Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
GLUE: a Parameter-Tuning-Free Map Updating System

Map data are widely used in mobile services, but most maps might not be complete. Updating the map automatically is an important problem because road networks are frequently changed with the development of the city. This paper studies the problem of recovering missing road segments via GPS trajectories, especially low sampled data. Our approach takes the GPS noise into consideration and proposes an effective self-adaptive algorithm. Besides, we propose theoretical models behind all the important parameters to enable self-adaptive parameter setting. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first work that addresses the parameter setting issue successfully to make sure our approach is free of parameter-tuning. In addition, we also propose a quantitative evaluation method for map updating problem. The result shows our algorithm has a much better performance than the existing approaches.
A Nonparametric Approach to the Estimation of Diffusion Processes, With an Application to a Short-Term Interest Rate Model

In this paper, we propose a nonparametric identification and estimation procedure for an ltd diffusion process based on discrete sampling observations. The nonparametric kernel estimator for the diffusion function developed in this paper deals with general ltd diffusion processes and avoids any functional form specification for either the drift function or the diffusion function. It is shown that under certain regularity conditions the nonparametric diffusion function estimator is pointwise consistent and asymptotically follows a normal mixture distribution. Under stronger conditions, a consistent nonparametric estimator of the drift function is also derived based on the diffusion function estimator and the marginal density of the process. An application of the nonparametric technique to a short-term interest rate model involving Canadian daily 3-month treasury bill rates is also undertaken. The estimation results provide evidence for rejecting the common parametric or semiparametric specifications for both the drift and diffusion functions.
Progression of Luminal Breast Tumors Is Promoted by Ménage à Trois between the Inflammatory Cytokine TNFα and the Hormonal and Growth-Supporting Arms of the Tumor Microenvironment

Breast cancer progression is strongly linked to inflammatory processes, aggravating disease course. The impacts of the inflammatory cytokine TNFα on breast malignancy are not fully substantiated, and they may be affected by cooperativity between TNFα and other protumoral mediators. Here, we show that together with representatives of other important arms of the tumor microenvironment, estrogen (hormonal) and EGF (growth-supporting), TNFα potently induced metastasis-related properties and functions in luminal breast tumor cells, representing the most common type of breast cancer. Jointly, TNFα + Estrogen + EGF had a stronger effect on breast cancer cells than each element alone, leading to the following: (1) extensive cell spreading and formation of FAK/paxillin-enriched cellular protrusions; (2) elevated proportion of tumor cells coexpressing high levels of CD44 and β1 and VLA6; (3) EMT and cell migration; (4) resistance to chemotherapy; (5) release of protumoral factors (CXCL8, CCL2, MMPs). Importantly, the tumor cells used in this study are known to be nonmetastatic under all conditions; nevertheless, they have acquired high metastasizing abilities in vivo in mice, following a brief stimulation by TNFα + Estrogen + EGF. These dramatic findings indicate that TNFα can turn into a strong prometastatic factor, suggesting a paradigm shift in which clinically approved inhibitors of TNFα would be applied in breast cancer therapy.
Markov Modeling of Availability and Unavailability Data

Markov models are often used in performance and dependability analysis and allow a precise and numerically stable computation of many result measures including those which result from rare events. It is, however, known that simple exponential distributions, which are the base of Markov modeling, cannot adequately describe the duration of availability or unavailability intervals of components in a distributed system. Commonly used in modeling those durations are Weibull, log-normal or Pareto distributions that can also capture a possibly heavy tailed behavior but cannot be analyzed analytically or numerically. An alternative to applying the mentioned distributions in modeling availability or unavailability intervals are phase type distributions and Markovian arrival processes that still result in a Markov model. Based on experiments for a large number of publically available availability traces, we show that phase type distributions are a flexible alternative to other commonly known distributions and even more that Markov models can be easily extended to capture also correlation in the length of availability or unavailability intervals.
Conflict Resolution Using Weighted Rules in HFST-TWOLC

In this article we demonstrate a novel way to resolve conicts in two-level grammars by weighting the rules. The rules are transformed into probabilistic constraints, which are allowed to compete with each other. We demonstrate a method to automatically assign weights to the rules. It acts in a similar way as traditional conict resolution, except that traditionally unresolvable left-arrow rule conicts do not cause lexical forms to be ltered out. The two-level lexicon and probabilistic twolevel grammar are combined using the new transducer operation weighted intersecting composition. The result is a weighted lexical transducer. To the best of our knowledge, this is the rst time probabilistic rules have been used to solve two-level rule conicts. The possible applications of probabilistic lexical transducers range from debugging a wed two-level grammars to computer-assisted language learning. We test our method using a twolevel lexicon and grammar compiled with the open source tools HFST-LEXC and HFST-TWOLC.
Reducing Lexical Semantic Complexity with Systematic Polysemous Classes and Underspecification

This paper presents an algorithm for finding systematic polysemous classes in WordNet and similar semantic databases, based on a definition in (Apresjan 1973). The introduction of systematic polysemous classes can reduce the amount of lexical semantic processing, because the number of disambiguation decisions can be restricted more clearly to those cases that involve real ambiguity (homonymy). In many applications, for instance in document categorization, information retrieval, and information extraction, it may be sufficient to know if a given word belongs to a certain class (underspecified sense) rather than to know which of its (related) senses exactly to pick. The approach for finding systematic polysemous classes is based on that of (Buitelaar 1998a, Buitelaar 1998b), while addressing some previous shortcomings.
An ABC transporter B family protein, ABCB19, is required for cytoplasmic streaming and gravitropism of the inflorescence stems

Abstract A significant feature of plant cells is the extensive motility of organelles and the cytosol, which was originally defined as cytoplasmic streaming. We suggested previously that a three-way interaction between plant-specific motor proteins myosin XIs, actin filaments, and the endoplasmic reticulum (ER) was responsible for cytoplasmic streaming.1 Currently, however, there are no reports of molecular components for cytoplasmic streaming other than the actin-myosin-cytoskeleton and ER-related proteins. In the present study, we found that elongated cells of inflorescence stems of Arabidopsis thaliana exhibit vigorous cytoplasmic streaming. Statistical analysis showed that the maximal velocity of plastid movements is 7.26 µm/s, which is much faster than the previously reported velocities of organelles. Surprisingly, the maximal velocity of streaming in the inflorescence stem cells was significantly reduced to 1.11 µm/s in an Arabidopsis mutant, abcb19-101, which lacks ATP BINDING CASSETTE SUBFAMILY B19 (ABCB19) that mediates the polar transport of the phytohormone auxin together with PIN-FORMED (PIN) proteins. Polar auxin transport establishes the auxin concentration gradient essential for plant development and tropisms. Deficiency of ABCB19 activity eventually caused enhanced gravitropic responses of the inflorescence stems and abnormally flexed inflorescence stems. These results suggest that ABCB19-mediated auxin transport plays a role not only in tropism regulation, but also in cytoplasmic streaming.
Parameterizing Credit Risk Models with Rating Data

Estimates of average default probabilities for borrowers assigned to each of a financial institution's internal credit risk rating grades are crucial inputs to portfolio credit risk models. Such models are increasingly used in setting financial institution capital structure, in internal control and compensation systems, in asset-backed security design, and are being considered for use in setting regulatory capital requirements for banks. This paper empirically examines properties of the major methods currently used to estimate average default probabilities by grade. Evidence of potential problems of bias, instability, and gaming is presented. With care, and perhaps judicious application of multiple methods, satisfactory estimates may be possible. In passing, evidence is presented about other properties of internal and rating-agency ratings.
Relationship of bacterial growth efficiency to spatial variation in bacterial activity in the Hudson River

Variation in bacterial production (BP) is used as an indicator of bacterial metabolism and carbon processing in the analysis of aquatic ecosystems. The allocation of carbon by bacteria to either BP or respiration (BR), however, is variable and may potentially influence the assessment of carbon cycling by bacteria in ecosystems. We studied 10 transects in the Hudson River estuary where there is a gradient in BP and BR along the flow path of the estuary. We measured BP and BR in filtered sam- ples to derive an estimate of bacterial growth efficiency (BGE) that we could compare with indepen- dent measurements of total BP (BPT) from unfiltered samples to evaluate the relationship of BGE to BP. We further tested the assumption that BGE derived from filtered samples is a good estimator of the ambient BGE on a subset of transects in the upriver section where bacteria dominate respiration. There was good agreement (near 1:1) between respiration measured in unfiltered samples and total BR estimated from BPT and BGE in the filtered fraction (total BR = (BPT/BGE) - BPT). BGE averaged 0.29 but varied from 0.07 to 0.61, and did not explain the general decline in BPT along the river. Rather, BGE was strongly correlated to the residuals of the BPT and specific BPT (i.e. growth) vs. flow path (= river kilometer) relationship, indicating that shifts in bacterial carbon allocation explained local variations in bacterial metabolic activity, and these shifts were superimposed on the larger scale decline in carbon consumption and BP. The pattern in BP along the Hudson River is clearly a combi- nation of changes in consumption as well as in BGE, to the point that the pattern in BPT or growth would be impossible to recreate from any one of these 2 components. We conclude that BGE indicates changes in carbon allocation of bacteria that reflect shifts in relative BR and BP at shorter time and space scales that are distinct from larger overall patterns in consumption and BP.
The nongravitational interactions of dark matter in colliding galaxy clusters

Uncloaking the influence of the invisible actor The idea of dark matter enjoys popular support, but two major concerns persist: the so-called Standard Model excludes it, and it cannot be directly detected by any telescope. For now, astronomers can only observe dark matter's influence indirectly, such as when watching unseen creatures perturb the surface of a pond. Harvey et al. observed 72 galaxy collisions to compare the resulting centers of mass for the gas and stars (from direct observations) and for the dark matter (by inference). Based on these offsets, dark matter is clearly present. Science, this issue p. 1462 Observations of galactic mergers offer constraints on the drag forces incurred by dark matter. Collisions between galaxy clusters provide a test of the nongravitational forces acting on dark matter. Dark matter’s lack of deceleration in the “bullet cluster” collision constrained its self-interaction cross section σDM/m < 1.25 square centimeters per gram (cm2/g) [68% confidence limit (CL)] (σDM, self-interaction cross section; m, unit mass of dark matter) for long-ranged forces. Using the Chandra and Hubble Space Telescopes, we have now observed 72 collisions, including both major and minor mergers. Combining these measurements statistically, we detect the existence of dark mass at 7. 6σ significance. The position of the dark mass has remained closely aligned within 5.8 ± 8.2 kiloparsecs of associated stars, implying a self-interaction cross section σDM/m < 0.47 cm2/g (95% CL) and disfavoring some proposed extensions to the standard model.
Toward Ethical Information Systems: The Contribution of Discourse Ethics

Ethics is important in the Information Systems field as illustrated by the direct effect of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act on the work of IS professionals. There is a substantial literature on ethical issues surrounding computing and information technology in the contemporary world, but much of this work is not published nor widely cited in the mainstream IS literature. The purpose of this paper is to offer one contribution to an increased emphasis on ethics in the IS field. The distinctive contribution is a focus on Habermas's discourse ethics. After outlining some traditional theories of ethics and morality, the literature on IS and ethics is reviewed, and then the paper details the development of discourse ethics. Discourse ethics is different from other approaches to ethics as it is grounded in actual debates between those affected by decisions and proposals. Recognizing that the theory could be considered rather abstract, the paper discusses the need to pragmatize discourse ethics for the IS field through, for example, the use of existing techniques such as soft systems methodology. In addition, the practical potential of the theory is illustrated through a discussion of its application to specific IS topic areas including Web 2.0, open source software, the digital divide, and the UK biometric identity card scheme. The final section summarizes ways in which the paper could be used in IS research, teaching, and practice.
Collaboration and Conflict in Software Review Meetings

This paper discusses the collaboration-conflict process: a binomial process mixing collaboration and conflict. We applied the collaboration-conflict process to Software Review Meetings, commonly adopted to verify the functional specification of software. We developed a groupware tool demonstrating the dynamics of the collaboration-conflict process in review meetings. We also provide results from an experiment with the tool in a software engineering firm. The results show that the collaboration-conflict process promotes argumentation and generates better reviews.
Extending Graphplan to Handle Uncertainty & Sensing Actions

If an agent does not have complete information about the world-state, it must reason about alternative possible states of the world and consider whether any of its actions can reduce the uncertainty. Agents controlled by a contingent planner seek to generate a robust plan, that accounts for and handles all eventualities, in advance of execution. Thus a contingent plan may include sensing actions which gather information that is later used to select between di(cid:11)erent plan branches. Unfortunately, previous contingent planners su(cid:11)ered defects such as confused semantics, incompleteness, and ine(cid:14)-ciency. In this paper we describe SGP, a de-scendant of Graphplan that solves contingent planning problems. SGP distinguishes between actions that sense the value of an unknown proposition from those that change its value. SGP does not su(cid:11)er from the forms of incompleteness displayed by CNLP and Cassandra. Furthermore, SGP is relatively fast.
Purification, Primary Structure, and Immunological Characterization of the 26-kDa Calsequestrin Binding Protein (Junctin) from Cardiac Junctional Sarcoplasmic Reticulum (*)

Previously we identified a protein of apparent M = 26,000 as the major calsequestrin binding protein in junctional sarcoplasmic reticulum vesicles isolated from cardiac and skeletal muscle (Mitchell, R. D., Simmerman, H. K. B., and Jones, L. R.(1988) J. Biol. Chem. 263, 1376-1381). Here we describe the purification and primary structure of the 26-kDa calsequestrin binding protein. The protein was purified 164-fold from cardiac microsomes and shown by immunoblotting to be highly enriched in junctional membrane subfractions. It ran as a closely spaced doublet on SDS-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis and bound 125I-calsequestrin intensely. Cloning of the cDNA predicted a protein of 210 amino acids containing a single transmembrane domain. The protein has a short N-terminal region located in the cytoplasm, and the bulk of the molecule, which is highly charged and basic, projects into the sarcoplasmic reticulum lumen. Significant homologies were found with triadin and aspartyl β-hydroxylase, suggesting that all three proteins are members of a family of single membrane-spanning endoplasmic reticulum proteins. Immunocytochemical labeling localized the 26-kDa protein to junctional sarcoplasmic reticulum in cardiac and skeletal muscle. The same gene product was expressed in these two tissues. The calsequestrin binding activity of the 26-kDa protein combined with its codistribution with calsequestrin and ryanodine receptors strongly suggests that the protein plays an important role in the organization and/or function of the Ca2+ release complex. Because the 26-kDa calsequestrin binding protein is an integral component of the junctional sarcoplasmic reticulum membrane in cardiac and skeletal muscle, we have named it Junctin.
CAN INTERNATIONAL TAX COMPETITION EXPLAIN CORPORATE INCOME TAX REFORMS

This paper analyses the development of taxes on corporate income in EU and G7 countries over the last two decades. We establish a number of stylised facts about their development. Tax-cutting and base-broadening reforms have had the effect that, on average across EU and G7 countries, effective tax rates on marginal investment have remained fairly stable, but those on more profitable investments have fallen. We discuss two possible explanations of these stylised facts arising from alternative forms of tax competition. First, governments may be responding to a fall in the cost of income shifting, which puts downward pressure on the statutory tax rate. Second, reforms are consistent with competition for more profitable projects, in particular those earned by multinational firms.
Sound usability?: usability heuristics and guidelines for user-centered podcasts

In this paper, I explore usability for podcasts. I begin with a definition of podcasting. Next, I discuss usability for podcasts, focusing on eight key areas. From here, I build seven usability heuristics for podcasts. With the usability heuristics, I examine the anatomy of podcast, providing 127 podcast usability guidelines. I conclude with a discussion of future research needs.
A non-parametric approach for learning from crowds

Learning from crowds, which the labels of the instances are collected through crowdsourcing ways, has become an important research topic recently. Personal Classifier (PC) approach is a representative approach for learning from crowds due to its convex optimization formulation. PC approach makes assumptions about parameters' distribution, thus it is a parametric approach. However, these assumptions may not always hold, especially for real-world data sets. In this paper, we propose a new non-parametric approach, called NP approach, for learning from crowds. NP approach has a convex optimization formulation but without assumptions about parameters' distribution. In addition, NP approach can be generalized to the non-linear case directly, while the PC approach does not. Experimental studies show that NP approach outperforms other two compared approaches.
Smile recognition system based on lip corners identification

Automatic smile recognition plays an important part in several intelligent image processing systems. This paper presents an automatic smile detection system based on lip corners identification. Two different corner detection algorithms are used in this paper to identify lip corners, i.e., the Harris corner detection and the FAST corner detection. The proposed system is tested using our VISiO smiling face database. Our results show that the Harris corner detector yields the best result with 77.5% accuracy while the FAST corner detector gives 72.5% accuracy. However, these results depend on the method of of determining pavg (the average lip corner position during the training phase).
Hestitant bedfellows: the German Stiftungen and party aid in Africa. An attempt at an assessment

Contrary to international perception party assistance of German political foundations is not confined to the ‘partisan approach’, but displays a high variety of approaches; in particular they combine political party with civil society assistance. In fact, only about 20% of their efforts are devoted to party aid. Despite the foundation’s high degree of versatility in party aid they reveal a crucial weakness: none has a strategic concept to address the particular challenges of African political parties. However, this weakness is neither a problem of the German foundations nor is it confined to Africa; it rather seems to be a general one of party promoters and probably found in other continents as well.
Human Serum IgM Glycosylation

The glycoprotein IgM is the major antibody produced in the primary immune response to antigens, circulating in the serum both as a pentamer and a hexamer. Pentameric IgM has a single J chain, which is absent in the hexamer. The μ (heavy) chain of IgM has five N-linked glycosylation sites. Asn-171, Asn-332, and Asn-395 are occupied by complex glycans, whereas Asn-402 and Asn-563 are occupied by oligomannose glycans. The glycosylation of human polyclonal IgM from serum has been analyzed. IgM was found to contain 23.4% oligomannose glycans GlcNAc2Man5–9, consistent with 100% occupancy of Asn-402 and 17% occupancy of the variably occupied site at Asn-563. Mannan-binding lectin (MBL) is a member of the collectin family of proteins, which bind to oligomannose and GlcNAc-terminating structures. A commercial affinity chromatography resin containing immobilized MBL has been reported to be useful for partial purification of mouse and also human IgM. Human IgM glycoforms that bind to immobilized MBL were isolated; these accounted for only 20% of total serum IgM. Compared with total serum IgM, the MBL-binding glycoforms contained 97% more GlcNAc-terminating structures and 8% more oligomannose structures. A glycosylated model of pentameric IgM was constructed, and from this model, it became evident that IgM has two distinct faces, only one of which can bind to antigen, as the J chain projects from the non-antigen-binding face. Antigen-bound IgM does not bind to MBL, as the target glycans appear to become inaccessible once IgM has bound antigen. Antigen-bound IgM pentamers therefore do not activate complement via the lectin pathway, but MBL might have a role in the clearance of aggregated IgM.