Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Female mice ultrasonically interact with males during courtship displays

During courtship males attract females with elaborate behaviors. In mice, these displays include ultrasonic vocalizations. Ultrasonic courtship vocalizations were previously attributed to the courting male, despite evidence that both sexes produce virtually indistinguishable vocalizations. Because of this similarity, and the difficulty of assigning vocalizations to individuals, the vocal contribution of each individual during courtship is unknown. To address this question, we developed a microphone array system to localize vocalizations from socially interacting, individual adult mice. With this system, we show that female mice vocally interact with males during courtship. Males and females jointly increased their vocalization rates during chases. Furthermore, a female's participation in these vocal interactions may function as a signal that indicates a state of increased receptivity. Our results reveal a novel form of vocal communication during mouse courtship, and lay the groundwork for a mechanistic dissection of communication during social behavior. DOI: http://dx.doi. org/10.7554/eLife.06203. 001
Training-free probability models for whole-image based place recognition

Whole-image descriptors such as GIST have been used successfully for persistent place recognition when combined with temporal filtering or sequential filtering techniques. However, whole-image descriptor localization systems often apply a heuristic rather than a probabilistic approach to place recognition, requiring substantial environmental-specific tuning prior to deployment. In this paper we present a novel online solution that uses statistical approaches to calculate place recognition likelihoods for whole-image descriptors, without requiring either environmental tuning or pre-training. Using a real world benchmark dataset, we show that this method creates distributions appropriate to a specific environment in an online manner. Our method performs comparably to FAB-MAP in raw place recognition performance, and integrates into a state of the art probabilistic mapping system to provide superior performance to whole-image methods that are not based on true probability distributions. The method provides a principled means for combining the powerful change-invariant properties of whole-image descriptors with probabilistic back-end mapping systems without the need for prior training or system tuning.
From sheaves on P2 to a generalization of the Rademacher expansion

Moduli spaces of stable coherent sheaves on a surface are of much interest for both mathematics and physics. Yoshioka computed generating functions of Poincare polynomials of such moduli spaces if the surface is the projective plane P2 and the rank of the sheaves is 2. Motivated by physical arguments, this paper investigates the modular properties of these generating functions. It is shown that these functions can be written in terms of the Lerch sum and theta function. Based on this, we prove a conjecture by Vafa and Witten, which expresses the generating functions of Euler numbers as a mixed mock modular form. Moreover, we derive an exact formula for the Fourier coefficients of this function, which is similar to the Rademacher expansion for weakly holomorphic modular forms but is more complicated. This is the first example of an exact formula for the Fourier coefficients of mixed mock modular forms, which is of independent mathematical interest.
A systematic approach to evaluate supply chain management environment index using graph theoretic approach

The performance of a supply chain is characterised by its ability to remain market-sensitive without losing the integration through the chain. One of the difficulties in designing and analysing a supply chain is that its processes are governed by the strategic factors of the supply chain. With the emergence of a business era that embraces change as one of its major characteristics, increasing the market share and survival are becoming more and more difficult to ensure. The emphasis is on adaptability to changes in the business environment and on addressing market and customer needs proactively. This paper is identifying the supply chain management from the perspective of digraph approach. An attempt has been made to identify through literature review of 150 papers contain 65 factors and understanding the interrelationship among these factors, sub-factors to design a mathematical model using graph theory approach. This paper attempts to consider factors and sub-factors from a system point of view.
SecureDroid: An Android security framework extension for context-aware policy enforcement

Mobile devices became the main repository of personal data and source of user-generated contents as well as the principal controller of our social networked life. In this scenario, malicious applications try to take advantage of all the possibilities left open by users and operating systems. In this paper, we propose SecureDroid: an extension of the Android security framework able to enforce flexible and declarative security policies at run-time, providing a fine-grained access control system. In particular, we focus on context dependent policies that allow the user to specify the way in which applications work according to current context.
Laser Scanner Based Slam in Real Road and Traffic Environment

- In this paper we will present a SLAM algorithm we have recently developed for our needs in autonomous automotive applications. Our approach has the particularity of making use exclusively of laser scanners to achieve our goals without using any other type of sensors or source of information. We concentrated on developing a self-contained system that could be placed on any kind of mobile platform and work in any kind of dynamic environment; this is why too at this point our approach does not make use of any model of the vehicle. Our SLAM system has been tested with success both on a car at full speed on a road and a human evolving indoors. We will present here the challenges we face that pushed us to develop the algorithm, the solutions we are exploring, discuss experimental results and suggest areas of future work.
Interferometry by deconvolution of GPR data

Directional decomposition of GPR data is possible when multi-component multi-offset GPR data is available on a surface. The decomposed wave fields are propagating in the two opposite directions perpendicular to the recording surface. These two decomposed wave fields are related to each other through a reflection operator. This operator represents the reflection response of the medium on the side of the surface that is source free, and with the receivers acting as both sources and receivers. Here we illustrate the concept in a one-dimensional setting and show how this concept can be used for different GPR applications.
Combined sparse representation based on curvelet transform and local DCT for multi-layered image compression

In this paper, we propose a new multi-layered representation technique for image compression, which combine curvelet transform and local DCT in order to benefit from the advantages of each. Curvelet transform is one of the recently developed multiscale transform, which possess directional features and provides optimally sparse representation of objects with edges, but not for the textured feature. We exploit morphological component analysis (MCA) method to separate the image into two layers: piecewise smooth layer and textured structure layer, respectively associated to curvelet transform and local DCT. Each layer is encoded independently with a different transform at a different bitrate. Experiment results show that the proposed multi-layered image coding technique outperforms single curvelet transform with SPIHT in both PSNR and visual quality, with the improvement up to 0.71 dB on images with rich texture and edges.
Dissection of Regulatory Networks that Are Altered in Disease via Differential Co-expression

Comparing the gene-expression profiles of sick and healthy individuals can help in understanding disease. Such differential expression analysis is a well-established way to find gene sets whose expression is altered in the disease. Recent approaches to gene-expression analysis go a step further and seek differential co-expression patterns, wherein the level of co-expression of a set of genes differs markedly between disease and control samples. Such patterns can arise from a disease-related change in the regulatory mechanism governing that set of genes, and pinpoint dysfunctional regulatory networks. Here we present DICER, a new method for detecting differentially co-expressed gene sets using a novel probabilistic score for differential correlation. DICER goes beyond standard differential co-expression and detects pairs of modules showing differential co-expression. The expression profiles of genes within each module of the pair are correlated across all samples. The correlation between the two modules, however, differs markedly between the disease and normal samples. We show that DICER outperforms the state of the art in terms of significance and interpretability of the detected gene sets. Moreover, the gene sets discovered by DICER manifest regulation by disease-specific microRNA families. In a case study on Alzheimer's disease, DICER dissected biological processes and protein complexes into functional subunits that are differentially co-expressed, thereby revealing inner structures in disease regulatory networks.
Cause and Management of Patients With Failed Endonasal Dacryocystorhinostomy

Objectives Endonasal dacryocystorhinostomy (DCR) is a well-established treatment method in patients with nasolacrimal duct obstruction. However, there are a few reports about the overall management of failed endonasal DCR. We investigated the causes and management strategies of failed endonasal DCR. Methods This retrospective review included 61 patients (61 eyes) who had undergone revision surgery by the same surgeon after failed endonasal DCR between January 2008 and December 2012. The appropriate revision method was determined after analysis of the etiology of failure by the fluorescein dye disappearance test, nasal endoscopy, lacrimal irrigation, and probing. The criteria for success of the revision surgery were defined by the passage of fluid without resistance upon lacrimal irrigation and normalization of the tear meniscus height. Results The mean duration between the primary endonasal DCR and revision surgery was 15.3 months. The average follow-up period after revision surgery was 12.2 months. The most common cause of endoscopic revision surgery was membranous obstruction. Endoscopic revision surgery was performed in 48 patients, while lacrimal silicone tube intubation under endoscopy was performed in 13 patients. The most common indication for lacrimal silicone tube intubation was functional epiphora. The overall success rate of the revision surgery was 89%. Conclusion The most common cause of failed endonasal DCR was membranous obstruction. When patients with failed endonasal DCR presented at the clinic, it is important to identify the cause of the failure. Revision surgery could increase the final success rate of endonasal DCR.
Should we base procurement rules on the competition of linear incentive contracts

The study of optimal procurement contracts under informational asymmetries generally assumes that the cost disturbance affecting contractor's cost function is not observed by the principal. We assume here that this variable (which may represent environmental or geology conditions.) can be observed in the process of the contract. Thus, the principal is now able to make the payment contingent on the realization of this variable. In this context, the aim of this paper is to compare a linear incentive contract with a "modified" fixed-price contract, which allows the payment to the selected contractor to be independent upon his bid in the case of a high-cost value of exogenous uncertainty.
Type-based Inference of Size Relationships for XML Transformations

XML transformation languages (e.g., XSLT) take an XML document as input and produce another XML document as output. It is useful to know statically that such transformations always produce valid documents, for static debugging of the transformation program or for eliminating dynamic checks on the output documents. Typeand automatatheoretic techniques that exploit XML’s tree structure have been proposed to address this problem. However, existing approaches are not capable of reasoning about size information of produced XML documents, such as that two locations in the output documents always have the same number of elements, which occurs when data is repeated. This paper presents a type-based inference system to discover size relationships in output documents from XML transformation programs through refined type checking. For example, our system can identify program fragments producing the same number of elements for all input documents. Programs that use or produce parallel or repeated data will benefit from this analysis. The novel aspects of our system are techniques to deal with the rich tree structure of XML types (i.e., schemas), whereas array analyses (e.g., bounds checking) for languages such as C deal with flat arrays.
Female Labour Force Participation in MENA's Manufacturing Sector: The Implications of Firm-Related and National Factors

The Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region falls behind several other geo-economic regions in terms of women's participation rates in the labour market. This paper examines the implications of firm-related and national factors for Female Labour Force Participation (FLFP) rates in manufacturing firms located in the MENA region. The empirical investigation uses data derived from the World Bank's Enterprise Surveys database and applies fractional logit models to carry out the estimations. The results reveal positive implications of many firm-related factors, mainly private foreign ownership and exporting activities, for FLFP rates. National factors, such as economic development and gender equality, are also found to promote FLFP rates. These effects are generally found to be more important for women's overall labour participation rates than for women's non-production labour participation rates.
Does Market Timing Drive Capital Structure? Empirical Evidence from an Emerging Market

The purpose of this study is to test how equity market timing affects capital structure from the perspective of IPO (Initial Public Offering) event in ISE for the period between 1999-2008. Our dataset comprises of all firms (75 firms) that went public from the period of January 1999 to December 2008 in Turkey that are available in ISE database. We analyse the market timing theory by applying cross sectional regression method. For this purpose, first, we test the impact of market timing on the amount of equity issued by IPO firms. Second we examine the impact of market timing on capital structure. We conclude that market timing theory is not valid for Turkey.
MCMC-based channel estimation for OFDM systems in dispersive time-varying channels

Channel estimation is therefore required as an integral part of the receiver design. The channel model adopted in this paper allows the CIR to vary within one OFDM symbol. To facilitate the channel estimation solution, maximum likelihood (ML) estimator adopts a second-order Taylor series expansion to approximate the intercarrier interference (ICI) caused by Doppler frequency shifts to simplify the channel estimation problem. However, this method which needs to find the roots for a third-order polynomial is so complex. In this paper, we investigate a Markov Chain Monte Carlo (MCMC)-based channel estimation for OFDM systems in dispersive time-varying channels. The proposed method is performing similar to ML algorithm with lesser computational complexity. Moreover, our proposed method can adopt a second/third or even higher-order Taylor series expansion to approximate the ICI, avoiding to find the roots for a high polynomial.
Bandstop filters with extended upper passbands

Previous microwave distributed bandstop filters have had their second harmonic response centered at no more than three times the fundamental bandstop mid-band frequency, due to the use of quarter-wave resonators. This limitation has now been removed by the use of compound resonators having shorter electrical length. Some configurations incorporate lumped capacitors, resulting in additional design degrees of freedom and wider passbands. The new theory has been developed to apply to both wide and narrow stopbands. Example filters having upper passband widths of up to six times the fundamental bandstop center frequency are presented
On the design and performance of the PARFUM Parallel Fault Tolerant Volume Renderer

Volume rendering is an important and CPU intensive technique for visualiz ing large scalar elds In essence a volume renderer performs two activites on behalf of the user loading a new data set and rendering the current one At one level the performance of an individual activity is important At an other level the erformance of the session as a whole in particular switching from one activity to the next should be addressed In this paper we present PARFUM a parallel volume renderer based on a controller worker model in a network of workstations PARFUM has three essential properties that in crease the performance of a parallel volume renderer First dynamic load balancing is employed during a rendering activity Second workers may en ter or fail without a ecting the correctness of a session Third a user may easily abort the current activity in favour of a new one These properties may more easily be achieved by accepting rather than ghting the inherent asynchrony in a distributed system As a consequence PARFUM attempts to minimize causal dependencies in the interaction between the user and the controller as well as between the controller and the workers We evaluate two implementations based on the TCP and UDP transport protocols respectively
Job characteristics, work attitudes and behaviors in a non‐western context

Purpose – Previous studies on job characteristics have been performed mainly in Western contexts. More empirical evidence is needed to understand the important job characteristics of positive job outcomes in a non‐Western context. Therefore, this research has two objectives: to assess the impact of five job characteristics on work attitudes and behaviors in the UAE, and to test the mediating impact of distributive justice on the job characteristics‐work outcomes relationship.Design/methodology/approach – The study reports responses of 350 employees from five large organizations operating in Dubai. Data were collected on a structured questionnaire containing standards scales of job characteristics, job satisfaction, organizational commitment, turnover intentions, distributive justice, and some demographic variables. After testing scales reliability and validity, the proposed linear relationships were tested using a series of separate hierarchical regression analyses. Proposed mediation hypotheses were test.
A Further Investigation of the Recharge Oscillator Paradigm for ENSO Using a Simple Coupled Model with the Zonal Mean and Eddy Separated

The recharge oscillator paradigm for ENSO is further investigated by using a simple coupled model, which externally includes the equatorial wave dynamics represented by the Kelvin and gravest symmetric Rossby waves. To investigate the role of eddies in the Pacific basin‐wide adjustment to the wind forcing, particularly at the western and eastern boundaries, the zonal mean and eddy parts are treated separately in the current model. It is clearly demonstrated that the basin-wide adjustment of the tropical ocean is accomplished by the net mass transport induced by the meridional transport over the tropical ocean interior and the zonal fluxes at the boundaries. With a reasonable choice of the reflection coefficient, particularly at the western boundary, the meridional transport plays a bigger role than the zonal boundary flux and determines the sign of zonal-mean thermocline depth tendency, in a way that the discharge of equatorial mass in the warm phase and recharge in the cold phase serve as a phase transition mechanism of the coupled system. The meridional mass transport is induced mainly by a geostrophic current associated with the east‐west slope of thermocline depth, established quickly by the wind forcing. Also discussed in this paper is the difference between the recharge oscillator and the delayed oscillator in explaining the phase transition mechanism of ENSO.
Design aspects for a reference M2M communication platform for Smart Cities

For the last decades, we have witnessed new technological evolutions in the Internet, wireless networks, and sensors fields. Currently, we are able to build smart systems that improve quality of life and enhance environment management. However, most available smart systems are implemented based on proprietary hardware/software solutions, restricting interoperation, which is required for large-scale Smart City solutions. To enable the implementation of a general Smart City solution, a platform is needed to fulfill the communication requirements between heterogeneous access technologies. In this paper, we address the requirements and design aspects of a reference Machine-to-Machine (M2M) communication platform as an enabler for Smart Cities.
Anatomical distribution of voltage-dependent membrane capacitance in frog skeletal muscle fibers

Components of nonlinear capacitance, or charge movement, were localized in the membranes of frog skeletal muscle fibers by studying the effect of 'detubulation' resulting from sudden withdrawal of glycerol from a glycerol-hypertonic solution in which the muscles had been immersed. Linear capacitance was evaluated from the integral of the transient current elicited by imposed voltage clamp steps near the holding potential using bathing solutions that minimized tubular voltage attenuation. The dependence of linear membrane capacitance on fiber diameter in intact fibers was consistent with surface and tubular capacitances and a term attributable to the capacitance of the fiber end. A reduction in this dependence in detubulated fibers suggested that sudden glycerol withdrawal isolated between 75 and 100% of the transverse tubules from the fiber surface. Glycerol withdrawal in two stages did not cause appreciable detubulation. Such glycerol-treated but not detubulated fibers were used as controls. Detubulation reduced delayed (q gamma) charging currents to an extent not explicable simply in terms of tubular conduction delays. Nonlinear membrane capacitance measured at different voltages was expressed normalized to accessible linear fiber membrane capacitance. In control fibers it was strongly voltage dependent. Both the magnitude and steepness of the function were markedly reduced by adding tetracaine, which removed a component in agreement with earlier reports for q gamma charge. In contrast, detubulated fibers had nonlinear capacitances resembling those of q beta charge, and were not affected by adding tetracaine. These findings are discussed in terms of a preferential localization of tetracaine- sensitive (q gamma) charge in transverse tubule membrane, in contrast to a more even distribution of the tetracaine-resistant (q beta) charge in both transverse tubule and surface membranes. These results suggest that q beta and q gamma are due to different molecules and that the movement of q gamma in the transverse tubule membrane is the voltage- sensing step in excitation-contraction coupling.