Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
DOD Education Benefits: Further Actions Needed to Improve Oversight of Tuition Assistance Program. Testimony before the Subcommittee on Federal Financial Management, Government Information, Federal Services, and International Security, Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs, United 

Abstract : In fiscal year 2010, the TA Program provided $531 million in tuition assistance to approximately 302,000 service members who elected to pursue off-duty postsecondary education. DOD offers these benefits to service members in order to help them fulfill their academic goals and enhance their professional development. Program oversight for voluntary education programs is the responsibility of the Undersecretary of Defense for Personnel and Readiness. In addition, the military services are responsible for establishing, maintaining, operating, and implementing the programs at 350 education centers on military installations worldwide. Education centers are managed by an education services officer (ESO) and staff, such as education guidance counselors.
The effect of centralization and cohesion on the social construction of knowledge in discussion forums

Interactive relationships in online learning communities can influence the process and quality of knowledge building. The aim of this study is to empirically investigate the relationships between network structures and social knowledge building in an asynchronous writing environment through discussion forums in a learning management system. The quality of the knowledge construction process is evaluated through content analysis, and the network structures are analyzed using a social network analysis of the response relations among participants during online discussions. Structural equation modeling is used to analyze relations between network structures and knowledge construction. Working on data extracted from a 6-week distance-learning experiment, we analyzed how 10 groups developed collaborative learning social networks when participants worked together on case resolution. The results show a positive correlation between cohesion and centralization, and the positive influence of the cohesion index and the centralization index on social presence and cognitive presence in knowledge building. However, this must be understood within the context of social networks in which messages sent to all group members occupy the center. This underlines the need for reinforcing participations that are directed to the group as a whole, and the importance of the fact the network contains both central and intermediate members. By contrast, we propose that the combination of analysis techniques used is a good option for this type of study while recognizing that it is necessary to continue validating the instruments in terms of their own theoretical suppositions.
New Genomic Structure for Prostate Cancer Specific Gene PCA3 within BMCC1: Implications for Prostate Cancer Detection and Progression

Background The prostate cancer antigen 3 (PCA3/DD3) gene is a highly specific biomarker upregulated in prostate cancer (PCa). In order to understand the importance of PCA3 in PCa we investigated the organization and evolution of the PCA3 gene locus. Methods/Principal Findings We have employed cDNA synthesis, RTPCR and DNA sequencing to identify 4 new transcription start sites, 4 polyadenylation sites and 2 new differentially spliced exons in an extended form of PCA3. Primers designed from these novel PCA3 exons greatly improve RT-PCR based discrimination between PCa, PCa metastases and BPH specimens. Comparative genomic analyses demonstrated that PCA3 has only recently evolved in an anti-sense orientation within a second gene, BMCC1/PRUNE2. BMCC1 has been shown previously to interact with RhoA and RhoC, determinants of cellular transformation and metastasis, respectively. Using RT-PCR we demonstrated that the longer BMCC1-1 isoform - like PCA3 – is upregulated in PCa tissues and metastases and in PCa cell lines. Furthermore PCA3 and BMCC1-1 levels are responsive to dihydrotestosterone treatment. Conclusions/Significance Upregulation of two new PCA3 isoforms in PCa tissues improves discrimination between PCa and BPH. The functional relevance of this specificity is now of particular interest given PCA3's overlapping association with a second gene BMCC1, a regulator of Rho signalling. Upregulation of PCA3 and BMCC1 in PCa has potential for improved diagnosis.
Multimodal User Supervised Interface and Intelligent Control (MUSHC)

This research involves a method and system which integrates multimodal human-computer interaction with reactive planning to operate a telerobot for use as an assistive device. The Multimodal User Supervised Interface and Intelligent Control (MUSIIC) strategy is a novel approach for intelligent assistive telerobotic system. This approach to robotic interaction is both a step towards addressing the problem of allowing individuals with physical disabilities to operate a robot in an unstructured environment and an illustration of general principles of integrating speech-deictic gesture control with a knowledge-driven reactive planner and a stereo-vision system.
System optimization of a 5.8 GHz ETC receiver using Memetic algorithm

ETC (Electronic Tolling Collection) systems develop rapidly in China in order to relieve the traffic congestion. As the key component of the ETC system, the design of the Radio Frequency (RF) transceiver is usually a tedious and experienced based work due to its high non-linearity. An automatic system level optimization method based on Memetic algorithm (MA) is proposed in this paper. A fitness function describing the relationship between receiver output signal-to-noise ratio (SNRout) and 9 system level parameters was derived and was optimized by the MA method. The correctness of the MA method was verified by the ADS simulation. A close result was obtained and the effects of the 9 parameters on the SNRout were discussed. The future design of the whole transceiver system can be based on this method.
Bootstrap Percolation on Random Geometric Graphs (Extended Abstract)

Bootstrap percolation has been used effectively to model phenomena as diverse as emergence of magnetism in materials, spread of infection, diffusion of software viruses in computer networks, adoption of new technologies, and emergence of collective action and cultural fads in human societies. It is defined on an (arbitrary) network of interacting agents whose state is determined by the state of their neighbors according to a threshold rule. In a typical setting, bootstrap percolation starts by random and independent “activation” of nodes with a fixed probability p, followed by a deterministic process for additional activations based on the density of active nodes in each neighborhood (θ activated nodes). Here, we study bootstrap percolation on random geometric graphs in the regime when the latter are (almost surely) connected. Random geometric graphs provide an appropriate model in settings where the neighborhood structure of each node is determined by geographical distance, as in wireless ad hoc and sensor networks as well as in contagion. We derive bounds on the critical thresholds pc, p ′′ c such that for all p > p ′′ c (θ) full percolation takes place, whereas for p < pc(θ) it does not.
A Framework for Context Sensitive Risk-Based Access Control in Medical Information Systems

Since the access control environment has changed and the threat of insider information leakage has come to the fore, studies on risk-based access control models that decide access permissions dynamically have been conducted vigorously. Medical information systems should protect sensitive data such as medical information from insider threat and enable dynamic access control depending on the context such as life-threatening emergencies. In this paper, we suggest an approach and framework for context sensitive risk-based access control suitable for medical information systems. This approach categorizes context information, estimating and applying risk through context- and treatment-based permission profiling and specifications by expanding the eXtensible Access Control Markup Language (XACML) to apply risk. The proposed framework supports quick responses to medical situations and prevents unnecessary insider data access through dynamic access authorization decisions in accordance with the severity of the context and treatment.
An Open 64-based Compiler Approach to Performance Prediction and Performance Sensitivity Analysis for Scientific Codes

The lack of tools that provide performance feedback at a level of abstraction programmers can relate to makes the problem of performance prediction and portability extremely difficult. Programmers have no simple way of knowing what programming constructs significantly effect performance in today’s machines, much less in machines that are under development and are not readily available. We describe an Open64-based compiler approach to the problem of performance prediction and architecture sensitivity analysis done at a source-level. Our analysis tool extracts the computation’s high-level dataflow-graph from the code’s WHIRL representation, and uses source-level data access patterns information as well as register needs to derive performance bounds for the program under various architectural scenarios. The end result is a very fast performance prediction as well as insight into where performance bottlenecks are. We have experimented with a real code engineers and scientists use in practice – a sparse matrix-vector multiplication kernel. The results correlate very well with the execution of the code on a real machine and allow programmers to understand the performance bottlenecks without having to engage in very low-level instrumentation analysis.
Consumption Growth, the Inter-est Rate and Aggregation

In this paper we present empirical evidence on aggregation problems with Euler equations for consumption. Our main results are: estimates of the elasticity of intertemporal substitution for consumption are consistently lower for aggregate data than for average cohort data and the theoretical model is statistically rejected on aggregate data, not rejected on average cohort data. In trying to explain these differences we find that a major role is played by the non-linearity of the estimable equation and by omitted demographic factors (normally unobservable on aggregate data). However, even when these sources of aggregation bias are corrected for, the estimates of the elasticity of intertemporal substitution obtained from aggregate data remain lower than those obtained from average cohort data, and excess sensitivity tests reject the implications of the model. This can be explained as the result of imposing identical coefficients to cohorts who differ in preferences and/or opportunity sets.
Case-Based Subgoaling in Real-Time Heuristic Search for Video Game Pathfinding

Real-time heuristic search algorithms satisfy a constant bound on the amount of planning per action, independent of problem size. As a result, they scale up well as problems become larger. This property would make them well suited for video games where Artificial Intelligence controlled agents must react quickly to user commands and to other agents. actions. On the downside, real-time search algorithms employ learning methods that frequently lead to poor solution quality and cause the agent to appear irrational by re-visiting the same problem states repeatedly. The situation changed recently with a new algorithm, D LRTA*, which attempted to eliminate learning by automatically selecting subgoals. D LRTA* is well poised for video games, except it has a complex and memory-demanding pre-computation phase during which it builds a database of subgoals. In this paper, we propose a simpler and more memory-efficient way of pre-computering subgoals thereby eliminating the main obstacle to applying state-of-the-art real-time search methods in video games. The new algorithm solves a number of randomly chosen problems off-line, compresses the solutions into a series of subgoals and stores them in a database. When presented with a novel problem on-line, it queries the database for the most similar previously solved case and uses its subgoals to solve the problem. In the domain of pathfinding on four large video game maps, the new algorithm delivers solutions eight times better while using 57 times less memory and requiring 14% less pre-computation time.
Freedom in the World

The ruling People’s Democratic Party retained control of the presidency, the National Assembly, and the majority of governorships in April 2011 elections. Hailed by many observers as a marked improvement from the 2007 elections, the polls were nevertheless marred by violence and suspected voter fraud. The worst bloodshed occurred in the north, where rioting by disaffected opposition supporters ignited a wave of clashes that left more than 800 people dead and at least 65,000 displaced. Since President Goodluck Jonathan’s inauguration in May, Nigeria has suffered a series of high-profile attacks by the extremist movement Boko Haram, prompting a brutal crackdown by the security forces.
Mediatophore and other presynaptic proteins . A cybernetic linking at the active zone *

In rapidly transmitting synapses, the mediatophore, a protein located in the presynaptic membrane, seems to play a key role in the last step of transmitter release. Reconstituted either in proteoliposomes or in Xenopus oocytes, or transfected in particular cell lines, the mediatophore is able to release acetylcholine with characteristics which meet several typical features of transmitter release in natural synapses. Good correspondence between the two conditions was found for: i) the dependency of release upon calcium concentration; ii) the desensitisation of release by persistence of internal calcium; iii) the effect of several drugs; iv) the fleeting formation of a population of large intramembrane particles during the precise time of release; and v) the pulsatile or quantal nature of transmitter release. All these features therefore could well be ascribed to intrinsic properties of the mediatophore molecule. How is the mediatophore integrated in the whole presynaptic apparatus'? To what extent is its function regulated by the other proteins of the active zone'? These questions are far from being solved. We want nevertheless to propose here a general view in which characteristic presynaptic functions such as transmitter release, calcium entry, sequestration and extrusion, regulation of short-and long-term changes in release efficiency, are supported by an ordered succession of molecular events involving the proteins of the active zone. It will be seen that some proteins compete for a common binding site. It is thus expected that they will occupy this site in a regulated succession, according to simple cybernetic rules. transmitter release / mediatophore / presynaptic proteins / vesicle fusion I n t r o d u c t i o n Recent research has focused attention on a host of new proteins involved in membrane fusion and in These proteins seem to be quite conserved from yeast to man. Some are cy-tosolic, others are associated with intracellular granules or vesicles and still others are bound to the plasma membrane. Fusion proteins are also implicated in the working of rapid synapses, namely in synapses where the neurotransmitter is released in a quantal and pulsatile m a n n e r and t r a n s m i s s i o n achieved in a matter of milliseconds. Transmitter release in rapid synapses, however, employs certain specific mechanisms (Dunant, 1994), and the specific role played by each protein of the avtive zone remains to be elucidated. Our aim here is to suggest a …
Grasp strategy when experiencing hands of various size

An objective evaluation of a system that provides the experience of hands of different sizes is performed from the viewpoint of the change in grasping pattern. The hand size is recognized as being different from that of the subject's actual hand (normal hand) when the hands of various sizes are presented in an environment that appears to be of constant size. This is achieved by viewing a hand and an analogous object through an optical system that adjusts its scaling rate to visually maintain the object size. An objective evaluation of this system is performed by investigating the grasp strategy depending on the hand size and object size reported in T. Shirai et al. (1998). The experimental results reveal that a similar grasp strategy that depends on hand size is observed for the proposed system based on the presented hand size. In addition, the experimental results reveal that it is important to vary the hand and object sizes visually through an optical system rather than simply using analogous objects without visual scaling.
Structure-Based Identification of Novel Human γ-Glutamylcysteine Synthetase Inhibitors

Glutathione depletion represents a potentially important strategy to sensitize tumors to cytotoxic drugs. l-Buthionine-(R,S)-sulfoximine (l-BSO) has been studied in both preclinical and early clinical trials, but limitation on its access has led to a search for alternatives. Using a 3D molecular model of human γ-glutamylcysteine synthetase (γ-GCSH), the major subunit of the rate-limiting GSH synthetic enzyme, we virtually screened the National Cancer Institute chemical database to identify compounds that could bind to and potentially inhibit γ-GCSH. We identified 51 test chemicals, all with structures very distinct from l-BSO. We subjected these compounds to biological assays measuring γ-GCSH inhibition and glutathione (GSH) depletion. Among 10 novel γ -GCS inhibitors identified, 4 compounds depleted glutathione in cells, and 2 with related structures sensitized tumor cells to melphalan treatment. This work validates the use of model-based database mining and identified inhibitors of γ-GCSH with novel chemical structures.
Multi-vehicle Bayesian Search for Multiple Lost Targets

This paper presents a Bayesian approach to the problem of searching for multiple lost targets in a dynamic environment by a team of autonomous sensor platforms. The probability density function (PDF) for each individual target location is accurately maintained by an independent instance of a general Bayesian filter. The team utility for the search vehicles trajectories is given by the sum of the `cumulative' probability of detection for each target. A dual-objective switching function is also introduced to direct the search towards the mode of the nearest target PDF when the utility becomes too low in a region to distinguish between trajectories. Simulation results for both clustered and isolated targets demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed search strategy for multiple targets.
Fundamental properties of the Population II fiducial stars HD 122563 and Gmb 1830 from CHARA interferometric observations

We have determined the angular diameters of two metal-poor stars, HD 122563 and Gmb 1830, using CHARA and Palomar Testbed Interferometer observations. For the giant star HD 122563, we derive an angular diameter θ3D = 0.940 ± 0.011 milliarcseconds (mas) using limb-darkening from 3D convection simulations and for the dwarf star Gmb 1830 (HD 103095) we obtain a 1D limb-darkened angular diameter θ1D = 0.679 ± 0.007 mas. Coupling the angular diameters with photometry yields effective temperatures with precisions better than 55 K (Teff = 4598 ± 41 K and 4818 ± 54 K – for the giant and the dwarf star, respectively). Including their )
A hierarchical scheduling strategy for the composition services architecture based on cloud computing

This paper addresses the problem of composition service scheduling and resource allocation in cloud. In the development of cloud computing with data-intensive and compute-intensive features, many applications are based on Map/Reduce model to enhance the performance. A hierarchical scheduling scheme strategy, i.e., PPA2-level scheduler, is proposed in this paper for the composition services architecture to achieve planning of composition service scheduling with Map/Reduce model. While executing PPA2-level scheduler, it decomposes the total progress into three steps, i.e., preprocessing, pooling and allocating. It decides the job priority according to both service-level and task-level in the resource side. And the resources are allocated by taking the data locality and total job completion rate into account on the basis of cloud framework. In the numerical evaluation, it uses a Markov model to generate various scenarios of client requested composition services. Then it evaluates the strategy by applying the scheduling strategy mentioned above to compare with the default first-in-first-out scheduling (FIFO) of Hadoop. In different distribution of composition services, the proposed strategy also performs well, especially in I/O-Bound services. It achieves better performance (about 45 %) and efficiently decreases the probability of disk spill.
Software for interactive on-line conferences

A layered architecture for the implementation of real-time conferences is presented. In a real-time conference a group of users each at his or her own workstation, share identical views of on-line application information. The users cooperate in a problem solving task by interactively modifying or editing the shared view or the underlying information, and can use a voice communication channel for discussion and negotiation. The lower layer in this architecture, named Ensemble, supports the sharing of arbitrary application-defined objects among the participants of a conference, and the manipulation of these objects via one or more application-defined groups of commands called activities. Ensemble provides generic facilities for sharing objects and activities, and for dynamically adding and removing participants in a conference; these can be used in constructing real-time conferencing systems for many different applications. An example is presented of how the Ensemble functions can be used to implement a shared bitmap with independent participant cursors. The relation between this layered architecture and the ISO Open Systems Interconnection reference model is discussed. In particular, it is argued that Ensemble represents a plausible first step toward a Session-layer protocol for “multi-endpoint connections”, a neglected area of communication protocol development.