Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Field-normalized impact factors (IFs): A comparison of rescaling and fractionally counted IFs

Two methods for comparing impact factors and citation rates across fields of science are tested against each other using citations to the 3,705 journals in the Science Citation Index 2010 (CD-Rom version of SCI) and the 13 field categories used for the Science and Engineering Indicators of the U.S. National Science Board. We compare (a) normalization by counting citations in proportion to the length of the reference list (1/N of references) with (b) rescaling by dividing citation scores by the arithmetic mean of the citation rate of the cluster. Rescaling is analytical and therefore independent of the quality of the attribution to the sets, whereas fractional counting provides an empirical strategy for normalization among sets (by evaluating the between-group variance). By the fairness test of Radicchi and Castellano (2012a), rescaling outperforms fractional counting of citations for reasons that we consider.
Extended Knowledge-Based Reasoning Approach to Spectrum Sensing for Cognitive Radio

In this paper, a novel scheme for cognitive radio (CR) spectrum sensing in medium access control (MAC) layer, called as extended knowledge-based reasoning (EKBR), is proposed. The target of EKBR is to improve the fine sensing efficiency by jointly considering a number of network states and environmental statistics, including fast sensing results, short-term statistical information, channel quality, data transmission rate, and channel contention characteristics. This is for a better estimation on the optimal range of spectrum for fine sensing so as to adaptively reduce the overall channel sensing time. Performance analysis is conducted on the proposed EKBR scheme using a multidimensional absorbing Markov chain to evaluate various performance metrics of interest, such as average sensing delay (or referred to as sensing overhead in the study), average data transmission rate, and percentage of missed spectrum opportunities. Numerical results show that the proposed EKBR scheme achieves better performance than that by the state-or-the-art techniques while yielding less computation complexity and sensing overhead.
A QoS management middleware based on mobility prediction for multimedia service continuity in the wireless Internet

New challenging service scenarios are integrating mobile wireless devices with limited and heterogeneous capabilities. This not only calls for novel solutions to support different forms of mobility and connectivity in wired-wireless integrated networks, but also stresses the necessity of quality of service (QoS) tailoring and adaptation, especially in resource-consuming applications such as multimedia distribution. The work presents mobile ubiQoS, a mobile agent (MA) middleware to manage the QoS provisioning of multimedia content to client devices that roam in the wireless Internet. In particular, the paper focuses on how mobile ubiQoS provides a portable solution to predict inter-cell mobility, without any external global positioning system. Mobility prediction permits to migrate personalized MAs, which tailor/adapt multimedia contents to both device profiles and user preferences, by anticipating user movements. This is crucial to proactively rearrange personalized sessions by maintaining service continuity. The adopted prediction solution is lightweight and decentralized, by exploiting the client-side monitoring information about the received signal strength of IEEE 802.11 base stations in a completely portable way. Both simulation and experimental results show that, notwithstanding the portable application-level approach, our middleware can predict the. next user cell location enough in advance to support continuous multimedia services for the wireless Internet.
Complexity of closed networks based on spanning tree approach

In a planar graph G, it is easy to find a tree that contains all the vertices and a few edges of G, such as this subgraph is called a spanning tree of G. We can also find two or three of these types of trees. The dificult question is how many spanning trees can contain this graph? In the literature, several researchers have found an answer to this question by proposing algebraic and combinatorial methods. This number of spanning trees of a graph that describes a network also called it's complexity tends to be one of the most natural characteristics from the viewpoint of its reliability, and deriving a formula to count the number of spanning trees for various graphs has become a vital role not only in applied mathematics but also in computer science. In this paper we present a comparative study of the reliability of some proposed closed networks based on their number of spanning trees called also the complexity of graphs by finding formulas that compute this complexity which represent an important measure of reliability to deduce that the proposed topology is the best to adopt for a more reliable routing.
Community-based geospatial tag estimation

This paper tackles the geospatial tag estimation problem, which is of critical importance for location-based search, retrieval, and mining applications. However, tag estimation is challenging due to massive sparsity, uncertainty in the tags actually used, as well as diversity across locations and times. Toward overcoming these challenges, we propose a community-based smoothing approach that seeks to uncover hidden conceptual communities which link multiple related locations by their common interests in addition to their proximity. Through extensive experiments over a sample of millions of geotagged Twitter posts, we demonstrate the effectiveness of the smoothing approach and validate the intuition that geo-locations have the tendency to share similar “ideas” in the formation of conceptual communities.
A Data Reorganization Technique for Improving Data Locality ofIrregular Applications in Software Distributed Shared MemoryY

Irregular applications are characterized by highly irregular and ne-grained data referencing patterns. When there is poor locality between the ne-grained data, serious false sharing can occur which has largely contributed to poor performance of irregular applications on page-based software distributed shared memory (DSM) systems. Partitioning data in irregular applications to improve data locality has been routinely practiced in message passing programming to reduce inter-processor communication, but data reordering is often ignored in shared memory programming. In this paper we show that data reordering is also important in programming irregular applications under software DSMs, in particular because of the false sharing eeect. We describe a simple yet highly eeec-tive data reordering technique which can signiicantly improve data locality and reduce false sharing in many irregular applications. We evaluate the eeectiveness of this technique on a set of ve irregular applications under both Princeton's home-based protocol and Rice's TreadMarks protocol on a 16-processor platform. We nd that with a simple data ordering during the initial-ization, the performance of these irregular applications is improved by 30% { 366% under TreadMarks and 14%-269% under the home-based protocol.
CD8+ T-Cell Dysfunction due to Cytolytic Granule Deficiency in Persistent Friend Retrovirus Infection

ABSTRACT Virus-specific CD8+ T cells are critical for the control of acute Friend virus (FV) infections, but are rendered impotent by CD4+ regulatory T cells during the chronic phase of infection. The current study examines this CD8+ T-cell dysfunction by analyzing the production and release of cytolytic molecules by CD8+ T cells. CD8+ T cells with an activated phenotype (CD43+) from acutely infected mice produced all three key components of lytic granules: perforin, granzyme A, and granzyme B. Furthermore, they displayed evidence of recent degranulation and in vivo cytotoxicity. In contrast, activated CD8+ T cells from chronically infected mice were deficient in cytolytic molecules and showed little evidence of recent degranulation and poor in vivo cytotoxicity. Evidence from tetramer-positive CD8+ T cells with known virus specificity confirmed the findings from the activated subset of CD8+ T cells. Interestingly, perforin and granzyme A mRNA levels were not significantly reduced during chronic infection, indicating control at a posttranscriptional level. Granzyme B deficiency was associated with a significant decrease in mRNA levels, but posttranscriptional control also appeared to contribute to deficiency. These results demonstrate a broad impairment of cytotoxic CD8+ T-cell effector function during chronic retroviral infection and explain the inability of virus-specific CD8+ T cells to eliminate persistent virus.
The Impact of Mobile Shopping Quality on Customer Satisfaction and Purchase Intentions: The IS Success Based Model

While the popularity of mobile phones has grown enormously in recent years, mobile shopping (m-shopping) is becoming a new marketing channel where marketers can use to display or deliver their products or service. Despite mobile shopping increasing significance, there is still a lack of research work in this filed, the objectives of this study are sought to be achieved through examining factors connected with m-shopping quality, perceived usefulness, customer satisfaction, and purchase intention. A self-administered questionnaire is used as a quantitative evaluation method for data collection. This study uses the partial least squares (PLS) analytical tool to examine the model. The results were fully supported proposed model. The implications and suggestions for the further research are also discussed in this study.
The Empirical Analysis of Cigarette Tax Avoidance and Illicit Trade in Vietnam, 1998-2010

Illicit trade carries the potential to magnify existing tobacco-related health care costs through increased availability of untaxed and inexpensive cigarettes. What is known with respect to the magnitude of illicit trade for Vietnam is produced primarily by the industry, and methodologies are typically opaque. Independent assessment of the illicit cigarette trade in Vietnam is vital to tobacco control policy. This paper measures the magnitude of illicit cigarette trade for Vietnam between 1998 and 2010 using two methods, discrepancies between legitimate domestic cigarette sales and domestic tobacco consumption estimated from surveys, and trade discrepancies as recorded by Vietnam and trade partners. The results indicate that Vietnam likely experienced net smuggling in during the period studied. With the inclusion of adjustments for survey respondent under-reporting, inward illicit trade likely occurred in three of the four years for which surveys were available. Discrepancies in trade records indicate that the value of smuggled cigarettes into Vietnam ranges from $100 million to $300 million between 2000 and 2010 and that these cigarettes primarily originate in Singapore, Hong Kong, Macao, Malaysia, and Australia. Notable differences in trends over time exist between the two methods, but by comparison, the industry estimates consistently place the magnitude of illicit trade at the upper bounds of what this study shows. The unavailability of annual, survey-based estimates of consumption may obscure the true, annual trend over time. Second, as surveys changed over time, estimates relying on them may be inconsistent with one another. Finally, these two methods measure different components of illicit trade, specifically consumption of illicit cigarettes regardless of origin and smuggling of cigarettes into a particular market. However, absent a gold standard, comparisons of different approaches to illicit trade measurement serve efforts to refine and improve measurement approaches and estimates.
On the gravitational field of a point mass in Einstein Universe background

Some properties of an exact solution due to Vaidya, describing the gravitational field produced by a point particle in the background of the static Einstein universe are examined. The maximal analytic extension and the nature of the singularities of the model are discussed. By using the Euclidean approach, some quantum aspects are analysed and the thermodynamics of this spacetime is also discussed.
Examining the Extinction of the Barbary Lion and Its Implications for Felid Conservation

Estimations of species extinction dates are rarely definitive, yet declarations of extinction or extirpation are important as they define when conservation efforts may cease. Erroneous declarations of extinctions not only destabilize conservation efforts but also corrode local community support. Mismatches in perceptions by the scientific and local communities risk undermining sensitive, but important partnerships. We examine observations relating to the decline and extinction of Barbary lions in North Africa. Whilst the extinction predates the era of the scientific conservation movement, the decline is relatively well documented in historical records. Recently unearthed accounts suggest Barbary lions survived later than previously assumed. We use probabilistic methods to estimate a more recent extinction date for the subspecies. The evidence presented for a much later persistence of lions in North Africa, including generations when sightings were nil, suggests caution when considering felid populations as extinct in the wild. The case raises the possibility that captive animals descended from the Moroccan royal collection are closer contemporaries to wild Barbary lions. Furthermore, our results highlight the vulnerability of very small lion populations and the significance of continued conservation of remnant lion populations in Central and West Africa.
COMPONENTS OF THE EXCHANGE RISK PREMIUM IN A MULTIPLE DEALER FX MARKET

The paper proposes a continuous time model of an FX market organized as a multiple dealership. The dealers have costly access to best available quotes. They interpret signals from the joint dealercustomer order flow and decide upon their own quotes and trades in the inter-dealer market. Each dealer uses the observed order flow to improve the subjective estimates of relevant aggregate variables, which are the sources of uncertainty. These are: returns on domestic and foreign assets, the equilibrium FX transaction price and the size of the cross-border dealer transactions in the FX market. These uncertainties have diffusion form and are dealt with according to the principles of portfolio optimization in continuous time. The model is used to explain the country, or risk, premium in the uncovered national return parity equation for the exchange rate. The two country premium terms that I identify in excess of the usual covariance term (consequence of the Jensen inequality effect) are: the dealer heterogeneity-induced inter-dealer market order flow component and the dealer Bayesian learning component. As a result, a dealer-based total return parity formula links the exchange rate to both the fundamental factors represented by the differential of the national asset returns, and the microstructural factors represented by heterogeneous dealer knowledge of the aggregate order flow and the fundamentals.
[Ca2+]i Reduction Increases Cellular Proliferation and Apoptosis in Vascular Smooth Muscle Cells: Relevance to the ADPKD Phenotype

Cardiovascular complications are the leading cause of morbidity and mortality in autosomal dominant polycystic kidney disease. Pkd2+/− vascular smooth muscle cells (VSMCs) have an abnormal phenotype and defective intracellular Ca2+ ([Ca2+]i) regulation. We examined cAMP content in vascular smooth muscles from Pkd2+/− mice because cAMP is elevated in cystic renal epithelial cells. We found cAMP concentration was significantly increased in Pkd2+/− vessels compared with wild-type vessels. Furthermore, reducing the wild-type VSMC [Ca2+]i by Verapamil or BAPTA-AM significantly increased cellular cAMP concentration (mainly by phosphodiesterase [PDE] inhibition), the rate of VSMC proliferation (determined by direct cell counting, 3H-incorporation, FACS analysis of cells entering S phase, and quantitative Western PCNA and ERK1/2 analyses), and the rate of apoptosis (by Hoechst staining, FACS analysis of the Annexin-V positive cells, and quantitative Western Bax, cytochrome c, and activated caspase 9 and 3 analyses). The low [Ca2+]i induced VSMC proliferation was independent of cAMP/B-Raf signaling, while that of apoptosis was promoted by cAMP. In summary, Pkd2+/− VSMCs have elevated cAMP levels. This elevation can also be induced by reducing [Ca2+]i in wild-type VSMCs. The [Ca2+]i reduction and cAMP accumulation can cause an increase in both cellular proliferation and apoptosis, resembling Pkd mutant phenotype.
Using AOP for an Academic Agile Project : A Pilot Study

This paper describes a pilot study conducted with multiple teams during a period of three months using AspectJ on an Agile project. A number of studies have been published in the AO literature about the benefits and drawbacks of Aspect-Orientation (AO). But most of them are conducted under limited and unrealistic conditions with few participants. In this paper, we aim to provide information about perceptions, difficulties and experiences from a new comer perspective on using AO in an Agile project for the first time. Our preliminary results indicate that AO with AspectJ is well accepted and, as opposed to what we thought initially, may not be so difficult to learn and use. Beginners can rapidly see the benefits of AO on the design and quality of software. Furthermore, the Agile process seems to be greatly appreciated even if the project was taking place in an academic context.
Long-Term Reverberation Modeling for Under-Determined Audio Source Separation with Application to Vocal Melody Extraction

In this paper, we present a way to model long-term rever-beration effects in under-determined source separation algorithms based on a non-negative decomposition framework. A general model for the sources affected by rever-beration is introduced and update rules for the estimation of the parameters are presented. Combined with a well-known source-ﬁlter model for singing voice, an application to the extraction of reverberated vocal tracks from polyphonic music signals is proposed. Finally, an objec-tive evaluation of this application is described. Performance improvements are obtained compared to the same model without reverberation modeling, in particular by signiﬁcantly reducing the amount of interference between sources.
Touching Syllable Segmentation using Split Profile Algorithm

The most challenging task of a character recognition system is associated with segmentation of individual components of the script with maximum efficiency. This process is relatively easy with regard to stroke based and standard scripts. Cursive scripts are more complex possessing a large number of overlapping and touching objects, where in the statistical behavior of the topological properties are to be studied extensively for achieving highest accuracy. Certain amount of similarity exists between unconstrained hand written text as well as South Indian scripts in terms of topology, component combinations, overlapping and merging characteristics. The concept of syllables and their formulations is an additive complexity with regard to Indian scripts. In this paper the statistical behavior of the cursive script, Telugu, is presented. The topological properties in terms of zones, component combinations, behavioural aspects of syllables are studied and adopted in the segmentation process. The statistical behaviour of cursive components are evaluated. Split Profile Algorithm is proposed while handling touching components. The proposed algorithm is evaluated on different fonts and sizes. The performance of the proposed algorithm is compared with two approaches methods viz aspect ratio and syllable width approaches.
Beowulf Parallel Processing for Dynamic Load-balancing 12

1 0-7803-5846-5/00/$10.00 © 2000 IEEE 2 Updated August 31, 1999 Abstract—The Beowulf parallel-processing architecture is a public-domain software technology developed by NASA to link commercial off the shelf (COTS) processors yielding super-computer performance (10 Gflops) very economically (under $150K). It has been used for applications as diverse as scalable hierarchical particle algorithms for galaxy formation and accretion astrophysics, phase transitions in the early universe and their analogues in the laboratory, and data analysis from the spacecraft in the Solar-Terrestrial Probe Line. Beowulf clusters have been ranked among the top 125 world-class supercomputers. Beowulf runs on a variety of platforms (workstations, Win-tel PCs, Macintosh) and a variety of generations of hardware. It has been successfully demonstrated for heterogeneous parallel processing with hundreds of diverse platforms.
A Single-Inductor, Multiple-Channel Current-Balancing LED Driver for Display Backlight Applications

A single-inductor boost light-emitting diode (LED) driver that can distribute equal dc currents to multiple channels of LEDs is presented. To ensure uniform brightness in display backlight units, the previous approaches used current regulation elements serially inserted in individual LED channels, which incur power losses. Instead, the proposed LED driver adopts a single-inductor-multiple-output boost converter topology, which keeps the channel currents equal in an open-loop fashion by connecting the current-delivering inductor to each channel for an equal period of time, in a time-division multiplexing manner. Furthermore, the sequence of conduction is continuously permutated in order to reduce possible systematic imbalances among the currents. A prototype LED driver demonstrates the peak power efficiency of 93.0% excluding the field-programmable gate array controller power and maximum current balance error of 2.04% while delivering 12.4 W to three channels of high-brightness white LEDs.
Data-Driven Ghosting using Deep Imitation Learning

Current state-of-the-art sports statistics compare players and teams to league average performance. For example, metrics such as “Wins-above-Replacement” (WAR) in baseball [1], “Expected Point Value” (EPV) in basketball [2] and “Expected Goal Value” (EGV) in soccer [3] and hockey [4] are now commonplace in performance analysis. Such measures allow us to answer the question “how does this player or team compare to the league average? ” Even “personalized metrics” which can answer how a “player’s or team’s current performance compares to its expected performance” have been used to better analyze and improve prediction of future outcomes [5].
Improvement of Optimization Agreements in Business Processes involving Web Services

In order to be more competitive, companies often have to work together to offer users a more compact and unique product. This implies that companies must reach an agreement in terms of the necessity of each user. The majority of companies currently present their functionality by means of Web Services, and therefore a combination of activities can be carried out by using business process management systems. Although the use of business processes enables the coordination and combination of these companies to obtain an objective, a problem arises when no relationship exists between the processes with respect to the sequence of priorities, and/or when the various services share their data input from a non-single domain. These companies, in a coordinated way, have to select the specific value of each data input with the aim of optimizing their overall behaviour. In this paper, a refinement of an adaptation of an Artificial Intelligence technique is developed with the purpose of improving coordination to optimize the common objective of the companies by means of reducing the search space. Thanks to this refinement, an optimization agreement in business processes based on Web Services can be obtained in an acceptable way.