Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Estimated Impact of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act on Employment and Economic Output from April 2011 Through June 2011

Abstract : In February 2009, in response to significant weakness in the economy, lawmakers enacted the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA). The legislation s numerous spending and revenue provisions can be grouped into several categories according to their focus: Providing funds to states and localities for example, by raising federal matching rates under Medicaid, providing aid for education, and increasing financial support for some transportation projects; Supporting people in need such as by extending and expanding unemployment benefits and increasing benefits under the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (formerly the Food Stamp program); Purchasing goods and services for instance, by funding construction and other investment activities that could take several years to complete; and Providing temporary tax relief for individuals and businesses such as by raising exemption amounts for the alternative minimum tax, adding a new Making Work Pay tax credit, and creating enhanced deductions for depreciation of business equipment.
On the Behavioral Drift Estimation of Ubiquitous Computing Systems in Partially Known Environments

Background. With the recent advent of the so-called connected objects, today largely present in our surroundings, software applications have an open door to the physical world through sensors and actuators. However, although it offers huge opportunities in many areas (e.g., smart-home, smart-cities, etc.), it poses a serious methodological challenge. Indeed, while classical software applications operate in the well known and delimited digital world, the so-called ambient applications operate in and through the physical world, open and subject to uncertainties that cannot be modeled accurately and entirely. These uncertainties lead the behavior of the ambient applications to potentially drift over time against requirements. In this paper, we propose a framework to estimate the behavioral drift of the ambient applications against requirements at runtime. Methodology. We rely on the Moore Finite State Machines (FSM) modeling framework to specify the ideal behavior an ambient application is supposed to meet, irrespective of the operating environment and the underlying software infrastructure. We then appeal on the control theory and propose a framework to transform the Moore FSM to its associated Continuous Density Hidden Markov Model (CD-HMM) state observer. By accounting for uncertainties through probabilities, it extends Moore FSM with viability zones, i.e. zones where the behavioral requirements of the ambient applications are acceptable. The observation of the execution of a concrete ambient application together with the statistical modeling framework underlying its associated state observer allow to compute the likelihood of an observation sequence to have been produced by the application. The likelihood then gives direct insight into the behavioral drift of the concrete application against requirements. Results. We validate our approach through a concrete use-case in the field of school lighting. The results demonstrate the soundness and efficiency of the proposed approach for estimating the behavioral drift of the ambient applications at runtime. In light of these results, one can envision using this estimation to support a decision-making algorithm (e.g., within a self-adaptive system).
Impact of Dominant Predators on Territory Occupancy and Reproduction of Subdominant Ones within a Guild of Birds of Prey

The study upon which this article is based examined the interspecific relationships between three different- sized species, both before and during breeding, within a guild of birds of prey in southern Finland between 1997 and 2007. The study sought to examine how the territory occupancy and fledgling production of the smaller (subdominant) species was related to the vicinity of a larger (dominant) species. Inverse relationships were thought to suggest effects of potential intraguild predation. Three key relationships emerged. Firstly, the vicinity of the dominant eagle owl had no significant effect on the occupancy of nesting territories of the subdominant northern goshawk, while the fledgling production of the goshawk increased as the distance from the dominant owl species increased. Secondly, a significant positive relationship was found between the occupancy of the nearest neighbour nesting territories of the eagle owl and the tawny owl. However, the vicinity of the eagle owl had no significant effect on tawny owl reproduction. Thirdly, the occupation of tawny owl territories showed a nearly significant association with the nesting territories of the northern goshawk. However, no significant relationship was found between the vicinity of nearest neighbour nesting territories of the northern goshawk and fledgling production of the tawny owl. The results of this study suggest that depressing reflections of intraguild predation may be expected when the populations of guild members share similar nest sites or if the nest sites of subdominant members of the guild are accessible for dominant members, or in locally unstable populations of less site-tenacious species that show rapid turnover of individuals rather than in strictly site-tenacious long- term territorial species.
Upregulation of Heat Shock Proteins (HSPA12A, HSP90B1, HSPA4, HSPA5 and HSPA6) in Tumour Tissues Is Associated with Poor Outcomes from HBV-Related Early-Stage Hepatocellular Carcinoma

Background: Heat shock proteins (HSPs) are overexpressed in human hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) tissue and correlate with aggressiveness and prognosis of HCC. Methods: Using the GSE14520 microarray expression profile from Gene Expression Omnibus, we compared HSP gene expression between tumour and non-tumour tissues and correlated this with outcomes in HCC patients. Results: We analysed 220 hepatitis B virus (HBV)-related HCC patients and 25 HSPs in this study. With the exception of HSPA4L, HSPA12A and HSPB8, members of the HSP family, including HSPH1, HSPBP1, HSPA1A, HSPA1B, HSPA1L, HSPA2, HSPA4, HSPA5, HSPA8, HSPA9, HSPAA1, HSPAB1, HSPA14, HSPB11, HSPA13, HSP90B1 and HSPBAP1, were all overexpressed in tumour tissues (all P < 0.001). In contrast, HSPB6, HSPB7, HSPA6, HSPB2 and HSPB3 were upregulated in non-tumour tissues (all P < 0.001). Multivariate analysis showed that cirrhosis (HR = 5.282, 95% CI = 1.294-21.555, P = 0.02), Barcelona Clinic liver cancer (BCLC) staging (HR = 2.151, 95% CI = 1.682-2.750, P < 0.001), HSPA12A (HR = 1.042, 95% CI = 1.003-1.082, P = 0.033) and HSP90B1 (HR = 1.001, 95% CI = 1.000-1.001, P = 0.011) were negatively associated with survival of HBV-related HCC patients. Furthermore, advanced BCLC staging (HR = 1.797, 95% CI = 1.439-2.244, P < 0.001) was also associated with earlier recurrence of HCC. The high expression of HSPA4 (HR = 1.002, 95% CI = 1.000-1.004, P = 0.019), HSPA5 (HR = 1.0, 95% CI = 1.0-1.0, P = 0.046) and HSPA6 (HR = 1.008, 95% CI = 1.001-1.015, P = 0.021) was similarly associated with HCC recurrence. Conclusions: The expression of most HSPs was higher in tumour tissues than in non-tumour tissues. High BCLC staging scores, advanced cirrhosis and the overexpression of HSPA12A and HSP90B1 might be associated with poor survival from HCC, whereas high levels of HSPA4, HSPA5 and HSPA6 might be associated with earlier recurrence of HCC.
Profile of a typical mobile SMS user in emergency situations (empirical study in an urban flood prone area)

Employing existing technology for a new purpose has become popular, especially in mobile phone technology. In the context of use for early warning messages, the existing technology that is commonly used is SMS (Short Messaging Services). This study focuses on understanding the profile of a typical mobile SMS user in emergency situations in an urban flood prone area. This profile was assessed based on the mobile devices' preparedness; ease of use (EOU) for using SMS, confidence in SMS skill, satisfaction and frequency of use (FOU). A survey was conducted in Semarang, Central Java, Indonesia for data collection. The respondents for this study were voluntarily respondents. Our study found that the user's level of education and FOU for SMS, influences the usage of SMS in emergency conditions.
Adaptive mode transition matrix for variable sampling time

A conventional dynamic target tracking algorithm can be divided into two steps. A previous estimate is propagated to current scan by using pre-designed dynamic model in the prediction step and the predicted estimate is corrected by using the current measurement in the update step sequentially. To reduce the prediction errors, one has to carefully choose the dynamic model carefully. However, exact target dynamic model is rarely known a priori. Multiple models filters which use several dynamic models present a solution. Interacting Multiple Models (IMM) filter calculates the state estimates and model probabilities for each model. In the interacting step of the IMM filter, the model estimates are mixed using the model transition matrix and the model probabilities. The elements of the model transition matrix are usually constant. This can cause performance degradation for target tracking with variable sampling periods or asynchronous multi sensor systems. We propose an adaptive model transition matrix which adjusts its elements based on variable time interval.
Optimized Multilevel Threshold Selection Using Evolutionary Computing

Thresholding is the method used for segmenting an image to isolate regions of interest from the image. The result of segmentation mainly depends on the selection of proper threshold values and number of classes. This paper proposes a method for optimal selection of threshold values using Evolutionary computing. The proposed method decomposes the given image to reduce its size so that it can be processed faster using Genetic Algorithm. The resultant image is finally mapped onto the original image space. The efficiency of the proposed method is compared with the other multilevel thresholding techniques namely GA-Otsu and GA-Kapur with and without wavelets. From the experimental results, it is inferred that the proposed method takes less time for processing and provides better results compared to existing methods.
WebGC: browser-based gossiping

The advent of browser-to-browser communication technologies like WebRTC has renewed interest in the peer-to-peer communication model. However, the available WebRTC code base still lacks important components at the basis of several peer-to-peer solutions. We tackle this problem by proposing WebGC, a library for gossip-based communication between web browsers. Due to their inherent scalability, gossip-based, or epidemic protocols constitute a key component of a large number of decentralized applications. WebGC thus represents an important step towards their wider spread.
Phenotypic and Enzymatic Comparative Analysis of the KPC Variants, KPC-2 and Its Recently Discovered Variant KPC-15

Sixteen different variants (KPC-2 to KPC-17) in the KPC family have been reported, and most current studies are focusing on KPC-2 and KPC-3. The KPC-15 variant, which isolated from Klebsiella pneumoniae in a Chinese hospital, was a recently discovered KPC enzyme. To compare the characteristics of KPC-15 and KPC-2, the variants were determined by susceptibility testing, PCR amplification and sequencing, and study of kinetic parameters. The strain harboring the KPC-15 showed resistance to 18 conventional antimicrobial agents, especially to cabapenem antibiotics, and the strain involving the KPC-2 also indicated resistance to cabapenem antibiotics, but both strains were susceptible to polymyxin B and colistin. The conjugation experiments showed that the changes of MIC values to the antibiotics were due to the transferred plasmids. The differences of amino acids were characterised at sites of 119 leucine and 146 lysine with KPC-15 and KPC-2. The minimum evolution tree indicated the KPC alleles evolution, and showed that the KPC-15 appeared to be homogenous with KPC-4 closely. Steady-state kinetic parameters showed the catalytic efficiency of KPC-15 was higher than that of KPC-2 for all tested antibiotics in this study. The catalytic efficiency of KPC-15 caused resistance to β-lactam antibiotics was higher than that of KPC-2. Meanwhile, an evolutionary transformation changed KPC from an efficient carbapenemase to its variants (KPC-15) with better ceftazidimase catalytic efficiency, and the old antibiotics polymyxin B and colistin might play a role in the therapy for multi-resistant strains.
Acute Dietary Nitrate Supplementation and Exercise Performance in COPD: A Double-Blind, Placebo-Controlled, Randomised Controlled Pilot Study

Background Dietary nitrate supplementation can enhance exercise performance in healthy people, but it is not clear if it is beneficial in COPD. We investigated the hypotheses that acute nitrate dosing would improve exercise performance and reduce the oxygen cost of submaximal exercise in people with COPD. Methods We performed a double-blind, placebo-controlled, cross-over single dose study. Subjects were randomised to consume either nitrate-rich beetroot juice (containing 12.9mmoles nitrate) or placebo (nitrate-depleted beetroot juice) 3 hours prior to endurance cycle ergometry, performed at 70% of maximal workload assessed by a prior incremental exercise test. After a minimum washout period of 7 days the protocol was repeated with the crossover beverage. Results 21 subjects successfully completed the study (age 68±7years; BMI 25.2±5.5kg/m2; FEV1 percentage predicted 50.1±21.6%; peak VO2 18.0±5.9ml/min/kg). Resting diastolic blood pressure fell significantly with nitrate supplementation compared to placebo (-7±8mmHg nitrate vs. -1±8mmHg placebo; p = 0.008). Median endurance time did not differ significantly; nitrate 5.65 (3.90–10.40) minutes vs. placebo 6.40 (4.01–9.67) minutes (p = 0.50). However, isotime oxygen consumption (VO2) was lower following nitrate supplementation (16.6±6.0ml/min/kg nitrate vs. 17.2±6.0ml/min/kg placebo; p = 0.043), and consequently nitrate supplementation caused a significant lowering of the amplitude of the VO2-percentage isotime curve. Conclusions Acute administration of oral nitrate did not enhance endurance exercise performance; however the observation that beetroot juice caused reduced oxygen consumption at isotime suggests that further investigation of this treatment approach is warranted, perhaps targeting a more hypoxic phenotype. Trial Registration ISRCTN Registry ISRCTN66099139
Investigation of founder effects for the Thr377Met Myocilin mutation in glaucoma families from differing ethnic backgrounds

Purpose The aim of this study was to determine if there is a common founder for the Thr377Met myocilin mutation in primary open angle glaucoma (POAG) families with various ethnic backgrounds. Methods Genomic DNA of 24 POAG-affected individuals from nine pedigrees with the Thr377Met mutation and 104 unaffected family members was genotyped with six microsatellite markers and four single nucleotide polymorphisms. The families were from Greece, India, Finland, the USA, and Australia. To assess the degree of linkage disequilibrium across MYOC in the general population we also investigated data generated from the HapMap consortium. Results Three distinct haplotypes associated with the Thr377Met myocilin mutation were identified. The families from the USA and Greece, as well as the three Australian families originating from Greece and the former Yugoslavian Republic of Macedonia had one common haplotype. Interestingly, however, HapMap data suggest that linkage disequilibrium across MYOC was not strong. Conclusions The Thr377Met myocilin mutation has arisen at least three separate times. Evidence for genetic founder effects in this prevalent age-related, yet heterogeneous, disease has important implications for future gene identification strategies.
Verifiably Committed Signatures Provably Secure in The Standard Complexity Model

In this paper, we study the security notions of verifiably committed signatures by introducing privacy and cut-off time, and then we propose the first scheme which is provably secure in the standard complexity model based on the strong RSA assumption. The idea behind the construction is that given any valid partial signature of messages, if a co-signer with its auxiliary input is able to generate variables called the resolution of messages such that the distribution of the variables is indistinguishable from that generated by the primary signer alone from the views of the verifier/arbitrator, a verifiably committed signature can be constructed.
Characteristic Parameters of a Wide Cluster in a Higher-Order Traffic Flow Model

Nonlinear weak solution theory is applied to determine the parameters of a wide cluster in an ``anisotropic'' higher-order traffic flow model. These parameters are the maximal and minimal densities and the travelling wave speed in the solution structure. Numerical experiments show that the convergent simulation results are in good agreement with those obtained from the analytical expressions.
Super resolution face image based on locally linear embedding and local correlation

In this paper, we propose a new face hallucination algorithm based on Locally Linear Embedding and Local Correlation method (LC-LLE). The LC-LLE algorithm is an improved locally linear embedding (LLE) algorithm by combining LLE algorithm and local correlation coefficients. The main difference between LC-LLE and LLE algorithms is that LC-LLE uses two different measures for searching the nearest neighbors for matching the most similar patches, while LLE uses only Euclidean distance for searching the nearest neighbors. Specifically, we calculate the Euclidean distance between the low-resolution input patch and patches in the low-resolution training images to select z-NN (i.e. z number of nearest patches). Then, we use the inner product for local correlation computation between the input patch and selected z-NN to identify k nearest neighbors (i.e. k-NN). After that the reconstruction weights are derived using k-NN patches, and generate the high-resolution image patches based on the reconstruction weights. Finally, high-resolution patches are synthesized into the high-resolution image. Experimental results show that the proposed method achieves better performance for high-resolution image reconstruction than Ma's method with LLE and PCA methods.
Measuring Land Development in Urban Regions Using Graph Theoretical and Conditional Statistical Features

Inferring land use from satellite images is extensively studied by the remote sensing and pattern recognition communities. In previous studies, the focus was on classifying large regions due to the resolution of available satellite images. Nowadays, very high-resolution satellite imagery (Ikonos and Quickbird) allows researchers to focus on more complex land-use problems such as monitoring development in urban regions. Solutions to these complex problems may improve the life standards of city residents. To this end, we focus on automatically monitoring construction zones using their very high-resolution panchromatic satellite images through time. To monitor land development, we obtain sequential images of a selected region. Then, we extract features from each image in the sequence. Comparing values of these features, we expect to measure the degree of land development through time. In a similar study, we introduced graph theoretical measures over Ikonos imagery to measure organization in a given satellite image. This paper is an extension of our previous work with more powerful new features. Here, we first introduce a novel method to extract straight line segments using a least squares ellipse fitting. Then, we introduce four new graph theoretical features. More importantly, we introduce a novel method to embed the spatial information in gray-level co-occurrence matrix statistical features to measure land development. Finally, we test all our existing and new features to measure land development in 19 different urban construction zones. Our test set consists of Ikonos satellite images of these regions captured in separate times.
Analysis of power quality on a renewable energy micro grid conversion system with current and power controller

This paper presents the investigations on the power quality issues of a renewable energy based micro grid conversion system with Modular Multilevel Converter (MMC). DC micro grid is formed by considering the renewable energy generation from solar. The output of the renewable energy micro grid conversion system is analysed for power quality issues. A comparative analysis is made for the DC micro grid conversion system with conventional multilevel inverter and modular multilevel inverter with controller. The current controller, active power and reactive power controllers are developed based on Phase Disposition PWM method. The simulation is carried out for the same micro grid system with multi level inverter, modular multilevel inverter with controller using MATLAB Simulink. The investigations based on the simulation are discussed in this paper.
Sound and Complete Bidirectional Typechecking for Higher-Rank Polymorphism and Indexed Types

Bidirectional typechecking, in which terms either synthesize a type or are checked against a known type, has become popular for its scalability, its error reporting, and its ease of implementation. Following principles from proof theory, bidirectional typing can be applied to many type constructs. The principles underlying a bidirectional approach to indexed types (generalized algebraic datatypes) are less clear. Building on proof-theoretic treatments of equality, we give a declarative specification of typing based on focalization. This approach permits declarative rules for coverage of pattern matching, as well as support for first-class existential types using a focalized subtyping judgment. We use refinement types to avoid explicitly passing equality proofs in our term syntax, making our calculus close to languages such as Haskell and OCaml. An explicit rule deduces when a type is principal, leading to reliable substitution principles for a rich type system with significant type inference. We also give a set of algorithmic typing rules, and prove that it is sound and complete with respect to the declarative system. The proof requires a number of technical innovations, including proving soundness and completeness in a mutually-recursive fashion.
Expression and clinical significance of hypoxia-inducible factor 1α, Snail and E-cadherin in human ovarian cancer cell lines

The aim of the present study was to investigate the expression and clinical significance of hypoxia-inducible factor 1α (HIF-1α), Snail and E-cadherin in ovarian cancer. The expression levels were assessed in a number of ovarian cancer cell lines and ovarian cancer tissues, and correlations between the expression of the three proteins and clinical pathological factors were analyzed. Transwell assays showed that the invasive ability of the ovarian cancer cell lines SKOV3 and ES-2 were significantly higher than those of TYK and 3AO (P<0.01). Furthermore, the expression levels of HIF-1α and Snail in SKOV3 and ES-2 were significantly higher than those in TYK and 3AO, whereas the expression levels of E-cadherin in SKOV3 and ES-2 were significantly lower than those in TYK and 3AO (P<0.05). In ovarian cancer tissues, the expression levels of HIF-1α, Snail and E-cadherin were correlated with clinical pathological factors (P<0.01); furthermore, there was a positive correlation between the expression levels of HIF-1α and Snail (r=0.231; P=0.021), and a negative correlation between the expression levels of Snail and that of E-cadherin (r=−0.225; P=0.028). HIF-1α was suggested to be able to suppress the expression of E-cadherin by upregulating Snail, thus serving an important role in invasion and metastasis of ovarian cancer.