Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Well-proportioned universes suppress CMB quadrupole

A widespread myth asserts that all small universe models suppress the CMB quadrupole. In actual fact, some models suppress the quadrupole while others elevate it, according to whether their low-order modes are weak or strong relative to their high-order modes. Elementary geometrical reasoning shows that a model’s largest dimension determines the rough value ℓ min at which the CMB power spectrum ℓ ( ℓ + 1) C ℓ / 2 π eﬀectively begins; for cosmologically relevant models, ℓ min ≤ 3. More surprisingly, elementary geometrical reasoning shows that further reduction of a model’s smaller dimensions – with its largest dimension held ﬁxed – serves to elevate modes in the neigh-borhood of ℓ min relative to the high- ℓ portion of the spectrum, rather than suppressing them as one might naively expect. Thus among the models whose largest dimension is comparable to or less than the horizon diameter, the low-order C ℓ tend to be relatively weak in well-proportioned spaces (spaces whose dimensions are approximately equal in all directions) but relatively strong in oddly-proportioned spaces (spaces that are signiﬁcantly longer in some directions and shorter in others). We illustrate this principle in detail for the special cases of rectangular 3-tori and spherical spaces. We conclude that well-proportioned spaces make the best candidates for a topological explanation of the low CMB quadrupole observed by COBE and WMAP.
Text Representation for Automatic Text Categorization

Automatic Text Categorization (ATC), the automatic assignment of text documents to predefined classes, is a language engineering task very relevant to a number of applications, including automatic content and knowledge management in corporations and the Internet, information access and filtering, etc. With first works dating back to 60’s [14], and increased work in the last decade (see the surveys [17, 20]), there is currently a ATC solid model based on Information Retrieval (IR) and Machine Learning (ML) techniques. The model basic idea is to induce an automatic classification function (a classifier) by learning categories properties from manually labelled documents, instead of codifying rules by hand to classify documents. This model is based on two steps: obtaining a representation of the labelled texts, and applying learning algorithms to the representation. The representation of texts tries to capture the meaning of them to some extent, and to allow learning to be applied on them. The most popular method for text representation is the Vector Space Model [16], also mentiones as the “bag of words” model. Quite often, term selection and extraction (see e.g. [21]) are applied in order to reduce the dimmensionality of the representation space. The learning process selects the properties that allow new documents to be classified in the analysed catetories. A number of learning approaches have been applied to the problem, including probabilistic classifiers (e.g. Naive Bayes [12]), linear classifiers [13], decision tree learners like C4.5 [2, 6], rule learners like Ripper [3], kernel methods like Support Vector Machines [6], etc. Today’s learning-based ATC systems are able to reach nearly human-being
The Lawyer's Role During the Divorce Process: Perceptions of Parents, Their Young Children, and Their Attorneys

This article examines the role of attorneys in divorce from the per spectives of parents who have just completed a divorce, their young children, and the attorneys who represented the various family mem bers. The research from which the data is drawn consists of in-depth interviews, which were one aspect of a larger study project on "The Culture of Litigation: Impact on Divorcing Parents and Children. "1 Thus, parents', children's, and attorneys' ideas pertaining to their posi tive and negative experiences are presented, with a particular emphasis on their analysis of, and reflections about, the role of lawyers during the divorce process. The role of attorneys in the divorce of parents with young children poses unique issues and concerns for all parties. From the parents' perspective, informational and supportive resources are in high de mand. Due to the plethora of new parenting responsibilities that coin cide with the separation and divorce, parental concerns about the well
Structural and functional characterization of a single-chain peptide–MHC molecule that modulates both naive and activated CD8+ T cells

Peptide–MHC (pMHC) multimers, in addition to being tools for tracking and quantifying antigen-specific T cells, can mediate downstream signaling after T-cell receptor engagement. In the absence of costimulation, this can lead to anergy or apoptosis of cognate T cells, a property that could be exploited in the setting of autoimmune disease. Most studies with class I pMHC multimers used noncovalently linked peptides, which can allow unwanted CD8+ T-cell activation as a result of peptide transfer to cellular MHC molecules. To circumvent this problem, and given the role of self-reactive CD8+ T cells in the development of type 1 diabetes, we designed a single-chain pMHC complex (scKd.IGRP) by using the class I MHC molecule H-2Kd and a covalently linked peptide derived from islet-specific glucose-6-phosphatase catalytic subunit-related protein (IGRP206–214), a well established autoantigen in NOD mice. X-ray diffraction studies revealed that the peptide is presented in the groove of the MHC molecule in canonical fashion, and it was also demonstrated that scKd.IGRP tetramers bound specifically to cognate CD8+ T cells. Tetramer binding induced death of naive T cells and in vitro- and in vivo-differentiated cytotoxic T lymphocytes, and tetramer-treated cytotoxic T lymphocytes showed a diminished IFN-γ response to antigen stimulation. Tetramer accessibility to disease-relevant T cells in vivo was also demonstrated. Our study suggests the potential of single-chain pMHC tetramers as possible therapeutic agents in autoimmune disease. Their ability to affect the fate of naive and activated CD8+ T cells makes them a potential intervention strategy in early and late stages of disease.
Attaching Interface Agent Software to Applications

There has been much recent interest in the idea of "intelligent interface agent" software. An intelligent agent is software that can take independent actions in the interface on behalf of a user's goals, without explicit intervention by the user. Examples of such agents include Apple's hypothetical "knowledge navigator" [Apple 89], programming by demonstration systems [Cypher 93], mail and news filtering agents [Kozierok and Maes 93], and others. In most agent experiments to date, it has been necessary to implement the application in whose domain the agent operates from scratch, in order to enable the necessary applicationagent communication. We would like to be able to "attach" an agent to a application that has been written more-or-less conventionally, or at least be able to tell an application developer what the agent may require. This paper explores the relation between agent software and more traditional applications whose interface is intended to be operated by a human user rather than a program. We've implemented some agents In our group at the MIT Media Lab, we have implemented several projects which provide "intelligent agents" for the interfaces to common software packages. Mondrian [Lieberman 92] is an object-oriented graphical editor, similar to MacDraw, which has a learning agent. It records procedures that are visually demonstrated on concrete examples, and has some ability to generalize so that the recorded procedures can operate on examples other than those on which it was originally taught. Mondrian is an example of an instructible agent, one in which the user interacts with the agent in order to influence its future behavior. [Kozierok and Maes 93] implemented a meeting scheduling agent that detects patterns in users' responses to meeting requests in order to respond automatically or make suggestions in the future. [Sheth and Maes 93] has an agent that detects patterns of user interest in Usenet News messages. Our primary interest in these projects was experimenting with the learning algorithms and learning interfaces. However, we were forced in each case to implement our own versions of the application domain interface. Mondrian contains a home-brew graphical editor, and the calendar and mail reader programs were largely implemented from scratch. As a result, our versions of these programs have fewer features than commercial versions, and this limits the extent to which we could perform realistic user tests. We have talked to many other researchers performing similar work in other places and find most are also forced into the same choice. We would like to be able to appropriate a commercial graphical editor like Canvas, a scheduling program like Meeting Maker, or a mail reader like Eudora, [or all of them at once! ] and concentrate on developing our agent software. Yet there is no currently adequate way to for another program written on the same machine to harness the same power that these programs bring to their end users through their interface.
An exploration of cross-cultural adaptation in the context of European student mobility

This study explores cross-cultural adaptation in the context of European student mobility. It shows how the individual journeys of sojourners can be extremely varied, and are affected by internal and external factors, such as motivations, expectations, personality, coping strategies, skills, characteristics of the environment, and chance, among others. This longitudinal qualitative study follows a cohort of 21 Italian university students from before their departure to a number of European destinations, to their return back home. The data collected was in the form of interviews and weekly “diary-tables”, used to create graphs representing the ups and down of the individual experiences. In terms of the research findings, I have shown how the complexities of the adaptation process can be adequately understood within a model that caters for that complexity, while showing that this type of experience can be situated within the perspective of life changes. Anderson’s (1994) model seems particularly suitable in this context. I have also shown that European student mobility has changed since it was set up in 1987, and that increasing numbers of mobile students, the rise of instruction through the medium of English in many HE institutions, globalisation and technology, have changed the landscape within which these students move. Finally, I have shown how residence abroad does not necessarily bring enhanced intercultural skills, although these can be encouraged by providing the students with the concepts and language to describe their experiences, and opportunities for reflection before, during and after the experience abroad. This is the area in which HE institutions in Europe can play a significant role.
The influence of privacy concerns on perceptions of web personalisation

Companies collect a wealth of personal data about their customers in order to be able to target their promotional messages to customers’ interests and demographics. Information technology and the internet in particular have created new opportunities for data collection, storage and processing. While technology enables companies to address customers directly and thus increase sales and customer retention, this form of personalisation may infringe upon users’ privacy. To examine this trade-off, we first identify benefits and costs of personalisation based on the findings of qualitative interviews. Next, we conduct a quantitative survey to assess the risks people perceive for various data types. We segment the respondents according to their privacy concerns and illustrate how people’s general attitudes towards personal data disclosure determine their perceptions of benefits and costs of personalisation.
Effect of Interfacial Oxides on the Electrochemical Activity of Lead Dioxide Film Electrodes on a Ti Substrate

The electrochemical activities of PbO_2 thin-film electrodes were systematically studied with an oxygen-transfer reaction, i.e., the oxidation of thiourea. Five different types of PbO_2 film electrodes were prepared using various methods to investigate the influence of the interfacial oxide layer formed between the Ti substrate and the PbO_2 layer contacting the electrolyte. Among the electrodes tested, PbO_2 electrode prepared by minimizing the formation of the interfacial oxide by either the electrochemical or thermal decomposition method generally exhibited better electrochemical activity. From the results, it can be inferred that the enhanced electrochemical activity of the electrode is due to minimization of the interfacial resistance by the introduction of a metallic Pb layer between the Ti substrate and the PbO_2 layer, and to an increase in the roughness on the surface of the PbO_2 layer.
Fructose and Sucrose Intake Increase Exogenous Carbohydrate Oxidation during Exercise

Peak exogenous carbohydrate oxidation rates typically reach ~1 g·min−1 during exercise when ample glucose or glucose polymers are ingested. Fructose co-ingestion has been shown to further increase exogenous carbohydrate oxidation rates. The purpose of this study was to assess the impact of fructose co-ingestion provided either as a monosaccharide or as part of the disaccharide sucrose on exogenous carbohydrate oxidation rates during prolonged exercise in trained cyclists. Ten trained male cyclists (VO2peak: 65 ± 2 mL·kg−1·min−1) cycled on four different occasions for 180 min at 50% Wmax during which they consumed a carbohydrate solution providing 1.8 g·min−1 of glucose (GLU), 1.2 g·min−1 glucose + 0.6 g·min−1 fructose (GLU + FRU), 0.6 g·min−1 glucose + 1.2 g·min−1 sucrose (GLU + SUC), or water (WAT). Peak exogenous carbohydrate oxidation rates did not differ between GLU + FRU and GLU + SUC (1.40 ± 0.06 vs. 1.29 ± 0.07 g·min−1, respectively, p = 0.999), but were 46% ± 8% higher when compared to GLU (0.96 ± 0.06 g·min−1: p < 0.05). In line, exogenous carbohydrate oxidation rates during the latter 120 min of exercise were 46% ± 8% higher in GLU + FRU or GLU + SUC compared with GLU (1.19 ± 0.12, 1.13 ± 0.21, and 0.82 ± 0.16 g·min−1, respectively, p < 0.05). We conclude that fructose co-ingestion (0.6 g·min−1) with glucose (1.2 g·min−1) provided either as a monosaccharide or as sucrose strongly increases exogenous carbohydrate oxidation rates during prolonged exercise in trained cyclists.
Estructura de Personalidad Materna: su implicación en los probelmas infantiles Maternal Personality: Children's problem implication

En este trabajo se analiza la relación entre la personalidad materna y los problemas conductuales y emocionales del niño, en una muestra de 553 madres y sus hijos. El rango de edad de las madres oscila entre los 26 y 60 años y el de los niños entre los 9 y 14 años. Las madres cumplimentaron el Cuestionario de Problemas Infantiles CBCL (Achenbach & Edelbrock, 1983), el Cuestionario de Personalidad EPI (Eysenck & Eysenck, 1975) y el formulario de datos personales índice de posición social (Hollisgshead, 1957). Los resultados indican que niveles altos de Neuroticismo materno incrementa los problemas emocionales y conductuales del niño. Por el contrario, niveles altos de Extraversión materna actúan como un escudo protector. La clase social se comporta como una variable mediadora entre los problemas emocionales de la madre y los del niño, ya que es en las clases sociales deprimidas donde aparecen presentan un mayor número de problemas.
Horizontal gene transfer in evolution: facts and challenges

The contribution of horizontal gene transfer to evolution has been controversial since it was suggested to be a force driving evolution in the microbial world. In this paper, I review the current standpoint on horizontal gene transfer in evolutionary thinking and discuss how important horizontal gene transfer is in evolution in the broad sense, and particularly in prokaryotic evolution. I review recent literature, asking, first, which processes are involved in the evolutionary success of transferred genes and, secondly, about the extent of horizontal gene transfer towards different evolutionary times. Moreover, I discuss the feasibility of reconstructing ancient phylogenetic relationships in the face of horizontal gene transfer. Finally, I discuss how horizontal gene transfer fits in the current neo-Darwinian evolutionary paradigm and conclude there is a need for a new evolutionary paradigm that includes horizontal gene transfer as well as other mechanisms in the explanation of evolution.
Community Management on Social Networking Sites: Why and How Stakeholders Use Corporate Facebook Pages

In recent years corporations have become increasingly active on social networking sites (SNS). From a communication management perspective, such sites offer great potential to communicate with stakeholders on online communities directly. However, our understanding about how and why individuals use corporate pages on SNS has not kept pace. In our study, we apply a combined perspective of uses-and-gratifications (U&G) and social cognitive theory (SCT) to investigate users' incentives to consume and interact with Swiss corporations on Facebook. Based on our literature review we conducted an online survey (N=215). Exploratory factor analyses (EFA) identified the incentive dimensions of SCT underlying the motives of brand page use. Our results suggest interconnections of incentive dimensions unique to brand page usage: For consumption, novel incentives liaise with self-reactive incentives. Likewise, self-reactive incentives are connected to practical and ideological motivations for participation on corporate pages. Further implications for community management on SNS will be discussed.
A Boosted JPDA-Particle Filter for Multi-target Tracking

With the increasing number of tracking targets, how to solve the complex interactions and occlusions becomes a very important issue in the visual tracking. In this paper, we present a boosted Joint Probabilistic Data Association (JPDA) particle filter framework for multiple targets tracking. For each target, our approach uses all the possible associated Adaboost detections and dynamic model to construct proposal distribution for the particle filter. The weights of these detections and dynamic model are determined using joint association probability. Our method not only can obtain a good approximation for each target, but also deal with the interactions and occlusions between targets. Moreover, our methods can adjust the weights of detections and dynamic information automatically to adapt to the tracking situations (including crossovers, collisions and occlusions). ACM CLASSIFICATION
Network evolution in disaster management: A comparison of response systems evolving after the 2005 and 2008 gulf coast hurricanes

Recent disasters have challenged the formal structure of emergency response plans in the U.S. disaster management system. Although major reform efforts have been undertaken over the last twenty years, the actual practice among federal, state, county/parish, and municipal agencies has changed in some instances, not in others. This article presents findings from an unusual quasi-experimental study of four hurricanes - Katrina and Rita that struck the Gulf Coast states of Louisiana and Texas in 2005, and Gustav and Ike that struck the same region in 2008 - to examine the network evolution from implemented changes. The analysis is based on data collected through a content analysis of local newspapers, which identified the organizational interactions that emerged in response operations following each of the hurricanes. These data were then analyzed to compare the four networks of action in terms of centrality, density, distance, and clustering. We next conducted a quadratic assignment procedure (QAP) analysis and a small world network analysis. Findings from the analyses reveal that the response systems in the State of Louisiana successfully achieved network evolution, the result of lessons learned from events in 2005 and implemented prior to 2008. In contrast, the response systems in the State of Texas demonstrated few signs of network evolution between the two storms.
Battery-Powered Devices in WPCNs

Wireless powered communication networks are becoming an effective solution for improved self-sustainability of mobile devices. In this context, a hybrid access point transfers energy to a group of nodes, which use the harvested energy to perform computation or transmission tasks. While the availability of the wireless energy transfer mechanism opens up new frontiers, an appropriate choice of the network parameters (e.g., transmission powers, transmission duration, and amount of transferred energy) is required in order to achieve high performance. In this paper, we study the throughput optimization problem in a system composed of an access point, which recharges the batteries of two devices at different distances. In the literature, the main focus so far has been on slot-oriented optimization, in which all the harvested energy is used in the same slot in which it is harvested. However, this approach is strongly suboptimal, because it does not exploit the possibility to store the energy and use it at a later time. Thus, instead of considering the slot-oriented case, we address the long-term maximization. This assumption greatly increases the optimization complexity, as it requires to consider, e.g., the channel state statistics and the batteries evolution. Our objective is to find the best scheduling scheme, both for the energy transferred by the access point and for the data sent by the two nodes. We discuss how to perform the maximization with optimal as well as approximate techniques and show that the slot-oriented policies proposed so far are strongly suboptimal in the long run.
Functional and architectural adaptation in pervasive computing environments

Service-oriented computing paradigm encourages the use of dynamic binding of application requirements to the resources needed to fulfill application tasks. Especially in pervasive computing that is characterized by disconnected operation and mobility, the process of using service specifications and dynamic binding becomes critical. For this, adaptation techniques that provide for seamless service composition are needed for user task execution. In this paper we present our approach to enable two kinds of adaptations: functional (due to changes in user requirements) and architectural (due to changes in nonfunctional requirements) in pervasive computing systems. The key features of our approach are to model services as workflows, service handoffs as points of variability, and context detailing for dynamic service provisioning.