Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
High-level change detection in RDF(S) KBs

With the increasing use of Web 2.0 to create, disseminate, and consume large volumes of data, more and more information is published and becomes available for potential data consumers, that is, applications/services, individual users and communities, outside their production site. The most representative example of this trend is Linked Open Data (LOD), a set of interlinked data and knowledge bases. The main challenge in this context is data governance within loosely coordinated organizations that are publishing added-value interlinked data on the Web, bringing together issues related to data management and data quality, in order to support the full lifecycle of data production, consumption, and management. In this article, we are interested in curation issues for RDF(S) data, which is the default data model for LOD. In particular, we are addressing change management for RDF(S) data maintained by large communities (scientists, librarians, etc.) which act as curators to ensure high quality of data. Such curated Knowledge Bases (KBs) are constantly evolving for various reasons, such as the inclusion of new experimental evidence or observations, or the correction of erroneous conceptualizations. Managing such changes poses several research problems, including the problem of detecting the changes (delta) between versions of the same KB developed and maintained by different groups of curators, a crucial task for assisting them in understanding the involved changes. This becomes all the more important as curated KBs are interconnected (through copying or referencing) and thus changes need to be propagated from one KB to another either within or across communities. This article addresses this problem by proposing a change language which allows the formulation of concise and intuitive deltas. The language is expressive enough to describe unambiguously any possible change encountered in curated KBs expressed in RDF(S), and can be efficiently and deterministically detected in an automated way. Moreover, we devise a change detection algorithm which is sound and complete with respect to the aforementioned language, and study appropriate semantics for executing the deltas expressed in our language in order to move backwards and forwards in a multiversion repository, using only the corresponding deltas. Finally, we evaluate through experiments the effectiveness and efficiency of our algorithms using real ontologies from the cultural, bioinformatics, and entertainment domains.
Texture measures for building recognition in aerial photographs

We examine the suitability of the fractal error operator for the detection of man-made features in monocular, greyscale aerial photography and propose an alternative operator, called the homogeneous operator. The fractal error operator uses a metric known as fractal error while the homogeneous operator is based on a principle of homogeneity. We have implemented and tested both operators on various images. In comparative studies, we show that the homogeneous operator outperforms the fractal error operator for images of typically rural dwellings. An image processed by this operator can be used as starting point in a building recognition system.
A 2-D anatomic breast ductal computer phantom for ultrasonic imaging

Most breast cancers (85%) originate from the epithelium and develop first in the ductolobular structures. In screening procedures, the mammary epithelium should therefore be investigated first by the performing of an anatomically guided examination. For this purpose (mass screening, surgical guidance), we developed a two-dimensional anatomic phantom corresponding to an axial cross section of the ductolobular structures, which makes it possible to better understand the interactions between the breast composition and ultrasound. The various constitutive tissues were modeled as a random inhomogeneous continuum with density and sound speed fluctuations. Ultrasonic pulse propagation through the breast computer phantom was simulated using a finite element time domain method (the phantom can be used with other propagation codes). The simulated ductal echographic image is compared with the ductal tomographic (DT) reconstruction. The preliminary results obtained show that the DT method is more satisfactory in terms of both the contrast and the resolution.
Speckle reduction of SAR images using adaptive regularized least square support vector machines

Synthetic aperture radar (SAR) images are inherently affected by multiplicative speckle noise, which is due to the coherent nature of the scattering phenomenon. This paper proposed an adaptive regularized approach to reduce SAR image speckle based on least squares support vector machines (LS-SVM). Generally, SAR images are comprised of multiple features of different spatial scales, and there is typically a trade-off between speckle removal and detail preservation. A natural approach to partially alleviate this problem is to use spatial adaptive regularization parameter on the use of regularized procedure. Here, each pixel has its own associated regularization parameter in this paper, instead of choosing a global regularization parameter. Experimental results show that our approach has a good performance on the speckle reduction without destruction of important SAR image details.
Analysing resource use in the-calculus by type inference

If we view functions as processes, then their resources are their arguments, supplied through application, and used by the function to produce a result. In this paper, we de ne resource use for functions, based on the syntactic notion of needed redexes from [BKKS86]. We introduce a variant of neededness, tail-neededness, and de ne packets of needed descendants of redexes in order to measure the degree of neededness. These results are generalised to produce a semantic characterisation of the resource use properties of functions, using a term-model. By means of the Curry-Howard isomorphism, we apply these ideas to proof trees of propositions in Intuitionistic Logic to demonstrate that propositions, i.e. types, can be used to express the usage properties of functions. A resource-aware type system capable of inferring such types for -terms is presented.
The novel adipocytokine visfatin exerts direct cardioprotective effects

Visfatin is an adipocytokine capable of mimicking the glucose‐lowering effects of insulin and activating the pro‐survival kinases phosphatidylinositol‐3‐OH kinase (PI3K)‐protein kinase B (Akt) and mitogen‐activated protein kinase kinase 1 and 2 (MEK1/2)‐extracellular signal‐regulated kinase 1 and 2 (Erk 1/2). Experimental studies have demonstrated that the activation of these kinases confers cardioprotection through the inhibition of the mitochondrial permeability transition pore (mPTP). Whether visfatin is capable of exerting direct cardioprotective effects through these mechanisms is unknown and is the subject of the current study. Anaesthetized C57BL/6 male mice were subjected to in situ 30 min. of regional myocardial ischaemia and 120 min. of reperfusion. The administration of an intravenous bolus of visfatin (5 × 10−6μmol) at the time of myocardial reperfusion reduced the myocardial infarct size from 46.1 ± 4.1% in control hearts to 27.3 ± 4.0% (n≥ 6/group, P < 0.05), an effect that was blocked by the PI3K inhibitor, wortmannin, and the MEK1/2 inhibitor, U0126 (48.8 ± 5.5% and 45.9 ± 8.4%, respectively, versus 27.3 ± 4.0% with visfatin; n≥ 6/group, P < 0.05). In murine ventricular cardiomyocytes subjected to 30 min. of hypoxia followed by 30 min. of reoxygenation, visfatin (100 ng/ml), administered at the time of reoxygenation, reduced the cell death from 65.2 ± 4.6% in control to 49.2 ± 3.7%(n > 200 cells/group, P < 0.05), an effect that was abrogated by wortmannin and U0126 (68.1 ± 5.2% and 59.7 ± 6.2%, respectively; n > 200 cells/group, P > 0.05). Finally, the treatment of murine ventricular cardiomyocytes with visfatin (100 ng/ml) delayed the opening of the mPTP induced by oxidative stress from 81.2 ± 4 sec. in control to 120 ± 7 sec. (n > 20 cells/group, P < 0.05) in a PI3K‐ and MEK1/2‐dependent manner. We report that the adipocytokine, visfatin, is capable of reducing myocardial injury when administered at the time of myocardial reperfusion in both the in situ murine heart and the isolated murine cardiomyocytes. The mechanism appears to involve the PI3K and MEK1/2 pathways and the mPTP.
Current progress on weak signal detection

In machinery condition monitoring, weak signal is a type of signal that has very low signal-to-noise ratio (SNR). Therefore, it is necessary to develop effective methods so as to enhance or extract useful information from the noisy signal. These methods aim to solve the problem of de-noising and separation of mixed-signal. This paper investigated the current progress on weak signal detection methods, including traditional and emerging, linear and non-linear methods. The combination of various methods is presented according to their advantages and disadvantages of these methods. In the end, the future development of weak signal detection technology is summarized.
Magnetorheological Properties of Aqueous Ferrofluids

The nanosized magnetite particles were synthesized by means of a coprecipitation method and used to prepare the aqueous ferrofluids with various volume fractions. The magnetorheological properties of the aqueous ferrofluids have been investigated as a function of magnetic field. Under steady-state shear, the apparent viscosity for all of the ferrofluids exhibited a shear thinning behavior. But the Bingham model was invalid since the ferrofluids did not show a yield stress before they began to flow. However, the shear stress increased linearly with shear rate after a critical shear rate, showing a Bingham-like behavior. A Bingham-like yield stress, which was obtained by extrapolating the shear stress to the zero shear rate, increased with both the volume fraction of magnetic particles and the strength of magnetic field. The Bingham-like viscosity was approximately independent of the magnetic field at a given volume fraction of magnetic particles, but increased with the volume fraction under a given magnetic field. In the strain sweep experiment at an angular frequency of 10 rad/s, a transition from a gel-like state to a sol-like state was observed and a chain model has been proposed to qualitatively explain the mechanism of the transition. From the frequency sweep tests, it was found that there existed a plateau of storage modulus G′, which was independent of frequency but dependent on the volume fraction. A scaling law has been proposed to correlate the G′ plateau with the volume fraction.
Design of tendon-driven mechanisms for fault tolerance from tendon-breaking by using centroid vectors

Tendon-driven mechanisms (TDMs) are mechanisms driven by more tendons than joints. This tendon redundancy is often used for changing the hardware compliance. In contrast, in this paper, the redundancy is used for coping with unexpected tendon breaking. We analyze kinematics of a class of TDMs with asymmetrically spanned tendons and modify it to design a TDM that preserves the controllability even if at least one of the tendons is broken. We validate the proposed method to design several TDMs.
Organization of extratropical transients during El Niño

Abstract Four observed El Nino-Southern Oscillation (ENSO) events are studied to determine the mechanisms responsible for the anomalous extratropical atmospheric circulation during northern winter. A parallel analysis of a GCM's response to El Nino is performed in order to assess if similar mechanisms are operative in the model atmosphere. The observed stationary wave anomalies over the Pacific/North American (PNA) region are found to he similar during the four winters despite appreciable differences in sea surface temperatures. The anomalous transient vorticity fluxes are remarkably robust over the North Pacific during each event, with an eastward extension of the climatological storm track leading to strong cyclonic forcing near 40°N, 150°W. This forcing is in phase with the seasonal mean Aleutian trough anomaly suggesting the importance of eddy-mean flow interactions. By comparison, the intersample variability of the GCM response over the PNA region is found to exceed the observed inter-El Nino variabi.
Computing on Base Station Behavior Using Erlang Measurement and Call Detail Record

With the impressive development of wireless devices and growth of mobile users, telecommunication operators are thirsty for understanding the characteristics of mobile network behavior. Based on the big data generated in the telecommunication networks, telecommunication operators are able to obtain substantial insights using big data analysis and computing techniques. This paper introduces the important aspects in this topic, including data set information, data analysis techniques, and two case studies. We categorize the data set in the telecommunication networks into two types, user-oriented and network-oriented, and discuss the potential application. Then, several important data analysis techniques are summarized and reviewed, from temporal and spatial analysis to data mining and statistical test. Finally, we present two case studies, using Erlang measurement and call detail record, respectively, to understand the base station behavior. Interestingly, the night burst phenomenon of college students is revealed by comparing the base stations location and real-world map, and we conclude that it is not proper to model the voice call arrivals as Poisson process.
cGMP-Dependent Protein Kinase Inhibition Extends the Upper Temperature Limit of Stimulus-Evoked Calcium Responses in Motoneuronal Boutons of Drosophila melanogaster Larvae

While the mammalian brain functions within a very narrow range of oxygen concentrations and temperatures, the fruit fly, Drosophila melanogaster, has employed strategies to deal with a much wider range of acute environmental stressors. The foraging (for) gene encodes the cGMP-dependent protein kinase (PKG), has been shown to regulate thermotolerance in many stress-adapted species, including Drosophila, and could be a potential therapeutic target in the treatment of hyperthermia in mammals. Whereas previous thermotolerance studies have looked at the effects of PKG variation on Drosophila behavior or excitatory postsynaptic potentials at the neuromuscular junction (NMJ), little is known about PKG effects on presynaptic mechanisms. In this study, we characterize presynaptic calcium ([Ca2+]i) dynamics at the Drosophila larval NMJ to determine the effects of high temperature stress on synaptic transmission. We investigated the neuroprotective role of PKG modulation both genetically using RNA interference (RNAi), and pharmacologically, to determine if and how PKG affects presynaptic [Ca2+]i dynamics during hyperthermia. We found that PKG activity modulates presynaptic neuronal Ca2+ responses during acute hyperthermia, where PKG activation makes neurons more sensitive to temperature-induced failure of Ca2+ flux and PKG inhibition confers thermotolerance and maintains normal Ca2+ dynamics under the same conditions. Targeted motoneuronal knockdown of PKG using RNAi demonstrated that decreased PKG expression was sufficient to confer thermoprotection. These results demonstrate that the PKG pathway regulates presynaptic motoneuronal Ca2+ signaling to influence thermotolerance of presynaptic function during acute hyperthermia.
Characterization of a chimeric proU operon in a subtilin-producing mutant of Bacillus subtilis 168

The ability to respond to osmotic stress by osmoregulation is common to virtually all living cells. Gram-negative bacteria such as Escherichia coli and Salmonella typhimurium can achieve osmotolerance by import of osmoprotectants such as proline and glycine betaine by an import system encoded in an operon called proU with genes for proteins ProV, ProW, and ProX. In this report, we describe the discovery of a proU-type locus in the gram-positive bacterium Bacillus subtilis. It contains four open reading frames (ProV, ProW, ProX, and ProZ) with homology to the gram-negative ProU proteins, with the B. subtilis ProV, ProW, and ProX proteins having sequence homologies of 35, 29, and 17%, respectively, to the E. coli proteins. The B. subtilis ProZ protein is similar to the ProW protein but is smaller and, accordingly, may fulfill a novel role in osmoprotection. The B. subtilis proU locus was discovered while exploring the chromosomal sequence upstream from the spa operon in B. subtilis LH45, which is a subtilin-producing mutant of B. subtilis 168. B. subtilis LH45 had been previously constructed by transformation of strain 168 with linear DNA from B. subtilis ATCC 6633 (W. Liu and J. N. Hansen, J. Bacteriol. 173:7387-7390, 1991). Hybridization experiments showed that LH45 resulted from recombination in a region of homology in the proV gene, so that the proU locus in LH45 is a chimera between strains 168 and 6633. Despite being a chimera, this proU locus was fully functional in its ability to confer osmotolerance when glycine betaine was available in the medium. Conversely, a mutant (LH45 deltaproU) in which most of the proU locus had been deleted grew poorly at high osmolarity in the presence of glycine betaine. We conclude that the proU-like locus in B. subtilis LH45 is a gram-positive counterpart of the proU locus in gram-negative bacteria and probably evolved prior to the evolutionary split of prokaryotes into gram-positive and gram-negative forms.
On efficient learning and classification kernel methods

Improving learning and classification efficiency has become increasingly important for machine learning. If the traditional RBF kernel is adopted, the learned kernel-based classifier usually delivers better performance by engaging a large training dataset. However, such a high performance comes at the expense of costly learning and classification complexities, which grow drastically with the training size N. To overcome this curse of dimensionality, we propose a so-called TRBF kernel(with finite intrinsic degree J) which approximates the RBF kernel. The contributions of this paper are as follows. First, the optimal classification efficiency attainable is shown to be J' ≈ J. To improve learning efficiency, we propose a fast PDA algorithm with learning complexity linearly growing with N. We adopt pruned-PDA (PPDA) to improve the accuracy by removing harmful “anti-support” vectors from the training set. Experiments on ECG dataset showed that TRBF-PPDA delivers nearly optimal performance with very low power.
Dynamics of the West African Monsoon. Part IV: Analysis of 25–90-Day Variability of Convection and the Role of the Indian Monsoon

This paper is part of a series of studies addressing the dynamics of the West African summer monsoon at intraseasonal time scales between 10 and 90 days. The dominant mode of 25-90-day convective variability in the African monsoon was investigated, starting from previous results involving the excitation of dry equatorial Kelvin and Rossby waves by a negative diabatic heat source located over the warm pool. This evolution is consistent with a significant contribution by a convectively coupled equatorial Rossby wave and the MJO. On the other hand, convectively coupled Kelvin waves as well as the dry Kelvin wave signal have a very weak impact. However, there is more to the global control of the African summer monsoon than convectively coupled wave dynamics. The active/break cycle of the Indian monsoon, controlled by a northward-moving dipole of diabatic heating in the Indian sector, can also influence the African monsoon through atmospheric teleconnections. Simulations performed with a dry primitive equation model show that this influence may be transferred through the northern Indian heat source, which excites a Rossby cyclonic circulation propagating westward over North Africa that is cut off by the northward arrival of the equatorial Indian heat source and the associated intrusion of an anticyclonic ridge. Low-level westerly winds and moisture advection within the ITCZ consequently increase over Africa. The mean time lag between an active phase over India and over Africa is about 15-20 days.
A Tool for Evaluating Service User eXperience ( ServUX ) : Development of a Modular Questionnaire

Currently, there are no tools designed specifically for evaluating user experience (UX) of modern web-based services, e.g., crossmedia services featuring Web 2.0 characteristics. This paper describes the process and outcome of developing a modular questionnaire for evaluating Service User eXperience (ServUX). The questionnaire is constructed of modules, each addressing distinct aspects of ServUX: cross-platform and crossmedial interaction, user-driven service composition, social communication and construction, dynamic content and functionality, contextual computing, and other ServUXrelated issues such as trust and privacy. We have applied the questionnaire in two field studies, investigating a total of four systems/services in Finland and in the US. This position paper reports the background and development of the first version of the ServUX questionnaire as well as initial experiences of how it worked in these studies.
GENERALIZED WATERSHED LOADING FUNCTIONS FOR STREAM FLOW NUTRIENTS

ABSTRACT: Loading functions are proposed as a general model for estimating monthly nitrogen and phosphorus fluxes in stream flow. The functions have a simple mathematical structure, describe a wide range of rural and urban nonpoint sources, and couple surface runoff and ground water discharge. Rural runoff loads are computed from daily runoff and erosion and monthly sediment yield calculations. Urban runoff loads are based on daily nutrient accumulation rates and exponential wash off functions. Ground water discharge is determined by lumped parameter unsaturated and saturated zone soil moisture balances. Default values for model chemical parameters were estimated from literature values. Validation studies over a three-year period for an 850 km2 watershed showed that the loading functions explained at least 90 percent of the observed monthly variation in dissolved and total nitrogen and phosphorus fluxes in stream flow. Errors in model predictions of mean monthly fluxes were: dissolved phosphorus - 4 percent; total phosphorus - 2 percent; dissolved nitrogen - 18 percent; and total nitrogen - 28 percent. These results were obtained without model calibration.
Diagnostic accuracy of instrumented and manual talar tilt tests in chronic ankle instability populations

Diagnostic accuracy of the talar tilt test is not well established in a chronic ankle instability (CAI) population. Our purpose was to determine the diagnostic accuracy of instrumented and manual talar tilt tests in a group with varied ankle injury history compared with a reference standard of self‐report questionnaire. Ninety‐three individuals participated, with analysis occurring on 88 (39 CAI, 17 ankle sprain copers, and 32 healthy controls). Participants completed the Cumberland Ankle Instability Tool, arthrometer inversion talar tilt tests (LTT), and manual medial talar tilt stress tests (MTT). The ability to determine CAI status using the LTT and MTT compared with a reference standard was performed. The sensitivity (95% confidence intervals) of LTT and MTT was low [LTT = 0.36 (0.23–0.52), MTT = 0.49 (0.34–0.64)]. Specificity was good to excellent (LTT: 0.72–0.94; MTT: 0.78–0.88). Positive likelihood ratio (+ LR) values for LTT were 1.26–6.10 and for MTT were 2.23–4.14. Negative LR for LTT were 0.68–0.89 and for MTT were 0.58–0.66. Diagnostic odds ratios ranged from 1.43 to 8.96. Both clinical and arthrometer laxity testing appear to have poor overall diagnostic value for evaluating CAI as stand‐alone measures. Laxity testing to assess CAI may only be useful to rule in the condition.