Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
A flexible model for Web service discovery

The advent of the SOA paradigm is expected to cause an increase in the number of available Web services. In this setting, advanced facilities for the discovery of Web services that provide a given functionality are required so that this increase does not create a bottleneck for the exploitation of services in an SOA. In this paper, we present a model for the discovery of Web services which relies on alternative views of Web service functional capabilities, allowing for different trade-offs between the accuracy of discovery results and the efficiency of the discovery process. Up to three filtering steps, with increasing complexity, can be successively applied in order to refine discovery results. Furthermore, the use of taxonomies of functional categories, close to the intuition of average users, is introduced by our model with a two-fold purpose: a) supporting the user in the description of goals and Web services, and b) allowing for a coarse-grained but highly efficient discovery. Due to its flexibility, the model proposed is expected to cover a wide range of use cases.
SISCHMAX: Discovering common contour patterns

Discovering common shape contour is a promising topic. However, local position and scale variance always leads to the mismatch of similar contours. In this study, we propose Shift Invariant Sparse Coding HMAX (SISCHMAX)to address this problem. Shift Invariant Sparse Coding is used to learn the configuration of line responses on the output of HMAX C1 layer. And we test the proposed method on Caltech101 dataset for discovering object contour. Due to the tolerance of local shift of the lines, sparse coding extracts better object contours using HMAX C1 outputs instead of gray value.
Multisensor fusion and navigation for robot mower

This paper presents a multisensor system for combining measurements from ultrasonic sensors and navigation for robot mowers. The proposed sensing system enables robot mowers to mapping unknown environments. It is important for an autonomous robot mower to explore its surroundings in performing the task of localization and navigation for mowing. Because of the complexity of the environment, one simple kind of sensors is not sufficient for robot mower to accomplish these tasks. We develop a robot mower equipped with DSP TMS320F2812 as its CPU. The sensing system integrates with ultrasonic sensors, infrared sensors, collision sensors, encoders, a temperature sensor and an electronic compass. A method of high accuracy ultrasonic ranging technology based on wavelet transform is reported to improve the measurement precision of ultrasonic sensors. Simulation studies show that the proposed multisensor fusion method is very effective for the navigation of robot mowers. Experimental results indicate that this sensing system based on generalized auto-correlation method for obstacle detection and localization shows great potential for providing a high performance-to-price ratio and robust solution for robot mowers in dynamic working condition.
Engineering extrinsic disorder to control protein activity in living cells

Engineering control of cellular proteins The ability to switch proteins between active and inactive conformations can give insight into their function. Dagliyan et al. present a method to insert domains that control protein activity. They computationally identified protein loops that are coupled to the active site. Sensory domains inserted into these loops could modulate protein activity when their conformation was changed by light or ligand binding. The authors engineered domains into three different classes of proteins involved in cell signaling and found that switching the proteins between active and inactive states could control the shape and movement of living cells. Science, this issue p. 1441 Sensory domains inserted into identified allosteric sites modulate structural disorder to control proteins in cells. Optogenetic and chemogenetic control of proteins has revealed otherwise inaccessible facets of signaling dynamics. Here, we use light- or ligand-sensitive domains to modulate the structural disorder of diverse proteins, thereby generating robust allosteric switches. Sensory domains were inserted into nonconserved, surface-exposed loops that were tight and identified computationally as allosterically coupled to active sites. Allosteric switches introduced into motility signaling proteins (kinases, guanosine triphosphatases, and guanine exchange factors) controlled conversion between conformations closely resembling natural active and inactive states, as well as modulated the morphodynamics of living cells. Our results illustrate a broadly applicable approach to design physiological protein switches.
Do you know where your cloud files are?

Clients of storage-as-a-service systems such as Amazon's S3 want to be sure that the files they have entrusted to the cloud are available now and will be available in the future. Using protocols from previous work on proofs of retriev-ability and on provable data possession, clients can verify that their files are available now. But these protocols do not guarantee that the files are replicated onto multiple drives or multiple datacenters. Such tests are crucial if cloud storage is to provide resilience to natural disasters and power outages as well as improving the network latency to different parts of the world. In this paper, we study the problem of verifying that a cloud storage provider replicates the data in diverse geolocations. We provide a theoretical framework for verifying this property. Our model accurately determines which Amazon CloudFront location serves content for Planetlab nodes across the continental US. Our work is complementary to the recent paper of Bowers et al., which uses different techniques to verify that files are replicated across multiple drives in a single datacenter.
Seeing the disappearance of unseen objects 1

Because of the massive amount of incoming visual information, perception is fundamentally selective. We are aware of only a small subset of our visual input at any given moment, and a great deal of activity can occur right in front of our eyes without reaching awareness. While previous work has shown that even salient visual objects can go unseen, here we demonstrate the opposite pattern, wherein observers perceive stimuli which are not physically present. In particular, we show in two motion-induced blindness experiments that unseen objects can momentarily reenter awareness when they physically disappear: in some situations, you can see the disappearance of something you can't see. Moreover, when a stimulus changes outside of awareness in this situation and then physically disappears, observers momentarily see the altered versionöthus perceiving properties of an object that they had never seen before, after that object is already gone. This phenomenon of`perceptual reentry' yields new insights into the relationship between visual memory and conscious awareness. 1 Introduction Many experiments over the past few decades have uncovered surprising situations in which observers fail to become aware of salient objects and events in their visual fields. Many such phenomena occur in the context of various types of perceptuaìblindnesses', The hallmark of these effects is the inability to consciously perceive physically present visual information. Here we employ a different type of blindness ömotion-induced blindness (MIB)öto explore the opposite type of effect, wherein we do consciously perceive visual information which is not physically present. In MIB, a salient target is presented along with a complex global motion patternö for example a bright-yellow disc presented along with a rotating grid of blue crosses (see figure 1). When observers maintain fixation, a novel form of perceptual blindness occurs: the yellow disc fluctuates into and out of awareness (Bonneh et al 2001). Even slowly moving targets will disappear in this manner, ruling out a simple account based on adaptation, and local interactions between the grid and the target are not required, since MIB also occurs when the background motion never overlaps the target region
The gusBC Genes of Escherichia coli Encode a Glucuronide Transport System

ABSTRACT Two genes, gusB and gusC, from a natural fecal isolate of Escherichia coli are shown to encode proteins responsible for transport of β-glucuronides with synthetic [14C]phenyl-1-thio-β-d-glucuronide as the substrate. These genes are located in the gus operon downstream of the gusA gene on the E. coli genome, and their expression is induced by a variety of β-d-glucuronides. Measurements of transport in right-side-out subcellular vesicles show the system has the characteristics of secondary active transport energized by the respiration-generated proton motive force. When the genes were cloned together downstream of the tac operator-promoter in the plasmid pTTQ18 expression vector, transport activity was increased considerably with isopropylthiogalactopyranoside as the inducer. Amplified expression of the GusB and GusC proteins enabled visualization and identification by N-terminal sequencing of both proteins, which migrated at ca. 32 kDa and 44 kDa, respectively. Separate expression of the GusB protein showed that it is essential for glucuronide transport and is located in the inner membrane, while the GusC protein does not catalyze transport but assists in an as yet unknown manner and is located in the outer membrane. The output of glucuronides as waste by mammals and uptake for nutrition by gut bacteria or reabsorption by the mammalian host is discussed.
Color Image Segmentation Using Multilevel Clustering Approach

In this paper, we present a new approach for automatic color image segmentation. It is a multilevel clustering method based on a new proposed non-parametric clustering algorithm, called adaptive medoidshift (AMS) and normalized cuts (N-cut). The AMS algorithm is a modification of recently presented medoidshift algorithm by transforming its global fixed bandwidth to local automatically chosen bandwidth for every data point. The AMS method locally clusters the image color composition by considering their spatial distribution, resulting into uniform segments. Then the segmented regions are represented by graph structure and finally N-cut method performs optimized global grouping into meaningful salient regions that convey semantic information of image. The experiments show that proposed segmentation method provides good segmentation results on variety of color images.
Expression of the γ2-Subunit Distinguishes Synaptic and Extrasynaptic GABAA Receptors in NG2 Cells of the Hippocampus

NG2 cells are equipped with transmitter receptors and receive direct synaptic input from glutamatergic and GABAergic neurons. The functional impact of these neuron–glia synapses is still unclear. Here, we combined functional and molecular techniques to analyze properties of GABAA receptors in NG2 cells of the juvenile mouse hippocampus. GABA activated slowly desensitizing responses in NG2 cells, which were mimicked by muscimol and inhibited by bicuculline. To elucidate the subunit composition of the receptors we tested its pharmacological properties. Coapplication of pentobarbital, benzodiazepines, and zolpidem all significantly increased the GABA-evoked responses. The presence of small tonic currents indicated the presence of extrasynaptic GABAA receptors. To further analyze the subunit expression, single cell transcript analysis was performed subsequent to functional characterization of NG2 cells. The subunits α1, α2, β3, γ1, and γ2 were most abundantly expressed, matching properties resulting from pharmacological characterization. Importantly, lack of the γ2-subunit conferred a high Zn2+ sensitivity to the GABAA receptors of NG2 cells. Judging from the zolpidem sensitivity, postsynaptic GABAA receptors in NG2 cells contain the γ2-subunit, in contrast to extrasynaptic receptors, which were not modulated by zolpidem. To determine the effect of GABAA receptor activation on membrane potential, perforated patch recordings were obtained from NG2 cells. In the current-clamp mode, GABA depolarized the cells to approximately −30 mV, indicating a higher intracellular Cl− concentration (∼50 mm) than previously reported. GABA-induced depolarization in NG2 cells might trigger Ca2+ influx through voltage-activated Ca2+ channels.
On the Use of Filter Bank Based Multicarrier Modulation for Professional Mobile Radio

Our main emphasis is on the use of enhanced OFDM and filter bank based multicarrier (FB-MC) waveforms for utilizing effectively the available fragmented spectrum in heterogeneous radio environments. Special attention is on the broadband-narrowband coexistence scenario of the Professional Mobile Radio (PMR) evolution. The target here is to provide broadband data services in coexistence with narrowband legacy services of the TETRA family. The core idea is a multi-mode radio platform, based on variable filter bank processing, which is able to perform modulation/detection functions simultaneously for different signal formats with adjustable center frequencies, bandwidths and subchannel spacings.
Brn3a-Expressing Retinal Ganglion Cells Project Specifically to Thalamocortical and Collicular Visual Pathways

Retinal ganglion cells (RGCs) innervate several specific CNS targets serving cortical and subcortical visual pathways and the entrainment of circadian rhythms. Recent studies have shown that retinal ganglion cells express specific combinations of POU- and LIM-domain transcription factors, but how these factors relate to the subsequent development of the retinofugal pathways and the functional identity of RGCs is mostly unknown. Here, we use targeted expression of an genetic axonal tracer, tau/β-galactosidase, to examine target innervation by retinal ganglion cells expressing the POU-domain factor Brn3a. Brn3a is expressed in RGCs innervating the principal retinothalamic/retinocollicular pathway mediating cortical vision but is not expressed in RGCs of the accessory optic, pretectal, and hypothalamic pathways serving subcortical visuomotor and circadian functions. In the thalamus, Brn3a ganglion cell fibers are primarily restricted to the outer shell of the dorsal lateral geniculate, providing new evidence for the regionalization of this nucleus in rodents. Brn3a RGC axons have a relative preference for the contralateral hemisphere, but known mediators of the laterality of RGC axons are not repatterned in the absence of Brn3a. Brn3a is coexpressed extensively with the closely related factor Brn3b in the embryonic retina, and the effects of the loss of Brn3a in retinal development are not severe, suggesting partial redundancy of function in this gene class.
On the holographic RG flow and the low-energy, strong coupling, large N limit

From the AdS/CFT correspondence, we learn that the classical evolution of supergravity in the bulk can be reduced to a RG-flow equation for the dual low-energy, strongly coupled and large N gauge theory on the boundary. This result has been used to obtain interesting relations between the various terms in the gravitational part of the boundary effective action, in particular the term that affect the cosmological constant. It is found that once the cosmological constant is cancelled in the UV theory, the RG-flow symmetry of the boundary effective action automatically implies the existence of zero cosmological constant solutions that extend all the way into the IR. Given the standard (and well founded) contradiction between the RG-flow idea and the observational evidence of a small cosmological constant, this is considered to be an important progress, albeit incomplete, towards the final solution. Motivated by this success, it would be interesting to see whether this RG-stability extends outside the scope of strong 't Hooft coupling and large N regime that are implicitly assumed in the de Boer-Verlinde-Verlinde Hamilton-Jacobi formulation of the holographic RG-flow equations of the boundary theory. In this paper, we address this question. Taking into account the leading order corrections in the 1/N and $\alpha'/{R^2}$ parameters, we derive new bulk/boundary relations, from which one can read all the local terms in the boundary effective action. Next, we use the resulting constraints, to examine whether the RG-stability of the cosmological constant extends to the new coupling regime. It would be also interesting to use these constraints to study the Randall-Sundrum scenario in this case.
Using diode lasers for atomic physics

We present a review of the use of diode lasers in atomic physics with an extensive list of references. We discuss the relevant characteristics of diode lasers and explain how to purchase and use them. We also review the various techniques that have been used to control and narrow the spectral outputs of diode lasers. Finally we present a number of examples illustrating the use of diode lasers in atomic physics experiments.
Applying Genetic Algorithms to Control Gait of Simulated Robots

This paper describes the LegGen simulator, used to automatically create and control stable gaits for legged robots into a physically based simulation environment. In our approach, the gait is defined using two different methods: a finite state machine based on robot's leg joint angles sequences; and a recurrent neural network. The parameters for both methods are optimized using genetic algorithms. The model validation was performed by several experiments realized with a robot simulated using the ODE physical simulation engine. The results showed that it is possible to generate stable gaits using genetic algorithms in an efficient manner, using these two different methods.
Renoprotective Effect of Human Umbilical Cord–Derived Mesenchymal Stem Cells in Immunodeficient Mice Suffering from Acute Kidney Injury

It is unknown whether human umbilical cord-derived mesenchymal stem cells (hUC-MSCs) can improve the renal function of patients suffering from acute kidney injury. Moreover, before beginning clinical trials, it is necessary to investigate this renoprotective effect of hUC-MSCs in a xenogeneic model of acute kidney injury. However, no previous studies have examined the application of hUC-MSCs to immunodeficient mice suffering from acute kidney injury. The objectives of this study were to examine whether hUC-MSCs could improve renal function in nonobese diabetic-severe combined immune deficiency (NOD-SCID) mice suffering from acute kidney injury, and to investigate the mechanism(s) for hUC-MSCs to improve renal function in this xenogeneic model. Early (3 hr) and late (12 hr) administrations of hUC-MSCs (106 cells) were performed via the external jugular vein into NOD-SCID mice suffering from either folic acid (FA) (250 mg/kg body weight) or vehicle. The results showed that early administration of hUC-MSCs improved the renal function of NOD-SCID mice suffering from FA-induced acute kidney injury, as evidenced by decreased serum urea nitrogen and serum creatinine levels, as well as a reduced tubular injury score. The beneficial effects of hUC-MSCs were through reducing apoptosis and promoting proliferation of renal tubular cells. These benefits were independent of inflammatory cytokine effects and transdifferentiation. Furthermore, this study is the first one to show that the reduced apoptosis of renal tubular cells by hUC-MSCs in this xenogeneic model is mediated through the mitochondrial pathway, and through the increase of Akt phosphorylation.
SM-centric transformation: Circumventing hardware restrictions for flexible GPU scheduling

To circumvent the limitation from the hardware scheduler on GPU, we create an SM-centric transformation technique. This technique enables complete control of the mapping between tasks and streaming multi-processors (SMs), and enables controlling the number of active thread blocks on each SM. Results show that our approach achieves better speedup than previous ones with kernel co-run cases.
Verification of Complex Analog and RF IC Designs

Meeting performance specifications in the design of analog and RF (A/RF) blocks and integrated circuits (IC) continues to require a high degree of skill, creativity, and expertise. However, today's A/RF designers are increasingly faced with a new challenge. Functional complexity in terms modes of operation, extensive digital calibration, and architectural algorithms is now overwhelming traditional A/RF design methodologies. Functionally verifying A/RF designs is a daunting task requiring a rigorous methodology. As occurred in digital design, analog verification is becoming a separate and critical task. This paper describes the verification issues faced by the A/RF designer and presents a verification methodology to address these challenges. It presents a systematic approach to A/RF verification, the concept of an analog verification engineer, how to establish the methodology, and concludes with an example
Associate Task Scheduling Algorithm Based on Delay-Bound Constraint in Cloud Computing

Task scheduling is one of the most important issues in the cloud computing environments. In the cloud systems, the main goal of the task scheduling algorithms is to balance the workload among the computing nodes and maximize the utilization while meeting the bound of the total execution time. Concerning the delay of the associated tasks scheduling in cloud computing, a hierarchical task model was discussed and the associated task scheduling algorithm based on delay-bound constraint (ATS-DB) was proposed. The associated tasks and the task execution order were represented by one directed acyclic graph (DAG). The proposed hierarchical task model can improve the task execution concurrency. The independent tasks in each layer was grouped into the corresponding task set belonging to the task layer. Through the calculation of the total tasks execution time bound in each task layer, the associated task was dispatched to the resources with the minimum execution time. Extensive experimental results demonstrated that the proposed ATS-DB algorithm can achieve better performance than HEFT algorithm in the terms of the total execution time and resource utilization.
0BANALYSIS OF OPTICAL LAYOUTS FOR THE PHASE 1 UPGRADE OF THE CERN LARGE HADRON COLLIDER INSERTION REGIONS

LHC Project Report 1098 CERN, CH-1211 Geneva 23 Switzerland CERN, Geneva, Switzerland Presented at EPAC'08, 11th European Particle Accelerator Conference, Genoa, Italy June 23-27, 2008 0BANALYSIS OF OPTICAL LAYOUTS FOR THE PHASE 1 UPGRADE OF THE CERN LARGE HADRON COLLIDER INSERTION REGIONS* F. Borgnolutti, O. Bruning, U. Dorda, S. Fartoukh, M. Giovannozzi, W. Herr, R. De Maria, M. Meddahi, E. Todesco, R. Tomas, F. Zimmermann, CERN, Geneva, Switzerland Abstract In the framework of the studies for the upgrade of the insertions of the CERN Large Hadron Collider, four optical layouts were proposed with the aim of reducing the beta-function at the collision point down to 25 cm. The different candidate layouts are presented. Results from the studies performed on mechanical and dynamic aperture are summarized, together with the evaluation of beam-beam effects. Particular emphasis is given to the comparison of the optics performance, which led to retain the most promising layouts for further development.In the framework of the studies for the upgrade of the insertions of the CERN Large Hadron Collider, four optical layouts were proposed with the aim of reducing the beta-function at the collision point down to 25 cm. The different candidate layouts are presented. Results from the studies performed on mechanical and dynamic aperture are summarized, together with the evaluation of beam-beam effects. Particular emphasis is given to the comparison of the optics performance, which led to retain the most promising layouts for further development.