Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Higher Autonomic Activation Predicts Better Performance in Iowa Gambling Task

ObjectiveTo evaluate the relationship between the autonomic nervous system basal state and performance in decision-making tasks. BackgroundThe link between performance in decision-making tasks and acute changes in autonomic parameters during their execution has been extensively investigated. However, there is lacking evidence regarding the relationship between decision making and basal autonomic state. MethodsResting autonomic nervous system activity in 18 healthy individuals was assessed by means of heart rate variability (HRV) analysis before conducting 3 different decision-making tasks: an ambiguous one, the Iowa Gambling Task; a test that assesses risk-taking behavior, the Game of Dice Task; and a test that assesses reversal learning behavior, the Reversal Learning Task. The tasks were administered in a random manner. ResultsThere was a direct correlation between the Iowa Gambling Task net score and the resting low frequency HRV (r=0.73; P<0.001), which is strongly influenced by sympathetic activity. No correlations were found between HRV and the Game of Dice Task net score or the Reversal Learning Task last error trial. ConclusionsThe results are compatible with the idea that a higher basal activation of autonomic nervous system is beneficial for subsequent decision-making process.
Two-Stage Service Provision by Branch and Bound

Bender's decomposition is often used to solve two-stage stochastic programming problems. The problem is transformed into a master problem and many subproblems with similar structure. For a two-stage problem with integer variables in the rst-stage branch and bound may be used to resolve the integral requirements. This involves solving many relaxations of the problem. Using Bender's decomposition to solve these relaxations means there are many, many subproblems to solve with similar structure. This paper considers such problems where the subproblems have a network or transportation problem structure. Ways of exploiting the structure of the subproblems and the combination of branch and bound with Bender's decomposition are discussed.
Proxies for Privacy in Ambient Systems

The increased use of social-network services for sharing personal information has made it easier to gain awareness of each other. It has also increased the interest in privacy issues, especially since it is not always clear to the provider of information who gains access to personal data and to what end this data is being used. Many interesting ideas and proposals have appeared to address the issue of privacy vs. information sharing. One of the most interesting is perhaps the notion of minimising asymmetry of information flow. It is not obvious how this idea can be applied in the area of ambient assisted living since raising awareness of the situation of the information provider is a core feature for reaching the goal of enabling elderly and disabled people to stay in their own housing. The work described here argues how the asymmetry of information flow can be minimised without compromising on the quality of monitoring and with the added benefit of giving next-of-kin better access to expert evaluation of the situation of their family members. This paper also reports on some initiatives on location-aware systems and ambient assisted living and shows how the combined experiences gained from these projects have led to the development of the proposed model for minimising asymmetry by proxies in an ambient assisted living environment.
Clinical Applications of Omics Technologies on ZHENG Differentiation Research in Traditional Chinese Medicine

Traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) ZHENG is the basic concept of TCM theory. The effectiveness of TCM treatment depends on the accuracy of ZHENG differentiation. ZHENG differentiation, using the “four diagnostic methods,” has the drawbacks of subjectivity and variability. Following development of omics technologies, which study the functional activities of human body from a system-wide perspective, it has been more and more applied in study of objectivity differentiating TCM ZHENG and understanding its biological mechanisms. This paper reviewed the literatures of clinical TCM ZHENG differentiation researches, underlying omics technologies, and indicated the increased trends of related articles with four kinds of omics technologies, including genomics, transcriptomics, proteomics and metabolomics, and the correlations between ZHENG differentiation and findings in omics studies. Moreover, the paper summarized the typical omics application in common studied diseases and TCM ZHENGs and discussed the main problems and countermeasure of ZHENG differentiation researches. The work here may provide a reference for further research of TCM ZHENG differentiation using omics technologies.
Proactive recovery method against multiple network failures with overlay networking technique

In this paper, we propose a proactive recovery method against multiple network failures for large-scale packet switching networks. The proposed method exploits the overlay networking technique. Specifically, it constructs multiple logical network topologies from the original overlay network topology by assuming various failure patterns. When a failure is detected, our method selects one topology. Consequently, it can immediately recover from the failure by utilizing the selected topology without waiting for routing convergence in the network. When constructing multiple logical topologies, we take into account the correlation among overlay links in terms of the underlay links, and we merge multiple logical topologies into a single topology to decrease the number of topologies while keeping the recovery efficiency. Through the numerical evaluation results of the network reachability and average path length, we show that our method improves network reachability from 69% to 99% while keeping the path length short, when 5% underlay links are simultaneously down.
ENERGETIC PROTONS, RADIONUCLIDES, AND MAGNETIC ACTIVITY IN PROTOSTELLAR DISKS

We calculate the location of the magnetically inactive dead zone in the minimum-mass protosolar disk, under ionization scenarios including stellar X-rays, long- or short-lived radionuclide decay, and energetic protons arriving from the general interstellar medium, from a nearby supernova explosion, from the disk corona, or from the corona of the young star. The disk contains a dead zone in all scenarios except those with small dust grains removed and a fraction of the short-lived radionuclides remaining in the gas. All the cases without exception have an “undead zone” where intermediate resistivities prevent magneto-rotational turbulence while allowing shear-generated large-scale magnetic fields. The mass column in the undead zone is typically greater than the column in the turbulent surface layers. The results support the idea that the dead and undead zones are robust consequences of cold, dusty gas with mass columns exceeding 1000 g cm−2.
Energy efficient medium access control protocols for wireless sensor networks and its state-of-art

Recent advances in wireless sensor networks (WSN) have led to many new protocols specifically designed for different kinds of applications where energy efficiency is an essential consideration. Most of the attention, however, has been given to the medium access control (MAC) protocols since they pay an important role in wireless communications and traditional MAC protocols are not suitable for WSN. This paper tries to survey recent energy efficient MAC protocols for WSN and presents a classification of the various approaches pursued. The four main categories explored in this paper are scheduling based, collision free, contention based, and hybrid schemes. Several energy-efficient MAC protocols are described and discussed under the appropriate category. Moreover, requirements for the MAC layer in WSN are also discussed. The paper concludes with open research issues in the end.
A Component-Driven Development Framework for e-Business Systems

Recently, practical use of component is growing explosively in e-business applications. By enhancing the flexibility and maintainability, the component framework can potentially be used to reduce system development costs, assemble systems rapidly, and the spiraling maintenance burden for supporting the evolution of e-business. In this paper, we propose a component-driven development framework named SEA+. The SEA+ provides a plug-and-play component-oriented development environment for e-business systems
Multi Target Tracking of Ground Targets in Clutter with LMIPDA-IMM

Tracking of ground targets presents a number of challenges. Target trajectories meet various motion constraints. Substantial non-homogenous clutter is usually present. In multitarget situations measurement assignment may be computationally challenging as the number of operations increases exponentially with number of tracks and number of measurements. LMIPDA-IMM aims to provide a solution to these issues. Use of the IMM approach allows tracking ground targets with motion constraints and/or maneuvers. LMIPDA calculates the probability of target existence for false track discrimination to enable automatic track initiation and termination. The robust data association properties of LMIPDA are further enhanced by the use of a clutter map. LMIPDA provides multi-target data association with number of operations linear in the number of tracks and the number of measurements. Simulation studies illustrate the effectiveness of this approach in an environment of heavy non-homogenous clutter.
Title: Adaptive Shaping of Cortical Response Selectivity in the Vibrissa Pathway Abbreviated Title: Adaptive Cortical Selectivity Introduction

Author Contributions HJVZ, QW and GBS conceived and designed the experiments. HJVZ conducted the experiments and analyzed the corresponding data. HJVZ and GBS wrote the paper. Abstract 1 One embodiment of context-dependent sensory processing is bottom-up adaptation, where 2 persistent stimuli decrease neuronal firing rate over hundreds of milliseconds. Adaptation is not, 3 however, simply the fatigue of the sensory pathway, but shape the information flow and 4 selectivity to stimulus features. Adaptation enhances spatial discriminability (distinguishing 5 stimulus location) while degrading detectability (reporting presence of the stimulus), for both 6 the ideal observer of the cortex and awake, behaving animals. However, how the dynamics of 7 the adaptation shape the cortical response and this detection and discrimination tradeoff is 8 unknown, as is to what degree this phenomenon occurs on a continuum as opposed to a 9 switching of processing modes. Using voltage-sensitive dye imaging in anesthetized rats to 10 capture the temporal and spatial characteristics of the cortical response to tactile inputs, we 11 showed that the suppression of the cortical response, in both magnitude and spatial spread, is 12 continuously modulated by the increasing amount of energy in the adapting stimulus, which is 13 non-uniquely determined by its frequency and velocity. Single-trial ideal observer analysis 14 demonstrated a tradeoff between detectability and spatial discriminability up to a moderate 15 amount of adaptation, which corresponds to the frequency range in natural whisking. This was 16 accompanied by a decrease in both detectability and discriminability with high-energy 17 adaptation, which indicates a more complex coupling between detection and discrimination 18 than a simple switching of modes. Taken together, the results suggest that adaptation operates 19 on a continuum and modulates the tradeoff between detectability and discriminability that has 20 implications for information processing in ethological contexts.
The Economic and Social Costs of Crime

Every day decisions are made by policy makers and managers in the Criminal Justice System which reflect implicit judgements about the relative seriousness of different crimes, or about the benefits of pursuing one approach to reducing crime rather than another. This study represents a first step towards making such judgements more explicit and in making sure they better reflect the available evidence on the impacts on society of different types of crime. Cost of crime estimates can play an important role in helping the government to achieve the greatest impact on crime for the money spent. They can be used in both appraisal and evaluation of crime reduction policies, such as those in the Government’s evidence-based Crime Reduction Programme. They can help us to prioritise, focusing scarce resources on policies that have the biggest impact on harm caused by crime, rather than simply the number of crimes. Moreover, one of the two aims of the Criminal Justice System (CJS) is “to reduce crime and the fear of crime and their social and economic costs”. This study reports on progress towards a cost of crime measure that can be used to assess performance against this aim. Figures used here represent the best available evidence, but nevertheless needs to be much improved. The aim of this report is to stimulate debate and improvements in the evidence.
Pressure and flow measurements in a dynamic mechanical model of the larynx and vocal tract

A dynamic mechanical model of the vocal folds and tract has been developed. The model has moving shutters representing the vocal folds, which intersect with a uniform rectangular duct representing the sub- and supra- vocal tract. The dimensions of the model are those of a typical adult male and the shutters can be driven sinusoidally at frequencies up to 80 Hz. Duct-wall pressure measurements and velocity measurements obtained within the duct by a hotwire anemometer have been obtained. The development of the jet at the glottal exit is discussed for two different upstream boundary conditions: with and without a large compliant volume representing the lungs.
Benefits of Transmit Antenna Selection in Ad Hoc Networks

In this paper, we investigate the benefits of providing limited-feedback and using transmit antenna selection (TAS) in ad hoc networks. We find that the TAS scheme can provide throughput gains of up to $50\%$ compared to the non-feedback scheme. We also find that the performance gains of the TAS scheme are more significant for low path loss exponents and single-antenna transmission. Our results are obtained by deriving new closed-form expressions for the network throughput and transmission capacity. Moreover, we also propose design guidelines for TAS to determine the optimal number of antennas used for transmission.
A method to construct counterexamples for greedy algorithms

Problem solving is the focus of any algorithm design course. Being able to construct counterexamples is a critical part of the problem solving process. We address the following question: Is there a teachable approach to construct counterexamples? We present a technique, called the Anchor Method, that could prove useful in constructing counterexamples for greedy algorithms. The basic idea of the method is to get insight about the structure of a counterexample by weakening the greedy algorithm. We show the applicability of the method by constructing counterexamples for some classic problems in graph theory. We also investigate the teachability of the technique through experiments.
Striking Out 'Competitive Balance' in Sports, Antitrust and Intellectual Property

Professional sports leagues enjoy a unique justification in defending their seemingly anticompetitive practices under the antitrust laws: They allegedly need to maintain competitive balance. According to the argument, sports leagues need to do anticompetitive things to enhance their competitive standing vis-a-vis other sports leagues or other forms of entertainment. The argument is on the leading side of a circuit split, with only the D.C. Circuit rejecting it. Additionally, sports leagues have been adept at getting this argument into public discourse and legislative consideration. This Article argues that antitrust should reject the competitive balance argument on its face. The competitive balance argument makes the assumptions that there can only be one championship competition per sports league, that leagues can and will engineer balance in that unique competition, and that fan interest is directly related to that singular competition. This Article draws on comparative data and recent economic research to conclude that each of these assumptions is wrong and that judicial endorsement of the competitive balance argument may simply be an aesthetic preference without empirical support. Instead, a solution lies in reconceiving the league competition envisioned by the competitive balance argument. In particular, a sports league can be subject to several different "competing competitions" among its constituent teams; it could thus maintain fan interest even in the absence of competitive balance. This view draws support from the experience of the decade-old English Premier League and also helps to illuminate Major League Baseball's litigation attempting to expand its intellectual property rights to limit fantasy baseball league operators.
Thermal effects on the dynamics and motor control of ballistic prey capture in toads: maintaining high performance at low temperature

SUMMARY Temperature has a strong influence on biological rates, including the contractile rate properties of muscle and thereby the velocity, acceleration and power of muscle-powered movements. We hypothesized that the dynamics of movements powered by elastic recoil have a lower thermal dependence than muscle-powered movements. We examined the prey capture behavior of toads (Bufo terrestris) using high speed imaging and electromyography to compare the effects of body temperature (11–35°C) on the kinematics, dynamics and motor control of two types of movement: (1) ballistic mouth opening and tongue projection, which are powered by elastic recoil, and (2) non-ballistic prey transport, including tongue retraction and mouth closing, which are powered directly by muscle contraction. Over 11–25°C, temperature coefficients of ballistic mouth opening and tongue projection dynamics (Q10 of 0.99–1.25) were not significantly different from 1.00 and were consistently lower than those of prey transport movements (Q10 of 1.77–2.26), supporting our main hypothesis. The depressor mandibulae muscle, which is responsible for ballistic mouth opening and tongue projection via the recovery of elastic strain energy stored by the muscle prior to the onset of the movement, was activated earlier and for a longer duration at lower temperatures (Q10 of 2.29–2.41), consistent with a slowing of its contractile rates. Muscle recruitment was unaffected by temperature, as revealed by the lack of thermal dependence in the intensity of activity of both the jaw depressor and jaw levator muscles (Q10 of 0.754–1.12). Over the 20–35°C range, lower thermal dependence was found for the dynamics of non-elastic movements and the motor control of both elastic and non-elastic movements, in accord with a plateau of high performance found in other systems.
Molecular basis of ribosome recognition and mRNA hydrolysis by the E. coli YafQ toxin

Bacterial type II toxin-antitoxin modules are protein–protein complexes whose functions are finely tuned by rapidly changing environmental conditions. E. coli toxin YafQ is suppressed under steady state growth conditions by virtue of its interaction with its cognate antitoxin, DinJ. During stress, DinJ is proteolytically degraded and free YafQ halts translation by degrading ribosome-bound mRNA to slow growth until the stress has passed. Although structures of the ribosome with toxins RelE and YoeB have been solved, it is unclear what residues among ribosome-dependent toxins are essential for mediating both recognition of the ribosome and the mRNA substrate given their low sequence identities. Here we show that YafQ coordinates binding to the 70S ribosome via three surface-exposed patches of basic residues that we propose directly interact with 16S rRNA. We demonstrate that YafQ residues H50, H63, D67 and H87 participate in acid-base catalysis during mRNA hydrolysis and further show that H50 and H63 functionally complement as general bases to initiate the phosphodiester cleavage reaction. Moreover YafQ residue F91 likely plays an important role in mRNA positioning. In summary, our findings demonstrate the plasticity of ribosome-dependent toxin active site residues and further our understanding of which toxin residues are important for function.
Study of terminal sliding mode control with fault-tolerant design

This paper studies the terminal sliding mode control (TSMC) issue considering the fault-tolerant design. In the proposed scheme, TSMC can keep the merits of conventional sliding mode control (SMC), including robustness to uncertainties and/or disturbances, fast response, and easy implementation. Moreover, by using TSMC, the system states of TSMC will converge in finite time to the control objective point, i.e., equivalent point, after the systems states intersect the sliding surface. Simulation results show the advantages of the proposed method.
How to Grow a Smiling Tree

Building a recombining binomial tree consistent with the observed volatility smile is trickier than you might have thought. Implied binomial (or multinomial) trees are constructed to enable pricing of derivative securities in consistency with the existing market. We introduce important modifications to the method proposed by Derman and Kani (1994). A new algorithm provides correct treatment of interest rate and dividends, as well as some additional practical improvements. For the purpose of testing, we reconstruct the volatility smile using the new implied tree and obtain excellent results. Our modifications become especially important if the interest rate is high.
Comparison of two commercial enzyme-linked immunosorbent assays for cerebrospinal fluid measurement of amyloid β1–42 and total tau

Amyloid β1–42 (Aβ1–42), total tau (t-tau), and phosphorylated tau (p-tau) are the main cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) biomarkers for early diagnosis of Alzheimer’s disease (AD). Detection of AD is critically important in view of the growing number of potential new drugs that may influence the course of the disease in its early phases. However, cut-off levels for these CSF biomarkers have not yet been established. Variability in absolute concentrations of AD biomarkers is high among studies and significant differences were noticed even within the same datasets. Variability in biomarkers levels in these assays may be due to many aspects of operating procedures. Standardization of pre-analytical and analytical procedures in collection, treatment, and storage of CSF samples is crucial because differences in sample handling can drastically influence results. Multicenter studies showed that usage of ELISA kits from different manufacturers also affects outcome. So far only very few studies tested the efficiency of ELISA kits produced by different vendors. In this study, the performance of Innogenetics (Gent, Belgium) and Invitrogen (Camarillo, CA, USA) ELISA kits for t-tau and Aβ1–42 was tested. Passing-Bablok analysis showed significant differences between Invitrogen and Innogenetics ELISA methods, making it impossible to use them interchangeably.