Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Exact Hausdorff Measure on the Boundary of a Galton-Watson Tree.

A necessary and sufficient condition for the almost sure existence of an absolutely continuous (with respect to the branching measure) exact Hausdorff measure on the boundary of a Galton-Watson tree is obtained. In the case where the absolutely continuous exact Hausdorff measure does not exist almost surely, a criterion which classifies gauge functions 0 according to whether 0-Hausdorff measure of the boundary minus a certain exceptional set is zero or infinity is given. Important examples are discussed in four additional theorems. In particular, Hawkes's conjecture in 1981 is solved. Problems of determining the exact local dimension of the branching measure at a typical point of the boundary are also solved.
Energy-based routing optimization in MANET: Cross-layer benefits

Obviously, the energy is one of the important metrics to consider when designing communication protocols for mobile ad hoc networks (MANETs). In this paper, we demonstrate the importance of considering energy saving in MANETs. Our analysis are based on the comparison of two energy-based mechanisms called E-AODV, an energy consumption rate-based routing protocol, and F-AODV, a cross-layer-based routing protocol. We investigate the trends and the challenges on designing cross-layer communication protocols for MANETs. Indeed, we study the simulation output obtained with and without considering layer interconnections. These results show that the performance of the layer cooperation paradigm depends on the network characteristics and the application constraints. Our remarks lead to a description of a guideline and recommendations for addressing layer interaction in MANETs.
Automatic Iris Segmentation Based on Local Areas

In this paper a novel and robust method for automatic iris segmentation based on local areas is described. Such method is composed of three main parts, (a) Find the local rectangle region which has the minimum intensity mean and extend it to locate pupil, (b) Select two small local sector areas including the outer boundaries of iris to locate outer iris, (c) Translate the iris from polar coordinates into Cartesian coordinates and normalize it to fixed size to compensate the stretching of the iris texture as the pupil changes in size and remove the non-concentricity of the iris and the pupil. The method was implemented using CASIA iris image databases. The experimental results show that the proposed method has an encouraging result with an overall accuracy of 98.42%
Married … without Means: Poverty and Economic Hardship Among Married Americans

Most parents with below-poverty incomes who are raising minor children are married. The failure of many policy elites to recognize the extent of marital poverty covers up the profound economic struggles of millions of married parents. This paper concludes that to reduce marital poverty and hardship — and increase economic security for families of all types — policy makers need to expand and strengthen labor market institutions as well as universal systems of social protection against economic risks, and make quality child care and early education a birthright for all children.
A new architecture for detecting DDoS/brute forcing attack and destroying the botnet behind

Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) attacks using Botnets became widely used in the Internet because of its efficiency and easy implementation. We will present in this paper a new architecture that stops DDoS attacks based on Botnet C&C (Command & control) and identify the Botmaster (the bots owner) machine. Unlike the researches done in the attack trace-back algorithms, the aim of this architecture is not only to determine the Internet Relay Chat (IRC) servers used to control the Botnet. But also to remove the bots from the infected machines and to revel the Botmaster identity This architecture is composed of a DDoS attacks detection agents*, spy agents* and a central agent* that coordinates between the other agents during the attack trace-back process. The trace-back process is based on hacking method in order to infiltrate the Botnet and get information about the attacker and the bots he uses. This architecture is designed to be used by the Internet service providers.
Clogging of Multigraphs as Toy Models of Filters

In this paper we model filters as networks of channels. As suspension (fluid with particles) flows through the filter, particles are trapped and clog channels. We assume there is no flow through clogged channels. The filter becomes impermeable after not all, but only a portion, of the channels clog. In this paper we compute an upper bound on the number of channels that clog. This bound is a function of properties of the network. Our results provide an understanding of the relationship between the filter pore space geometry and the filter efficiency.
Ontogeny of Toll-Like Receptor Mediated Cytokine Responses of Human Blood Mononuclear Cells

Newborns and young infants suffer increased infectious morbidity and mortality as compared to older children and adults. Morbidity and mortality due to infection are highest during the first weeks of life, decreasing over several years. Furthermore, most vaccines are not administered around birth, but over the first few years of life. A more complete understanding of the ontogeny of the immune system over the first years of life is thus urgently needed. Here, we applied the most comprehensive analysis focused on the innate immune response following TLR stimulation over the first 2 years of life in the largest such longitudinal cohort studied to-date (35 subjects). We found that innate TLR responses (i) known to support Th17 adaptive immune responses (IL-23, IL-6) peaked around birth and declined over the following 2 years only to increase again by adulthood; (ii) potentially supporting antiviral defense (IFN-α) reached adult level function by 1 year of age; (iii) known to support Th1 type immunity (IL-12p70, IFN-γ) slowly rose from a low at birth but remained far below adult responses even at 2 years of age; (iv) inducing IL-10 production steadily declined from a high around birth to adult levels by 1 or 2 years of age, and; (v) leading to production of TNF-α or IL-1β varied by stimuli. Our data contradict the notion of a linear progression from an ‘immature’ neonatal to a ‘mature’ adult pattern, but instead indicate the existence of qualitative and quantitative age-specific changes in innate immune reactivity in response to TLR stimulation.
Uncertain Democracy

Preface* 1. Georgia and the Democracy Promotion Project 2. Illusions of Democracy 3. The Accidental Revolution 4. How Democratic Was the Rose Revolution? 5. Governance by Adrenaline 6. The U.S. Role in the Rose Revolution 7. Georgia and the United States After the Revolution 8. Georgia and the Fading of the Color Revolutions Postscript: War with Russia and Georgia's Future Notes Bibliography Index Acknowledgments
ABBREVIATIONS MODY : maturation onset diabetes mellitus of the young MODY 2 : maturation onset diabetes mellitus of the young

Mutant mouse models are indispensable tools for clarifying the functions of genes and for elucidating the underlying pathogenic mechanisms of human diseases. Currently, several large-scale mutagenesis projects that employ the chemical mutagen N-ethyl-N-nitrosourea (ENU) are underway worldwide. One specific aim of our ENU mutagenesis project is to generate diabetic mouse models. We screened 9,375 animals for dominant traits using a clinical biochemical test and thereby identified 11 mutations in the glucokinase (Gk) gene that were associated with hyperglycemia. GK is a key regulator of insulin secretion in the pancreatic β cell. Approximately 190 heterozygous mutations in the human GK gene have been reported to cause maturity onset diabetes of the young, type 2 (MODY2). In addition, five mutations have been reported to cause permanent neonatal diabetes mellitus (PNDM) when present on both alleles. The mutations in our 11 hyperglycemic mutants are located at different positions in Gk. Four have also been found in human MODY2 patients, and another mutant bears its mutation at the same location that is mutated in a PNDM patient. Thus, ENU mutagenesis is effective for developing mouse models for various human genetic diseases, including diabetes mellitus. Some of our Gk mutant lines displayed impaired glucose-responsive insulin secretion and the mutations had different effects on Gk mRNA levels and/or the stability of the GK protein. This collection of Gk mutants will be valuable for understanding GK gene function, for dissecting the function of the enzyme, and as models of human MODY2 and PNDM. at Penylvania State U niersity on Feruary 3, 2013 ht://hm g.oxfournals. org/ D ow nladed from
Systematic Assessment of the Video Recording Position for User-generated Event Videos

The increasing capabilities of mobile handhelds to record high definition videos enable us to share moments with friends and the public. In large-scale events such as concerts, the manifold of potential views recorded by the audience allows to watch an event from different perspectives. In this work, we elaborate on the effects of different recording positions on quality and show that especially with retail smart phone camera sensors the quality differs as the position changes. This is a first systematic approach to describe why user-generated video sequences differ in terms of quality depending on changing recording positions. To achieve a sound understanding, we conduct a large-scale systematic subjective study using crowdsourcing, inspecting the effect of distance and orientation of a recorder in relation to the event taking place. Our results indicate an effect of the recording position on the perceived quality of a video.
H∞ control in a behavioral context: the full information case

The authors formulate the H/sub /spl infin//-control problem in a behavioral setting. Given a mathematical model, say a set of higher order differential equations together with some static equations, the vector of manifest variables is partitioned into yet to be controlled variables, unknown exogenous variables, and interconnection variables. The interconnection variables are available for interconnection, in the sense that they can be made to obey certain differential or static equations, to be specified by the designer. Such a system of differential equations and static equations is called a controller. The design problem that we consider is to find controllers such that the size of the to be controlled variables is less than a given tolerance, for all disturbances in the unit ball, and such that the interconnection is a stable system. We find necessary and sufficient conditions for the existence of suitable controllers, under the hypothesis that we have a full information problem. These conditions involve indefinite factorizations of polynomial matrices and a test on a given Pick matrix.
Prevalence, Risk Behaviors, and Virological Characteristics of Hepatitis B Virus Infection in a Group of Men Who Have Sex with Men in Brazil: Results from a Respondent-Driven Sampling Survey

Background Men who have sex with men (MSM) are at increased risk of exposure to hepatitis B virus (HBV) compared with the general population. This study aims to assess the epidemiological and virological characteristics of HBV infection in a sample of MSM in Brazil, where data are scarce. Methods A cross-sectional study was conducted among MSM in the City of Goiânia, Central Brazil, from March to November 2014, using Respondent-Driven Sampling (RDS). After signing the consent form, participants were interviewed and a blood sample collected. All samples were tested for HBV serological markers and HBV DNA. HBV nucleotide sequence analysis was also performed. Results A total of 522 MSM were recruited in the study. The prevalence of HBV infection (current or past [presence of anti-HBc marker]) was 15.4% (95% CI: 8.7–25.8) and the rate of HBsAg carriers was 0.6% (95% CI: 0.2–1.6). About 40% (95% CI: 32.3–48.8) of the participants had serological evidence of previous HBV vaccination (reactive for isolated anti-HBs). In addition, 44.3% (95% CI: 36.1–52.9) were seronegative for all HBV markers. Age over 25 years old, receptive anal intercourse, previous sex with women, and history of sexually transmitted infections (STIs) were factors associated with HBV infection. HBV DNA was detected only in HBsAg-positive individuals. HBV isolates were classified into genotype A (subgenotypes A1 and A2), and some mutations were identified throughout the genome. Therefore, occult HBV infection was not observed in the study population. Conclusions Public health strategies should be improved for the MSM population in order to prevent HBV and other STIs, as well as to provide appropriate management of patients with active infections.
A Constraint Approach to Pivot-Based Bilingual Dictionary Induction

High-quality bilingual dictionaries are very useful, but such resources are rarely available for lower-density language pairs, especially for those that are closely related. Using a third language to link two other languages is a well-known solution and usually requires only two input bilingual dictionaries A-B and B-C to automatically induce the new one, A-C. This approach, however, has never been demonstrated to utilize the complete structures of the input bilingual dictionaries, and this is a key failing because the dropped meanings negatively influence the result. This article proposes a constraint approach to pivot-based dictionary induction where language A and C are closely related. We create constraints from language similarity and model the structures of the input dictionaries as a Boolean optimization problem, which is then formulated within the Weighted Partial Max-SAT framework, an extension of Boolean Satisfiability (SAT). All of the encoded CNF (Conjunctive Normal Form), the predominant input language of modern SAT/MAX-SAT solvers, formulas are evaluated by a solver to produce the target (output) bilingual dictionary. Moreover, we discuss alternative formalizations as a comparison study. We designed a tool that uses the Sat4j library as the default solver to implement our method and conducted an experiment in which the output bilingual dictionary achieved better quality than the baseline method.
Attentional Gestures in Dialogues Between People and Robots

Attentional gestures in dialogues provide critical cues to the focus of attention of the participants in the dialogues. Attentional gestures are evidence of the engagement process by which participants start, maintain and end their perceived connection to one another. This article investigates engagement and gestures that indicate engagement. It then applies these concepts to the development of a humanoid robot that converses with a human participant. Evaluations of conversations between people and the robot consider the effects of looking and nodding gestures.
Comprehensive node selection and power allocation in multi-source cooperative mesh networks

This paper considers resource allocation with relay selection in a multi-source multi-destination mesh network wherein dedicated relay nodes use the decode-and-forward (DF) protocol. The key difference from previous work is that we consider resource allocation across the source-relay, relay-destination, and source-destination channels in a multi-source network. The solution to the related optimization problem simultaneously solves for relay selection, power allocation, and the cooperation strategy (direct transmission, if optimal, is a valid solution). Since the jointly optimal solution is of exponential complexity, we introduce a set of time-sharing factors and relax the selection constraint, resulting in an upper bound to the true solution. Imposing selection leads to a feasible, but tight, lower bound on the optimal solution. Second, we propose a decentralized selection and power allocation scheme. Simulation results show that the performance of the decentralized selection scheme almost exactly tracks that of the upper bound for both the max-sum and max-min rate metrics while offerring computational benefits.
A Saliency Map Model Based on the Principle of Maximum Information Gain

Humans do not process the entire area of an input visual image uniformly, but usually focus their visual attention on a limited area. But where does a human focus that attention? Psychological phenomena indicate that attention is attracted to features that differ from its surroundings or the one that are unfamiliar. On the bases of this we developed a saliency map model, which predicts where attention is attracted, based on two-step principal component analysis. In this paper, we reformulate this model based by the principle of maximizing information gain. On the basis of this theoretical foundation, we further investigate how this model could be modified in a situation where human must find something. We show experimental results and discuss future problems.
Statistical Size Distributions in Economics and Actuarial Sciences

A comprehensive account of economic size distributions around the world and throughout the years In the course of the past 100 years, economists and applied statisticians have developed a remarkably diverse variety of income distribution models, yet no single resource convincingly accounts for all of these models, analyzing their strengths and weaknesses, similarities and differences. Statistical Size Distributions in Economics and Actuarial Sciences is the first collection to systematically investigate a wide variety of parametric models that deal with income, wealth, and related notions. Christian Kleiber and Samuel Kotz survey, compliment, compare, and unify all of the disparate models of income distribution, highlighting at times a lack of coordination between them that can result in unnecessary duplication. Considering models from eight languages and all continents, the authors discuss the social and economic implications of each as well as distributions of size of loss in actuarial applications. Specific models covered include: Pareto distributions Lognormal distributions Gamma-type size distributions Beta-type size distributions Miscellaneous size distributions Three appendices provide brief biographies of some of the leading players along with the basic properties of each of the distributions. Actuaries, economists, market researchers, social scientists, and physicists interested in econophysics will find Statistical Size Distributions in Economics and Actuarial Sciences to be a truly one-of-a-kind addition to the professional literature.
Path planning in unknown environment with kernel smoothing and reinforcement learning for multi-agent systems

In unknown environment, path planning of multiagent systems is difficult. The popular methods for the path planning, such as reinforcement learning (RL), do not work for these two cases: unknown environment and multi-agent. In this paper, we use a special intelligent method, kernel smoothing, to estimate the unknown environment, and combine it with the reinforcement learning technique. The advantage of the combination of the reinforcement learning and the kernel smoothing technique is we do not need to repeat RL for the unvisited state. The path planning process has three stages: 1) the reinforcement learning is applied to generate the training samples; 2) the model is trained by the kernel smoothing method; 3) the trained model gives an approximate action to agents. Experiment results show the proposed algorithm can generate desired paths in the unknown environment for multiple agents.
Closeness Centrality on BBS Reply Network

In this paper, a reply network was constructed with the data downloaded from SINA BBS. Based on the complex network theory, we firstly studied the node closeness centrality and graph closeness centralization of the reply network, and analyzed the influence of the central figure in reply network by studying the node closeness centrality. The leadership of the central figure was proved through experimental validation method. Then the correlation of degree and average closeness centrality was discussed. Finally, a conclusion was drawn that degree and average closeness centrality are positive correlation. Experimental results indicated that degree centrality and closeness centrality were effective measure in studying the center position and function of the nodes in BBS reply networks.
View-Upload Decoupling: A Redesign of Multi-Channel P2P Video Systems

In current multi-channel live P2P video systems, there are several fundamental performance problems including exceedingly-large channel switching delays, long playback lags, and poor performance for less popular channels. These performance problems primarily stem from two intrinsic characteristics of multi-channel P2P video systems: channel churn and channel- resource imbalance. In this paper, we propose a radically different cross-channel P2P streaming framework, called view-upload decoupling (VUD). VUD strictly decouples peer downloading from uploading, bringing stability to multichannel systems and enabling cross-channel resource sharing. We propose a set of peer assignment and bandwidth allocation algorithms to properly provision bandwidth among channels, and introduce substream swarming to reduce the bandwidth overhead. We evaluate the performance of VUD via extensive simulations as well with a PlanetLab implementation. Our simulation and PlanetLab results show that VUD is resilient to channel churn, and achieves lower switching delay and better streaming quality. In particular, the streaming quality of small channels is greatly improved.
Decentralized Mixed Delay-Dependent/Delay-Independent Stabilization of Interconnected Time-Delay Systems

Abstract The problem of decentralized stabilization of interconnected systems that are delay-dependent for some delays and delay-independent for the remaining ones is addressed in this paper. For the purpose, some of the subsystems are grouped to form new larger subsystems. Such a grouping allows all the interconnection delays present among the smaller subsystems to be divided into two groups in the new subsystem description — (i) intraconnection delays, within the larger subsystem, and (ii) interconnection delays, among the larger subsystems. This facilitates delay-dependent stabilization for the intraconnection delays and delay-dependent stabilization for the interconnection delays. An LMI based stabilization criterion is derived for such mixed delay-dependent/delay-independent stabilization of the overall system. A numerical example is presented demonstrating the effectiveness of the developed criterion.
Safer User Interfaces: A Case Study in Improving Number Entry

Numbers are used in critical applications, including finance, healthcare, aviation, and of course in every aspect of computing. User interfaces for number entry in many devices (calculators, spreadsheets, infusion pumps, mobile phones, etc.) have bugs and design defects that induce unnecessary use errors that compromise their dependability. Focusing on Arabic key interfaces, which use digit keys 0-9-· usually augmented with correction keys, this paper introduces a method for formalising and managing design problems. Since number entry and devices such as calculators have been the subject of extensive user interface research since at least the 1980s, the diverse design defects uncovered imply that user evaluation methodologies are insufficient for critical applications. Likewise, formal methods are not being applied effectively. User interfaces are not trivial and more attention should be paid to their correct design and implementation. The paper includes many recommendations for designing safer number entry user interfaces.