Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Sensory Impairments and Delayed Regeneration of Sensory Axons in Interleukin-6-Deficient Mice

Interleukin-6 (IL-6) is a multifunctional cytokine mediating inflammatory or immune reactions. Here we investigated the possible role of IL-6 in the intact or lesioned peripheral nervous system using adult IL-6 gene knockout (IL-6−/−) mice. Various sensory functions were tested by applying electrophysiological, morphological, biochemical, and behavioral methods. There was a 60% reduction of the compound action potential of the sensory branch of IL-6−/− mice as compared with the motor branch in the intact sciatic nerve. Cross sections of L5 DRG of IL-6−/− mice showed a shift in the relative size distribution of the neurons. The temperature sensitivity of IL-6−/− mice was also significantly reduced. After crush lesion of the sciatic nerve, its functional recovery was delayed in IL-6−/− mice as analyzed from a behavioral footprint assay. Measurements of compound action potentials 20 d after crush lesion showed that there was a very low level of recovery of the sensory but not of the motor branch of IL-6−/− mice. Similar results of sensory impairments were obtained with mice showing slow Wallerian degeneration (Wlds) and a delayed lesion-induced recruitment of macrophages. However, in contrast to WldS mice, in IL-6−/− mice we observed the characteristic lesion-induced invasion of macrophages and the upregulation of low-affinity neurotrophin receptor p75 (p75LNTR) mRNA levels identical to those of IL-6+/+ mice. Thus, the mechanisms leading to the common sensory deficiencies were different between IL-6−/− and WldS mice. Altogether, the results suggest that interleukin-6 is essential to modulate sensory functions in vivo.
Statically Detect Data Races for WS-BPEL Web Services by Constraint Solver

Nowadays, Web services are widely used because of their interoperability and reusability. Multiple Web services can be composed following some business logic specified by BPEL (Business Process Execution Language) scripts. Since BPEL scripts allow specifying concurrent workflow, typical concurrency problems, such as data race, atomicity violation and order violation, also commonly occur in BPEL scripts. These issues are hard to detect and reproduce due to their non-determinism and the special language features of BPEL. In this paper, we implement a tool to detect data races for WS-BPEL based on static analysis approach and constraints solver. Our system is based on three key concepts: (1) a preprocess model to record necessary information, (2) a thorough Happens-Before model of WS-BPEL concurrency, (3) constraint encoding to transfer Happens-Before relationship to constraints and check if there is a feasible solution (namely data races) by Z3-Str solver. We evaluate the usability and performance of our tool on 10 benchmark programs with effective results.
Large Induced Subgraphs via Triangulations and CMSO

We obtain an algorithmic metatheorem for the following optimization problem. Let $\varphi$ be a counting monadic second order logic (CMSO) formula and $t\geq 0$ be an integer. For a given graph $G=(V,E)$, the task is to maximize $|X|$ subject to the following: there is a set $ F\subseteq V$ such that $X\subseteq F $, the subgraph $G[F]$ induced by $F$ is of treewidth at most $t$, and the structure $(G[F],X)$ models $\varphi$, i.e., $(G[F],X)\models\varphi$. We give an algorithm solving this optimization problem on any $n$-vertex graph $G$ in time ${\cal O}(|\Pi_G| \cdot n^{t+4}\cdot f(t,\varphi))$, where $\Pi_G$ is the set of all potential maximal cliques in $G$ and $f$ is a function of $t$ and $\varphi$ only. Pipelined with the known bounds on the number of potential maximal cliques in different graph classes, there are a plethora of algorithmic consequences extending and subsuming many known results on polynomial-time algorithms for graph classes. We also show that all potential maximal cliques of $G$ can be enumerated in time ${\cal O}(1.7347^n)$. This implies the existence of an exact exponential algorithm of running time ${\cal O}(1.7347^n)$ for many NP-hard problems related to finding maximum induced subgraphs with different properties.
Housing Bubbles and Zoning Corruption: Evidence from Greece and Spain

The adoption of the euro in 2002 led to an unprecedented supply of cheap mortgage credit in Greece and Spain. The housing bubbles that ensued amplified developers' incentives to offer bribes for illegal construction projects. We exploit the mortgage credit windfall as the shock that induced variation in housing prices to examine the effects of the latter on zoning corruption. The empirical analysis relies on objective measures of zoning corruption at the regional level from 2003 through 2008 for Greece and from 2006 through 2008 for Spain. We employ legal indictments of zoning officials from prosecution records for Greece, which are novel to the literature, and media reports of zoning corruption scandals for Spain. Adjusting for unemployment, population, population density and college attainment, our baseline negative binomial regression estimates indicate a positive and significant relationship between housing prices and zoning corruption. Our findings are robust to a series of checks that include zero-inflated variants of the negative binomial model, and linear models that address model misspecification, omitted variables and dynamic panel bias. In the case of Spain, we are also able to analyze the sensitivity of our findings using a provincial panel that provides substantially more cross-sectional variation.
Design and Control of a Chained Form Manipulator

Exploiting unique features of nonholonomic systems, innovative and advantageous mechanisms can be designed. We have proposed a nonholonomic manipulator which is a controllable n joint manipulator with only two actuators. In order to create its nonholonomic constraint, a special type of velocity transmission, called the non-holonomic gear, was developed. There are many possible alternatives for designing underactuated manipulators using the nonholonomic gear. In this paper, the chained form manipulator is designed not only to satisfy chained form convertibility, but also to achieve control simplicity. Design requirements are clarified, then we establish the mechanical design of the chained form manipulator. The chained form manipulator is designed with an innovative main power train as well as nonholonomic gears. For experimental verification, a prototype is fabricated. So far, various control strategies for nonholonomic systems have been proposed. In this paper, an efficient motion planning scheme for the chained form is presented to approximate any holonomic path with the feasible nonholonomic path. Furthermore, a new concept of motion planning is proposed through the analysis of the initial-condition sensitivity. Combining these two approaches, the motion planning scheme is constructed towards practical applications. Presented experimental results show the usefulness of the design and the applied control scheme.
Semantic pointing: improving target acquisition with control-display ratio adaptation

We introduce semantic pointing, a novel interaction technique that improves target acquisition in graphical user interfaces (GUIs). Semantic pointing uses two independent sizes for each potential target presented to the user: one size in motor space adapted to its importance for the manipulation, and one size in visual space adapted to the amount of information it conveys. This decoupling between visual and motor size is achieved by changing the control-to-display ratio according to cursor distance to nearby targets. We present a controlled experiment supporting our hypothesis that the performance of semantic pointing is given by Fitts' index of difficulty in motor rather than visual space. We apply semantic pointing to the redesign of traditional GUI widgets by taking advantage of the independent manipulation of motor and visual widget sizes.
Challenge balancing for personalised game spaces

In this paper we propose an approach for personalising the space in which a game is played (i.e., levels) - to the end of tailoring the experienced challenge to the individual user during actual play of the game. Our approach specifically considers two design challenges, namely implicit user feedback and high risk of user abandonment. We contribute an approach that acknowledges that for effective online game personalisation, one needs to (1) offline learn a policy that is appropriate in expectation across users - to be used for initialising the online game, (2) offline learn a mapping from gameplay observations to the player experience - to be used for guiding the online game personalisation, and (3) rapidly converge to an appropriate policy for the individual user in online gameplay - employing the learned feedback model and a straightforward model of user abandonment. User studies that validate the approach to online game personalisation in the actual video game INFINITE MARIO BROS, indicate that it provides an effective basis for automatically balancing the game's challenge level to the individual human player.
The Sur7p Family Defines Novel Cortical Domains in Saccharomyces cerevisiae, Affects Sphingolipid Metabolism, and Is Involved in Sporulation

ABSTRACT We have discovered a novel cortical patch structure in Saccharomyces cerevisiae defined by a family of integral plasma membrane proteins, including Sur7p, Ynl194p, and Ydl222p. Sur7p-family patches localized as cortical patches that were immobile and stable. These patches were polarized to regions of the cell with a mature cell wall; they were absent from small buds and the tips of many medium-sized buds. These patches were distinct from other known cortical structures. Digestion of the cell wall caused Sur7p patches to disassemble, indicating that Sur7p requires cell wall-dependent extracellular interactions for its localization as patches. sur7Δ, ydl222Δ, and ynl194Δ mutants had reduced sporulation efficiencies. SUR7 was originally described as a multicopy suppressor of rvs167, whose product is an actin patch component. This suppression is probably mediated by sphingolipids, since deletion of SUR7, YDL222, and YNL194 altered the sphingolipid content of the yeast plasma membrane, and other SUR genes suppress rvs167 via effects on sphingolipid synthesis. In particular, the sphingoid base length and number of hydroxyl groups in inositolphosphorylceramides were altered in sur7Δ, ydl222Δ, and yne194Δ strains.
Development of Nomogram to Predict the Best Military Category Using Physical Fitness Variables: A Model Development in Navy Trainees

Background: Physical readiness plays an important role in a navy student’s life. Objectives: The current study aimed at building a valid and accurate statistical model using the physical readiness variables to predict the best military category for the students of the NEDAJA and putting the complex concepts of this model to a practical tool such as nomogram. Methods: The current cross sectional study included all the navy students (Islamic Republic of Iran Navy) studying from 2011 to 2012 in the Imam Khomeini Naval University of Noshahr. Out of 733 students in the university, 260 were randomly selected and measured in terms of physical readiness variables. The number of subjects in each group was calculated using binary logistic regression. The Stata/MP ‘nomolog’ command was used to develop nomogram after building the finalized model by logit prediction command (binary logistic regression model). Results: The mean age of the subjects was 21.2 ± 2.1 years; 59 out of 171 participants (34.5%) in navigation, 78 (45.6%) in marine, 26 (15.2%) in sea scouts, 50 (29.2%) in electronics, and 59 (34.5%) in mechanics categories met the inclusion criteria. The nomogram was developed according to the inclusion criteria for each model. After matching the values of independent variables by the appropriate score, the probability, which responds to the total points, is figured out. The benefit of a nomogram maps the measure of associations into easy scores on a scale from 0 to 100 in a user-friendly figure. The total points collected by the various independent variables correspond to the predicted probability for a student. Conclusions: A nomogram was developed to predict the best military category for the Iranian navy students, using the variables from the physical readiness. It showed excellent discriminating and predicting ability with high accuracy. To the authors’ best knowledge it was the first paper that developed nomogram to be used in military medicine. Keywords: Nomogram; Logistic Regression; Physical Fitness
Distance-based and continuum Fano inequalities with applications to statistical estimation

In this technical note, we give two extensions of the classical Fano inequality in information theory. The first extends Fano's inequality to the setting of estimation, providing lower bounds on the probability that an estimator of a discrete quantity is within some distance $t$ of the quantity. The second inequality extends our bound to a continuum setting and provides a volume-based bound. We illustrate how these inequalities lead to direct and simple proofs of several statistical minimax lower bounds.
Working Across Cultures: Applications and Exercises

Understanding Cross-Cultural Differences The Dimensions of Culture Part I The Dimensions of Culture Part II Cultural Metaphors Cultures as Processes, Outcomes, and Emotional Expression Sociolinguistics Additional Behaviors Across Cultures Cross-Cultural Negotiations A Metaphor in Depth The German Symphony A Metaphor in Depth The Japanese Garden Training Videos and Web Sites
Logic-based web information extraction

The Web wrapping proble, i.e., the problem of extracting structured information from HTML documents, is one of great practical importance. The often observed information overload that users of the Web experience witnesses the lack of intelligent and encompassing Web services that provide high-quality collected and value-added inforamtion. The Web wrapping problem has been addressed by a significant amount of research work. Previous work can be classified into two categories, depending on whether the HTML input is regarded as a sequential character string (e.g., [34, 27, 24, 30, 23]) or a pre-parsed document tree (for instance, [35, 25, 22, 29, 3, 2, 26]). The latter category of work thus assumes that systems may make use of an existing HTML parser as a front and.
An Improved 2-D DOA Estimation with L-shaped Arrays Based on PM

In this paper, an improved two-dimensional (2-D) direction of arrival (DOA) estimation method is proposed for narrow signals impinging on an L-shaped arrays. Based on the propagator method (PM), the computational loads of the proposed method can be significantly smaller since the PM does not require any eigenvalue decomposition of the received data. With a propagator matrix, the proposed method constructs a new extended matrix to estimate the elevation angle, which improves the DOA estimation performance in low SNR. By exploiting the covariance matrix of the received data, another propagator matrix is achieved, then pair matching and peak searching are used to achieve the corresponding 2-D azimuth angles, which reduces the occurrence of estimation failure and errors. In the case of DOA estimation for two signals, at RMSE = 0.2, the proposed method results in a gain improvement of about 5dB over the joint singular value decomposition (SVD) method and 9.5 dB over the PM method. Copyright © 2014 IFSA Publishing, S. L.
Pricing a Bermudan Swaption using the LIBOR Market Model: A LSM approach

This study will focus on the pricing of interest rate derivatives within the framework of the LIBOR Market Model. First we introduce the mathematical and financial foundations behind the basic theory. Then we give a rather rigouros introduction to the LIBOR Market Model and show how to calibrate the model to a real data set. We use the model to price a basic swaption contract before we choose to concentrate on a more exotic Bermudan swaption. We use the Least Squares Monte Carlo (LSM) algorithm to handle the early exercise features of the Bermuda swaption. All major results are vizualised and the C++ implementation code is enclosed in appendix B.
Remote delivery of hydroxyl radicals via secondary chemistry of a nonthermal plasma effluent

Electron paramagnetic resonance spectroscopy is used to observe hydroxyl radicals produced by an atmospheric pressure nonthermal plasma device at distances greater than 1 m from the discharge. The plasma device is an indirect treatment setup with closed loop airflow and hydrogen peroxide additives that is effective in deactivating bacteria on time scales of seconds. The generation of the detected hydroxyl radicals is shown to occur in secondary chemical processes near the point of delivery of the plasma treated air stream. The production of hydroxyl radicals is correlated with humidity of the air stream and ability to lyse bacterial membranes. The overall mechanisms of bacteria inactivation are found to be a combinatorial effect of effluent species. The results indicate the feasibility of selective plasma induced free radical delivery for biomedical applications even in the case of short‐lived species like the hydroxyl radical. Biotechnol. Bioeng. 2013; 110: 1936–1944. © 2013 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
A comparative study on switching tables of direct power control for voltage source rectifier

In this paper, a comparative study is carried out on the six new switching tables and the conventional switching table of the direct power control (DPC) for voltage source rectifier (VSR). On the basis of the mathematical model for VSR, the expressions for variation of active and reactive power are obtained. In order to minimize the errors between the command and the estimated values of active and reactive power, the appropriate rectifier voltage vectors are selected. Six new switching tables are constructed accordingly. Compared to the conventional DPC, significant power ripple reduction and more sinusoidal line input current can be observed in the six new DPCs. A further comparative investigation is conducted among the six DPCs. Simulation and experimental results validate the effectiveness of the presented DPCs.
Experiments in Numerical Reasoning with Inductive Logic Programming

Using problem-speciic background knowledge, computer programs developed within the framework of Inductive Logic Programming (ILP) have been used to construct restricted rst-order logic solutions to scientiic problems. However, their approach to the analysis of data with substantial numerical content has been largely limited to constructing clauses that: (a) provide qualitative descriptions (\high", \low" etc.) of the values of response variables; and (b) contain simple inequalities restricting the ranges of predictor variables. This has precluded the application of such techniques to scientiic and engineering problems requiring a more sophisticated approach. A number of specialised methods have been suggested to remedy this. In contrast, we have chosen to take advantage of the fact that the existing theoretical framework for ILP places very few restrictions of the nature of the background knowledge. We describe two issues of implementation that make it possible to use background predicates that implement well-established statistical and numerical analysis procedures. Any improvements in analytical sophistication that result are evaluated empirically using artiicial and real-life data. Experiments util-ising artiicial data are concerned with extracting constraints for response variables in the textbook problem of balancing a pole on a cart. They illustrate the use as background knowledge clausal deenitions of arithmetic and trigonometric functions, inequalities, multiple linear regression, and numerical derivatives. A non-trivial problem concerning the prediction of mutagenic activity of nitroaromatic molecules is also examined. In this case, expert chemists have been unable to devise a model for explaining the data. The result demonstrates the combined use by an ILP program of logical and numerical capabilities to achieve an analysis that includes linear modelling, clustering and classiication. In all experiments, the predictions obtained compare favourably against benchmarks set by more traditional methods of quantitative methods, namely, regression and neural-network.
Tests of disinfection methods for invasive snails and zooplankton: effects of treatment methods and contaminated materials

Abstract De Stasio BT, Acy CN, Frankel KE, Fritz GM, Lawhun SD. Tests of disinfection methods for invasive snails and zooplankton: effects of treatment methods and contaminated material. Lake Reserv Manage. 35:156–166. The spread of aquatic invasive species (AIS) in lakes and reservoirs is a major issue that will grow in importance due to possible economic, environmental, and human health impacts of AIS as the number of potentially harmful invasive species continues to increase. There is a pressing need for scientific information on which procedures can effectively decontaminate and disinfect sampling gear against multiple AIS. We determined effectiveness of cleaning methods on 4 recent AIS in WI: New Zealand mud snail (NZMS; Potamopyrgus antipodarum), faucet snail (Bithynia tentaculata), spiny water flea (Bythotrephes longimanus), and bloody-red mysid shrimp (Hemimysis anomala). We tested mortality in the laboratory following total immersion and spraying procedures, as well as the effects of 5 types of materials likely to be contaminated. Freezing was effective, but not practical for large sampling equipment and boats. Desiccation did not result in 100% mortality for NZMS or faucet snail. Bleach (500 ppm) was effective on spiny water flea and bloody-red mysid, but not on either snail. Immersion in Virkon (2%) was effective on all species within 20 min. Spraying was less effective than total immersion, especially on some materials. Our results provide rigorous data for establishing practical guidelines on disinfection methods for managers, researchers, and citizen scientists battling the spread of AIS in lakes and reservoirs.
Simple Atom Selection Strategy for Greedy Matrix Completion

In this paper we focus on the greedy matrix completion problem. A simple atom selection strategy is proposed to find the optimal atom in each iteration by alternating minimization. Based on this per-iteration strategy, we devise a greedy algorithm and establish an upper bound of the approximating error. To evaluate different weight refinement methods, several variants are designed. We prove that our algorithm and three of its variants have the property of linear convergence. Experiments of Recommendation and Image Recovery are conducted to make empirical evaluation with promising results. The proposed algorithm takes only 700 seconds to process Yahoo Music dataset in PC, and achieves a root mean square error 24.5 on the test set.
The hierarchical knowledge representation for automated reasoning

In the paper the study of knowledge hierarchical representation for automated reasoning is presented. The hierarchical knowledge representation is proposed for predictive modeling purpose. It is improved an effective automated reasoning structure for data set analyzes and making decisions based on complex relations between this data. It is important to emphasize that it is not considered a — priori knowledge concerning data structure, therefore the approach automatically discovers particular constraints between data. It provides a technique of the verification the hierarchical knowledge representation building process that can be useful for the model justification. The presented numerical experiment shows an advantage of proposed approach. It is assumed that the presented automated reasoning can be used for classification purpose where there is a difficulty of proper classifier choice.