Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Hitting Time of Stochastic Gradient Langevin Dynamics to Stationary Points: A Direct Analysis

Stochastic gradient Langevin dynamics (SGLD) is a fundamental algorithm in stochastic optimization. Recent work by Zhang et al. [2017] presents an analysis for the hitting time of SGLD for the first and second order stationary points. The proof in Zhang et al. [2017] is a two-stage procedure through bounding the Cheeger's constant, which is rather complicated and leads to loose bounds. In this paper, using intuitions from stochastic differential equations, we provide a direct analysis for the hitting times of SGLD to the first and second order stationary points. Our analysis is straightforward. It only relies on basic linear algebra and probability theory tools. Our direct analysis also leads to tighter bounds comparing to Zhang et al. [2017] and shows the explicit dependence of the hitting time on different factors, including dimensionality, smoothness, noise strength, and step size effects. Under suitable conditions, we show that the hitting time of SGLD to first-order stationary points can be dimension-independent. Moreover, we apply our analysis to study several important online estimation problems in machine learning, including linear regression, matrix factorization, and online PCA.
Cloning and sequencing of the cDNA encoding an isoform of microtubule‐associated protein tau containing four tandem repeats: differential expression of tau protein mRNAs in human brain.

We have isolated cDNA clones encoding a 383‐amino acid isoform of the human microtubule‐associated protein tau. It differs from previously determined tau sequences by the presence of an additional repeat of 31 amino acids, giving four, rather than three, tandem repeats in its carboxy‐terminal half. The extra repeat is encoded by a separate exon. Probes derived from cDNA clones encoding the three (type I) and four repeat (type II) tau protein isoforms detected mRNAs for both forms in all adult human brain areas examined. However, in foetal brain only type I mRNA was found. Type I and type II mRNAs were present in pyramidal cells in cerebral cortex. In the hippocampal formation, type I mRNA was found in pyramidal and granule cells; type II mRNA was detected in most, though not all, pyramidal cells but not in granule cells. These observations indicate that tau protein mRNAs are expressed in a stage‐ and cell‐specific manner. Tau protein is found in the protease‐resistant core of the paired helical filament, the major constituent of the neurofibrillary tangle in Alzheimer's disease. Taken in conjunction with previous findings, the present results indicate that both the three and four repeat‐containing tau protein isoforms are present in the core of the paired helical filament.
Economic load dispatch for piecewise quadratic cost function using Hopfield neural network

The authors present a new method to solve the problem of economic power dispatch with piecewise quadratic cost function using the Hopfield neural network. Traditionally one convex cost function for each generator is assumed. However, it is more realistic to represent the cost function as a piecewise quadratic function rather than one convex function. In this study, multiple intersecting cost functions are used for each unit. Through case studies, the possibility of the application of the Hopfield neural network to the economic load dispatch problem with general nonconvex cost functions was shown. The proposed approach is much simpler and the results are very close to those of the numerical method. >
The Complexity of POMDPs with Long-run Average Objectives

We study the problem of approximation of optimal values in partially-observable Markov decision processes (POMDPs) with long-run average objectives. POMDPs are a standard model for dynamic systems with probabilistic and nondeterministic behavior in uncertain environments. In long-run average objectives rewards are associated with every transition of the POMDP and the payoff is the long-run average of the rewards along the executions of the POMDP. We establish strategy complexity and computational complexity results. Our main result shows that finite-memory strategies suffice for approximation of optimal values, and the related decision problem is recursively enumerable complete.
In Vitro Generation of Long-lived Human Plasma Cells

Plasma cells (PCs), the terminal effectors of humoral immunity, are short-lived unless supported by niche environments in which they may persist for years. No model system has linked B cell activation with niche function to allow the in vitro generation of long-lived PCs. Thus, the full trajectory of B cell terminal differentiation has yet to be investigated in vitro. In this article, we describe a robust model for the generation of polyclonal long-lived human PCs from peripheral blood B cells. After a proliferative plasmablast phase, PCs persist in the absence of cell division, with viability limited only by elective culture termination. Conservative predictions for PC life expectancy are 300 d, but with the potential for significantly longer life spans for some cells. These long-lived PCs are preferentially derived from memory B cells, and acquire a CD138high phenotype analogous to that of human bone marrow PCs. Analysis of gene expression across the system defines clusters of genes with related dynamics and linked functional characteristics. Importantly, genes in these differentiation clusters demonstrate a similar overall pattern of expression for in vitro and ex vivo PCs. In vitro PCs are fully reprogrammed to a secretory state and are adapted to their secretory load, maintaining IgG secretion of 120 pg/cell/day in the absence of XBP1 mRNA splicing. By establishing a set of conditions sufficient to allow the development and persistence of mature human PCs in vitro, to our knowledge, we provide the first platform with which to sequentially explore and manipulate each stage of human PC differentiation.
Bloom filter-based dynamic wear leveling for phase-change RAM

Phase Change RAM (PCM) is a promising candidate of emerging memory technology to complement or replace existing DRAM and NAND Flash memory. A key drawback of PCMs is limited write endurance. To address this problem, several static wear-leveling methods that change logical to physical address mapping periodically have been proposed. Although these methods have low space overhead, they suffer from unnecessary data migrations thereby failing to exploit the full lifetime potential of PCMs. This paper proposes a new dynamic wear-leveling method that reduces unnecessary data migrations by adopting a hot/cold swapping-based dynamic method. Compared with the conventional hot/cold swapping-based dynamic method, the proposed method requires only a small amount of space overhead by applying Bloom filters to the identification of hot and cold data. We simulate our method using SPEC2000 benchmark traces and compare with previous methods. Simulation results show that the proposed method reduces unnecessary data migrations by 58~92% and extends the memory lifetime by 2.18~2.30 times over previous methods with a negligible area overhead of 0.3%.
II.1.5 Phenotyping pearl millet for adaptation to drought

Pearl millet is highly resilient to some of the driest areas of the world, like the Sahel area or fringes of the Thar desert in India. Despite this, there is a wealth of variation in pearl millet genotypes for their adaptation to drought and the object of this paper was to review some related work in the past 25 years to harness these capacities toward the breeding of better adapted cultivars. Work on short duration cultivars has been a major effort. Pearl millet has also some development plasticity thanks to a high tillering ability, which allows compensating for possible drought-related failure of the main culm under intermittent drought. The development of molecular tools for breeding has made great progress in the last 10–15 years and markers, maps, EST libraries, BACs are now available and a number of quantitative trait loci (QTLs) for different traits, including drought, have been identified. Most of the work on drought has focused on the drought tolerance index (DTI), an index that reflect the genetic differences in drought adaptation that are independent of flowering time and yield potential. The DTI is closely associated to the panicle harvest index (PNHI), a trait that relates to a better grain setting and grain filling capacity. Initial work on the DTI involved empirical breeding and selection based on PNHI. A QTL for PNHI has then been identified and introgressed by marker-assisted backcrossing. More recently, a thorough dissection of that QTL has been carried out and shows that high PNHI is related to the constitutive ability of tolerant lines to save water (lower leaf conductance and sensitivity of transpiration to high vapor pressure deficit) at a vegetative stage and use it for the grain filling period. However, there is no contribution of root traits in this QTL. Current work is taking place to map these water saving traits, understand their genetic interactions, and design ideotypes having specific genetic make-up toward adaptation to specific rainfall environments.
Sensor Network Security: More Interesting Than You Think

With the advent of low-power wireless sensor networks, a wealth of new applications at the interface of the real and digital worlds is emerging. A distributed computing platform that can measure properties of the real world, formulate intelligent inferences, and instrument responses, requires strong foundations in distributed computing, artificial intelligence, databases, control theory, and security. Before these intelligent systems can be deployed in critical infrastructures such as emergency rooms and powerplants, the security properties of sensors must be fully understood. Existing wisdom has been to apply the traditional security models and techniques to sensor networks. However, sensor networks are not traditional computing devices, and as a result, existing security models and methods are ill suited. In this position paper, we take the first steps towards producing a comprehensive security model that is tailored for sensor networks. Incorporating work from Internet security, ubiquitous computing, and distributed systems, we outline security properties that must be considered when designing a secure sensor network. We propose challenges for sensor networks-security obstacles that, when overcome, will move us closer to decreasing the divide between computers and the physical world.
Pregnancy Inducible Nitric Oxide Synthase Inhibition Attenuates Renal Hemodynamics During

Acute, nonselective nitric oxide synthase inhibition in the pregnant rat decreases glomerular filtration rate and renal plasma flow, suggesting a role for nitric oxide in mediating renal vasodilation during pregnancy. As mid-gestation in the rat is associated with a significant increase in renal protein expression of inducible nitric oxide synthase, the aim of this study was to examine the role of inducible nitric oxide synthase in mediating renal hemodynamics changes at mid-gestation in the rat. At day 16 of pregnancy, glomerular filtration rate was significantly higher in pregnant rats compared with virgin rats (3.1 0.4 versus 2.7 0.3 mL/min, respectively; P 0.05), as was effective renal plasma flow (13.4 2.5 versus 10.9 2.2 mL/min, respectively; P 0.05). Acute administration of the inducible nitric oxide synthase selective inhibitor, AMT hydrochloride (750 nmol/h), markedly attenuated the increase in glomerular filtration rate observed in pregnant rats (2.3 0.2 mL/min, P 0.01 versus pregnant) without significantly altering glomerular filtration rate in virgin rats (2.1 0.2 mL/min). Acute AMT administration significantly decreased effective renal plasma flow in pregnant (8.9 1.8 mL/min, P 0.01 versus pregnant) and virgin rats (7.1 0.9 mL/min, P 0.05 versus virgin). Acute administration of EIT (380 nmol/h), another inducible nitric oxide synthase selective inhibitor, also attenuated pregnancy-induced increases in glomerular filtration rate (2.1 0.2, 2.8 0.3, and 2.3 0.3 mL/min; virgin, pregnant, and EIT, respectively) and effective renal plasma flow (8.5 1.1, 13.8 2.1, and 9.0 1.1 mL/min; virgin, pregnant, and EIT, respectively). Therefore, these findings suggest that inducible nitric oxide synthase may play an important role in mediating the renal hemodynamic changes that occur during normal pregnancy. (Hypertension. 2002;36[part 2]:586-590.)
Development of the adult neurogenic niche in the hippocampus of mice

When does adult hippocampal neurogenesis begin? We describe the development of the neurogenic niche in the subgranular zone (SGZ) of the hippocampal dentate gyrus. We did so from the perspective of the situation in the adult. Ontogeny of the dentate gyrus is complex and results in an ectopic neurogenic niche that lifelong generates new granule cells. Neurogenesis during the fetal and early postnatal periods builds the dentate gyrus and gives way to activity-dependent “adult” neurogenesis. We used markers most relevant to adult neurogenesis research to describe this transition: Nestin, Sox2, BLBP, GFAP, Tbr2, Doublecortin (DCX), NeuroD1 and Prox1. We found that massive changes and a local condensation of proliferating precursor cells occurs between postnatal day 7 (P7), near the peak in proliferation, and P14. Before and around P7, the spatial distribution of cells and the co-localization of markers were distinct from the situation in the adult. Unlike the adult SGZ, the marker pair Nestin/Sox2 and the radial glial marker BLBP were not overlapping during embryonic development, presumably indicating different types of radial glia-like cells. Before P7 GFAP-positive cells in the hilus lacked the radial orientation that is characteristic of the adult type-1 cells. DCX, which is concentrated in type-2b and type-3 progenitor cells and early postmitotic neurons in the adult, showed diffuse expression before P7. Intermediate progenitor cell marker Tbr2 became restricted to the SGZ but was found in the granule cell layer (GCL) and hilus before. Lineage markers NeuroD1 and Prox1 confirmed this pattern. We conclude that the neurogenic niche of adult neurogenesis is in place well before true adulthood. This might indicate that consistent with the hypothesized function of adult neurogenesis in activity-dependent plasticity, the early transition from postnatal neurogenesis to adult neurogenesis coincides with the time, when the young mice start to become active themselves.
A Robust Multiple Object Tracking for Sport Applications

This paper deals with the task of tracking several similar looking athletes during a competition, using only a single camera. Due to the wide range of possible motions, non-rigid shape changes and mutual occlusions the tracking situations can become quite complex. We propose a novel method to use a high dimensional motion model for a particle filter without drastic increase in runtime. Integral histograms are extended to handle also rotated objects. In order to deal effectively with overlapping players we propose a re-weighting and re-sampling method for a particle filter. The paper is primarily designed for beach volleyball but is also evaluated on public available football sequences.
Anchoring Effects and Troublesome Asymmetric Transfer in Subjective Ratings

Within-subjects experiments are prone to asymmetric transfer, which confounds results interpretation. While HCI researchers routinely test asymmetric transfer in objective data, doing so for subjective data is rare. Yet literature suggests that anchoring effects should make subjective measures particularly susceptible to asymmetric transfer. We report on four analyses of NASA-TLX data from four previously published HCI papers, with four main findings. First, asymmetric transfer is common, occurring in 42% of tests analysed. Second, the data conforms to predictions of anchoring effects. Third, the magnitude of the anchor's effect correlates with the magnitude of the difference between the interface ratings -- that is, the anchor's 'pull' correlates with the anchoring stimulus. Fourth, several of the previously published findings are changed when data are reanalysed using between-subjects treatment. We urge caution when analysing within-subjects subjective measures and recommend that researchers test for and report the occurrence of asymmetric transfer.
Liver transplantation for the treatment of liver metastases from neuroendocrine tumors: an analysis of the UNOS database.

OBJECTIVE To determine outcomes in patients undergoing liver transplantation (LT) for metastatic neuroendocrine tumors (NETs). DESIGN Retrospective analysis. SETTING University of Kentucky Medical Center. PATIENTS Patients undergoing LT performed for NET metastases from October 1, 1988, through January 31, 2008, were analyzed using the United Network for Organ Sharing database. Main Outcome Measure Patient survival. RESULTS During the study period, 87 280 LTs were performed. One hundred fifty LTs were performed for metastatic NETs. Among those 150 patients undergoing LT, 51 patients (34.0%) had carcinoid, 6 had insulinoma (4.0%), 3 had glucagonoma (2.0%), 11 had gastrinoma (7.3%), and 9 had vasoactive intestinal peptide-secreting tumors (6.0%); an additional 70 (46.7%) had an unspecified NET. The mean (SE) age of the patients was 45.1 (12.5) years. The mean (SE) cold ischemic time was 8.9 (4.1) hours. One hundred forty-four patients were adults and 6 were children. Thirteen patients received another organ at the time of LT. During the same period, 4693 patients underwent transplantation for hepatocellular carcinoma. Overall, 1-, 3-, and 5-year survival rates for patients with NETs undergoing isolated LT were 81%, 65%, and 49%, respectively. No difference in survival was observed in patients with carcinoid vs noncarcinoid tumors (P = .84). No significant difference was observed in patient survival between those with metastatic NETs and those with hepatocellular carcinoma. Patients waiting for LT longer than 2 months had improved survival (P = .005). CONCLUSIONS Patients with liver metastases from NETs who were undergoing LT had long-term survival similar to that of patients with hepatocellular carcinoma. Longer wait times were associated with better outcomes in our series. Waiting for disease to stabilize before considering patients with liver metastases from NETs for transplantation may be appropriate. Excellent results can be obtained in highly selected patients.
Solving the detour problem in navigation: a model of prefrontal and hippocampal interactions

Adapting behavior to accommodate changes in the environment is an important function of the nervous system. A universal problem for motile animals is the discovery that a learned route is blocked and a detour is required. Given the substantial neuroscience research on spatial navigation and decision-making it is surprising that so little is known about how the brain solves the detour problem. Here we review the limited number of relevant functional neuroimaging, single unit recording and lesion studies. We find that while the prefrontal cortex (PFC) consistently responds to detours, the hippocampus does not. Recent evidence suggests the hippocampus tracks information about the future path distance to the goal. Based on this evidence we postulate a conceptual model in which: Lateral PFC provides a prediction error signal about the change in the path, frontopolar and superior PFC support the re-formulation of the route plan as a novel subgoal and the hippocampus simulates the new path. More data will be required to validate this model and understand (1) how the system processes the different options; and (2) deals with situations where a new path becomes available (i.e., shortcuts).
Tradeoffs in Introduction Policies for the Anti-Tuberculosis Drug Bedaquiline: A Model-Based Analysis

Background New drugs for the treatment of tuberculosis (TB) are becoming available for the first time in over 40 y. Optimal strategies for introducing these drugs have not yet been established. The objective of this study was to compare different strategies for introducing the new TB drug bedaquiline based on patients’ resistance patterns. Methods and Findings We created a Markov decision model to follow a hypothetical cohort of multidrug-resistant (MDR) TB patients under different bedaquiline use strategies. The explored strategies included making bedaquiline available to all patients with MDR TB, restricting bedaquiline usage to patients with MDR plus additional resistance and withholding bedaquiline introduction completely. We compared these strategies according to life expectancy, risks of acquired resistance, and the expected number and health outcomes of secondary cases. For our simulated cohort, the mean (2.5th, 97.5th percentile) life expectancy from time of initiation of MDR TB treatment at age 30 was 36.0 y (33.5, 38.7) assuming all patients with MDR TB received bedaquiline, 35.1 y (34.4, 35.8) assuming patients with pre-extensively drug-resistant (PreXDR) and extensively drug-resistant (XDR) TB received bedaquiline, and 34.9 y (34.6, 35.2) assuming only patients with XDR TB received bedaquiline. Although providing bedaquiline to all MDR patients resulted in the highest life expectancy for our initial cohort averaged across all parameter sets, for parameter sets in which bedaquiline conferred high risks of added mortality and only small reductions in median time to culture conversion, the optimal strategy would be to withhold use even from patients with the most extensive resistance. Across all parameter sets, the most liberal bedaquiline use strategies consistently increased the risk of bedaquiline resistance but decreased the risk of resistance to other MDR drugs. In almost all cases, more liberal bedaquiline use strategies reduced the expected number of secondary cases and resulting life years lost. The generalizability of our results is limited by the lack of available data about drug effects among individuals with HIV co-infection, drug interactions, and other sources of heterogeneity, as well as changing recommendations for MDR TB treatment. Conclusions If mortality benefits can be empirically verified, our results provide support for expanding bedaquiline access to all patients with MDR TB. Such expansion could improve patients’ health, protect background MDR TB drugs, and decrease transmission, but would likely result in greater resistance to bedaquiline.
Design of a Higher Jumping Rescue Robot with the Optimized Pneumatic Drive

This paper describes the numerical analysis and design for a higher jumping rescue robot using a pneumatic cylinder. First, the basic equations for jumping are derived and the simulation is performed. Then, the relationship between the jumping height and the pressure-receiving area of the cylinder is considered when the volume or the stroke of the cylinder is kept constant. This allows calculation of the optimal cross sectional area. In addition, the jumping height is also affected by the weight ratio between the rod and the cylinder tube. Based on these results, a robot equipped with a cylinder of the appropriate dimensions controlled by a well-selected valve is re-engineered and demonstrated. Experimental results show that the improved robot can jump considerably higher than the former design with the same energy efficiency, as shown in the following video. http://www.cm. ctrl.titech. ac.jp/study/jump/home.html.