Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Exploiting second order statistics of the received signals in AF relay cooperative network for compound channel estimation

In this paper we address the channel estimation issue in amplify and forward (AF) relay network by exploiting the temporal statistics of the fading channel. A robust channel estimator that offers good performance is proposed for dual hop AF systems which can be used with any type of correlated channels. The linear minimum mean square error (LMMSE) estimation technique used in existing methods require apriori knowledge of exact autocorrelation function (ACF) of the channel at the receiver. Time domain channel correlation mismatch can degrade the performance of LMMSE estimator. The proposed method offers a realistic solution as the interpolation factor is extracted from the received signal itself. Since it can accommodate the temporal variations of the channel effectively, this method offers flexibility in estimating any generalised correlated channels. The mean square error (MSE) and bit error rate (BER) performance of the proposed technique are evaluated through computer simulation studies and are compared with that of a related method referred in the literature. The improvement in the system performance owes to the enhanced correlation matching.
Associations Between Students' Approaches to Learning and Learning Analytics Visualizations

We investigated the connection between Students’ Approaches to Learning and different information presented in learning analytics visualizations. Students’ approaches to learning are a construct studied in educational psychology. They are context dependent and can be either surface or deep. In a field experiment, we discovered a significant interaction effect between learning analytics visualizations and students’ approach to learning on the quality of messages posted by students. The associations were both positive and negative, depending on the combination of information presented in the visualizations and students’ approach to learning. The paper contributes to the development of the body of research knowledge that aims to explain of how aptitude constructs from educational psychology interact with learning analytics visualizations.
A Population-Modulated Bibliometric Measure with an Application in the Field of Statistics

We use Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA) to derive a unifying measure of comparison of scientists based on bibliometric measurements, by utilizing the h-index, some similar h-type indices as well as other common measures of scientific performance. We use a real data example from nine well-known Departments of Statistics (Berkeley, Carnegie Mellon, Chicago, Duke, Harvard, Minnesota, Oxford, Stanford and Washington) to demonstrate our approach and argue that our combined measure results in a better overall evaluation of a researchers’ scientific work.
Probabilistic Classi cation of Monophonic Instrument Playing Techniques

1. Introduction Understanding the underlying intentions of a music performer is crucial to enable a machine such as an automated accompaniment system to interact intelligently with a musician. Particularly, understanding the symbol associated with a tone the player generates allows a machine to create response that is in concordance with the symbol. We dene playing technique as a symbol such as the expression marking that reects the intention of a human performer in a per-ceivable change in timbre. We believe that it is crucial to understand that some playing techniques are inherently ambiguous, and to associate with an input signal the degree of ambiguity along with the estimated class labels. For example, if the class of dynamics are described by soft and loud, it is irrelevant to ask whether a moderate sound is soft or loud-it only makes sense to say that it either belongs to both or to neither. We shall express ambiguity by modeling a set of playing techniques as a posterior distribution, and using statistics obtained from the distribution to determine the ambiguity. We shall group playing techniques that acts on a same, continuous quality into one set that in turn generates a posterior distribution as shwon in Figure 1. Particularly, we hypothesize that ambiguous sounds are the main cause of misclas-sication, and such sounds creates a distribution with a high variance. Existing research in detecting the playing technique involved discretization of techniques involving a continuous factor and converting it into a problem of classication. For example, the position of the bow on a violin was discretized by recording two points and choosing one of the two positions [1]. Other research exclusively dealt with playing techniques of discrete quality such as whether a bass guitar string was slapped or not [2]. Both approaches did not associate any posterior probability with the output label, and thus suffered when recognizing notes that even humans have trouble distinguishing [1]. Another approach involved extraction of perceptual features that were used to control another musical instrument [3]. This approach did not attempt to symbolize timbre into playing techniques. In this paper, we modeled a set of playing techniques that acts on a same continuous factor (position of the bow on a violin) as a posterior distribution given the input signal using a hybrid of Gaussian Mixtures (GMM) and Relevance Vector Machine (RVM). We then rejected data whose variance exceeds a threshold given …
Introducing BAX: A database for X-ray clusters and groups of galaxies

We present BAX, Base de Donnees Amas de Galaxies X (http://bax.ast.obs-mip.fr), a multi-wavelength database dedicated to X-ray clusters and groups of galaxies allowing detailed information retrieval. BAX is designed to support astronomical research by providing access to published measurements of the main physical quantities and to the related bibliographic references: basic data stored in the database are cluster/group identifiers, equatorial coordinates, redshift, flux, X-ray luminosity (in the ROSAT band) and temperature, and links to additional linked parameters (in X-rays, such as spatial profile parameters, as well as SZ parameters of the hot gas, lensing measurements, and data at other wavelengths, such as optical and radio). The clusters and groups in BAX can be queried by the basic parameters as well as the linked parameters or combinations of these. We expect BAX to become an important tool for the astronomical community. BAX will optimize various aspects of the scientific analysis of X-ray clusters and groups of galaxies, from proposal planning to data collection, interpretation and publication, from both ground based facilities like MEGACAM (CFHT), VIRMOS (VLT) and space missions like XMM-Newton, Chandra and Planck.
Balancing exertion experiences

Exercising with others, such as jogging in pairs, can be socially engaging. However, if exercise partners have different fitness levels then the activity can be too strenuous for one and not challenging enough for the other, compromising engagement and health benefits. Our system, Jogging over a Distance, uses heart rate data and spatialized sound to create an equitable, balanced experience between joggers of different fitness levels who are geographically distributed. We extend this prior work by analyzing the experience of 32 joggers to detail how specific design features facilitated, and hindered, an engaging and balanced exertion experience. With this knowledge, we derive four dimensions that describe a design space for balancing exertion experiences: Measurement, Adjustment, Presentation and Control. We also present six design tactics for creating balanced exertion experiences described by these dimensions. By aiding designers in supporting participants of different physical abilities, we hope to increase participation and engagement with physical activity and facilitate the many benefits it brings about.
Clostridium difficile Toxins: Mechanism of Action and Role in Disease

SUMMARY As the leading cause of hospital-acquired diarrhea, Clostridium difficile colonizes the large bowel of patients undergoing antibiotic therapy and produces two toxins, which cause notable disease pathologies. These two toxins, TcdA and TcdB, are encoded on a pathogenicity locus along with negative and positive regulators of their expression. Following expression and release from the bacterium, TcdA and TcdB translocate to the cytosol of target cells and inactivate small GTP-binding proteins, which include Rho, Rac, and Cdc42. Inactivation of these substrates occurs through monoglucosylation of a single reactive threonine, which lies within the effector-binding loop and coordinates a divalent cation critical to binding GTP. By glucosylating small GTPases, TcdA and TcdB cause actin condensation and cell rounding, which is followed by death of the cell. TcdA elicits effects primarily within the intestinal epithelium, while TcdB has a broader cell tropism. Important advances in the study of these toxins have been made in the past 15 years, and these are detailed in this review. The domains, subdomains, and residues of these toxins important for receptor binding and enzymatic activity have been elegantly studied and are highlighted herein. Furthermore, there have been major advances in defining the role of these toxins in modulating the inflammatory events involving the disruption of cell junctions, neuronal activation, cytokine production, and infiltration by polymorphonuclear cells. Collectively, the present review provides a comprehensive update on TcdA and TcdB's mechanism of action as well as the role of these toxins in disease.
Modeling social network relationships via t-cherry junction trees

The massive scale of online social networks makes it very challenging to characterize the underlying structure therein. In this paper, we employ the t-cherry junction tree, a very recent advancement in probabilistic graphical models, to develop a compact representation and good approximation of an otherwise intractable model for users' relationships in a social network. There are a number of advantages in this approach: (1) the best approximation possible via junction trees belongs to the class of t-cherry junction trees; (2) constructing a t-cherry junction tree can be largely parallelized; and (3) inference can be performed using distributed computation. To improve the quality of approximation, we also devise an algorithm to build a higher order tree gracefully from an existing one, without constructing it from scratch. We apply this approach to Twitter data containing 100,000 nodes and study the problem of recommending connections to new users.
Towards finding the fundamental unit of narrative : A Proposal for the Narreme

Verband action-based event representations have been the cornerstone of narrative representation. However, these suffer from a lack of specificity as to the level of abstraction being discussed. For example, a single verb-based event can be elaborated ad infinitum, generating arbitrarily many new verb-based events. In this position paper, we present a proposal for the fundamental unit of narrative, which we call the narreme. Our contribution is two-fold. First, we present the structure of the narreme, which encodes the state of the narrative, not the state of the world. Second, we present the ways narremes can be combined, which gives rise to the structure of the narrative itself. These combinations have special properties which account for the causal, temporal and intentional relationships between the events that make up a narrative. Lastly, we present an interpretation of common narrative tasks within the context of the narreme.
Impact of historical founder effects and a recent bottleneck on MHC variability in Commander Arctic foxes (Vulpes lagopus)

Populations of Arctic foxes (Vulpes lagopus) have been isolated on two of the Commander Islands (Bering and Mednyi) from the circumpolar distributed mainland population since the Pleistocene. In 1970–1980, an epizootic outbreak of mange caused a severe population decline on Mednyi Island. Genes of the major histocompatibility complex (MHC) play a primary role in infectious disease resistance. The main objectives of our study were to compare contemporary variation of MHC class II in mainland and island Arctic foxes, and to document the effects of the isolation and the recent bottleneck on MHC polymorphism by analyzing samples from historical and contemporary Arctic foxes. In 184 individuals, we found 25 unique MHC class II DRB and DQB alleles, and identified evidence of balancing selection maintaining allelic lineages over time at both loci. Twenty different MHC alleles were observed in mainland foxes and eight in Bering Island foxes. The historical Mednyi population contained five alleles and all contemporary individuals were monomorphic at both DRB and DQB. Our data indicate that despite positive and diversifying selection leading to elevated rates of amino acid replacement in functionally important antigen-binding sites, below a certain population size, balancing selection may not be strong enough to maintain genetic diversity in functionally important genes. This may have important fitness consequences and might explain the high pathogen susceptibility in some island populations. This is the first study that compares MHC diversity before and after a bottleneck in a wild canid population using DNA from museum samples.
An Automatic Multi-Agent Web Image and Associated Keywords Retrieval System

Web-based image search engines and CBIR techniques are blind to the actual content. As a result querying for a specific object is often cluttered with irrelevant data, leading to low precision. Furthermore recall rates are also very low since retrieval procedures are usually based either on context (surrounding text) and file captions or on low-level visual features. In this paper an automatic multi-agent image retrieval system is proposed. Our novel system exploits the format of multimedia sharing Web sites to discover the underlying structure in order to finally infer and extract multimedia files and corresponding associated keywords from the Web pages. The system first identifies the section of the Web page that contains the multimedia file to be extracted and then extracts it by using clustering techniques and other tools of statistical origin. Experimental results on real-world image sharing Web sites are presented and discussed in this paper, indicating the promising performance of the proposed system.
A new synoptic scale resolving global climate simulation using the Community Earth System Model

High‐resolution global climate modeling holds the promise of capturing planetary‐scale climate modes and small‐scale (regional and sometimes extreme) features simultaneously, including their mutual interaction. This paper discusses a new state‐of‐the‐art high‐resolution Community Earth System Model (CESM) simulation that was performed with these goals in mind. The atmospheric component was at 0.25° grid spacing, and ocean component at 0.1°. One hundred years of “present‐day” simulation were completed. Major results were that annual mean sea surface temperature (SST) in the equatorial Pacific and El‐Niño Southern Oscillation variability were well simulated compared to standard resolution models. Tropical and southern Atlantic SST also had much reduced bias compared to previous versions of the model. In addition, the high resolution of the model enabled small‐scale features of the climate system to be represented, such as air‐sea interaction over ocean frontal zones, mesoscale systems generated by the Rockies, and Tropical Cyclones. Associated single component runs and standard resolution coupled runs are used to help attribute the strengths and weaknesses of the fully coupled run. The high‐resolution run employed 23,404 cores, costing 250 thousand processor‐hours per simulated year and made about two simulated years per day on the NCAR‐Wyoming supercomputer “Yellowstone. ”
Student affect during learning with a MOOC

This paper presents affect data collected from periodic emotion detection surveys throughout an introductory Statistics MOOC called "I Heart Stats. " This is the first MOOC, to our knowledge, to capture valuable student affect data through self-reported surveys. To collect student affect, we used two self-reporting methods: (1) The Self-Assessment Manikin and (2) A discrete emotion list. We found that the most common reported MOOC emotion was Hope followed by Enjoyment and Contentment. There were substantial shifts in affective states over the course, notably with Anxiety and Pride. The most valuable result of our study is a preliminary description of the methods for collecting self-reported student affect at scale in a MOOC setting.
Effects of Growth on Dinitrogen on the Transcriptome and Predicted Proteome of Nostoc PCC 7120

Upon growth on dinitrogen, the filamentous cyanobacterium Nostoc PCC 7120 initiates metabolic and morphological changes. We analyzed the expression of 1249 genes from major metabolic categories under nitrogen fixing and non-nitrogen fixing growth. The expression data were correlated with potential target secondary structures, probe GC-content, predicted operon structures, and nitrogen content of gene products. Of the selected genes, 494 show a more than 2-fold difference in the two conditions analyzed. Under nitrogen-fixing conditions 465 genes, mainly involved in energy metabolism, photosynthesis, respiration and nitrogen-fixation, were found to be stronger expressed, whereas 29 genes showed a stronger expression under non-nitrogen fixing conditions. Analysis of the nitrogen content of regulated genes shows that Nostoc PCC 7120 growing on dinitrogen is freed from any constraints to save nitrogen. For the first time the expression of high light-induced stress proteins (HLIP-family) is shown to be linked to the nitrogen availability.
A carboxyl-terminal propeptide is necessary for proper sorting of barley lectin to vacuoles of tobacco.

Barley lectin is synthesized as a preproprotein with a glycosylated carboxyl-terminal propeptide (CTPP) that is removed before or concomitant with deposition of the mature protein in vacuoles. Expression of a cDNA clone encoding barley lectin in transformed tobacco plants results in the correct processing, maturation, and accumulation of active barley lectin in vacuoles [Wilkins, T.A. , Bednarek, S.Y. , and Raikhel, N.V. (1990). Plant Cell 2, 301-313]. The glycan of the propeptide is not essential for vacuolar sorting, but may influence the rate of post-translational processing [Wilkins, T.A. , Bednarek, S.Y. , and Raikhel, N.V. (1990). Plant Cell 2, 301-313]. To investigate the functional role of the CTPP in processing, assembly, and sorting of barley lectin to vacuoles, a mutant barley lectin cDNA clone lacking the 15-amino acid CTPP was prepared. The CTPP deletion mutant of barley lectin was expressed in tobacco protoplasts, suspension-cultured cells, and transgenic plants. In all three systems, the wild-type barley lectin was sorted to vacuoles, whereas the mutant barley lectin was secreted to the incubation media. Therefore, we conclude that the carboxyl-terminal domain of the barley lectin proprotein is necessary for the efficient sorting of this protein to plant cell vacuoles.
A real-time flow monitor architecture encompassing on-demand monitoring functions

This paper introduces a new flow monitoring architecture that is based on FPGA technology offering high speed and programmability for monitoring in the next generation Internet. Two monitoring functions are also presented that can be implemented on the proposed architecture. The functions are based on Internet traffic characteristics and can increase monitoring efficiency and compute additional network statistics. The two functions illustrate how the programmable nature of the architecture allows for flexible, intelligent and on-demand monitoring. The first function classifies flows based on size and speed and the second function, measures flow traffic bursts.
Notice of RetractionLook into the mind or look at the eyes: A comparison of Chinese and westerners' beliefs of lies

Questions have often been raised whether there is a universal stereotype of the liar across cultures, and whether people from different cultures use the same cues to detect deception. Inspired by The Global Deception Research Team s worldwide investigation of stereotypes of liars, the present study explores native Chinese beliefs of liars with demographically diversified samples and compares the results with those of TGDRT. In Study 1, researchers investigated Chinese beliefs of liars by asking participants to complete a questionnaire of lying behavior. In Study 2, participants responded to the open-ended question, “How can you tell when people are lying? ” The results suggest that there are both similarities and differences between Chinese and the western beliefs about liars and lying behavior. The causalities of the similarities and discrepancies are provided from social developmental and evolutionary psychological perspectives.
A phase‐variable mechanism controlling the Campylobacter jejuni FlgR response regulator influences commensalism

Phase variation of genes in bacteria enables phenotypic alteration to modulate interactions within a host as conditions change. To promote commensalism in animals and disease in humans, Campylobacter jejuni produces a flagellar organelle for motility. In addition to tight transcriptional regulation of flagellar genes, C. jejuni also controls flagellar biosynthesis by phase variation. In this study, an unusual phase‐variable mechanism controlling production of FlgR, the response regulator of the FlgSR two‐component system required for transcription of σ54‐dependent flagellar genes, is identified. Phase variation of FlgR production is due to loss or gain of a nucleotide in homopolymeric adenine or thymine tracts within flgR. This mechanism occurs during commensalism in poultry to alter the colonization capacity of C. jejuni, presumably by influencing the motility phenotype of the bacterium. These findings provide more understanding into the genetic and colonization strategies C. jejuni employs to achieve commensalism in a natural host. Second, due to the richness of the C. jejuni genome in adenine or thymine residues and the apparent lack of the normal set of mismatch repair enzymes, the results from this study may suggest that the C. jejuni genome is more unstable and variable than previously realized. Furthermore, phase variation of flagellar motility by targeting flgR may be a phenomenon specific to C. jejuni that is absent in other Campylobacter species and contribute to reasons why C. jejuni is more frequently found as a commensal organism in poultry and as the cause of disease in humans.
Chapter 10: Defeating the Developer's Dilemma: An Online Tool for Individual Consultations

This chapter introduces an onlineconsultation tool that helps resolve the tension that developers often experience in consultations between offering quick fixes and providing in-depth but time-consuming conceptual under standing. The tool that the Eberly Center for Teaching Excellence has developed provides instructors with concrete teaching strategies to address common teaching problems, while also educating them about thepedagog icalprinciples informingthose strategies. The tool can be usedto enhance traditional face-to-face consultations or, lJy itself, to reach a wider faculty aUdience, includingadjunct and offsitefaculty.