Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Correlations between the Wilkinson Microwave Anisotropy Probe and MAXIMA Cosmic Microwave Background Anisotropy Maps

We cross-correlate the cosmic microwave background (CMB) temperature anisotropy maps from the Wilkinson Microwave Anisotropy Probe (WMAP), MAXIMA-1, and MAXIMA-2 experiments. We use the cross spectrum, which is the spherical harmonic transform of the angular two-point correlation function, to quantify the correlation as a function of angular scale. We find that the three possible pairs of cross spectra are in close agreement with each other and with the power spectra of the individual maps. The probability that there is no correlation between the maps is smaller than 1 × 10-8. We also calculate power spectra for maps made of differences between pairs of maps and show that they are consistent with no signal. The results conclusively show that the three experiments not only display the same statistical properties of the CMB anisotropy, but also detect the same features wherever the observed sky areas overlap. We conclude that the contribution of systematic errors to these maps is negligible and that MAXIMA and WMAP have accurately mapped the CMB anisotropy.
Quality Assessment of Mixed and Ceramic Recycled Aggregates from Construction and Demolition Wastes in the Concrete Manufacture According to the Spanish Standard †

Construction and demolition waste (CDW) constitutes an increasingly significant problem in society due to the volume generated, rendering sustainable management and disposal problematic. The aim of this study is to identify a possible reuse option in the concrete manufacturing for recycled aggregates with a significant ceramic content: mixed recycled aggregates (MixRA) and ceramic recycled aggregates (CerRA). In order to do so, several tests are conducted in accordance with the Spanish Code on Structural Concrete (EHE-08) to determine the composition in weight and physic-mechanical characteristics (particle size distributions, fine content, sand equivalent, density, water absorption, flakiness index, and resistance to fragmentation) of the samples for the partial inclusion of the recycled aggregates in concrete mixes. The results of these tests clearly support the hypothesis that this type of material may be suitable for such partial replacements if simple pretreatment is carried out. Furthermore, this measure of reuse is in line with European, national, and regional policies on sustainable development, and presents a solution to the environmental problem caused by the generation of CDW.
E cient Revocation in Group SignaturesEmmanuel

We consider the problem of revocation of identity in group signatures. Group signatures are a very useful primitive in cryptography, allowing a member of a group to sign messages anonymously on behalf of the group. Such signatures must be anonymous and unlinkable, but a group authority must be able to open them in case of dispute. Many constructions have been proposed, some of them are quite eecient. However, a recurrent problem remains concerning revocation of group members. When misusing anonymity, a cheating member must be revoked by the authority, making him unable to sign in the future, but without sacrifying the security of past group signatures. No satisfactory solution has been given to completely solve this problem. In this paper, we provide the rst solution to achieve such action for the Camenish-Stadler 6] scheme. Our solution is eecient provided the number of revoked members remains small.
Proceedings of Detc'05 2005 Asme Design Engineering Technical Conferences Double-hopf Bifurcation in an Oscillator with External Forcing and Time-delayed Feedback Control

In this paper an oscillator with time delayed velocity feedback controls is studied in detail. The particular attention is fo-cused on internal double-Hopf bifurcation with an external exciting force. Linear analysis is used to find the critical conditions under which a double-Hopf bifurcation occurs. Then center manifold theory is applied to obtain an ODE system described on a four-dimensional center manifold. Further, the technique of multiple-time scales is employed to find the approximate solutions of periodic and quasi-periodic motions. Finally, numerical simulation results are presented to verify the analytical predictions. Also, for some certain parameter values, numerical results show chaotic attractors. INTRODUCTION Self-sustained oscillations play a very important role in the study of nonlinear vibration systems which may be autonomous or non-autonomous. One type of non-autonomous systems has periodic forcing. Such a system must have three characteristics in order to generate self-sustained oscillations: a steady source of energy, a part dissipating energy, and a restoring mechanism. The rich dynamics exhibited by self-sustained oscillations can be often observed in mechanical, electrical, physical, chemical, and ecological systems. For examples, the friction caused by the relative motion between a mass and moving belt may lead to oscillations, while a solid object emerging in a steady flow may
Composite quantile regression and the oracle Model Selection Theory

Coefficient estimation and variable selection in multiple linear regression is routinely done in the (penalized) least squares (LS) framework. The concept of model selection oracle introduced by Fan and Li [J. Amer. Statist. Assoc. 96 (2001) 1348--1360] characterizes the optimal behavior of a model selection procedure. However, the least-squares oracle theory breaks down if the error variance is infinite. In the current paper we propose a new regression method called composite quantile regression (CQR). We show that the oracle model selection theory using the CQR oracle works beautifully even when the error variance is infinite. We develop a new oracular procedure to achieve the optimal properties of the CQR oracle. When the error variance is finite, CQR still enjoys great advantages in terms of estimation efficiency. We show that the relative efficiency of CQR compared to the least squares is greater than 70% regardless the error distribution. Moreover, CQR could be much more efficient and sometimes arbitrarily more efficient than the least squares. The same conclusions hold when comparing a CQR-oracular estimator with a LS-oracular estimator.
Experimental Manipulation of Precipitation Affects Soil Nitrogen Availability in Semiarid Mongolian Pine (Pinus sylvestris var. mongolica) Plantation

Expected changes in precipitation over large regions of the world under global climate change will have profound effects on terrestrial ecosystems in arid and semiarid regions. To explore how changes in the amount of precipitation in the growing season would affect soil nitrogen (N) availability in a semiarid ecosystem, we established rainout shelters and irrigation systems by simulating 30% reduced (DRY) and 30% increased precipitation (WET) relative to natural precipitation (Control) to measure some key soil process properties for two growing seasons in a nutrient-poor Mongolian pine (P. sylvestris var. mongolica) plantation. Both WET and DRY treatments significantly affected monthly soil inorganic nitrogen concentrations, which showed a higher inorganic N under DRY than Control in each month and lower in WET than Control. Monthly soil microbial biomass N content was reduced by DRY and raised by WET treatments. The results indicated the asynchrony of the availability of soil moisture and soil nutrients in Mongolian pine plantations at the Horqin Sandy Lands in Northeast China. Water limited plant growth in Mongolian pine plantations when precipitation decreased, and nitrogen limitation became increasingly important when precipitation increased. Accumulation of N in microbial biomass is an important mechanism for N cycling in this ecosystem. To effectively manage Mongolian pine plantations, it is advised that evapotranspiration is minimized when precipitation decreases and that there is an increase in soil N availability by protecting litterfall when precipitation increases.
A Case for Redundant Arrays of Hybrid Disks (RAHD)

Hybrid Hard Disk Drive was originally concepted by Samsung, which incorporates a Flash memory in a magnetic disk. The combined ultra-high-density benefits of magnetic storage and the low-power and fast read access of NAND technology inspires us to construct Redundant Arrays of Hybrid Disks (RAHD) to offer a possible alternative to today's Redundant Arrays of Independent Disks (RAIDs) and/or Massive Arrays of Idle Disks (MAIDs). We first design an internal management system (including Energy-Efficient Control) for hybrid disks. Three traces collected from real systems as well as a synthetic trace are then used to evaluate the RAHD arrays. The trace-driven experimental results show: in the high speed mode, a RAHD outplays the purely-magnetic-disk-based RAIDs by a factor of 2.4-4; in the energy-efficient mode, a RAHD4/5 can save up to 89% of energy at little performance degradation.
Dynamics of the “Popcorn” Wolbachia Infection in Outbred Aedes aegypti Informs Prospects for Mosquito Vector Control

Forty percent of the world's population is at risk of contracting dengue virus, which produces dengue fever with a potentially fatal hemorrhagic form. The wMelPop Wolbachia infection of Drosophila melanogaster reduces life span and interferes with viral transmission when introduced into the mosquito Aedes aegypti, the primary vector of dengue virus. Wolbachia has been proposed as an agent for preventing transmission of dengue virus. Population invasion by Wolbachia depends on levels of cytoplasmic incompatibility, fitness effects, and maternal transmission. Here we characterized these traits in an outbred genetic background of a potential target population of Ae. aegypti using two crossing schemes. Cytoplasmic incompatibility was strong in this background, and the maternal transmission rate of Wolbachia was high. The infection substantially reduced longevity of infected adult females, regardless of whether adults came from larvae cultured under high or low levels of nutrition or density. The infection reduced the viability of diapausing and nondiapausing eggs. Viability was particularly low when eggs were laid by older females and when diapausing eggs had been stored for a few weeks. The infection affected mosquito larval development time and adult body size under different larval nutrition levels and densities. The results were used to assess the potential for wMelPop-CLA to invade natural populations of Ae. aegypti and to develop recommendations for the maintenance of fitness in infected mosquitoes that need to compete against field insects.
Self-Access and Metacognitive Awareness in Young Learners: How Japanese Sixth Graders Learn How to Learn English

This paper discusses theory and practice related to self-access and metacognitive awareness in young learners. While still an emerging field, the paper presents several studies that describe young learners’ self-access through playing online multi-player digital games, watching TV/films, and reading various types of texts. The teaching of metacognitive awareness, or ‘learning how to learn’, is also discussed, and examples illustrate how this knowledge is applied to learning both in class and beyond. The latter part of this paper describes elementary English instruction in Japan and includes practical applications of learning how to learn through examples from a Japanese sixth grade English class. The students discuss motivating factors beyond the classroom, how they access metacognitive knowledge, and strategies they apply to better learn English.
Consortium recommendations for advancing pharmacists' patient care services and collaborative practice agreements.

OBJECTIVE To develop consensus recommendations that provide principles and strategies for effectively implementing health care system changes, including an optimized role for pharmacists to engage in team-based, patient-centered care. DATA SOURCES An interdisciplinary group of stakeholders representing 12 states and 10 pharmacy practice settings. Consortium participants represented many areas of pharmacy, medicine, and nursing. SUMMARY The health care environment in the United States is undergoing unprecedented change, with myriad health care reform initiatives, mounting evidence for the positive contributions of pharmacists, and federal government interest in pharmacist-provided services from the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and Surgeon General. Many individuals and groups have asserted that pharmacists are a dramatically underused resource that could help improve outcomes within our health care delivery system, if properly engaged as essential members of the health care team. In January 2012, the American Pharmacists Association Foundation convened a roundtable consortium in Washington, DC, for dialogue on the role of pharmacists in patient care. The consortium participants' seven recommendations for advancing pharmacists' patient care services and collaborative practice agreements included (1) use of consistent terminology; (2) provider control over collaborative practice details; (3) infrastructure that embeds pharmacists' patient care services and collaborative practice agreements into care; (4) use of electronic health records and technology in patient care services; (5) relationships among the health care team that are strong, trusting, and mutually beneficial; (6) incentive alignments based on meaningful process and outcome measures; and (7) redesign of health professionals' practice acts, education curriculums, and operational policies. CONCLUSION Pharmacists deliver many patient care services to sustain and improve health. In an era of health care reform, advancing the level and scope of pharmacy practice holds promise to improve health and reduce costs for care. Published evidence supports the role of pharmacists as essential members of the interdisciplinary health care team and emphasizes that pharmacists are well positioned to perform medication- and wellness-related interventions that improve patient outcomes. The consortium participants' seven recommendations provide methods and infrastructure for empowering collaborative, interdisciplinary care.
Demolishing the Present to Sell off the Future? The Emergence of ‘Financialized Municipal Entrepreneurialism’ in London

This article introduces a new mode of urban entrepreneurialism in London through a study of the state‐executed, speculative development and financialization of public land. In response to an intensifying housing crisis and austerity‐imposed fiscal constraints, municipalities in London are devising entrepreneurial solutions to deliver more housing. Among these ‘solutions’ can be found the early signs of the state‐executed financialization of public housing in the UK with the use of speculative council‐owned special purpose vehicles (SPVs) that replace existing public housing stock with mixed‐tenure developments, creating ambiguous public/private tenancies that function as homes and the basis for liquid financial assets. Drawing together parallel literatures on the financialization of urban governance and housing, and combining these with original empirical research, we situate these developments in contrast to earlier modes of governance, identifying a distinct mode of entrepreneurial governance in London: financialized municipal entrepreneurialism. The local state is no longer merely the enabler—limited to providing strategic oversight of the private sector—but financializes its practice in a reimagined commercialized interventionism, as property speculator. This article concludes that while the architects of this new mode of entrepreneurialism extol the increased capacity and control it provides, any such gains must be set against longer‐term financial, democratic and political risks.
The Security Cost of Content Distribution Network Architectures

Content Distribution Network (CDN) architectures face a wide range of security threats. In this paper, we compare the cost of achieving low and high security for different CDN architectures. We reviewed the existing and emerging systems, identified the threats that they face, defined the general security requirements and considered the mechanisms available to meet the requirements. To assess the security cost, we first defined the process for selecting security mechanisms, and then defined the process for ranking the mechanisms for each architecture. The security comparison result clearly shows that the more the cost of providing service is pushed to the end points, the higher the security cost. To the best of our knowledge, this study is the first effort to assess a security cost comparison of different CDN architectures. Our work is orthogonal to other studies that try to find ways of reducing the content distribution service cost, rather than quantifying the cost to provide service security.
A low cost microcontroller implementation of fuzzy logic based hurdle avoidance controller for a mobile robot

This paper describes the design of a fuzzy logic based hurdle avoidance controller for mobile robot navigation in noisy and uncertain environments. The employed controller is a two input, two output system. The inputs to the controller are ‘distance to hurdle’ information from two SRF05 ultrasonic sensors mounted in front of the robot. The outputs from controller are speed commands for two drive wheels. The controller is first designed in MATLAB® and its rule base is optimized for best possible results. It is then implemented using a cheap and readily available AT89C52 microcontroller. The robot with the proposed controller is finally tested in various environments containing obstacles and is found to avoid the obstacles in its way successfully.
A Multi-Mode Power Gating Structure for Low-Voltage Deep-Submicron CMOS ICs

Most existing power gating structures provide only one power-saving mode. We propose a novel power gating structure that supports both a cutoff mode and an intermediate power-saving and data-retaining mode. Experiments with test structures fabricated in 0.13-mum CMOS bulk technology show that our power gating structure yields an expanded design space with more power-performance tradeoff alternatives.
Meta-Analysis of MMP2, MMP3, and MMP9 Promoter Polymorphisms and Head and Neck Cancer Risk

Background The 1306 C>T, 1171 5A>6A, and 1562C>T polymorphisms of matrix metalloproteinase (MMP) 2, MMP3, and MMP9 genes, respectively, have been found to be functional and may contribute to head and neck carcinogenesis. However, the results of case-control studies examining associations between MMP polymorphisms and head and neck cancer (HNC) risk remain inconclusive. Therefore, we performed a meta-analysis to further evaluate the role of these polymorphisms in HNC development. Methods We searched PubMed, ISI Web of Knowledge, MEDLINE, Embase, and Google Scholar to identify all published case-control studies of MMP2-1306 C>T, MMP3-1171 5A>6A, and MMP9-1562 C>T polymorphisms and HNC risk in the meta-analysis. Odds ratios (ORs) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs) were used to assess the association between these polymorphisms and HNC risk. Results Thirteen studies were included in this meta-analysis. For MMP2-1306 C>T polymorphism, significant associations were observed under three genetic models both in overall comparison and in a hospital-based subgroup, and in oral cavity cancer and nasopharyngeal cancer under dominant model as well. For MMP3-1171 5A>6A and MMP9-1562 C>T polymorphisms, no association was found in overall comparison; however, in subgroup analyses based on ethnicity and tumor site, significant associations were detected between the MMP3-1171 5A>6A polymorphism and HNC risk in a European population and pharyngeal/laryngeal cancer under two genetic contrasts. Conclusion This meta-analysis suggests that the MMP2-1306 C>T polymorphism is associated with HNC risk, as is the MMP3-1171 5A>6A polymorphism specifically in some subgroups. Further studies with larger sample sizes are warranted.
Surface Registration in the Presence of Missing Patches and Topology Change

The fusion between an endoscopic movie and a CT poses a special surface registration problem. The surface extracted from CT is complete and accurate, whereas the surface extracted from endoscopy suffers from serious missing patches and topology change. We propose a surface registration method, Thin Shell Demons, that is robust under these two situations. Motivated by Thirion’s Demons idea, the partial surface can provide virtual forces to attract the complete surface, which is equipped with a novel physics-based deformation energy. This energy can help preserve the correct surface topology while producing realistic deformation for the regions that don’t have any attracting counterpart regions. The attraction direction assures the deformation is not affected by the surface completeness. Moreover, we propose to use geometric feature matching for computing virtual forces to handle inaccurate 3D point positions and large deformations. We test our method for CT/endoscope fusion and show its potential to achieve successful registration.
27 GHz bandwidth high speed monolithic integrated optoelectronic photoreceiver consisting of a waveguide fed photodiode and an InAlAs/InGaAs-HFET-traveling wave amplifier

An InP-based monolithic integrated photoreceiver with a bandwidth of 27 GHz is presented. The device consists of a waveguide fed pin-photodiode and a traveling wave amplifier with coplanar waveguides based on four InAlAs/InGaAs/InP-HFET. The integration concept, receiver design, fabrication process and characterization are shown. The presented concept offers a potential for bit rates in the 100 Gb/s range.
A dominant interfering mutant of FADD/MORT1 enhances deletion of autoreactive thymocytes and inhibits proliferation of mature T lymphocytes

Members of the tumour necrosis factor receptor family that contain a death domain have pleiotropic activities. They induce apoptosis via interaction with intracellular FADD/MORT1 and trigger cell growth or differentiation via TRADD and TRAF molecules. The impact of FADD/MORT1‐transduced signals on T lymphocyte development was investigated in transgenic mice expressing a dominant negative mutant protein, FADD‐DN. Unexpectedly, FADD‐DN enhanced negative selection of self‐reactive thymic lymphocytes and inhibited T cell activation by increasing apoptosis. Thus signalling through FADD/MORT1 does not lead exclusively to cell death, but under certain circumstances can promote cell survival and proliferation.
Controlling flow reconfigurations in SDN

Software-Defined Network (SDN) controllers include mechanisms to globally reconfigure the network in order to respond to a changing environment. While iterative methods are employed to solve flow optimization problems, demands arrive or leave the system changing the optimization instance and requiring further iterations. In this paper, we focus on the general class of iterative solvers considering an exponential decrease over time in the optimality gap. Assuming dynamic arrivals and departures of demands, the computed optimality gap at each iteration Q(t) is described by an auto-regressive stochastic process. At each time slot the controller may choose to apply the current iteration to the network or not. Applying the current iteration improves the optimality gap but requires flow reconfiguration which hurts QoS and system stability. To limit the reconfigurations, we propose two control policies that minimize the flow allocation cost while respecting a network reconfiguration budget. We validate our model by experimenting with a realistic network setting and using standard Linear Programming tools used in the SDN industry. We show that our policies provide a practical means of keeping the optimally gap small within a given reconfiguration constraint.