Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Association Between ESR1 PvuII, XbaI, and P325P Polymorphisms and Breast Cancer Susceptibility: A Meta-Analysis

Background Breast cancer is one of the leading causes of cancer-related deaths for women. Numerous studies have shown that single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) on the ESR1 gene are associated to this disease. However, data and conclusions are inconsistent and controversial. Material/Methods To investigate the association between PvuII (rs2234693), XbaI (rs9340799) and P325P (rs1801132) polymorphisms of ESR1 gene with the risk of breast cancer under different population categorizations, we searched multiple databases for data collection, and performed the meta-analysis on a total of 25 case-control studies. Three different comparison models – dominant model, recessive model, and homozygote comparison model – were applied to evaluate the association. Results Our results indicated that people with TT+TC or TT genotype were at a greater risk of developing breast cancer than those with CC genotype in the PvuII polymorphism. While for XbaI and P325P polymorphisms, no significance was found using any of the 3 models. Furthermore, the data were also stratified into different subgroups according to the ethnicity (white or Asian) and source of controls (hospital-based or population-based), and separate analyses were conducted to assess the association. The ethnicity subgroup assessment showed that the higher risk of breast cancer for TT genotype of PvuII polymorphism than CC genotype only occurred in Asian people, but not in white populations. For the source-stratified subgroup analysis, significant association suggested that people with TT + TC genotype were at a greater risk of developing breast cancer than those with CC genotype in the hospital-based subgroup. Conclusions Thus, this meta-analysis clarified the inconsistent conclusions from previous studies, conducted analyses for the entire population as well as for different subgroups using diverse population categorization strategies, and has the potential to help provide a personalized risk estimate for breast cancer susceptibility.
Nonlinear time series fault prediction online based on incremental learning LS-SVM

For nonlinear time series fault prediction online, an incremental learning least squares support machine (LSSVM) is presented to replace LS-SVM which is as a kind of regression method with good generalization ability and trained offline in batch way. The incremented learning LS-SVM fully utilizes historical training results and reduces memory and computation time, which guarantee to predict time series online. Two simulations results show that the incremental learning LSSVM has good performance for predicting nonlinear series fault prediction online.
Design and analysis of a leader election algorithm for mobile ad hoc networks

Leader election is a very important problem, not only in wired networks, but in mobile, ad hoc networks as well. Existing solutions to leader election do not handle frequent topology changes and dynamic nature of mobile networks. We present a leader election algorithm that is highly adaptive to arbitrary (possibly concurrent) topological changes and is therefore well-suited for use in mobile ad hoc networks. The algorithm is based on finding an extrema and uses diffusing computations for this purpose. We show, using linear-time temporal logic, that the algorithm is "weakly" self-stabilizing and terminating. We also simulate the algorithm in a mobile ad hoc setting. Through our simulation study, we elaborate on several important issues that can significantly impact performance of such a protocol for mobile ad hoc networks such as choice of signaling, broadcast nature of wireless medium etc. Our simulation study shows that our algorithm is quite effective in that each node has a leader approximately 97-99% of the time in a variety of operating conditions.
Physical Constants and the Gurzadyan-Xue Formula for the Dark Energy

We consider cosmological implications of the formula for the dark energy density derived by Gurzadyan and Xue1,2 which predicts a value fitting the observational one. Cosmological models with varying by time physical constants, namely, speed of light and gravitational constant and/or their combinations, are considered. In one of the models, for example, vacuum energy density induces effective negative curvature, while another one has an unusual asymptotic. This analysis also explicitly rises the issue of the meaning and content of physical units and constants in cosmological context.
Multi-Step Optimal Analog-to-Digital Conversion

An important aspect of analog-to-digital conversion is the impact of quantization errors. This paper outlines how finite horizon constrained optimization methods can be utilized to design converters which minimize a weighted measure of the quantization distortion. We propose a novel converter, which can be implemented as a feedback loop. It embeds Σ∆-conversion in a more general setting and typically provides better performance. We also examine the role played by the associated design parameters in ensuring error convergence.
Distinguishing multiple smart-phone interactions on a multi-touch wall display using tilt correlation

While very large collaborative surfaces are already being widely employed to facilitate concurrent interactions with multiple users, they involve no personalization in the touch interactions. Augmenting them to identify the touch interactions with multiple smart-phones can enable interesting co-located communal applications with context-based personalized interactions and information exchange amongst users' portable devices and the shared wall display. This paper proposes a novel matching technique, called tilt correlation, which employs the built-in tilt sensor to identify smart-phones that make concurrent two-point contacts on a common multi-touch wall display. Experimental investigations suggest that the resultant error rate is relatively low; in addition, we also propose a quantitative measure, called the Bourne Identity Index to allow application designers to determine the reliability of each device identification.
Connected operators based on region-trees

Connected operators are operators that act by merging of elementary regions called flat zones. They cannot create new contours nor modify their position. Therefore, they have very good contour preservation properties. This paper discusses connected operators based on region trees. The filtering approach involves three steps: first, a region tree representation of the input image is constructed. Second, the simplification is obtained by pruning the tree and third, the output image is constructed from the pruned tree. The paper focuses on the trees used in practice and discusses various pruning strategies used in practice.
Self-monitoring, status, and balance of power in romantic relationships

ABSTRACT Self-monitoring theory proposes that people higher in self-monitoring are motivated by gaining status, whereas those lower in self-monitoring are motivated by establishing equal status bonds. These propositions were tested in an experimental study of romantic relationships. Participants completed the Self-Monitoring Scale and were randomly assigned to imagine themselves in one of six relationships which varied in balance of power and partner status. After examining the scenario, participants evaluated the relationship. For people higher versus lower in self-monitoring, status was a stronger predictor of relationship evaluation. Conversely, for people lower versus higher in self-monitoring, power was a stronger predictor of relationship evaluation. Exploratory analyses of acquisitive and protective self-monitoring were examined and implications for unitary versus multidimensional self-monitoring conceptions were discussed.
The complete mitochondrial genome of Xystrocera globosa (Coleoptera: Cerambycidae) and its phylogeny

Abstract The complete mitochondrial genome of Xystrocera globosa is 15,706 bp in length, containing 13 protein-coding genes, 22 transfer RNAs, two ribosomal RNAs and the A + T-rich region. The overall base composition is 72.7% AT and 27.3% GC, and the AT content of the control region is 79.3%. In ML and BI phylogenetic trees, X. globosa was a sister clade to X. grayii. The monophyly of Lamiinae and Prioninae were supported in ML analyses, but nevertheless, the monophyly of Cerambycinae was not recovered.
Constraints on Inner Disk Evolution Timescales: A Disk Census of the η Chamaeleontis Young Cluster

We present new L′-band (3.8 μm) observations of stars in the nearby (~97 pc) young (~6 Myr) compact cluster around η Chamaeleontis, obtained with the European Southern Observatory's Very Large Telescope in Paranal, Chile. Our data, combined with J, H, Ks photometry from the Two Micron All Sky Survey, reveal that only two of the 12 members surveyed harbor L′-band excesses consistent with optically thick inner disks; both are also likely accretors. Intriguingly, two other stars with possible evidence of ongoing accretion, albeit at very low rates, do not show significant infrared excess: this may imply substantial grain growth and/or partial clearing of the inner disk region, as expected in planet formation scenarios. Our findings suggest that η Cha stars are in an epoch when disks are rapidly evolving, perhaps due to processes related to planet building, and provide further constraints on inner disk lifetimes.
Utility-Based Scheduling for UWB Networks Using Discrete Stochastic Optimization

Ultra-Wideband (UWB) communication is a promising technology for high data rate multimedia services in future wireless personal and home entertainment networks. To support heterogeneous multimedia applications with a wide variety of QoS requirements and maintain fairness among various traffic classes, a utility-based optimal scheduling problem for UWB networks is formulated. To fully explore the wide spectrum of UWB, its unique characteristics and features, such as the potential of allowing simultaneous transmissions and precision positioning, are considered for scheduling. The optimal schedul- ing problem of UWB network is significantly different from that in traditional networks. In particular, each link proceeds in a peer-to-peer manner, and the aggregate utilities achieved by con- current transmissions are random in nature. Thus, the optimal scheduling is formalized as a discrete stochastic optimization problem. We propose an exclusive-region based global searching algorithm (ER-GSA) to locate the global optimum efficiently. Extensive simulations demonstrate the effectiveness and efficiency of the ER-GSA.
This Paper Is Included in the Proceedings of the 12th Usenix Symposium on Operating Systems Design and Implementation (osdi '16). Push-button Verification of File Systems via Crash Refinement Push-button Verification of File Systems via Crash Refinement

The file system is an essential operating system component for persisting data on storage devices. Writing bug-free file systems is non-trivial, as they must correctly implement and maintain complex on-disk data structures even in the presence of system crashes and reorderings of disk operations. This paper presents Yggdrasil, a toolkit for writing file systems with pushbutton verification: Yggdrasil requires no manual annotations or proofs about the implementation code, and it produces a counterexample if there is a bug. Yggdrasil achieves this automation through a novel definition of file system correctness called crash refinement, which requires the set of possible disk states produced by an implementation (including states produced by crashes) to be a subset of those allowed by the specification. Crash refinement is amenable to fully automated satisfiability modulo theories (SMT) reasoning, and enables developers to implement file systems in a modular way for verification. With Yggdrasil, we have implemented and verified the Yxv6 journaling file system, the Ycp file copy utility, and the Ylog persistent log. Our experience shows that the ease of proof and counterexample-based debugging support make Yggdrasil practical for building reliable storage applications.
Three dimensional channel aware scheduling in relay-assisted multi-cell LTE-A downlink

This paper presents a three dimensional (3D) radio resource allocation and interference coordination scheme in multicell LTE-A downlink. We formulate the resource allocation and interference coordination problem as proportional fairness based utility maximization problem. Interference has been minimized through time, frequency, and space domain resource allocation. The proposed 3D scheme utilizes two time slots for intercell interference management, geometrical position based frequency resource allocation for intracell interference mitigation, and frequency domain orthogonality across UEs and relays for inter-UE and UE-relays interference management. The relaxed convex optimization problem has been solved through Lagrange multipliers and Karush-Kuhn-Tucker (KKT) conditions. Simulations have been performed according to the 3GPP (Third Generation Partnership Project) standard parameters for relay-enhanced LTE networks. Simulation results show the efficacy of proposed 3D scheme as compared to the already presented 3 slots time domain interference coordination (TD-IC) with round robin (RR-TD-IC) and proportional fairness (PF-TD-IC) schemes. It has been observed that proposed 3D scheme provides 81% increase in average individual throughput at the cost of only 13.8% degradation in fairness as compared to the PF-TD-IC.
BE-SIFT: A More Brief and Efficient SIFT Image Matching Algorithm for Computer Vision

In the area of computer vision, pattern recognition and image processing, image match is a research hotspot with important theoretical significance and practical value. Recently, the image matching algorithm based on SIFT has drown wide attention for its outstanding local feature matching performance. In view of high computation complexity, poor anti-noise ability, and difficulty for practical use of the original SIFT method, a more brief and efficient SIFT image matching algorithm: BE-SIFT is proposed in this paper for computer vision. Through collaborative improvement and optimization on detection of SIFT scale space feature points, allocation of key point principal direction, and calculation of feature descriptors, the proposed method has achieved more brief dimension expression and more efficient local feature match than other existing methods. Experiments based on the Affine Covariant Features dataset provided by Oxford VGG Group demonstrate that BE-SIFT has stronger robustness for image match under the condition of viewpoint changes, rotation + scale changes, blur changes and noise changes. What's more, the computational overhead is sharply reduced and the real-time performance is greatly improved while ensuring the uniqueness of local feature and satisfactory accuracy.
An Enhanced Path Delay Fault Simulator for Combinational Circuits

This paper presents an enhanced path delay fault simulator for combinational circuits. The main objective of this work is to improve the simulation time of path delay fault testing. Our experiments consider K-longest path sets of ISCAS'85 benchmark circuits, and 10M single input change (SIC) test patterns were applied and repeated ten times in order to cover statistical variations. The experimental results show that the modified path selection and simulation algorithm provides good fault coverage and 20% improved simulation time as an average speed-up factor.
Using Faraday Rotation Gradients to probe Magnetic Tower Models

Parsec-scale multi-wavelength VLBA polarization observations can be used to study the magnetic-field structures of Active Galactic Nuclei (AGN) based on Faraday Rotation (FR) gradients. A number of transverse FR gradients have been found, and interpreted as corresponding to helical magnetic fields wrapped around the jets; the gradients reflect the systematic change in the line-of-sight component of a toroidal or helical magnetic field across the jet [1, 5, 16]. Our observations of a sample of BL Lac objects at six wavelengths near 2, 4 and 6 cm have also revealed a previously undetected phenomena: these transverse gradients sometimes change their direction with distance from the core. We have observed this behaviour in at least five sources, which display gradients in their VLBI core region opposite to those in the jet. We suggest that this may be linked to magnetic tower models. In magnetic tower models, the field lines go outward with the jet and return and close in the accretion disk (or vice versa); differential rotation of the accretion disk winds up the inner and outer field lines into two helices (the inner helix “nested” in the outer helix). The total observed FR gradient is a sum of the effect of these two helical fields. It may be that gradients detected relatively far from the core correspond to the outer helix, while gradients detected in the core region correspond to dominance of the inner helix. This provides tentative evidence for the unification of helical magnetic fields and magnetic tower models, which could provide crucial new information for understanding AGN jets. Further VLBI studies with resolution sufficient to reliably detect these gradients in the cm-wavelength core and inner jet will be important for further investigations of this phenomena.
Efficient smart monte carlo based SSTA on graphics processing units with improved resource utilization

To exploit the benefits of throughput-optimized processors such as GPUs, applications need to be redesigned to achieve performance and efficiency. In this work, we present techniques to speed up statistical timing analysis on throughput processors. We draw upon advancements in improving the efficiency of Monte Carlo based statistical static timing analysis (MC SSTA) using techniques to reduce the sample size or smart sampling techniques. An efficient smart sampling technique, Stratification + Hybrid Quasi Monte Carlo (SH-QMC), is implemented on a GPU based on NVIDIA CUDA architecture. We show that although this application is based on MC analysis with straightforward parallelism available, achieving performance and efficiency on the GPU requires exposing more parallelism and finding locality in computations. This is in contrast with random sampling based algorithms which are inefficient in terms of sample size but can keep resources utilized on a GPU. We show that SH-QMC implemented on a Multi GPU is twice as fast as a single STA on a CPU for benchmark circuits considered. In terms of an efficiency metric, which measures the ability to convert a reduction in sample size to a corresponding reduction in runtime w.r. t a random sampling approach, we achieve 73.9% efficiency with the proposed approaches compared to 4.3% for an implementation involving performing computations on smart samples in parallel. Another contribution of the paper is a critical graph analysis technique to improve the efficiency of Monte Carlo based SSTA, leading to 2-9X further speedup.
Incremental Parsing with Monotonic Adjoining Operation

This paper describes an incremental parser based on an adjoining operation. By using the operation, we can avoid the problem of infinite local ambiguity in incremental parsing. This paper further proposes a restricted version of the adjoining operation, which preserves lexical dependencies of partial parse trees. Our experimental results showed that the restriction enhances the accuracy of the incremental parsing.
Mixed gender agreement in the case of Russian hybrid nouns

Abstract This work presents a study of mixed gender agreement in the case of hybrid nouns in Russian. Examination of a number of approaches which seek to account for the category “gender” shows that these approaches are problematic when trying to explain mixed gender agreement in hybrid nouns. It is proposed here that the multiple-layer DP-hypothesis by Zamparelli (1995 and subsequent work) is best suited to analyze the Russian data. However, this rests on the crucial assumption that Russian demonstratives can occupy multiple positions within the DP, something that must still be verified by future work.
Structural analysis of shooting performance in elite basketball players during FIBA EuroBasket 2015

ABSTRACT The aim of this study was to conduct an analysis of the shooting structure in terms of the execution manner of the shots delivered during FIBA EuroBasket 2015 according to the footwork (one- or two-count stop, etc.), handwork (one-hand overhead, layup, floater, etc.). Additionally, the second purpose of the study was the performance comparison of the eight best teams (Places 1–8) and the eight worst teams (Places 17–24) taking part in the event. The analysis covered 9024 shots in all matches (n = 110) played by the teams from places 1–8 (n = 70) and the teams that were eliminated first (n = 40). The study used categorised observation. The results were analysed with the ANOVA (post hoc Tukey’s test) and a multiple ridge regression. The regression analysis and reference values for the manner of performing a shot in relation to the points scored during EuroBasket 2015 revealed that the number of successful two-point shots (F = 35.51, p = 0.001) was the most important predictor of the points scored by the eight best teams. On the other hand, the most important predictor for the points scored by the weakest group of teams was the number of successful three-point shots (F = 21.82, p = 0.001).
Environmental DNA and metabarcoding for the study of amphibians and reptiles: species distribution, the microbiome, and much more

In the last decade, eDNA and metabarcoding have opened new avenues to biodiversity studies; amphibians and reptiles are animals for which these new approaches have allowed great leaps forward. Here we review different approaches through which eDNA can be used to study amphibians, reptiles and many more organisms. eDNA is often used to evaluate the presence of target species in freshwaters; it has been particularly useful to detect invasive alien amphibians and secretive or rare species, but the metabarcoding approach is increasingly used as a cost-effective approach to assess entire communities. There is growing evidence that eDNA can be also useful to study terrestrial organisms, to evaluate the relative abundance of species, and to detect reptiles. Metabarcoding has also revolutionized studies on the microbiome associated to skin and gut, clarifying the complex relationships between pathogens, microbial diversity and environmental variation. We also identify additional aspects that have received limited attention so far, but can greatly benefit from innovative applications of eDNA, such as the study of past biodiversity, diet analysis and the reconstruction of trophic interactions. Despite impressive potential, eDNA and metabarcoding also bear substantial technical and analytical complexity; we identify laboratory and analytical strategies that can improve the robustness of results. Collaboration among field biologists, ecologist, molecular biologists, and bioinformaticians is allowing fast technical and conceptual advances; multidisciplinary studies involving eDNA analyses will greatly improve our understanding of the complex relationships between organisms, and our effectiveness in assessing and preventing the impact of human activities.