Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Enhancing passive UHF RFID communication in multipath fading channels using time-varying continuous wave signals

In this paper, time-varying continuous wave (CW) signals are proposed for passive ultrahigh frequency radio frequency identification (UHF RFID) communication in multipath fading channels. The energy of the CW signals transmitted by a RFID reader is used to power up the internal circuitry of the RF tags and to backscatter their information to the reader. In this paper, three different candidates of time-varying CW signals, namely linear FM, quadratic FM, and sinusoidal FM signals, are proposed to reduce the effects of the multipath fading on the energy of the impinged signal on the RF tag. This will result in stronger backscatter signal to the reader and larger RFID system reading range. The results show that the performance of passive UHF RFID communication is considerably enhanced when the proposed signals are used.
Re-using Data Mining Workﬂows

Setting up and reusing data mining processes is a complex task. Based on our experience from a project on the analysis of clinico-genomic data we will make the point that supporting the setup and reuse by setting up large workﬂow repositories may not be realistic in practice. We describe an approach for automatically collecting workﬂow information and meta data and introduce data mining patterns as an approach for formally describing the necessary information for workﬂow reuse.
APEX-CHAMP+ high-J CO observations of low-mass young stellar objects - III. NGC 1333 IRAS 4A/4B envelope, outflow, and ultraviolet heating

NGC 1333 IRAS 4A and IRAS 4B sources are among the best studied Stage 0 low-mass protostars which are driving prominent bipolar outflows. Most studies have so far concentrated on the colder parts (T<30K) of these regions. The aim is to characterize the warmer parts of the protostellar envelope in order to quantify the feedback of the protostars on their surroundings in terms of shocks, UV heating, photodissociation and outflow dispersal. Fully sampled large scale maps of the region were obtained; APEX-CHAMP+ was used for 12CO 6-5, 13CO 6-5 and [CI] 2-1, and JCMT-HARP-B for 12CO 3-2 emissions. Complementary Herschel-HIFI and ground-based lines of CO and its isotopologs, from 1-0 upto 10-9 (Eu/k 300K), are collected at the source positions. Radiative-transfer models of the dust and lines are used to determine temperatures and masses of the outflowing and UV-heated gas and infer the CO abundance structure. Broad CO emission line profiles trace entrained shocked gas along the outflow walls, with typical temperatures of ~100K. At other positions surrounding the outflow and the protostar, the 6-5 line profiles are narrow indicating UV excitation. The narrow 13CO 6-5 data directly reveal the UV heated gas distribution for the first time. The amount of UV-heated and outflowing gas are found to be comparable from the 12CO and 13CO 6-5 maps, implying that UV photons can affect the gas as much as the outflows. Weak [CI] emission throughout the region indicates a lack of CO dissociating photons. Modeling of the C18O lines indicates the necessity of a "drop" abundance profile throughout the envelope where the CO freezes out and is reloaded back into the gas phase, thus providing quantitative evidence for the CO ice evaporation zone around the protostars. The inner abundances are less than the canonical value of CO/H_2=2.7x10^-4, indicating some processing of CO into other species on the grains.
Fertilizers and Mixed Crop Cultivation of Chromium Tolerant and Sensitive Plants under Chromium Toxicity

Zea mays (maize) and Vigna radiata (green gram) are found to be the chromium (Cr) tolerant and sensitive plants, respectively. In the present paper, we investigate the reduction of the toxicity of Cr in the sensitive plants by the mixed crop cultivation in the field using various amendments. Further, the potassium dichromate was used as the source of hexavalent Cr. The results indicated that Cr adversely affects both the growth and yield of plants. The soil properties vary with Cr and different fertilizer amendments and the yield of both plants were affected by Cr. We conclude that metal accumulation of seeds of green gram was higher than corn and the application of single fertilizer either farm yard manure (FYM) or nitrogen, phosphorous, and potassium (NPK) enhances the growth and yield of both the tolerant and sensitive plants in the mixed crop cultivations.
Reader response research in stylistics

This article introduces the special issue. In it, we argue that research into reader response should be recognised as a vital aspect of contemporary stylistics, and we establish our focus on work which explicitly investigates such responses through the collection and analysis of extra-textual datasets. Reader response research in stylistics is characterised by a commitment to rigorous and evidence-based approaches to the study of readers’ interactions with and around texts, and the application of such datasets in the service of stylistic concerns, to contribute to stylistic textual analysis and/or wider discussion of stylistic theory and methods. We trace the influence of reader response criticism and reception theory on stylistics and discuss the productive dialogues which exist between stylistics and the related fields of the empirical study of literature and naturalistic study of reading. After offering an overview of methods available to reader response researchers and a contextualising survey of existing work, we argue that both experimental and naturalistic methods should be regarded as ‘empirical’, and that stylistics is uniquely positioned to embrace diverse approaches to readers and reading. We summarise contributions to the special issue and the valuable insights they offer into the historical context of reader response research and the way readers perceive and evaluate texts (either poetry or narrative prose). Stylistic reader response research enables both the testing and development of stylistic methods, in accordance with the progressive spirit of the discipline, and also the establishment of new and renewed connections between stylistic research and work in other fields.
Expected shortfall estimation using kernel machines

In this paper we study four kernel machines for estimating expected shortfall, which are constructed through combinations of support vector quantile regression (SVQR), restricted SVQR (RSVQR), least squares support vector machine (LS-SVM) and support vector expectile regression (SVER). These kernel machines have obvious advantages such that they achieve nonlinear model but they do not require the explicit form of nonlinear mapping function. Moreover they need no assumption about the underlying probability distribution of errors. Through numerical studies on two artificial an two real data sets we show their effectiveness on the estimation performance at various confidence levels.
Protective Antibody and CD8+ T-Cell Responses to the Plasmodium falciparum Circumsporozoite Protein Induced by a Nanoparticle Vaccine

Background The worldwide burden of malaria remains a major public health problem due, in part, to the lack of an effective vaccine against the Plasmodium falciparum parasite. An effective vaccine will most likely require the induction of antigen specific CD8+ and CD4+ T-cells as well as long-lasting antibody responses all working in concert to eliminate the infection. We report here the effective modification of a self-assembling protein nanoparticle (SAPN) vaccine previously proven effective in control of a P. berghei infection in a rodent model to now present B- and T-cell epitopes of the human malaria parasite P. falciparum in a platform capable of being used in human subjects. Methodology/Principal Findings To establish the basis for a SAPN-based vaccine, B- and CD8+ T-cell epitopes from the P. falciparum circumsporozoite protein (PfCSP) and the universal CD4 T-helper epitope PADRE were engineered into a versatile small protein (∼125 amino acids) that self-assembles into a spherical nanoparticle repetitively displaying the selected epitopes. P. falciparum epitope specific immune responses were evaluated in mice using a transgenic P. berghei malaria parasite of mice expressing the human malaria full-length P. falciparum circumsporozoite protein (Tg-Pb/PfCSP). We show that SAPN constructs, delivered in saline, can induce high-titer, long-lasting (1 year) protective antibody and poly-functional (IFNγ+, IL-2+) long-lived central memory CD8+ T-cells. Furthermore, we demonstrated that these Ab or CD8+ T–cells can independently provide sterile protection against a lethal challenge of the transgenic parasites. Conclusion The SAPN construct induces long-lasting antibody and cellular immune responses to epitope specific sequences of the P. falciparum circumsporozoite protein (PfCSP) and prevents infection in mice by a transgenic P. berghei parasite displaying the full length PfCSP.
A Hybrid Approach for Learning Parameters of Probabilistic Networks from Incomplete Databases

Probabilistic Inference Networks are becoming increasingly popular for modeling and reasoning in uncertain domains. In the past few years, many efforts have been made in learning the parameters of probabilistic network directly from databases. The learning techniques are based on the assumption that the database is complete. If there are missing values, these values are first estimated and then the modified database is used to learn the parameters of the network. During the estimation process, the missing values are assumed to be missing at random. This paper incorporates the concepts of the Dempster-Shafer theory of belief functions to learn the parameter of the inference network. Instead of filling the missing values by their estimates, we model these missing values as representing our ignorance or lack of belief in their state. The representation provides the possibility to obtain interval estimates of the marginal probabilities of each variable in the inference network. The representation also allows us to model evidence in terms of support functions as used in belief functions, thus providing a richer way to enter evidence or new findings in the probabilistic model.
Traffic monitoring and analysis for the optimization of a 3G network

Recent years have recorded a surge of research activities on IP traffic monitoring, enabled by the availability of monitoring hardware and large-scale storage at accessible costs. More recently, passive monitoring has been applied to operational 3G networks. The passive observation of network traffic, coupled with advanced traffic-analysis methods, can be a powerful and cost-effective means to infer the network status and localize points of performance degradation without requiring complete access to all network elements. Furthermore, the availability of high-quality traces can be exploited to predict the load of the network under hypothetical conditions, variations of the actual network configuration at the capturing time. Both approaches can be useful for some engineering and reoptimization tasks that are commonly encountered in the lifetime of an operational 3G network. In abstract terms, the availability of high-quality traces can greatly empower the measurement-based optimization cycle, with human experts in the loop, thus driving an already operational 3G network toward improved performances. In this article we discuss the contribution that traffic monitoring and analysis (TMA) can provide to the optimization of an operational 3G network
Negation query handling engine for natural language interfaces to ontologies

Natural language interfaces to ontologies allow users to input their queries in natural language to the system and retrieve their desired information from ontologies. Many natural language interfaces have been developed to date but their capability in handling negation queries is limited. This paper proposes a negation query handling engine which is particularly designed to handle user queries with negation. The proposed engine is designed to understand the complexity of natural language queries with negation which was previously not catered effectively by the existing systems. The proposed engine effectively understands the intent of the user query on the basis of a sophisticated algorithm which is governed by a set of techniques and transformation rules. The proposed engine is evaluated using the Mooney data set and was found to comply and satisfy with most of the negation queries in the data set. The implementation of the proposed negation query handling engine can bring considerable improvements in natural language interfaces in handling negation queries.
Further Validation of the Student Subjective Wellbeing Questionnaire: Comparing First-Order and Second-Order Factor Effects on Actual School Outcomes

This report presents further validation evidence for the Student Subjective Wellbeing Questionnaire (SSWQ). Analyses conducted with a sample of urban middle-school students (Grades 5-8, N = 335) targeted two limitations from previous validation studies: the lack of convergent validity evidence linking responses to the SSWQ with actual school outcomes and the lack of comparative validity evidence demonstrating the relative contributions of the SSWQ’s first-order and second-order factors for predicting criterion variables. Results from the present study confirmed the SSWQ’s higher-order measurement model and then demonstrated that both first-order and second-order factors had substantive effects on several school-reported outcomes, although first-order factors were more robust predictors overall. Implications for theory, practice, and future research are briefly discussed.
Safety and efficacy of daclatasvir in the management of patients with chronic hepatitis C

Daclatasvir (Daklinza™), a new oral direct-acting antiviral, is an inhibitor of hepatitis C virus NS5A protein and has recently been approved in the United States, Europe and Japan in chronic hepatitis C. It shows potent pangenotypic activity and moderately high genetic barrier to resistance improving the sustained virological response (SVR) rates. In COMMAND phase 2 trials, daclatasvir demonstrated high SVR rates in HCV genotype 1-4 chronically infected patients treated with peginterferon-a (pegIFNα) plus ribavirin (RBV). Furthermore, it produced even higher response rates in all-oral combination with sofosbuvir, an interferon-free regimen, with or without ribavirin, in patients with advanced liver disease, HCV/HIV coinfection, liver transplantation in ALLY studies and other real-world studies. This narrative review provides information on the pharmacological properties, role, efficacy and safety of daclatasvir-containing regimens in chronic hepatitis C patients. Daclatasvir administered once-daily in combination with sofosbuvir is an effective 12-week treatment in adult patients with chronic hepatitis C and is generally safe and well tolerated.
Feedback control of the general two-trailers system with the Transverse Function approach

The so-called “general two-trailers system” is a nonholonomic system composed of a controlled unicycle-like vehicle and two passive trailers with off-axle hitching. It is not differentially flat and cannot be transformed into the chained form system. Methods developed for this latter class of systems thus do not apply. The Transverse Function (TF) approach is here used to solve the trajectory tracking problem for this system, with the proposed control solution yielding practical stabilization of any reference motion, whether it is or is not feasible. Practical stabilization of non-feasible trajectories in the case of non-differently flat systems is of particular interest due partly to the difficulty of planning and calculating desired feasible state reference motions. The method is illustrated by simulation results which show that, in addition to the unconditional practical stabilization property evoked above, asymptotic stabilization of feasible and persistently exciting motions can also be achieved with the same performance as local stabilizers derived from a linear approximation of the tracking-error equations.
A Comprehensive Model for the Monoceros Tidal Stream

We have compiled an extensive data set on potential parts of the Monoceros tidal stream and performed an exhaustive survey of dwarf galaxy semianalytic orbits in order to constrain its orbital properties. The best-fit orbits are subsequently realized as self-consistent N-body simulations in order to reproduce the spatial and velocity distribution of satellite debris. We find that all kinematic and geometric constraints can be fit by a single stream allowing for multiple wraps. The orbital eccentricity and inclination of the progenitor are strongly constrained to be e = 0.10 ± 0.05 and i = 25° ± 5°. Ten new estimates of proper motions from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey clearly exclude all retrograde orbits. Particles lost by the satellite populate two nearly concentric rings, naturally explaining the detection of stream stars at both 6-8 kpc (Ibata et al.; Newberg et al.) and 12-18 kpc (the Tri/And stream; Rocha-Pinto et al.) from the Sun. We have attempted to predict the present location of the Monoceros stream progenitor using different information: (1) the kinematical and spatial distribution of detections, and (2) the different mean metallicity in the inner and the outer rings. Because of the lack of observational data in the whole range of Galactic latitudes, the geometrical/kinematical constraints lead to a wide range of possible locations. By associating older parts of the model stream with lower metallicity parts of the observed data, we argue in favor of a current location of l ~ 245°, b ~ -18°, with a distance to the Sun rs ≃ 15 kpc. The mass of the progenitor has been poorly constrained because of the slow orbital decay. Similar fits have been obtained for masses (3-9) × 108 M☉. We have analyzed the possible common origin of the Canis Major dwarf and the Monoceros stream. The Canis Major dwarf moves on a prograde, nearly circular orbit (e ≃ 0.16) in the Milky Way disk (i ≃ 4 deg). This orbital inclination is too low to account for the large vertical dispersion of stream stars. However, the bimodal distribution of radial velocities in the central region found by Martin et al. probably indicates that their selection criteria for identifying dwarf stars lead to a contamination of background stars. In that case, the kinematical data outlined above might result in an underestimate of the orbital inclination. Finally, the distance estimation to Canis Major dwarf is around a factor of 2 smaller than that obtained from our model. Unfortunately, the possible identification of the Monoceros stream progenitor in Canis Major remains unclear.
Deep Tempering

Restricted Boltzmann Machines (RBMs) are one of the fundamental building blocks of deep learning. Approximate maximum likelihood training of RBMs typically necessitates sampling from these models. In many training scenarios, computationally efficient Gibbs sampling procedures are crippled by poor mixing. In this work we propose a novel method of sampling from Boltzmann machines that demonstrates a computationally efficient way to promote mixing. Our approach leverages an under-appreciated property of deep generative models such as the Deep Belief Network (DBN), where Gibbs sampling from deeper levels of the latent variable hierarchy results in dramatically increased ergodicity. Our approach is thus to train an auxiliary latent hierarchical model, based on the DBN. When used in conjunction with parallel-tempering, the method is asymptotically guaranteed to simulate samples from the target RBM. Experimental results confirm the effectiveness of this sampling strategy in the context of RBM training.
Using the Ethnographic Decision Tree Modelling approach to Develop Agent-Based Simulations

This paper introduces the integration of the Ethnographic Decision Tree Modelling methodology into an evidence-driven lifecycle for developing agent-based social simulations. The manuscript also highlights the development advantages of using an Ethnographic Decision Tree Model to promote accountable validation and detailed justification of how agent-based models are built. The result from this methodology is a hierarchical, tree-like structure that represents the branching and possible outcomes of the decision-making process, which can then be implemented in an agent-based model. The original methodology grounds the representation of decision-making solely on ethnographic data, yet the discussed adaptation hereby furthers that by allowing the use of survey data. As a result, the final model is a composite based on a richly descriptive dataset containing observations and reported behaviour of individuals engaged in the same activity and context. This in turn is demonstrated to serve as a useful guide for the implementation of behaviour in social simulations and also serve as a baseline for testing.
The role of apolipoprotein E gene polymorphisms in primary open-angle glaucoma.

OBJECTIVE To test the hypothesis that genetic polymorphisms of the apolipoprotein E (APOE) gene are associated with primary open-angle glaucoma (POAG), based on the association between neurodegenerative diseases and the APOE genotype. METHODS Genomic DNA was examined from an unrelated cohort of 137 POAG patients and 75 control subjects from the ophthalmology department of the Royal Victoria Infirmary. The APOE allele frequency (epsilon2, epsilon3, and epsilon4 alleles) was studied by polymerase chain reaction amplification of the related locus (19q13.2), enzymatic digestion of the products, gel electrophoresis, and imaging under UV illumination. For statistical analysis, we used a logistic regression model that included intraocular pressure as a continuous variable to study the possible correlation between POAG and APOE allele frequency. RESULTS Logistic regression analysis showed no statistically significant association between the frequency of the APOE allele and POAG for the population studied, irrespective of the IOP (epsilon2 odds ratio, 0.82; 95% confidence interval, 0.12-5.79 [P =.84]; epsilon3 odds ratio, 0.39; 95% confidence interval, 0.10-1.49 [P =.17]; and epsilon4 odds ratio, 3.84; 95% confidence interval, 0.80-18.49 [P =.09]). CONCLUSION In our cohort, the APOE genotype does not constitute a risk factor for developing POAG, even in patients with normal-tension glaucoma.Clinical Relevance Apolipoprotein E polymorphisms do not appear to be contributory to POAG.
A Comparative Case Study with Industrial Requirements Engineering Methods

Numerous requirements engineering methods have been proposed to improve the quality of requirements documents as well as the developed software and to increase customer satisfaction with the final product. In this paper, we report on an explorative case study in the area of reactive systems with eight requirements engineering methods from a wide spectrum, namely, BSM, OCTOPUS, ROOM, SA/RT, SCR, SDL, UML (with OMT process), and Z. Our major finding is that the structuring mechanisms provided by a requirements engineering method, like hierarchies (e.g., ROOM) or views (e.g., UML), are directly related (1) to the number of problems found in the informal requirements during the creation of a requirements specification as well as (2) to the understandability of the final requirements specification.