Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
AGN unification and the X-ray background

Active Galactic Nuclei (AGN) unification, which implies a large number of obscured AGN, can explain the optical, infrared and X-ray content of deep multiwavelength surveys. Here, we show that the same model also successfully explains the spectral shape and intensity of the X-ray background. The simplest possible unified model assumes a constant ratio of obscured to unobscured AGN, independent of redshift or luminosity. With almost no free parameters, the predicted X-ray background agrees remarkably well with observations. Both the observed properties of deep AGN samples and the X-ray background can be explained by the same model without invoking different evolution for obscured and unobscured AGN. Recent observational evidence shows that the ratio of obscured to unobscured AGN may depend on luminosity. An AGN unification model that allows for such a dependence also fits the X-ray background spectrum, and the predicted numbers counts in the 2-10 keV X-ray band are in good agreement with observations. We present predictions for the source counts in hard X-rays (10-100 keV), which indicate that future missions like the Black Hole Finder will observe thousands of heavily obscured AGN.
Stable low-rank matrix recovery via null space properties

The problem of recovering a matrix of low rank from an incomplete and possibly noisy set of linear measurements arises in a number of areas. In order to derive rigorous recovery results, the measurement map is usually modeled probabilistically. We derive sufficient conditions on the minimal amount of measurements ensuring recovery via convex optimization. We establish our results via certain properties of the null space of the measurement map. In the setting where the measurements are realized as Frobenius inner products with independent standard Gaussian random matrices we show that $10 r (n_1 + n_2)$ measurements are enough to uniformly and stably recover an $n_1 \times n_2$ matrix of rank at most $r$. We then significantly generalize this result by only requiring independent mean-zero, variance one entries with four finite moments at the cost of replacing $10$ by some universal constant. We also study the case of recovering Hermitian rank-$r$ matrices from measurement matrices proportional to rank-one projectors. For $m \geq C r n$ rank-one projective measurements onto independent standard Gaussian vectors, we show that nuclear norm minimization uniformly and stably reconstructs Hermitian rank-$r$ matrices with high probability. Next, we partially de-randomize this by establishing an analogous statement for projectors onto independent elements of a complex projective 4-designs at the cost of a slightly higher sampling rate $m \geq C rn \log n$. Moreover, if the Hermitian matrix to be recovered is known to be positive semidefinite, then we show that the nuclear norm minimization approach may be replaced by minimizing the $\ell_2$-norm of the residual subject to the positive semidefinite constraint. Then no estimate of the noise level is required a priori. We discuss applications in quantum physics and the phase retrieval problem.
INTELLECTUAL CAPITAL COMPONENTS AS CAUSES OF REGIONAL DISPARITIES. A CASE STUDY IN ROMANIA

Starting from a Logit model developed in the past we try to provide empirical support for counties disparities regarding intellectual capital factor influence. The study presents some correlation between economic performance, structure of activity in the county and intellectual components: human capital, organizational capital and customer capital. Because of various differences between counties we may consider that specific models are more indicated to analyze local behaviour. Also the results can give important information about association of counties by factor development and can also show the gaps between administrative organization forms with main purpose: a future more efficient investment and development
Evolution of female mating preferences in stalk-eyed flies

Sensory exploitation predicts that female mate preferences exist before the evolution of exaggerated male ornaments. We tested this prediction by estimating female preference functions, remating intervals, and copulation durations for three species of stalk-eyed flies. Two species, Cyrtodiopsis whitei and C dahnanni, exhibit extreme sexual dimorphism in eye span, with eye stalks exceeding body length in large males. In contrast, C qiunqutguttata of both sexes possess short eye stalks. Maximum parsimony analysis of 437 basepairs of the 16S mitochondrial ribosomal RNA gene from 6 Malaysian diopsids reveals that short, sexually monomorphic eye stalks are plesiomorphic in Cyrtodiopsis. Observations of multiple copulations by females in paired-choice mating chambers indicated that female C whitei and C. dalmanm exhibit relative preferences for longer eye stalks such that preference intensity increases linearly with the difference in eye stalk length between males. Females from the sexually monomorphic species showed no detectable preference for male eye stalk length. Female mating preferences of bodi sexually dimorphic species exhibited significant repeatability, as expected if genetic variation underlies the preference. In addition, female C whitei and C. dalmanm exhibited shorter copulations, mated more frequently, and rejected fewer mating attempts than female C quinqueguttata. Thus, opportunities for sperm competition have increased with acquisition of female preferences. We conclude that female sensory bias for males with long eye span did not exist in a common ancestor to these species. Instead, female preference and remating propensity either coevolved with eye span dimorphism or evolved after male eye stalks elongated.
STATISTICAL VIDEO MODELS AND THEIR APPLICATION TO QUALITY ASSESSMENT

Quality assessment plays a very important role in almost all aspects of multimedia signal processing such as acquisition, coding, display, processing etc. Several objective quality metrics have been proposed for images, but video quality assessment has received relatively little attention. Most of the video quality metrics in the literature are simple extensions of metrics for images. In this paper, we integrate natural image statistics and the theory of optical flow to propose a new model for the statistics of video signals in the wavelet domain. This model utilizes motion information in video sequences, which is the main difference in moving from images to video. Results are presented to demonstrate the effectiveness of this model to describe the statistics of wavelet coefficients. We then briefly describe how this model can be used in an information theoretic framework to develop quality metrics for video sequences.
WHAT DOES CLUSTERING TELL US ABOUT THE BUILDUP OF THE RED SEQUENCE?

We analyze the clustering of red and blue galaxies from four samples spanning a redshift range of 0.4 < z < 2.0 to test the various scenarios by which galaxies evolve onto the red sequence. The data are taken from the UKIDSS Ultra Deep Survey, DEEP2, and COMBO-17. The use of clustering allows us to determine what fraction of the red sequence is made up of central galaxies and satellite galaxies. At all redshifts, including z = 0, the data are consistent with ∼60% of satellite galaxies being red or quenched, implying that ∼1/3 of the red sequence is comprised of satellite galaxies. More than three-fourths of red satellite galaxies were moved to the red sequence after they were accreted onto a larger halo. The constant fraction of satellite galaxies that are red yields a quenching time for satellite galaxies that depends on redshift in the same way as halo dynamical times: tQ ∼ (1 + z)−1.5. In three of the four samples, the data favor a model in which red central galaxies are a random sample of all central galaxies; there is no preferred halo mass scale at which galaxies make the transition from star-forming to red and dead. The large errors on the fourth sample inhibit any conclusions. Theoretical models in which star formation is quenched above a critical halo mass are excluded by these data. A scenario in which mergers create red central galaxies imparts a weaker correlation between halo mass and central galaxy color, but even the merger scenario creates tension with red galaxy clustering at redshifts above 0.5. These results suggest that the mechanism by which central galaxies become red evolves from z = 0.5 to z = 0.
Adaptive Leader-following Consensus of Multiple Uncertain Rigid Spacecraft Systems

Abstract In this paper, we consider the leader-following consensus problem for multiple uncertain rigid spacecraft systems with the attitude being represented by unit quaternion. Existing results on this problem rely on the assumption that all parameters of the rigid spacecraft system are known exactly. By employing a nonlinear distributed observer for the leader system, we first convert the leader-following consensus problem into a global adaptive stabilization problem of a well defined error system. Then, under the standard assumption that the state of the leader can reach every follower through a path, we further show that this stabilization problem is solvable by a distributed adaptive control law.
A Novel Plant Leucine-Rich Repeat Receptor Kinase Regulates the Response of Medicago truncatula Roots to Salt Stress[W]

In plants, a diverse group of cell surface receptor-like protein kinases (RLKs) plays a fundamental role in sensing external signals to regulate gene expression. Roots explore the soil environment to optimize their growth via complex signaling cascades, mainly analyzed in Arabidopsis thaliana. However, legume roots have significant physiological differences, notably their capacity to establish symbiotic interactions. These major agricultural crops are affected by environmental stresses such as salinity. Here, we report the identification of a leucine-rich repeat RLK gene, Srlk, from the legume Medicago truncatula. Srlk is rapidly induced by salt stress in roots, and RNA interference (RNAi) assays specifically targeting Srlk yielded transgenic roots whose growth was less inhibited by the presence of salt in the medium. Promoter-β-glucuronidase fusions indicate that this gene is expressed in epidermal root tissues in response to salt stress. Two Srlk-TILLING mutants also failed to limit root growth in response to salt stress and accumulated fewer sodium ions than controls. Furthermore, early salt-regulated genes are downregulated in Srlk-RNAi roots and in the TILLING mutant lines when submitted to salt stress. We propose a role for Srlk in the regulation of the adaptation of M. truncatula roots to salt stress.
Analysis and Design of Real-Time Control Systems with Varying Control Timing Constraints

Agraïments No hauria estat possible realitzar aquesta tesi sense l'ajuda de moltes persones. A totes elles, moltíssimes gràcies! It would not have been possible to produce this thesis without the help of many people. To all of them, thanks a lot! Primerament, vull donar les gràcies als dos directors, el Dr. Josep Mª Fuertes (del departament d' per haver-me dirigit, tant a nivell científic com humà, el procés d'aprenentatge en la realització d'aquesta tesi. Moltes gràcies! En el camí que m'ha conduït fins aquí, són moltes les persones que m'he anat trobant. Cada una d'elles forma part d'aquesta tesi. En un ordre cronològic i sense pretendre ser exhaustiu: Gràcies Pep per confiar en mi i ajudar-me en aquest món del control, tan complex per a mi. Thanks Gerhard for making me feel so welcome and guiding me throughout my real-time systems research. Thanks a lot to everybody living up there, in Sweden, for making me feel at home. Thanks Sashi, thanks Radu and Camilla, and thanks Thomas and Damir. Els meus agraïments també estan dirigits al Dr. Ricard Villà: moltes gràcies per la teva agudesa i les teves valuoses i imprescindibles aportacions. I also want to spend a few words to thank Prof. Krithi Ramamritham. Thanks Krithi for all the stimulating discussions we had, and for agreeing to collaborate in the work done in this thesis. Thanks for your contributions. Thanks also to Anton Cervin. Without your help, this thesis wouldn't be like it is. Gràcies també a totes les persones que ara no cito i sense les quals aquest treball no hauria estat una realitat. Especialment, gràcies a la gent del departament, que d'una manera o altra, sempre m'han ajudat. No m'oblido dels meus amics i amigues: gràcies per estar sempre al meu costat! Pels ànims i suport que sempre m'heu donat, gràcies família! I finalment, gràcies a tu Belén, per tot! El treball realitzat en aquesta tesi ha estat parcialment financiat per: • Projecte Metodologias de Diseño y Evaluación de Prestaciones en los Sistemas Distribuidos de Control. Ref. Aquesta tesi s'ha realitzat durant la meva contractació com a professor associat en el Summary The analysis and design of real-time control systems is a complex task, requiring the integration and good understanding of both control and real-time systems theory. Traditionally, such systems are designed by differentiating two separate stages: first, control design and then its computer implementation, leading to …
An Intelligent Optimal Genetic Model to Investigate the User Usage Behaviour on World Wide Web

The unexpected wide spread use of WWW and dynamically increasing nature of the web creates new challenges in the web mining since the data in the web inherently unlabelled, incomplete, non linear, and heterogeneous. The investigation of user usage behaviour on WWW is real time problem which involves multiple conflicting measures of performance. These measures make not only computational intensive but also needs to the possibility of be unable to find the exact solution. Unfortunately, the conventional methods are limited to optimization problems due to the absence of semantic certainty and presence of human intervention. In handling such data and overcome the limitations of conventional methodologies it is necessary to use a soft computing model that can work intelligently to attain optimal solution. To achieve the optimized solution for investigating the web user usage behaviour, the authors in the present paper proposes an Intelligent Optimal Genetic Model, IOGM, which is designed as an optimization tool based on the concept of natural genetic systems. Initially, IOGM comprise a set of individual solutions or chromosomes called the initial population. Later, biologically inspired operators create a new and potentially better population. Finally, by the theory of evolution, survive only optimal individuals from the population and then generate the next biological population. This process is terminated as when an acceptable optimal set of visited patterns is found or after fixed time limit. Additionally, IOGM strengthen by its ability to estimate the optimal stopping time of process. The proposed soft computing model ensures the identifiable features like learning, adaptability, self-maintenance and self-improvement. To validate the proposed system, several experiments were conducted and results proven this are claimed in this paper.
Using self-organizing maps to build an attack map for forensic analysis

In this work, we focus on developing behavioral models of known attacks to help security experts to identify the similarities between attacks. Furthermore, these attack behavior models can be used to analyze zero-day attacks, which security experts have limited knowledge of. To this end, a Self Organizing Feature Map (SOM) is employed to model the relationship between known attacks and U-Matrix representation is used to create a two dimensional topological map of known attacks. The approach is evaluated on KDD'99 data set. Results show that attacks with similar behavior patterns are placed together on the map. Moreover, when new attacks are presented, SOM assigned similar labels to the attacks that are newer versions of the known attacks.
Activation of cyclic nucleotide phosphodiesterase from isolated human peripheral blood lymphocytes by mitogenic agents.

Abstract During long-term incubation of human peripheral blood lymphocytes with phytohemagglutinin (PHA), adenosine cyclic 3′:5′-monophosphate (cycllc AMP) phosphodiesterase increases about 5-fold and guanosine cyclic 3′:5′-monophosphate (cyclic GMP) phosphodiesterase increases about 10-fold in specific activity. Under similar conditions, there is little change in either basal or fluoride-stimulated adenylyl cyclase activity. The increase in cyclic nucleotide phosphodiesterase activity also occurs with other mitogenic activators of blastogenesis including concanavalin A, pokeweed mitogen, and Streptolysin O. Cyclic AMP phosphodiesterase activity in PHA-stimulated lymphocytes displays an increase in maximum velocity but no change in other kinetic properties when compared to that of unstimulated lymphocytes. Linear density gradient analyses of cyclic nucleotide phosphodiesterases in mitogen-stimulated lymphocytes show an increased activity in lower (3.6S) and higher (5.9S) molecular weight forms of cyclic AMP and cyclic GMP phosphodiesterase. Hydroxyurea inhibits PHA-induced mitogenesis but has no effect on the observed increase in phosphodiesterase activity. 1-Methyl-3-isobutylxanthine inhibits PHA-induced mitogenesis and prevents the increase in cyclic GMP phosphodiesterase activity, but the increase in cyclic AMP phosphodiesterase activity is greater than that seen with PHA alone. The PHA-induced increase in cyclic AMP and cyclic GMP phosphodiesterase activity is inhibited by cycloheximide; however, Actinomycin D does not completely inhibit PHA stimulation of cyclic nucleotide phosphodiesterase activity when it is used at a concentration that inhibits the PHA-induced increase in [ 3 H]-thymidine and [ 3 H]uridine incorporation by greater than 90%. These results indicate that de novo protein synthesis but not mitogenesis per se is required for the increased enzyme activity induced by mitogenic agents. The results are discussed with respect to the regulation of cyclic nucleotide phosphodiesterase and to the role of these enzymes in lymphocyte proliferation.
The Future of China's Exchange Rate Policy

Over the past five years China has emerged as the world's largest global surplus economy; indeed by 2007-08 the size of its surplus relative to its GDP was of a magnitude unprecedented for a large trading economy. This development is especially surprising since in the first twenty-five years of economic reform China's trade and current account surpluses were quite small by East Asian standards, averaging less than 2 percent of GDP. This study provides a comprehensive analysis of the key economic challenges facing the Chinese authorities in light of the still undervalued exchange rate, the large build-up of foreign exchange reserves, and more recently the sharp decline in economic growth. It analyzes the implications of China's exchange-rate policy for the effectiveness of monetary policy, the transition to a commercially oriented banking system, the evolving structure of output and demand, and the risk of protectionism abroad. The policy-options portion of the study takes account of the significant real effective appreciation of the renminbi over the past fifteen months and will contrast the pros and cons of a "stay-the-course" policy with that of a bolder, "three-stage" approach that would seek to maintain recent progress and to reduce even further the undervaluation of the renminbi.
Building distributed applications using Sinfonia

A composition, and methods of forming and using said composition, for the sustained release of non-aggregated, biologically active, erythropoietin (EPO). The sustained release composition of this invention comprises a polymeric matrix of a biocompatible polymer and particles of biologically active, aggregation-stabilized EPO, wherein said particles are dispersed within the biocompatible polymer. The method of the invention for producing a composition for the sustained release of biologically active EPO, includes dissolving a biocompatible polymer in a polymer solvent to form a polymer solution, dispersing particles of biologically active, aggregation-stabilized EPO in the polymer solution, and then solidifying the polymer to form a polymeric matrix containing a dispersion of said EPO particles. The method for using a composition of the invention is a method for providing a therapeutically effective blood level of biologically active, non-aggregated erythropoietin in a subject for a sustained period. In this method, a subject is administered an effective dose of the sustained release composition of the present invention.
- 1-Supporting Information Fabrication of Stable Single Nanochannels with Controllable Ionic Rectification

The single conical nanochannel investigated here was produced in polymer films using the ion track-etching technique. [S1] Before the chemical etching process, the samples of PET were exposed to the UV light for 1 h from each side. To produce a conical nanochannel, etching was performed only from one side, the other side of the cell contains a solution that is able to neutralize the etchant as soon as the channel opens, thus slowing down the further etching process. To additionally stop the etching, the voltage (1 V) used to monitor the etching process was applied in such a way that the negatively charged ions of the etchant were drawn out of the channel tip. The following are the etching and stopping solutions for the etching of PET: NaOH (9 M) for etching, KCl (1 M) + HCOOH (1 M) for stopping. The large opening of the conical nanochannel was called base, while the small opening was called tip. The diameter of the base and tip were estimated from the multitrack membranes etch rate measured in the parallel etching experiments by AFM (see Fig. S1), due to the difficulty [S2] of locating both the tip and base opening in AFM. In this work, its base is usually controlled from ~400 to ~2500 nm, and its tip is from ~2 to ~700 nm.
Eye monitor: microcomputer-based instrument uses an internal mode to track the eye

An eye monitor whose design is inspired by the human visual system is presented. The monitor incorporates an internal representation or model of what the eye looks like to a video camera. The system can measure the position of the eyes and the size of the pupil in the presence of interfering noise and in patients wearing eyeglasses or contact lenses, and it tolerates defocusing due to small movements in depth by the patient. The system makes real-time correction for head and eye movements while measuring pupillary responses to controlled light stimuli. The design and software and hardware components are described, and some applications are noted. Its use for early clinical detection of visual diseases by objectively measuring pupillary responses to carefully controlled light stimuli is examined as an example. Some general observations about using computers in medical measurements are made. <<ETX>>
A power allocation strategy using Game Theory in Cognitive Radio networks

The Cognitive Radio approach can be considered as a promising and suitable solution to solve in an efficient and flexible way the increasing and continuous demand of services and radio resources. This paper investigates how the adoption of a cognitive radio strategy can help in the coexistence problem of two wireless networks operating on the same spectrum of frequencies. A DVB-SH based satellite network will be considered as primary system, while an infrastructured wireless terrestrial network will constitute the cognitive radio based secondary system. In this work it will be presented a power resource allocation technique based on Game Theory, considering mainly Potential Games. We will show the proposed approach is suitable for distributed implementation, furthermore it provides performances comparable to an heuristic allocation method representing the optimum allocation. The comparison between these two resource allocation methods will be provided as result of this work.