Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Polychronous Wavefront Computations

There is great interest in methods for computing that do not involve digital machines. Many computational paradigms were inspired by brain research, such as Boolean neuronal logic [McCulloch & Pitts, 1943], the perceptron [Rosenblatt, 1958], attractor neural networks [Hopfield, 1982] and cellular neural nets [Chua & Yang, 1988]. All these paradigms abstract biological circuits to artificial neural networks, i.e. interconnected units (neurons) that perform computations based on the connections between the units (synapses). Here we present a novel computational framework based on polychronous wavefront dynamics. It is entirely different from an artificial neural network paradigm, rather it is based on temporal and spatial patterns of activity in pulse-propagating media and their interaction with transponders, which create pulses in response to receiving appropriate inputs, e.g. two coincident input pulses. A pulse propagates as a circular wave from its source to other transponders. Computations result from interactions between transponders, and they are encoded by the exact physical locations of transponders and by precise timings of pulses. We illustrate temporal pattern recognition, reverberating memory, temporal signal analysis and basic logical operations using polychronous wavefront computations. This work reveals novel principles for designing nanoscale computational devices.
The reaction of dental pulp to Escherichia coli lipopolysaccharide and Enterococcus faecalis lipoteichoic acid

This research evaluates the effects of the lipopolysaccharides (LPS) from Escherichia coli and lipoteichoic acid (LTA) from Enterococcus faecalis on dental pulp. These molecules are components of the Gram-negative and Gram-positive bacteria cell wall, respectively. Ten dogs were used in the experiment. Inoculation in surgically opened pulp and coronal restoration with glass ionomer was the method chosen. The evaluation times were 1, 7, 15, 30 and 60 days. The results showed that the LPS and LTA, at 150 µg/ml, produced a negative interference in the pulp leading to destruction. LTA caused less damage than LPS.
Frequency-domain constructed redundant bases for denoising

In this paper, redundant bases for denoising are constructed completely in the frequency-domain. The advantage of the frequency-domain bases construction approach is that it provides much more flexibility. As a result, the filterbank (basis) can be constructed to fit the features of the signal more closely, and the filter's frequency response in the filterbank can be designed to be very close to the Gaussian curve so that the time-frequency localization is close to optimal. Experimental results show that the new bases perform very well with signals that can be very difficult for denoising with conventional bases, such as conventional wavelets, wavelet packets, and wavelet frames etc.
Extending the MPSM Join

Hardware vendors are improving their (database) servers in two main aspects: (1) increasing main memory capacities of several TB per server, mostly with non-uniform memory access (NUMA) among sockets, and (2) massively parallel multi-core processing. While there has been research on the parallelization of database operations, still many algorithmic and control techniques in current database technology were devised for disk-based systems where I/O dominated the performance. Furthermore, NUMA has only recently caught the community’s attention. In [AKN12], we analyzed the challenges that modern hardware poses to database algorithms on a 32-core machine with 1 TB of main memory (four NUMA partitions) and derived three rather simple rules for NUMA-affine scalable multi-core parallelization. Based on our findings, we developed MPSM, a suite of massively parallel sort-merge join algorithms, and showed its competitive performance on large main memory databases with billions of objects. In this paper, we go one step further and investigate the effectiveness of MPSM for non-inner join variants and complex query plans. We show that for noninner join variants, MPSM incurs no extra overhead. Further, we point out ways of exploiting the roughly sorted output of MPSM in subsequent joins. In our evaluation, we compare these ideas to the basic execution of sequential MPSM joins and find that the original MPSM performs very well in complex query plans.
An Empirical Investigation On Business Intelligence Use In Budgeting

This empirical study addresses the research questions of how and why BI is used or not used to support the flexibility and integration needs in budgeting. Budgeting is considered a process with four main activities namely budget construction, budget consolidation, budget monitoring and budget reporting which belong equally to the flexibility and integration domains. Empirical data is obtained from business controllers in seven companies in Thailand which use BI in their budgeting processes. The result from the flexibility domain shows that BI constrains business controllers to achieve the flexibility required to support budget construction and budget reporting. The result from the integration domain shows that an improper enterprise architecture design causes a BI non-use to support budget consolidation and budget monitoring. The analysis concludes that BI non-use occurs from two reasons. First, BI cannot support flexibility in budgeting. Second, BI faces integration limitations due to improper enterprise architecture design. This study contributes to the AIS research in three ways. It contributes to the limited empirical BI research. It urges academia and practitioners to consider BI initiatives in a more critical manner. It observes that BI use for decision-making needs to be complemented with spreadsheets.
On the Benefits of Risk Pooling in Inventory Management

We analyze the benefits of inventory pooling in a multi‐location newsvendor framework. Using a number of common demand distributions, as well as the distribution‐free approximation, we compare the centralized (pooled) system with the decentralized (non‐pooled) system. We investigate the sensitivity of the absolute and relative reduction in costs to the variability of demand and to the number of locations (facilities) being pooled. We show that for the distributions considered, the absolute benefit of risk pooling increases with variability, and the relative benefit stays fairly constant, as long as the coefficient of variation of demand stays in the low range. However, under high‐variability conditions, both measures decrease to zero as the demand variability is increased. We show, through analytical results and computational experiments, that these effects are due to the different operating regimes exhibited by the system under different levels of variability: as the variability is increased, the system switches from the normal operation to the effective and then complete shutdown regimes; the decrease in the benefits of risk pooling is associated with the two latter stages. The centralization allows the system to remain in the normal operation regime under higher levels of variability compared to the decentralized system.
Improvements to a Sample-Concatenation Based Singing Voice Synthesizer

This paper describes recent improvements to our singing voice synthesizer based on concatenation and transformation of audio samples using spectral models. Improvements include firstly robust automation of previous singer database creation process, a lengthy and tedious task which involved recording scripts generation, studio sessions, audio editing, spectral analysis, and phonetic based segmentation; and secondly synthesis technique enhancement, improving the quality of sample transformations and concatenations, and discriminating between phonetic intonation and musical articulation.
Exciton-plasmon coupling: Good or Bad?

In this paper, the interaction of quantum emitters with plasmonic nanostructures and the resulting enhancement is studied. Special focus is placed on emitters with less than unity quantum efficiency, such as luminescent systems, and the effect the intrinsic losses have on fluorescence quenching in the extreme near field of metallic structures. With the example of a luminescent organic semiconductor film, we show that quenching plays only a minor role for weak emitters and explain the extraordinarily large enhancement of such a system in the extreme near field of a plasmonic structure. This framework will allow the development and optimization of applications in the field of ultra-sensitive single-molecule spectroscopy and imaging.
Multiple and Specific mRNA Processing Targets for the Major Human hnRNP Proteins

ABSTRACT Alternative splicing is a key mechanism regulating gene expression, and it is often used to produce antagonistic activities particularly in apoptotic genes. Heterogeneous nuclear ribonucleoparticle (hnRNP) proteins form a family of RNA-binding proteins that coat nascent pre-mRNAs. Many but not all major hnRNP proteins have been shown to participate in splicing control. The range and specificity of hnRNP protein action remain poorly documented, even for those affecting splice site selection. We used RNA interference and a reverse transcription-PCR screening platform to examine the implications of 14 of the major hnRNP proteins in the splicing of 56 alternative splicing events in apoptotic genes. Out of this total of 784 alternative splicing reactions tested in three human cell lines, 31 responded similarly to a knockdown in at least two different cell lines. On the other hand, the impact of other hnRNP knockdowns was cell line specific. The broadest effects were obtained with hnRNP K and C, two proteins whose role in alternative splicing had not previously been firmly established. Different hnRNP proteins affected distinct sets of targets with little overlap even between closely related hnRNP proteins. Overall, our study highlights the potential contribution of all of these major hnRNP proteins in alternative splicing control and shows that the targets for individual hnRNP proteins can vary in different cellular contexts.
NEW SOLAR TELESCOPE OBSERVATIONS OF MAGNETIC RECONNECTION OCCURRING IN THE CHROMOSPHERE OF THE QUIET SUN

Magnetic reconnection is a process in which field-line connectivity changes in a magnetized plasma. On the solar surface, it often occurs with the cancellation of two magnetic fragments of opposite polarity. Using the 1.6 m New Solar Telescope, we observed the morphology and dynamics of plasma visible in the Hα line, which is associated with a canceling magnetic feature (CMF) in the quiet Sun. The region can be divided into four magnetic domains: two pre-reconnection and two post-reconnection. In one post-reconnection domain, a small cloud erupted, with a plane-of-sky speed of 10 km s−1, while in the other one, brightening began at points and then tiny bright loops appeared and subsequently shrank. These features support the notion that magnetic reconnection taking place in the chromosphere is responsible for CMFs.
Quality specifications for glucose meters: assessment by simulation modeling of errors in insulin dose.

BACKGROUND Proposed quality specifications for glucose meters allow results to be in error by 5-10% or more of the "true" concentration. Because meters are used as aids in the adjustment of insulin doses, we aimed to characterize the quantitative effect of meter error on the ability to identify the insulin dose appropriate for the true glucose concentration. METHODS Using Monte Carlo simulation, we generated random "true" glucose values within defined intervals. These values were converted to "measured" glucose values using mathematical models of glucose meters having defined imprecision (CV) and bias. For each combination of bias and imprecision, 10,000-20,000 true and measured glucose concentrations were matched with the corresponding insulin doses specified by selected insulin-dosing regimens. Discrepancies in prescribed doses were counted and their frequencies plotted in relation to bias and imprecision. RESULTS For meters with a total analytical error of 5%, dosage errors occurred in approximately 8-23% of insulin doses. At 10% total error, 16-45% of doses were in error. Large errors of insulin dose (two-step or greater) occurred >5% of the time when the CV and/or bias exceeded 10-15%. Total dosage error rates were affected only slightly by choices of sliding scale among insulin dosage rules or by the range of blood glucose. To provide the intended insulin dosage 95% of the time required that both the bias and the CV of the glucose meter be <1% or <2%, depending on mean glucose concentrations and the rules for insulin dosing. CONCLUSIONS Glucose meters that meet current quality specifications allow a large fraction of administered insulin doses to differ from the intended doses. The effects of such dosage errors on blood glucose and on patient outcomes require study.
Should we use model-based methods for phylogenetic inference when we know that assumptions about among-site rate variation and nucleotide substitution pattern are violated?

An often-expressed concern regarding the use ofmaximum likelihoodandothermodelbased methods in phylogenetic analysis is that the assumedmodels are too simple, violating known aspects of sequence evolution in several ways (e.g., Sanderson and Kim, 2000). For example,we know that sites do not truly evolve independently, that the substitution process is not completely homogeneous across sites and through time, and that simple stochastic models fail to adequately represent the complexity of the nucleotide substitution process. Many advances have been made in an effort to model sequence evolution more realistically, including allowance for unequal base composition (Felsenstein, 1981), complex substitution patterns (e.g., Tavare, 1986; Yang, 1994), among-site rate variation (Yang, 1993), compensatory base substitution (Schoniger and Von Haeseler, 1994), and heterogeneity of the substitution process across the tree (Galtier and Gouy, 1998). Nevertheless, even with these improvements, there is no reason to believe that even the most general and parameter-rich evolutionarymodels currently available capture all the nuances of the processes that have generated any particular set of sequences. Furthermore, accurate estimation of the parameters of complex evolutionary models can be very difcult, anddata sets containing many taxa and sites may be needed for likelihood estimation to consistently yield reliable parameter estimates (Nielsen, 1997; Sullivan et al., 1999). Fortunately, perfect models are not necessarily a prerequisite for reliable statistical inference (e.g., Burnham and Andersen, 1998). Many statistical methods performwell in the face ofviolationof commondistributional assumptions such as normality (e.g., Boneau, 1960; Donaldson, 1968). However, this observation does not guarantee the robustness of maximum likelihood when applied to the phylogenetic estimation problem. It is therefore important to examine the impact of various model violations on the accuracy of phylogenetic estimation (e.g., Huelsenbeck, 1995). In some cases, biases introduced by violation of a model’s assumptions can actually favor recovery of the true tree rather than an incorrect tree (Yang, 1997; Siddall, 1998). For example, Yang (1997) simulated data under a Jukes–Cantor (JC) model with variable rates across sites (following a gamma distribution) and demonstrated that estimation under the JC model with equal rates could be more efcient than estimation in which among-site rate variationwas correctly modeled by a gamma distribution. However, the reasons for the improvement in efciency shouldbedisconcerting (Bruno andHalpern, 1999; Swofford et al., 2001). These results suggest that application of increasingly general and complex models would sometimes lead to decreased efciency, despite the fact that themore complex models almost always provide signicantly better t to real data than the simplermodels. However, in Yang’s study, the improvement
Stock Market Liberalization and Emerging Market Country Fund Premiums

This paper provides an analysis of the effects of financial market liberalization on emerging market country fund premiums, share prices, and net asset values. The evidence shows that the listing of new country funds resulted in a 8.8% decrease in the premiums on the old funds during the 4 months beginning with the announcement of the new funds. Relaxation of investment restrictions, although it has a positive impact on the net asset values has no net effect on the fund premiums. These findings support the predictions of the theoretical models of international asset pricing and country fund pricing.
Integrated object detection and tracking by multiple hypothesis analysis

In this paper, we describe a novel multi-object tracking technique that integrates object detection into the object tracking process and solves the tracking problem by finding the globally optimized object trajectories through the multiple hypothesis analysis. The detection module recognizes the target objects in each frame of the video stream. The tracking module accumulates the detection results in a graph-like structure and maintains multiple hypotheses of objects trajectories. The hypotheses are ranked by their likelihoods which are computed over a sufficient number of frames, and the most likely hypothesis is used to generate the object tracking result. At the same time, the tracking module gives feedbacks to the object detection module, which are predictions of object locations in subsequent frames. Through such tight integration of the object detection and tracking, as well as the global optimization of object trajectories, we have accomplished not only robust and efficient object tracking, but also the ability to deal with occlusions, irregular object motions, changing appearances, etc. which are the challenging problems for most traditional tracking methods.
CHypercube: A Novel P2P Overlay Network

Most of recent researches on P2P system focus on how to build a highly usable P2P overlay network. Researchers include small routing table, short query path and good robustness into their design objectives of overlay topology. In this paper, we present a general group theory method and define a new Cayley graph. Based on this graph, we propose a novel P2P overlay network called CHypercube, which has simple routing(searching) scheme and many other excellent properties such as short query path, high clustering and good robustness because of its symmetry. The performance is evaluated by simulation to show that CHypercube posses shorter query path length and higher clustering and better robustness than several popular P2P overlay networks such as Chord and Ulysses.
A multi-scale framework for nano-electronic devices modeling with application to the junctionless transistor

In this paper we present a new multi-scale simulation scheme for next-generation electronic design automation (EDA) for nano-electronics. The scheme features a combination of the first-principles quantum mechanical calculation, semi-classical semiconductor device simulation, compact model generation and circuit simulation. To demonstrate the feasibility of the proposed scheme, we apply our newly developed quantum mechanics/electromagnetics method to simulate the junctionless (JL) transistors. Based on the calculated I-V curves, a compact model is then constructed for the JL transistors. The validity of the compact model is further verified by the transient circuit simulation of an inverter.
AMPAergic mechanisms linked to cerebral ischemia

Brain ischemia is a major cause of death and the most common element of disability in the adult population worldwide. This phenomenon occurs when blood flow is reduced or interrupted in the various brain districts leading to oxygen and glucose deprivation (OGD), which by triggering a complex series of biochemical plus molecular mechanisms such as an exacerbated production of misfolded and oxidized proteins together with the breakdown of cellular integrity are responsible for neuronal cell death. Despite the mechanisms that underlie the triggering of ischemic insults are still unclear, numerous studies are pointing to excitotoxic glutamatergic neuronal signaling processes as key mediators of these events. Indeed, cultured neurons deriving from global cerebral ischemia appear to respond to OGD with a rapid internalization of α ‑ amino ‑ 3 ‑ hydroxy ‑ 5 ‑ methyl ‑ 4 ‑ isoxazolepropionic acid receptors (AMPAR) thereby suggesting them as critical components of OGD-induced cell death. It strongly seems that OGD-dependent neuronal ischemia occurs via GluR2-sites in which a switching from GluR2-containing Ca 2+ -impermeable receptors to GluR2-lacking Ca 2+ -permeable subtypes constitutes an important step. Interestingly attention regarding excitotoxicity-related ischemic events, aside being largely directed to the o veractivation of AMPARs, appear to be also tightly linked to the translocation of the pro-apoptotic protein Bax to the mitochondria accounting for the activation of the caspase factors. Although the brain is able to repair part of the neuronal damages and to restore the morpho-functional organization, cerebral ischemia more than ever continues to attract much attention especially due to its elevated mortality feature. In this review we analyzed the role played by GluR2 AMPAR subunit in the pathological processes that lead to neurodegenerative diseases with particular attention being paid to the assembly of the major synaptic AMPARs together with cellular events that feasibly account for ischemic brain damages. In this context, knowledge of the different molecular mechanisms operating under these conditions may surely provide helpful indications regarding the identification of new therapeutic targets for treating cerebral ischemia.
Absence of TP53 Codon 249 Mutations in Young Guinean Children with High Aflatoxin Exposure

Infection with hepatitis viruses and chronic exposure to high levels of dietary aflatoxins are the major etiologic agents for hepatocellular carcinoma in west Africa. A challenge for the prevention of hepatocellular carcinoma in this region is that both hepatitis B virus and aflatoxin exposures start early in life; indeed, aflatoxin exposures can start in utero and continue unabated throughout childhood. A mutation in the TP53 tumor suppressor gene at codon 249 (TP53 Ser249 mutation) has been reported previously for hepatocellular carcinoma tumors and matched plasma DNA samples in individuals from areas with high aflatoxin exposure. We examined whether the TP53 Ser249 mutation could be observed in DNA found in plasma of young children (ages 2-5 years) from Guinea, west Africa, a region of high aflatoxin exposure. Plasma aflatoxin-albumin adducts were present in 119 of 124 (96%) of the children, geometric mean of positives 9.9 pg/mg albumin (95% confidence interval, 8.8-11.0 pg/mg). This is the level and prevalence of exposure observed previously in adults. Following PCR amplification of plasma-derived DNA and detection using mass spectrometry, none of the samples were found to contain the TP53 Ser249 mutation. Because ∼50% of the hepatocellular carcinomas in adults in west Africa have this specific TP53 Ser249 mutation, a lack of detection in samples from children ages <5 years may indicate that a window of opportunity for intervention exists that could be exploited to lower hepatocellular carcinoma risk.