Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
A parallel two-pass MDL context tree algorithm for universal source coding

We present a novel lossless universal source coding algorithm that uses parallel computational units to increase the throughput. The length-N input sequence is partitioned into B blocks. Processing each block independently of the other blocks can accelerate the computation by a factor of B, but degrades the compression quality. Instead, our approach is to first estimate the minimum description length (MDL) source underlying the entire input, and then encode each of the B blocks in parallel based on the MDL source. With this two-pass approach, the compression loss incurred by using more parallel units is insignificant. Our algorithm is work-efficient, i.e., its computational complexity is O(N=B). Its redundancy is approximately B log(N=B) bits above Rissanen's lower bound on universal coding performance, with respect to any tree source whose maximal depth is at most log(N=B).
MiR-940 inhibits hepatocellular carcinoma growth and correlates with prognosis of hepatocellular carcinoma patients

Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is among the leading causes of cancer‐related death in China. Deregulation of microRNA (miRNA) contributes to HCC development by influencing cell growth, apoptosis, migration or invasion. It has been proved that miR‐940 plays important roles in various cancers. Here we investigated the role of miR‐940 in HCC. We found that miR‐940 was remarkably decreased in HCC tissues and cell lines. Importantly, lower miR‐940 expression in HCC tissues significantly correlated with the reduced patient's survival rate. Overexpression of miR‐940 inhibited HCC cell line growth and induced cell apoptosis, and vice versa. Estrogen‐related receptor gamma (ESRRG) was targeted by miR‐940, and suppression of ESRRG inhibited HCC cell lines growth and induced cell apoptosis. In conclusion, we found that a lower level of miR‐940 in HCC promoted cellular proliferation via ESRRG, which may lead to the short survival period of HCC patients.
Systematically refactoring inheritance to delegation in java

Because of the strong coupling of classes and the proliferation of unneeded class members induced by inheritance, the suggestion to use composition and delegation instead has become common place. The presentation of a corresponding refactoring in the literature may lead one to believe that such a transformation is a straightforward undertaking. However, closer analysis reveals that this refactoring is neither always possible, nor does it necessarily achieve its desired effect. We have therefore identified the necessary preconditions and realizable postconditions of the refactoring, and built a tool that can perform it completely automatically. By applying this tool to all subclasses of several open-source projects, we have collected evidence of the applicability of the refactoring and of its capability to deliver on its promises. The refactoring builds on constraint graphs originally developed for type inference to check the preconditions and to compute the necessary delegation as well as the subtype relationships that must be maintained.
Paranoia and the Role of Contingency in the Experience of Trust and Perceived Empathy in Interpersonal Encounters

This thesis addresses the interpersonal determinants of paranoid ideation. Part one presents a systematic review of the empirical literature on the relationship between childhood adversity and paranoia. It considers whether there is an association between direct experience of interpersonal adversity and paranoia, and whether paranoia is specifically associated with a type of early interpersonal adversity. The data suggest that there is inconclusive evidence of a relationship, but support was found for a more consistent association between paranoia and emotional abuse. Possible mechanisms are considered, and results are discussed in the context of methodological limitations and the need for further investigations in this area. Part two reports on an empirical virtual reality study investigating the role of paranoia and interpersonal contingency in the experience of trust and perceived empathy in encounters with unfamiliar others, and exploring associations with other factors, including attachment history and anxiety. Sixty-one healthy male participants with varying levels of trait paranoia interviewed a virtual flatmate whose non-verbal responses were either contingent, or non-contingent in relation to them. Evidence was found for an interaction between interpersonal contingency and trait paranoia in influencing explicit trust of the avatar, but not implicit trust (as assessed by distance kept from the avatar) or perceived avatar empathy. Those high in paranoia perceived the contingent avatar as more trustworthy, whereas there was evidence of greater trust towards the non-contingent avatar in those low in paranoia. Dismissive attachment predicted greater explicit trust and perceived empathy, but reduced implicit trust. Part three is a critical appraisal of the empirical research, including personal reflections on the research process. It considers the challenges of recruitment across the paranoia continuum and the use of virtual reality technology in research investigating interpersonal encounters.
Higher Sensitivity RF-DC Rectifier for Ultra-Low Power Semi-Active RFID Tags

Radio frequency (RF) energy harvesting is the process where energy is captured from the radiated RF signals and converted it to electrical power to supply a very small amount of power to modern electronic devices. This paper presents a RF energy harvester for ultra-low power semi-active UHF radio frequency identification tag applications. The main objective is to solve the semi-active UHF RFID tag limited lifespan issues due to the need for batteries to power its circuitries.In this design, the energy from the radiated RF signals is converted to electrical power by a module known as RF-DC rectifier. The circuit is based on a cross-connected differential-drive CMOS rectifier topology which is implemented in 0.13 μm CMOS standard technology with the input RF power range from -20 dBm to -10 dBm operating in 915 MHz frequency band. To ensure a maximum output voltage is achieved, several simulations based on the optimized matching network components, the variation of transistor sizes and load resistance, and increases the number of rectifier stages are investigated. All the circuit designs and simulations are performed using Orcad Cadance software. The simulated results shown that the optimized impedance matching network and a six-stage cross-connected differential-drive CMOS rectifier circuit able to produces a 1.13 V DC output voltage with an input power of -10 dBm (100 μW) and 1 MΩ load resistance.The results obtained shows that the proposed design can extend the lifetime of semi-active UHF RFID tag, able to eliminate its dependency on battery and make it possible to achieve a batteryless tag. Therefore, can be used to supply electrical power continuously for RFID tag applications.
A comparative study of complexity of handwritten Bharati characters with that of major Indian scripts

We present Bharati, a simple, novel script that can represent the characters of a majority of contemporary Indian scripts. The shapes/motifs of Bharati characters are drawn from some of the simplest characters of existing Indian scripts. Bharati characters are designed such that they strictly reflect the underlying phonetic organization, thereby attributing to the script qualities of simplicity, familiarity, ease of acquisition and use. Thus, employing Bharati script as a common script for a majority of Indian languages can ameliorate several existing communication bottlenecks in India. We perform a complexity analysis of handwritten Bharati script and compare its complexity with that of nine major Indian scripts. The measures of complexity are derived from a theory of handwritten characters based on Catastrophe theory. Bharati script is shown to be simpler than the nine major Indian scripts in most measures of complexity. Self-organizing maps (SOM) are generated by training data for handwritten characters of Bharati and Indian scripts. Phonetically similar characters are clustered together on SOM for Bharati, supporting the proposition that the shapes of Bharati script follow the underlying phonetic organization.
A discourse approach to Korean politeness : towards a culture-specific Confucian framework

This thesis examines the inter-relationship between face, face work, and cultural values, as they apply to strategic politeness in Korean institutional settings, specifically university contexts. This study also seeks to explore issues of methodology for culture-specific politeness research, given that previous researchers either neglected cultural values, which operate sometimes outside of linguistic presentations, or used methods that prevented them from noticing the role of cultural values, which can function as another means of face redress in the construction of culture-specific politeness. The interactional aspects of language use demonstrate that the socio-pragmatics of cultural values/norms are essential elements in the construction of strategic politeness. However, previous researchers on politeness have never really looked into how culture-specific frameworks can function as both methodological and theoretical tools in the investigation of culture-specific politeness. Most politeness researchers have been mainly concerned with linguistic systems, and have paid less attention to cultural values that directly influence polite linguistic behavior. In this study, a Confucian framework was employed to explore both the linguistic forms and cultural values that are the core elements of Korean linguistic politeness. Korean politeness shows that a Confucian frame is needed as an interactional supplement to politeness research, because the cultural frame that Korean speakers use plays a decisive role in their choice of politeness forms. A Confucian framework allows analysis of how socio-cultural values interact with culture-specific cognitive dimensions. The intent in using a Confucian framework is to analyze how Confucian values can be realized through culture-specific discursive modes.
Evaluation and assessment of recommenders using Monte Carlo simulation

This paper presents a stochastic model based on Monte Carlo simulation techniques for measuring the performance of recommenders. A general procedure to assess the accuracy of recommendation predictions is presented and implemented in a typical case study where input parameters are treated as random values and recommender errors are estimated using sensitive analysis. The results obtained are presented and a new perspective to the evaluation and assessment of recommender systems is discussed. Author
Assessment of downscaling planetary boundaries to semi-arid ecosystems with a local perception: A case study in the middle reaches of Heihe River

The middle reaches of Heihe River are located in the oasis of the Gobi Desert where limited freshwater supply supports more than 1.5 million inhabitants. The intense agricultural activities are depleting the groundwater reserve. Consequently, natural landscapes and habitats are degraded. Though such development improves the livelihood of the local community, long-term sustainability of the ecosystem is at risk. Local authorities must be informed holistically to prepare for adapting to the changes and/or mitigating the impacts. The purpose of this study was to perform a regional sustainability assessment based on downscaling the planetary boundaries (PBs). We proposed a regional safe operating space framework that applied a top-down approach using the environmental monitoring data, and a bottom-up approach using knowledge from the local perception about environmental disaster. We conducted on-site samplings and interviews of residents to demonstrate the method. Overall, we showed that the middle reaches had transgressed the safe operating space, particularly on the freshwater use and biogeochemical flow dimensions. We found that the local perception acquired from interviews complemented the insufficiency of the monitoring data and provided the insightful social implications of transgressing the safe operating space, i.e., the anticipated impacts on local livelihood, for policy support.
Infant Motor Development

Part I: Foundations of Infant Motor Development Chapter 1: Early Movement Capabilities: The Precursors of Motor Control Chapter 2: Theoretical Approaches to Motor Development: Traditional and Current Chapter 3: The brain and motor control: Motor development and neural plasticity Part II: The Development of Voluntary Movement Control Chapter 4: Development of postural control: Stability, balance and orientation. Chapter 5: Manual control: Development of reaching and grasping Chapter 6: Locomotion: The development of creeping and walking Part III: Assessment of Motor Ability In Infants Chapter 7: Infant Motor Assessment: Choosing an appropriate test. Chapter 8: Infant motor assessment: Neurobehavioral and other tests for the newborn. Chapter 9: Infant motor assessment: Diagnostic and screening tests Part IV: Motor Control and Developmental Disorders Chapter 10: Motor development in preterm infants: A special case for assessment and intervention Chapter 11: Cerebral Palsy: Research and intervention in infancy Chapter 12 - Down Syndrome: Resarch and intervention in infancy.
Optimizing Performance of Recurrent Neural Networks on GPUs

As recurrent neural networks become larger and deeper, training times for single networks are rising into weeks or even months. As such there is a significant incentive to improve the performance and scalability of these networks. While GPUs have become the hardware of choice for training and deploying recurrent models, the implementations employed often make use of only basic optimizations for these architectures. In this article we demonstrate that by exposing parallelism between operations within the network, an order of magnitude speedup across a range of network sizes can be achieved over a naive implementation. We describe three stages of optimization that have been incorporated into the fifth release of NVIDIA's cuDNN: firstly optimizing a single cell, secondly a single layer, and thirdly the entire network.
Use of Formalin-Fixed, Propidium Iodide-Stained Human Leukocytes as a Standard for Enumerating CD4+ T Lymphocytes in a Single-Platform Assay

ABSTRACT A new, inexpensive method is described that enables lymphocytes to be enumerated very precisely. Normal leukocytes were simultaneously stained and fixed with a propidium iodide-paraformaldehyde solution. The preparation obtained (CellBeads) was used as an internal standard for cell enumeration by flow cytometry and was stable at 4°C for at least 60 days. Unlike synthetic beads, the CellBeads behaved similarly to normal cells during red blood cell lysis and cell washing procedures. When known numbers of CellBeads were added to whole-blood samples and the numbers of CellBeads and lymphocytes were determined, highly reproducible and accurate enumerations were obtained—far more so than when synthetic beads were used. This inexpensive method is suitable for routine use.
IMIQUIMOD, A TOLL‐LIKE RECEPTOR 7 LIGAND, INHIBITS AIRWAY REMODELLING IN A MURINE MODEL OF CHRONIC ASTHMA

1 Imiquimod, a synthetic Toll‐like receptor (TLR) 7 ligand, has been shown to attenuate airway inflammation and airway hyperresponsiveness (AHR) in acute murine models of allergic asthma. In the present study, we investigated the effect of imiquimod on allergen‐induced airway remodelling in chronic experimental asthma. 2 Ovalbumin (OVA)‐sensitized mice were chronically challenged with aerosolized OVA for 8 weeks. Some mice were exposed to an aerosol of 0.15% imiquimod daily during the period of OVA challenge. Twenty‐four hours after the last OVA challenge, mice were evaluated for the development of airway inflammation, AHR and airway remodelling. The levels of total serum IgE and Th2 cytokines (interleukin (IL)‐4, IL‐5 and IL‐13) in bronchoalveolar lavage fluid (BALF) and the expression of transforming growth factor (TGF)‐β1 protein in lungs were measured by ELISA and immunohistochemistry, respectively. 3 The results demonstrated that imiquimod significantly inhibited chronic inflammation, persistent AHR and airway remodelling in chronic experimental asthma. In addition, imiquimod reduced levels of total serum IgE and BALF Th2 cytokines and diminished expression of TGF‐β1 in remodelled airways. 4 In summary, the results of the present study indicate that imiquimod may attenuate the progression of airway inflammation and remodelling, providing potential in the treatment of asthma.
NECKLACE LIE ALGEBRAS AND NONCOMMUTATIVE SYMPLECTIC GEOMETRY RAF BOCKLANDT AND

Recently, V. Ginzburg proved that Calogero phase space is a coadjoint orbit for some infinite dimensional Lie algebra coming from noncommutative symplectic geometry, [12]. In this note we generalize his argument to specific quotient varieties of representations of (deformed) preprojective algebras. This result was also obtained independently by V. Ginzburg [13]. Using results of W. Crawley-Boevey and M. Holland [ 10], [8] and [9] we give a combinatorial description of all the relevant couples ( ; ) which are coadjoint orbits. We give a conjectural explanation for this coadjoint orbit result and relate it to different noncommutative notions of smoothness.
Implementation of high speed energy efficient 4-bit binary CLA based incrementer decrementer

The paper presents the implementation of a high speed energy efficient 4-bit binary CLA based incrementer decrementer. The design methodology is extensively based on static CMOS logic and transmission gate logic to achieve higher operating frequencies, smaller delays and optimized area. This circuit is especially suitable for long bit incrementer/decrementer that can be used in program counter, frequency dividers and address generation unit in microprocessors. Simulation results illustrates that the designed adder has superior performance compared to existing adders in terms of power dissipation and speed. The proposed circuit is implemented on TSMC 0. 18μm process model. The measurement results indicate that the proposed 4-bit incrementer/decrementer can operate up to 5GHz with 200×160 μm2 optimized area.
Shared Orthography: Do shared written symbols influence the perception of native-nonnative sound contrasts?

Supervisory Committee Dr Hua Lin (Department of Linguistics) Supervisor Dr John Esling (Department of Linguistics) Departmental Member Dr Sonya Bird (Department of Linguistics) Additional Member Dr Richard King (Department of Pacific and Asian Studies) Outside Member The research presented in this thesis investigated whether second language learners who learn via a familiar orthography (i.e. Pinyin) differed from second language learners who learned via a non-familiar orthography (i.e. Zhuyin) in their perception of English-Mandarin sound contrasts. The assumption was that significant differences in perceptual performances between experimental groups could be attributed to the orthography’s influence in the categorization of Mandarin sounds. Also investigated in this research was the degree of confusability of particular Mandarin sounds based on their relative similarities to their English counterparts. The data were obtained from thirty-two native Canadian English speaking participants through a series of experimental tasks – pre-test > training phase > post-test. The preand post-tests assessed the participants’ sensitivities to English-Mandarin contrasts in an oddity discrimination task. Between the two tests, the participants underwent a short training phase where they learnt Mandarin via the orthographic medium assigned to their group. Perceptual performance of the participants was measured in terms of error rates (ER), aprime (A’) and response times (RT). The hypotheses concerning orthographic influence were not supported by the results. Three-way repeated measures ANOVAs revealed that there were no significant differences
Melatonin mitigates mitochondrial malfunction

Abstract: Melatonin, or N‐acetyl‐5‐methoxytryptamine, is a compound derived from tryptophan that is found in all organisms from unicells to vertebrates. This indoleamine may act as a protective agent in disease conditions such as Parkinson's, Alzheimer's, aging, sepsis and other disorders including ischemia/reperfusion. In addition, melatonin has been proposed as a drug for the treatment of cancer. These disorders have in common a dysfunction of the apoptotic program. Thus, while defects which reduce apoptotic processes can exaggerate cancer, neurodegenerative disorders and ischemic conditions are made worse by enhanced apoptosis. The mechanism by which melatonin controls cell death is not entirely known. Recently, mitochondria, which are implicated in the intrinsic pathway of apoptosis, have been identified as a target for melatonin actions. It is known that melatonin scavenges oxygen and nitrogen‐based reactants generated in mitochondria. This limits the loss of the intramitochondrial glutathione and lowers mitochondrial protein damage, improving electron transport chain (ETC) activity and reducing mtDNA damage. Melatonin also increases the activity of the complex I and complex IV of the ETC, thereby improving mitochondrial respiration and increasing ATP synthesis under normal and stressful conditions. These effects reflect the ability of melatonin to reduce the harmful reduction in the mitochondrial membrane potential that may trigger mitochondrial transition pore (MTP) opening and the apoptotic cascade. In addition, a reported direct action of melatonin in the control of currents through the MTP opens a new perspective in the understanding of the regulation of apoptotic cell death by the indoleamine.
Population genomics reveals a candidate gene involved in bumble bee pigmentation

Abstract Variation in bumble bee color patterns is well‐documented within and between species. Identifying the genetic mechanisms underlying such variation may be useful in revealing evolutionary forces shaping rapid phenotypic diversification. The widespread North American species Bombus bifarius exhibits regional variation in abdominal color forms, ranging from red‐banded to black‐banded phenotypes and including geographically and phenotypically intermediate forms. Identifying genomic regions linked to this variation has been complicated by strong, near species level, genome‐wide differentiation between red‐ and black‐banded forms. Here, we instead focus on the closely related black‐banded and intermediate forms that both belong to the subspecies B. bifarius nearcticus. We analyze an RNA sequencing (RNAseq) data set and identify a cluster of single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) within one gene, Xanthine dehydrogenase/oxidase‐like, that exhibit highly unusual differentiation compared to the rest of the sequenced genome. Homologs of this gene contribute to pigmentation in other insects, and results thus represent a strong candidate for investigating the genetic basis of pigment variation in B. bifarius and other bumble bee mimicry complexes.
Cellular Micropatterns on Biocompatible Materials

We present a method to produce micropatterns of cells on tissue culture substrates. A network of deep elastomeric microchannels defining the desired pattern is sealed onto the surface of interest, and a protein template is created by injecting sub‐milliliter quantities of protein solution into the microchannels. Protein adsorbs only on the areas that were exposed to the microflow. After the channels are flushed and the elastomer is removed, cells attach only on the protein template. Micropatterns of collagen or fibronectin were used to selectively adhere cells on various biomedical polymers and on heterogeneous or microtextured substrates. Since the bare substrate areas remain apt for seeding other, more adhesive cell types such as fibroblasts, we were able to create micropatterned co‐cultures. Our method allows for inexpensive patterning of a rich assortment of biomolecules, cells, and surfaces under physiological conditions.