Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Asset price dynamic with heterogeneous agents

We estimate in this paper a non probabilistic Markovien model of stocks prices with an evolutionary selection of heterogeneous strategies. We chose to proceed by estimation relating on 27 companies from the CAC 40 and the composite index corresponding to these 27 companies to avoid the risk of an average effect on adding these stocks. In addition, the strategy adopted by an investor can depend on his investment horizon and to verify this assumption we chose daily, monthly and quarterly data.
Effects of Laminate Architecture on Fracture Resistance of Sponge Biosilica: Lessons from Nature

Hexactinellid sponges are known for their ability to synthesize unusually long and highly flexible fibrous spicules, which serve as the building blocks of their skeletal systems. The spicules consist of a central core of monolithic hydrated silica, surrounded by alternating layers of hydrated silica and proteinaceous material. The principal objective of the present study is to ascertain the role of the latter laminate architecture in the material's resistance to both crack initiation and subsequent crack growth. This has been accomplished through indentation testing on the giant anchor spicule of Monorhaphis chuni, both in the laminated region and in the monolithic core, along with a theoretical analysis of deformation and cracking at indents. The latter suggests that the threshold load for crack initiation is proportional to Kc4/E2H where Kc is fracture toughness, E is Young's modulus, and H is hardness. Two key experimental results emerge. First, the load required to form well‐defined radial cracks from a sharp indent in the laminated region is two orders of magnitude greater than that for the monolithic material. Secondly, its fracture toughness is about 2.5 times that of the monolith, whereas the modulus and hardness are about 20% lower. Combining the latter property values with the theoretical analysis, the predicted increase in the threshold load is a factor of about 80, broadly consistent with the experimental measurements.
Product of the Powers of Generalized Nakagami-m Variates and Performance of Cascaded Fading Channels

In this paper, we analyze the fading statistics of a generic fading distribution, termed the N-product Generalized Nakagami-m (GNM) distribution (N*GNM distribution), constructed as the product of the power of N statistically independent and non-identically distributed GNM random variables, for the purpose of modeling the cascaded fading channels. In particular, using the Fox's H function, we derive the probability density function, the cumulative distribution function, the moment generating function and the moments of such channels in closed-form. These derived results are a convenient tool to statistically model the cascaded GNM fading channels and to analyze the performance of digital communication systems over these kinds of channels. As such, generic closed-form expressions for the amount of fading, the outage probability, the capacity, the outage capacity and the average bit error probabilities of digital communications systems over cascaded GNM fading channels are presented. Numerical and simulation results, performed to verify the correctness of the proposed formulation, are in perfect agreement.
Ramond-Ramond Couplings of Noncommutative Branes

We obtain the couplings of noncommutative branes of type II string theories to constant Ramond-Ramond backgrounds, for BPS as well as non-BPS branes, in the background-independent description. For the BPS branes, we also generalize these couplings to other descriptions, and thereby argue their equivalence to the known couplings in the commutative description. The first part is a review of earlier work while the second part contains some additional observations.
Where Do Power Laws Come From

AbstractWhat distribution ofgraphical degree sequenceis invariant under“scal-ing”? Are these graphs always power-law graphs? We show the answeris a surprising “yes” for sparse graphs if we ignore isolated vertices, ormore generally, the vertices with degrees less than a ﬁxed constant k. Weobtain a concentration result on the degree sequence of a random inducedsubgraph. The case of hypergraphs (or set-systems) is also examined. 1 Introduction Quite a few recent papers use the term “scale-free networks” to refer to thoselarge sparse graphs formed from real-world data. Such graphs often exhibitpower-law degree distributions. Namely, the number of vertices with degree dis roughly proportional to d −β , for some positive β. However, the term “scale-free” is rarely deﬁned in the literature, at least in the rigorous mathematicalsense. Furthermore, accounts in the literature of how power laws arise have beenlargely model-dependent. That is, a number of models of random-graph growthhave been proposed that give rise, under circumstances of varying generality, topower-law degree distributions. The most popular growth model of this kind isthe “preferential attachment” scheme, exempliﬁed by [3, 5, 6, 23]. Though many of the growth rules are quite intuitive – in that one expectsmany real-world phenomena to approximate them – an explanation of the sheerubiquity of power laws that does not appeal to particular models is conspicuouslylacking.Here we attempt to address these omissions. First, it is natural to ask, whatis a scale? An obvious candidate for a scale is the number of vertices of a graph.Here “scaling the graph down” means “taking an induced subgraph”. Of course,subgraphs may look quite diﬀerent from one another. Hence, we consider onlythe average behavior.Random induced subgraph G
Predictors of Sibling Victimization and Associations With Self-Perception and Relationship Attachment in Adolescence

Research shows that sibling victimization may be as detrimental to adolescent outcomes as peer victimization. However, many questions remain unanswered with regard to protective parenting factors and consequences of sibling victimization among adolescents. This study tested a mediation model in which sibling victimization, predicted by parental monitoring, is associated with parent and peer-adolescent attachment as mediated through adolescent self-perceptions of social competence and self-worth. A three path mediation from parental monitoring → sibling victimization → adolescent self-perceptions → peer-/parent-adolescent attachment was tested. Structural equation modeling results revealed that parental monitoring was negatively associated with sibling victimization for girls. For boys and girls, sibling victimization had negative direct and indirect effects on parent- and peer-adolescent attachment via adolescent self-perceptions of social competence and self-worth. Findings suggest that parental monitoring may be important in the prevention of sibling victimization and self-perceptions may be an important point of intervention for adolescents experiencing sibling victimization.
Continuum Differential Mechanisms and Their Applications in Gripper Designs

Differential mechanisms possess various forms and are applied in a wide spectrum of mechanical systems. This paper proposes to categorize differential mechanisms into kinematic differential mechanisms (KDMs) and continuum differential mechanisms (CDMs), and also introduces two CDMs. The working principle, structures, constructions, and kinetostatic analyses of the proposed planar and the spatial CDMs are elaborated upon. The planar CDM is compared with two widely used differential mechanisms made from pulleys and linkages to show its effectiveness using a simple construction. The spatial CDM could resolve one input into three outputs in a way different from two serially connected planar differential mechanisms. As demonstrated in experimentation, the spatial CDM could allow more isotropic distribution of the three outputs. The categorization, analyses, and applications of the CDMs might not only extend the IFToMM terminology on differential mechanisms, but also inspire more CDM designs with distinct responses and properties for adaptive mechanical systems.
Data Security through Confidentiality in Cloud Computing Environment

-Cloud computing is an upcoming paradigm that offers tremendous advantages in economical aspects, such as reduced time to market, flexible computing capabilities, and limitless computing power. To use the full potential of cloud computing, data is transferred, processed and stored by external cloud providers. However, data owners are very sceptical to place their data outside their own control sphere. Keywords--Cloud computing, security controls
Modeling legal argument - reasoning with cases and hypotheticals

This dissertation is about adversarial, case-based reasoning and the HYPO program that performs adversarial reasoning with cases and hypotheticals in the legal domain. The dissertation identifies and describes basic case-based operations, an adversarial, case-based reasoning process, a schematic structure for case-based arguments, the kinds of counter-examples that arise and the knowledge sources necessary to support adversarial, case-based reasoning. The HYPO program embodies the methodology. It comprises: (1) a structured Case Knowledge Base ("CKB") of actual legal cases; (2) an indexing scheme ("dimensions") for retrieval of relevant cases from the CKB; (3) methods for analyzing problem situations and retrieving relevant cases; (4) methods for interpreting and assessing the relevancy of past cases by "positioning" the problem situation with respect to relevant existing cases in the CKB as seen from the viewpoint of the problem at hand and finding the most-on-point cases; (5) methods for comparing/contrasting cases (e.g., citing, distinguishing, finding counter-examples); (6) methods for posing hypotheticals that test the sensitivity of the problem situation to changes, particularly with regard to potentially adverse effects of new damaging facts coming to light and existing favorable ones being discredited; (7) methods for generating "3-ply" argument outlines to play out realistic legal arguments citing cases in a manner familiar to attorneys; and (8) methods for explaining alternative decisions of the problem situation by posing hypotheticals, comparing arguments and summarizing the precedents. HYPO's performance compares favorably to that of judges and attorneys in actual legal cases. The law is an excellent domain to study case-based reasoning since by its very nature it: (1) espouses a doctrine of precedent in which prior cases are the primary tools for justifying legal conclusions; and (2) employs precedential reasoning to make up for the lack of strong domain models with which to reason deductively about problem situations. The law is also a paradigm for adversarial case-based reasoning; there are "no right answers", only arguments pitting interpretations of cases and facts against each other. The dissertation addresses issues of central concern to Artificial Intelligence including: relevance and credit assignment, indexing and inference control, argumentation, analogical reasoning and explanation.
AFDA: Asynchronous Flipped Diversity ALOHA for Emerging Wireless Networks With Long and Heterogeneous Delay

The design of random media access control (MAC) protocol renews great attention for emerging challenged wireless environments, where the propagation delay is long, heterogeneous, and/or varying, such as satellite or underwater acoustic sensor networks. In these environments, the existing MAC solutions based on slotted transmissions, carrier sensing, or channel reservation by control packets are no longer favorable or even feasible. In this paper, we propose the asynchronous flipped diversity ALOHA (AFDA) to tackle the challenges based on a new diversity transmission scheme. Different from the existing diversity transmission schemes, each data packet and its flipped replica are transmitted back to back, and the zigzag decoding technique is adopted to resolve collisions. The performance of AFDA has been evaluated by analysis and simulations. The results show that, without time synchronization or handshaking requirements, the performance of AFDA is unaffected by the duration or variation of the propagation delay, and it substantially improves system performance in terms of throughput, packet loss ratio, and network admission region.
Enabling communication among smart tags in an UHF RFID Local Area Network

Adding computational and sensing capabilities to the new generation of passive UHF RFID tags has contributed to overcome the idea of considering them as mere identification transponders. These new functionalities give smart RFID tags the chance to be included in the global network of interconnected objects envisioned by the Internet of Things (IoT) paradigm. However, to fully enable RFID tags to participate in machine-to-machine (M2M) communications, RFID systems still lack an important feature, namely the capability of exchanging unicast messages between tags. In this paper, we propose an effective approach to enable real-time bidirectional communications among tags belonging to an RFID Local Area Network (i.e., under the coverage area of the same reader). The presented solution is based on the main idea of utilizing the User Memory of the tag as a virtual channel for transferring messages, and the tag reader as a message forwarder. As a proof-of-concept for our proposal, a novel smart RFID tag able to exploit the RFID radio interface for bidirectional real-time communications with other tags is designed, and experimental measures on the deployed testbed are discussed.
Energy-efficient parallel software for mobile hand-held devices

Energy efficiency is an essential design criterion for mobile hand-held devices. We underline the issue that parallel programs for mobile devices must be efficiently executable on the development platforms in addition to their efficient execution on the target hardware. Further, we argue that with the proliferation of increasingly complex heterogeneous MPSoC architectures, seamless performance and energy estimation needs to become an integral part of the software development flow. We review the present reality of mobile software development and the run-time behavior of the software on the devices. Considering the future development environments, we highlight how they can benefit from modern compiler technology and discuss the feasibility of providing rapid feedback about performance and energy consumption characteristics of the software while it is being developed.
The multidimensional nature of household food insecurity in rural Zambia: A panel analysis

THE MULTIDIMENSIONAL NATURE OF HOUSEHOLD FOOD INSECURITY IN RURAL ZAMBIA: A PANEL ANALYSIS By Ayala Wineman Food security is recognized as a multifaceted condition of complex causality that is related to, yet distinct from, poverty and hunger. Given its broad definition, it is no surprise that food security eludes precise measurement. This study considers there to be three components of household food security (quantity, quality, and stability), and attempts to address the "conceptto-measurement" gap in food security by building an index that spans these three dimensions. A panel data set is used for descriptive analysis of food security indicators in rural Zambia in 2000/01, 2003/04, and 2007/08. A multidimensional index of food security for rural Zambia is then developed using principal component analysis. This composite index is used to explore the spatial patterns of food security in Zambia over time, to assess correlates of food insecurity, and to measure the impacts of climate shocks on food security for different types of households, including female-headed households. Results indicate that both seasonal rainfall and temperature have a significant impact on a household's food security score, although not for all individual components of the food security index. The paper concludes with a consideration of the merits and shortcomings of developing a composite food security index.
SIMULATION METHODOLOGY BASED ON CONDITIONAL EXTRACTION ANDSHORTEST PATH REPRESENTATION FOR ELECTROSTATIC DISCHARGE(ESD) ANALYSIS IN CMOS TECHNOLOGIES

Electrostatic discharge (ESD) is one of the reliability problems of today’s IC. In addition, there is no such a tool, which will help to design ICs reliable against ESD. The problem is that ESD protection devices have always complex configuration, such as SCR ggMOS, etc., because of their working range, which is not well investigated and measured. Moreover, the other problem is the simulations complexity in the simulator machines from horse power point of view. The represented methodology allows designers to make their IC first spin reliable.
Simulations of deep convection in the Mediterranean area using 3DVAR of conventional and non-conventional data

In autumn deep convection in the Mediterranean region is a common phenomenon. The local events characterized by deep convection are still a difficult task even for high resolution numerical weather prediction. Three flood cases, produced by convection either embedded in a large scale system or locally developed, occurring in Italy, are presented. All these case were not correctly forecasted: Sardinia (Cagliari, 13 November 1999); Calabria (Soverato, 7 September 2000) and Sicily (Catania, 16 September 2003). The first case occurred during the Mesoscale Alpine Programme (MAP) campaign, therefore a lot of data are available; for the second one only data from SSM/I and local rain-gauge are available; the third one occurred during the operational experimentation of the TOUGH project. The last one was not well predicted even using the operational assimilation of ground based GPS. To improve the forecast of these cases the assimilation of several data is tested. The variational assimilation performed using 3DVAR of GPS, SSM/I and surface and upper air data is applied to improve the Initial Conditions of the Sicily case. The Sardinia case is improved using either GPS and surface data, whereas for the Soverato case only ZTD is assimilated. The experiments are performed using the MM5 model from Pennsylvania State University/National Center for Atmospheric Research (PSU/NCAR); the model is initialized using the new Initial Conditions produced by the variational assimilation of conventional and non conventional data. The results show that the assimilation of the retrieved quantities does produces large improvement in the precipitation forecast. Large sensitivity to the assimilation of surface data and brightness temperature from SSM/I is found.
Generating control languages with Abstract Categorial Grammars

We show that the class of level-k control languages, as defined by Weir, is properly included in the class of 2k−1-multiple context-free languages for each k ≥ 2. The proof of inclusion uses a representation of the set of derivation trees for a level-k control language in terms of a second-order abstract categorial grammar.
BOLD Specificity and Dynamics Evaluated in Humans at 7 T: Comparing Gradient-Echo and Spin-Echo Hemodynamic Responses

High-field gradient-echo (GE) BOLD fMRI enables very high resolution imaging, and has great potential for detailed investigations of brain function. However, as spatial resolution increases, confounds due to signal from non-capillary vessels increasingly impact the fidelity of GE BOLD fMRI signals. Here we report on an assessment of the microvascular weighting of the GE BOLD response across the cortical depth in human cortex using spin-echo fMRI which is thought to be dominated by microvasculature (albeit not completely). BOLD responses were measured with a hemodynamic impulse response (HRF) obtained from the spin-echo (SE) and gradient-echo (GE) BOLD contrast using very short stimuli (0.25 s) and a fast event-related functional paradigm. We show that the onset (∼1.25 s) and the rising slope of the GE and SE HRFs are strikingly similar for voxels in deep gray matter presumably containing the most metabolically demanding neurons (layers III–IV). This finding provides a strong indication that the onset of the GE HRF in deep gray matter is predominantly associated with microvasculature.
Quantitative analysis of distributed control paradigms for robot swarms

Given a task of designing controller for mobile robots in swarms, one might wonder which distributed control paradigms should be selected. Until now, paradigms of robot controllers have been within either behaviour based control or neural network based control, which have been recognized as two mainstreams of controller design for mobile robots. However, in swarm robotics, it is not clear how to determine control paradigms. In this paper we study the two control paradigms with various experiments of swarm aggregation. First, we introduce the two control paradigms for mobile robots. Second, we describe the physical and simulated robots, experiment scenario, and experiment setup. Third, we present our robot controllers based on behaviour based and neural network based paradigms. Fourth, we graphically show their experiment results and quantitatively analyse the results in comparison of the two methods. Closing remarks conclude the paper.
Anti-Inflammatory and Analgesic Effects of the Marine-Derived Compound Comaparvin Isolated from the Crinoid Comanthus bennetti

To date, no study has been conducted to explore the bioactivity of the crinoid Comanthus bennetti. Here we report the anti-inflammatory properties of comaparvin (5,8-dihydroxy-10-methoxy-2-propylbenzo[h]chromen-4-one) based on in vivo experiments. Our preliminary screening for anti-inflammatory activity revealed that the crude extract of Comanthus bennetti significantly inhibited the expression of pro-inflammatory proteins in lipopolysaccharide (LPS)-stimulated murine RAW 264.7 macrophage cells. Comaparvin isolated from crinoids significantly decreased the expression of inducible nitric oxide synthase (iNOS) protein and mRNA in LPS-stimulated macrophage cells. Moreover, our results showed that post-treatment with comaparvin significantly inhibited mechanical allodynia, thermal hyperalgesia and weight-bearing deficits in rats with carrageenan-induced inflammation. Comaparvin also attenuated leukocyte infiltration and iNOS protein expression in carrageenan-induced inflamed paws. These results suggest that comaparvin is a potential anti-inflammatory therapeutic agent against inflammatory pain.