Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
The BMP Ligand Gdf6 Prevents Differentiation of Coronal Suture Mesenchyme in Early Cranial Development

Growth Differentiation Factor-6 (Gdf6) is a member of the Bone Morphogenetic Protein (BMP) family of secreted signaling molecules. Previous studies have shown that Gdf6 plays a role in formation of a diverse subset of skeletal joints. In mice, loss of Gdf6 results in fusion of the coronal suture, the intramembranous joint that separates the frontal and parietal bones. Although the role of GDFs in the development of cartilaginous limb joints has been studied, limb joints are developmentally quite distinct from cranial sutures and how Gdf6 controls suture formation has remained unclear. In this study we show that coronal suture fusion in the Gdf6−/− mouse is due to accelerated differentiation of suture mesenchyme, prior to the onset of calvarial ossification. Gdf6 is expressed in the mouse frontal bone primordia from embryonic day (E) 10.5 through 12.5. In the Gdf6−/− embryo, the coronal suture fuses prematurely and concurrently with the initiation of osteogenesis in the cranial bones. Alkaline phosphatase (ALP) activity and Runx2 expression assays both showed that the suture width is reduced in Gdf6+/− embryos and is completely absent in Gdf6−/− embryos by E12.5. ALP activity is also increased in the suture mesenchyme of Gdf6+/− embryos compared to wild-type. This suggests Gdf6 delays differentiation of the mesenchyme occupying the suture, prior to the onset of ossification. Therefore, although BMPs are known to promote bone formation, Gdf6 plays an inhibitory role to prevent the osteogenic differentiation of the coronal suture mesenchyme.
On Protecting Functional Units with Temporal Redundancy

This paper discusses performance, power and fault coverage problems of temporal redundancy and proposes Back-to-Back Redundant Execution (B2BRE), a technique that realizes temporal redundancy on a pipeline-stage level granularity. By forcing redundant computations to fire on consecutive cycles, B2BRE reduces power consumption and improves fault coverage of temporally redundant pipelined functional units without additional performance penalty. We show initial experimental results that demonstrate the potential of this approach.
Numerical tests of local scale invariance in ageing q-state Potts models

Much effort has been spent over the last years to achieve a coherent theoretical description of ageing as a non-linear dynamics process. Long supposed to be a consequence of the slow dynamics of glassy systems only, ageing phenomena could also be identified in the phase-ordering kinetics of simple ferromagnets. As a phenomenological approach Henkel et al. developed a group of local scale transformations under which two-time autocorrelation and response functions should transform covariantly. This work is to extend previous numerical tests of the predicted scaling functions for the Ising model by Monte Carlo simulations of two-dimensional q-state Potts models with q=3 and 8, which, in equilibrium, undergo temperature-driven phase transitions of second and first order, respectively.
Thermodynamical, economical and environmental evaluation of high efficiency gas turbine cogeneration systems

The paper evaluates the thermodynamical, economical and environmental characteristics of a cogeneration system composed of a gas turbine and a waste heat boiler (system A). Two other systems for increasing power generating efficiency are also evaluated, namely systems B and C, which are constructed by incorporating a regenerative cycle and a dual fluid cycle, respectively, into system A. It has been estimated that system C satisfies an environmental constraint that the nitrogen oxide density exhausted should be less than 100 parts in 106, and that systems A and B also satisfy this constraint if a small amount of steam is injected into the combustor. The power generating efficiencies of systems A and B, in this case, and that of system C have been estimated to be 33.5%, 38.5% and 41.2%, respectively; i.e. the efficiencies of systems B and C can be improved noticeably compared with that of system A. The economics of these systems have also been evaluated based on the value of a profit index, and the systems are all estimated to be economically viable under the conditions assumed. As a result, it has been shown that it is possible to construct cogeneration systems with satisfactory characteristics of both environmental protection and profitability if system A is used in districts where the heat demand is large, system C in districts where the heat demand is small, and system B in districts with intermediate heat demand.
Multiple classifier systems in offline cursive handwriting recognition

The thesis addresses the application of multiple classifier systems (MCS) methods in the domain of handwriting recognition. To evaluate the MCS methods two different state-of-the-art handwritten word recognizers are used. Both recognizers are based on Hidden Markov Models (HMMs) and process handwritten words in the same manner: First the word image is normalized in respect to slant, skew and height. Then a sequence of feature vectors is extracted from the image. Finally the HMMs are used to determine the most likely word class from a set of candidate word classes. As the performance of every MCS method depends on the performance of the classifiers it is applied to, the optimization of the recognizers is also addressed in the thesis. There are mainly two kind of MCS methods: The ensemble methods which create several classifiers out of one base classifier and the combination schemes which combine the output of several classifiers to a single output. Both kind of methods are addressed in the thesis. Also the optimal values of the parameters of the MCS methods, such as the number of classifiers created by the ensemble methods, are evaluated in the thesis. There are two objectives of the thesis. The first objective is to the design new MCS methods and the second objective is to evaluate some classic and the new MCS methods in large scale experiments. Four new categories of ensemble methods and two new combination schemes are proposed in the thesis. In addition the adaption of some classic combination schemes for the use with HMM classifiers is addressed. All methods are tested in a handwritten word recognition task where the recognizer, given an image of a word, has to choose a word from 3997 possible word classes.
Considerations in the usage of text to speech (TTS) in the creation of natural sounding voice enabled web systems

The voice enabled web is a combination of XML based markup languages, speech recognition, text to speech (TTS) and web technologies. Key to the success of voice enabled web applications is the "naturalness" of the interface. Users are much more likely to interact with a system they feel comfortable with and that responds in a human like way. This paper describes the deployment of TTS in commercial voice enabled web systems and considers whether the excessive usage of TTS can be detrimental to users perceptions of the system.
Modeling and Simulation of Complex Network Attributes on Coordinating Large Multiagent System

With the expansion of distributed multiagent systems, traditional coordination strategy becomes a severe bottleneck when the system scales up to hundreds of agents. The key challenge is that in typical large multiagent systems, sparsely distributed agents can only communicate directly with very few others and the network is typically modeled as an adaptive complex network. In this paper, we present simulation testbed CoordSim built to model the coordination of network centric multiagent systems. Based on the token-based strategy, the coordination can be built as a communication decision problem that agents make decisions to target communications and pass them over to the capable agents who will potentially benefit the team most. We have theoretically analyzed that the characters of complex network make a significant difference with both random and intelligent coordination strategies, which may contribute to future multiagent algorithm design.
Timely and efficient facilitation of coordination of software developers' activities

Work dependencies often exist between the developers of a software project. These dependencies frequently result in a need for coordination between the involved developers. However, developers are not always aware of these Coordination Requirements. Current methods which detect the need to coordinate rely on information which is available only after development work has been completed. This does not enable developers to act on their coordination needs. Furthermore, even if developers were aware of all Coordination Requirements, they likely would be overwhelmed by the large number and would not be able to effectively follow up directly with the developers involved in each dependent task. I will investigate a more timely method to determine Coordination Requirements in a software development team as they emerge and how to focus the developers attention on the most crucial ones. Further, I hope to prove that direct inter-personal communication is not always necessary to fulfill these requirements and gain insight on how we can develop tools that encourage cheaper forms of coordination.
Nonlinear Mixed-Effects (NLME) Diameter Growth Models for Individual China-Fir (Cunninghamia lanceolata) Trees in Southeast China

An individual-tree diameter growth model was developed for Cunninghamia lanceolata in Fujian province, southeast China. Data were obtained from 72 plantation-grown China-fir trees in 24 single-species plots. Ordinary non-linear least squares regression was used to choose the best base model from among 5 theoretical growth equations; selection criteria were the smallest absolute mean residual and root mean square error and the largest adjusted coefficient of determination. To account for autocorrelation in the repeated-measures data, we developed one-level and nested two-level nonlinear mixed-effects (NLME) models, constructed on the selected base model; the NLME models incorporated random effects of the tree and plot. The best random-effects combinations for the NLME models were identified by Akaike's information criterion, Bayesian information criterion and −2 logarithm likelihood. Heteroscedasticity was reduced with two residual variance functions, a power function and an exponential function. The autocorrelation was addressed with three residual autocorrelation structures: a first-order autoregressive structure [AR(1)], a combination of first-order autoregressive and moving average structures [ARMA(1,1)] and a compound symmetry structure (CS). The one-level (tree) NLME model performed best. Independent validation data were used to test the performance of the models and to demonstrate the advantage of calibrating the NLME models.
Paradoxical Interhemispheric Summation in the Split Brain

We measured simple reaction time (RT) to light flashes, presented either singly or in pairs, in two people who had undergone callosotomy, one person with agenesis of the corpus callosum, and 17 normal subjects. The three split-brained subjects' RTs were decreased to bilateral pairs beyond predictions based on a simple race between independent unilateral processes, while those of the normal subjects were actually longer than predicted by the race model. This effect was present whether the bilateral pairs were in mirror-image locations or not, but was not present when the pairs were presented unilaterally. Since summation does not depend on close spatial correspondence, and also occurs when inputs are staggered in time, we suggest that it is due to cortical projection to a subcortical arousal system, and is normally inhibited by the corpus callosum.
Consequences of variation in foraging success among predators on numerical response

The relationship between foraging success and reproduction is commonly assumed to be linear in theoretical investigations. Although the exact relationship (e.g., linear or nonlinear) does not influence qualitative conclusions of models under some assumptions, an inclusion of individual behavioral variation can make it otherwise due to Jensen's inequality. In particular, a mechanism that stabilizes food web dynamics is generated when two conditions are satisfied: (1) the reproduction of predators experiences diminishing returns from foraging success (i.e., concave down relationship between foraging success and reproduction) and (2) foraging success variation among predator individuals increases with the predator density. However, empirical results that confirm these conditions are scarce. This study describes the mechanism as a hypothesis for stability and discusses some important considerations for empirical verifications of the mechanism.
Rapid screening of environmental chemicals for estrogen receptor binding capacity.

Over the last few years, an increased awareness of endocrine disrupting chemicals (EDCs) and their potential to affect wildlife and humans has produced a demand for practical screening methods to identify endocrine activity in a wide range of environmental and industrial chemicals. While it is clear that in vivo methods will be required to identify adverse effects produced by these chemicals, in vitro assays can define particular mechanisms of action and have the potential to be employed as rapid and low-cost screens for use in large scale EDC screening programs. Traditional estrogen receptor (ER) binding assays are useful for characterizing a chemical's potential to be an estrogen-acting EDC, but they involve displacement of a radioactive ligand from crude receptor preparations at low temperatures. The usefulness of these assays for realistically determining the ER binding interactions of weakly estrogenic environmental and industrial compounds that have low aqueous solubility is unclear. In this report, we present a novel fluorescence polarization (FP) method that measures the capacity of a competitor chemical to displace a high affinity fluorescent ligand from purified, recombinant human ER-[alpha] at room temperature. The ER-[alpha] binding interactions generated for 15 natural and synthetic compounds were found to be similar to those determined with traditional receptor binding assays. We also discuss the potential to employ this FP technology to binding studies involving ER-ss and other receptors. Thus, the assay introduced in this study is a nonradioactive receptor binding method that shows promise as a high throughput screening method for large-scale testing of environmental and industrial chemicals for ER binding interactions. ImagesFigure 2Figure 3Figure 4
A geographical opportunistic dissemination protocol via bus networks

Geographical opportunistic dissemination scheme in an urban setting has a lot of potential applications range from daily services like advertising and local weather forecast to safety-related services such as fire/accident warning. These applications share several unique characteristics such as location-based address of nodes and maintaining in an area for a specific time. However, all existing solutions fail to take into account these characteristics. In this paper, we propose a novel opportunistic information dissemination scheme via metropolitan bus networks. The scheme firstly makes use of geographical information like street map and bus route to convert information dissemination within a specific area to opportunistic multicast to non-overlapped road segments. A probabilistic routing protocol based on closest distance predictability is presented to multicast the message to its multiple destination road segments and then disseminate to roadside users. We use dissemination ratio and number of replicas as metrics to evaluate the performance of the scheme. And the simulation results show that the proposed dissemination scheme achieves high dissemination ratio when the number of buses is enough with an acceptable number of replicas (network overhead).
Research and Optimization on Access Control Mechanism of Linux

The thesis analysis the security of Linux operation system on the side of access control mechanism. Based on the universal access control framework of Linux, add a layer of access control. Implement an extensible access control system structure, and the corresponding function models are defined and achieved, which fulfills the goal of enhancing the security of accessing Linux operation system.
Association between resiliency and posttraumatic growth in firefighters: the role of stress appraisal

The purpose of this study was to establish the relation between resiliency and the level of positive changes, comprising posttraumatic growth in a group of firefighters experiencing job-related traumatic events and the mediating role of stress appraisal in this relation. The study was performed on a group of 100 firefighters from firefighting and rescue brigades, out of which 75 admitted to experiencing a traumatic event. Firefighters covered by the study were on average 31.51 years old (SD = 6.34). A Polish version of Posttraumatic Growth Inventory, the Resiliency Assessment Scale and Stress Appraisal Questionnaire were used in the study. The results have shown that 22.7% of firefighters displayed low, 58.6% average and 18.7% high intensity of positive changes resulting from a traumatic event. Resiliency poorly correlates with posttraumatic growth expressed in changes in self-perception, and strongly correlates with stress appraisal, negatively correlates with threat and harm/loss and positively correlates with challenge. Appraisal of stress as a threat and challenge appeared to be mediators of the relationship between resiliency and posttraumatic growth.
Complete Genomes of Two Dipteran-Associated Spiroplasmas Provided Insights into the Origin, Dynamics, and Impacts of Viral Invasion in Spiroplasma

Spiroplasma is a genus of wall-less, low-GC, Gram-positive bacteria with helical morphology. As commensals or pathogens of plants, insects, ticks, or crustaceans, they are closely related with mycoplasmas and form a monophyletic group (Spiroplasma–Entomoplasmataceae–Mycoides) with Mycoplasma mycoides and its relatives. In this study, we report the complete genome sequences of Spiroplasma chrysopicola and S. syrphidicola from the Chrysopicola clade. These species form the sister group to the Citri clade, which includes several well-known pathogenic spiroplasmas. Surprisingly, these two newly available genomes from the Chrysopicola clade contain no plectroviral genes, which were found to be highly repetitive in the previously sequenced genomes from the Citri clade. Based on the genome alignment and patterns of GC-skew, these two Chrysopicola genomes appear to be relatively stable, rather than being highly rearranged as those from the Citri clade. Phylogenetic analyses suggest that the susceptibility to plectroviral invasion probably originated in the common ancestor of the Citri clade or one of its subclades. This susceptibility may be attributed to the absence of antiviral systems found in the Chrysopicola clade. Using the virus-free genomes of the Chrysopicola clade as references, we inferred the putative viral integration sites in the Citri genomes. Comparisons of syntenic regions suggest that the extensive viral invasion in the Citri clade promoted genome rearrangements and expansions. More importantly, the viral invasion may have facilitated horizontal gene transfers that contributed to adaptation in the Citri clade.
On the Incidence of C IV Absorbers Along the Sight Lines to Gamma-Ray Bursts

We report on the statistics of strong (Wr > 0.15 Å) C IV absorbers at z = 1.5-3.5 toward high-redshift gamma-ray bursts (GRBs). In contrast with a recent survey for strong Mg II absorption systems at z < 2, we find that the number of C IV absorbers per unit redshift dN/dz does not show a significant deviation from previous surveys using quasi-stellar objects (QSOs) as background sources. We find that the number density of C IV toward GRBs is dN/dz|GRB(z ~ 1.5) = 2.2, dN/dz|GRB(z ~ 2.5) = 2.3 and dN/dz|GRB(z ~ 3.5) = 1.1. These numbers are consistent with previous C IV surveys using QSO spectra. Binning the entire data set, we set a 95% c.l. upper limit to the excess of C IV absorbers along GRB sight lines at twice the incidence observed along QSO sight lines. Furthermore, the distribution of equivalent widths of the GRB and QSO samples are consistent with being drawn from the same parent population. Although the results for Mg II and C IV absorbers along GRB sight lines appear to contradict one another, we note that the surveys are nearly disjoint: the C IV survey corresponds to higher redshift and more highly ionized gas than the Mg II survey. Nevertheless, analysis on larger statistical samples may constrain properties of the galaxies hosting these metals (e.g., mass, dust content) and/or the coherence-length of the gas giving rise to the metal-line absorption.
Low rank matrix recovery via augmented lagrange multiplier with nonconvex minimization

In recovery problem, nuclear norm as a convex envelope of rank function is widely used. However, nuclear norm minimization problem tends not to identify optimal solution, so recently, other heuristic surrogate functions such as nonconvex logdet are utilized to recover sparser signal. In this paper, to handle nonconvex optimation problem, a modified Augmented Lagrange Multiplier Method (ALMM) is developed using weighted nuclear norm instead of nuclear norm which conventional ALMM treats for convex optimization. We experiment on real images in Matrix Completion problem with diverse nonconvex, and show that instead of solving a simple convex problem, nonconvex optimization problem can reconstruct a low rank matrix more accurately and the convergence rate is faster with having higher average PSNR.
Causal Inference in Statistics: an Introduction

This paper provides a conceptual introduction to causal inference, aimed to assist researchers beneet from recent advances in this area. The paper stresses the paradig-matic shifts that must be undertaken in moving from traditional statistical analysis to causal analysis of multivariate data. Special emphasis is placed on the assumptions that underly all causal inferences, the languages used in formulating those assumptions, and the conditional nature of causal claims inferred from nonexperimental studies. These emphases are illustrated through a brief survey of recent results, including the control of confounding, and a symbiosis between counterfactual and graphical methods of analysis. supported in parts by g r a n ts from NSF, ONR (MURI) and AFOSR.
Towards Detecting Counter-considerations in Text

Argumentation mining obviously involves finding support relations between statements, but many interesting instances of argumentation also contain counter-considerations, which the author mentions in order to preempt possible objections by the readers. A counterconsideration in monologue text thus involves a switch of perspective toward an imaginary opponent. We present a classification approach to classifying counter-considerations and apply it to two different corpora: a selection of very short argumentative texts produced in a text generation experiment, and a set of newspaper commentaries. As expected, the latter pose more difficulties, which we investigate in a brief error anaylsis.
Scene Relighting with Smartphones

Relightable photographs are alternatives to traditional photographs as they provide a richer viewing experience. However, the complex acquisition systems of existing techniques have restricted its usage to specialized setups. We introduce an easy-to-use and affordable solution for reflectance acquisition by using smartphones. Our goal is to enable interactive relighting of scenes by everyone. In our approach, we non-uniformly sample the reflectance functions by moving the LED light of a smartphone and simultaneously tracking the position of the smartphone by using its camera. We then propose a compressive-sensing based approach for reconstructing the light transport matrix from the non-uniformly sampled data. As shown with experiments, we accurately reconstruct the light transport matrix that can then be used to create relightable photographs.