Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
A comparison of bayesian methods for haplotype reconstruction from population genotype data.

In this report, we compare and contrast three previously published Bayesian methods for inferring haplotypes from genotype data in a population sample. We review the methods, emphasizing the differences between them in terms of both the models ("priors") they use and the computational strategies they employ. We introduce a new algorithm that combines the modeling strategy of one method with the computational strategies of another. In comparisons using real and simulated data, this new algorithm outperforms all three existing methods. The new algorithm is included in the software package PHASE, version 2.0, available online (http://www.stat.washington.edu/stephens/software.html).
Lazy-Adaptive Tree: An Optimized Index Structure for Flash Devices

Flash memories are in ubiquitous use for storage on sensor nodes, mobile devices, and enterprise servers. However, they present significant challenges in designing tree indexes due to their fundamentally different read and write characteristics in comparison to magnetic disks. In this paper, we present the Lazy-Adaptive Tree (LA-Tree), a novel index structure that is designed to improve performance by minimizing accesses to flash. The LA-tree has three key features: 1) it amortizes the cost of node reads and writes by performing update operations in a lazy manner using cascaded buffers, 2) it dynamically adapts buffer sizes to workload using an online algorithm, which we prove to be optimal under the cost model for raw NAND flashes, and 3) it optimizes index parameters, memory management, and storage reclamation to address flash constraints. Our performance results on raw NAND flashes show that the LA-Tree achieves 2x to 12x gains over the best of alternate schemes across a range of workloads and memory constraints. Initial results on SSDs are also promising, with 3x to 6x gains in most cases.
Program Incomprehensibility Evaluation for Obfuscation Methods with Queue-based Mental Simulation Model

Obfuscation methods were proposed for protecting programs from cracking. These methods convert program into incomprehensible one, such as change symbol names from meaningful to meaningless. As a result, secret information in the program can be hidden. However, obfuscation methods are not evaluated sufficiently. This paper evaluates incomprehensibility of the obfuscated programs using queue based virtual mental simulation model (VMSM) which is focused on short term memory in program comprehension. An experimental evaluation showed that VMSM was able to evaluate the incomprehensibility of data and control flow obfuscation methods.
Integration of functional and logic programming

During the last decade, many proposals have been made to combine the most important declarative programming paradigms, namely, functional and logic programming (see Hanus [1994] for a survey). Functional logic languages offer features from functional programming (nested expressions, higher-order functions, lazy evaluation) and logic programming (logical variables, partial data structures, built-in search). They subsume purely functional languages as well as pure Prolog. An important advantage of an integrated language is that it can help to bring the functional and the logic programming communities together, enabling them to share their developments and avoid duplication of work on implementation techniques, program analysis, program transformation, graphical user interfaces, and many other tools. Moreover, this integration should lead to an increased acceptance of declarative programming in general. Compared to purely functional languages, functional logic languages mainly provide a built-in search mechanism capable of handling partial information. An expression containing logic variables represents an arbitrarily large set of values. If the basic structure of such an expression allows the inference that there are no solutions no matter how the logic variables are bound, then a whole subspace of the search space can be ignored (namely, the subspace providing instantiations of the logic variables). The purely functional approach to searching by (lazily) producing a list of successes [Wadler 1985] will consider all values of this subspace one by one, because an expression in a purely functional language represents only one value (regardless of the evaluation strategy! ). Note that a simulation of expressions containing logic variables by l abstractions, for example, a representation of (cons X Y) by lX.lY. (cons X Y), does not always work, because this would fix the order in which the logic variables have to be bound. Moreover, in constraint logic programming, an important application domain of logic programming, logic variables are seldom bound to a distinct value but are typically constrained to smaller and smaller subsets of the entire domain. This incremental constraint solving is hard to describe by functional programs but is a natural feature of functional logic languages. Compared to purely logic languages, functional logic languages provide more efficient evaluation mechanisms due to the (deterministic) reduction of functional expressions. Thus impure features of Prolog that restrict the search space, such as the cut operator, can be avoided. Moreover, a simulation of higher-order functions by the (impure) call predicate is no longer necessary, because such functions are directly available. Further, lazy evaluation allows an elegant style of programming, including the treatment of infinite data structures. Unfortunately, functional logic lan-
Experimental analysis of denial-of-service attacks on teleoperated robotic systems

Applications of robotic systems have had an explosive growth in recent years. In 2008, more than eight million robots were deployed worldwide in factories, battlefields, and medical services. The number and the applications of robotic systems are expected to continue growing, and many future robots will be controlled by distant operators through wired and wireless communication networks. The open and uncontrollable nature of communication media between robots and operators renders these cyber-physical systems vulnerable to a variety of cyber-security threats, many of which cannot be prevented using traditional cryptographic methods. A question thus arises: what if teleoperated robots are attacked, compromised or taken over? In this paper, we systematically analyze cyber-security attacks against Raven II R, an advanced teleoperated robotic surgery system. We classify possible threats, and focus on denial-of-service (DoS) attacks, which cannot be prevented using available cryptographic solutions. Through a series of experiments involving human subjects, we analyze the impact of these attacks on teleoperated procedures. We use the Fitts' law as a way of quantifying the impact, and measure the increase in tasks' difficulty when under DoS attacks. We then consider possible steps to mitigate the identified DoS attacks, and evaluate the applicability of these solutions for teleoperated robotics. The broader goal of our paper is to raise awareness, and increase understanding of emerging cyber-security threats against teleoperated robotic systems.
The Impact of Optimistic and Pessimistic Managers on Firm Performance and Corporate Decisions

This paper investigates if and to which extent managerial behavior, its mindset and potential behavioral biases can be accounted for the underperformance of companies. We include behavioural explanations, such as optimistic managers, as well as rational theories, for example agency costs or that informed managers take advantage of a possible window of opportunity. Using the data of IPOs and SEOs going public in the US from 1990 to 2003, we find evidence that optimistic managers as well as pessimistic managers help to explain the long run underperformance of new equity offerings. We furthermore investigate into the investment decisions taken by these groups of managers after the share issuance. We see distinct different investment behaviour by each type of manager in terms of capital expenditures, debt rebalancing and cash holdings.
Revised PSK Clustering Algorithm

We present a new clustering algorithm (NPSK algorithm), based on the modification of the newly developed point symmetry-based K-means algorithm (PSK algorihtm). Not only the proposed NPSK algorithm is suitable for almost all test data sets used by Chung and Liu for PSK algorihtm, the proposed NPSK algorithm is also suitable for the case where the symmetric property of the data set is not so distinct. Experimental results demonstrate that our proposed NPSK algorithm is rather encouraging.
Scale-adaptive Filters for the Detection/Separation of Compact Sources

This paper presents scale-adaptive filters that optimize the detection/separation of compact sources on a background. We assume that the sources have a multiquadric profile, i.e., τ(x) = [1 + (x/rc)2]-λ,λ ≥ ,x ≡ ||, and a background modeled by a homogeneous and isotropic random field, characterized by a power spectrum P(q) ∝ q-γ,γ ≥ 0,q ≡ ||. We make an n-dimensional treatment but consider two interesting astrophysical applications related to clusters of galaxies (Sunyaev-Zeldovich effect and X-ray emission).
An overview of decision making in Rough Non-deterministic Information Analysis

Rough Non-deterministic Information Analysis (RNIA) is a rough set-based data analysis framework for Non-deterministic Information Systems (NISs). RNIA-related algorithms and software tools developed so far for rule generation provide good characteristics of NISs and can be successfully applied to decision making based on non-deterministic data. This article presents a general overview of Decision Making in RNIA including both theoretical and algorithmic aspects of the theory. We mainly focused on the following aspects of RNIA: (1) a question-answering functionality that enables decision makers to analyze data gathered in NISs, (2) an automatic decision rule generation with stability factor.
Lifetime of stringy de Sitter vacua

In this note we perform a synopsis of the life-times from vacuum decay of several de Sitter vacuum constructions in string/M-theory which have a single dS minimum arising from lifting a pre-existing AdS extremum and no other local minima existent after lifting. For these vacua the decay proceeds via a Coleman-De Luccia instanton towards the universal Minkowski minimum at infinite volume. This can be calculated using the thin-wall approximation, provided the cosmological constant of the local dS minimum is tuned sufficiently small. We compare the estimates for the different model classes and find them all stable in the sense of exponentially long life times as long as they have a very small cosmological constant and a scale of supersymmetry breaking TeV.
Retinal vessel segmentation using non-subsampled contourlet transform and multi-scale line detection

We present an effective method for automatically extracting blood vessels from colour images of retinal. The proposed method is based on non _ subsampled contourlet transform (NSCT) and line detectors. In the first step we enhance green channel of retinal image by using the non-subsampled contourlet transform at five levels and 25 directions. This process improves discriminating vessels from background. In the next step we use a line detector at eight scales and twelve directions to extract proper features for detecting vessel centerlines. Finally, vessel width is measured at each pixel on a vessel centerline. The proposed method is evaluated and compared with several recent methods using images from the DRIVE database. As reported the performance of this method is very promising.
Automated determination of stellar parameters from simulated dispersed images for DIVA

We have assessed how well stellar parameters (T e f f , log g and [M/H]) can be retrieved from low-resolution dispersed images to be obtained by the DIVA satellite. Although DIVA is primarily an all-sky astrometric mission, it will also obtain spectrophotometric information for about 13 million stars (operational limiting magnitude V ≃ 13.5 mag). Constructional studies foresee a grating system yielding a dispersion of ≃ 200 nm/mm on the focal plane (first spectral order). For astrometric reasons there will be no cross dispersion which results in the overlapping of the first to third diffraction orders. The one-dimensional, position related intensity function is called a DISPI (DISPersed Intensity). We simulated DISPIS from synthetic spectra taken from Lejeune et al. (1997) and Lejeune et al. (1998) but for a limited range of metallicites, i.e. our results are for [M/H] in the range -0.3 to 1 dex. We show that there is no need to deconvolve these low resolution signals in order to obtain basic stellar parameters. Using neural network methods and by including simulated data of DIVA's UV telescope, we can determine T e f f . to an average accuracy of about 2% for DISPIS from stars with 2000 K ≤ T e f f < 20000 K and visual magnitudes of V = 13 mag (end of mission data). log g can be determined for all temperatures with an accuracy better than 0.25 dex for magnitudes brighter than V = 12 mag. For low temperature stars with 2000 K ≤ T e f f < 5000 K and for metallicities in the range -0.3 to +1 dex a determination of [M/H] is possible (to better than 0.2 dex) for these magnitudes. For higher temperatures, the metallicity signatures are exceedingly weak at DISPI resolutions so that the determination of [M/H] is there not possible. Additionally we examined the effects of extinction E(B - V) on DISPIS and found that it can be determined to better than 0.07 mag for magnitudes brighter than V = 14 mag if the UV information is included.
Unobtrusive Training: A Home-Centered Model for Communication Training

Severely developmentally delayed children progress best when their families are involved in their language training. However, training in the home can disrupt natural family interactions and cause stress. Ideally, home training should be unobtrusive, i.e., use natural situations, responses, and consequences to teach new responses in the home. Unobtrusive training consists of two components, environmental manipulations and teaching interactions, and is conducted in brief one-trial interactions to decrease interruption of family routines. Environmental manipulations set the training context and increase the opportunities for language development in the home. Teaching interactions establish the response and include three components: reinforcement, modeling, and incidental teaching. Reinforcement involves praising and reinforcing the child's use of communication to increase rate of responses. Modeling involves demonstration of appropriate responses in context but without direct attempts to elicit the response. Incidental teaching prompts and reinforces responses in context. All three procedures are characterized by simplicity (ease of implementation), normality (inconspicuous application), and generality (applicability to children with different handicapping conditions and levels of responding).
Prohibitin Reduces Mitochondrial Free Radical Production and Protects Brain Cells from Different Injury Modalities

Prohibitin is an essential mitochondrial protein that has been implicated in a wide variety of functions in many cell types, but its role in neurons remains unclear. In a proteomic screen of rat brains in which ischemic tolerance was induced by electrical stimulation of the cerebellar fastigial nucleus, we found that prohibitin is upregulated in mitochondria. This observation prompted us to investigate the role of prohibitin in neuronal death and survival. We found that prohibitin is upregulated also in the ischemic tolerance induced by transient ischemia in vivo, or oxygen–glucose deprivation in neuronal cultures. Cell fractionation and electron-microscopic immunolabeling studies demonstrated that prohibitin is localized to neuronal mitochondria. Upregulation of prohibitin in neuronal cultures or hippocampal slices was markedly neuroprotective, whereas prohibitin gene silencing increased neuronal vulnerability, an effect associated with loss of mitochondrial membrane potential and increased mitochondrial production of reactive oxygen species. Prohibitin upregulation was associated with reduced production of reactive oxygen species in mitochondria exposed to the complex I inhibitor rotenone. In addition, prohibitin protected complex I activity from the inhibitory effects of rotenone. These observations, collectively, establish prohibitin as an endogenous neuroprotective protein involved in ischemic tolerance. Prohibitin exerts beneficial effects on neurons by reducing mitochondrial free radical production. The data with complex I activity suggest that prohibitin may stabilize the function of complex I. The protective effect of prohibitin has potential translational relevance in diseases of the nervous system associated with mitochondrial dysfunction and oxidative stress.
Combining head tracking and mouse input for a GUI on multiple monitors

The use of multiple LCD monitors is becoming popular as prices are reduced, but this creates problems for window management and switching between applications. For a single monitor, eye tracking can be combined with the mouse to reduce the amount of mouse movement, but with several monitors the head is moved through a large range of positions and angles which makes eye tracking difficult. We thus use head tracking to switch the mouse pointer between monitors and use the mouse to move within each monitor. In our experiment users required significantly less mouse movement with the tracking system, and preferred using it, although task time actually increased. A graphical prompt (flashing star) prevented the user losing the pointer when switching monitors. We present discussions on our results and ideas for further developments.
Validation of water vapour transport in the tropical tropopause region in coupled Chemistry Climate Models

In this study backward trajectories from the tropical lower stratosphere were calculated for the Northern Hemisphere (NH) winters 1995? 1996, 1997? 1998 (El Nino) and 1998? 1999 (La Nina) and summers 1996, 1997 and 1999 using both ERA-40 reanalysis data of the European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecast (ECMWF) and coupled chemistry climate model (CCM) data. The calculated trajectories were analyzed to determine the distribution of points where individual air masses encounter the minimum temperature and thus minimum water vapour mixing ratio during their ascent through the tropical tropopause layer (TTL) into the stratosphere. The geographical distribution of these dehydration points and the local conditions there determine the overall water vapour entry into the stratosphere. Results of two CCMs are presented: the ECHAM4.L39(DLR)/CHEM (hereafter: E39/C) from the German Aerospace Center (DLR) and the Freie Universitat Berlin Climate Middle Atmosphere Model with interactive chemistry (hereafter: FUB-CMAM-CHEM). In the FUB-CMAM-CHEM model the minimum temperatures are overestimated by about 7 K in Northern Hemisphere (NH) winter as well as in NH summer, resulting in too high water vapour entry values compared to ERA-40. However, the geographical distribution of dehydration points is fairly reproduced for NH winter 1995? 1996 and 1998? 1999 and in all boreal summers. The distribution of dehydration points suggests an influence of the Indian monsoon upon the water vapour transport. The E39/C model displays a temperature bias of about +3 K. Hence, the minimum water vapour mixing ratios are higher relative to ERA-40. The geographical distribution of dehydration points is satisfactory in NH winter 1995? 1996 and 1997? 1998 with respect to ERA-40. The distribution is not reproduced for the NH winter 1998? 1999 (La Nina event) compared to ERA-40. There is excessive mass flux through warm regions e.g. Africa, leading to excessive water vapour flux in the NH winter and summer. The possible influence of the Indian monsoon on the transport is not seen in the boreal summer. Further, the residence times of air parcels in the TTL were derived from the trajectory calculations. The analysis of the residence times reveals that in both CCMs residence times in the TTL are underestimated compared to ERA-40 and the seasonal variation is hardly present.
Monocular graph SLAM with complexity reduction

We present a graph-based SLAM approach, using monocular vision and odometry, designed to operate on computationally constrained platforms. When computation and memory are limited, visual tracking becomes difficult or impossible, and map representation and update costs must remain low. Our system constructs a map of structured views using only weak temporal assumptions, and performs recognition and relative pose estimation over the set of views. Visual observations are fused with differential sensors in an incrementally optimized graph representation. Using variable elimination and constraint pruning, the graph complexity and storage is kept linear in explored space rather than in time. We evaluate performance on sequences with ground truth, and also compare to a standard graph SLAM approach.
Effect of Dietary Processed Sulfur Supplementation on Water-holding Capacity, Color, and Lipid Profiles of Pork

This study was performed to investigate the effect of dietary processed sulfur supplementation on water-holding capacity, color, and lipid profiles of pork according to the level of dietary processed sulfur (0%, CON; 0.3%, S). The pigs were slaughtered at an average final weight of 120 kg, and the longissimus dorsi muscles were collected from the carcasses. As results, pork processed with sulfur had significantly higher moisture and ash contents compared to those of CON but lower crude fat, pH, expressible drip, lower redness and yellowness, and greater lightness. Pork processed with sulfur showed significantly lower total lipid content, triglycerides, and atherosclerosis index but significantly higher high-density lipoprotein cholesterol. Feeding processed sulfur significantly lowered myristic acid, heptadecanoic acid, and stearic acid contents, whereas monounsaturated fatty acids and oleic acids were significantly higher compared to those in the CON. Higher amounts of polyunsaturated fatty acids and n-6 fatty acids were observed in the pork processed with sulfur than that of the CON. Therefore, supplementing pigs with dietary sulfur improved nutrient and meat quality.
Study of Time-Dependent Dielectric Breakdown on Gate Oxide Capacitors at High Temperature

Thin layers of silicon dioxide used as a dielectric for capacitors or as the gate oxide for a MOS semiconductor device are subject to a wear-out mechanism known as time- dependent dielectric breakdown (TDDB). This physical failure mechanism has always been of notable reliability matter in semiconductor industry because of the incessant tendency towards smaller devices. In this paper, the intrinsic oxide lifetime of 7.2 nm gate oxide capacitors (n-type) has been studied in, a wide electric field ranging from 8.3 to 13.2 MV/cm at high temperatures (up to 240degC). By means of a high resolution/high speed TDDB measurement technique, we performed TDDB tests with constant voltage stress (CVS) at different stress conditions of temperature and voltage. We particularly concentrated on the high temperature aspect of TDDB to answer the demands of new smart power technologies (Tjunc up to 225degC). It was found that the intrinsic oxide breakdown mechanism perfectly matches the anode hole injection (AHI) model (1/EOX model) at these high temperatures. In summary, this physical model is most convenient to extrapolate the intrinsic oxide lifetime from accelerated tests to normal at-use conditions.