Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Breaking the ε-Soundness Bound of the Linearity Test over GF(2)

For Boolean functions that are ǫ-far from the set of linear functions, we study the lower bound on the rejection probability (denoted by rej(ǫ)) of the linearity test suggested by Blum, Luby and Rubinfeld. This problem is arguably the most fundamental and extensively studied problem in property testing of Boolean functions. The previously best bounds for rej(ǫ) were obtained by Bellare, Coppersmith, H̊astad, Kiwi and Sudan. They used Fourier analysis to show that rej(ǫ) ≥ ǫ for every 0 ≤ ǫ ≤ 1 2 . They also conjectured that this bound might not be tight for ǫ’s which are close to 1/2. In this paper we show that this indeed is the case. Specifically, we improve the lower bound of rej(ǫ) ≥ ǫ by an additive constant that depends only on ǫ: rej(ǫ) ≥ ǫ+ min{1376ǫ(1− 2ǫ), 1 4 ǫ(1− 2ǫ)}, for every 0 ≤ ǫ ≤ 1 2 . Our analysis is based on a relationship between rej(ǫ) and the weight distribution of a coset of the Hadamard code. We use both Fourier analysis and coding theory tools to estimate this weight distribution. CSAIL, MIT, Cambridge, MA 02139. E-mail: kaufmant@mit.edu. Department of Electrical Engineering-Systems, Tel Aviv University, Tel Aviv 69978, ISRAEL. E-mail: litsyn@eng.tau. ac.il. CSAIL, MIT, Cambridge, MA 02139. E-mail: ningxie@csail.mit.edu. Research done while the author was at State Univ. of New York at Buffalo and visiting CSAIL, MIT. Research supported in part by NSF grant 0514771. 0 Dagstuhl Seminar Proceedings 08341 Sublinear Algorithms http://drops.dagstuhl. de/opus/volltexte/2008/1697
Renaming in an asynchronous environment

This paper is concerned with the solvability of the problem of processor renaming in unreliable, completely asynchronous distributed systems. Fischer et al. prove in [8] that “nontrivial consensus” cannot be attained in such systems, even when only a single, benign processor failure is possible. In contrast, this paper shows that problems of processor renaming can be solved even in the presence of up to <italic>t</italic> < <italic>n</italic>/2 faulty processors, contradicting the widely held belief that no nontrivial problem can be solved in such a system. The problems deal with <italic>renaming processors</italic> so as to reduce the size of the initial name space. When only uniqueness of the new names is required, we present a lower bound of <italic>n</italic> + 1 on the size of the new name space, and a renaming algorithm that establishes an upper bound on <italic>n</italic> + <italic>t</italic>. If the new names are required also to preserve the original order, a tight bound of 2′(<italic>n</italic> - <italic>t</italic> + 1) - 1 is obtained.
Topological Insulators / Isolants Topologiques An Introduction to Topological Order in Insulators

Electronic bands in crystals are described by an ensemble of Bloch wave functions indexed by momenta defined in the first Brillouin Zone, and their associated energies. In an insulator, an energy gap around the chemical potential separates valence bands from conduction bands. The ensemble of valence bands is then a well defined object, which can possess non-trivial or twisted topological properties. In the case of a twisted topology, the insulator is called a topological insulator. We introduce this notion of topological order in insulators as an obstruction to define the Bloch wave functions over the whole Brillouin Zone using a single phase convention. Several simple historical models displaying a topological order in dimension two are considered. Various expressions of the corresponding topological index are finally discussed. Les bandes électroniques dans un cristal sont définies par un ensemble de fonctions d’onde de Bloch dépendant du moment défini dans la première zone de Brillouin, ainsi que des énergies associées. Dans un isolant, les bandes de valence sont séparées des bandes de conduction par un gap en énergie. L’ensemble des bandes de valence est alors un objet bien défini, qui peut en particulier posséder une topologie non triviale. Lorsque cela se produit, l’isolant correspondant est appelé isolant topologique. Nous introduisons cette notion d’ordre topologique d’une bande comme une obstruction à la définition des fonctions d’ondes de Bloch à l’aide d’une convention de phase unique. Plusieurs modèles simples d’isolants topologiques en dimension deux sont considérés. Différentes expressions des indices topologiques correspondants sont finalement discutées.
Solar trends and global warming

[1] We use a suite of global climate model simulations for the 20th century to assess the contribution of solar forcing to the past trends in the global mean temperature. In particular, we examine how robust different published methodologies are at detecting and attributing solar-related climate change in the presence of intrinsic climate variability and multiple forcings. We demonstrate that naive application of linear analytical methods such as regression gives nonrobust results. We also demonstrate that the methodologies used by Scafetta and West (2005, 2006a, 2006b, 2007, 2008) are not robust to these same factors and that their error bars are significantly larger than reported. Our analysis shows that the most likely contribution from solar forcing a global warming is 7 ± 1% for the 20th century and is negligible for warming since 1980.
A Model for Verbal and Non-Verbal Human-Robot Collaboration

We are motivated by building a system for an autonomous robot companion that collaborates with a human partner for achieving a common mission. The objective of the robot is to infer the human's preferences upon the tasks of the mission so as to collaborate with the human by achieving human's non-favorite tasks. Inspired by recent researches about the recognition of human's intention, we propose a unified model that allows the robot to switch accurately between verbal and non-verbal interactions. Our system unifies an epistemic partially observable Markov decision process (POMDP) that is a human-robot spoken dialog system aiming at disambiguating the human's preferences and an intuitive human-robot collaboration consisting in inferring human's intention based on the observed human actions. The beliefs over human's preferences computed during the dialog are then reinforced in the course of the task execution by the intuitive interaction. Our unified model helps the robot inferring the human's preferences and deciding which tasks to perform to effectively satisfy these preferences. The robot is also able to adjust its plan rapidly in case of sudden changes in the human's preferences and to switch between both kind of interactions. Experimental results on a scenario inspired from robocup@home outline various specific behaviors of the robot during the collaborative mission.
FCICU: The Integration between Sense-Based Kernel and Surface-Based Methods to Measure Semantic Textual Similarity

This paper describes FCICU team participation in SemEval 2015 for Semantic Textual Similarity challenge. Our main contribution is to propose a word-sense similarity method using BabelNet relationships. In the English subtask challenge, we submitted three systems (runs) to assess the proposed method. In Run1, we used our proposed method coupled with a string kernel mapping function to calculate the textual similarity. In Run2, we used the method with a tree kernel function. In Run3, we averaged Run1 with a previously proposed surface-based approach as a kind of integration. The three runs are ranked 41 st , 57 th , and 20 th of 73 systems, with mean correlation 0.702, 0.597, and 0.759 respectively. For the interpretable task, we submitted a modified version of Run1 achieving mean F1 0.846, 0.461, 0.722, and 0.44 for alignment, type, score, and score with type respectively.
Stereo matching with energy-minimizing snake grid for 3D face modeling

An energy minimizing snake algorithm that runs over a grid is designed and used to reconstruct high resolution 3D human faces from pairs of stereo images. The accuracy of reconstructed 3D data from stereo depends highly on how well stereo correspondences are established during the feature matching step. Establishing stereo correspondences on human faces is often ill posed and hard to achieve because of uniform texture, slow changes in depth, occlusion, and lack of gradient. We designed an energy minimizing algorithm that accurately finds correspondences on face images despite the aforementioned characteristics. The algorithm helps establish stereo correspondences unambiguously by applying a coarse-to-fine energy minimizing snake in grid format and yields a high resolution reconstruction at nearly every point of the image. Initially, the grid is stabilized using matches at a few selected high confidence edge points. The grid then gradually and consistently spreads over the low gradient regions of the image to reveal the accurate depths of object points. The grid applies its internal energy to approximate mismatches in occluded and noisy regions and to maintain smoothness of the reconstructed surfaces. The grid works in such a way that with every increment in reconstruction resolution, less time is required to establish correspondences. The snake used the curvature of the grid and gradient of image regions to automatically select its energy parameters and approximate the unmatched points using matched points from previous iterations, which also accelerates the overall matching process. The algorithm has been applied for the reconstruction of 3D human faces, and experimental results demonstrate the effectiveness and accuracy of the reconstruction.
Analysis of the willow root system by electrical impedance spectroscopy

Information on plant roots is increasingly needed for understanding and managing plants under various environmental conditions, including climate change. Several methods have been developed to study fine roots but they are either destructive or cumbersome, or may not be suitable for studies of fine root functionality. Electrical impedance, resistance, and capacitance have been proposed as possible non-destructive measures for studying roots. Their use is limited by a lack of knowledge concerning the electrical circuit of the system. Electrical impedance spectroscopy (EIS) was used for hydroponically raised willows (Salix schwerinii) to estimate the root system size. The impedance spectra were investigated in three experimental set-ups and the corresponding appropriate lumped models were formulated. The fit of the proposed lumped models with the measured impedance spectra data was good. The model parameters were correlated with the contact area of the roots and/or stems raised in the hydroponic solution. The EIS method proved a useful non-destructive method for assessing root surface area. This work may be considered to be a new methodological contribution to understanding root systems and their functions in a non-destructive manner.
ResearchAssist: Analyzing author interests

The typical predicament that haunts a researcher is whether to explore new research domains or specialize in their current domain. The prevalent methodology in scientific research is to do emerging trend detection by analyzing topics from scientific texts using a topic modeling approach. In this paper, we propose an alternative methodology. Initially, the researcher makes a fundamental choice of specializing in a specific area or experimenting in related areas. A rule based labelling algorithm is proposed to categorize authors based on their inclination to experimentation or specialization. Once the individual choice is made, research domains of the authors having similar dispositions can be analyzed as the researchers themselves are the best proxy for emerging trends. Finally, this paper explains the possible applications of this methodology for a new researcher, researchers looking to explore or specialize, formation of collaborations and interdisciplinary teams.
Magpie: Online Modelling and Performance-aware Systems

Understanding the performance of distributed systems requires correlation of thousands of interactions between numerous components -- a task best left to a computer. Today's systems provide voluminous traces from each component but do not synthesise the data into concise models of system performance. We argue that online performance modelling should be a ubiquitous operating system service and outline several uses including performance debugging, capacity planning, system tuning and anomaly detection. We describe the Magpie modelling service which collates detailed traces from multiple machines in an e-commerce site, extracts request-specific audit trails, and constructs probabilistic models of request behaviour. A feasibility study evaluates the approach using an offline demonstrator. Results show that the approach is promising, but that there are many challenges to building a truly ubiquitious, online modelling infrastructure.
Synergistic Activation of ENaC by Three Membrane-bound Channel-activating Serine Proteases (mCAP1, mCAP2, and mCAP3) and Serum- and Glucocorticoid-regulated Kinase (Sgk1) in Xenopus Oocytes

Sodium balance is maintained by the precise regulation of the activity of the epithelial sodium channel (ENaC) in the kidney. We have recently reported an extracellular activation of ENaC-mediated sodium transport (INa) by a GPI-anchored serine protease (mouse channel–activating protein, mCAP1) that was isolated from a cortical collecting duct cell line derived from mouse kidney. In the present study, we have identified two additional membrane-bound serine proteases (mCAP2 and mCAP3) that are expressed in the same cell line. We show that each of these proteases is able to increase INa 6–10-fold in the Xenopus oocyte expression system. INa and the number (N) of channels expressed at the cell surface (measured by binding of a FLAG monoclonal I125-radioiodinated antibody) were measured in the same oocyte. Using this assay, we show that mCAP1 increases INa 10-fold (P < 0.001) but N remained unchanged (P = 0.9), indicating that mCAP1 regulates ENaC activity by increasing its average open probability of the whole cell (wcPo). The serum- and glucocorticoid-regulated kinase (Sgk1) involved in the aldosterone-dependent signaling cascade enhances INa by 2.5-fold (P < 0.001) and N by 1.6-fold (P < 0.001), indicating a dual effect on N and wcPo. Compared with Sgk1 alone, coexpression of Sgk1 with mCAP1 leads to a ninefold increase in INa (P < 0.001) and 1.3-fold in N (P < 0.02). Similar results were observed for mCAP2 and mCAP3. The synergism between CAPs and Sgk1 on INa was always more than additive, indicating a true potentiation. The synergistic effect of the two activation pathways allows a large dynamic range for ENaC-mediated sodium regulation crucial for a tight control of sodium homeostasis.
Bootstrapping word learning: A perception driven semantics-first approach

In recent decades, evidence for preverbal perceptual categorization in infants has been accumulating, and a role has been suggested for such processes in bootstrapping word learning, i.e. acquiring the very first word-meaning associations. We propose a computational study to consider the possibility that initial notions of semantic classes may help word learning. We consider visual scenes with many possible referents, and consider unparsed linguistic descriptions in text form. We use no prior knowledge of vision domain, or of morphology, syntax or word frequency. Using a synthetic model of object attention, we show that the system is able to first identify perceptual classes from the visual stream, and then associate these with words from the linguistic stream. Working with Hindi text, we demonstrate the ability to learn words for prominent proto-concepts like BICYCLE, TRUCK, and CAR from a complex traffic video. We compare the associations when learning unsegmented poly-syllabic strings in the language (without knowledge of word boundaries) versus segmented words, and find that the poly-syllables do nearly as well. This suggests that early acquisition of some semantic classes may also help in parsing the input stream into “words”. The model is then used on a novel video from a similar domain, to identify objects with their labels. Since we provide no knowledge to the system either for the visual or language analyses, the results are likely to hold for other visual scenes and languages.
Please Scroll down for Article Journal of Urban Technology Visualizing Global Cyberscapes: Mapping User-generated Placemarks Visualizing Global Cyberscapes: Mapping User-generated Placemarks

This article may be used for research, teaching and private study purposes. Any substantial or systematic reproduction, redistribution , reselling , loan or sub-licensing, systematic supply or distribution in any form to anyone is expressly forbidden. The publisher does not give any warranty express or implied or make any representation that the contents will be complete or accurate or up to date. The accuracy of any instructions, formulae and drug doses should be independently verified with primary sources. The publisher shall not be liable for any loss, actions, claims, proceedings, demand or costs or damages whatsoever or howsoever caused arising directly or indirectly in connection with or arising out of the use of this material. ABSTRACT This article focuses on the representation of physical places on the Internet or what we term cyberscape. While there is a wide range of online place-related information available, this project uses the metric of the number of user-generated Google Maps place-marks containing specific keywords in locations worldwide. After setting out the methods behind this research, this article provides a cartographic analysis of these cyberscapes and examines how they inform us about the material world. Visibility and invisibility in material space are increasingly being defined by prominence, ranking, and presence on the Internet, and Google has positioned itself as a highly authoritative source of online spatial information. As such, any distinct spatial patterns within uploaded information have the potential to become real and reinforced as Google is relied upon as a mirror of the offline world.
Lung transplantation for pulmonary hypertension

Although medical therapies for pulmonary arterial hypertension have greatly improved, it remains a chronic and fatal disease. For patients who are refractory to medical therapy, lung transplantation is an important treatment option. This review discusses issues pertaining to indications for transplant, preparation for transplant and listing, operative issues, and outcomes for patients with pulmonary arterial hypertension.
Image Categorization Using Scene-Context Scale Based on Random Forests

Scene-context plays an important role in scene analysis and object recognition. Among various sources of scene-context, we focus on scene-context scale, which means the effective scale of local context to classify an image pixel in a scene. This paper presents random forests based image categorization using the scene-context scale. The proposed method uses random forests, which are ensembles of randomized decision trees. Since the random forests are extremely fast in both training and testing, it is possible to perform classification, clustering and regression in real time. We train multi-scale texton forests which efficiently provide both a hierarchical clustering into semantic textons and local classification in various scale levels. The scene-context scale can be estimated by the entropy of the leaf node in the multi-scale texton forests. For image categorization, we combine the classified category distributions in each scale and the estimated scene-context scale. We evaluate on the MSRC21 segmentation dataset and find that the use of the scene-context scale improves image categorization performance. Our results have outperformed the state-of-the-art in image categorization accuracy.
The Homeobox Transcription Factor HOXA9 Is a Regulator of SHOX in U2OS Cells and Chicken Micromass Cultures

The homeobox gene SHOX encodes for a transcription factor that plays an important role during limb development. Mutations or deletions of SHOX in humans cause short stature in Turner, Langer and Leri-Weill syndrome as well as idiopathic short stature. During embryonic development, SHOX is expressed in a complex spatio-temporal pattern that requires the presence of specific regulatory mechanisms. Up to now, it was known that SHOX is regulated by two upstream promoters and several enhancers on either side of the gene, but no regulators have been identified that can activate or repress the transcription of SHOX by binding to these regulatory elements. We have now identified the homeodomain protein HOXA9 as a positive regulator of SHOX expression in U2OS cells. Using luciferase assays, chromatin immunoprecipitation and electrophoretic mobility shift assays, we could narrow down the HOXA9 binding site to two AT-rich sequences of 31 bp within the SHOX promoter 2. Virus-induced Hoxa9 overexpression in a chicken micromass model validated the regulation of Shox by Hoxa9 (negative regulation). As Hoxa9 and Shox are both expressed in overlapping regions of the developing limb buds, a regulatory relationship of Hoxa9 and Shox during the process of limb development can be assumed.
Mining Music Reviews: Promising Preliminary Results

In this paper we present a system for the automatic mining of information from music reviews. We demonstrate a system which has the ability to automatically classify reviews according to the genre of the music reviewed and to predict the simple one-to-five star rating assigned to the music by the reviewer. This experiment is the first step in the development of a system to automatically mine arbitrary bodies of text, such as weblogs (blogs) for musically relevant information.
The theory of ® nancial intermediation

Traditional theories of intermediation are based on transaction costs and asymmetric information. They are designed to account for institutions which take deposits or issue insurance policies and channel funds to ®rms. However, in recent decades there have been signi®cant changes. Although transaction costs and asymmetric information have declined, intermediation has increased. New markets for ®nancial futures and options are mainly markets for intermediaries rather than individuals or ®rms. These changes are dicult to reconcile with the traditional theories. We discuss the role of intermediation in this new context stressing risk trading and participation costs. Ó 1998 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved. JEL classi®cation: G2; G1; E5; L2
Crystal Structure of TNF-α-Inducing Protein from Helicobacter Pylori in Active Form Reveals the Intrinsic Molecular Flexibility for Unique DNA-Binding

Tipα (TNF-α-inducing protein) from Helicobacter pylori is a carcinogenic effector. Studies on this protein revealed that a homodimer linked by a pair of intermolecular disulfide bridges (Cys25-Cys25 and Cys27-Cys27) was absolutely necessary for its biological functions. The activities of Tipα would be abolished when both disulfide bridges were disrupted. The crystal structures of Tipα reported to date, however, were based on inactive, monomeric mutants with their N-terminal, including residues Cys25 and Cys27, truncated. Here we report the crystal structure of H. pylori Tipα protein, TipαN25, at 2. 2Å resolution, in which Cys25 and Cys27 form a pair of inter-chain disulfide bridges linking an active dimer. The disulfide bridges exhibit structural flexibility in the present structure. A series of structure-based mutagenesis, biochemical assays and molecular dynamic simulations on DNA-Tipα interactions reveal that Tipα utilizes the dimeric interface as the DNA-binding site and that residues His60, Arg77 and Arg81 located at the interface are crucial for DNA binding. Tipα could bind to one ssDNA, two ssDNA or one dsDNA in experiments, respectively, in the native or mutant states. The unique DNA-binding activities of Tipα indicate that the intrinsic flexible nature of disulfide bridges could endow certain elasticity to the Tipα dimer for its unique bioactivities. The results shed light on the possible structural mechanism for the functional performances of Tipα.