Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Collaborative modelling: The future of computational neuroscience?

Given the complexity of biological neural circuits and of their component cells and synapses, building and simulating robust, well-validated, detailed models increasingly surpasses the resources of an individual researcher or small research group. In this article, I will briefly review possible solutions to this problem, argue for open, collaborative modelling as the optimal solution for advancing neuroscience knowledge, and identify potential bottlenecks and possible solutions.
AppNow: Predicting Usages of Mobile Applications on Smart Phones

Due to the proliferation of mobile applications(abbreviated as Apps) on smart phones, users can install many Apps to facilitate their life. Usually, users browse their Appsby swiping touch screen on smart phones, and are likely to spend much time on browsing Apps. In this paper, we design an AppNow widget that is able to predict users' Apps usage. Therefore, users could simply execute Apps from the widget. The main theme of this paper is to construct the temporal profiles which identify the relation between Apps and their usage times. In light of the temporal profiles of Apps, the AppNow widget predicts a list of Apps which are most likely to be used at the current time. In our experiments, we collected real usage traces to show that the accuracy of AppNow could reach 86% for identifying temporal profiles and 90% for predicting App usage.
K-Interleaving Rendezvous Overlay Network Construction Scheme

An autonomic community computing infrastructure is proposed as an agile platform for simultaneously hosting multiple autonomic cooperative services. It formulates, composes, monitors and manages the components of the services in an autonomic and dynamic fashion. Therefore, a rendezvous overlay network (RVON) is constructed to publish the advertisements and discover the services associated with these advertisements. The main goal of this paper is to publish the advertisements by efficiently replicating them into RVON. This paper proposes an autonomic K-interleaving scheme that divides RVON into RVON-Clusters, where (K+1) is the distance between any two rendezvous nodes stored the same advertisement in RVON. Thus, users accessing from different areas are able to efficiently discover service's advertisement within a constant K number of units (e.g. hops, latency, etc)
Towards a unified feature metamodel: A systematic comparison of feature languages

Feature models are at the core of Software Product Lines. Along the years different feature modeling languages have been proposed. Although they share a set of core concepts, feature languages present differences such as specification metalanguage, visual and textual emphasis and language constructs, among others. The result of this situation is a contemporary set of dialects with syntax and semantic dissimilarities that hampers interoperability, engineering communication and adoption by practitioners. This paper presents a proposal for a unified feature language metamodel which has been obtained from a comparison of existing metamodels. The analysis includes the maturity evaluation of existing metamodels and their ability to produce well-formed feature models and to reject ill-formed ones. Final conclusions suggest additional work on semantics and pragmatics of feature models.
Variational Approximations for Probabilistic Graphical Models Research Thesis Submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy

Graphical models are a framework that allows for the incorporation of prior knowledge in a convenient manner. These models are commonly used in a variety of fields, and were found useful in many applications. The computations required in some applications of interest are demanding or even infeasible, and existing approximations are not always sufficient. The focus of this thesis is the development of tighter and more efficient approximation methods to complex graphical models, based on a unified variational framework. The specific contributions of this thesis include the following. We develop an algorithm, called vip that efficiently obtains tighter lower bounds on quantities of interest in graphical models (e.g., posterior probabilities, likelihood of data). We present a novel and simple proof of convergence for this algorithm, which also proves the convergence of previously suggested algorithms, without the need to use Lagrange multipliers. In addition, We develop a new technique that computes upper and lower bounds on the likelihood of data and the maximum aposteriory probability (MAP) of the most probable assignment in a graphical model. Finally, we propose an importance sampling algorithm that takes advantage of variational approximation schemes in order to incorporate evidence into the sample generation. The uniqueness of our algorithm is that it also performs well on graphical models with deterministic dependencies. Our techniques were applied to three problems, with promising results. The first application is genetic linkage analysis, which given a family pedigree in which some individuals are affected with a genetic disease, along with marker readings from affected and/or healthy individuals, uses a graphical model representation to indicate high probability locations of a disease gene. The second application is phylogenic model selection which searches a most probable phylogenetic tree that explains evolution based on genomic data. The third application is image reconstruction where the perceived image content in low resolution images is improved by generating high-resolution images. T ec hn io n C om pu te r Sc ie nc e D ep ar tm en t P h. D . T he si s P H D -2 00 712 2 00 7
Transaction Processing in Mobile, Heterogeneous Database Systems

As technological advances are made in software and hardware, the feasibility of accessing information "any time, anywhere" is becoming a reality. Furthermore, the diversity and amount of information available to a given user is increasing at a rapid rate. In a mobile computing environment, a potentially large number of users may simultaneously access the global data; therefore, there is a need to provide a means to allow concurrent management of transactions. Current multidatabase concurrency control schemes do not address the limited bandwidth and frequent disconnection associated with wireless networks. This paper proposes a new hierarchical concurrency control algorithm. The proposed concurrency control algorithm, v-lock, uses global locking tables created with semantic information contained within the hierarchy. The locking tables are used to serialize global transactions, detect and remove global deadlocks. Additionally, data replication, at the mobile unit, is used to limit the effects of the restrictions imposed by a mobile environment. The replicated data provides additional availability in case of a weak connection or disconnection. Current research has concentrated on page and file-based caching or replication schemes to address the availability and consistency issues in a mobile environment. In a mobile, multidatabase environment, local autonomy restrictions prevent the use of a page or file-based data replication scheme. This paper proposes a new data replication scheme to address the limited bandwidth and local autonomy restrictions. Queries and the associated data are cached at the mobile unit as a complete object. Consistency is maintained by using a parity-based invalidation scheme. A simple prefetching scheme is used in conjunction with caching to further improve the effectiveness of the proposed scheme. Finally, a simulator was developed to evaluate the performance of the proposed algorithms. The simulation results are presented and discussed.
Materials of embodied interaction

Embodied interaction refers to the way our perception of physical and social phenomena develops in interplay with the world we live in [6]. This paper explores the use of interactive textile interfaces to enable embodied interactions with a robot companion of play. More in detail, we investigate the possibility of achieving by design a shared perception with the robot, with the objective to stimulate reflection during play, development of play styles and learning of social competences. A research-through-design approach is used to investigate the emergence of social behaviors during play, by sparking embodied interaction between child and robot. Two prototypes embedding interactive textile modules have been developed: S-Bristle (sensible bristle), a pressure sensitive fabric module that enables sensory-stimulation games, and Interactive Fur an interactive soft woolen cover that sustains perceptual-motor coordination and symbolic games. Both modules have been developed using a phenomenology inspired design approach to embodied interaction, which focuses on perception and bodily experience as means to foster social skills.
Radiative sensitivities of tropical anvils to small ice crystals

Stratiform anvils in the upper tropical troposphere were simulated to determine the sensitivities of their radiative properties to the presence of small ice crystals. Cloud evolution was modeled in a one-dimensional (vertical) framework incorporating an updraft, deposition, sublimation, sedimentation, nucleation, and radiation. The sensitivities of cloud radiative forcing, albedo, emissivity, and heating rate were derived from a test that included and then excluded the presence of numerous small crystals. These crystals sizes (3 < L < 20 μm) have been measured in recent observations but are smaller than the detection limit of most past observations. The shortwave forcing and albedo were very sensitive to the presence of the small crystals, even though these crystals accounted for less than 2% of total cloud mass. For optically thick anvils the longwave forcing and emissivity were, in general, much less sensitive to the small ice crystals than their shortwave counterparts. Radiative treatments assuming a hexagonal crystal habit yielded the same sensitivities as the spherical habit. The results agreed with previous studies in that the increased backscatter from hexagonal crystals enhanced the planetary albedo by ∼10–15%. The heating rate sensitivity to the small crystals depended on vertical location within the cloud and showed cancelation between the longwave and the shortwave heating perturbations. The small crystals changed heating rates by up to 50% at cloud top and base.
A Rotatable Placement Algorithm and GA to the Nesting Problem

The objective of two-dimensional optimal nesting problem is to place the same or different pieces of the fixed quantity on the sheet in this paper. What we want to do is increase the rate of utility and decrease the waste of panel. Generally, determine the quality of the nesting results; it can briefly be divided into two factors: placement algorithm and permutation. Placement algorithm means to decide the positions where the pieces place into the sheet. And permutation is the placing sequence order of pieces. If the sequence of permutation is available and the placement rule also meets the demand of packing, then the exact or optimal solutions could be found. This research provides a new placement algorithm rule "Area-Decomposition" method. This combines the rotation function for each piece and genetic algorithm. A comparison of nesting with literature and commercial software shows the results. This research can really acquire good results of nesting according to the demand of different situations in interest.
Support Programs for Women Survivors of Sexualized Gender-Based Violence From African Conflict Zones: A Contextual Review

The increasing attention paid to sexualized gender-based violence (GBV) against women in African conflict zones by the international community is a welcome development to many stakeholders, including scholars, policy makers, human rights advocates, international organizations, and nongovernmental organizations. Little is known, however, about the experiences of survivors who end up in Western host countries, such as Canada, as newcomers. Much less is known about their interactions with Western-based mental health care intervention models and the assumptions and understandings they hold about survivors’ histories and life circumstances before, during, and after migration. We argue, therefore, for studies that place the experiences of survivors in a broader social and political context—as one crucial facet of culturally effective interventions. This review of the state of knowledge reveals the gaps in literature, identifies areas for future research, and contributes to the search for effective intervention measures that could enhance survivors’ transition and integration into Western societies.
In the beginning: a personal reminiscence on the origin and legacy of ClC‐0, the ‘Torpedo Cl− channel’

This unapologetically subjective essay recalls the Torpedo Cl– channel in the years when it had neither a molecular identity nor proper name (ClC‐0), and membership in a large superfamily. I discuss the circumstances surrounding its discovery and subsequent research through the 1980s that revealed its unusual molecular architecture and other strange mechanistic characteristics.
Future complex heterogeneous multi-illuminator compatible oriented broadband cognitive passive radar

Passive radar has recently received attention due to its advantages like low cost, covert operation, and difficulty of jamming. With cognition ability added in, passive radar's performance can improve for its adaptability to the environment. In this paper, multi-illuminator compatible cognitive passive radar, which aims at future complex electromagnetic environment and best potential illuminators selection, was proposed and well designed. The new structure improves robustness and adaptability compared to the single-scheme passive radar system. The proposed novel cognitive passive radar architecture provides a guideline on where and how to carry out further research on dealing with the complex and heterogeneous problem of future sources of opportunity.
Dynamical symmetry breaking with large anomalous dimension

We give an introduction to the dynamical symmetry breaking with large anomalous dimension. This is the basis of tightly bound composite Higgs models such as walking technicolor, strong ETC technicolor and top quark condensate, which are all characterized by the large anomalous dimension, \gamma_m \simeq 1 (walking technicolor), 1<\gamma_m<2 (strong ETC technicolor) and \gamma_m \simeq 2 (top quark condensate) due to nontrivial short distance dynamics of the gauged Nambu-Jona-Lasinio (NJL) models (gauge theories plus four-fermion interactions). Particular emphasis will be placed on the top quark condensate in which the critical phenomenon in the gauged NJL model yields a simple reason why the top quark can have an extremely large mass compared with other quarks and leptons. Topics will also cover a recent observation that the four-fermion theory {\it in the presence of gauge interactions} (gauged NJL model) can become renormalizable and nontrivial in sharp contrast to the pure NJL model without gauge interactions. The requirement of this renormalizability/nontriviality of the gauged NJL model can be applied to the top quark condensate when the standard gauge groups are unified into a GUT with ``walking'' coupling, which then naturally leads to the top quark and the Higgs masses both around 180 GeV.
Sharing a laugh at others: Humorous convergence in French conversation

The aim of this article is to clarify the fuzzy notion of “successful humour”. It focuses on humorous sequences in French face-to-face interactions which are both successful and have a same type of target: a collective “Other” (foreign culture, a French or foreign institution, a French or foreign socio-professional group). It will be shown that laughing about/at others (with all the aggressiveness this could imply) is not inconsistent with the necessary collaborative aspect of the conversation.On the contrary, the necessary collaboration between the participants will be highlighted through analysing humour in two different but complementary ways. Firstly, analysing humour through one specific target (the collective “Other”) will show that the participants rely on shared knowledge to display fictitious identities allowing them to construct humour. Secondly, a structural analysis of successful humorous sequences will deepen the notion of successful humour, highlighting two different structures: a two-part structure and a three-part structure. While the terms “successful humour” will be restricted to the former, the notion of “humorous convergence” will be proposed to refer to the latter.This study is based on 51 successful humorous sequences extracted from three face-to-face interactions audio- and video-recorded in an anechoic room at Aix-Marseille University, France
Fast, effective vertex cover kernelization: a tale of two algorithms

Summary form only given. Two kernelization methods for the vertex cover problem are investigated. The first, LP-kernelization has been in prior use and is known to produce predictable results. The second, crown reduction, is newer and faster but generates more variable results. Previously-unknown connections between these powerful methods are established. It is also shown that the problem of finding an induced crown-free subgraph in an arbitrary graph is decidable in polynomial time. Applications of crown structures are discussed.
Consideraciones estructurales para la intervención en salud mental: pobreza, desigualdad y cohesión social.

La integración de la perspectiva social en el ámbito de la salud mental continúa siendo dificultosa. El análisis y la intervención en este campo se siguen caracterizando por un dominio de la biología y psicología, sustentado en un individualismo metodológico. Las disciplinas sociales que, como la educación y el trabajo social, intervienen bajo estas lógicas de organización asistencial, quedan frecuentemente constreñidas en el ejercicio de unas funciones excesivamente superficiales y burocráticas. Ante la necesidad que las actuaciones en este ámbito no se ciñan al tratamiento de aquellas personas ya diagnosticadas, sino que persigan también el objetivo de prevenir los problemas mentales y promover el mantenimiento de la salud, resulta imprescindible que los profesionales que ejercen la intervención social conozcan e interioricen las numerosas evidencias que señalan la influencia de las circunstancias estructurales en la prevalencia de los trastornos mentales. Este artículo trata precisamente de señalar parte de esas evidencias. Mediante ellas se pone de relieve la incidencia de la pobreza y la desigualdad como generadoras de riesgo en salud mental. En cambio, se apunta hacia el objetivo de la cohesión social como elemento de protección.
RESULTS FROM THE WILLWARN PROJECT

WILLWARN stands for “Wireless Local Danger Warning”. It was a subproject in the European Integrated Project PReVENT. It started February 2004 and ended successfully January 2007. PReVENT is a European automotive industry activity co-funded by the European Commission to contribute to road safety by developing and demonstrating preventive safety applications and technologies. A presentation of WILLWARN will be given together with the other PReVENT subprojects September 2007 near Paris [1].
Measuring LGD on Commercial Loans: An 18-Year Internal Study

This article presents findings of and highlights issues associated with an extensive internal loss severity study for the JPMorgan Chase (JPMC) wholesale bank. The recently completed loss given default (LGD) study draws upon 18 years of loan loss history at JPMC for 3,761 defaulted borrowers at its several heritage organizations.
Public perception of dementia risk in the UK: a mental models approach

Abstract Dementia is a leading cause of death in the developed world. A number of modifiable risk factors for dementia have been identified, yet lay knowledge on dementia risk is limited. A mental models approach was used to compare lay and expert knowledge of risk in order to identify target areas for lay education. This method assumes experts and laypeople use different cognitive representations to make sense of phenomena. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 8 experts and 15 laypeople to construct mental models of dementia risk. Interviews were transcribed verbatim and entered into NVivo qualitative data analysis software for coding. Findings indicated that laypeople had some knowledge of modifiable risk factors but in contrast to the expert mental model, laypeople poorly understood the causal links between these factors and dementia risk. Lay participants were unsure of the interaction between modifiable and non-modifiable risk factors and primarily attributed dementia risk to ‘bad luck’. It is suggested that future dementia education could benefit by building upon a general appreciation of healthy behaviour with particular focus on explaining the causal pathways to dementia risk. Additionally, it may be productive to inform laypeople it is possible to ‘change one’s luck’ by engaging in protective behaviours.
Cholesterol transport from late endosomes to the Golgi regulates t-SNARE trafficking, assembly, and function

This study shows that impaired cholesterol egress from late endosomes in cells with high annexin A6 levels is associated with altered soluble N-ethylmaleimide–sensitive fusion protein 23 (SNAP23) and syntaxin-4 cellular distribution and assembly and accumulation in Golgi membranes. This correlates with reduced secretion of cargo along the constitutive and SNAP23/syntaxin-4–dependent secretory pathway.
Distributed approach to mitigate wormhole attack in wireless sensor networks

Wireless sensor network is a growing technology which is offering solution to variety of application areas such as health care, military and industry. These kinds of networks usually apply number of devices known as sensor devices. These sensors which are limited are distributed over the environment and communicate through the wireless media. As sensor devices are limited the network exposed to variety of attacks. Conventional security mechanisms are not suitable for WSNs as they are usually heavy and nodes are limited. One of the most severe attacks to detect and defend in wireless sensor network is wormhole attack which data will be forwarded from one part of the network to the other part trough the wormhole tunnel. In this paper we focused on wormhole attack and proposed distributed network discovery approach to mitigate its effect. According to the simulation our approach can mitigated almost 100% of wormhole attack overload in the environment where 54% of nodes are affected with the wormhole.