Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
HAWS

Graphics Processing Units (GPUs) have become an attractive platform for accelerating challenging applications on a range of platforms, from High Performance Computing (HPC) to full-featured smartphones. They can overcome computational barriers in a wide range of data-parallel kernels. GPUs hide pipeline stalls and memory latency by utilizing efficient thread preemption. But given the demands on the memory hierarchy due to the growth in the number of computing cores on-chip, it has become increasingly difficult to hide all of these stalls. In this article, we propose a novel Hint-Assisted Wavefront Scheduler (HAWS) to bypass long-latency stalls. HAWS starts by enhancing a compiler infrastructure to identify potential opportunities that can bypass memory stalls. HAWS includes a wavefront scheduler that can continue to execute instructions in the shadow of a memory stall, executing instructions speculatively, guided by compiler-generated hints. HAWS increases utilization of GPU resources by aggressively fetching/executing speculatively. Based on our simulation results on the AMD Southern Islands GPU architecture, at an estimated cost of 0.4% total chip area, HAWS can improve application performance by 14.6% on average for memory intensive applications.
Unsupervised Learning of Realistic Behaviour in Soccer

We present an investigation of two novel approaches to the problem of playing a virtual soccer game based on an unsupervised learning model of human player logs. EM categorization and a modified HMM algorithm are considered and an HMM is applied to a cont inuous state space / finite action space during a soccer game.
Motion Planning Algorithms for Autonomous Intersection Management

The impressive results of the 2007 DARPA Urban Challenge showed that fully autonomous vehicles are technologically feasible with current intelligent vehicle hardware. It is natural to ask how current transportation infrastructure can be improved when most vehicles are driven autonomously in the future. Dresner and Stone proposed a new intersection control mechanism called Autonomous Intersection Management (AIM) and showed in simulation that intersection control can be made more efficient than the traditional control mechanisms such as traffic signals and stop signs. In this paper, we extend the study by examining the relationship between the precision of cars' motion controllers and the efficiency of the intersection controller. We propose a planning-based motion controller that can reduce the chance that autonomous vehicles stop before intersections, and show that this controller can increase the efficiency of the intersection control mechanism.
Block-based distributed video coding with variable block modes

In this paper, a new block-based pixel domain distributed video coding scheme featured with variable block modes is proposed. In addition to intra mode and Wyner-Ziv mode employed in conventional block-based distributed video coding scheme, two supplementary block modes “SKIP mode” and “zero motion mode” are introduced in the proposed scheme to improve the overall coding efficiency, as well as to reduce the decoding complexity. Moreover, the channel coding is performed on macroblcok level to reduce the coding loss due to inserted information in the parity bits. The simulation results show that the proposed scheme outperforms both the conventional frame-based transform-domain and the block-based pixel-domain distributed coding schemes.
phingolipid base modifying enzymes in sunflower ( Helianthus annuus ) : Cloning nd characterization of a C 4-hydroxylase gene and a new paralogous 8-desaturase gene ntonio

Sphingolipids are components of plant cell membranes that participate in the regulation of important physiological processes. Unlike their animal counterparts, plant sphingolipids are characterized by high levels of base C4-hydroxylation. Moreover, desaturation at the 8 position predominates over the 4 desaturation typically found in animal sphingolipids. These modifications are due to the action of C4hydroxylases and 8-long chain base desaturases, and they are important for complex sphingolipids finally becoming functional. The long chain bases of sunflower sphingolipids have high levels of hydroxylated and unsaturated moieties. Here, a C4-long chain base hydroxylase was functionally characterized in sunflower plant, an enzyme that could complement the sur2 mutation when heterologously expressed
Integrating Heterogeneous Formalisms : Framework andApplicationTheodosis

In this paper we study the problem of integrating heterogeneous formal notations, emphasising the integration of the axiomatic (logical) semantics. We present a general method for integrating the consequence systems of interrelated heterogeneous formal notations and explain why and when the resulting compound muiltilogical consequence system may need the additional support of structural (\locality") axioms in order to incorporate the interrelations between the components. We illustrate the use of this method as a basis for the integration of VDM and B formalisms based on LPF and Classical logic.
Sitting ducklings: Timing of hatch, nest departure, and predation risk for dabbling duck broods

Abstract For ground‐nesting waterfowl, the timing of egg hatch and duckling departure from the nest may be influenced by the risk of predation at the nest and en route to wetlands and constrained by the time required for ducklings to imprint on the hen and be physically able to leave the nest. We determined the timing of hatch, nest departure, and predation on dabbling duck broods using small video cameras placed at the nests of mallard (Anas platyrhynchos; n = 26), gadwall (Mareca strepera; n = 24), and cinnamon teal (Anas cyanoptera; n = 5). Mallard eggs began to hatch throughout the day and night, whereas gadwall eggs generally started to hatch during daylight hours (mean 7.5 hr after dawn). Among all species, duckling departure from the nest occurred during daylight (98%), and 53% of hens typically left the nest with their broods 1–4 hr after dawn. For mallard and gadwall, we identified three strategies for the timing of nest departure: (a) 9% of broods left the nest the same day that eggs began to hatch (6–12 hr later), (b) 81% of broods left the nest the day after eggs began to hatch, and (c) 10% of broods waited 2 days to depart the nest after eggs began to hatch, leaving the nest just after the second dawn (27–42 hr later). Overall, eggs were depredated at 10% of nests with cameras in the 2 days prior to hatch and ducklings were depredated at 15% of nests with cameras before leaving the nest. Our results suggest that broods prefer to depart the nest early in the morning, which may best balance developmental constraints with predation risk both at the nest and en route to wetlands.
Low Overhead MAC Protocol for Low Data Rate Wireless Sensor Networks

We propose the low overhead media access control protocol (LO-MAC), a new low latency, energy efficient MAC protocol for low data rate wireless sensor networks. LO-MAC uses both duty cycling and multihop forwarding from the routing-enhanced MAC protocol (RMAC) to reduce idle listening and sleep latency, respectively. Besides that, LO-MAC introduces a traffic-adaptive mechanism, which is based on the fact that a node can sense a busy channel within its carrier sensing range. This mechanism uses carrier sensing as a binary signal, and effectively notifies nodes of the existence of a data packet. The nodes then either keep their radios on to take part in multihop data forwarding or turn them off to save energy. Moreover, LO-MAC takes full advantage of the broadcast nature of wireless communication and lets a packet have different meanings when it is in transmission range of different nodes. In LO-MAC, not only is a request-to-send/clear-to-send pair replaced with a Pioneer (PION) packet, as in RMAC, but also a data packet can play both data and acknowledgement functions. Therefore, control overhead and overhearing energy are significantly reduced. Our simulation results show that LO-MAC outperforms RMAC in terms of energy efficiency while achieving comparable end-to-end latency.
The cooperation of multiple actors within process models: an automated planning approach

ABSTRACT In many business processes, multiple actors such as different employees, departments or companies are involved. These actors need to work together and form appropriate partnerships in parts of these processes to achieve their individual goals. Hence, from a Business Process Management perspective, the actors need to cooperate. We present a conceptual foundation for multi-actor process models, which enables the consideration of individual starting points and goals as well as partnerships. Further, we incorporate the cooperation of actors in the control flow of process models by constructing explicit actions determining where in the process to form and disband partnerships. We pursue an automated planning approach due to the complexity of the required cooperation. The constructed multi-actor process models are proven to be correct and complete. We demonstrate the feasibility of our approach by an application in several real-world scenarios and its effectiveness through the assessment of a practitioner.
Tumor-Penetrating iRGD Peptide Inhibits Metastasis

Tumor-specific tissue-penetrating peptides deliver drugs into extravascular tumor tissue by increasing tumor vascular permeability through interaction with neuropilin (NRP). Here, we report that a prototypic tumor-penetrating peptide iRGD (amino acid sequence: CRGDKGPDC) potently inhibits spontaneous metastasis in mice. The antimetastatic effect was mediated by the NRP-binding RXXK peptide motif (CendR motif), and not by the integrin-binding RGD motif. iRGD inhibited migration of tumor cells and caused chemorepulsion in vitro in a CendR- and NRP-1–dependent manner. The peptide induced dramatic collapse of cellular processes and partial cell detachment, resulting in the repellent activity. These effects were prominently displayed when the cells were seeded on fibronectin, suggesting a role of CendR in functional regulation of integrins. The antimetastatic activity of iRGD may provide a significant additional benefit when this peptide is used for drug delivery to tumors. Mol Cancer Ther; 14(1); 120–8. ©2014 AACR.
Promoting positive adult functioning through social development intervention in childhood: long-term effects from the Seattle Social Development Project.

OBJECTIVE To examine the long-term effects of the Seattle Social Development Project intervention in promoting positive adult functioning and preventing mental health problems, crime, and substance use (including tobacco, alcohol, and other drugs) at 21 years of age. DESIGN This nonrandomized controlled trial followed up participants to 21 years of age, 9 years after the intervention ended. We compared the following 3 intervention conditions: a full 6-year intervention (grades 1 through 6); a late 2-year intervention (grades 5 and 6 only); and a no-treatment control condition. SETTING Eighteen public elementary schools serving diverse neighborhoods, including high-crime neighborhoods, of Seattle, Wash. PARTICIPANTS A sex-balanced, multiethnic sample of 605 participants across the 3 conditions who completed interviews at 21 years of age (94% of the original sample in these conditions). INTERVENTIONS Teacher training in classroom instruction and management, child social and emotional skill development, and parent training. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES Self-reports of functioning in school and work, emotional and mental health, and crime and substance use at 21 years of age and official court records. RESULTS Broad significant effects on functioning in school and work and on emotional and mental health were found. Fewer significant effects on crime and substance use were found at 21 years of age. Most outcomes had a consistent dose effect, with the strongest effects in subjects in the full-intervention group and effects in the late-intervention group between those in the full-intervention and control groups. CONCLUSIONS A theory-guided preventive intervention that strengthened teaching and parenting practices and taught children interpersonal skills during the elementary grades had wide-ranging beneficial effects on functioning in early adulthood.
Weighted Random Search for Hyperparameter Optimization

We introduce an improved version of Random Search (RS), used here for hyperparameter optimization of machine learning algorithms. Unlike the standard RS, which generates for each trial new values for all hyperparameters, we generate new values for each hyperparameter with a probability of change. The intuition behind our approach is that a value that already triggered a good result is a good candidate for the next step, and should be tested in new combinations of hyperparameter values. Within the same computational budget, our method yields better results than the standard RS. Our theoretical results prove this statement. We test our method on a variation of one of the most commonly used objective function for this class of problems (the Grievank function) and for the hyperparameter optimization of a deep learning CNN architecture. Our results can be generalized to any optimization problem dened on a discrete domain.
Investigation of Plasma Treatment on Micro-Injection Moulded Microneedle for Drug Delivery

Plasma technology has been widely used to increase the surface energy of the polymer surfaces for many industrial applications; in particular to increase in wettability. The present work was carried out to investigate how surface modification using plasma treatment modifies the surface energy of micro-injection moulded microneedles and its influence on drug delivery. Microneedles of polyether ether ketone and polycarbonate and have been manufactured using micro-injection moulding and samples from each production batch have been subsequently subjected to a range of plasma treatment. These samples were coated with bovine serum albumin to study the protein adsorption on these treated polymer surfaces. Sample surfaces structures, before and after treatment, were studied using atomic force microscope and surface energies have been obtained using contact angle measurement and calculated using the Owens-Wendt theory. Adsorption performance of bovine serum albumin and release kinetics for each sample set was assessed using a Franz diffusion cell. Results indicate that plasma treatment significantly increases the surface energy and roughness of the microneedles resulting in better adsorption and release of BSA.
The information analyst as a quality filter in the scientific communication process

There are two major problems in the field of information use today—the quantity of material produced and its quality. Quality is of two kinds—innovation or newness of the results, and the validity of the results. This paper is concerned with the problem of validity and how to screen the literature using this criterion as a filter. Various quality filtering systems are dis cussed, including peer review and expert panels, and the prob lems associated with them delineated. It is proposed that the information analyst (defined anew herein) be used as a filter to identify quality research papers, especially using the validity criterion. A discussion of the pros and cons of the recom mendation is initiated. The paper has two objectives: (1) to establish a definition of one of the jobs in the information field, and (2) to present an idea that will increase our ability to identify and control the quality scientific literature.
Fuzzy linear support vector machines

The paper focuses on the construction of support vector machines when the outputs of training points are triangle fuzzy numbers. First we transform the fuzzy classification problem to chance constrained programming with fuzzy decision, and solve this programming using fuzzy simulation based evolutionary algorithm. Based on this, we proposed the fuzzy linear support vector machines (FLSVM). It can deal with classification problems with fuzzy information as well. At the end, the definition of fuzzy support vector set is given, which can declare the characters of FLSVM.
Sum-rate capacity analysis of the MIMO broadcast scheduling system with zero-forcing receivers under channel estimation error

In this paper, we investigate the sum-rate capacity issue of the multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) broadcast scheduling system with zero-forcing (ZF) receivers. In this system, each transmit antenna is allocated to the user having the maximum effective signa-to-noise ratio (SNR), based on vector feedback information. The tight sum-rate capacity expression of the MIMO broadcast scheduling system employing vector feedback information is then derived for arbitrary numbers of transmitting and receiving antennas, especially those with channel estimation error. We also present the capacity floor induced by the channel estimation error and then verify the analytical results through simulation results.
In vitro uptake and release of natamycin Dex-b-PLA nanoparticles from model contact lens materials

Purpose: To evaluate the uptake and release of the antifungal agent natamycin encapsulated within poly(D,L-lactide)-dextran nanoparticles (Dex-b-PLA NPs) from model contact lens (CL) materials. Methods: Six model CL materials (gel 1:poly(hydroxyethyl methacrylate, pHEMA); gel 2:85% pHEMA: 15% [Tris(trimethylsiloxy)silyl]-propyl methacrylate (TRIS); gel 3: 75% pHEMA: 25% TRIS; gel 4: 85% N,N dimethylacrylamide (DMAA): 15% TRIS; gel 5:75% DMAA: 25% TRIS; and gel 6: DMAA) were prepared using a photoinitiation procedure. The gels were incubated in: (1) natamycin dissolved in deionized (DI) water and (2) natamycin encapsulated within Dex-b-PLA NPs in dimethylsulfoxide/DI water. Natamycin release from these materials was monitored using UV–visible spectrophotometry at 304 nm over 7 d. Results: Natamycin uptake by all model CL materials increased between 1 and 7 d (p < 0.001). The uptake of natamycin-NPs was higher than the uptake of the drug alone in DI water (p < 0.05). Drug release was higher in materials containing DMAA than pHEMA (p < 0.05). All gels loaded with natamycin-NPs also released more drug compared to gels soaked with natamycin in DI water (p < 0.001). After 1 h, CL materials loaded with natamycin alone released 28–82% of the total drug release. With the exception of gel 6, this burst released was reduced to 21–54% for CL materials loaded with natamycin-NPs. Conclusions: Model CL materials loaded with natamycin-Dex-b-PLA NPs were able to release natamycin for up to 12 h under infinite sink conditions. DMAA-TRIS materials may be more suitable for drug delivery of natamycin due to the higher drug release observed with these materials.
Reconstruction of hydrometric data using a network optimization model

Water resource managers need to implement precise and efficient water management methods particularly in the context of low flow water management. The management objectives are complex because managers must satisfy both water demands for human activities and environmental goals. More often the flow objectives are defined at specific strategic points in which hydrometric stations are based. In order to allow the manager to better understand the hydrographical network behavior, in particular for inter-basin water transfer, these strategic hydrometric stations must be reinforced by some intermediate hydrometric stations, by modeling the network behavior, and by introducing weather forecast data in order to simulate the evolution in time and space of the river. For an efficient management, it is essential that the data collected and the output of the models (the natural flow and the withdrawals) must be reliable. For this purpose, a network optimization model was developed for analyzing the consistency of the available data set (measurements and model outputs) on a hydraulic system. Herein, a reconstruction of hydrometric data using this network optimization model is applied to the Arrats watershed management.
Supplemental Material . I . Polynomial modeling of BOLD response modulation with response time ( RT )

The utility of parametric modeling to characterize neurophysiological responses has been shown in fMRI experiments using block (Buchel et al., 1998) and event-related designs (Lehmann et al., 2006; Weissman et al., 2006). The underlying idea is to represent the brain response as a linear combination of basis functions (cosines, polynomials) of some experiment-related parameter, such as word presentation rate Weissman et al., 2006). While mathematical aspects of such modeling has been described elsewhere (Buchel et al., 1996; Buchel et al., 1998), we provide a short summary of the main results as well as the motivation and interpretation of the proposed implementation. Parametric modeling in event-related fMRI design is motivated by the expectation that BOLD signal will vary according to task demands and that this might be evident from trial-to-trial (Lehmann et al., 2006). Using a fixed hemodynamic response to model brain activation in response to changing behavior puts this variability in the residual variance, thus potentially discarding information that might otherwise be informative about cognitive processes. Capturing response variability can help differentiate brain regions based on the variation of their hemodynamic signal response in accordance to a change in task parameter (Buchel et al., 1998; Formisano et al., 2002). Here, we used parametric modeling to predict how signal would change in response to RT and in particular, at RT values which are rare (around 5% of total responses). In the fixed hemodynamic response modeling (event-related design), the fMRI time course) (t y is modeled as follows:
Predicting the memorability of natural-scene images

Recent work has shown that image memorability, in general, can be reliably predicted using some state-of-the-art features. However, all existing methods are not effective in predicting memorability of natural-scene images, far from human. In this paper, we propose a novel method to improve the effectiveness of memorability prediction for natural-scene images. Specifically, we argue that some of HSV colors have either positive or negative impact on memorability of natural-scene images in our Natural-Scene Image Memorability (NSIM) dataset. Then, we develop an HSV-based feature for memorability prediction. Finally, the HSV-based feature is combined with other efficient state-of-the-art features in our approach to predict memorability on natural-scene images. Experimental results validate the effectiveness of our method.
Motivation to Participate, Exercise Affect, and Outcome Behaviors toward Physical Activity

Recently researchers have focused attention on understanding the relationship between motivation to participate and affective states associated with adherence to exercise and psychological outcomes of participation. It was hypothesized that intrinsic motivation toward an activity will heighten the associated positive affect, thereby leading to increased participation and higher perceived competence and satisfaction. The presently devised models tested the above hypothesis with 130 college students enrolled in psychology classes. They were asked to complete the Motivation for Physical Activity Measure, the Sport Enjoyment Questionnaire, and general demographic questions assessing adherence to exercise and perceived competence and satisfaction. Partial support for these path models was shown as intrinsic motivation was a predictor of affect and perceived competence and satisfaction, while extrinsic motivation predicted adherence for men only. These results provide a model to enhance the understanding of exercise-related behavior in the general population and the study of the relationship of motivation with affect toward exercise.