Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Selfishness as a Virtue in Mobile Ad Hoc Networks

Using Mobile Ad Hoc Networks as a way to break the dependency of mobile communications on permanent infrastructure has been an active area of research for several years, but only more recently has consideration been given to the economics of a distributed mobile service. In particular, the topic of handling nodes that act selfishly or maliciously has not yet been explored in detail. In this paper, we discuss the SAVMAN strategy for mobile offloading under the rules of the 2013 MANIAC Challenge.
Making sense of divergent career test scores

Making Sense of Divergent Career Test Scores. (May 2008) Steven Rodriguez, Jr., B.M. E. , Baylor University; M.S., Baylor University Chair of Advisory Committee: Dr. Elizabeth S. Foster The purposes of this study were to discover patterns in test scores when both the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator and the Strong Interest Inventory are used simultaneously and to offer career counselors practical ways to interpret the scores when counseling their clients. To do this, the researcher conducted one study using canonical correlation to study the relationships and interrelationships between scores on the MBTI dichotomies and the SII GOTs. A second study utilized MANOVA to increase our understanding of age and gender differences in scores on these two instruments. Another study sought to use case examples of clients who had completed both tests to explain practical ways that career counselors can help their clients understand and apply results of both tests in ways that most benefit the clients’ career decision making. From the results of these studies, it would appear that the most common scores to occur simultaneously on both tests at once are MBTI Intuition, and SII Artistic. One could conclude from this that the personality characteristic of enjoying working in settings that allow for creative endeavor is particularly strong relative to other personality characteristics measured by these tests. We could also conclude that as individuals age, they are more likely to prefer working in settings that allow them to pursue creative endeavors. Another conclusion supported by this data indicates that men
Impact of Genotypic Variation of Borrelia burgdorferi Sensu Stricto on Kinetics of Dissemination and Severity of Disease in C3H/HeJ Mice

ABSTRACT Various genotypes of Borrelia burgdorferi sensu stricto have been previously identified among a large collection of isolates cultured from patients with Lyme disease in the United States. Furthermore, association of specific genotypes with hematogenous dissemination early in the disease course has been observed. The present study assessed kinetics of spirochete dissemination and disease severity in C3H/HeJ mice infected with two different genotypes ofB. burgdorferi. Spirochete load in plasma and ear and other tissue samples of infected mice was measured by quantitative PCR, and these data were compared to those obtained by culture and histopathologic analysis. In mice infected with isolate BL206 (a type 1 strain), the peak number of spirochetes was observed in plasma between day 4 and 7, in heart and ear tissue on day 14, and in joints on day 28 postinoculation. There was a correlation between the peak number of spirochetes in plasma on day 4 or 7 and that in ear biopsy and joint specimens on day 14. By contrast, spirochete burdens in plasma of mice infected with isolate B356 (a type 3 strain) were 16- and 5-fold lower than those of BL206-infected mice on days 7 and 14 of infection, respectively. Similarly, approximately 6- and 13-fold fewer spirochetes were detected in the heart tissues of B356-infected mice compared to BL206-infected mice. Histopathologically, severe arthritis and aortitis were noted only in mice infected with isolate BL206. Spirochete dissemination and disease severity vary significantly in mice infected with distinct genotypes of B. burgdorferi, suggesting that genotypic differences in the infecting spirochetes play a key role in the pathogenesis and development of clinical disease.
Migration error in transversely isotropic media

Most migration algorithms today are based on the assumption that the earth is isotropic, an approximation that is often not valid and thus can lead to position errors on migrated images. Here, we compute curves of such position error as a function of reflector dip for transversely isotropic (TI) media characterized by Thomsen’s anisotropy parameters δ and e. Depending on whether the migration velocity is derived from stacking velocity or vertical root‐mean‐square (rms) velocity, we find quite contrary sensitivities of the error behavior to the values of δ and e. Likewise error‐versus‐dip behavior depends in a complicated way on vertical velocity gradient and vertical time, as well as orientation of the symmetry axis. Moreover, error behavior is dependent on just how δ and e vary with depth. In addition to presenting such error curves, we show migrations of synthetic data that exemplify the mispositioning that results from ignoring anisotropy for P‐wave data. When migration is done using velocities derived.
Real-Time Traffic Analyzer for Measurement-Based Admission Control

The Measurement-based Admission Control is used to achieve the required Quality of Service. The Measurement-based Admission Control mechanism provides significant functionality for integrated service guaranties. This paper presents the model of the traffic analyzer for real-time applications. It consists of two cross-dependent sub-modules: traffic measurement and traffic estimator. The model presented in the paper is characterized by low system overheads for real-time traffic parameters estimation.
Insulin-Like Growth Factor-I Induces Arginase Activity in Leishmania amazonensis Amastigote-Infected Macrophages through a Cytokine-Independent Mechanism

Leishmania (Leishmania) amazonensis exhibits peculiarities in its interactions with hosts. Because amastigotes are the primary form associated with the progression of infection, we studied the effect of insulin-like growth factor (IGF)-I on interactions between L. (L.) amazonensis amastigotes and macrophages. Upon stimulation of infected macrophages with IGF-I, we observed decreased nitric oxide production but increased arginase expression and activity, which lead to increased parasitism. However, stimulation of amastigote-infected macrophages with IGF-I did not result in altered cytokine levels compared to unstimulated controls. Because IGF-I is present in tissue fluids and also within macrophages, we examined the possible effect of this factor on phosphatidylserine (PS) exposure on amastigotes, seen previously in tissue-derived amastigotes leading to increased parasitism. Stimulation with IGF-I induced PS exposure on amastigotes but not on promastigotes. Using a PS-liposome instead of amastigotes, we observed that the PS-liposome but not the control phosphatidylcholine-liposome led to increased arginase activity in macrophages, and this process was not blocked by anti-TGF-β antibodies. Our results suggest that in L. (L.) amazonensis amastigote-infected macrophages, IGF-I induces arginase activity directly in amastigotes and in macrophages through the induction of PS exposure on amastigotes in the latter, which could lead to the alternative activation of macrophages through cytokine-independent mechanisms.
Antibacterial and Antifungal Activities of New Acylated Derivatives of Epigallocatechin Gallate

(−)-Epigallocatechin-3-O-gallate (EGCG) has useful antiviral, antimicrobial, antitoxin, and antitumor properties. Previously, Mori et al. (2008) found that addition of long acyl chains (C16–18) to EGCG enhanced its anti-influenza virus activity up to 44-fold. The chemical stability of EGCG against oxidative degradation was also enhanced by acylation. We further evaluated the in vitro activity spectrum of the EGCG derivatives against a wide range of bacteria and fungi. A series of EGCG O-acyl derivatives were synthesized by lipase-catalyzed transesterification. These derivatives exhibited several-fold higher activities than EGCG, particularly against Gram-positive organisms. Antifungal MICs of the derivatives were also two to fourfold lower than those of EGCG. The activities of the EGCG derivatives against Gram-negative bacteria were not distinguishable from those of EGCG. Among the derivatives evaluated, MICs of dioctanoate and palmitate (C16) for 17 Staphylococcus aureus strains were 4–32 μg/ml, although MIC of EGCG for these 17 strains was ≥128 μg/ml. C16 demonstrated rapid bactericidal activity against methicillin-resistant S. aureus (MRSA) ATCC43300 at ≥16 μg/ml. The enhanced activity of C16 against S. aureus was supported by its increased membrane-permeabilizing activity determined by increased SYTOX Green uptake. The EGCG derivatives were exported in Escherichia coli using the efflux pump AcrAB–TolC. The tolC deletion mutant exhibited higher sensitivity to EGCG and the derivatives than wild-type. Addition of long alkyl chains to EGCG significantly enhanced its activities against several bacteria and fungi, particularly against S. aureus including MRSA. C16 might potentially become under specified circumstances an alternative or supplement to antibiotics and disinfectants in the future.
Five Shades of Grey for Fast and Reliable Camera Pose Estimation

We introduce here an improved design of the Uniform Marker Fields and an algorithm for their fast and reliable detection. Our concept of the marker field is designed so that it can be detected and recognized for camera pose estimation: in various lighting conditions, under a severe perspective, while heavily occluded, and under a strong motion blur. Our marker field detection harnesses the fact that the edges within the marker field meet at two vanishing points and that the projected planar grid of squares can be defined by a detectable mathematical formalism. The modules of the grid are grey scale and the locations within the marker field are defined by the edges between the modules. The assumption that the marker field is planar allows for a very cheap and reliable camera pose estimation in the captured scene. The detection rates and accuracy are slightly better compared to state-of-the-art marker-based solutions. At the same time, and more importantly, our detector of the marker field is several times faster and the reliable real-time detection can be thus achieved on mobile and low-power devices. We show three targeted applications where the planarity is assured and where the presented marker field design and detection algorithm provide a reliable and extremely fast solution.
Target-oriented phone selection from universal phone set for spoken language recognition

This paper studies target-oriented phone selection strategy for constructing phone tokenizers in the Parallel Phone Recognizers followed by Vector Space Model (PPR-VSM) paradigm of spoken language recognition. With this phone selection strategy, one derives a set of target-oriented phone tokenizers (TOPT), each having a subset of phones that have high discriminative ability for a target language. Two phone selection methods are proposed to derive such phone subsets from a phone recognizer. We show that the TOPTs derived from a universal phone recognizer (UPR) outperform those derived from language specific phone recognizers. The TOPT front-end derived from a UPR also consistently outperforms the UPR front-end without involving additional acoustic modeling. We achieve an equal error rates (EERs) of 1.33%, 1.75% and 2.80% on NIST 1996, 2003 and 2007 LRE databases respectively for 30 second closed-set tests by including multiple TOPTs in the PPR.
Unified Algorithm to Improve Reinforcement Learning in Dynamic Environments - An Instance-based Approach

This paper presents an approach for speeding up the convergence of adaptive intelligent agents using reinforcement learning algorithms. Speeding up the learning of an intelligent agent is a complex task since the choice of inadequate updating techniques may cause delays in the learning process or even induce an unexpected acceleration that causes the agent to converge to a non-satisfactory policy. We have developed a technique for estimating policies which combines instance-based learning and reinforcement learning algorithms in Markovian environments. Experimental results in dynamic environments of different dimensions have shown that the proposed technique is able to speed up the convergence of the agents while achieving optimal action policies, avoiding problems of classical reinforcement learning approaches.
The influence of matrix elasticity on chondrocyte behavior in 3D

Cells actively probe the stiffness of their surrounding and respond to it. The authors recently found that maintenance of the chondrogenic phenotype was directly influenced by this property in 2D. Since studies about this process in 3D are still largely absent, this study aimed to transfer this knowledge into a 3D environment. Agarose was modified with RGD to allow active stiffness sensing or RGE as a control. Hydrogels with different mechanical properties were produced by using different concentrations of agarose. Primary chondrocytes were incorporated into the gel, cultured for up to two weeks, and then constructs were analyzed. Cells were surrounded by their own ECM from an early stage and maintained their chondrogenic phenotype, independent of substrate composition, as indicated by a high collagen type II and a lack of collagen type I production. However, softer gels showed higher DNA and GAG content and larger cell clusters than stiff gels in both RGD‐ and RGE‐modified agarose. The authors hypothesize that matrix elasticity in the tested range does not influence the maintenance of the chondrogenic phenotype in 3D but rather the size of the formed cell ECM clusters. The deviation of these findings from previous results in 2D stresses the importance of moving towards 3D systems that more closely mimic in vivo conditions. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Absolute binding free energy calculations using molecular dynamics simulations with restraining potentials.

The absolute (standard) binding free energy of eight FK506-related ligands to FKBP12 is calculated using free energy perturbation molecular dynamics (FEP/MD) simulations with explicit solvent. A number of features are implemented to improve the accuracy and enhance the convergence of the calculations. First, the absolute binding free energy is decomposed into sequential steps during which the ligand-surrounding interactions as well as various biasing potentials restraining the translation, orientation, and conformation of the ligand are turned "on" and "off. " Second, sampling of the ligand conformation is enforced by a restraining potential based on the root mean-square deviation relative to the bound state conformation. The effect of all the restraining potentials is rigorously unbiased, and it is shown explicitly that the final results are independent of all artificial restraints. Third, the repulsive and dispersive free energy contribution arising from the Lennard-Jones interactions of the ligand with its surrounding (protein and solvent) is calculated using the Weeks-Chandler-Andersen separation. This separation also improves convergence of the FEP/MD calculations. Fourth, to decrease the computational cost, only a small number of atoms in the vicinity of the binding site are simulated explicitly, while all the influence of the remaining atoms is incorporated implicitly using the generalized solvent boundary potential (GSBP) method. With GSBP, the size of the simulated FKBP12/ligand systems is significantly reduced, from approximately 25,000 to 2500. The computations are very efficient and the statistical error is small ( approximately 1 kcal/mol). The calculated binding free energies are generally in good agreement with available experimental data and previous calculations (within approximately 2 kcal/mol). The present results indicate that a strategy based on FEP/MD simulations of a reduced GSBP atomic model sampled with conformational, translational, and orientational restraining potentials can be computationally inexpensive and accurate.
Sparse channel estimation for OFDM-based underwater cooperative systems with amplify-and-forward relaying

This paper is concerned with a challenging problem of channel estimation for amplify-and-forward cooperative relay based orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) systems in the presence of sparse underwater acoustic channels and of the correlative non-Gaussian noise. We exploit the sparse structure of the channel impulse response to improve the performance of the channel estimation algorithm, due to the reduced number of taps to be estimated. The resulting novel algorithm initially estimates the overall sparse channel taps from the source to the destination as well as their locations using the matching pursuit (MP) approach. The correlated non-Gaussian effective noise is modeled as a Gaussian mixture. Based on the Gaussian mixture model, an efficient and low complexity algorithm is developed based on the combinations of the MP and the space-alternating generalized expectation-maximization (SAGE) technique, to improve the estimates of the channel taps and their location as well as the noise distribution parameters in an iterative way. The proposed SAGE algorithm is designed in such a way that, by choosing the admissible hidden data properly on which the SAGE algorithm relies, a subset of parameters is updated for analytical tractability and the remaining parameters for faster convergence Computer simulations show that underwater acoustic (UWA) channel is estimated very effectively and the proposed algorithm has excellent symbol error rate and channel estimation performance.
Joint Design of Optimal Cooperative Jamming and Power Allocation for Linear Precoding

Linear precoding and cooperative jamming for multiuser broadcast channel is studied to enhance the physical layer security. We consider the system where multiple independent data streams are transmitted from the base station to multiple legitimate users with the help of a friendly jammer. It is assumed that a normalized linear precoding matrix is given at the base station, whereas the power allocated to each user is to be determined. The problem is to jointly design the power allocation across different users for linear precoding and the cooperative jamming at the friendly jammer. The goal is to maximize a lower bound of the secrecy rate, provided that a minimum communication rate to the users is guaranteed. The optimal solution is obtained when the number of antennas at the friendly jammer is no less than the total number of antennas at the users and eavesdropper. Moreover, a suboptimal algorithm is proposed, which can be applied for all the scenarios. Numerical results demonstrate that the proposed schemes are effective for secure communications.
Vip3A Resistance Alleles Exist at High Levels in Australian Targets before Release of Cotton Expressing This Toxin

Crops engineered to produce insecticidal crystal (Cry) proteins from the soil bacterium Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt) have revolutionised pest control in agriculture. However field-level resistance to Bt has developed in some targets. Utilising novel vegetative insecticidal proteins (Vips), also derived from Bt but genetically distinct from Cry toxins, is a possible solution that biotechnical companies intend to employ. Using data collected over two seasons we determined that, before deployment of Vip-expressing plants in Australia, resistance alleles exist in key targets as polymorphisms at frequencies of 0.027 (n = 273 lines, 95% CI = 0.019–0.038) in H. armigera and 0.008 (n = 248 lines, 0.004–0.015) in H. punctigera. These frequencies are above mutation rates normally encountered. Homozygous resistant neonates survived doses of Vip3A higher than those estimated in field-grown plants. Fortunately the resistance is largely, if not completely, recessive and does not confer resistance to the Bt toxins Cry1Ac or Cry2Ab already deployed in cotton crops. These later characteristics are favourable for resistance management; however the robustness of Vip3A inclusive varieties will depend on resistance frequencies to the Cry toxins when it is released (anticipated 2016) and the efficacy of Vip3A throughout the season. It is appropriate to pre-emptively screen key targets of Bt crops elsewhere, especially those such as H. zea in the USA, which is not only closely related to H. armigera but also will be exposed to Vip in several varieties of cotton and corn.
Cultivating Pre-Service Teachers towards Culturally Relevant Literacy Practices.

This written excerpt illuminates the voice of Jennifer (a pseudonym), who represents pre-service teachers in an urban teacher preparation program who employed culturally relevant and innovative practices, situated in her use of narrative and expository texts. This case study is an examination of one pre-service teacher’s experience in a reading methods course, entitled Reading Models and Methods, and corresponding urban reading practicum. Jennifer participated in a program aimed to address varying dilemmas that persist in the field, including: pre-service teachers’ discomfort with diversity and urban contexts, the underuse of expository texts, and a literal comprehension focus influenced by didactic practices. The program is intended to prepare pre-service teachers for the urban teaching context and culturally relevant literacy teaching. By design, the field experience provides exposure to diverse learners in an urban context and to exemplary
Renormalization group approach to the critical behavior of the forest-fire model.

We introduce a renormalization scheme for the one- and two-dimensional forest-fire model in order to characterize the nature of the critical state and its scale invariant dynamics. We show the existence of a relevant scaling field associated with a repulsive fixed point. This model is therefore critical in the usual sense because the control parameter has to be tuned to its critical value in order to get criticality. It turns out that this is not just the condition for a time scale separation. The critical exponents are computed analytically and we obtain v = 1.0, T = 1.0 and v = 0.65, T = 1.16, respectively, for the one- and two-dimensional cases, in very good agreement with numerical simulations.