Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
A Tight Lower Bound on Distributed Random Walk Computation

We consider the problem of performing a random walk in a distributed network. Given bandwidth constraints, the goal of the problem is to minimize the number of rounds required to obtain a random walk sample. Das Sarma et al. [PODC'10] show that a random walk of length $\ell$ on a network of diameter $D$ can be performed in $\tilde O(\sqrt{\ell D}+D)$ time. A major question left open is whether there exists a faster algorithm, especially whether the multiplication of $\sqrt{\ell}$ and $\sqrt{D}$ is necessary. In this paper, we show a tight unconditional lower bound on the time complexity of distributed random walk computation. Specifically, we show that for any $n$, $D$, and $D\leq \ell \leq (n/(D^3\log n))^{1/4}$, performing a random walk of length $\Theta(\ell)$ on an $n$-node network of diameter $D$ requires $\Omega(\sqrt{\ell D}+D)$ time. This bound is {\em unconditional}, i.e., it holds for any (possibly randomized) algorithm. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first lower bound that the diameter plays a role of multiplicative factor. Our bound shows that the algorithm of Das Sarma et al. is time optimal. Our proof technique introduces a new connection between {\em bounded-round} communication complexity and distributed algorithm lower bounds with $D$ as a trade-off parameter, strengthening the previous study by Das Sarma et al. [STOC'11]. In particular, we make use of the bounded-round communication complexity of the pointer chasing problem. Our technique can be of independent interest and may be useful in showing non-trivial lower bounds on the complexity of other fundamental distributed computing problems.
Multi-layer beamforming lens antenna array with a new line design for millimeter-wave system-in-package applications

Two types of Rotman lenses have been designed to show the feasibility of multi-layer Rotman lenses for millimetre-wave system-in-package applications. Firstly, a two-layer Rotman lens-fed antenna array is designed to reduce the total size of the beamforming antenna array. A new design of constrained lines is proposed to reduce the delay lines. In addition to the size reduction, the proposed two-layer Rotman lens can improve the performances such as efficiency and beam pattern. Then, the two-layer design has been expanded to a Rotman lens with an 8-layer PCB substrate. The performance of the lens was verified from the simulated and measured results. The insertion loss and the radiation patterns were obtained from calculation and measurement. These results indicate that the proposed design would be useful for implementing beamforming system in packaging technologies such as SiP.
Leveraging abstract interpretation for efficient dynamic symbolic execution

Dynamic Symbolic Execution (DSE) is a technique to automatically generate test inputs by executing a program with concrete and symbolic values simultaneously. A key challenge in DSE is scalability; executing all feasible program paths is not possible, owing to the potentially exponential or infinite number of paths. Loops are a main source of path explosion, in particular where the number of iterations depends on a program's input. Problems arise because DSE maintains symbolic values that capture only the dependencies on symbolic inputs. This ignores control dependencies, including loop dependencies that depend indirectly on the inputs. We propose a method to increase the coverage achieved by DSE in the presence of input-data dependent loops and loop dependent branches. We combine DSE with abstract interpretation to find indirect control dependencies, including loop and branch indirect dependencies. Preliminary results show that this results in better coverage, within considerably less time compared to standard DSE.
Macromodeling of Multiport Systems Using a Fast Implementation of the Vector Fitting Method

Broadband macromodeling of large multiport systems by vector fitting can be time consuming and resource demanding when all elements of the system matrix share a common set of poles. This letter presents a robust approach which removes the sparsity of the block-structured least-squares equations by a direct application of the QR decomposition. A 60-port printed circuit board example illustrates that considerable savings in terms of computation time and memory requirements are obtained.
The Social Phobia Diagnostic Questionnaire: preliminary validation of a new self-report diagnostic measure of social phobia

Background. The development and validation of the Social Phobia Diagnostic Questionnaire (SPDQ), a new self-report diagnostic instrument for social phobia is described in three separate studies. Study 1. The participants were 125 undergraduates seeking help for an anxiety disorder of whom 60 had social phobia. Receiver operating characteristics (ROC) analysis was conducted comparing SPDQ diagnoses and clinician-based Anxiety Disorder Interview Schedule-IV (ADIS-IV) diagnoses of social phobia. Diagnoses made by the SPDQ showed an 85% specificity, an 82% sensitivity and kappa agreement with the ADIS-IV of 0·66. Study 2. The participants were 462 undergraduates who completed the SPDQ and a battery of additional questionnaires. The SPDQ had good internal consistency (α=0·95), good split-half reliability (r=0·90) and strong convergent and discriminant validity. Study 3. The participants were 145 undergraduates who completed the SPDQ at two time points separated by 2 weeks as well as several additional questionnaires. Scores on the SAD, FNE and SISST of SPDQ categorized undergraduates were also compared to scores on these measures from 35 clinical community participants to determine the clinical validity of the SPDQ. The SPDQ had strong 2-week test–retest reliability and good convergent and discriminant validity. Undergraduates diagnosed with social phobia by the SPDQ were not significantly different on the SAD, FNE and SISST from the socially phobic community sample, but both groups had significantly higher scores than undergraduates identified by the SPDQ as not meeting criteria for social phobia, demonstrating clinical validity of the SPDQ. Conclusions. These three studies provide preliminary evidence of the strong psychometric properties of the SPDQ as a measure to identify socially phobic participants.
Assessing Phytoplankton and Bacterioplankton Production During Early Spring in Lake Erken, Sweden

The spring development of both phytoplankton and bacterioplankton was investigated between 18 April and 7 May 1983 in mesotrophic Lake Erken, Sweden. By using the lake as a batch culture, our aim was to estimate, via different methods, the production of phytoplankton and bacterioplankton in the lake and to compare these production estimates with the actual increase in phytoplankton and bacterioplankton biomass. The average water temperature was 3.5�C. Of the phytoplankton biomass, >90% was the diatom Stephanodiscus hantzchii var. pusillus, by the peak of the bloom. The 14C and O2 methods of estimating primary production gave equivalent results (r = 0.999) with a photosynthetic quotient of 1.63. The theoretical photosynthetic quotient predicted from the C/NO3 N assimilation ratio was 1.57. The total integrated incorporation of [14C]bicarbonate into particulate material (>1 μm) was similar to the increase in phytoplankton carbon determined from cell counts. Bacterioplankton increased from 0.5 � 109 to 1.52 � 109 cells liter−1 (∼0.5 μg of C liter−1 day−1). Estimates of bacterioplankton production from rates of [3H]thymidine incorporation were ca. 1.2 to 1.7 μg of C liter−1 day−1. Bacterial respiration, measured by a high-precision Winkler technique, was estimated as 4.8 μg of C liter−1 day−1, indicating a bacterial growth yield of 25%. The bulk of the bacterioplankton production was accounted for by algal extracellular products. Gross bacterioplankton production (production plus respiration) was 20% of gross primary production, per square meter of surface area. We found no indication that bacterioplankton production was underestimated by the [3H]thymidine incorporation method.
Impaired financial abilities in mild cognitive impairment

Objectives: To assess financial capacity in patients with mild cognitive impairment (MCI) using a standardized psychometric capacity measure. Methods: Participants were 21 cognitively normal older controls, 21 patients with amnestic MCI, and 22 patients with mild AD. The Financial Capacity Instrument (FCI), a psychometric capacity measure consisting of 18 financial ability tests (tasks), 9 domains (activities), and 2 total scores, was administered to participants along with a battery of neuropsychological tests sensitive to dementia. Group differences were examined on the neuropsychological and financial capacity variables. Results: Relative to controls, the MCI group demonstrated impairments in episodic memory, and also semantic knowledge, executive function, written arithmetic, and spatial attention. MCI participants demonstrated impairments in FCI domains of conceptual knowledge, cash transactions, bank statement management, and bill payment, and in overall financial capacity. The control and MCI groups performed significantly better than patients with AD on most financial capacity and cognitive measures. Conclusions: On direct assessment, patients with amnestic MCI as a group demonstrate impairments across a range of financial abilities. These impairments are mild and may only apply to a subset of patients with MCI. However, existing diagnostic criteria for MCI should be applied flexibly to include mild impairments in higher order activities of daily life such as financial capacity.
IT governance in the context of HE governance in South Africa

Public higher education (HE) in South Africa is governed by the Higher Education Act (Act No. 101 of 1997) (DoE 1997a). This article refers to four different, but related, levels of governance that span the landscape of public HE: firstly, within the global context; secondly, in the context of the country with all of its government ministries; thirdly, the 'system' of education in the context of legislative governance within the public higher education sector in South Africa; and finally, the institutional governance arrangements required in terms of legislation or regulation, which will be reviewed with particular attention being given to information technology (IT) governance. Further, the notion of 'managerialism' will be discussed to provide some structure to the context in which governance is practised. IT governance, as a subset of institutional governance, within and across the public HE system is subsequently addressed. Finally, the current absence of IT governance oversight or reporting to the public HE authority and mechanisms to improve governance in the sector are discussed, which provides an indication of the value that can be created by the implementation of a best practice IT governance framework at institutional level. The layered approach to governance investigated in the article provides insight into the factors that influence the ability to govern subsystems, particularly the IT subsystem, in the public HE sector in South Africa. This approach can be adapted for use in most environments.
Principles and Models for Organizing the IT Function

in finding the best organizational model for structuring and organizing information technology (IT) activities in firms. In our two-year study of how leading-edge firms have designed their IT function to nurture innovation and sustain superior business performance, we uncovered three guiding principles. One, encourage co-evolution of IT and the business. Two, nurture relationship networks. Finally, organize by value-creating process. We also found three organizational models. The Partner Model focuses on making IT an active partner in business innovation. The Platform Model emphasizes providing IT resources for innovation and global reach. And the Scalable Model seeks flexibility by leveraging sourcing to tap innovation outside the firm. All three models embrace the three organizing principles, but each model is appropriate for a specific organizational view of the role of the IT function.
The need for cost-effectiveness studies in telemedicine

summary Telemedicine has the potential substantially to improve the delivery of health care. However, cost-effectiveness studies are needed to help define the appropriate scope and application of telemedicine in different settings. Reports on the evaluation of telemedicine are dominated by technical and feasibility studies. Such studies may be very helpful for initial decision making. However, any cost information at this level tends to be very preliminary and often concerned with making a case to proceed further. Decision makers will wish for further information as the telemedicine application is introduced, to consider its effectiveness – its performance under routine conditions. Without information on the costs and effectiveness of telemedicine services, decision makers run the risk of supporting telemedicine systems that are not responsive to health-care needs or which do not provide cost-effective services. The most immediate needs seem to be improvements in the conduct and reporting of studies, and additional information on the performance of telemedicine in routine practice. Investigators need to provide transparent accounts of their studies, describing in detail the approaches taken, sources of data and assumptions made, and indicating the reliability of their results. Decisions may have to be made on the basis of limited studies, but sufficient detail must be made available to decision makers.
Accurate partition of individuals into full-sib families from genetic data without parental information.

Two Markov chain Monte Carlo algorithms are proposed that allow the partitioning of individuals into full-sib groups using single-locus genetic marker data when no parental information is available. These algorithms present a method of moving through the sibship configuration space and locating the configuration that maximizes an overall score on the basis of pairwise likelihood ratios of being full-sib or unrelated or maximizes the full joint likelihood of the proposed family structure. Using these methods, up to 757 out of 759 Atlantic salmon were correctly classified into 12 full-sib families of unequal size using four microsatellite markers. Large-scale simulations were performed to assess the sensitivity of the procedures to the number of loci and number of alleles per locus, the allelic distribution type, the distribution of families, and the independent knowledge of population allelic frequencies. The number of loci and the number of alleles per locus had the most impact on accuracy. Very good accuracy can be obtained with as few as four loci when they have at least eight alleles. Accuracy decreases when using allelic frequencies estimated in small target samples with skewed family distributions with the pairwise likelihood approach. We present an iterative approach that partly corrects that problem. The full likelihood approach is less sensitive to the precision of allelic frequencies estimates but did not perform as well with the large data set or when little information was available (e.g., four loci with four alleles).
Unitary Polynomial Propagator Solving Maxwell’s Equations Allowing Arbitrarily Large Time Steps

A novel fully explicit vectorial time-domain algorithm for the analysis of photonic devices capable of solving Maxwell’s equations with arbitrarily large time steps is presented. Furthermore, the time-domain propagation algorithm ensures energy conservation and stability. For this purpose, a unitary time-domain propagation scheme is defined by a suitable polynomial expansion of the propagator.
High-level methodologies for grammar engineering, introduction to the special issue

Grammar Engineering is the task of designing and implementing linguistically motivated electronic descriptions of natural language (so-called grammars). These grammars are expressed within well-defined theoretical frameworks, and offer a fine-grained description of natural language. While grammars were first used to describe syntax, that is to say, the relations between constituents in a sentence, they often go beyond syntax and include semantic information. Grammar engineering provides precise descriptions which can be used for natural language understanding and generation, making these valuable resources for various natural language applications, including textual entailment, dialogue systems, or machine translation. The first attempts at designing large-scale resource grammars were costly because of the complexity of the task (Erbach et al. 1990) and of the number of persons that were needed (see e.g. Doran et al. 1997). Advances in the field have led to the development of environments for semi-automatic grammar engineering, borrowing ideas from compilation (grammar engineering is compared with software development) and machine learning. This special issue reports on new trends in the field, where grammar engineering benefits from elaborate high-level methodologies and techniques, dealing with various issues (both theoretical and practical).
Innate Immune Response to Adenoviral Vectors Is Mediated by both Toll-Like Receptor-Dependent and -Independent Pathways

ABSTRACT Recombinant adenoviral vectors have been widely used for gene therapy applications and as vaccine vehicles for treating infectious diseases such as human immunodeficiency virus disease. The innate immune response to adenoviruses represents the most significant hurdle in clinical application of adenoviral vectors for gene therapy, but it is an attractive feature for vaccine development. How adenovirus activates innate immunity remains largely unknown. Here we showed that adenovirus elicited innate immune response through the induction of high levels of type I interferons (IFNs) by both plasmacytoid dendritic cells (pDCs) and non-pDCs such as conventional DCs and macrophages. The innate immune recognition of adenovirus by pDCs was mediated by Toll-like receptor 9 (TLR9) and was dependent on MyD88, whereas that by non-pDCs was TLR independent through cytosolic sensing of adenoviral DNA. Furthermore, type I IFNs were pivotal in innate and adaptive immune responses to adenovirus in vivo, and type I IFN blockade diminished immune responses, resulting in more stable transgene expression and reduction of inflammation. These findings indicate that adenovirus activates innate immunity by its DNA through TLR-dependent and -independent pathways in a cell type-specific fashion, and they highlight a critical role for type I IFNs in innate and adaptive immune responses to adenoviral vectors. Our results that suggest strategies to interfere with type I IFN pathway may improve the outcome of adenovirus-mediated gene therapy, whereas approaches to activate the type I IFN pathway may enhance vaccine potency.
An Evaluation of Perceived Risks and Benefits that Influence the Adoption of a Technological Innovation . The Case of IIOs in SMEs Greek Firms

InterOrganizational Systems are these information systems that link enterprises (customers and suppliers) and facilitate corporate buying. Last decades the Internet has grown rapidly offering new opportunities for cost reduction, service improvements and increased profits. Furthermore it gives significant competitive advantage changing the balance of power between suppliers and customers. Especially the use of internet as a basic technology for conducting business to business transactions has dramatically changed the nature and capabilities of InterOrganizational Systems. In this paper, the main objective is to explore the influence of perceived benefits and risks for the adoption of internet based InterOrganizational Systems. Considering IOS as a technological innovation it is investigated whether the usage extent of these systems is positively associated with the perceived benefits while simultaneously is negatively associated with perceived risks. Data for the study were gathered through a survey of Greek firms, using a questionnaire. The results support the hypotheses that the extent of use of Internet – based IOS is positively influenced by the perceived benefits and negatively influenced by the perceived risks. The results of the study have significant implications for both management and academic communities.
The Extent of Voluntary Disclosure in an Emerging Capital Market: The Case of Jordan

This study evaluates the extent of voluntary disclosure in the annual reports of non-financial companies listed at the Amman Stock Exchange (ASE) for the year 2006. The study adopts the disclosure index suggested by Haddad et al. (2009) and evaluates the voluntary disclosure for the Jordanian companies for the year 2006 at three levels: the first provides a description and analysis of the overall voluntary disclosure; the second covers the extent to which each individual item of information is disclosed; the third covers the type of information (e.g. financial information, historical information, management discussion). The results of the study reveal that there was a considerable variation in the disclosure of the index items and also among the listed companies. On average, a company disclosed about 28.95% of the items applicable to it, and only six out of the 53 companies received disclosure scores greater than 50%. It was also found that 50 items out of 62 items included in the index had a disclosure below 50%, and 10 items had disclosure of less than 10%. With respect to the evaluation of different types of information, the analyses indicated that the category of the background information, the category of financial ratios and the category of management discussions were better disclosed in corporate annual reports than the other types of information.
Definitions for sepsis and organ failure and guidelines for the use of innovative therapies in sepsis. The ACCP/SCCM Consensus Conference Committee. American College of Chest Physicians/Society of Critical Care Medicine. 1992.

An American College ofChest Physicians/Society ofCritical Care Medicine Consensus Conference was held in Northbrook in August 1991 with the goal of agreeing on a set of de6nitions that could be applied to patients with sepsis and its sequelae. New de6nitions were offered for some terms, while others were discarded. Broad de6nitions of sepsis and the systemic inflammatory response syndrome were proposed, along with detailed physiologic parameters by which a patient may be categorized. De6nitions for severe sepsis, septic shock, hypotension, and multiple organ dysfunction syndrome were also offered. The use of severity