Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
ALGORITHMS FOR SOME CLUSTERING PROBLEMS A Dissertation Presented to the Faculty of the Graduate School of Cornell University in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy

The first part of this work gives new insight into two well-known approximation algorithms for the uncapacitated facility location problem: the primal-dual algorithm of Jain & Vazirani, and an algorithm of Mettu & Plaxton. The main result answers positively a question posed by Jain and Vazirani of whether their algorithm can be modified to attain a desired " continuity " property. This yields an upper bound of 3 on the integrality gap of the natural LP relaxation of the k-median problem, but our approach does not yield a polynomial time algorithm with this guarantee. We also give a new simple proof of the performance guarantee of the Mettu-Plaxton algorithm using LP duality, which suggests a minor modification of the algorithm that makes it Lagrangian multiplier-preserving. The second part of this work deals with a problem we call the maximum average ratio cut problem. The motivation for this problem is a desire to expose structure in populations based on genetic information. Specifically, solving this problem allows us to evaluate unusually low heterozygosity in subpopulations. We reduce this problem to the maximum cut problem with given cardinality, and implement a branch and bound procedure to find exact solutions. iii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I would like to thank David Shmoys for proving that a professor can wear the hats of teacher, researcher and advisor, and wear them all well. I would like to thank my family, Amma, Appa, Ravi, and Mohan for a lifetime of encouragement and support. and Yuriy Zinchenko for making my years at Cornell enjoyable ones.dation Graduate Research Fellowship. I would like to thank the NSF for helping students like myself continue their exploration of the sciences. Finally, I would like to thank Millie Chu for sharing the last three years of her life with me. I hope that we'll share many more to come.
Longevity and skeletal muscle mass: the role of IGF signalling, the sirtuins, dietary restriction and protein intake

Advancing age is associated with a progressive loss of skeletal muscle (SkM) mass and function. Given the worldwide aging demographics, this is a major contributor to morbidity, escalating socio‐economic costs and ultimately mortality. Previously, it has been established that a decrease in regenerative capacity in addition to SkM loss with age coincides with suppression of insulin/insulin‐like growth factor signalling pathways. However, genetic or pharmacological modulations of these highly conserved pathways have been observed to significantly enhance life and healthspan in various species, including mammals. This therefore provides a controversial paradigm in which reduced regenerative capacity of skeletal muscle tissue with age potentially promotes longevity of the organism. This paradox will be assessed and considered in the light of the following: (i) the genetic knockout, overexpression and pharmacological models that induce lifespan extension (e.g. IRS‐1/s6K KO, mTOR inhibition) versus the important role of these signalling pathways in SkM growth and adaptation; (ii) the role of the sirtuins (SIRTs) in longevity versus their emerging role in SkM regeneration and survival under catabolic stress; (iii) the role of dietary restriction and its impact on longevity versus skeletal muscle mass regulation; (iv) the crosstalk between cellular energy metabolism (AMPK/TSC2/SIRT1) and survival (FOXO) versus growth and repair of SkM (e.g. AMPK vs. mTOR); and (v) the impact of protein feeding in combination with dietary restriction will be discussed as a potential intervention to maintain SkM mass while increasing longevity and enabling healthy aging.
Maximization of left atrial information through the optimization of ECG lead systems

Atrial fibrillation and atrial flutter are the most common atrial arrhythmias placing a heavy burden on patients and posing a challenge on healthcare systems. If patients at risk to develop atrial arrhythmias can be identified at an early stage, the arrhythmia incidence can be lowered by implementing appropriate strategies to mitigate the risks. Diagnostic methods based on the ECG are ideal risk markers due to their noninvasiveness and omnipresence. The left atrium (LA) plays a major role in the initiation and perpetuation of atrial reentry arrhythmias. However, the LA is not well represented in the P-wave derived through standard ECG leads. Here, we optimize ECG leads to maximize LA information content. Towards this end, we used a cohort of eight personalized computational models providing the unique opportunity to separate LA and right atrial (RA) contributions to the P-wave, which is not feasible in vivo. The location of maximum P-wave signal energy was located on the center of the chest for all subjects with marked overlap between regions of maximum LA and RA P-wave amplitude. The regions of highest ratio between LA and RA signal energy differed between patients. However, a region with LA signal energy being higher than that of the RA and providing a sufficiently large absolute P-wave signal energy was identified at the lower left quadrant of the back consistently across most subjects of the cohort. Optimized linear combinations of standard 12-lead signals (considering the eight independent leads) yielded comparably good results amplifying LA information by more than one order of magnitude. Our newly proposed electrode positions on the back as well as selected combinations of standard ECG signals improve the LA information content considerably. By using these, more relevant diagnostic information regarding anatomical and electrophysiological properties of the LA can be derived in future.
Estimating Predatory Efficiency of Episyrphus balteatus (Diptera: Syrphidae) in Cereal Fields

A model was developed to estimate the effect of predation by Episyrphus balteatus larvae on aphid populations in fields of winter wheat. Feeding rate of syrphid larvae was estimated from experiments in field cages using a Holling type-III function. During larval development, syrphids consumed a maximum of 396 aphids, which is only half the potential feeding rate reported from laboratory experiments. The lower consumption rate in the field may be attributed to the additional time required by the predators to find prey. Isoclines derived from the model were used to estimate the abundance of syrphid larvae necessary to prevent further pest increases.
Cascade Multi-View Hourglass Model for Robust 3D Face Alignment

Estimating the 3D facial landmarks from a 2D image remains a challenging problem. Even though state-of-the-art 2D alignment methods are able to predict accurate landmarks for semi-frontal faces, the majority of them fail to provide semantically consistent landmarks for profile faces. A de facto solution to this problem is through 3D face alignment that preserves correspondence across different poses. In this paper, we proposed a Cascade Multi-view Hourglass Model for 3D face alignment, where the first Hourglass model is explored to jointly predict semi-frontal and profile 2D facial landmarks, after removing spatial transformations, another Hourglass model is employed to estimate the 3D facial shapes. To improve the capacity without sacrificing the computational complexity, the original residual bottleneck block in the Hourglass model is replaced by a parallel, multi-scale inception-resnet block. Extensive experiments on two challenging 3D face alignment datasets, AFLW2000-3D and Menpo-3D, show the robustness of the proposed method under continuous pose changes.
Tricks of the Trade: Motivating Sales Agents to Con Older Adults.

PURPOSE OF THE STUDY Financial fraud is estimated to cost consumers approximately $50 billion annually. To examine how new hires are trained to engage in fraud, this study analyzed a sales training transcript from Alliance for Mature Americans (Alliance). In 1996, Alliance was charged with using deception and misrepresentation to sell more than $200 million worth of living trusts and annuities to 10,000 older adults in California. DESIGN AND METHODS Transcribed recordings from a 2-day Alliance sales training seminar were analyzed using NVivo10, coded inductively, and examined to identify emergent themes. RESULTS Predominant themes were as follows: (a) indoctrination using incentives and neutralization techniques and (b) training on persuasion tactics targeted at older adults. Findings suggest that sales training focuses on establishing the company's legitimacy, normalizing unethical sales practices, and refining trainees' knowledge about how to influence older consumers. IMPLICATIONS Predatory and fraudulent businesses peddling ill-suited products threaten the economic security of older Americans. Improved insights into sales manipulation strategies can guide the development of protective policies including educational approaches to help older adults detect scams and resist purchasing fraudulent products.
Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory

—This work is part of a project that aims to demonstrate the concept of Vehicle-to-Grid (V2G) with an operational ﬂeet. A ﬂeet of electric vehicles is operated with the objective of providing regulation services to the grid. The focus of this paper is on the real-time operation of the ﬂeet. Speciﬁcally, given an optimal trajectory for the vehicle state of charge, schemes for distributing the regulation power commands among the vehicles are tested. A scheme based on a convex optimization problem is proposed. Several numerical illustrations and simulations show the effectiveness of the scheme respect to common scheduling heuristics in terms of accuracy.
Novel urinary alkylresorcinol metabolites as biomarkers of whole grain intake in free‐living Swedish adults

SCOPE Most studies on the role of whole grain for health rely on self-reported intake data, which are prone to measurement errors. There is a need for dietary biomarkers that can provide an objective measure of intake. Alkylresorcinols (AR) and their main metabolites 3,5-dihydroxybenzoic acid (DHBA) and 3-(3,5-dihydroxyphenyl)-propanoic acid (DHPPA) have been proposed as biomarkers for whole grain (WG) wheat and rye intake. METHODS AND RESULTS The medium-term reproducibility and relative validity of four putative urinary AR metabolites (3,5-dihydroxycinnamic acid (DHCA), 5-(3,5-dihydroxyphenyl) pentanoic acid (DHPPTA), 2-(3,5-dihydroxybenzamido)acetic acid (DHBA-glycine) and 3,5-dihydroxycinnamic acid amide (DHCA-amide)) as biomarkers for WG intake were investigated. Three-day weighed food records and 24-h urine samples from two occasions 2-3 months apart were obtained from 69 Swedish adults. WG intake was calculated and urinary AR metabolites were analyzed. The medium-term reproducibility determined for DHCA, DHPPTA, and DHBA-glycine varied from moderate-to-excellent (intra-class correlation coefficient = 0.63-0.85). Moreover, DHCA and DHPPTA excretion correlated well with self-reported total WG intake (r = 0.55, p < 0.001 and r = 0.42, p < 0.001, respectively). CONCLUSION DHCA or DHPPTA excretion in 24-h urine might be a suitable medium- to long-term biomarker of WG wheat and rye intake. These findings need to be confirmed in populations with low and infrequent WG intake.
Elektrische Quadrupolwechselwirkung in defektreichen und deformierten MAX-Phasen

In this work, it is shown how hyperfine interaction methods can be used to in-situ detect defects and deformations even in crystallographically complex materials such as the MAX-Phases, a class of ternary carbides and nitrides. The sensitive quantity is given by the electric field gradient (EFG), a measure of the asymmetry of the charge distribution around a particular probe atom's nucleus. Two mechanisms of interplay between defect and EFG are considered: the long-ranged effects of elastic strain and the direct influence of a defect on its local electronic surrounding. The EFG's elastic response is determined by means of ab-initio methods in the framework of density functional theory. This approach permits to analyze the reason behind the strain dependence of the EFG and allows insights into any other strain dependence of the EFG such as volume and structure dependencies. Distributions of the EFG for certain defect arrangements are calculated by means of Monte-Carlo simulations based on the aforementioned elastic response. The hereby predicted EFG distributions are experimentally verified in uniaxially deformed, polycrystalline MAX-Phase by means of the perturbed angular correlation (PAC) method which in turn allows to in-situ determine defect densities. The local influence of defects is systematically studied within MAX-Phase solid solutions. In this regard, the synthesis of a new solid solution, Ti$_2$(Al$_{0,5}$,In$_{0,5}$)C, is reported. The corresponding lattice parameters are determined by a Rietveld refinement of XRD-data.
Dual role of the RNA helicase DDX5 in post-transcriptional regulation of myelin basic protein in oligodendrocytes

ABSTRACT In the central nervous system, oligodendroglial expression of myelin basic protein (MBP) is crucial for the assembly and structure of the myelin sheath. MBP synthesis is tightly regulated in space and time, particularly at the post-transcriptional level. We have identified the DEAD-box RNA helicase DDX5 (also known as p68) in a complex with Mbp mRNA in oligodendroglial cells. Expression of DDX5 is highest in progenitor cells and immature oligodendrocytes, where it localizes to heterogeneous populations of cytoplasmic ribonucleoprotein (RNP) complexes associated with Mbp mRNA in the cell body and processes. Manipulation of the amount of DDX5 protein inversely affects the level of MBP. We present evidence that DDX5 is involved in post-transcriptional regulation of MBP protein synthesis, with implications for oligodendroglial development. In addition, knockdown of DDX5 results in an increased abundance of MBP isoforms containing exon 2 in immature oligodendrocytes, most likely by regulating alternative splicing of Mbp. Our findings contribute to the understanding of the complex nature of MBP post-transcriptional control in immature oligodendrocytes where DDX5 appears to affect the abundance of MBP proteins via distinct but converging mechanisms. Summary: The RNA helicase DDX5 is a novel component of heterogeneous complexes containing Mbp mRNA, regulating post-transcriptional expression of MBP levels and isoform ratios in oligodendrocytes.
Dual-Energy Computed Tomography–Based Iodine Quantitation for Response Evaluation of Lung Cancers to Chemoradiotherapy/Radiotherapy: A Comparison With Fluorine-18 Fluorodeoxyglucose Positron Emission Tomography/Computed Tomography–Based Positron Emission Tomography/Computed Tomography Response Evalu

Objective The objective of this study was to investigate the correlation between dual-energy computed tomography (DECT)–based iodine quantitation and fluorine-18 fluorodeoxyglucose (18F-FDG) positron emission tomography (PET)/computed tomography (CT) imaging for response evaluation of lung cancers to treatment. Methods In this prospective study, a total of 32 pairs of DECT and 18F-FDG PET/CT imaging acquired consecutively from 13 patients with primary or metastatic lung cancers receiving either radiotherapy alone or chemoradiotherapy were analyzed. Imaging examinations were performed before, immediately, and no later than 6 months after treatment for response evaluation. Iodine-related parameters including the total iodine uptake (TIU) and vital volume (VIV) from DECT and metabolic metrics such as the standardized uptake value normalized to lean body mass (SULpeak), metabolic tumor volume (MTV), and the total lesion glycolysis (TLG) from 18F-FDG-PET/CT were generated and measured by semiautomatic approaches. Dual-energy CT and PET/CT metrics were calculated and followed up with comparison with response evaluation criteria in solid tumors (RECIST). Results Analysis of pretreatment imaging data revealed a strong correlation between DECT metrics (RECIST, TIU, and VIV) and 18F-FDG PET/CT metrics (MTV, TLG) with coefficients of R ranging from 0.86 to 0.90 (P < 0.01). With the delivery of treatment, all measured DECT and PET/CT metrics significantly decreased whereas the descending amplitude in RECIST was significantly smaller than that of the remaining parameters (P < 0.05). During follow-up examinations, both metrics followed a similar changing pattern. Overall, strong consistency was found between RECIST, TIU, VIV and SULpeak, MTV, TLG (R covers 0.78–0.96, P < 0.05). Conclusions Semiautomatic iodine-related quantitation in DECT correlated well with metabolism-based measurements in 18F-FDG PET/CT, suggesting that DECT-based iodine quantitation might be a feasible substitute for assessment of lung cancer response to chemoradiotherapy/radiotherapy with comparison with 18F-FDG PET/CT.
Nanotechnology for Biomedical Imaging and Diagnostics: From Nanoparticle Design to Clinical Applications

BioMEMS and Biomedical NanotechnologyHandbook of Materials for NanomedicineCarbon Nanomaterials for Biomedical ApplicationsComputational Approaches in Biomedical NanoEngineeringNanomaterials and Their Biomedical ApplicationsMicroand Nanotechnology in Vaccine DevelopmentNanomaterials in Diagnostic Tools and DevicesCurrent Advances in the Medical Application of NanotechnologyNanotechnology in Modern Medical Imaging and InterventionsNanoparticles in Analytical and Medical DevicesNanotechnology for Biomedical Imaging and DiagnosticsNanoparticles in Biomedical ImagingNanoparticles for Biomedical ApplicationsMedical Nanotechnology and NanomedicineHandbook of Clinical NanomedicineEmerging Nanotechnologies for Diagnostics, Drug Delivery and Medical DevicesNanomedicine for Deep-Tissue High-Resolution Bio-Imaging and Non-Invasive TherapyViruses and NanotechnologyCancer NanotechnologyNanoimagingBiomedical Applications of NanotechnologyMedical Imaging: Concepts, Methodologies, Tools, and ApplicationsNanofabrication Towards Biomedical ApplicationsNanotechnology Characterization Tools for Biosensing and Medical DiagnosisMedical Nanotechnology and NanomedicineNanoparticles for Biomedical Imaging, Therapy and Quantitativve [sic] DiagnosticsNear-infrared NanomaterialsNanobiomaterials in Medical ImagingNanotechnology and Nanomaterials in the Treatment of Life-threatening DiseasesA Novel Lipid-based Nanotechnology Platform For Biomedical Imaging And Breast Cancer ChemotherapyDesign and Applications of Nanoparticles in Biomedical ImagingImaging in Stem Cell Transplant and Cell-based TherapyBiomedical Applications of NanoparticlesSoft Nanoparticles for Biomedical ApplicationsNanomedicineWorld Scientific Encyclopedia Of Nanomedicine And Bioengineering I, The: Nanotechnology For Translational Medicine: Tissue Engineering, Biological Sensing, Medical Imaging, And Therapeutics (A 4-volume Set)Nanotechnology in Modern Medical Imaging and InterventionsApplications of Nanoscience in PhotomedicineTargeted Cancer ImagingNanobiomaterials
Pushing the number of qubits below the “minimum”: Realizing compact boolean components for quantum logic

Research on quantum computers has gained attention since they are able to solve certain tasks significantly faster than classical machines (in some cases, exponential speed-ups are possible). Since quantum computations typically contain large Boolean components, design automation techniques are required to realize the respective Boolean functions in quantum logic. They usually introduce a significant amount of additional qubits — a highly limited resource. In this work, we propose an alternative method for the realization of Boolean components for quantum logic. In contrast to the current state-of-the-art, we dedicatedly address the main reasons causing the additionally required qubits (namely the number of the most frequently occurring output pattern as well as the number of primary outputs of the function to be realized) and propose to manipulate the function so that both issues are addressed. The resulting methods allow to push the number of required qubits below what is currently considered the minimum.
Towards Semantic Approaches for General-Purpose End-User Development

Despite the demand for increasing automation within specified tasks by a large spectrum of different users, software development is still a complex task mainly oriented to professional programmers. Often, the exploration and understanding of large code bases is also a difficult task for experienced developers. Recently, semantic parsers and advances in research areas primarily investigated within the field of natural language human-robot interaction, have shown to be potentially useful for end-user development supported by natural language communication. Hence, this paper provides a structured review and categorization of approaches to ease software development, both for professional software programmers and for end-users with no prior programming skills. We then focus on semantic developments based on natural language understanding and on a comparison between the outlined approaches.
Turbulent flow reduces oxygen consumption in the labriform swimming shiner perch, Cymatogaster aggregata

ABSTRACT Fish swimming energetics are often measured in laboratory environments which attempt to minimize turbulence, though turbulent flows are common in the natural environment. To test whether the swimming energetics and kinematics of shiner perch, Cymatogaster aggregata (a labriform swimmer), were affected by turbulence, two flow conditions were constructed in a swim-tunnel respirometer. A low-turbulence flow was created using a common swim-tunnel respirometry setup with a flow straightener and fine-mesh grid to minimize velocity fluctuations. A high-turbulence flow condition was created by allowing large velocity fluctuations to persist without a flow straightener or fine grid. The two conditions were tested with particle image velocimetry to confirm significantly different turbulence properties throughout a range of mean flow speeds. Oxygen consumption rate of the swimming fish increased with swimming speed and pectoral fin beat frequency in both flow conditions. Higher turbulence also caused a greater positional variability in swimming individuals (versus low-turbulence flow) at medium and high speeds. Surprisingly, fish used less oxygen in high-turbulence compared with low-turbulence flow at medium and high swimming speeds. Simultaneous measurements of swimming kinematics indicated that these reductions in oxygen consumption could not be explained by specific known flow-adaptive behaviours such as Kármán gaiting or entraining. Therefore, fish in high-turbulence flow may take advantage of the high variability in turbulent energy through time. These results suggest that swimming behaviour and energetics measured in the lab in straightened flow, typical of standard swimming respirometers, might differ from that of more turbulent, semi-natural flow conditions. Summary: Fish show significantly different patterns of positioning, kinematics and oxygen consumption in a typical laboratory flume versus a more turbulent, semi-natural flow, which may have implications for behaviour and energetics measured in the lab.