Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Strong Gravitational Lensing and Velocity Function as Tools to Probe Cosmological Parameters.

Constraints on cosmological models from strong gravitational lensing statistics are in­ vestigated. We pay particular attention to the role of the velocity function in the calculation of the lensing probability. The velocity function derived from the observed galaxy luminos­ ity function, which is used in most previous work, is unable to predict the large separation lensing events. In this paper, we also use the Press-Schechter theory to construct a velocity function theoretically. Model predictions are compared with the observed velocity function and the HST snapshot survey. Comparison with the latter observation shows that the pre­ dictions based on the theoretical velocity function are consistent with the observed large separation events in COBE normalized low-density models, especially with a non-vanishing cosmological constant. Adopting the COBE normalization, however, we have not been able to find a model which simultaneously satisfies both the observed velocity function and the HST snapshot survey. We systematically investigate various uncertainties in the gravita­ tionallensing statistics including finite core radius, the distance formula, magnification bias, and dust obscuration. The results are very sensitive to these effects as well as theoretical models for the velocity function, implying that current limits on the cosmological parameters should be interpreted with caution. Predictions for future surveys are also presented.
Can the Tumor Deposits Be Counted as Metastatic Lymph Nodes in the UICC TNM Staging System for Colorectal Cancer?

Objective The 7th edition of AJCC staging manual implicitly states that only T1 and T2 lesions that lack regional lymph node metastasis but have tumor deposit(s) will be classified in addition as N1c, though it is not consistent in that pN1c is also an option for pT3/T4a tumors in the staging table. Nevertheless, in this TNM classification, how to classify tumor deposits (TDs) in colorectal cancer patients with lymph node metastasis (LNM) and TDs simultaneously is still not clear. The aim of this study is to investigate the possibility of counting TDs as metastatic lymph nodes in TNM classification and to indentify its prognostic value for colorectal cancer patients. Methods and Results In this retrospective study, 513 cases of colorectal cancer with LNM were reviewed. We proposed a novel pN (npN) category in which TDs were counted as metastatic lymph nodes in the TNM classification. Cancer-specific survival according to the npN or pN category was analyzed using Kaplan-Meier survival curves. Univariate and multivariate analyses were performed to indentify significant prognostic factors. Harrell's C statistic was used to test the predictive capacity of the prognostic models. The results revealed that the TD was a significant prognostic factor in colorectal cancer. Univariate and multivariate analyses uniformly indicated that the npN category was significantly correlated with prognosis. The results of Harrell's C statistical analysis demonstrated that the npN category exhibited a superior predictive capacity compared to the pN category of the 7th edition TNM classification. Moreover, we also found no significant prognostic differences in patients with or without TD in the same npN categories. Conclusions The counting of TDs as metastatic lymph nodes in the TNM classification system is potentially superior to the classification in the 7th edition of the TNM staging system to assess prognosis and survival for colorectal cancer patients.
On the Invariants of Towers of Function Fields over Finite Fields

We consider a tower of function fields F=(F_n)_{n\geq 0} over a finite field F_q and a finite extension E/F_0 such that the sequence \mathcal{E):=(EF_n)_{n\goq 0} is a tower over the field F_q. Then we deal with the following: What can we say about the invariants of \mathcal{E}; i.e., the asymptotic number of places of degree r for any r\geq 1 in \mathcal{E}, if those of F are known? We give a method based on explicit extensions for constructing towers of function fields over F_q with finitely many prescribed invariants being positive, and towers of function fields over F_q, for q a square, with at least one positive invariant and certain prescribed invariants being zero. We show the existence of recursive towers attaining the Drinfeld-Vladut bound of order r, for any r\geq 1 with q^r a square. Moreover, we give some examples of recursive towers with all but one invariants equal to zero.
International Business Negotiation Under The Impact of Cultural Distance

The negotiation is part of the international business which plays the role of turn-table inside the working model of international relationships. The differences between the cultures of the negotiators, known as cultural distance, are the most subtle influences on negotiation. The problems that are generated by the cultural distance could be identified at the different levels of the hierarchy of various factors for success, negotiation styles, thinking processes and decision making. The cultural distance should be identified and analyzed before the negotiation starts and it should be very much reduced, as pertinent conclusions of researches suggested. In this last respect the multicultural research, analysis of cultural distance and interactive methods could be very helpful.
Relationship between Elemental Carbon , Total Carbon , and Diesel Particulate Matter in Several Underground Metal / Non-metal Mines

Elemental carbon (EC) is currently used as a surrogate for diesel particulate matter (DPM) in underground mines since it can be accurately measured at low concentrations and diesels are the only source of submicrometer EC in underground mines. A disadvantage of using EC as a surrogate for DPM is that the fraction of EC in DPM is a function of various engine parameters and fuel formulations, etc. In order to evaluate how EC predicts DPM in the underground mining atmosphere, measurements of total carbon (TC; representing over 80% of the DPM) and EC were taken away from potential interferences in four underground metal/non-metal mines during actual production. In a controlled atmosphere, DPM mass, TC, and EC measurements were also collected while several different types of vehicles simulated production with and without different types of control technologies. When diesel particulate filters (DPFs) were not used, both studies showed that EC could be used to predict DPM mass or TC. The variability of the data started to increase at TC concentrations below 230 μg/m3 and was high (>(20%) at TC concentrations below 160 μg/m3, probably due to the problem with sampling organic carbon (OC) at these concentrations. It was also discovered that when certain DPFs were used, the relationship between DPM and EC changed at lower DPM concentrations.
ADAMANT — An Anomaly Detection Algorithm for MAintenance and Network Troubleshooting

Network operators are increasingly using analytic applications to improve the performance of their networks. Telecommunications analytical applications typically use SQL and Complex Event Processing (CEP) for data processing, network analysis and troubleshooting. Such approaches are hindered as they require an in-depth knowledge of both the telecommunications domain and telecommunications data structures in order to create the required queries. Valuable information contained in free form text data fields such as “additional_info”, “user_text” or “problem_text” can also be ignored. This work proposes An Anomaly Detection Algorithm for MAintenance and Network Troubleshooting (ADAMANT), a text analytic based network anomaly detection approach. Once telecommunications data records have been indexed, ADAMANT uses distance based outlier detection within sliding windows to detect abnormal terms at configurable time intervals. Traditional approaches focus on a specific type of record and create specific cause and effect rules. With the ADAMANT approach all free form text fields of alarms, logs, etc. are treated as text documents similar to Twitter feeds. All documents within a window represent a snapshot of the network state that is processed by ADAMANT. The ADAMANT approach focuses on text analytics to provide automated analysis without the requirement for SQL/CEP queries. Such an approach provides distinct network insights in comparison to traditional approaches.
Non-linear behavioral model of a bipolar track and hold amplifier for high-speed and high-resolution ADCs

An effective nonlinear behavioral model of a bipolar track-and-hold amplifier (THA) is described. The model is aimed for system level simulations and provides accurate and fast simulation. The model is written with AHDL. Basic THA properties together with noise and nonlinearity features are modeled with a simulation time improvement, for high accuracy setup, up to 7 times of the transistor level. Extensive simulations validate the model and prove the benefits.
Toward Idealized Decision Theory

This paper motivates the study of decision theory as necessary for aligning smarter-than-human artificial systems with human interests. We discuss the shortcomings of two standard formulations of decision theory, and demonstrate that they cannot be used to describe an idealized decision procedure suitable for approximation by artificial systems. We then explore the notions of policy selection and logical counterfactuals, two recent insights into decision theory that point the way toward promising paths for future research.
Physical health care of patients with schizophrenia in primary care: a comparative study.

BACKGROUND Excess morbidity and mortality associated with schizophrenia is well established. Despite this, no previous multi-centre study has investigated whether patients with schizophrenia receive equitable physical healthcare within primary care. OBJECTIVE To determine whether patients with a diagnosis of schizophrenia receive the same levels of physical health care from primary care practitioners as patients without schizophrenia. METHODS DESIGN Case-matched retrospective case note review. SETTING Twenty-two general practices in the Birmingham area (UK). SUBJECTS 195 patients with a diagnosis of schizophrenia, 390 matched controls with a diagnosis of asthma and 390 general control patients. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES Proportions of patients within each group having received six pre-defined routine health checks in a 3 year period. Conditional logistic regression models were used to identify differences between groups. RESULTS Patients with schizophrenia were half as likely as asthma controls to have blood pressure and cholesterol levels recorded (odds ratio 0.51; 95% confidence interval (CI) 1.35-0.73 and 0.50; 0.31-0.82, respectively) and were also less likely to have smoking status noted (0.60; 0.41-0.85). Similarly, patients with schizophrenia were significantly less likely than general population controls to have either blood pressure or cholesterol recorded (0.68; 0.47-0.97 and 0.58; 0.35-0.95). The significant differences observed were maintained after adjusting for potential confounders with the exception of cholesterol recording between the asthma and schizophrenia groups (0.57; 0.30-1.05). CONCLUSIONS Patients with a diagnosis of schizophrenia are less likely to receive some important general health checks than patients without schizophrenia.
Deisgn of Mobile Infant Incubator with Comforting Pillow

A mobile infant incubator is a preterm infant care medical tool which provides warmth, humidity and oxygen all in a controlled state of affairs as required by the New born baby. This incubator offers a clean condition, which has natural air, perfect and clean encompassing conditions for the infants. The main aim of the paper is to design and develop an Arudino based temperature and humidity control in an incubator.In the course of their initial weeks of lives infants are subjected to pain and soreness, so to conquer this major problem we have introduced a mechanism to traject maternal features to the infant. For this reasons the features are mimicked viva a pillow unit that has embedded with sensors and actuators. Our proposed system consists of sensors for monitoring critical parameters, Pillow unit for comforting the infants, GSM for transferring information to doctors and parents and Labview for output evaluation and all together controlled by Arudino microcontroller. Advances in electronic procedures combined with sparing costs influence humidity and temperature to govern realistic with fantastically precise and solid performance.
Variational scene flow and occlusion detection from a light field sequence

In this work we propose a variational model for 3D motion estimation from a sequence of light field images captured with a plenoptic camera. Plenoptic cameras provide information about the intensity and direction of light. We formulate an energy functional with a data fidelity term that takes into account the geometric consistency of the images and the occlusions between objects in the scene. The smoothness term is based on the vectorial total variation. The geometric consistency is imposed using the sub-aperture image representation and computing disparity maps between the views by means of a structure tensor method. Finally, we also present experiments over light field image sequences.
Inter-Robot Interactions in Multi-Robot Systems Using Braids

This paper describes a framework for multi-robot coordination and motion planning with emphasis on inter-agent interactions. We focus on the characterization of inter-agent interactions with sufficient level of abstraction so as to allow for the enforcement of desired interaction patterns in a provably safe (i.e., collision-free) manner, e.g., for achieving rich movement patterns in a shared space, or to exchange sensor information. We propose to specify interaction patterns through elements of the so-called braid group. This allows us to not focus on a particular pattern per se, but rather on the problem of being able to execute a whole class of patterns. The result from such a construction is a hybrid system driven by symbolic inputs that must be mapped onto actual paths that both realize the desired interaction levels and remain safe in the sense that collisions are avoided.
Sentiment Analysis and Lexical Cohesion for the Story Cloze Task

We present two NLP components for the Story Cloze Task – dictionary-based sentiment analysis and lexical cohesion. While previous research found no contribution from sentiment analysis to the accuracy on this task, we demonstrate that sentiment is an important aspect. We describe a new approach, using a rule that estimates sentiment congruence in a story. Our sentiment-based system achieves strong results on this task. Our lexical cohesion system achieves accuracy comparable to previously published baseline results. A combination of the two systems achieves better accuracy than published baselines. We argue that sentiment analysis should be considered an integral part of narrative comprehension.
Speeding-Up Any-Angle Path-Planning on Grids

Simple Subgoal Graphs are constructed from grids by placing subgoals at the corners of obstacles and connecting them. They are analogous to visibility graphs for continuous terrain but have fewer edges and can be used to quickly find shortest paths on grids. The vertices of a Simple Subgoal Graph can be partitioned into different levels to create N-Level Subgoal Graphs, which can be used to find shortest paths on grids even more quickly by ignoring subgoals that are not relevant for the search, which significantly reduces the size of the graph being searched. Search using Two-Level Subgoal Graphs was a non-dominated entry in the Grid-Based Path Planning Competitions 2012 and 2013. In this paper, we take advantage of the similarities between Subgoal Graphs and visibility graphs to show that Subgoal Graphs can be used, with small modifications, to quickly find “any-angle” paths, thus extending their applicability. Any-angle paths are usually shorter and more realistic looking than grid paths since the movement along any-angle paths is not constrained to grid edges. Our algorithm has the advantage that it is a simple extension of searching Subgoal Graphs and is up to two orders of magnitude faster than Theta* and up to an order of magnitude faster than Block A* (using 5 × 5 blocks), two of the most well-known any-angle pathplanning algorithms, while still finding any-angle paths of comparable lengths.
Track F The effect of maintenance policy violations

Motivation Maintenance policy assessments usually rely on expert judgement. We seek for some history based validation. Organisations may use our inference to assess risks of maintenance policy violations. Approach We depart from the arbitrary viewpoint that decisions have observable effects. We confine to a dependency between a maintenance policy and functionality. We implement (Granger, 1980)’s notion of prima facie causality that suits history based inferences under an observational study. A case study which is realistic in terms of sample size and operationalization allows us to reflect on inference precision. Achievements We implemented an argument to infer a prima facie cause between a maintenance policy and functionality. We showed some delimitations of the applicability to any kind of maintenance policy violation and to the recordings from any organisation. Recommendations Reduce controversy about maintenance policy assessments. Improve integrity of maintenance recordings. Ensure that the sampling rate of performance indicators enables reconstruction of the signal.
sxy-1, a Haemophilus influenzae mutation causing greatly enhanced spontaneous competence

A Haemophilus influenzae strain carrying a competence-enhancing mutation (sxy-1) was selected by transformation of a mutagenized culture in exponential growth at low cell density, where spontaneous competence is very rare. Under these conditions, sxy-1 cells spontaneously transformed 100 to 1,000 times more efficiently than wild-type cells. Moreover, sxy-1 cells responded to all known competence-inducing treatments with further increases in transformation frequency. At high cell densities, sxy-1 cells spontaneously developed the level of competence reached by wild-type cells only after maximal induction by transfer to starvation medium. The sxy-1 mutation appears to act early in the sequence of events leading to competence; it increased the competence of cells carrying the early-acting transformation-defective (Tfo-) mutation tfo-98 by as large a factor as it did the competence of wild-type cells, but it had no effect when combined with another early-acting Tfo- mutation (tfo-87) or with the late-acting Tfo- mutation rec-2.
Channel aware target tracking in multi-hop wireless sensor networks

A channel aware particle filtering approach is proposed for target tracking in multi-hop wireless sensor networks. The quantized M-bit data are relayed through multi-hop fading channels in order to reach a fusion center. Each relay node employs a binary decision relay scheme where the relay output is inferred from the channel impaired observation received from its source node. The observation likelihood function is derived based on the characteristic of the channel fading and noise. For two cases where the fusion center has the knowledge of the instantaneous fading channel gains and where it has only the knowledge of fading channel statistics, we propose the channel aware particle filtering for target tracking. The improved tracking accuracy and robustness to channel imperfection of the proposed filter is shown through computer simulations.
Selection criteria of open source software: First stage for adoption

Open Source Software (OSS) products started to become popular in the market as an alternative to closed source software. Companies and organizations are starting to adopt OSS on large scales and several governmental initiatives have encouraged the usage of OSS in the private sectors. The objective of this paper is to identify all possible OSS characteristics and propose new quality characteristics for selecting OSS in the adoption process. In general, the adoption of OSS among potential users in public sector agencies is still low and needs to be encouraged. This paper provides a brief history of OSS and open source's key programming languages. It also discusses the strengths and weaknesses of OSS. In order to improve user confidentiality, this paper identifies all possible OSS characteristics and proposes new internal quality characteristics for selecting OSS that can be added to each DeLone and McLean information system model dimensions.
Thermoregulation of Shigella and Escherichia coli EIEC pathogenicity. A temperature‐dependent structural transition of DNA modulates accessibility of virF promoter to transcriptional repressor H‐NS

The expression of plasmid‐borne virF of Shigella encoding a transcriptional regulator of the AraC family, is required to initiate a cascade of events resulting in activation of several operons encoding invasion functions. H‐NS, one of the main nucleoid‐associated proteins, controls the temperature‐dependent expression of the virulence genes by repressing the in vivo transcription of virF only below a critical temperature (∼32°C). This temperature‐dependent transcriptional regulation has been reproduced in vitro and the targets of H‐NS on the virF promoter were identified as two sites centred around −250 and −1 separated by an intrinsic DNA curvature. H‐NS bound cooperatively to these two sites below 32°C, but not at 37°C. DNA supercoiling within the virF promoter region did not influence H‐NS binding but was necessary for the H‐NS‐mediated transcriptional repression. Electrophoretic analysis between 4 and 60°C showed that the virF promoter fragment, comprising the two H‐NS sites, undergoes a specific and temperature‐dependent conformational transition at ∼32°C. Our results suggest that this modification of the DNA target may modulate a cooperative interaction between H‐NS molecules bound at two distant sites in the virF promoter region and thus represents the physical basis for the H‐NS‐dependent thermoregulation of virulence gene expression.
Extinction Training after Cocaine Self-Administration Induces Glutamatergic Plasticity to Inhibit Cocaine Seeking

Learning to inhibit drug seeking can be an important strategy for inhibiting relapse, and this can be modeled by extinguishing drug seeking in response to a drug-paired context. Rats were either extinguished or withdrawn without extinction training (abstinence) from cocaine self-administration, and measurements of postsynaptic density proteins in the core and shell subcompartments of the nucleus accumbens were compared with yoked-saline controls. Only extinguished rats had elevations of PSD-95, Homer1b/c, and Narp in the postsynaptic density of the core, whereas no proteins measured were altered in the postsynaptic density of the shell in either extinguished or abstinent rats. Using a biotinylation strategy, it was found that surface expression of mGluR5 was reduced only in the core of extinguished animals. Although both extinguished and abstinent animals showed a reduction in long-term potentiation elicited in the core by stimulating prefrontal cortex, blunted long-term depression was observed only in extinguished rats. These data indicate that the elevation in Homer1b/c in the core may have sequestered mGluR5 away from the membrane surface and that the loss of surface mGluR5 inhibits long-term depression. Accordingly, when Homer1c was overexpressed in the core of cocaine-naive rats with an adenoassociated virus, long-term depression was inhibited. This mechanism may contribute to the inhibition of cocaine seeking by extinction training because overexpression of Homer1c in the core also inhibited cue-induced reinstatement of cocaine seeking. These data identify a cellular mechanism that may contribute to extinction-induced inhibition of cocaine seeking.