Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Explanations as Model Reconciliation - A Multi-Agent Perspective

In this paper, we demonstrate how a planner (or a robot as an embodiment of it) can explain its decisions to multiple agents in the loop together considering not only the model that it used to come up with its decisions but also the (often mis-aligned) models of the same task that the other agents might have had. To do this, we build on our previous work on multi-model explanation generation (Chakraborti et al. 2017b) and extend it to account for settings where there is uncertainty of the robot’s model of the explainee and/or there are multiple explainees with different models to explain to. We will illustrate these concepts in a demonstration on a robot involved in a typical search and reconnaissance scenario with another human teammate and an external human supervisor.
Multidimensional Variance‐Optimal Hedging in Discrete‐Time Model—A General Approach

One of the well‐known approaches to the problem of option pricing is a minimization of the global risk, considered as the expected quadratic net loss. In the paper, a multidimensional variant of the problem is studied. To obtain the existence of the variance‐optimal hedging strategy in a model without transaction costs, we can apply the result of Monat and Stricker. Another possibility is a generalization of the nondegeneracy condition that appeared in a paper of Schweizer, in which a one‐dimensional problem is solved. The relationship between the two approaches is shown. A more difficult problem is the existence of an optimal solution in the model with transaction costs. A sufficient condition in a multidimensional case is formulated.
Biogeography of Burkholderia pseudomallei in the Torres Strait Islands of Northern Australia

ABSTRACT It has been hypothesized that biogeographical boundaries are a feature of Burkholderia pseudomallei ecology, and they impact the epidemiology of melioidosis on a global scale. This study examined the relatedness of B. pseudomallei sourced from islands in the Torres Strait of Northern Australia to determine if the geography of isolated island communities is a determinant of the organisms' dispersal. Environmental sampling on Badu Island in the Near Western Island cluster recovered a single clone. An additional 32 clinical isolates from the region were sourced. Isolates were characterized using multilocus sequence typing and a multiplex PCR targeting the flagellum gene cluster. Gene cluster analysis determined that 69% of the isolates from the region encoded the ancestral Burkholderia thailandensis-like flagellum and chemotaxis gene cluster, a proportion significantly lower than that reported from mainland Australia and consistent with observations of isolates from southern Papua New Guinea. A goodness-of-fit test indicated that there was geographic localization of sequence types throughout the archipelago, with the exception of Thursday Island, the economic and cultural hub of the region. Sequence types common to mainland Australia and Papua New Guinea were identified. These findings demonstrate for the first time an environmental reservoir for B. pseudomallei in the Torres Strait, and multilocus sequence typing suggests that the organism is not randomly distributed throughout this region and that seawater may provide a barrier to dispersal of the organism. Moreover, these findings support an anthropogenic dispersal hypothesis for the spread of B. pseudomallei throughout this region.
Tip of the Iceberg

Market-based solutions to social and environmental problems in the form of for-profit social enterprise ventures have attracted considerable attention in recent years. According to popular discourse, the reason for their appeal is that they are not dependent on government grants or charitable support and are therefore more efficient and sustainable than existing alternatives. Using data collected from two social enterprise industries, this article challenges that discourse. It concludes that even though the recent focus on market-based ventures crowds out the importance of philanthropic ones, social enterprises rely substantially on civil society to accomplish their prosocial missions. By shifting attention away from the nonprofit–government relationship and toward the nonprofit–business one, these findings have implications for theorizing in nonprofit studies.
`Towards a New Public Administration theory'

As Editor, I had not been intending to contribute to this collection of commentaries, but simply to coordinate the process of assembling them. However, one of our commentators unfortunately fell out at a late stage, so, rather than ask someone else at very short notice, I decided to step into the breach. And — to be truthful — I was rather pleased that the fates had provided me with an excuse to enter such an enticing debate. The first thing to say is that we should all — academics and practitioners alike — be grateful to Jocelyne Bourgon for raising such a large and important set of issues. I would venture the opinion that rather few top civil servants share her capacity to articulate such topics and to take up clear positions on the perpetually slippery ground that lies between public administration as a practice and public administration as an academic field. Her own wide experience and intellectual command of the subject gives her that advantage which, regrettably, few of her peers and few of my academic colleagues can hope to equal. Let me move to the substance of the Braibant Lecture. When I sat listening to it I was first struck by a sense of surprise at Jocelyne Bourgon’s solution. She identified a series of challenges to contemporary public administration practice and then set off in search of a theory. Of course theory is always welcome to an academic, but it is also a relatively unusual course for a top practitioner to take. More common is the declaration of a five-step programme, or a civil service code, or a new model of customer-centred service or some other apparently concrete and practical set of actions. ‘Theory’ has almost become a dirty word in some jurisdictions. Yet I fundamentally agree with Bourgon’s line. It is indeed a theory (or possibly theories — see later) that we need. We have had a quarter century of initiatives and programmes, but not much of this reform activity has been clothed in theory, and one result of this is that it has often been hard to see the big picture or, indeed, how one reform relates
Improving accuracy for matrix multiplications on GPUs

Reproducibility of an experiment is a commonly used metric to determine its validity. Within scientific computing, this can become difficult due to the accumulation of floating point rounding errors in the numerical computation, greatly reducing the accuracy of the computation. Matrix multiplication is particularly susceptible to these rounding errors which is why there exist so many solutions, ranging from simulating extra precision to compensated summation algorithms. These solutions however all suffer from the same problem, abysmal performance when compared against the performance of the original algorithm. Graphics cards are particularly susceptible due to a lack of double precision on all but the most recent generation graphics cards, therefore increasing the accuracy of the precision that is offered becomes paramount. By using our method of selectively applying compensated summation algorithms, we are able to return a whole digit of accuracy on current generation graphics cards and potentially two digits of accuracy on the newly released “fermi” architecture. This is all possible with only a 2% drop in performance.
Amino Acid‐Selective Segmental Isotope Labeling of Multidomain Proteins for Structural Biology

Current solution NMR techniques enable structural investigations of proteins in molecular particles with sizes up to several hundred kDa. However, the large molecular weight of proteins in such systems results in increased numbers of NMR signals, and the resulting spectral overlap typically imposes limitations. For multidomain proteins, segmental isotope labeling of individual domains facilitates the spectral interpretation by reducing the number of signals, but for large domains with small signal dispersion, signal overlap can persist. To overcome limitations arising from spectral overlap, we present a strategy that combines cell‐free expression and ligation of the expressed proteins to produce multidomain proteins with selective amino acid‐type labeling in individual domains. The bottleneck of intrinsically low cell‐free expression yields of precursor molecules was overcome by introducing new fusion constructs that allowed milligram production of ligation‐competent domains labeled in one or multiple amino acid types. Ligation‐competent unlabeled partner domains were produced in vivo, and subsequent domain ligation was achieved by using an on‐column strategy. This approach is illustrated with two multidomain RNA‐binding proteins, that is, the two C‐terminal RNA‐recognition motifs of the human polypyrimidine tract‐binding protein, and two highly homologous helix–turn–helix domains of the human glutamyl‐prolyl‐tRNA synthetase.
Corruption, Bureaucratic Failure and Social Policy Priorities

This article argues that bureaucratic capacity – the competence and reliability of the national bureaucracy – matters to the allocation of public spending among welfare state programmes since it is difficult for governments to justify high levels of spending on programmes that require bureaucrats to make case-by-case decisions, on a discretionary basis, if the bureaucracy is incompetent, corrupt or both. We expect bureaucratic capacity to have a positive effect on programmes that involve bureaucratic discretion, but weak or no effects on programmes that are more straightforward to implement. In order to test these hypotheses, we analyse public spending on active labour market programmes (which involve a lot of discretion) and parental leave benefits (which involve less discretion). Relying on data for twenty advanced democracies from the mid-1980s to the mid-2000s, we find that high bureaucratic capacity does have a positive effect on active labour market policy spending, but not on parental leave benefits.
Native cysteine residues are dispensable for the structure and function of all five yeast mitotic septins

Budding yeast septins assemble into hetero‐octamers and filaments required for cytokinesis. Solvent‐exposed cysteine (Cys) residues provide sites for attaching substituents useful in assessing assembly kinetics and protein interactions. To introduce Cys at defined locations, site‐directed mutagenesis was used, first, to replace the native Cys residues in Cdc3 (C124 C253 C279), Cdc10 (C266), Cdc11 (C43 C137 C138), Cdc12 (C40 C278), and Shs1 (C29 C148) with Ala, Ser, Val, or Phe. When plasmid‐expressed, each Cys‐less septin mutant rescued the cytokinesis defects caused by absence of the corresponding chromosomal gene. When integrated and expressed from its endogenous promoter, the same mutants were fully functional, except Cys‐less Cdc12 mutants (which were viable, but exhibited slow growth and aberrant morphology) and Cdc3(C124V C253V C279V) (which was inviable). No adverse phenotypes were observed when certain pairs of Cys‐less septins were co‐expressed as the sole source of these proteins. Cells grew less well when three Cys‐less septins were co‐expressed, suggesting some reduction in fitness. Nonetheless, cells chromosomally expressing Cys‐less Cdc10, Cdc11, and Cdc12, and expressing Cys‐less Cdc3 from a plasmid, grew well at 30°C. Moreover, recombinant Cys‐less septins—or where one of the Cys‐less septins contained a single Cys introduced at a new site—displayed assembly properties in vitro indistinguishable from wild‐type. Proteins 2013; 81:1964–1979. © 2013 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
Effects of deep brain stimulation of dorsal versus ventral subthalamic nucleus regions on gait and balance in Parkinson's disease

Objective Deep brain stimulation (DBS) of the subthalamic nucleus (STN) improves motor function, including gait and stability, in people with Parkinson's disease (PD) but differences in DBS contact locations within the STN may contribute to variability in the degree of improvement. Based on anatomical connectivity, dorsal STN may be preferentially involved in motor function and ventral STN in cognitive function. Methods To determine whether dorsal DBS affects gait and balance more than ventral DBS, a double blind evaluation of 23 PD patients with bilateral STN DBS was conducted. Each participant underwent gait analysis and balance testing off Parkinson's medication under three DBS conditions (unilateral DBS in the dorsal STN region, unilateral DBS in the ventral STN region and both stimulators off) on 1 day. Results Improvements were seen in Unified Parkinson's Disease Rating Scale (UPDRS)-III scores and velocity in walking trials as fast as possible (Fast gait) and preferred pace (Pref gait), as well as stride length for Fast and Pref gait, with dorsal and ventral stimulation compared with the off condition (post hoc tests, p<0.05). However, there were no differences with dorsal compared to ventral stimulation. Balance, assessed using the multi-item mini-Balance Evaluation Systems Test (mini-BESTest), was similar across conditions. Conclusions Absence of differences in gait and balance between the dorsal and ventral conditions suggests motor connections involved in gait and balance may be more diffusely distributed in STN than previously thought, as opposed to neural connections involved in cognitive processes, such as response inhibition, which are more affected by ventral stimulation.
Age-related changes relevant to health in women: design, recruitment, and retention strategies for the Longitudinal Assessment of Women (LAW) study.

OBJECTIVES The primary aim was to assess the age-related changes that occur in older women. This paper describes the study rationale and methods, recruitment, and retention strategies. METHODS The Longitudinal Assessment of Women (LAW) Study was a longitudinal, observational, and multidisciplinary evaluation of a population-based cohort of urban-living women, aged between 40 and 80 years at recruitment and randomly invited from a district in Brisbane (a city in Australia) via the electoral roll. Five hundred eleven women were recruited and stratified into four age groups (40-49, 50-59, 60-69, 70-79 years) and were assessed on three or four occasions each year, using interviews and diagnostic instruments (echocardiography, applination tonometry, dual-energy x-ray absorptiometry [DEXA]) Retention strategies included flexibility, accessibility, personalized attention, and feedback. RESULTS From a sample frame of 1598 names, there were 1082 respondents, of whom 511 (47%) were successfully recruited from those eligible to participate. Recruitment was quickest for the oldest age group, 70-79 years, and slowest for the age group 40-49 years; all age groups achieved their required quota. A scheduling program was developed to minimize the number of visits and maximize the use of allocated time. The largest dropout was seen in year 1 of the study, with very few thereafter. Of the 9 deaths, cancer was the cause in 7. The retention rate after 5 years was 95.5%. CONCLUSIONS The design of the present study, with careful attention to coordination and a personal approach, facilitated the completion of a 5-year study, enabling a collection of a set of wide-ranging data from almost all the women recruited. The information thus collected will form the basis of cross-linking analysis of the risk factors associated with health problems in aging women.
Nonreciprocal Phase Shift and Mode Modulation in Dynamic Graphene Waveguides

We propose a graphene Ramsey interferometer to study the non-reciprocal phase shift and modulation of surface plasmon polaritons (SPPs). The Ramsey interferometer is constructed by a spatially separated graphene pair that can support two SPP modes. By dynamically modulating the surface conductivity of graphene, the SPP modes will undergo uncompleted cross conversion and an additional phase shift. When adopting two modulation regions in the interferometer, the converted mode will jump back with a nonreciprocal phase shift which can be controlled by the modulation length or phase. The SPP mode of phase shift will interfere with the throughout unconverted one, resulting in arbitrary power arrangement between the two SPP modes. The study may find great applications in plasmonic isolators, phase detectors, and one-way mode converters.
Mathematical model of a solar module for energy yield simulation in photovoltaic systems

This paper presents a new mathematical model of a solar module. Solar module temperature, solar radiation and its effect on series resistance are taken into account in the model. The experimental data of the solar module under natural environment condition have been obtained to determine the model parameters. Then, the developed model is used to simulate energy yield of the solar module. This energy yield is compared with those obtained from experimental data and conventional approach. The results indicate that the proposed approach can have more accurate energy yield than conventional approach. Thus, it can be useful for the design of PV systems.
Differential RCS and sensitivity calculation of RFID tags with Software-Defined Radio

Performance evaluation of passive Radio Frequency IDentification (RFID) tags is a challenging task. In fact, tag performance depends on multiple factors such as the goodness of the conjugate matching between chip and antenna, the chip sensitivity, the strength and quality of the backscattered signal. Commercially available solutions for tag testing are very expensive and not totally flexible. In this work, we propose a novel approach for precise characterization of RFID tags based on Software-Defined Radio (SDR). We show how a cheap (below 1000$) and flexible SDR-based RFID reader can be turned into an accurate tool for measuring the tag sensitivity and differential radar cross-section. We test our platform by analyzing the performance of two built-in-lab tags: measurements show a strong agreement with theoretical and simulation results.
Absence of association of thrombophilia polymorphisms with intrauterine growth restriction.

BACKGROUND Previous data have demonstrated associations between thrombophilia polymorphisms in pregnant women and an increased risk of intrauterine growth restriction in their offspring, but this finding remains uncertain. METHODS We performed a hospital-based case-control study and a family-based study including 493 newborns with intrauterine growth restriction (defined by birth weight below the 10th percentile for gestational age and sex according to Canadian norms) and 472 controls (with birth weight at or above the 10th percentile). We determined the presence or absence in newborns and their parents of the following polymorphisms: methylenetetrahydrofolate reductase (MTHFR) C677T and A1298C, factor V Leiden G1691A, and prothrombin G20210A. Mothers were interviewed to obtain information on other risk factors for intrauterine growth restriction. RESULTS The risk of intrauterine growth restriction was not increased among mothers carrying a polymorphism associated with thrombophilia. In the case-control study, the odds ratios associated with two copies of the variant, after adjustment for newborn genotype and other risk factors, were 1.55 for MTHFR C677T (95 percent confidence interval, 0.83 to 2.90) and 0.49 for MTHFR A1298C (95 percent confidence interval, 0.25 to 0.93); heterozygotes for factor V Leiden had an odds ratio of 1.18 (95 percent confidence interval, 0.54 to 2.55), and heterozygotes for prothrombin G20210A had an odds ratio of 0.92 (95 percent confidence interval, 0.36 to 2.35). These polymorphisms in the newborn were not associated with an increased risk. Newborns who were homozygous for the MTHFR C677T variant had a decreased risk of intrauterine growth restriction (odds ratio after adjustment for mother's genotype and other confounders, 0.52 [95 percent confidence interval, 0.29 to 0.94]). The results of the family-based study supported those of the case-control study. CONCLUSIONS Our findings do not indicate that there are associations between maternal or newborn polymorphisms associated with thrombophilia and an increased risk of intrauterine growth restriction.
High-performance work practices and organisational performance in small firms: the role of guanxi

This study adopted a contextual perspective to explore how interpersonal relationships in Chinese societies affected the relationship between high-performance work practices (HPWPs) and organisational performance. Interpersonal relationships, or guanxi, in the context of Chinese culture were discussed, and five manufacturing firms were examined using a qualitative case-study approach. The results revealed that HPWPs comprised cross-departmental training and education, performance-oriented evaluation, long-term client relationships, attractive salaries, teamwork, and morality. In addition, the results suggested that types of firm guanxi include external, inter-organisational, and intra-organisational guanxi. Intra-organisational guanxi directly affected HPWPs, whereas inter-organisational guanxi directly influenced organisational performance. External guanxi moderated the relationship between HPWPs and organisational performance. These findings contribute to academic research and practical applications.
Minocycline benefits negative symptoms in early schizophrenia: a randomised double-blind placebo-controlled clinical trial in patients on standard treatment

The onset and early course of schizophrenia is associated with subtle loss of grey matter which may be responsible for the evolution and persistence of symptoms such as apathy, emotional blunting, and social withdrawal. Such ‘negative’ symptoms are unaffected by current antipsychotic therapies. There is evidence that the antibiotic minocycline has neuroprotective properties. We investigated whether the addition of minocycline to treatment as usual (TAU) for 1 year in early psychosis would reduce negative symptoms compared with placebo. In total, 144 participants within 5 years of first onset in Brazil and Pakistan were randomised to receive TAU plus placebo or minocycline. The primary outcome measures were the negative and positive syndrome ratings using the Positive and Negative Syndrome Scale. Some 94 patients completed the trial. The mean improvement in negative symptoms for the minocycline group was 9.2 and in the placebo group 4.7, an adjusted difference of 3.53 (s.e. 1.01) 95% CI: 1.55, 5.51; p < 0.001 in the intention-to-treat population. The effect was present in both countries. The addition of minocycline to TAU early in the course of schizophrenia predominantly improves negative symptoms. Whether this is mediated by neuroprotective, anti-inflammatory or others actions is under investigation.
Performance Comparison of DFT, Discrete Wavelet Packet and Wavelet Transforms, in an OFDM Transceiver for Multipath Fading Channel

Multi-carrier modulation (MCM) schemes divide the broadband frequency-selective channel into parallel, flat-fading subchannels of equal bandwidth and interspacing. A cyclic prefix is appended to each symbol, in order to mitigate inter-symbol interference (ISI), however it leads to spectral inefficiency. Moreover, OFDM transceivers suffer from poor frequency characteristics. Perfect reconstruction wavelet packet transmultiplexer in an OFDM transceiver counters the degrading effects of ISI, and also conserves bandwidth. In this paper we give the performance comparison of conventional discrete Fourier transform (DFT) with discrete wavelet packet transform (DWPT) in an OFDM transceiver. Two of the most popular wavelets, namely Haar and Daubechies wavelets are used for DWPT in a multipath flat-fading and frequency selective-fading channel. A comparison between wavelets and wavelet packets is also given and it is shown that wavelet packets outperform wavelets