Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Interfacial Kinetic and Binding Properties of the Complete Set of Human and Mouse Groups I, II, V, X, and XII Secreted Phospholipases A2 *

Expression of the full set of human and mouse groups I, II, V, X, and XII secreted phospholipases A2 (sPLA2s) in Escherichia coli and insect cells has provided pure recombinant enzymes for detailed comparative interfacial kinetic and binding studies. The set of mammalian sPLA2s display dramatically different sensitivity to dithiothreitol. The specific activity for the hydrolysis of vesicles of differing phospholipid composition by these enzymes varies by up to 4 orders of magnitude, and yet all enzymes display similar catalytic site specificity toward phospholipids with different polar head groups. Discrimination between sn-2 polyunsaturated versus saturated fatty acyl chains is <6-fold. These enzymes display apparent dissociation constants for activation by calcium in the 1–225 μm range, depending on the phospholipid substrate. Analysis of the inhibition by a set of 12 active site-directed, competitive inhibitors reveals a large variation in the potency among the mammalian sPLA2s, with Me-Indoxam being the most generally potent sPLA2 inhibitor. A dramatic correlation exists between the ability of the sPLA2s to hydrolyze phosphatidylcholine-rich vesicles efficiently in vitro and the ability to release arachidonic acid when added exogenously to mammalian cells; the group V and X sPLA2s are uniquely efficient in this regard.
Implications of the Crisis for Public Finances: The Case of Austria

The economic crisis of 2008-09 has greatly compounded the challenge of economic policymaking both at the EU level and at the national level by causing a permanent loss in potential output – which may reach between 4 per cent and 6 per cent in the case of Austria (Gaggl and Janger, 2009) – and by sharply driving up public deficit and debt ratios.This study highlights the implications these developments are likely to have for fiscal and structural policymaking in Austria. Section 1 outlines how the economic crisis of 2008-09 and upcoming demographic changes would cause public finances to deteriorate significantly and permanently in the absence of consolidation. Section 2 discusses the timing and composition of consolidation strategies: When should policymakers act, and on which areas should they focus? Section 3 concludes.
A statistical approach to interference reduction in distributed large-scale antenna systems

This paper considers the problem of interference control in networks where base stations signals are coherently combined (aka network MIMO). Building on an analogy with so-called massive MIMO, we show how second-order statistical properties of channels can be exploited when the massive MIMO array corresponds in fact to many antennas randomly spread over a two-dimensional network. Based on the classical one-ring model, we characterize the low-rankness of channel covariance matrices and show the rank is related to the scattering radius. The application of the low-rankness property to channel estimation's denoising and low complexity interference filtering is highlighted.
A family of H∞ controllers for dissipative Hamiltonian systems

Without solving Hamilton-Jacobi-Issacs equations, a family of H<inf>∞</inf> controllers is proposed for dissipative Hamiltonian systems. These controllers are obtained by interconnecting an H<inf>∞</inf> controller with a generalized ZEG detectable, free generalized Hamiltonian system. Simulations show the effectiveness of the H<inf>∞</inf> control strategy proposed in this paper.
Optimal Protein Encoding

A common task in Bioinformatics is the search of sequence databases for matching sequences. In protein sequence databases, searching is hindered by both the increased amount of data and the complexity of sequence similarity metrics. Protein similarity is not simply a matter of character matching, but rather is determined by a matrix of scores assigned to every match and mismatch [5]. One strategy to increase search speed is to map sequences into a binary space where the Hamming distance between strings is comparable to the similarities of the original sequences [4]. Within binary Hamming spaces, statistically proven sampling methods can be used for fast, reliably sensitive searches [2]. However, mapping the protein alphabet to a binary Hamming space often comes with a certain level of distortion. We have employed Linear Programming techniques to model and study the nature of these mapping schemes. Specifically, we have found the theoretically minimum distortion achievable for several biological scoring matrices, as well as corresponding optimal encoding weights. We have also analyzed the use of these encoding weights to generate pseudo-random binary encodings that approach the theoretically minimum distortions.
Learning when and how to coordinate

This paper examines the potential and the impact of introducing learning capabilities into autonomous agents that make decisions at run-time about which mechanism to exploit in order to coordinate their activities. Specifically, the efficacy of learning is evaluated for making the decisions that are involved in determining when and how to coordinate. Our motivating hypothesis is that to deal with dynamic and unpredictable environments it is important to have agents that can learn the right situations in which to attempt to coordinate and the right method to use in those situations. This hypothesis is evaluated empirically, using reinforcement based algorithms, in a grid-world scenario in which a) an agent's predictions about the other agents in the environment are approximately correct and b) an agent can not correctly predict the others' behaviour. The results presented show when, where and why learning is effective when it comes to making a decision about selecting a coordination mechanism.
Evidence for the Hierarchical Formation of the Galactic Spheroid

The possibility that the Galactic spheroid was assembled from isolated, chemically distinct proto-Galactic fragments is investigated using a Monte Carlo technique designed to simulate the chemical evolution of the Galaxy in hierarchical formation scenarios which involve no gas dissipation. By comparing the observed and simulated metallicity distributions of Galactic globular clusters and halo field stars, we estimate the level of fragmentation in the collapsing proto-Galaxy. Although the formation process is highly stochastic, the simulations frequently show good agreement with the observed metallicity distributions, provided the luminosity function of proto-Galactic fragments had the form dN ∝ Lα dL, where α ~ -2. While this steep slope is strongly at odds with the presently observed luminosity function of the Local Group, it is in close agreement with the predictions of semianalytic and numerical models of hierarchical galaxy formation. We discuss a number of possible explanations for this discrepancy. These simulations suggest that the Galactic halo and its globular cluster system were assembled via the accretion and disruption of ~103 metal-poor, proto-Galactic fragments by the dominant building block: a protobulge whose own metal-rich globular clusters system has been preferentially eroded by dynamical processes. This formation scenario may provide a simple explanation for the different shapes of the Galactic globular cluster and halo star metallicity distributions. Based on the similar properties of globular clusters belonging to spiral and giant elliptical galaxies, we argue that the same process (e.g., hierarchical growth involving little gas dissipation) is responsible for the formation of both giant elliptical galaxies and the bulge-halo components of spiral galaxies.
Introducing categories to the practicing physicist

We argue that category theory should become a part of the daily practice of the physicist, and more specific, the quantum physicist and/or informatician. The reason for this is not that category theory is a better way of doing mathematics, but that monoidal categories constitute the actual algebra of practicing physics. We will not provide rigorous definitions or anything resembling a coherent mathematical theory, but we will take the reader for a journey introducing concepts which are part of category theory in a manner that the physicist will recognize them.
Autocalibrage multi-vues d ’ une distance focale et mouvements critiques associés On Constant Focal Length Self-Calibration From Multiple Vi ews and Related Critical Motions

We investigate the problem of finding the metric structure of a general 3D scene viewed by a moving camera with square pixels and constant unknown focal length. While the problem has a concise and well-understood formulation in the stratified framework thanks to the absolute dual quadric, two open issues remain. The first issue concerns the generic Critical Motion Sequences, i.e. camera motions for which self-calibration is ambiguous. Most of the previous work focuses on the varying focal length case. We provide a thorough study of the constant focal length case. The second issue is to solve the nonlinear set of equations in four unknowns arising from the dual quadric formulation. Most of the previous work either does local nonlinear optimization, thereby requiring an initial solution, or li nearizes the problem, which introduces artificial degeneracie s, most of which likely to arise in practice. We use interval analysis to solve this problem. The resulting algorithm is guaranteed to find the solution within few seconds and is not subject to artificial degeneracies.
The ASPECTA toolkit: affordable full coverage displays

Full Coverage Displays (FCDs) cover the interior surface of an entire room with pixels. FCDs make possible many new kinds of immersive display experiences - but current technology for building FCDs is expensive and complex, and software support for developing full-coverage applications is limited. To address these problems, we introduce ASPECTA, a hardware configuration and software toolkit that provide a low-cost and easy-to-use solution for creating full coverage systems. We outline ASPECTA's (minimal) hardware requirements and describe the toolkit's architecture, development API, server implementation, and configuration tool; we also provide a full example of how the toolkit can be used. We performed two evaluations of the toolkit: a case study of a research system built with ASPECTA, and a laboratory study that tested the effectiveness of the API. Our evaluations, as well as multiple examples of ASPECTA in use, show how ASPECTA can simplify configuration and development while still dramatically reducing the cost for creators of applications that take advantage of full-coverage displays.
A mixed-methods investigation of the Best Possible Selves intervention: Relationships and thriving

Positive psychology has been criticised as being dominated by quantitative research. As a field, positive psychology has also tended to be overly focused on individual well-being, on the ‘self’ rather than the ‘other’. The research described in this thesis addressed both these issues by: (a) conducting a mixed-methods research program which consisted of an experiment (n = 141) using a participant-focused, qualitative lens in conjunction with quantitative analysis, and (b) considering the role of both the other, and the self, in data analysis, and the development of an other-focused intervention. Results are presented as five research papers, two of which have been published, the other three are under review. The Best Possible Self (BPS) was the intervention used in this research program. The BPS is an expressive-writing activity in which participants write about their life working out in the best possible way. The first paper (published) of this program of study was a critical review of the BPS literature, which categorised the extant research by type of evidence sought, and synthesised the results from the 31 studies to determine the efficacy of the BPS intervention. The literature review concluded with the identification of topics for future research. Gaps in the literature which were addressed and presented in the remaining four papers included: the potential of the BPS as a hope intervention; the broaden-and-build theory of positive emotions as a potential mechanism explaining efficacy; the lack of qualitative analysis of BPS texts; and the overly individualistic focus inherent in the BPS activity. ; Submitted in the fulfilment of the requirements of the degree of Doctor of Philosophy, University of the Sunshine Coast, 2018.
A Comparative Study of Type 1 Singleton Fuzzy Logic Systems in Machining Application

This paper presents a comparison of two different techniques of Soft Computing (SC), in union with a novel approach of a hybrid model with Central Composite Design (CCD) with capacity of performing a rule reduction, without loss of reliability, and also performs a reduction of the computational time spent in prediction. Results obtained with this method show better performance thought generating a minimum error rate when it is compared with the Adaptive Network Fuzzy Inference Systems (ANFIS), or with the least squares method in case of pure the Fuzzy Singleton system.
Your Eye Tells How Well You Comprehend

Systems that adapt to changes in human needs automatically are useful, built upon advancements in human-computer interaction research. In this paper, we investigate the problem of how well the eye movement of a user when reading an article can predict the level of reading comprehension, which could be exploited in intelligent adaptive e-learning systems. We characterize the eye movement pattern in the form of eye gaze signal. We invite human subjects in reading articles of different difficulty levels being induced to different comprehension levels. Machine-learning techniques are applied to identify useful features to recognize when readers are experiencing difficulties in understanding their reading material. Finally, a detection model that can identify different levels of user comprehension is built. We achieve a performance improvement of over 30% above the baseline, translating over 50% reduction in detection error.
Population III and the near-infrared background excess

We make a critical assessment of models that attribute the recently detected near-infrared background ‘excess’ (NIRBE) to the redshifted light from Population III objects. To supply the required 25 keV per baryon at redshift 9, Population III massive stars must form with an efficiency exceeding 30 per cent in all ‘minihaloes’ with virial temperatures above a few hundred kelvins; to avoid excessive metal pollution, most of the baryons once in Population III stars must end up in intermediate-mass black holes (IMBHs). Gas accretion on to such IMBHs must either be inhibited or lead to early miniquasars with steep ultraviolet/X-ray spectra, in order not to overproduce the present-day unresolved soft X-ray background. In the latter case (NIRBE dominated by ‘X-ray-quiet miniquasars’), the total mass density of IMBHs at z∼ 9 must be ≳50 times higher than the mass density of supermassive black holes observed today in the nuclei of galaxies. A stellar-dominated NIRBE is less economical energetically: ≳5 per cent of all baryons in the Universe must be processed into Population III stars. We survey various aspects of the Population III hypothesis for the NIRBE, and show that the ionizing photon budget required to account for the NIRBE is much larger than that required to explain the high electron scattering optical depth measured by the WMAP satellite.
Numerical results for crossing, spanning and wrapping in two-dimensional percolation

Using a recently developed method to simulate percolation on large clusters of distributed machines [1], we have numerically calculated crossing, spanning and wrapping probabilities in two-dimensional site and bond percolation with exceptional accuracy. Our results are fully consistent with predictions from conformal field theory. We present many new results that await theoretical explanation, particularly for wrapping clusters on a cylinder. We therefore provide possibly the most up-to-date reference for theoreticians working on crossing, spanning and wrapping probabilities in two-dimensional percolation.
Analyzing Multiple News Sites by Contrasting Articles

Today, there is access to large numbers of news sites in different countries, and there are several experimental systems, such as Newsblaster and NewsExplorer, that integrate news articles about a particular event from multiple news sites. These systems enable a good understanding of particular events by using multiple news sites, but they ignore the characteristics of the various news sites. To characterize the differences between news sites, the News Site Contrast (NSContrast) system has been proposed. This system analyzes multiple news sites using the concept of contrast- set mining. However, NSContrast has only limited analysis functions and is not mature enough for evaluation via user experiments. Therefore, in this paper, we analyze contrast set mining results for NSContrast, aiming to understand the requirements for extracting useful information that also reflects the interests of different countries. Based on this analysis, a new NSContrast is introduced and applied to a news article database constructed from multiple news sites in different countries for user experimentation.
Governing the Commons: Index

The governance of natural resources used by many individuals in common is an issue of increasing concern to policy analysts. Both state control and privatisation of resources have been advocated, but neither the state nor the market have been uniformly successful in solving common pool resource problems. Offering a critique of the foundations of policy analysis as applied to natural resources, Elinor Ostrom here provides a unique body of empirical data to explore conditions under which common pool resource problems have been satisfactorily or unsatisfactorily solved. Dr Ostrom first describes three models most frequently used as the foundation for recommending state or market solutions. She then outlines theoretical and empirical alternatives to these models in order to illustrate the diversity of possible solutions. In the following chapters she uses institutional analysis to examine different ways - both successful and unsuccessful - of governing the commons. In contrast to the proposition of the tragedy of the commons argument, common pool problems sometimes are solved by voluntary organisations rather than by a coercive state. Among the cases considered are communal tenure in meadows and forests, irrigation communities and other water rights, and fisheries.
Local Memory Design Space Exploration for High-Performance Computing

The performance of high-performance computing (HPC) applications highly depends on the memory subsystem due to the huge data sets used that do not fit into the cache hierarchy. Besides, energy efficiency has become a main design factor and, consequently, both performance and energy efficiency are primary goals in HPC designs. As a result, energy-efficient high-performance memory subsystem designs should be explored. In this paper, we extend the architecture of general-purpose processors by adding a software-managed local memory (LM) and a very simple programmable DMA controller. We demonstrate that with these extensions—together with efficient run-time management—we improve performance and energy consumption factors. We perform an LM design space exploration study for an Intel® Pentium® 4 platform: we analyze the performance, energy and energy-delay product for a total of 27 computational loops of the NAS benchmarks. We show a 1.2x performance speedup factor and an energy reduction of 6.21% on average when using a constrained 32Â KB LM with commodity memory bandwidths (6.4Â GB/s). More aggressive configurations (i.e. 256Â KB LM + 12.8 GB/s) show at least 2.14x performance speedup factors and energy savings of 42.07% on average.
Proving Exception Stackability and Linearity in an Ordered Logical Framework

We formally prove the stackability and linearity of exception handlers of ML-style semantics using a novel proof technique via an ordered logical framework (OLF). We first transform exceptions into continuation-passing-style (CPS) terms and formalize the exception properties as a judgement on the CPS terms. Then, rather than directly proving that the properties hold for terms, we prove our theorem for the representations of the CPS terms and transform in OLF. We rely upon the correctness of our representations to transfer the results back to the actual CPS terms and transform. Our work can be seen as two-fold: we present a theoretical justification of using the stack mechanism to implement exceptions of ML-like semantics; and we demonstrate the value of an ordered logical framework as a conceptual tool in the theoretical study of programming languages.
Structure of an actin-related subcomplex of the SWI/SNF chromatin remodeler

The packaging of DNA into nucleosomal structures limits access for templated processes such as transcription and DNA repair. The repositioning or ejection of nucleosomes is therefore critically important for regulated events, including gene expression. This activity is provided by chromatin remodeling complexes, or remodelers, which are typically large, multisubunit complexes that use an ATPase subunit to translocate the DNA. Many remodelers contain pairs or multimers of actin-related proteins (ARPs) that contact the helicase-SANT–associated (HSA) domain within the catalytic ATPase subunit and are thought to regulate ATPase activity. Here, we determined the structure of a four-protein subcomplex within the SWI/SNF remodeler that comprises the Snf2 HSA domain, Arp7, Arp9, and repressor of Ty1 transposition, gene 102 (Rtt102). Surprisingly, unlike characterized actin–actin associations, the two ARPs pack like spoons and straddle the HSA domain, which forms a 92-Å-long helix. The ARP–HSA interactions are reminiscent of contacts between actin and many binding partners and are quite different from those in the Arp2/3 complex. Rtt102 wraps around one side of the complex in a highly extended conformation that contacts both ARPs and therefore stabilizes the complex, yet functions to reduce by ∼2.4-fold the remodeling and ATPase activity of complexes containing the Snf2 ATPase domain. Thus, our structure provides a foundation for developing models of remodeler function, including mechanisms of coupling between ARPs and the ATPase translocation activity.
Spatial Coupling of Generator Matrix: A General Approach to Design of Good Codes at a Target BER

For any given short code (referred to as the basic code), block Markov superposition transmission (BMST) provides a simple way to obtain predictable extra coding gain by spatial coupling the generator matrix of the basic code. This paper presents a systematic design methodology for BMST systems to approach the channel capacity at any given target bit-error-rate (BER) of interest. To simplify the design, we choose the basic code as the Cartesian product of a short block code. The encoding memory is then inferred from the genie-aided lower bound according to the performance gap of the short block code to the corresponding Shannon limit at the target BER. In addition to the sliding-window decoding algorithm, we propose to perform one more phase decoding to remove residual (rare) errors. A new technique that assumes a noisy genie is proposed to upper bound the performance. Under some mild assumptions, these genie-aided bounds can be used to predict the performance of the proposed two-phase decoding algorithm in the extremely low BER region. Using the Cartesian product of a repetition code as the basic code, we construct a BMST system with an encoding memory 30 whose performance at the BER of $10^{-15}$ can be predicted within one dB away from the Shannon limit over the binary-input additive white Gaussian noise channel (BI-AWGNC).