Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Fault Tolerant Control of Multi-Hop Control Networks

A multi-hop control network (MCN) consists of a plant where the communication between sensors, actuators, and computational units is supported by a (wireless) multi-hop communication network, and data flow is performed using scheduling and routing of sensing and actuation data. We address the control design problem on a MCN where the plant is a SISO LTI system and links are subject to permanent failures. We first characterize controllability and observability of a MCN: we provide necessary and sufficient conditions on the plant dynamics and on the communication scheduling, and we provide a design methodology to satisfy such conditions for any failure configuration. Then we address the problem of detecting the failure of links of the radio connectivity graph: we provide necessary and sufficient conditions on the plant dynamics and on the communication protocol, and we provide a design methodology to satisfy the above conditions.
Will Graph Data Management Techniques Contribute to the Successful Large-Scale Deployment of Semantic Web Technologies?

The Semantic Web vision ambitions to create a large-scale, interconnected Web of machine-processable data in addition to the current Web of documents currently available online. Its most recent and visible incarnation - the Linked Data movement1 - is based on three main principles: using dereferenceable Web identifiers (HTTP URIs) to uniquely identify the various pieces of data online; providing semi-structured information - most often using standard formats like RDF [1] and OWL [2] - about the data when dereferencing the corresponding URIs; providing links to other, semantically related pieces of data.
Cloning, sequence, and photoregulation of al-1, a carotenoid biosynthetic gene of Neurospora crassa

Carotenoid biosynthesis is regulated by blue light during growth of Neurospora crassa mycelia. We have cloned the al-1 gene of N. crassa encoding the carotenoid-biosynthetic enzyme phytoene dehydrogenase and present an analysis of its structure and regulation. The gene encodes a 595-residue polypeptide that shows homology to two procaryotic carotenoid dehydrogenases. RNA measurements showed that the level of al-1 mRNA increased over 70-fold in photoinduced mycelia. Transcription run-on studies indicated that the al-1 gene was regulated at the level of initiation of transcription in response to photoinduction. The photoinduced increase of al-1 mRNA levels was not observed in two Neurospora mutants defective in all physiological photoresponses. Analysis of cosmid containing al-1 and of a translocation strain with a breakpoint within al-1 indicated that al-1 transcription proceeds towards the centromere of linkage group I of N. crassa.
Using text analysis to identify functionally coherent gene groups.

The analysis of large-scale genomic information (such as sequence data or expression patterns) frequently involves grouping genes on the basis of common experimental features. Often, as with gene expression clustering, there are too many groups to easily identify the functionally relevant ones. One valuable source of information about gene function is the published literature. We present a method, neighbor divergence, for assessing whether the genes within a group share a common biological function based on their associated scientific literature. The method uses statistical natural language processing techniques to interpret biological text. It requires only a corpus of documents relevant to the genes being studied (e.g., all genes in an organism) and an index connecting the documents to appropriate genes. Given a group of genes, neighbor divergence assigns a numerical score indicating how "functionally coherent" the gene group is from the perspective of the published literature. We evaluate our method by testing its ability to distinguish 19 known functional gene groups from 1900 randomly assembled groups. Neighbor divergence achieves 79% sensitivity at 100% specificity, comparing favorably to other tested methods. We also apply neighbor divergence to previously published gene expression clusters to assess its ability to recognize gene groups that had been manually identified as representative of a common function.
A Survey of Point-Source Specular Reflections in Noisy Iris Images

This paper presents an examination of a selection of images taken from the UBIRIS.v2 dataset to explore the characteristics of point-source reflections present in the images. These reflections were some of the most commonly found sources of noise in iris images acquired under visual wavelength light and clearly impact the accuracy of iris recognition systems. The spatial and intensity distributions of these reflections is studied and results are presented that can be used to model their behaviour. This information can be helpful for developing more accurate iris synthesis techniques and for the study of iris image focus assessment as well as developing better matching algorithms for iris recognition.
Portal Hypertensive Duodenopathy: Clinical, Endoscopic, and Histopathologic Profiles

OBJECTIVE:Description of the clinical, endoscopic, and histopathologic detailed profiles of duodenal affection in portal hypertensive patients.METHODS:A total of 105 patients with chronic liver disease and portal hypertension (PH) were included, upper endoscopy was performed, and two duodenal biopsies were obtained from the bulb and distal to the ampulla, for histopathologic examination. Twenty dyspeptic patients with normal upper endoscopy were included as controls.RESULTS:Of the portal hypertensive patients, 54 (51.4%) had endoscopic duodenopathy (ED) lesions including erythema, erosions, ulcers, telangiectasia, exaggerated villous pattern, duodenal varices, and mixed lesions. ED was significantly higher in patients having severe than mild gastropathy (56.8% vs 23.5%, P < 0.05) with no relation to size of esophageal varices or variceal bleeding. ED was a source of overt bleeding in 6.7% and occult bleeding in 2.9% of patients. Histopathologically, vascular changes included either capillary congestion (in more than half of biopsies) or capillary angiogenesis (in more than one-quarter of biopsies). Nonvascular changes included increased apoptosis (in about 16% of biopsies), fibrous proliferation (in about 4% of biopsies), and villous changes (in 11.4% of distal biopsies). All changes were not statistically different between patients with and without ED. In dyspeptic patients, only minimal histopathologic changes were noted.CONCLUSIONS:ED is significantly higher in patients with severe gastropathy and causes gastrointestinal bleeding in 9.5% of patients. Capillary angiogenesis is an important vascular mechanism for adaptation to PH. The overall existence of histopathologic duodenopathy is much higher than that of ED and occurs with a similar prevalence in patients with and without ED.
The Logic of Counting Query Answers: A Study via Existential Positive Queries

We consider the computational complexity of counting the number of answers to a logical formula on a finite structure. In the setting of parameterized complexity, we present a trichotomy theorem on classes of existential positive queries. We then proceed to study an extension of first-order logic in which algorithms for the counting problem at hand can be naturally and conveniently expressed.
Context-free and context-sensitive dynamics in recurrent neural networks

Continuous-valued recurrent neural networks can learn mechanisms for processing context-free languages. The dynamics of such networks is usually based on damped oscillation around fixed points in state space and requires that the dynamical components are arranged in certain ways. It is shown that qualitatively similar dynamics with similar constraints hold for anbncn , a context-sensitive language. The additional difficulty with anbncn , compared with the context-free language anbn , consists of 'counting up' and 'counting down' letters simultaneously. The network solution is to oscillate in two principal dimensions, one for counting up and one for counting down. This study focuses on the dynamics employed by the sequential cascaded network, in contrast to the simple recurrent network, and the use of backpropagation through time. Found solutions generalize well beyond training data, however, learning is not reliable. The contribution of this study lies in demonstrating how the dynamics in recurrent neural networks that process context-free languages can also be employed in processing some context-sensitive languages (traditionally thought of as requiring additional computation resources). This continuity of mechanism between language classes contributes to our understanding of neural networks in modelling language learning and processing.
SLOT: A Fast and Accurate Technique to Estimate Available Bandwidth in Wireless IEEE 802.11

Accuracy of available estimated bandwidth and convergence delay algorithm are researchers’ challenges in wireless network measurements. Currently a variety of tools are developed to estimate the end-to-end network available bandwidth such as TOPP (Train Of Packet Pair), SLoPS (Self Loading Periodic Stream), Spurce and Variable Packet Size etc. These tools are important to improve the QoS (Quality of Service) of demanding applications. However the performances of the previous tools are very different in term of probing time and estimation accuracy. In this paper we present a fast and accurate bandwidth estimation technique named SLOT. By using NS2 the performance of SLOT technique will be evaluated and the obtain results are analysed by MATLAB software and compared with the TOPP and the SLoPS ones. We show that SLOT has shorter probing time than the TOPP one, and it provides more accurate available estimated bandwidth than the SLoPS one.
A content-based protection model for Chinese characters information

In this paper, we consider the problem of the content-based Chinese information protections on the web. A new Chinese character security computing model is proposed in this study. The model consists of Chinese character dynamic description (CCDD), CCDD information protection method, and a CCDD information hidden method for Chinese character and Chinese electronic document which is accomplished by defining the stroke-element of Chinese character. The CCDD component is based on Chinese dynamic description technology, which provides a mapping table to extract the stroke-element from the strokes and realize embedding hidden information into Chinese character glyphs. A Chinese character dynamic description library (CCDDL) for the glyphs of Chinese characters is constructed in this model. A novel approach for storing the glyphs of Chinese characters on the web and outputting the characteristic glyphs on the client is fully implemented. Our experiments revealed that the proposed model is effective in Chinese information security and protection.
Anti-Epileptic Effect of Ganoderma Lucidum Polysaccharides by Inhibition of Intracellular Calcium Accumulation and Stimulation of Expression of CaMKII α in Epileptic Hippocampal Neurons

Purpose To investigate the mechanism of the anti-epileptic effect of Ganoderma lucidum polysaccharides (GLP), the changes of intracellular calcium and CaMK II α expression in a model of epileptic neurons were investigated. Method Primary hippocampal neurons were divided into: 1) Control group, neurons were cultured with Neurobasal medium, for 3 hours; 2) Model group I: neurons were incubated with Mg2+ free medium for 3 hours; 3) Model group II: neurons were incubated with Mg2+ free medium for 3 hours then cultured with the normal medium for a further 3 hours; 4) GLP group I: neurons were incubated with Mg2+ free medium containing GLP (0.375 mg/ml) for 3 hours; 5) GLP group II: neurons were incubated with Mg2+ free medium for 3 hours then cultured with a normal culture medium containing GLP for a further 3 hours. The CaMK II α protein expression was assessed by Western-blot. Ca2+ turnover in neurons was assessed using Fluo-3/AM which was added into the replacement medium and Ca2+ turnover was observed under a laser scanning confocal microscope. Results The CaMK II α expression in the model groups was less than in the control groups, however, in the GLP groups, it was higher than that observed in the model group. Ca2 + fluorescence intensity in GLP group I was significantly lower than that in model group I after 30 seconds, while in GLP group II, it was reduced significantly compared to model group II after 5 minutes. Conclusion GLP may inhibit calcium overload and promote CaMK II α expression to protect epileptic neurons.
Differential expression of muscarinic acetylcholine receptors across excitatory and inhibitory cells in visual cortical areas V1 and V2 of the macaque monkey

Cholinergic neuromodulation, a candidate mechanism for aspects of attention, is complex and is not well understood. Because structure constrains function, quantitative anatomy is an invaluable tool for reducing such a challenging problem. Our goal was to determine the extent to which m1 and m2 muscarinic acetylcholine receptors (mAChRs) are expressed by inhibitory vs. excitatory neurons in the early visual cortex. To this end, V1 and V2 of macaque monkeys were immunofluorescently labelled for γ‐aminobutyric acid (GABA) and either m1 or m2 mAChRs. Among the GABA‐immunoreactive (ir) neurons, 61% in V1 and 63% in V2 were m1 AChR‐ir, whereas 28% in V1 and 43% in V2 were m2 AChR‐ir. In V1, both mAChRs were expressed by fewer than 10% of excitatory neurons. However, in V2, the population of mAChR‐ir excitatory neurons was at least double that observed in V1. We also examined m1 and m2 AChR immunoreactivity in layers 2 and 3 of area V1 under the electron microscope and found evidence that GABAergic neurons localize mAChRs to the soma, whereas glutamatergic neurons expressed mAChRs more strongly in dendrites. Axon and terminal labelling was generally weak. These data represent the first quantitative anatomical study of m1 and m2 AChR expression in the cortex of any species. In addition, the increased expression in excitatory neurons across the V1/V2 border may provide a neural basis for the observation that attentional effects gain strength up through the visual pathway from area V1 through V2 to V4 and beyond. J. Comp. Neurol. 499:49–63, 2006. © 2006 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
Optimal domain-wall fermions

I show that the conventional formulations of lattice domain-wall fermion with any finite Ns (in the fifth dimension) do not preserve the chiral symmetry optimally and propose a new action which preserves the chiral symmetry optimally for any finite Ns. PACS numbers: 11.15. Ha, 11.30. Rd, 12.38. Gc
Personality and widowhood increase the risk for incident depression in the two years following the first acute coronary syndrome

Abstract Objectives: Incident depression, occurring after an acute coronary syndrome (ACS) in never depressed patients, exerts a negative effect on the cardiac prognosis. Nonetheless only a few studies have evaluated the risk factor for incident depression and, particularly, no study have investigated the role of personality disorders. Therefore, the aim of this study is to verify if personality disorders represent a risk for incident depression in patients at their first ACS. Method: The study sample was selected among never depressed patients who were consecutively admitted to the Coronary Intensive Care Unit, from January 2009 to March 2012, for the first ACS. The study sample included 262 patients. The presence of depressive disorder was assessed with the Primary Care Evaluation of Mental Disorders (DSM-IV criteria), whereas its severity was evaluated with the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale. Evaluations were collected at baseline and at 1, 2, 4, 6, 9, 12 and 24 months of follow-up. Moreover, at baseline personality disorders were investigated with the Structured Clinical Interview for DSM-IV Axis II disorders. Results: Out of 262 subjects, a depressive disorder was diagnosed in 56 patients (21%). At baseline risk factors for incident depression were being widowed, having a distress reaction and narcissistic personality traits. Conclusion: Clinicians should keep in mind these characteristics when facing patients at their first ACS, given the detrimental effect of depression on cardiac prognosis. A psychological support should prevent the onset of incident depression in these patients.
Tracking Using Motion Estimation With Physically Motivated Inter-Region Constraints

We propose a method for tracking structures (e.g., ventricles and myocardium) in cardiac images (e.g., magnetic resonance) by propagating forward in time a previous estimate of the structures using a new physically motivated motion estimation scheme. Our method estimates motion by regularizing only within structures so that differing motions among different structures are not mixed. It simultaneously satisfies the physical constraints at the interface between a fluid and a medium that the normal component of the fluid's motion must match the normal component of the medium's motion and the No-Slip condition, which states that the tangential velocity approaches zero near the interface. We show that these conditions lead to partial differential equations with Robin boundary conditions at the interface, which couple the motion between structures. We show that propagating a segmentation across frames using our motion estimation scheme leads to more accurate segmentation than traditional motion estimation that does not use physical constraints. Our method is suited to interactive segmentation, prominently used in commercial applications for cardiac analysis, where segmentation propagation is used to predict a segmentation in the next frame. We show that our method leads to more accurate predictions than a popular and recent interactive method used in cardiac segmentation.
Product behavior and appearance effects on experienced engagement during experiential and goal-directed tasks

This study examines how digital products can be designed towards increased levels of experienced engagement. An experiment was conducted in which 24 participants were asked to interact with a videogame that varied in behavior and appearance aspects during experiential and goal-directed tasks. Behavioral aspects were manipulated by varying the amount of possibilities in the game that also affected the complexity in human action. Appearance aspects were manipulated by varying the colorfulness, detail and asymmetry within the visual design. During experiential tasks participants were free to explore the game and during goal-directed tasks participants were given a goal that had to be completed as efficiently as possible. Results indicate that experienced engagement is based upon the extent the game provided rich experiences and by the extent the game provided a sense of control. Based on these results, recommendations for designing engaging interactions with digital products are discussed.
Attractiveness and self-esteem: A test of sociometer theory

Sociometer theory (Leary & Baumeister, 2000) proposes that self-esteem is an evolutionary adaptation which functions to monitor the quality and quantity of people’s interpersonal relationships together with their eligibility for these, and to motivate adaptive behaviour in response to these assessments. The present work describes a series of studies designed to systematically test hypotheses concerning relationships between self-perceptions of physical attractiveness, self-esteem and relationship behaviour, derived from sociometer theory. Study 1 extended previous research by employing a novel measure of self-perceived attractiveness and showing that this significantly and positively correlated with both global and multidimensional measures of self-esteem in both women and men. Studies 2 and 3 tested the hypothesis, derived from sociometer theory, that using a social comparison manipulation of self-perceived physical attractiveness should causally affect self-esteem in women. The results of these studies did not support this hypothesis and challenged previous findings in the literature: Women exposed to images of highly attractive others did not report significantly lower subsequent levels of self-esteem than those exposed to unattractive others. Study 4 examined whether exposing women to an implicit manipulation of self-esteem would affect their subsequent self-perceptions of attractiveness. The results showed that women exposed to a negative priming condition reported significantly lower levels of self-esteem and self-perceived physical attractiveness than those in the positive condition. These results constitute the first empirical demonstration that implicit manipulations of self-esteem can exert causal effects on specific self-perceptions. Study 5 examined the previously untested prediction that self-perceptions of desirability and self-esteem would correlate with self reports of romantic relational behaviour in women. The results indicated that although self-perceptions of desirability significantly correlated with relational behaviour, self-esteem did not. These results, together with previous research in self-esteem are discussed in relation to sociometer theory, and a novel modification of the theory is proposed.
Fine Mapping of the Interaction of Neutralizing and Nonneutralizing Monoclonal Antibodies with the CD4 Binding Site of Human Immunodeficiency Virus Type 1 gp120

ABSTRACT Alanine scanning mutagenesis was performed on monomeric gp120 of human immunodeficiency virus type 1 to systematically identify residues important for gp120 recognition by neutralizing and nonneutralizing monoclonal antibodies (MAbs) to the CD4 binding site (CD4bs). Substitutions that affected the binding of broadly neutralizing antibody b12 were compared to substitutions that affected the binding of CD4 and of two nonneutralizing anti-CD4bs antibodies (b3 and b6) with affinities for monomeric gp120 comparable to that of b12. Not surprisingly, the sensitivities to a number of amino acid changes were similar for the MAbs and for CD4. However, in contrast to what was seen for the MAbs, no enhancing mutations were observed for CD4, suggesting that the virus has evolved toward an optimal gp120-CD4 interaction. Although the epitope maps of the MAbs overlapped, a number of key differences between b12 and the other two antibodies were observed. These differences may explain why b12, in contrast to nonneutralizing antibodies, is able to interact not only with monomeric gp120 but also with functional oligomeric gp120 at the virion surface. Neutralization assays performed with pseudovirions bearing envelopes from a selection of alanine mutants mostly showed a reasonable correlation between the effects of the mutations on b12 binding to monomeric gp120 and neutralization efficacy. However, some mutations produced an effect on b12 neutralization counter to that predicted from gp120 binding data. It appears that these mutations have different effects on the b12 epitope on monomeric gp120 and functional oligomeric gp120. To determine whether monomeric gp120 can be engineered to preferentially bind MAb b12, recombinant gp120s were generated containing combinations of alanine substitutions shown to uniquely enhance b12 binding. Whereas b12 binding was maintained or increased, binding by five nonneutralizing anti-CD4bs MAbs (b3, b6, F105, 15e, and F91) was reduced or completely abolished. These reengineered gp120s are prospective immunogens that may prove capable of eliciting broadly neutralizing antibodies.