Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Stochastic Local Search for BRDF Parameterization

A bidirectional reflectance distribution function (BRDF) models how light is reflected by a surface. There is an extensive literature [8] advocating different BRDF models on the basis of computational complexity, expressiveness, theoretical models, and physical correctness. We examine the parameterization of the Lafortune BRDF model [4], a generalization of an empirical model commonly used in rendering, from sample data using stochastic local search techniques.
Sulfur Amino Acid Metabolism and Its Control in Lactococcus lactis IL1403

ABSTRACT Cysteine and methionine availability influences many processes in the cell. In bacteria, transcription of the specific genes involved in the synthesis of these two amino acids is usually regulated by different mechanisms or regulators. Pathways for the synthesis of cysteine and methionine and their interconversion were experimentally determined for Lactococcus lactis, a lactic acid bacterium commonly found in food. A new gene, yhcE, was shown to be involved in methionine recycling to cysteine. Surprisingly, 18 genes, representing almost all genes of these pathways, are under the control of a LysR-type activator, FhuR, also named CmbR. DNA microarray experiments showed that FhuR targets are restricted to this set of 18 genes clustered in seven transcriptional units, while cysteine starvation modifies the transcription level of several other genes potentially involved in oxidoreduction processes. Purified FhuR binds a 13-bp box centered 46 to 53 bp upstream of the transcriptional starts from the seven regulated promoters, while a second box with the same consensus is present upstream of the first binding box, separated by 8 to 10 bp. O-Acetyl serine increases FhuR binding affinity to its binding boxes. The overall view of sulfur amino acid metabolism and its regulation in L. lactis indicates that CysE could be a master enzyme controlling the activity of FhuR by providing its effector, while other controls at the enzymatic level appear to be necessary to compensate the absence of differential regulation of the genes involved in the interconversion of methionine and cysteine and other biosynthesis genes.
Conserving pattern and process in the Southern Ocean: designing a Marine Protected Area for the Prince Edward Islands

South Africa is currently proclaiming a Marine Protected Area (MPA) in the Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) of its sub-Antarctic Prince Edward Islands. The objectives of the MPA are to: 1) contribute to a national and global representative system of MPAs, 2) serve as a scientific reference point to inform future management, 3) contribute to the recovery of the Patagonian toothfish (Dissostichus eleginoides), and 4) reduce the bird bycatch of the toothfish fishery, particularly of albatrosses and petrels. This study employs systematic conservation planning methods to delineate a MPA within the EEZ that will conserve biodiversity patterns and processes within sensible management boundaries, while minimizing conflict with the legal toothfish fishery. After collating all available distributional data on species, benthic habitats and ecosystem processes, we used C-Plan software to delineate a MPA with three management zones: four IUCN Category Ia reserves (13% of EEZ); two Conservation Zones (21% of EEZ); and three Category IV reserves (remainder of EEZ). Compromises between conservation target achievement and the area required by the MPA are apparent in the final reserve design. The proposed MPA boundaries are expected to change over time as new data become available and as impacts of climate change become more evident.
Statistical power modeling of GPU kernels using performance counters

We present a statistical approach for estimating power consumption of GPU kernels. We use the GPU performance counters that are exposed for CUDA applications, and train a linear regression model where performance counters are used as independent variables and power consumption is the dependent variable. For model training and evaluation, we use publicly available CUDA applications, consisting of 49 kernels in the CUDA SDK and the Rodinia benchmark suite. Our regression model achieves highly accurate estimates for many of the tested kernels, where the average error ratio is 4.7%. However, we also find that it fails to yield accurate estimates for kernels with texture reads because of the lack of performance counters for monitoring texture accesses, resulting in significant underestimation for such kernels.
China's Higher Education Expansion and its Labor Market Consequences

Using a 1/5 random draw of the 1% census of 2005, we investigate how China’s higher education expansion commenced in 1999 affects the education opportunities of various population groups and how this policy affects the labor market. Treating the expansion as an experiment and using a LATE framework, we find that higher education expansion increased the probability of go to college tremendously. Different populations “benefit” from this policy differently however. Minority female, those from central-western region and from rural areas are less likely to benefit from it. One-child families are more responsive to this policy. Using higher education resources at the provincial level as another dimension of variation, and using a difference-in-difference strategy, we find that the education expansion decreased the within sector inequality of population with above high school (inclusive) education. This is primarily due to the increase of the income level for high school graduate. That of the college graduate deceased, but only slightly and not significantly.
Testosterone Levels Are Negatively Associated with Childlessness in Males, but Positively Related to Offspring Count in Fathers

Variation in testosterone (T) is thought to affect the allocation of effort between reproductive and parenting strategies. Here, using a large sample of elderly American men (n = 754) and women (n = 669) we examined the relationship between T and self-reported parenthood, as well as the relationship between T and number of reported children. Results supported previous findings from the literature, showing that fathers had lower T levels than men who report no children. Furthermore, we found that among fathers T levels were positively associated with the number of children a man reports close to the end of his lifespan. Results were maintained when controlling for a number of relevant factors such as time of T sampling, participant age, educational attainment, BMI, marital status and reported number of sex partners. In contrast, T was not associated with either motherhood or the number of children women had, suggesting that, at least in this sample, T does not influence the allocation of effort between reproductive and parenting strategies among women. Findings from this study contribute to the growing body of literature suggesting that, among men, pair bonding and paternal care are associated with lower T levels, while searching and acquiring sex partners is associated with higher T levels.
Austrian Public Choice: An empirical investigation

The purpose of this paper is to explore empirically some of the key propositions that can be derived when one combines insights from Public Choice and Austrian economics. We call this approach Austrian Public Choice. These key propositions are (1) that political markets are dynamic processes driven by the action of suppliers and demanders of public policies behaving as entrepreneurs, (2) that these political entrepreneurs are ignorant ex ante of factors that can matter as the regulatory process unfolds, suggesting that they imperfectly anticipate what will ultimately matter for policy decisions, and (3) that these political entrepreneurs learn over time and use local knowledge to discover future opportunities in political markets. Using a dataset of utility initiated rate reviews in the U.S. electricity industry, we find support for these propositions, which suggests that Austrian economics could shed new lights on questions typically raised by Public Choice scholars. JEL categories: B53; D72
Natural chemical markers identify source and date of introduction of an exotic species: lake trout (Salvelinus namaycush) in Yellowstone Lake

Exotic species invasions pose a pervasive threat to aquatic ecosystems worldwide, yet fundamental questions about the geographic origin and timing of invasions or introductions are frequently difficult to answer. We used natural chemical markers (Sr:Ca ratios) in otoliths to identify probable source and date of introduction of exotic lake trout (Salvelinus namaycush) into Yellowstone Lake, Wyoming, USA. Otolith Sr:Ca ratios were significantly different among lake trout known to have reared in three different Yellowstone National Park lakes (Yellowstone, Heart, and Lewis lakes) and showed little variation along the otolith axis, indicating that lake trout within each lake experienced a simi- lar, and consistent, environmental history. In contrast, suspected transplants showed a large and rapid increase in otolith Sr:Ca ratios indicative of a marked shift to water of differing chemistry. Timing of the abrupt change in Sr:Ca ratios indicated that some lake trout were introduced into Yellowstone Lake during the late 1980s, but more recent transplants also occurred. A discriminant model identified Lewis Lake as the likely source lake for lake trout transplanted into Yellowstone Lake. Our results demonstrate that chemical signatures within otoliths can serve as an important forensic tool for identifying the probable source and date of exotic fish introductions. Resume : Bien que l'invasion d'especes exotiques soit une menace omnipresente dans les ecosystemes aquatiques a l'echelle de la planete, les questions fondamentales concernant l'origine geographique et la date des invasions et des introductions restent souvent difficiles a resoudre. Nous avons utilise des marqueurs chimiques naturels (rapports Sr:Ca) dans les otolithes pour identifier la source probable et la date d'introduction des touladis (Salvelinus namaycush) exoti- ques du lac Yellowstone, Wyoming, E. -U. Les rapports Sr:Ca des touladis eleves dans trois lacs differents du parc na- tional de Yellowstone (Yellowstone, Heart et Lewis) sont significativement differents et ils affichent peu de variation le long de l'axe de l'otolithe, ce qui indique que les touladis de chacun des lacs y ont vecu une histoire environnementale semblable et uniforme. En revanche, les poissons soupconnes d'avoir ete transplantes montrent une augmentation rapide et importante des rapports Sr:Ca dans leurs otolithes, ce qui indique un passage subit dans une eau de caracteristiques chimiques differentes. La determination de la date de ces changements abrupts des rapports Sr:Ca indique que certains touladis ont ete introduits dans le lac Yellowstone a la fin des annees 1980, mais qu'i lyae uaussi des introductions plus recentes. Un modele discriminant identifie le lac Lewis comme la source probable des touladis introduits dans le lac Yellowstone. Nos resultats montrent que les signatures chimiques des otolithes peuvent etre des outils de recherche interessants pour identifier la source et la date probables d'introduction de poissons exotiques.
The association problem with misleading partial channel state information

It has been known that the throughput of the 802.11 WLAN is much smaller than the nominal bit rate offered when attempting to connect to an access point. A user may discover the quality of service offered by an access point only after taking the decision of which of the access points to connect to. In fact, the actual throughput of a user is a function of not only his channel state but also of that of the other connected users. This could likely lead to congestion and overload conditions in the Access Point (AP) in question (which offers the best signal strength) and all users would lose. The information available to users attempting to connect to an AP is thus misleading. In this paper, we develop a Nash-Bayesian game framework where users compete to maximize their throughput by picking the best locally serving radio access network (RAN) with respect to their own measurement, their demand and a partial statistical channel state information (CSI) of other users. We derive analytically the utilities perceived by users to obtain the equilibria. In particular, it is shown that equilibria strongly depend on the channel quality indicator.
Gesture Recognition using Skeleton Data with Weighted Dynamic Time Warping

With Microsoft’s launch of Kinect in 2010, and release of Kinect SDK in 2011, numerous applications and research projects exploring new ways in human-computer interaction have been enabled. Gesture recognition is a technology often used in human-computer interaction applications. Dynamic time warping (DTW) is a template matching algorithm and is one of the techniques used in gesture recognition. To recognize a gesture, DTW warps a time sequence of joint positions to reference time sequences and produces a similarity value. However, all body joints are not equally important in computing the similarity of two sequences. We propose a weighted DTW method that weights joints by optimizing a discriminant ratio. Finally, we demonstrate the recognition performance of our proposed weighted DTW with respect to the conventional DTW and state-of-
Clutter-aware label layout

A high-quality label layout is critical for effective information understanding and consumption. Existing labeling methods fail to help users quickly gain an overview of visualized data when the number of labels is large. Visual clutter is a major challenge preventing these methods from being applied to real-world applications. To address this, we propose a context-aware label layout that can measure and reduce visual clutter during the layout process. Our method formulates the clutter model using four factors: confusion, visual connection, distance, and intersection. Based on this clutter model, an effective clutter-aware labeling method has been developed that can generate clear and legible label layouts in different visualizations. We have applied our method to several types of visualizations and the results show promise, especially in support of an uncluttered and informative label layout.
Correction to "Leverage and volatility feedback effects in high-frequency data" [J. Financial Econometrics 4 (2006) 353--384]

Bollerslev et al. (2006) study the cross-covariances for squared returns under the Heston (1993) stochastic volatility model. In order to obtain these cross-covariances the authors use an incorrect expression for the distribution of the squared returns. Here we will obtain the correct distribution of the squared returns and check that, under this new distribution, the result in Appendix A.2 in Bollerslev et al. (2006) still holds.
Design and analysis of MIMO multiuser system using full-duplex multiple relay nodes

This paper deals with design and analysis of full-duplex relay-aided communication system for the general case of multi-relay and multiuser structure assuming that all of source, relay and destination nodes are equipped with multiple antennas. First, the calculation methods of transmit and receive weight vectors are considered based on zero forcing approach which achieves the cancellation of all the interferences with reduced number of antenna elements. Then computer simulations are carried out to verify the effectiveness of full-duplex relay-aided transmission. The results show that the proposed system has better performance compared with relay-less and half-duplex relay-aided cases under certain conditions, and some natures of full-duplex relaying including its disadvantages are also investigated.
On the Ergodic Capacity of Underlay Cognitive Dual-Hop AF Relayed Systems Under Non-Identical Generalized- $K$ Fading Channels

The ergodic capacity of underlay cognitive (secondary) dual-hop relaying systems is analytically investigated. Specifically, the amplify-and-forward transmission protocol is considered, while the received signals undergo multipath fading and shadowing with non-identical statistics. To efficiently describe this composite type of fading, the well-known generalized-K fading model is used. New analytical expressions and quite accurate closed-form approximations regarding the ergodic capacity of the end-to-end communication are obtained, in terms of finite sum series of the Meijer's-G function. The analytical results are verified with the aid of computer simulations, while useful insights are revealed.
CASIA@QALD-3: A Question Answering System over Linked Data

We present a question answering system (CASIA) over Linked Data (DBpedia), which focuses on construct a bridge between the users and the Linked Data. Based on the Linked Data consisting of subject-property-object (SPO) triples, each natural language question firstly is transformed into a triple-based represen- tation (Query Triple). Then, the corresponding resources in DBpedia, including class, entity, property, are mapped for the phrases in the query triples. Finally, the optimal SPARQL query is generated as the output result. Our system can not only deal with the single-relation questions but the complex questions containing multi-relations. We evaluate our approach on QALD-3 test dataset and achieve an F-measure score of 0.36, an average precision of 0.35 and an average recall of 0.36 over 99 questions.
Solving for motion and activation simultaneously in an fMRI experiment with multiple stimulus conditions

It has recently been shown that greater accuracy in fMRI processing can be achieved if registration and activation detection are solved simultaneously rather than in sequence. However, this simultaneous solution has been demonstrated only for fMRI experiments in which a single stimulus condition was used. This paper presents results obtained by applying the simultaneous solution technique to simulated datasets with two stimulus conditions, and demonstrates that the technique is equally effective on such datasets.
slaMEM: efficient retrieval of maximal exact matches using a sampled LCP array

MOTIVATION Maximal exact matches, or just MEMs, are a powerful tool in the context of multiple sequence alignment and approximate string matching. The most efficient algorithms to collect them are based on compressed indexes that rely on longest common prefix array-centered data structures. However, their space-efficient representations make use of encoding techniques that are expensive from a computational point of view. With the deluge of data generated by high-throughput sequencing, new approaches need to be developed to deal with larger genomic sequences. RESULTS In this work, we have developed a new longest common prefix array-sampled representation, optimized to work with the backward search method inherently used by the FM-Index. Unlike previous implementations that sacrifice running time to have smaller space, ours lead to both a fast and a space-efficient approach. This implementation was used by the new software slaMEM, developed to efficiently retrieve MEMs. The results show that the new algorithm is competitive against existing state-of-the-art approaches. AVAILABILITY AND IMPLEMENTATION The software is implemented in C and is operating system independent. The source code is freely available for download at http://github.com/fjdf/slaMEM/ under the GPLv3 license.
KEY-PHRASE EXTRACTION FOR CLASSIFICATION

In this paper we consider the problem of extracting key-phrases from a bilingual texts collection and using them for text classification. A key-phrase could be defined as a sequence of words of a given size in a given partial order that occur within a sentence. We describe an algorithm for the discovery of key-phrases. Then, a framework of handling multilingual texts / documents is described which combines the use of the traditional vector space model with a new similarity measure which is based on the key-phrases. This framework is used for finding the most similar documents of a training set with any new document and selecting the classes of the similar documents as the most plausible ones for the new document. Some experimental results are also presented.
TEXT LOCATION IN COLOR SCENE IMAGES FOR INFORMATION ACQUISITION BY MOBILE TERMINALS

A camera integrated to a mobile phone for transmitting and receiving information is an objective people expect in the near future. Because texts always contain useful information, it is valuable to extract text or characters from natural pictures. This paper proposes a connectedcomponent-based approach to automatic text location and recognition in color scene images that are taken by a digital camera. A multi-group decomposition scheme is used to deal with the complexity of the color background. Introduction of weak color and grayscale besides hue space improves the performance of the method. Block adjacency graph (BAG) algorithm is employed for extracting connected components in each image layer and alignment analysis is efficient to obtain accurate location. Some new features are applied in block candidate verification. Results of our experiments prove the efficiency for a wide range of real mobile application environments in the terms of character fonts, shooting conditions, and color backgrounds.
Including the effects of process-related variability on radiation response using a new test chip

Space applications using advanced foundry processes require accurate assessment of the dependence of total-ionizing dose (TID) response on process variability and layout. A new test chip is described to enable large sample of device measurements under irradiation. The variability of TID-induced leakage current and transistor mismatch both increase after irradiation.
Design and Simulation of MPPT Controller for a PV Generator Using Simscape-Matlab

In modern time the demand of electric energy widely increases day by day due to the reduction of the fossil fuels like (gases, liquids, coals, oil etc.) and the other environmental issues the all of world is looking for the alternative. The solar energy is the most renewable and sustainable energy sources. This paper present Simscape based modeling and performance of the photovoltaic generator and this paper presents the two different methods is used to maximize the PV generator output power. Thus , a comparison between the ‘Perturb and Observe’ method and the ‘Fuzzy Logic’ controller based maximum power point tracking (MPPT) algorithm is discussed an analyze.
Social sustainability of non-mega sport events in a global world1

Abstract This contribution offers a theoretical perspective on the social impacts of sport events. Most research in this area has focused on global mega sport events (MSEs). However, given the fact that there are many more, smaller non-mega sport events (NMSEs) being organised in this global world, the paper calls for a reflection on how these smaller types of events can potentially contribute to benefit residents of local communities. The paper contrasts and compares social impacts and outcomes of both, MSEs and NMSEs, using four different perspectives: power relations, urban regeneration, socialisation, and human capital. There is reason to believe that NMSEs may be more relevant in creating durable benefits for host communities, as compared to MSEs. This is explained through the concept of social capital. Because NMSEs are omni-present, they may provide more lasting global benefits. The paper calls for a broader research agenda focussing on the true value of small and medium sized sport events for local communities.