Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Genome-wide association studies: a primer

There have been nearly 400 genome-wide association studies (GWAS) published since 2005. The GWAS approach has been exceptionally successful in identifying common genetic variants that predispose to a variety of complex human diseases and biochemical and anthropometric traits. Although this approach is relatively new, there are many excellent reviews of different aspects of the GWAS method. Here, we provide a primer, an annotated overview of the GWAS method with particular reference to psychiatric genetics. We dissect the GWAS methodology into its components and provide a brief description with citations and links to reviews that cover the topic in detail.
SPEAKER INDEPENDENT PHONEME CLASSIFICATION IN CONTINUOUS SPEECH

This paper examines statistical models for phoneme classica- tion. We compare the performance of our phoneme classication system using Gaussian mixture (GMM) phoneme models with systems using hidden Markov phoneme models (HMM). Measurements show that our model's per- formance is comparable with HMM models in context independent phoneme classication.
Research progress of digitized medical X-ray imaging system

The medical imaging technique is one of the most active fields of inquiry in medical radiation diagnostics and the X-ray imaging technique is the main one of medical imaging. The CR and DR imaging system including their merits and demerits are introduced, which appear successively with the development of medical X-ray Imaging System digitization from the traditional imaging method. The improvement of CR imaging system and the kind of X-ray detector that is the key component of DR imaging system are emphatic reviewed, and the prospect is also forecasted.
California Older Person’s Pleasant Events Schedule

This is a list of 66 events that people tend to find pleasant. For each event, make 2 ratings: How often did this event happen to you in the past month? 0 = Not at all 1 = 1-6 times 2 = 7 or more times How pleasant, enjoyable, or rewarding was this event? If the event did not occur, then please rate how pleasant you think it would have been if it had occured. 0 = Was not or would not have been pleasant 1 = Was or would have been somewhat pleasant 2 = Was or would have been very pleasant Here are two sample events with the answers properly filled in. Please remember to circle an answer for both HOW OFTEN and HOW PLEASANT for each event. Please circle ONE number in EACH column for each item HOW OFTEN in the past month? 0 = Not at all 1 = 1-6 times 2 = 7 or more times Circle ONE number HOW PLEASANT was it or would it have been? 0 = Not pleasant 1 = Somewhat pleasant 2 = Very pleasant Circle ONE number A. Winning the lottery 0 1 2 0 1 2 B. Writing a letter 0 1 2 0 1 2
Sustaining Highly-Fragile Collaborations: A Study of Planning Mega Infrastructure Projects in the UK

This study discusses the sustainability of highly-fragile, consensus-oriented developments which rely on voluntary contributions of resources. The research is grounded on a dataset of interorganizational controversies that arose during the planning of four mega infrastructure projects in the UK. It uses Design Structure Matrices to qualify the decomposability of the design structures and of the structures that govern high-level decisions to set performance expectations. The analysis shows that fixed deadlines, tight budgets and equity concerns constrain efforts to decentralise governance and seek local consensuses. Time constraints also bring to the fore mutual-gains bargaining and compromise-seeking despite genuine efforts to engage in deliberative decision-making and effective collaboration. Hence, I argue, sustaining these pluralistic enterprises is per se a measure of positive performance. The study suggests four mechanisms that allow carrying the parties along as the development inches forward: loosening local targets, global buffers, flexible designs in use; and an umpire — an actor accountable to all parties and empowered to settle disputes.
Defining specificity of transcription factor regulatory activities

Mammalian transcription factors (TFs) are often involved in differential cell-type- and context-specific transcriptional responses. Recent large-scale comparative studies of TF recruitment to the genome, and of chromatin structure and gene expression, have allowed a better understanding of the general rules that underlie the differential activities of a given TF. It has emerged that chromatin structure dictates the differential binding of a given TF to cell-type-specific cis-regulatory elements. The subsequent regulation of TF activity then ensures the functional activation of only the precise subset of all regulatory sites bound by the TF that are required to mediate appropriate gene expression. Ultimately, the organization of the genome within the nucleus, and crosstalk between different cis-regulatory regions involved in gene regulation, also participate in establishing a specific transcriptional program. In this Commentary, we discuss how the integration of these different and probably intimately linked regulatory mechanisms allow for TF cell-type- and context-specific modulation of gene expression.
The Gestalt of an information technology outsourcing relationship: an exploratory analysis

Recent market indicators point once again towards a substantial growth of Information Technology (IT) outsourcing in the developed economies. Outsourcing has now become a major option considered for handling some or most of an organization’s information systems and technology requirements. The growing concern however, of organizations either evaluating or actively involved in IT outsourcing, is the management and ensuing development of what many researchers in the literature have coined the Outsourcing Partnership. The envisaged relationship between the client and the vendor, has been found to take on a certain gestalt which when formalised, consists of two key parts: the contract and its operationalisation. The uniqueness however of the IT outsourcing relationship is defined by the sum of its parts. In this context, we developed a model that is based on Exchange Theory and Contract Law, which provides an overview of what an outsourcing relationship entails. The model is substantiated, through research into client and vendor companies to ascertain the current relationship building practice. The resulting model derives its usefulness from its heuristic and analytical potential, in a fashion that captures both the outsourcing relationship’s contractual, social, and economic characteristics, and additional elements found to have relevance in practice. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS The author is indebted to Leslie Willcocks, Templeton College, Oxford for reading the first draft and to the anonymous reviewers from ICIS 1997. This research is funded by the 1996-1998 Business Scholarship Award from Lloyd’s of London Tercentenary Foundation.
Parallel Language Support for Multigrid Algorithms

Multigrid algorithms are a computational paradigm that enjoy widespread use in the scientific community. While parallel multigrid applications have been in use for quite some time, parallel language support for features common to multigrid algorithms has been lacking. This forces scientists either to express their computations in high-level terms without knowing the parallel impact, or to explicitly manage all the details by hand, thereby diverting their attention from the algorithm itself. In this paper, we enumerate properties that would be desirable for any parallel language that hopes to support multigrid application development. We then explain how these properties influenced the design of support for hierarchical arrays in ZPL, our array-based parallel programming language. We describe the implementation of these features in the ZPL compiler and its runtime system. In addition, we show that our approach performs competitively with hand-coded Fortran + MPI for the NAS MG benchmark, outperforming it on 256 processors. In addition, a static comparison of the two codes demonstrates ZPL to be the more concise, readable, and flexible implementation.
Dynamic data scratchpad memory management for a memory subsystem with an MMU

In this paper, we propose a dynamic scratchpad memory (SPM)management technique for a horizontally-partitioned memory subsystem with an MMU. The memory subsystem consists of a relatively cheap direct-mapped data cache and SPM. Our technique loads required global data and stack pages into the SPM on demand when a function is called. A scratchpad memory managerloads/unloads the data pages and maintains a page table for the MMU. Our approach is based on post-pass analysis and optimization techniques, and it handles the whole program including libraries. The data page mapping is determined by solving an integer linear programming (ILP) formulation that approximates our demand paging technique. The ILP model uses a dynamic call graph annotated with the number of memory accesses and/or cache misses obtained by profiling. We evaluate our technique on thirteen embedded applications. We compare the results to a reference system with a 4-way set associative data cache and the ideal case with the same 4-way cache and SPM, where all global and stack data is placed in the SPM. On average, our approach reduces the total system energy consumption by 8.1% with no performance degradation. This is equivalent to exploiting 60% of the room available in energy reduction between the reference case and the ideal case.
Effect of Feeding Wet Distillers Grains With Solubles to Beef Cattle on Air and Manure Quality

Air quality is becoming a pressing issue for beef feedlot producers. Feeding practices influence the excretion of starch, fiber, nitrogen (N), and sulfur (S) in manure, thereby affecting nutrient content and the production of ammonia (NH3) and odorous compounds. Wet distillers grains with solubles (WDGS) are a common and economical ingredient in feedlot diets. WDGS are high in protein, fiber, phosphorus (P), and S but low in starch. The objective of this study was to compare NH3 concentration in the air and nutrients and volatile organic compounds (VOC) concentration in manure between two dietary treatments fed to feedlot cattle. Five pens of feedlot cattle were fed diets containing 14% to 35% WDGS and five pens were fed a corn-based diet with no ethanol byproducts (Control). Each pen had twelve sampling locations (N = 120) where air and manure samples were collected from the feedlot surface. Air samples were analyzed for NH3 concentration. Manure samples were analyzed for dry matter, pH, volatile solids, VOC, and nutrient composition (N, P, and S). Concentrations of P and S in manure and NH3 in the air were higher in pens fed WDGS compared to pens fed the control diet. Concentrations of VOC were similar across both treatments.
Performance bounds for harmonic retrieval in multiplicative noise

— In this communication, we address the performance lower bounds for harmonic retrieval in multiplicative noise. The new results are twofold : we derive the asymptotic (large sample) Gaussian Cramer-Rao bound as well as Barankin bound when the multiplicative noise is complex-valued and non-circular. The theoretical closed-form expressions are then analyzed with respect to design parameters.
Spectrum Sensing Methods for DTMB Based Cognitive Radio Systems

Cognitive Radio (CR) systems are well considered to be used in television bands as IEEE 802.22 WRAN suggested. And as Digital Television Terrestrial Multimedia Broadcast (DTMB) is the standard for China digital television which has been implemented since Aug. 1st 2007, two simple and efficient spectrum sensing methods for DTMB based CR systems are proposed in this paper. The proposed methods are based on the PN sequences of DTMB frame header. Both methods have a property of little time-delay. The performances of the methods are studied by simulations. Simulation results show that both methods have good performances when SNR is not too low.
Visualization of High-Dimensional Point Clouds Using Their Density Distribution's Topology

We present a novel method to visualize multidimensional point clouds. While conventional visualization techniques, like scatterplot matrices or parallel coordinates, have issues with either overplotting of entities or handling many dimensions, we abstract the data using topological methods before presenting it. We assume the input points to be samples of a random variable with a high-dimensional probability distribution which we approximate using kernel density estimates on a suitably reconstructed mesh. From the resulting scalar field we extract the join tree and present it as a topological landscape, a visualization metaphor that utilizes the human capability of understanding natural terrains. In this landscape, dense clusters of points show up as hills. The nesting of hills indicates the nesting of clusters. We augment the landscape with the data points to allow selection and inspection of single points and point sets. We also present optimizations to make our algorithm applicable to large data sets and to allow interactive adaption of our visualization to the kernel window width used in the density estimation.
Symbolic demonstrations in MuPAD-Combinat

This paper reports on a platform integrated to the open source package MuPAD-Combinat dedicated to the computation with rational expressions. Its main feature is the capacity of dealing with expressions whose scalars may belong to various algebraic structures. The paper describes some features of the platform as well as the data structures used in the implementation, details some algorithms and presents several illustrations of symbolic computations.
Software Model Checking SystemC

SystemC is an increasingly used language for writing executable specifications of systems-on-chip. The verification of SystemC, however, is a very difficult challenge. Simulation features great scalability, but can miss important defects. On the other hand, formal verification of SystemC is extremely hard because of the presence of threads, and the intricacies of the communication and scheduling mechanisms. In this paper, we explore formal verification for SystemC by means of software model checking techniques, which have demonstrated substantial progress in recent years. We propose an accurate model of SystemC and three complementary encodings of SystemC to finite-state processes, sequential and threaded programming models. We implement the proposed approaches in a tool chain and carry out a thorough experimental evaluation using several benchmarks taken from the literature on SystemC verification, and experimenting with different state-of-the-art software model checkers. The results clearly show the applicability and efficiency of the proposed approaches. In particular, the results show the effectiveness of the threaded and of the finite-model encodings to prove and disprove properties, respectively.
Security flaws in two improved remote user authentication schemes using smart cards

Understanding security failures of cryptographic protocols is the key to both patching existing protocols and designing future schemes. In this paper, we analyze two recent proposals in the area of password‐based remote user authentication using smart cards. First, we point out that the scheme of Chen et al. cannot achieve all the claimed security goals and report its following flaws: (i) it is vulnerable to offline password guessing attack under their nontamper resistance assumption of the smart cards; and (ii) it fails to provide forward secrecy. Then, we analyze an efficient dynamic ID‐based scheme without public‐key operations introduced by Wen and Li in 2012. This proposal attempts to overcome many of the well‐known security and efficiency shortcomings of previous schemes and supports more functionalities than its counterparts. Nevertheless, Wen–Li's protocol is vulnerable to offline password guessing attack and denial of service attack, and fails to provide forward secrecy and to preserve user anonymity. Furthermore, with the security analysis of these two schemes and our previous protocol design experience, we put forward three general principles that are vital for designing secure smart‐card‐based password authentication schemes: (i) public‐key techniques are indispensable to resist against offline password guessing attack and to preserve user anonymity under the nontamper resistance assumption of the smart card; (ii) there is an unavoidable trade‐off when fulfilling the goals of local password update and resistance to smart card loss attack; and (iii) at least two exponentiation (respectively elliptic curve point multiplication) operations conducted on the server side are necessary for achieving forward secrecy. The cryptanalysis results discourage any practical use of the two investigated schemes and are important for security engineers to make their choices correctly, whereas the proposed three principles are valuable to protocol designers for advancing more robust schemes. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Comments on Alternative Policy Options for Managing Capacity and Mitigating Congestion and Delay at LaGuardia Airport

A family of ascending package auction models is introduced in which bidders may determine their own packages on which to bid. In the proxy auction (revelation game) versions, the outcome is a point in the core of the exchange economy for the reported preferences. When payoffs are linear in money and goods are substitutes, sincere reporting constitutes a Nash equilibrium and the outcome coincides with the Vickrey auction outcome. Even when goods are not substitutes, ascending proxy auction equilibria lie in the core with respect to the true preferences. Compared to the Vickrey auction, the proxy auctions generate higher equilibrium revenues, are less vulnerable to shill bidding and collusion, can handle budget constraints much more robustly, and may provide better ex ante investment incentives.
Computational insights into the active site of human breast cancer resistance protein ( BCRP / ABCG 2 ) : a similarity search approach

Human breast cancer resistance protein (BCRP) belongs to the G subfamily of ATP-binding cassette transporter. Over-expression of BCRP in cancer cells limits the efficacy of many chemotherapeutic agents, resulting in multiple drug resistance. A clear understanding of inhibitorbinding mode will be useful in the design of BCRP-selective inhibitor. To gain structural insights into the active site of BCRP, three-dimensional quantitative structure–activity relationship (3D-QSAR) models were developed for two different chemical series (flavonoids and chalcones derivatives) of BCRP inhibitors. Stable and statistically reliable predictive CoMFA and CoMSIA models have shown significant r cv [ 0:7; r 2 ncv [ 0:9; r 2 bs [ 0:9; r 2 pred [ 0:6 and a small standard deviation \0.2, indicating a better statistical relationship between the activity and descriptors. 3D contour maps generated from these models were analyzed individually, which provided the regions in space where interactive fields may influence the inhibitory activity of BCRP inhibitors. The similarity search between site points, generated from contour maps, and binding pockets identified using different pocket search tools, provided essential clues for characterization of the binding site. Molecular docking analysis reveals that Asp643, Asp650, and Val651 of the nucleotide-binding domain play an important role in binding of flavonoids and chalcones. The structural insights obtained from 3D-QSAR and molecular docking studies will serve as a guideline for designing and predicting novel BCRP inhibitors.
A new rotation-invariant and noise-resistant method for texture analysis and classification

One of the basic and important topics in image processing especially for textures is image analysis and classification. In reality, there are some destructive parameters such as "rotation" and "noise" in images. Removing the aforementioned defects has recently become a challenge for many researchers, and consequently various methods have been proposed so far. Among the recently presented methods those based on the multi-resolution transforms have been more popular. This paper presents a new method for texture analysis which is combination of Wavelet, Ridgelet and Fourier transforms. Our approach not only is capable to remove the rotation and noise defects but also in comparison with other approaches its computational cost is less. The method is tested on five datasets, one dataset contains noise free rotated textures and the others are noisy rotated textures. Each dataset includes 2880 textures that produced from 20 main textures. These 20 textures belong to Brodatz album. The results show appropriate performance of the method for texture classification even though the textures are rotated and added with noise.
Unravelling Quality in Higher Education: What Say the Students?

Abstract The extant literature on quality assurance in higher education points to a dearth of empirical studies on students’ conceptions of quality in higher education. This interpretivist article reports on a study that explored the conceptions of quality in higher education by final year undergraduate students in six academic disciplines at Makerere University, Uganda. Data for the article was collected from 50 final year students in eight discipline-specific focus group discussions and was analysed using thematic analysis. Four conceptions of quality in higher education were evident from the participants’ responses, namely: quality as transformation (value-added); quality as fitness for purpose; quality as excellence; and quality as consistency/ perfection (zero-errors). Nevertheless, transformation and fitness for purpose featured as the dominant conceptions of quality in higher education and these conceptions of quality did not take place in a vacuum. The students rationalised transformation and fitness for purpose by what they perceived the purpose of higher education to be. The multiple and yet competing purposes of higher education occasioned the two definitions of quality in higher education. Therefore, consensus on the meaning of quality can be hastened by arriving at a common purpose of higher education in a given society rather than engaging with the notions of quality themselves. This thinking presupposes the idea that the purpose of higher education varies across time and space and the definition of quality in higher education should be responsive to the prevailing purpose(s) of higher education in a given society.
CAN WE FIND (AND USE) "SPECTRUM HOLES"? SPECTRUM SENSING AND SPATIAL REUSE OPPORTUNIES IN "COGNITIVE" RADIO SYSTEMS Invited Paper

A main concern in spectrum overlays (“Cognitive Radio”) has been the reliability of sensing techniques to predict the performance in the primary communication link if the secondary user decides to use the spectrum. The fundamental difficulty is that sensors detect the transmissions (i.e. the transmitters), whereas the communication performance is determined by the interference environment around the (possibly silent) receivers. In previous work, specific scenarios with rather simple propagation models, mostly neglecting the correlation properties between signal paths, have been used. In this paper, more realistic propagation models are used to compare the performance of various sensing and resource management strategies. Results show that simple transmitter based sensing works well only in very flat terrains and at low frequencies. In these scenarios unfortunately, the opportunities for spectrum reuse are limited. In more rough terrains, where the potential for secondary use of the spectrum is large, simple sensing schemes on the other hand perform poorly. Even advanced sensing schemes and/or responsive primary system may not be sufficient to achieve acceptable performance Keywords-dynamic spectrum access, cognitive radio, spectrum sensing