterial PG in vitro. The d 1.015-1.025 g/ml subfraction contained 39 +/- 8% of the LDL cholesterol in the lard group but only 7 +/- 3% for the fish oil group. Values for cholesterol distribution were opposite for the d 1.035-1.045 g/ml subfraction, 8 +/- 1% versus 41 +/- 8%, respectively. Similar trends were noted for the distribution of apoB. For the lard group, LDL binding to arterial PG increased with decreasing density (i.e., increasing size) of the subfractions. (ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)
How are choice givers perceived? Effects of choice provision on leadership and trust perceptions

How are Choice Givers Perceived? Effects of Choice Provision on Leadership and Trust Perceptions Yong-Joo Roy Chua Managers today often try to engage employees by giving them more freedom and flexibility at work. One simple yet powerful way to do so is to give them choice, i.e., the selection of one or more options out of multiple available alternatives. However, choice as a tactic in granting employees work flexibility is seldom explicitly studied in organizational research. In this dissertation, I investigate how choice givers are perceived in terms of leadership and trust when they offer different degree of choice to others. I conceptualize degree of choice broadly as the extent of flexibility and freedom that one faces when receiving choice. Examples include the number of options available in a choice set, the frequency by which choice is given, and the degree of constraint during choice decisions. In my theory development, I draw on social psychological research which shows that perceived warmth and competence are the two universal dimensions of human social cognition. Specifically, I propose that the higher degree of choice one gives to another person at work, the more one is perceived as warm or agreeable. Giving others choice beyond a certain level, however, might cause one to be perceived as less competent or conscientious because a high degree of choice causes the task at hand, or one's job in general, to be more unstructured and ambiguous. I then use this set of basic predictions as building blocks to derive other perceptual outcomes such as leadership and trust. Through six studies, I show that that there is an inverted-Ushape relationship between degree of choice and leadership perceptions. Those who give others a moderate degree of choice are likely to be perceived as more of a leader than either those who give a low degree of choice (or no choice) or those who give a high degree of choice. Further, I demonstrate that the increase in leadership perceptions between low and moderate degree of choice is mediated by increased perceived warmth; whereas the decrease in leadership perceptions between moderate and high degree of choice is mediated by decreased perceived competence. I also consider the effects of choice provision on interpersonal trust. Adopting the basic distinction between affectversus cognition-based trust, I show that degree of choice is positively associated with affect-based trust but negatively associated with cognition-based trust. These relationships can be explained by perceived warmth and competence respectively. Theoretical and practical implications of these findings are discussed. TABLE OF CONTENTS LIST OF APPENDICES iv LIST OF FIGURES v LIST OF TABLES vi ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS vii CHAPTER
Some factors determining efficiency of selective attention.

Studies of visual memory have used a technique whereby a brief presentation of a display is followed some milliseconds later by a probe designating the position that had been occupied by an element of the display. While the major interest has been in the decreasing accuracy of reporting the element as the indicator is increasingly delayed, an equally important problem is the ability of these indicators to selectively determine attention in a matter of milliseconds. The present experiments determined the efficiency of selective attention as a function of the number of elements in the display and the physical spacing between adjacent elements. The results are interpreted in terms of an attentional focusing process. The technique introduced by Averbach and Coriell for studying visual information or iconic storage has proven quite fruitful. ' Essentially it consists of presenting simultaneously an overload of letters or numbers in a brief tachistoscopic exposure and then subsequently presenting a probe, or indicator, that designates one element or subset of elements about which the subject is to report. Even though a large number of letters may be simultaneously presented, if the probe occurs within 100-200 msec. following the display the subject can report with high accuracy the designated letter. The generally accepted interpretation of this result is that while the display as a whole may greatly exceed the subject's capacity to process, he can-if the probe occurs before the icon of the display has decayed beyond intelligibility-use his available processing capacity to selectively process the designated element or subset of elements. While the technique has been used primarily to study characterReceived for publication May 12, 1970. The investigation was supported by United States Public Health Service Research Grant MH-1206 and by United States Public Health Service Research Career Award K6-MH-22,014. 1 E. Averbach and A. S. Coriell, Short-term memory in vision, Bell Syst. tech. J., 40, 1961, 309-328.
Octopamine Levels in Blattella Germanica L. Tissues by Capillary Gas Chromatography with Electron Capture Detection

Distribution and levels of octopamine (OA), one of the biogenic amines in the invertebrate nervous system, may have significant effects on insect physiological processes including growth, feeding and reproduction. In this paper capillary gas chromatography with electron capture detection (GC-ECD) and mass selective detection (GC-MS) were used to determine the content of OA in Blattella germanica L. central nervous system (CNS), and that of OA in cockroach stressed by kinds of insecticides, known octopaminergic agonists and some essential oils. A derivatization method for organic extracts via reaction with pentafluoropropionic anhydride (PFPA) was developed. The resulting OA derivatives were confirmed by GC-MS to be tris-pentafluoropropionyl-OA. The method was used to quantify the amount of OA in insect issues by capillary GC-ECD through an extraction-derivatization-liquid/liquid partition procedure. Average OA content in normal cockroaches was determined to be 68.49 ± 7.31 ng/g tissue (N=5 determinations). It was shown that insecticides including chlordimeform, methomyl, permethrin, chlorfluazuron, malathion, trichlorfon and some oxazolidine agonists, essential oils including eugenol, cinnamic alcohol, phenyl ethyl alcohol could led to significant increase of OA levels in the cockroach CNS comparing with which in insect treated by 1-butanone. Malathion, trichlorfon, chlorfluazuron and cinnamic alcohol were shown to be able to cause a 20- fold increase in OA levels.
Control of Drosophila Type I and Type II central brain neuroblast proliferation by bantam microRNA

Post-transcriptional regulation of stem cell self-renewal by microRNAs is emerging as an important mechanism controlling tissue homeostasis. Here, we provide evidence that bantam microRNA controls neuroblast number and proliferation in the Drosophila central brain. Bantam also supports proliferation of transit-amplifying intermediate neural progenitor cells in type II neuroblast lineages. The stem cell factors brat and prospero are identified as bantam targets acting on different aspects of these processes. Thus, bantam appears to act in multiple regulatory steps in the maintenance and proliferation of neuroblasts and their progeny to regulate growth of the central brain. Summary: The Drosophila miRNA bantam regulates the expression of Brat and Prospero – known inhibitors of brain neuroblast proliferation – to modulate growth of the central brain.