Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
When Security Games Go Green: Designing Defender Strategies to Prevent Poaching and Illegal Fishing

Building on the successful applications of Stackelberg Security Games (SSGs) to protect infrastructure, researchers have begun focusing on applying game theory to green security domains such as protection of endangered animals and fish stocks. Previous efforts in these domains optimize defender strategies based on the standard Stackelberg assumption that the adversaries become fully aware of the defender's strategy before taking action. Unfortunately, this assumption is inappropriate since adversaries in green security domains often lack the resources to fully track the defender strategy. This paper (i) introduces Green Security Games (GSGs), a novel game model for green security domains with a generalized Stackelberg assumption; (ii) provides algorithms to plan effective sequential defender strategies -- such planning was absent in previous work; (iii) proposes a novel approach to learn adversary models that further improves defender performance; and (iv) provides detailed experimental analysis of proposed approaches.
Metal-Organic Frameworks For Adsorption Driven Energy Transformation: From Fundamentals To Applications

A novel class of materials, i.e. Metal-Organic Frameworks (MOFs), has successfully been developed that is extremely suited for application in heat pumps and chillers. They have a superior performance over commercial sorbents and may potentially contribute to considerable energy savings worldwide. Globally about 33 % of the energy consumption is used for heating and cooling of e.g. houses and buildings. Adsorption driven heat pumps and chillers are very well suited to reduce this energy consumption and can even use low-grade waste heat or sustainable solar energy in combination with environmentally benign working fluids (e.g. water). MOFs are porous crystalline materials built up from inorganic clusters connected by organic ligands in 1, 2 or 3 dimensions, and display a rich variety of topologies and can be functionalized in many different ways. They offer the materials scientist an outstanding platform to design new materials with superior properties. The described research has identified MOFs with sufficient stability against water, that show the desired adsorption behavior of water. These MOF-water pairs possess higher energy efficiency and working capacity than benchmark materials and may operate with a lower driving temperature. The selected MOFs can be coated (without binder) directly on heat-exchanger surfaces for a fast response. In short, there is a bright future for the application of MOFs in adsorption heat pumps and chillers with a large energy savings potential.
Processing and properties of carbon fiber reinforced triple-A polyimide (Tri-A PI) matrix composites

This paper presents experimental results for the processing and mechanical properties of carbon fiber reinforced composites of a newly developed amorphous, asymmetric, and addition type polyimide (Triple-A PI). The imide oligomers were synthesized from the reaction of 2,3,3′,4′-biphenyltetracarboxylic dianhydride (a-BPDA), 4,4′-oxydiaminine (ODA), and phenylethynyl phthalic anhydride (PEPA). Because of amorphous structure, the melting point and melt viscosities of the polymer are relatively lower as compared with similar polyimides such as LaRC™ PETI-5. In spite of the lower molecular weight of the imide oligomer (<2500 g/mol), the cured polymer exhibits excellent mechanical properties because of the irregular and asymmetric structure as well as flexible end-capper. Carbon fiber reinforced composites were fabricated by routing prepreg consolidation. The composites exhibit excellent mechanical properties with high glass transition temperature (>320°C).
A non‐canonical role of the p97 complex in RIG‐I antiviral signaling

RIG‐I is a well‐studied sensor of viral RNA that plays a key role in innate immunity. p97 regulates a variety of cellular events such as protein quality control, membrane reassembly, DNA repair, and the cell cycle. Here, we report a new role for p97 with Npl4‐Ufd1 as its cofactor in reducing antiviral innate immune responses by facilitating proteasomal degradation of RIG‐I. The p97 complex is able to directly bind both non‐ubiquitinated RIG‐I and the E3 ligase RNF125, promoting K48‐linked ubiquitination of RIG‐I at residue K181. Viral infection significantly strengthens the interaction between RIG‐I and the p97 complex by a conformational change of RIG‐I that exposes the CARDs and through K63‐linked ubiquitination of these CARDs. Disruption of the p97 complex enhances RIG‐I antiviral signaling. Consistently, administration of compounds targeting p97 ATPase activity was shown to inhibit viral replication and protect mice from vesicular stomatitis virus (VSV) infection. Overall, our study uncovered a previously unrecognized role for the p97 complex in protein ubiquitination and revealed the p97 complex as a potential drug target in antiviral therapy.
Prolactin Expression in the Cochlea of Aged BALB/c Mice Is Gender Biased and Correlates to Loss of Bone Mineral Density and Hearing Loss

Prolactin is a versatile hormone with over 300 known functions and predominantly expressed in the pituitary. However, its expression has additionally been found in a number of extrapituitary organs. Recently, we described the expression of prolactin in the inner ear of mice, where it was correlated to age. Previous research has shown prolactin to be linked to abnormal bone metabolism and hearing loss due to changes in morphology of the bony otic capsule. Here we further investigated the relationship between prolactin, hearing loss and cochlea bone metabolism. BALB/c mice were tested for hearing using ABR at 6 and 12 months of age. Bone mineral density of the cochlea was evaluated using microCT scanning. Prolactin expression was calculated using quantitative real time PCR. Expression of the key regulators of bone metabolism, osteoprotegerin and receptor activator of nuclear factor-kappaB ligand were also determined. We found that prolactin expression was exclusive to the female mice. This also correlated to a greater threshold shift in hearing for the females between 6 and 12 months of age. Analyses of the cochlea also show that the bone mineral density was lower in females compared to males. However, no gender differences in expression of osteoprotegerin or receptor activator of nuclear factor-kappaB ligand could be found. Further analysis of cochlea histological sections revealed larger ostocyte lacunae in the females. These results provide a possible mechanism for an age related hearing loss sub-type that is associated with gender and provides clues as to how this gender bias in hearing loss develops. In addition, it has the potential to lead to treatment for this specific type of hearing loss.
Response to Resistance Training in Young Women and Men

Six women and 6 men trained the elbow flexors 3 days per week for 20 wks, one arm performing in each session 3-5 sets of 10 maximal concentric actions on an accommodating resistance device, the other arm 3-5 sets of 8-12 coupled eccentric/concentric actions on a weight training device. With results collapsed across the two training modes, the women made significantly (p < 0.05) greater relative increases than men in strength measured on the weight (116 vs. 46%) and accommodating (99 vs. 46%) resistance devices, and greater absolute (3.5 vs. -1.3 N.m) and relative (13.7 vs. -3.2%) increases in strength measured on an isokinetic dynamometer. Absolute (cm2) and relative (%) biceps, brachialis, and total elbow flexor cross-sectional area (from CT scans) increased significantly; however, the women's vs. men's respective relative and absolute increases did not differ significantly: biceps (13 vs. 7%, 0.9 vs. 1.0 cm2), brachialis (53 vs. 31%, 2.1 vs. 2.3 cm2), and total (26 vs. 15%, 3.1 vs. 3.3 cm2) flexor area. Biceps type I and II fiber area, and the II/I area ratio did not increase significantly. The data indicate that in response to the same short-term training program, muscle size increases similarly in women and men but women make greater relative increases in strength.
Effects of Fraxinellone on the Midgut Enzyme Activities of the 5th Instar Larvae of Oriental Armyworm, Mythimna separata Walker

Isolated from Dictamnus dasycarpus Turcz. , fraxinellone exhibited multiple bioactivities against insects. In the present paper, the changes of digestive enzymes and detoxification enzymes of Mythimna separata Walker (5th instar larvae), treated with fraxinellone, were investigated. Compared with those of the control, the α-amylase activity of the fraxinellone-treated 5th instar larvae was inhibited, whereas the level of their protease activity was increased. Based upon further studies on the specific proteases, the levels of the active alkaline trypsin-like enzyme (BApNA as the substrate) and the chymotrypsin-like enzyme (BTEE as the substrate) activities of the treated larvae were declined; however, the level of activity of the weak alkaline trypsin-like enzyme (TAME as the substrate) of the treated ones was increased. Meanwhile, the activities of two detoxification enzymes, such as carboxylesterase (CarE) and glutathione S-transferase (GST), of the treated larvae were increased to some extent, but the activities of NADPH-P450 reductase and O-demethylase of the treated ones declined. Therefore, protease (especially the weak alkaline trypsin-like enzyme), CarE and GST played important roles in the metabolism of fraxinellone in the midgut of Mythimna separata (M. separata).
Pilot beams for polymer-coated silver hollow glass fibers

A fabrication condition has been newly established to transmit pilot beams in cyclic olefin polymer-coated silver (COP/Ag) hollow fibers for CO2 laser light. The COP/Ag hollow fibers show low loss properties in the visible wavelength band of 0.5 - 0.7 micrometers without affecting the loss of CO2 laser light significantly. Bending losses of visible light with the wavelengths of 0.63 micrometers (red) and 0.53 micrometers (green) are evaluated. It is shown that both the red and green pilot beams are successfully delivered with low losses even when the fibers are bent to the angle of 360 degrees.
Vital signs monitoring using a new flexible polymer integrated PPG sensor

In this paper, we assessed feasibility of using Photoplethysmography (PPG) signal from flexible biosensor as an alternative solution to ECG for monitoring of cardiovascular and pulmonary performance. The potential advantage of this methodology is reduction in power consumption and improvement of complexity of body worn wireless multisensory platform for human physical activity and vital sign monitoring Hence, we propose an alternative mechanically flexible device for monitoring, Photoplethysmography (PPG) and computationally inexpensive algorithm for extraction of cardiovascular and pulmonary performance form the recorded PPG signal. The respiration rate was obtained from finger and forehead of ten healthy subjects and compared to reference methods using Bland and Altman methodology.
Energy Management Based on Demand-Side Pricing: A Supermodular Game Approach

This paper proposes a pricing strategy for energy management in the electricity market composed of one generation company, multiple competing utility companies, and consumers with heating, ventilation, and air conditionings, which participate in demand response to keep the electricity real-time balance. The utility company plays the role of an intermediary agent between the generation company and consumers. We model the cost of the utility companies from the demand-side regulation and give the condition of a unique optimal regulation price. For the multiple competing utility companies, we demonstrate that the retail pricing game belongs to the supermodular game and the game exists a pure Nash equilibrium. The uniqueness of the Nash equilibrium is also proved, and then a distributed algorithm is developed to search for the optimal equilibrium price. Furthermore, we study the influence of the wholesale price on the equilibrium. Finally, numerical results demonstrate the efficiency of the proposed pricing strategy.
An Efficient Approach to Clustering in Large Multimedia Databases with Noise

Several clustering algorithms can be applied to clustering in large multimedia databases. The effectiveness and efficiency of the existing algorithms, however, is somewhat limited, since clustering in multimedia databases requires clustering high-dimensional feature vectors and since multimedia databases often contain large amounts of noise. In this paper, we therefore introduce a new algorithm to clustering in large multimedia databases called DENCLUE (DENsity-based CLUstEring). The basic idea of our new approach is to model the overall point density analytically as the sum of influence functions of the data points. Clusters can then be identified by determining density-attractors and clusters of arbitrary shape can be easily described by a simple equation based on the overall density function. The advantages of our new approach are (1) it has a firm mathematical basis, (2) it has good clustering properties in data sets with large amounts of noise, (3) it allows a compact mathematical description of arbitrarily shaped clusters in high-dimensional data sets and (4) it is significantly faster than existing algorithms. To demonstrate the effectiveness and efficiency of DENCLUE, we perform a series of experiments on a number of different data sets from CAD and molecular biology. A comparison with DBSCAN shows the superiority of our new approach.
Cramér-Rao Lower Bounds for Hybrid Distance Estimation Schemes

This paper presents Cram'er-Rao Lower Bounds (CRLBs) for hybrid distance estimation algorithms, i.e., for received signal strength (RSS) and time of arrival (TOA) as well as for RSS and time difference of arrival (TDOA) measurements. The CRLBs are first evaluated with a simple channel model that consists of additive white Gaussian noise (AWGN), path loss (PL), and shadow fading (SF) in contrast to previous works. Several different CRLBs are dereived as the SF can be treated as nuisance parameter. Further, we apply the CRLBs to the WINNER II channel model and to current communication systems. Results show that the hybrid schemes always perform equal or better than RSS, TOA or TDOA only schemes, that the fourth type CRLB is the tightest bound, and that the distance when RSS performs better than TOA or TDOA increases with decreasing bandwidth.
Comparative Study of Haptic Interfaces for Bilateral Teleoperation of VTOL Aerial Robots

Force feedback is a powerful sensory cue that can provide a user, remotely teleoperating a vertical takeoff and landing (VTOL) aerial robotic vehicle, with an enhanced perception of the robot motion and interaction with the local environment. The accepted framework for mobile vehicle teleoperation, inspired by decades of research into manipulator teleoperation, maps joystick displacements to vehicle velocity set points and reflects interactive forces from the vehicle to the human operator. This paper proposes a novel admittance configured haptic interface where the force input from the user is used as a velocity set point and the joystick position is servo-controlled to reflect the vehicle velocity. This paper provides a comparative study, both analytic and experimental, of the two interfaces to investigate the performance and perceptual differences in the context of teleoperation of a VTOL aerial robot.
Affective engagement to emotional facial expressions of embodied social agents in a decision‐making game

Previous research illustrates that people can be influenced by the emotional displays of computer‐generated agents. What is less clear is if these influences arise from cognitive or affective process (i.e., do people use agent displays as information or do they provoke user emotions). To unpack these processes, we examine the decisions and physiological reactions of participants (heart rate and electrodermal activity) when engaged in a decision task (prisoner's dilemma game) with emotionally expressive agents. Our results replicate findings that people's decisions are influenced by such emotional displays, but these influences differ depending on the extent to which these displays provoke an affective response. Specifically, we show that an individual difference known as electrodermal lability predicts the extent to whether people will engage affectively or strategically with such agents, thereby better predicting their decisions. We discuss implications for designing agent facial expressions to enhance social interaction between humans and agents. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Indirect fabrication of gelatin scaffolds using rapid prototyping technology

Scaffold-based tissue engineering strategies often face the problem of tissues forming only within the periphery layers of the scaffold due to mass transfer issues. In the present study, we attempt to overcome this limitation by incorporating a three-dimensional (3D) interconnected network of channels within the scaffold as part of the fabrication process so as to enhance nutrient delivery and cell migration. A scaffold material with the ability to foam was also used in conjunction with this process in order to produce highly interconnected pores within the scaffold. This article describes the developmental process of an indirect fabrication approach which involves the application of rapid prototyping (RP) technology as well as the use of a foaming scaffold material to produce highly and uniformly porous scaffolds with complex channel architectures. Finally, cytotoxicity assessment confirmed that the multiple steps involved in the fabrication process did not induce toxicity within the scaffold.
Checking it twice: an evaluation of checklists for detecting medication errors at the bedside using a chemotherapy model

Objective To determine what components of a checklist contribute to effective detection of medication errors at the bedside. Design High-fidelity simulation study of outpatient chemotherapy administration. Setting Usability laboratory. Participants Nurses from an outpatient chemotherapy unit, who used two different checklists to identify four categories of medication administration errors. Main outcome measures Rates of specified types of errors related to medication administration. Results As few as 0% and as many as 90% of each type of error were detected. Error detection varied as a function of error type and checklist used. Specific step-by-step instructions were more effective than abstract general reminders in helping nurses to detect errors. Adding a specific instruction to check the patient's identification improved error detection in this category by 65 percentage points. Matching the sequence of items on the checklist with nurses' workflow had a positive impact on the ease of use and efficiency of the checklist. Conclusions Checklists designed with explicit step-by-step instructions are useful for detecting specific errors when a care provider is required to perform a long series of mechanistic tasks under a high cognitive load. Further research is needed to determine how best to assist clinicians in switching between mechanistic tasks and abstract clinical problem solving.
SECG: The SCOOP-to-Eiffel Code Generator

The Simple Concurrent Object-Oriented Programming (SCOOP) mechanism introduces inter-object concurrency to the Eiffel language, via addition of one new keyword, separate. We describe a general tool that takes a Eiffel program that uses the separate keyword and translates it into an Eiffel multi-threaded program that uses the Eiffel T HREAD class. The resulting code is thereafter compatible with EiffelStudio and any other Eiffel compiler that provides the T HREAD class.
Nonlinear Control Of Wheeled Mobile Robots

Kinematic models for the description of wheeled mobile robots are introduced. The nonlinear controllabilityof these ciystems is proved. It is shown that the wheeled mobile robot cannot be asymptotically stabilized to a configuration (or position) by using time-invariant continuous feedback. A general method is proposed for the construction of openloop controllers and time-invariant discontinuous feedback controllers. Our study provides a theoretical framework which can be used for the analysis and control of wheeledmobile-robot systems.
Implementing offline work in Web applications for rich domains

Web applications are the preferred information system platform for many organizations. Some tasks, though, must be done offline, either for connectivity costs and reliability or security constraints. Still, offline work isn't a common feature in Web applications, for it demands a more complex software architecture and a difficult development process. Existing applications are even harder to adapt with offline support, usually implying writing alternate versions of its code.
Trio: A System for Integrated Management of Data, Accuracy, and Lineage

Trio is a new database system that manages not only data, but also the accuracy and lineage of the data. Approximate (uncertain, probabilistic, incomplete, fuzzy, and imprecise! ) databases have been proposed in the past, and the lineage problem also has been studied. The goals of the Trio project are to distill previous work into a simple and usable model, design a query language as an understandable extension to SQL, and most importantly build a working system---a system that augments conventional data management with both accuracy and lineage as an integral part of the data. This paper provides numerous motivating applications for Trio and lays out preliminary plans for the data model, query language, and prototype system.
IIIT Hyderabad at Million Query Track TREC 2009

This was our maiden attempt at Million Query track, TREC 2009. We submitted three runs for ad-hoc retrieval task in Million Query track. We explored ad-hoc retrieval of web pages using Hadoop|a distributed infrastructure. To enhance recall, we expanded the queries using WordNet and also by combining the query with all possible subsets of tokens present in the query. To prevent query drift we experimented on giving selective boosts to dierent steps of expansion including giving higher boosts to sub-queries containing named entities as opposed to those that did not. In fact, this run achieved highest precision among our other runs. Using simple statistics we identied authoritative domains such as wikipedia.org, answers.com, etc and attempted to boost hits from them, while preventing them from overly biasing the results. An attempt to query classication was also made.