Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Edge disjoint paths revisited

The approximability of the maximum edge disjoint paths problem (EDP) in directed graphs was seemingly settled by the Ω(<i>m</i><sup>1/2-ε</sup>)-hardness result of Guruswami et al. [10] and the <i>O</i>(√<i>m</i>) approximation achievable via both the natural LP relaxation [19] and the greedy algorithm [11, 12]. Here <i>m</i> is the number of edges in the graph. However, we observe that the hardness of approximation shown in [10] applies to <i>sparse</i> graphs and hence when expressed as a function of <i>n</i>, the number of vertices, only an Ω(<i>n</i><sup>1/2-ε</sup>)-hardness follows. On the other hand, the <i>O</i>(√<i>m</i>)-approximation algorithms do not guarantee a <i>sub-linear</i> (in terms of <i>n</i>) approximation algorithm for <i>dense</i> graphs. We note that a similar gap exists in the known results on the integrality gap of the natural LP relaxation: an Ω(√<i>n</i>) lower bound and an <i>O</i>(√<i>m</i>) upper bound. Motivated by this discrepancy in the upper and lower bounds we study algorithms for the EDP in directed and undirected graphs obtaining improved approximation ratios. We show that the greedy algorithm has an approximation ratio of <i>O</i>(min(<i>n</i><sup>2/3</sup>, √<i>m</i>)) in undirected graphs and a ratio of <i>O</i>(min(<i>n</i><sup>4/5</sup>, √<i>m</i>)) in directed graphs. For ayclic graphs we give an <i>O</i>(√<i>n</i> log <i>n</i>) approximation via LP rounding. These are the first sub-linear approximation ratios for EDP. Our results also extend to EDP with weights and to the unsplittable flow problem with uniform edge capacities.
Automatic calibration and sensitivity analysis of DISPRIN model parameters: A case study on Lesti watershed in East Java, Indonesia

Abstract The Dee Investigation Simulation Program for Regulating Network (DISPRIN) model consists of eight tanks that are mutually interconnected. It contains 25 parameters involved in the process of transforming rainfall into runoff data. This complexity factor is the appeal to be explored in order to more efficiently. Parameterization process in this research is done by using Differential Evolution (DE) algorithm while parameters sensitivity analysis is done by using Monte Carlo simulation method. Software application models of merging the two concepts are called DISPRIN25-DE model and compiled using code program M-FILE from MATLAB. Results of research on Lesti watershed at the control point Tawangrejeni automatic water level recorder (AWLR) station (319.14 km2) in East Java Indonesia indicate that the model can work effectively for transforming rainfall into runoff data series. Model performance at the calibration stage provide value of NSE = 0.871 and PME = 0.343 while in the validation stage provide value of NSE = 0.823 and PME = 0.180. Good performance in the calibration process indicates that DE algorithm is able to solve problems of global optimization of the equations system with a large number of variables. The results of the sensitivity analysis of 25 parameters showed that 3 parameters have a strong sensitivity level, 7 parameters with a medium level and 15 other parameters showed weak sensitivity level to performance of DISPRIN model.
Progressive structural brain abnormalities and their relationship to clinical outcome: a longitudinal magnetic resonance imaging study early in schizophrenia.

BACKGROUND Many studies have shown that structural brain abnormalities in schizophrenia are already present by the time of index evaluation of first-episode patients. However, whether these abnormalities progressively worsen during the subsequent course of the disorder remains unresolved. METHODS To study the longitudinal progression of structural brain abnormalities, high-resolution multispectral magnetic resonance images obtained on 73 recent-onset schizophrenic patients and 23 controls were analyzed using state-of-the-art, well-validated, and highly reliable neuroimaging tools. The mean duration between initial and follow-up MRIs was 3 years. Repeated-measures analysis of covariance was carried out to determine (1) whether brain volume changes differed between patients and controls and (2) the significance of regional brain changes on functional outcome in schizophrenia. RESULTS We found accelerated enlargement in cortical sulcal cerebrospinal fluid spaces early in the course of schizophrenia. Instead of the usual trajectory of volume enlargement, patients showed progressive reduction in frontal lobe white matter volume. A reciprocal increase in frontal lobe cerebrospinal fluid volume also occurred at a more rapid rate in patients than in controls. In keeping with most of our a priori hypotheses, patients with poor outcome had greater lateral ventricular enlargement over time than patients with good outcome. Progressive decrement in frontal lobe white matter volume and enlargement in frontal lobe cerebrospinal fluid volume were associated with greater negative symptom severity. Reductions in frontal lobe gray and white matter volumes correlated with poorer executive functioning. CONCLUSIONS There are ongoing changes in the brains of schizophrenic patients during the initial years after diagnosis despite ongoing antipsychotic drug treatment. These progressive changes seem to be most evident in the frontal lobes and to correlate with functional impairment. Disruptions in neurodevelopment or neural plasticity may act alone or in combination to bring about these progressive brain deficits in schizophrenia.
Changing forest stakeholders’ perception of ecosystem services with linguistic nudging

Abstract This paper explores whether the perceptions of forest owners and professionals could be nudged towards more sustainable management practices by adjusting a policy text’s metaphorical content. Recent research has demonstrated a link between information interventions and preference change, but there is a need to further explore individuals’ reactions to information on forest-based ecosystem services and to link these to the design of policy instruments. We contribute to narrowing this gap by nudging the content of a policy text comparing rotation forest management (RFM) and continuous cover forestry (CCF), and exposing it to forest stakeholders. The research is carried out in Finland, the so-called ‘forest nation’ of Europe, whose economy and culture is closely tied to forests. The results highlight a deep-rooted opinion divide between Finnish forest owners and professionals: the professionals reacted significantly more negatively towards policy text emphasising continuous cover practice than forest owners. Our results support the use of linguistic nudging as a complement to other policy instruments, but they also highlight the challenges of using one-fits-all approaches to make policies more palatable. In our study, the stakeholders’ different reaction to nudge was also explained by their age, and type and degree of prior knowledge on forest management.
The Application of Swarm Intelligence to Collective Robots

This chapter considers the application of swarm intelligence principles to collective robotics. Our aim is to identify the reasons for the growing interest in the intersection of these two areas, and to evaluate the progress that has been made to date. In the course of this chapter, we will discuss the implications of taking a swarm intelligent approach, and review recent research and applications. The area of “swarm robotics” offers considerable promise for practical application, although it is still in its infancy, and many of the tasks that have been achieved are better described as “proof-of-concept” examples, rather than full-blown applications. In the first part of the chapter, we will examine what taking a swarm intelligence approach to robotics implies, and outline its expected benefits. We shall then proceed to review recent swarm robotic applications, before concluding with a case study application of predator-prey robotics that illustrates some of the potential of the approach.
A Corpus-based Approach to Finding Happiness

What are the sources of happiness and sadness in everyday life? In this paper, we employ ‘linguistic ethnography’ to seek out where happiness lies in our everyday lives by considering a corpus of blogposts from the LiveJournal community annotated with happy and sad moods. By analyzing this corpus, we derive lists of happy and sad words and phrases annotated by their ‘happiness factor. ’ Various semantic analyses performed with this wordlist reveal the happiness trajectory of a 24-day (3am and 9-10p are most happy), and a 7-day week (Wednesdays are saddest), and compare the socialness and humancenteredness of happy descriptions versus sad descriptions. We evaluate our corpus-based approach in a classification task and contrast our wordlist with emotionally-annotated wordlists produced by experimental focus groups. Having located happiness temporally and semantically within this corpus of everyday life, the paper concludes by offering a corpus-inspired livable recipe for happiness 1 .
Lecture 14: Carrier Sense

Last lecture, we looked at the ALOHA protocol for medium access control (MAC). The ALOHA protocol pioneered two main ideas: the ability to detect and handle collisions on a shared medium and the use of randomization to decide whether to transmit a packet or not. However, ALOHA was designed for situations where none of the users could hear any of the other users transmitting. Real-world wireless deployments are not always this bad, and oftentimes users do have the ability to hear each other’s transmissions—an ability called carrier sense. This lecture, we’ll look at a few examples of how to incorporate carrier sense into the MAC protocol.
Comparison of operating field sterility in open versus minimally invasive microdiscectomies of the lumbar spine

Background: Postoperative wound infection is a preventable risk that can lead to significant adverse outcomes and increased cost of care. Minimally invasive surgeries (MIS) have been found to have lower rates of postoperative infection compared with the traditional approach. To assess if the reported difference is related to intraoperative contamination or to other factors, we assessed the surgical field for sterility. Methods: We compared 10 MIS versus 10 traditional microdiscectomies. Swabs of the operating field were obtained before and after the procedure from multiple sites in the operating room. Positive and negative controls were taken of the skin immediately before and after preparation of the incision site. All swabs were plated out on Columbia blood agar plates and grown for 48 hours. Colony counting was performed to determine growth. Results: There was no statistically significant difference in the colony counts of swab sites in traditional microdiscectomies compared with MIS microdiscectomies. There was no significant contamination of the operating field using either approach. Conclusions: In this prospective study, we found that there was no significant difference in bacterial counts in swabs of operative sites in either traditional or MIS microdiscectomies, suggesting that the decreased rate of postoperative infection in the reported literature for MIS cases may be related to other factors, such as patient selection and/or postoperative care.
Earnings Inequality after Mexico ' s Economic Reforms

The second half of the eighties and the present decade are an especially meaningful period for the Mexican economy, as it encompasses a major structural change from a protected, public-sector driven economy, to a globally integrated private-sector-led one. This change has resulted in sizable economic growth but, besides being increasingly unequal, Mexico’s income distribution seems resilient to both growth and public policy. Most remarkably, the level, deterioration, and policy resilience of Mexico’s inequality has over the past decade co-existed with very rapid progress in education attainment, both in terms of coverage and distribution of schooling. This phenomenon, which in recent years has also been observed in other developing as well as developed countries, is somewhat surprising, given the powerful equalizing properties generally attributed to education. This paper finds that education is by far the variable that accounts for the largest share of the variation in earnings inequality in Mexico, both in terms of its gross and marginal contributions. This indicate that as the Mexican economy progresses, education becomes even more important in determining the choices of sectors and occupations. The contribution of education to inequality in Mexico is the second highest in Latin America, next to Brazil, and that the significance of education has been increasing over time. The increase in earnings inequality, however, does not appear to be the result of a worsening in the distribution of education, whereas the income profile, which is related to the returns to schooling, has become much steeper. Meaning that there was a shift in demand towards high skilled labor that was not met by the increase in supply probably due to the increased rate of skill-biased technological change, whose transmission to Mexico may be facilitated by the economy’s increased openness. The structure of the rates of returns indicate that the “smooth” effects of both economic sector and labor market status variables in Mexico were significantly larger in the 1992-1997 period compared to the 19881992 period (before the trade agreement). In other words, the degree of correlation between education and economic sector, as well as labor market status, changed. In fact, the worker’s insertion into the labor market and economic sector were a consequence of skill's differentials and not solely attributed to education. The returns to education have increased in recent times, especially for higher levels of education and in the upper tail of the conditional earnings distribution. Interestingly, returns to education for higher levels of education in Mexico are significantly above the Latin American average.
radiocarbon database for Early Iron Age sites in sub-Saharan Africa : initial analysis 1

We report on the compilation of a new geo-referenced database of Early Iron Age dates for the regions associated with the expansion of Bantu-language speaking peoples in sub-Saharan Africa. We explore the database as a source of coarse-grained evidence of ecological constraints on site location, and as a source of evidence for large-scale spatial trends in dates for first arrival and subsequent in-filling. It is evident even at this very coarse spatial scale that Early Iron Age sites are not typically found in areas with very low or very high annual rainfall. Four hundred millimetres of annual rainfall seems to be an effective minimum for Early Iron Age sites, although the database contains a few outliers located in areas where present-day rainfall is slightly below that threshold level. It is also evident that Early Iron Age sites are preferentially found in locations that provide suitable habitat for growing seed crops of tropical origin such as sorghum. It is not clear that there is any temporal delay differentiating the arrival of the Early Iron Age in the 10°S–20°S band from its arrival in latitudes further to the south, with visibility increasing markedly in both latitudinal bands at about AD 200.
Pilot: probabilistic lightweight group communication system for ad hoc networks

Providing reliable group communication is an ever recurring topic in distributed settings. In mobile ad hoc networks, this problem is even more significant since all nodes act as peers, while it becomes more challenging due to highly dynamic and unpredictable topology changes. In order to overcome these difficulties, we deviate from the conventional point of view, i.e., we "fight fire with fire," by exploiting the nondeterministic nature of ad hoc networks. Inspired by the principles of gossip mechanisms and probabilistic quorum systems, we present in this paper PILOT (probabilistic lightweight group communication system) for ad hoc networks, a two-layer system consisting of a set of protocols for reliable multicasting and data sharing in mobile ad hoc networks. The performance of PILOT is predictable and controllable in terms of both reliability (fault tolerance) and efficiency (overhead). We present an analysis of PILOT's performance, which is used to fine-tune protocol parameters to obtain the desired trade off between reliability and efficiency. We confirm the predictability and tunability of PILOT through simulations with ns-2.
Towards the Prediction of Complete Protein-Protein Interaction Networks

We present a statistical method for the prediction of protein--protein interactions within an organism. This approach is based on the treatment of proteins as collections of conserved domains, where each domain is responsible for a specific interaction with another domain. By characterizing the frequency with which specific domain--domain interactions occur within known interactions, our model can assign a probability to an arbitrary interaction between any two proteins with defined domains. Domain interaction data is complemented with information on the topology of a network and is incorporated into the model by assigning greater probabilities to networks displaying more biologically realistic topologies. We use Markov chain Monte Carlo techniques for the prediction of posterior probabilities of interaction between a set of proteins; allowing its application to large data sets. In this work we attempt to predict interactions in a set of 40 human proteins, known to form a connected network, and discuss methods for future improvement.
Active semantic localization of mobile robot using partial observable Monte Carlo Planning

This paper proposes a new active localization approach based on the semantic map. The deterministic active localization problem is modeled in POMDP (Partial Observable Markov Decision Process) framework and solved using POMCP (Partial Observable Monte Carlo Planning algorithm). The new approach provides a general heuristic search which outperforms the traditional greedy strategy based techniques in active localization. To provide better heuristic, a mixed reward function is defined, which combines uniqueness of observation and entropy reduction, and shows a good performance in the simulation experiments.
Predicting Automatic Speech Recognition Performance Using Prosodic Cues

In spoken dialogue systems, it is important for a system to know how likely a speech recognition hypothesis is to be correct, so it can reprompt for fresh input, or, in cases where many errors have occurred, change its interaction strategy or switch the caller to a human attendant. We have discovered prosodic features which more accurately predict when a recognition hypothesis contains a word error than the acoustic confidence score thresholds traditionally used in automatic speech recognition. We present analytic results indicating that there are significant prosodic differences between correctly and incorrectly recognized turns in the TOOT train information corpus. We then present machine learning results showing how the use of prosodic features to automatically predict correct versus incorrectly recognized turns improves over the use of acoustic confidence scores alone.
Influences of hand dominance on the maintenance of benefits after home-based modified constraint-induced movement therapy in individuals with stroke

Objective: To investigate the influence of hand dominance on the maintenance of gains after home-based modified constraint-induced movement therapy (mCIMT). Method: Aprevious randomized controlled trial was conducted to examine the addition of trunk restraint to the mCIMT. Twenty-two chronic stroke survivors with mild to moderate motor impairments received individual home-based mCIMT with or without trunk restraints, five times per week, three hours daily over two weeks. In this study, the participants were separated into dominant group, which had their paretic upper limb as dominant before the stroke (n=8), and non-dominant group (n=14) for analyses. The ability to perform unimanual tasks was measured by the Wolf Motor Function Test (WMFT) and the Motor Activity Log (MAL), whereas the capacity to perform bimanual tasks was measured using the Bilateral Activity Assessment Scale (BAAS). Results: Analysis revealed significant positive effects on the MAL amount of use and quality of the movement scales, as well as on the BAAS scores after intervention, with no differences between groups. Both groups maintained the bimanual improvements during follow-ups (BAAS-seconds 0.1, 95% CI -10.0 to 10.0), however only the dominant group maintained the unilateral improvements (MAL-amount of use: 1.5, 95% CI 0.7 to 2.3; MAL-quality: 1.3, 95% CI 0.5 to 2.1). Conclusions: Upper limb dominance did not interfere with the acquisition of upper limb skills after mCIMT. However, the participants whose paretic upper limb was dominant demonstrated better abilities to maintain the unilateral gains. The bilateral improvements were maintained, regardless of upper limb dominance.
Common introns within orthologous genes: software and application to plants

The residence of spliceosomal introns within protein-coding genes can fluctuate over time, with genes gaining, losing or conserving introns in a complex process that is not entirely understood. One approach for studying intron evolution is to compare introns with respect to position and type within closely related genes. Here, we describe new, freely available software called Common Introns Within Orthologous Genes (CIWOG), available at http://ciwog.gdcb. iastate.edu/, which detects common introns in protein-coding genes based on position and sequence conservation in the corresponding protein alignments. CIWOG provides dynamic web displays that facilitate detailed intron studies within orthologous genes. User-supplied options control how introns are clustered into sets of common introns. CIWOG also identifies special classes of introns, in particular those with GC- or U12-type donor sites, which enables analyses of these introns in relation to their counterparts in the other genes in orthologous groups. The software is demonstrated with application to a comprehensive study of eight plant transcriptomes. Three specific examples are discussed: intron class conversion from GT- to GC-donor-type introns in monocots, plant U12-type intron conservation and a global analysis of intron evolution across the eight plant species.
Captopril Ameliorates Myocarditis in Acute Experimental Chagas Disease

Background—Captopril, an angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitor, is commonly prescribed to patients with Chagas heart disease (CHD). There are few human studies and no animal studies on the effects of captopril in CHD. We investigated the effects of captopril on myocarditis and the host immune response to Trypanosoma cruzi in an experimental model of acute CHD. Methods and Results—A/J mice infected with Brazil strain of T cruzi developed acute myocarditis by day 21 after infection, consisting of severe focal inflammation, necrosis, fibrosis, and T cruzi pseudocysts. Administration of captopril (5 mg/L in the water) significantly reduced necrosis and fibrosis in infected mice. Increasing the captopril dose also led to a decrease in inflammation. Captopril did not affect overall mortality but did delay death while having no effect on parasitemia or cardiac parasite load. Treatment did not affect humoral immunity against T cruzi or cardiac myosin (autoimmunity) but did decrease delayed-type hypersensitivity responses against both antigens. Interestingly, increasing the dose of captopril induced mortality in infected mice in a dose-dependent manner. Mortality was apparently not due to T cruzi because neither parasitemia nor cardiac parasitosis was affected. The combination of captopril and infection may have impaired renal function because these mice had increased water consumption, decreased body mass, and increased serum BUN/creatinine ratio. Conclusions—Captopril ameliorates the myocarditis associated with acute T cruzi infection.