Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
On the convergence of a factorized distribution algorithm with truncation selection

We investigate the global convergence of a factorized distribution algorithm (FDA) with truncation selection. Like conventional genetic algorithms, FDAs maintain and successively improve a population of solutions. In FDAs, a distribution model is built based on the statistical information extracted from a set of selected solutions in the current population, and then the model thus built is used to generate new solutions for the next generation. The variable-dependence structure of the distribution model in FDAs is determined by the variable-interaction structure of the objective function. We prove that the FDA with truncation selection converges globally for optimization of a class of additively decomposable functions (ADF). Our results imply that the utilization of appropriately selected dependence relationships is sufficient to guarantee the global convergence of estimation of distribution algorithms (EDAs) for optimization of ADFs. © 2004 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Complexity 9: 17–23, 2004
Novel Strains of Mice Deficient for the Vesicular Acetylcholine Transporter: Insights on Transcriptional Regulation and Control of Locomotor Behavior

Defining the contribution of acetylcholine to specific behaviors has been challenging, mainly because of the difficulty in generating suitable animal models of cholinergic dysfunction. We have recently shown that, by targeting the vesicular acetylcholine transporter (VAChT) gene, it is possible to generate genetically modified mice with cholinergic deficiency. Here we describe novel VAChT mutant lines. VAChT gene is embedded within the first intron of the choline acetyltransferase (ChAT) gene, which provides a unique arrangement and regulation for these two genes. We generated a VAChT allele that is flanked by loxP sequences and carries the resistance cassette placed in a ChAT intronic region (FloxNeo allele). We show that mice with the FloxNeo allele exhibit differential VAChT expression in distinct neuronal populations. These mice show relatively intact VAChT expression in somatomotor cholinergic neurons, but pronounced decrease in other cholinergic neurons in the brain. VAChT mutant mice present preserved neuromuscular function, but altered brain cholinergic function and are hyperactive. Genetic removal of the resistance cassette rescues VAChT expression and the hyperactivity phenotype. These results suggest that release of ACh in the brain is normally required to “turn down” neuronal circuits controlling locomotion.
Persistence of dyslexia: the Connecticut Longitudinal Study at adolescence.

OBJECTIVE The outcome in adolescence of children diagnosed as dyslexic during the early years of school was examined in children prospectively identified in childhood and continuously followed to young adulthood. This sample offers a unique opportunity to investigate a prospectively identified sample of adolescents for whom there is no question of the childhood diagnosis and in whom highly analytic measures of reading and language can be administered in adolescence. DESIGN Children were recruited from the Connecticut Longitudinal Study, a cohort of 445 children representative of those children entering public kindergarten in Connecticut in 1983. Two groups were selected when the children were in grade 9: children who met criteria for persistent reading disability in grades 2 through 6 (persistently poor readers [PPR]; n = 21) and a comparison group of nondisabled children, subdivided into average readers (n = 35) and superior readers (n = 39). In grade 9, each child received a comprehensive assessment of academic, language, and other cognitive skills. RESULTS Measures of phonological awareness (but not orthographic awareness) were most significant in differentiating the 3 reading groups, with smaller contributions from measures of word finding and digit-span. Academic measures that best separated good from poor readers were decoding and spelling, whereas measures of math and reading comprehension did not. Measures of phonological awareness, followed next by teacher rating of academic skills were the best predictors of decoding, reading rate, and reading accuracy. In contrast, the best predictor of reading comprehension was word finding, with digit span and socioeconomic status also contributing significantly. Using a growth curve model (quadratic model of growth to a plateau) all 3 groups demonstrated similar patterns of growth over time, with the superior group outperforming the average group, and the average group outperforming the PPR group. There was no evidence that the children in the PPR group catch up in their reading skills. CONCLUSIONS Deficits in phonological coding continue to characterize dyslexic readers even in adolescence; performance on phonological processing measures contributes most to discriminating dyslexic and average readers, and average and superior readers as well. These data support and extend the findings of previous investigators indicating the continuing contribution of phonological processing to decoding words, reading rate, and accuracy and spelling. Children with dyslexia neither spontaneously remit nor do they demonstrate a lag mechanism for catching up in the development of reading skills. In adolescents, the rate of reading as well as facility with spelling may be most useful clinically in differentiating average from poor readers.
A Development of WAAS-Aided Flight Inspection Truth System

The FAA currently uses its Automated Flight Inspection System (AFIS) to check the accuracy of Instrument Landing Systems (ILS) and other navaids. It is desirable to measure the deviations of the ILS to within 0.015 degree accuracy. Therefore, a flight inspection system requires a high level of accuracy in determining position which is computed by a Flight Inspection Truth System (FITS). The AFIS has a navigation grade inertial navigation system (INS), a barometric altimeter, a radar altimeter, GPS, and a TeleVision Positioning System (TVPS). The AFIS is self-contained in that it does not require any facilities on the ground. The primary sensor in the AFIS is the INS whose error characteristics are limited by drifts. These drifts are measured by using a TVPS and a radar altimeter, and then the measurements from each sensor are fused with proprietary filtering techniques to result in the best possible accuracy in position. The error characteristics of the navigation grade INS causes the position computed from the current AFIS to have errors at distances far from the runway that are larger than desirable. This paper discusses techniques that will improve the accuracy and allow for better efficiency in the flight inspection procedures. The FAA has recently commissioned the Wide Area Augmentation System (WAAS), which provides corrections to GPS through a network of 25 reference stations throughout the U.S. WAAS accuracy (95%) over the U.S. is better than 1 meter in horizontal and 2 meters in vertical. The current standalone WAAS does not meet the ILS calibration accuracy requirements by itself, but WAAS can be used as a complementary sensor to the INS and radar altimeter for the flight inspection system because the position error in WAAS for the duration of an approach is approximately constant. This research focuses on the developments of the enhanced flight inspection system aided by WAAS, which does not require significant changes in the current AFIS. It has been found that the fusion of WAAS, radar altimeter, and INS makes it possible to obtain the required position accuracy. Another advantage is that an inspecting aircraft no longer has to fly over both ends of the runway in order to calibrate the INS drifts. The TVPS may also be eliminated for the inspection of CAT1 or CAT2 ILS. Preliminary results using the data from flight tests assure the WAAS-aided flight inspection system provides drift-free accurate positions.
A Framework of CBIR System Based on Relevance Feedback

Content-based image retrieval (CBIR) is an effective approach for obtaining desired image, however, due to the semantic gap between low-level visual features and high-level concept of image, CBIR system of state-of-the-art always can’t achieve satisfying retrieval performance. In this paper, we propose a novel CBIR system framework. In order to bridge the semantic gap, the mechanism of relevance feedback is involved in the system. More various features are included at low level, which can provide more abundant image content description. A bi-coded chromosome based genetic algorithm is performed to obtain optimal features and relevant optimal weights based on users’ relevance feedback. With the optimal feature set and optimal weights, the similarity between image in original searching results and query image is considered to be the main factor of rank score.
Prediction of Speech Intelligibility Using a Neurogram Orthogonal Polynomial Measure (NOPM)

Sensorineural hearing loss (SNHL) is an increasingly prevalent condition, resulting from damage to the inner ear and causing a reduction in speech intelligibility. This paper proposes a new speech intelligibility prediction metric, the neurogram orthogonal polynomial measure (NOPM). This metric applies orthogonal moments to the auditory neurogram to predict speech intelligibility for listeners with and without hearing loss. The model simulates the responses of auditory-nerve fibers to speech signals under quiet and noisy conditions. Neurograms were created using a physiologically based computational model of the auditory periphery. A well-known orthogonal polynomial measure, Krawtchouk moments, was applied to extract features from the auditory neurogram. The predicted intelligibility scores were compared to subjective results, and NOPM showed a good fit with the subjective scores for normal listeners and also for listeners with hearing loss. The proposed metric has a realistic and wider dynamic range than corresponding existing metrics, such as mean structural similarity index measure and neurogram similarity index measure, and the predicted scores are also well-separated as a function of hearing loss. The application of this metric could be extended for assessing hearing-aid and speech-enhancement algorithms.
Optical Flow-Based Moving-Static Separation in Driving Assistance Systems

This paper introduces a novel approach for a moving static separation, which can be efficiently used for outlier removal within optical flow-based 3D reconstruction or moving object detection even in the case of a moving observer. The contributions of the proposed approach include an efficient implementation, high accuracy and embedded friendliness. These characteristics make the approach very attractive for automotive safety applications based on camera systems. The paper also highlights some possible applications where the use of the moving static separation can play a key role on improving the performance.
Negotiating Premium Peering Prices

We have developed a novel methodology for deriving bandwidth prices for premium direct peering between Access ISPs (A-ISPs) and Content and Service Providers (CSPs) that want to deliver content and services in premium quality. Our methodology establishes a direct link between service profitability, for example, from advertising, user and subscriber loyalty, interconnection costs, and finally bandwidth price for peering. Unlike existing work in both the networking and economics literature, our resulting computational model, built around Nash bargaining, can be used for deriving quantitative results comparable to actual market prices. We analyze the U.S. market and derive prices for video, that compare favorably with existing prices for transit and paid peering. We also observe that the fair prices returned by the model for high-profit/low-volume services such as search, are orders of magnitude higher than current bandwidth prices. This implies that resolving existing (fierce) interconnection tussles may require per service, instead of wholesale, peering between A-ISPs and CSPs. Our model can be used for deriving initial benchmark prices for such negotiations.
Analysis of fuel shares in the industrial sector

These studies describe how fuel shares have changed over time; determine what factors are important in promoting fuel share changes; and project fuel shares to the year 1995 in the industrial sector. A general characterization of changes in fuel shares of four fuel types - coal, natural gas, oil and electricity - for the industrial sector is as follows. Coal as a major fuel source declined rapidly from 1958 to the early 1970s, with oil and natural gas substituting for coal. Coal's share of total fuels stabilized after the oil price shock of 1972-1973, and increased after the 1979 price shock. In the period since 1973, most industries and the industrial sector as a whole appear to freely substitute natural gas for oil, and vice versa. Throughout the period 1958-1981, the share of electricity as a fuel increased. These observations are derived from analyzing the fuel share patterns of more than 20 industries over the 24-year period 1958 to 1981.
MPCP Assisted Power Control and Performance of Cell Breathing in Integrated EPON-WiMAX Network

In this paper, we propose cell breathing as a load balancing mechanism into WiMAX network with an integrated EPON backbone. Cell breathing is a well known cellular telephony concept that handles congestion by changing the coverage area of a fully loaded cell tower. In WiMAX, cell breathing can be achieved by changing the transmitting powers of the base stations. In the integrated EPON-WiMAX system, access gateways, i.e. EPON integrated base stations, report their residual downlink queue sizes to the central office using modified multi-point control protocol. Centralized gateway selection and power allocation can be made jointly in the central office for all connected access gateways. An iterative algorithm is proposed that equalizes the expected transmission time based on the reported queue sizes and adjusted transmission power level. The performance of the proposed cell breathing in integrated EPONWiMAX system is simulated. The results show that cell breathing significantly outperforms fixed power scheme.
Inversion-channel GaN MOSFET using atomic-layer-deposited Al2O3 as gate dielectric

For the first time, inversion-channel GaN MOSFETs using atomic-layer-deposited (ALD) Al<inf>2</inf>O<inf>3</inf> as a gate dielectric have been successfully fabricated, showing well-behaved drain I–V and transfer characteristics. The drain current was scaled with gate length, showing a maximum drain current of 10 mA/mm in a device of 1 µm gate length, at a gate voltage (V<inf>gs</inf>) of 8 V and a drain voltage (V<inf>ds</inf>) of 10V. High I<inf>on</inf>/I<inf>off</inf> ratio of 2.5×10<sup>5</sup> was achieved with a very low off-state leakage of 4×10<sup>−13</sup>A/µm. In addition, depletion-mode (D-mode) GaN MOSFETs have also been demonstrated, showing a very low on-resistance of 2.5 mΩ⋅cm<sup>2</sup>, a high mobility of 350 cm<sup>2</sup>/Vs, and a high maximum drain current of 300 mA/mm in a device of 4 µm gate length.
The impact of credibility trust on user acceptance of software-as-a-service

This article was sponsored by Service Science Society of Taiwan. Abstract-Software as a Service (SaaS) provides the consumer with the capability to use the provider's applications running on a cloud infrastructure. However, The SaaS customer just receives access to the provider's applications running on a cloud infrastructure and has administrative control that is limited to customer-specific application configuration settings. It will not be possible to realize the full potential of the next generation of the Internet and Cloud Computing without developing better understanding of protecting data security and privacy. In order to offer more diagnostic and thus prescriptive advice, a more in-depth conceptualization of how credibility trust can influence on SaaS acceptance, this paper uses the UTAUT model and added the Credibility Trust (CT) construct which is based security and privacy issues to explain the degree of acceptance of SaaS users.
On Frequency LTL in Probabilistic Systems

We study frequency linear-time temporal logic (fLTL) which extends the linear-time temporal logic (LTL) with a path operator G^p expressing that on a path, certain formula holds with at least a given frequency p, thus relaxing the semantics of the usual G operator of LTL. Such logic is particularly useful in probabilistic systems, where some undesirable events such as random failures may occur and are acceptable if they are rare enough. Frequency-related extensions of LTL have been previously studied by several authors, where mostly the logic is equipped with an extended "until" and "globally" operator, leading to undecidability of most interesting problems. For the variant we study, we are able to establish fundamental decidability results. We show that for Markov chains, the problem of computing the probability with which a given fLTL formula holds has the same complexity as the analogous problem for LTL. We also show that for Markov decision processes the problem becomes more delicate, but when restricting the frequency bound p to be 1 and negations not to be outside any G^p operator, we can compute the maximum probability of satisfying the fLTL formula. This can be again performed with the same time complexity as for the ordinary LTL formulas.
SseK1 and SseK3 Type III Secretion System Effectors Inhibit NF-κB Signaling and Necroptotic Cell Death in Salmonella-Infected Macrophages

ABSTRACT Within host cells such as macrophages, Salmonella enterica translocates virulence (effector) proteins across its vacuolar membrane via the SPI-2 type III secretion system. Previously, it was shown that when expressed ectopically, the effectors SseK1 and SseK3 inhibit tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNF-α)-induced NF-κB activation. In this study, we show that ectopically expressed SseK1, SseK2, and SseK3 suppress TNF-α-induced, but not Toll-like receptor 4- or interleukin-induced, NF-κB activation. Inhibition required a DXD motif in SseK1 and SseK3, which is essential for the transfer of N-acetylglucosamine to arginine residues (arginine-GlcNAcylation). During macrophage infection, SseK1 and SseK3 inhibited NF-κB activity in an additive manner. SseK3-mediated inhibition of NF-κB activation did not require the only known host-binding partner of this effector, the E3-ubiquitin ligase TRIM32. SseK proteins also inhibited TNF-α-induced cell death during macrophage infection. Despite SseK1 and SseK3 inhibiting TNF-α-induced apoptosis upon ectopic expression in HeLa cells, the percentage of infected macrophages undergoing apoptosis was SseK independent. Instead, SseK proteins inhibited necroptotic cell death during macrophage infection. SseK1 and SseK3 caused GlcNAcylation of different proteins in infected macrophages, suggesting that these effectors have distinct substrate specificities. Indeed, SseK1 caused the GlcNAcylation of the death domain-containing proteins FADD and TRADD, whereas SseK3 expression resulted in weak GlcNAcylation of TRADD but not FADD. Additional, as-yet-unidentified substrates are likely to explain the additive phenotype of a Salmonella strain lacking both SseK1 and SseK3.
Systemic immune activation and microbial translocation in dual HIV/tuberculosis-infected subjects.

BACKGROUND Systemic immune activation is a strong predictor of progression of human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1) disease and a prominent feature of infection with Mycobacterium tuberculosis. OBJECTIVE To understand the role of systemic immune activation and microbial translocation in HIV/tuberculosis dually infected patients over the full spectrum of HIV-1 immunodeficiency, we studied circulating sCD14 and lipopolysaccharide (LPS) and their relationship to HIV-1 activity. METHODS Two cohorts of HIV/tuberculosis subjects defined by CD4 T-cell count at time of diagnosis of tuberculosis were studied: those with low (<350/μL) and those with high (≥ 350/μL) CD4 T-cell count. Circulating soluble CD14 (sCD14) and LPS were assessed. RESULTS Levels of sCD14 were higher in HIV/tuberculosis with high (≥ 350/μL) as compared to low CD4 T-cell count (P < .001). Whereas sCD14 levels remained elevated in HIV/tuberculosis subjects with lower CD4 T-cell counts despite treatment of tuberculosis, in HIV/tuberculosis patients with higher CD4 T-cell count (≥ 350/μL), levels declined regardless of whether highly active antiretroviral therapy (HAART) was included with the anti-tuberculosis regimen. Circulating LPS levels in HIV/tuberculosis patients with CD4 T-cell count ≥ 350/μL were unaffected by treatment of tuberculosis with or without HAART. CONCLUSION During HIV/tuberculosis, systemic immune activation is dissociated from microbial translocation. Changes in circulating sCD14 and LPS are dependent on CD4 T-cell count.
Changes in phosphorus biogeochemistry along an estuarine salinity gradient: The iron conveyer belt

We used sequential extractions to quantify different forms of particulate phosphorus (PP) in sediments along the salinity gradient of the Patuxent River estuary. About 50‐90% of the PP was phosphate bound to iron oxides (Fe‐P), and 8‐30% was organic P (org‐P). Loosely sorbed phosphate (sorb‐P), detrital apatite, and authigenic plus biogenic apatite each made up <10% of the PP. Suspended sediments from the watershed and deposited sediments in tidal freshwater had the highest concentrations of Fe‐P, ranging about 30‐55 µmol g−1 sediment. As pore‐water salinity increased to 7 along the estuarine gradient, Fe‐P declined to 15‐25 µmol g−1, org‐P increased from 4 to 10 µmol g−1, sorb‐P increased from 0.5 to 2.5 µmol g−1, and total sediment PP declined from 60 to 40 µmol g−1. Concentrations of pore‐water solutes also changed with salinity. As salinity increased, dissolved Fe and ammonium decreased, while dissolved phosphate increased. Near the freshwater end of the gradient, the molar ratio of pore‐water ammonium : phosphate was generally >16 (the Redfield ratio) and ranged up to >700, while at the saline end of the gradient the ratio was generally <16 and ranged down to <1.5. Our observations are consistent with the hypothesis that phosphate is released from terrigenous sediments when they are deposited in saline portions of the estuary where sulfide may enhance dissolution of Fe‐P and form Fe sulfide precipitates. Such phosphate release may contribute to the generally observed switch from phosphorus limitation in freshwater to nitrogen limitation in coastal marine water.