Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Mintra: Mining anonymized trajectories with annotations

Time-series of geo-tagged data are routinely generated from GPS enabled devices, satellites and other motion capturing instruments. Such data can be thought of as sequences of locations where every location is associated with additional text annotations. Pattern mining for important sequences (aka. trajectory mining) is essential to extract information from such a database. However, the current trend of anonymization to avoid privacy breach makes it difficult to identify any correlation in the data, thus making it even harder, if not impossible, to look for actual trajectories. Noting this difficulty, we define our goal as mining for trajectory-patterns which is a generalization of trajectories. We first design a pattern-growth based algorithm towards this objective. Further, by identifying the limitation of the state-of-the-art sequential pattern growth algorithms in growing trajectory-patterns, we propose a new pattern growth algorithm-- Mintra. Experiments were performed to demonstrate efficiency and effectiveness of Mintra. We, therefore, show that important patterns can be mined from anonymized data without compromising user privacy.
Parenteral Antibiotics Reduce Bifidobacteria Colonization and Diversity in Neonates

We investigated the impact of parenteral antibiotic treatment in the early neonatal period on the evolution of bifidobacteria in the newborn. Nine babies treated with intravenous ampicillin/gentamicin in the first week of life and nine controls (no antibiotic treatment) were studied. Denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis was used to investigate the composition of Bifidobacterium in stool samples taken at four and eight weeks. Bifidobacteria were detected in all control infants at both four and eight weeks, while only six of nine antibiotic-treated infants had detectable bifidobacteria at four weeks and eight of nine at eight weeks. Moreover, stool samples of controls showed greater diversity of Bifidobacterium spp. compared with antibiotic-treated infants. In conclusion, short-term parenteral antibiotic treatment of neonates causes a disturbance in the expected colonization pattern of bifidobacteria in the first months of life. Further studies are required to probiotic determine if supplementation is necessary in this patient group.
Polyhedral compilation for energy efficiency

In the last decade, the scope of software optimizations expanded to encompass energy consumption on top of the classical runtime minimization objective. In that context, several optimizations have been developed to improve the software energy efficiency. However, these optimizations commonly rely on long profiling steps and are often implemented as unstable runtime systems, which limits their applicability. We propose in this paper a new energy model and two associated energy optimizations that can be performed at compilation time, without having to profile the compiled programs. The model predicts the energy consumption of programs at compilation time using the precise software representation available in the polyhedral model. The energy model is then used at the core of two compiler optimizations to generate more efficient programs. The model and the two optimizations have been implemented in the R-Stream compiler.
Emergence of Modularity in Genotype-Phenotype Mappings Vladimı́r

A novel evolutionary method that allows us to study the emergence of modularity for genotype-phenotype mapping in the course of Darwinian evolution is described. The method is based on composite epigenotypes with two parts: a binary genotype; and a mapping of genes onto phenotype characters. For such generalized epigenotypes the modularity is determined in the following intuitive way: The genes are divided into two subgroups; simultaneously with this decomposition there is defined an accompanying decomposition of the set of phenotype characters. We expect that for epigenotypes with modular structures the genes from one group will be mapped onto characters from the same group, that is, that the appearance of crosslink mappings will be maximally suppressed. A fundamental question for all of evolutionary biology (and also for evolutionary algorithms and connectionist cognitive science) is the mechanism of evolutionary emergence of modular structures. The presented explanatory model is an implementation of the assumption that variation in genotype is produced on a faster time scale than variation in the genotype-phenotype mapped part. Moreover, the evaluation of the epigenotype in the evolutionary algorithm is based on directly selectable properties (corresponding to the decomposition of the set of phenotype characters). The modularity of genotype-phenotype mapping emerges in the simulations.
The prostaglandin E2 analogue sulprostone antagonizes vasopressin-induced antidiuresis through activation of Rho

Arginine-vasopressin (AVP) facilitates water reabsorption in renal collecting duct principal cells by activation of vasopressin V2 receptors and the subsequent translocation of water channels (aquaporin-2, AQP2) from intracellular vesicles into the plasma membrane. Prostaglandin E2 (PGE2) antagonizes AVP-induced water reabsorption; the signaling pathway underlying the diuretic response is not known. Using primary rat inner medullary collecting duct (IMCD) cells, we show that stimulation of prostaglandin EP3 receptors induced Rho activation and actin polymerization in resting IMCD cells, but did not modify the intracellular localization of AQP2. However, AVP-, dibutyryl cAMP- and forskolin-induced AQP2 translocation was strongly inhibited. This inhibitory effect was independent of increases in cAMP and cytosolic Ca2+. In addition, stimulation of EP3 receptors inhibited the AVP-induced Rho inactivation and the AVP-induced F-actin depolymerization. The data suggest that the signaling pathway underlying the diuretic effects of PGE2 and probably those of other diuretic agents include cAMP- and Ca2+-independent Rho activation and F-actin formation.
Model-Based Design of Stimulus Trains to Increase Selectivity in CNS Microstimulation

The goal of this project was to design stimulus trains that would enhance selectivity between microstimulation of cells and axons in the central nervous system (CNS). Detailed computer-based models of CNS cells and axons were developed that accurately reproduced the dynamic firing properties of mammalian neurons. The results demonstrate that alterations in the stimulus frequency, based on differences in the post-actionpotential recovery cycles of cells and axons, enabled differential activation of cells or axons equidistant from the electrode. This provides a useful tool for selective stimulation of the CNS and provides a basis for understand frequency-dependent outputs during CNS stimulation.
Trust, Reciprocity, and Guanxi in China: An Experimental Investigation

We examine the influence of social distance on levels of trust and reciprocity in China. Social distance, reflected in the indigenous concept of guanxi, is of central importance to Chinese culture. In Study 1, some participants participated in two financially salient trust games to measure behaviour, one with an anonymous classmate and the other with an anonymous, demographically identical non-classmate. Other participants, drawn from the same population, completed hypothetical surveys to gauge both hypothetical behaviour and expectations of others. Social distance effects on actual and hypothetical behaviour were statistically consistent. The results together corroborated the hypothesized negative relationship between trust and social distance. However, reciprocity was not responsive to social distance. Study 2 found that affect-based trust, but not cognition-based trust, played a mediating role in the relationship between social distance and interpersonal trust in a hypothetical scenario. We conclude that close guanxi ties in China engender affect-based trust, which is extended to shouren classmates. This is true despite the fact that no more cognition-based trust is placed nor reciprocity received or expected from classmates compared to demographically identical shengren non-classmates.
CORE COMPETENCE MANAGEMENT IN VIRTUAL INDUSTRY CLUSTERS

Abstract Nowadays small and medium enterprises try to develop new competitive advantages in order to access global markets. Virtual Industry Clusters (VIC) are an alternative for these companies, in such a way, that the companies can joint forces and competencies in the development of Virtual Enterprises (VE). Once the VICs are created, a structured process that manage the members' core competencies, allows the identification of the business opportunities, and impulse the creation of VE is needed. This article presents a model to manage VIC core competences. Results of the use of this model in the Mexican-Industry.com case are also described.
The prevalence of hepatitis C virus infection in Egypt 2015: implications for future policy on prevention and treatment

In 2015, a national Egyptian health issue survey was conducted to describe the prevalence of hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection. In this paper, we describe the HCV burden in 2015, compare the results with the national survey conducted in 2008, and discuss the implications of the new findings on prevention of HCV in Egypt.
Confidence Intervals for Double Exponential Distribution: A Simulation Approach

The double exponential model (DEM), or Laplace distribution, is used in various disciplines. Howev er, there are issues related to the construction of confidence intervals (CI), when using the distribution.In this paper, the properties of D EM are considered with intention of constructing CI based on simulate d data. The analysis of pivotal equations for the models here i n comparisons with pivotal equations for normal distribution are perfo rmed, and the results obtained from simulation data are presented . Keywords—Confidence intervals, double exponential model, pivotal equations, simulation
Improving speaker skill in a resynthesis experiment

A synthesis experiment was conducted based on data from ratings of speaker skill and acoustic measurements in samples of political speech. Features assumed to be important for “being a good speaker” were manipulated in the sample of the lowest rated speaker. Increased F0 dynamics gave the greatest positive effects, but elimination of disfluencies and hesitation pauses, and increased speech rate also played a role for the impression of improved speaker skill.
SOFTQOLB: An Ultra-Efficient Synchronization Primitive for Clusters of Commodity Workstations

Computer Sciences Department University of Wisconsin 1210 West Dayton Street Madison, WI 53706 galileo@cs.wisc. edu Abstract Efficient synchronization can dramatically improve the performance of shared-memory parallel programs. Past work has proposed pairwise synchronization primitives—such as Queue-on-Lock-Bit ( QOLB) [6, 5] and the transactional memory model [7, 26]—that offer higher performance than currently widely used primitives— such as MCS locks [16]. QOLB and the transactional memory model, as originally conceived, require modifications to commodity processors, and thus have not yet been implemented. In this report, we present an implementation of QOLB, calledSOFTQOLB, that runs entirely in software, and can thus run on unmodified commodity workstation clusters. We describe our implementation in detail and present an evaluation of its performance using a microbenchmark. We show that the SOFTQOLB primitive consistently outperforms MCS when there is high contention ( SOFTQOLB is in these cases at least 5 times as fast as MCS) and the performance of these two primitives is comparable under low-contention conditions.
Shape-based spectral contrast descriptor

Mel-frequency cepstral coefficients are used as an abstract representation of the spectral envelope of a given signal. Although they have been shown to be a powerful descriptor for speech and music signals, more accurate and easily interpretable options can be devised. In this study, we present and evaluate the shape-based spectral contrast descriptor, which is build up from the previously proposed octave-based spectral contrast descriptor. We compare the three aforementioned descriptors with regard to their discriminative power and MP3 compression robustness. Discriminative power is evaluated within a prototypical genre classification task. MP3 compression robustness is measured by determining the descriptor values’ change between different encodings. We show that the proposed shape-based spectral contrast descriptor yields a significant increase in accuracy, robustness, and applicability over the octave-based spectral contrast descriptor. Our results also corroborate initial findings regarding the accuracy improvement of the octave-based spectral contrast descriptor over Mel-frequency cepstral coefficients for the genre classification task.
Geocarb III: A Revised Model of Atmospheric CO2 over Phanerozoic Time

Revision of the GEOCARB model (Berner, 1991, 1994) for paleolevels of atmospheric CO2, has been made with emphasis on factors affecting CO2 uptake by continental weathering. This includes: (1) new GCM (general circulation model) results for the dependence of global mean surface temperature and runoff on CO2, for both glaciated and non-glaciated periods, coupled with new results for the temperature response to changes in solar radiation; (2) demonstration that values for the weathering-uplift factor fR(t) based on Sr isotopes as was done in GEOCARB II are in general agreement with independent values calculated from the abundance of terrigenous sediments as a measure of global physical erosion rate over Phanerozoic time; (3) more accurate estimates of the timing and the quantitative effects on Ca-Mg silicate weathering of the rise of large vascular plants on the continents during the Devonian; (4) inclusion of the effects of changes in paleogeography alone (constant CO2 and solar radiation) on global mean land surface temperature as it affects the rate of weathering; (5) consideration of the effects of volcanic weathering, both in subduction zones and on the seafloor; (6) use of new data on the d 13 C values for Phanerozoic limestones and organic matter; (7) consideration of the relative weather- ing enhancement by gymnosperms versus angiosperms; (8) revision of paleo land area based on more recent data and use of this data, along with GCM-based paleo-runoff results, to calculate global water discharge from the continents over time. Results show a similar overall pattern to those for GEOCARB II: very high CO2 values during the early Paleozoic, a large drop during the Devonian and Carbonifer- ous, high values during the early Mesozoic, and a gradual decrease from about 170 Ma to low values during the Cenozoic. However, the new results exhibit considerably higher CO2 values during the Mesozoic, and their downward trend with time agrees with the independent estimates of Ekart and others (1999). Sensitivity analysis shows that results for paleo-CO2 are especially sensitive to: the effects of CO2 fertilization and temperature on the acceleration of plant-mediated chemical weathering; the quantitative effects of plants on mineral dissolution rate for constant temperature and CO2; the relative roles of angiosperms and gymnosperms in accelerating rock weather- ing; and the response of paleo-temperature to the global climate model used. This emphasizes the need for further study of the role of plants in chemical weathering and the application of GCMs to study of paleo-CO2 and the long term carbon cycle.
Narcissism and the Deviant Citizen: A Common Thread in CWB and OCB

We link counterproductive work behavior (CWB) (particularly workplace bullying) and organizational citizenship behavior to individual narcissism and organizational culture. We link counterproductive work culture in turn to organizations' leader(s), enumerating multiple roles an executive may play: actor, target, ignorer, enabler, rewarder, or, ultimately, champion of change. Both positive (citizenship) and negative (counterproductive) behaviors are associated with narcissism, a complex, multifaceted set of personality characteristics, primarily based on the individual's cognitive interpretation of self and the world. Theoretical interpretations of reactive CWB (stressor-emotion-control theory) and instrumental CWB (theory of planned behavior) support the development of coaching and counseling interventions. Cognitive behavioral theory (CBT)-based prescriptive executive coaching is proposed as a promising mechanism for redirecting narcissistic organizational players from counterproductive to citizenship schemas and behaviors.
Floods and climate: emerging perspectives for flood risk assessment and management

Abstract. Flood estimation and flood management have traditionally been the domain of hydrologists, water resources engineers and statisticians, and disciplinary approaches abound. Dominant views have been shaped; one example is the catchment perspective: floods are formed and influenced by the interaction of local, catchment-specific characteristics, such as meteorology, topography and geology. These traditional views have been beneficial, but they have a narrow framing. In this paper we contrast traditional views with broader perspectives that are emerging from an improved understanding of the climatic context of floods. We come to the following conclusions: (1) extending the traditional system boundaries (local catchment, recent decades, hydrological/hydraulic processes) opens up exciting possibilities for better understanding and improved tools for flood risk assessment and management. (2) Statistical approaches in flood estimation need to be complemented by the search for the causal mechanisms and dominant processes in the atmosphere, catchment and river system that leave their fingerprints on flood characteristics. (3) Natural climate variability leads to time-varying flood characteristics, and this variation may be partially quantifiable and predictable, with the perspective of dynamic, climate-informed flood risk management. (4) Efforts are needed to fully account for factors that contribute to changes in all three risk components (hazard, exposure, vulnerability) and to better understand the interactions between society and floods. (5) Given the global scale and societal importance, we call for the organization of an international multidisciplinary collaboration and data-sharing initiative to further understand the links between climate and flooding and to advance flood research.
Mean Interference in Hard-Core Wireless Networks

Matérn hard core processes of types I and II are the point processes of choice to model concurrent transmitters in CSMA networks. We determine the mean interference observed at a node of the process and compare it with the mean interference in a Poisson point process of the same density. It turns out that despite the similarity of the two models, they behave rather differently. For type I, the excess interference (relative to the Poisson case) increases exponentially in the hard-core distance, while for type II, the gap never exceeds 1 dB.
Contract based management of the memory resource

Resource reservation has been widely used in many realtime systems to guarantee the proper access to the system resources. Despite that being the memory a key resource, it has attracted little attention in the specific area of realtime systems. In order to use dynamic memory in real-time systems, two fundamental problems have to be settled: allocation and deallocation in bounded time, and the fragmentation problem. Recent research results have removed the unbounded timing behaviour of the dynamic memory allocation. TLSF is a fast and constant time memory allocator. Although the fragmentation is still an open research problem, we present a deep and comparative analysis showing that it has several characteristics in common with the well-known WCET analysis. In this paper, we present a contract based framework for handling dynamic memory in real-time systems. The framework provides both: i) timing guarantee for dynamic memory allocation and deallocation operations, and ii) spatial guarantee by using a flexible contract negotiation model.
Highly Adaptive Transducer Interface Circuit for Multiparameter Microsystems

A reconfigurable transducer interface circuit that combines the communication and signal conditioning necessary to link a variety of sensors and actuators to a microsystem controller is reported. The adaptive readout circuitry supports high-resolution signal acquisition from capacitive, resistive, voltage and current mode sensors with programmable control of gain and offset to match sensor range and sensitivity. The chip accommodates sensor self test and self calibration and supports several power management schemes. It provides digital and analog outputs to control actuators and a standard interface to peripheral components. The 2.2times2. 2 mm CMOS chip was fabricated in 0.5-mum, 3-metal, 2-poly process, dissipates ~50 muW at 3.3 V in a typical multisensor application utilizing periodic sleep mode, and can read out a wide range of sensors with high sensitivity. A prototype microsystem with a microcontroller and MEMS pressure, humidity, and temperature sensors has been implemented to characterize interface chip performance
A Group of Novel Serum Diagnostic Biomarkers for Multidrug-Resistant Tuberculosis by iTRAQ-2D LC-MS/MS and Solexa Sequencing

The epidemic of pulmonary tuberculosis (TB), especially multidrug‐resistance tuberculosis (MDR‐TB) presented a major challenge for TB treatment today. We performed iTRAQ labeling coupled with two‐dimensional liquid chromatography‐tandem mass spectrometry (2D LC‐MS/MS) and Solexa sequencing among MDR‐TB patients, drug‐sensitive tuberculosis (DS‐TB) patients, and healthy controls. A total of 50 differentially expressed proteins and 43 differentially expressed miRNAs (fold change >1.50 or <0.60, P<0.05) were identified in the MDR‐TB patients compared to both DS‐TB patients and healthy controls. We found that 22.00% of differentially expressed proteins and 32.56% of differentially expressed miRNAs were related, and could construct a network mainly in complement and coagulation cascades. Significant differences in CD44 antigen (CD44), coagulation factor XI (F11), kininogen‐1 (KNG1), miR‐4433b‐5p, miR‐424‐5p, and miR‐199b‐5p were found among MDR‐TB patients, DS‐TB patients and healthy controls (P<0.05) by enzyme‐linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) and SYBR green qRT‐PCR validation. A strong negative correlation, consistent with the target gene prediction, was found between KNG1 and miR‐199b‐5p (r=−0.232, P=0.017). Moreover, we established a diagnostic model for MDR‐TB patients and healthy controls with a sensitivity of 100.00% and a specificity of 88.33% (overall accuracy 93.14%), and also established a diagnostic model for MDR‐TB patients and DS‐TB patients with a sensitivity of 83.33% and a specificity of 88.33% (overall accuracy 86.27%). Our study proposes potential biomarkers for MDR‐TB diagnosis, and also provides a new experimental basis to understand the pathogenesis of MDR‐TB.