Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
N ov 2 01 4 Statistical Active Learning Algorithms for Noise Tolerance and Differential Privacy

We describe a framework for designing efficient active learning algorithms that are tolerant to random classification noise and are differentially-private. The framework is based on active learning algorithms that are statistical in the sense that they rely on estimates of expectations of functions of filtered random examples. It builds on the powerful statistical query framework of Kearns [Kea98]. We show that any efficient active statistical learning algorithm can be automatically converted to an efficient active learning algorithm which is tolerant to random classification noise as well as other forms of “uncorrelated” noise. The complexity of the resulting algorithms has information-theoretically optimal quadratic dependence on 1/(1−2η), where η is the noise rate. We show that commonly studied concept classes including thresholds, rectangles, and linear separators can be efficiently actively learned in our framework. These results combined with our generic conversion lead to the first computationally-efficient algorithms for actively learning some of these concept classes in the presence of random classification noise that provide exponential improvement in the dependence on the error ǫ over their passive counterparts. In addition, we show that our algorithms can be automatically converted to efficient active differentiallyprivate algorithms. This leads to the first differentially-private active learning algorithms with exponential label savings over the passive case.
Efficient Resource Allocation with Flexible Channel Cooperation in OFDMA Cognitive Radio Networks

Recently, a cooperative paradigm for single-channel cognitive radio networks has been advocated, where primary users can leverage secondary users to relay their traffic. However, it is not clear how such cooperation can be exploited in multi-channel networks effectively. Conventional cooperation entails that data on one channel has to be relayed on exactly the same channel, which is inefficient in multi-channel networks with channel and user diversity. Moreover, the selfishness of users complicates the critical resource allocation problem, as both parties target at maximizing their own utility. This work represents the first attempt to address these challenges. We propose FLEC, a novel design of flexible channel cooperation. It allows secondary users to freely optimize the use of channels for transmitting primary data along with their own data, in order to maximize performance. Further, we formulate a unifying optimization framework based on Nash Bargaining Solutions to fairly and efficiently address resource allocation between primary and secondary networks, in both decentralized and centralized settings. We present an optimal distributed algorithm and sub-optimal centralized heuristics, and verify their effectiveness via realistic simulations.
Human exposure to heterocyclic amine food mutagens/carcinogens: Relevance to breast cancer

Heterocyclic amines produced from overcooked foods are extremely mutagenic in numerous in vitro and in vivo test systems. One of these mutagens, 2‐amino‐1‐methyl‐6‐phenylimidazo[4,5‐b]pyridine (PhIP), induces breast tumors in rats and has been implicated in dietary epidemiology studies as raising the risk of breast cancer in humans. Efforts in our laboratory and others have centered on defining the exposure to PhIP and other dietary mutagens derived from cooked food. We accomplish this by analyzing the foods with a series of solid‐phase extractions and HPLC. We have developed an LC/MS/MS method to analyze the four major human PhIP metabolites (sulfates and glucuronides) following a single meal containing 27 μg of cooking‐produced PhIP in 200 g of grilled meat. Although the intake of PhIP was similar for each of eight women, the total amount excreted in the urine and the metabolite profiles differed among the subjects. It appears that adsorption (digestion) from the meat matrix, other foods in the diet, and genetic differences in metabolism may contribute to the variation. The four major metabolites that can be routinely assayed in the urine are N2‐OH‐PhIP‐N2‐glucuronide, PhIP‐N2‐glucuronide, 4′‐PhIP‐glucuronide, and N2‐OH‐PhIP‐N3‐glucuronide. This work is suited to investigate individual exposure and risk, especially for breast cancer, from these potent dietary mutagens. Environ. Mol. Mutagen. 39:112–118, 2002. Published 2002 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
Associating quantitative behavioral traits with gene expression in the brain: searching for diamonds in the hay

UNLABELLED Gene expression and phenotypic functionality can best be associated when they are measured quantitatively within the same experiment. The analysis of such a complex experiment is presented, searching for associations between measures of exploratory behavior in mice and gene expression in brain regions. The analysis of such experiments raises several methodological problems. First and foremost, the size of the pool of potential discoveries being screened is enormous yet only few biologically relevant findings are expected, making the problem of multiple testing especially severe. We present solutions based on screening by testing related hypotheses, then testing the hypotheses of interest. In one variant the subset is selected directly, in the other one a tree of hypotheses is tested hierarchical; both variants control the False Discovery Rate (FDR). Other problems in such experiments are in the fact that the level of data aggregation may be different for the quantitative traits (one per animal) and gene expression measurements (pooled across animals); in that the association may not be linear; and in the resolution of interest only few replications exist. We offer solutions to these problems as well. The hierarchical FDR testing strategies presented here can serve beyond the structure of our motivating example study to any complex microarray study. SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION Supplementary data are available at Bioinformatics online.
Regulation and Activity of a Zinc Uptake Regulator, Zur, in Corynebacterium diphtheriae

ABSTRACT Regulation of metal ion homeostasis is essential to bacterial cell survival, and in most species it is controlled by metal-dependent transcriptional regulators. In this study, we describe a Corynebacterium diphtheriae ferric uptake regulator-family protein, Zur, that controls expression of genes involved in zinc uptake. By measuring promoter activities and mRNA levels, we demonstrate that Zur represses transcription of three genes (zrg, cmrA, and troA) in zinc-replete conditions. All three of these genes have similarity to genes involved in zinc uptake. Transcription of zrg and cmrA was also shown to be regulated in response to iron and manganese, respectively, by mechanisms that are independent of Zur. We demonstrate that the activity of the zur promoter is slightly decreased under low zinc conditions in a process that is dependent on Zur itself. This regulation of zur transcription is distinctive and has not yet been described for any other zur. An adjacent gene, predicted to encode a metal-dependent transcriptional regulator in the ArsR/SmtB family, is transcribed from a separate promoter whose activity is unaffected by Zur. A C. diphtheriae zur mutant was more sensitive to peroxide stress, which suggests that zur has a role in protecting the bacterium from oxidative damage. Our studies provide the first evidence of a zinc specific transcriptional regulator in C. diphtheriae and give new insights into the intricate regulatory network responsible for regulating metal ion concentrations in this toxigenic human pathogen.
An Automated Term Definition Extraction System Using the Web Corpus in the Chinese Language

This paper proposes a system, named DefExplorer, which analyzes the type of given Chinese terms, extracts term definitions from the Web, and selects answers from noisy Web pages. DefExplorer filters out invalid data with a semantic approach. Two types of candidate sets, common and domain specific, are employed to cluster similar candidates into groups. Different approaches are also deployed to evaluate candidates' importance which is the key factor for selecting the best answers from retrieved candidates. Experimental results show that DefExplorer can effectively extract term definitions from the Web, especially for the definitions of out-of-vocabulary terms.
Synthesis of Design Guidelines and Experimental Data for Water Quality Function in Agricultural Landscapes in the Intermountain West

ii Preface 1 Background 2 Project Goal 3 Methods 4 Characteristics of the Study Area 4 Buffer Complexity and Dynamics 5 Nutrient Cycling 7 Landscape Attributes Influencing the Effectiveness of Riparian Buffers; Implications for the Intermountain West 7 Primary Attributes 7 Buffer Width 7 Slope Gradient 7 Soil Infiltration 8 Surface Roughness 8 Slope Length (Discussion) 8 Adjacent Land Use Practices 8 Secondary Attributes 8 Differences Between Arid and Non-Arid Riparian Systems 9 Climate 9 Hydrology 9 Soils 10 Topography 10 Vegetation 10 Wildlife 11 Sources and Causes of Impairment 11 Contaminants and Buffer Effects 13 Particulate Contaminants -Sediment 13 Reasons for Concern 13 How Buffers Affect Sediment 14
Indirect food additive migration from polymeric food packaging materials.

Many foods contact polymeric packaging materials which contain residues of the polymerization process or additives employed to facilitate processing. The extent of migration of such materials from the packaging to foods is the focus of the present article. A major experimental program using eight polymer-migrant systems is described. Migration was measured to food-simulating liquids (FSL) and to foods. Accelerated tests were conducted with FSL under FDA guidelines conditions so as to develop correlations between such data and those found using foods under normal storage temperatures and shelf lives. In the majority of tests, the migration was found to be approximately proportional to the square root of time, to increase significantly with a rise in temperature, and to be proportional to the initial concentration of migrant in the polymer. Stirring in the FSL or food phase was generally not important except for the system involving dioctyl adipate migrating from polyvinyl chloride film. In some instances, after a period of time, migration rates became very low, and this effect was attributed to saturating the FSL or food phase with migrant. The foods comprised a variety of types, including liquid, semisolid, solid, and dry; both oily and aqueous foods were included. The physical steps involved in migration include the diffusion of the migrant from the interior of the film to the surface, where it can dissolve in the external FSL or food phase. The nature of the FSL or food is shown to be very important in that components can penetrate the polymer and dramatically increase migration rates. Consistent with the FDA guidelines in effect at the time of this study, testing was performed with five FSL (water, 3% acetic acid, 8% and 50% ethanol, and n-heptane) at 49 degrees C. Detailed comparisons were made between the migrations to foods and to FSL; following are the more relevant conclusions. (1) Three percent acetic acid showed no advantage over water as a food simulant even in those cases where the food could be considered acidic in nature. (2) Water, when used as an FSL at 49 degrees C for 5 days, overestimated migration in aqueous foods in about 75% of the cases. In some instances, however, the water phase became saturated with migrant. In other situations, this test protocol underpredicted migration--especially in those cases where there were components in the food that were able to penetrate into the polymer and enhance migration (such as orange juice). (ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 400 WORDS)
Usefulness of Published PCR Primers in Detecting Human Rhinovirus Infection

We conducted a preliminary comparison of the relative sensitivity of a cross-section of published human rhinovirus (HRV)–specific PCR primer pairs, varying the oligonucleotides and annealing temperature. None of the pairs could detect all HRVs in 2 panels of genotyped clinical specimens; >1 PCR is required for accurate description of HRV epidemiology.
Summary of radiation damage studies on rare earth permanent magnets

With the proposed use of permanent magnets for both the NLC and the VLHC the issue flux loss due to radiation damage needs to be fully understood. There exist many papers on the subject. There are many difficulties in drawing conclusions from all of these data. First there is the difference methods of dosimetry, second different types of magnets and magnetic arrangements, and third different manufacturers of magnet material. This paper provides a summary of the existing literature on the subject.
Reiterative expression of pax1 directs pharyngeal pouch segmentation in medaka

ABSTRACT A striking characteristic of vertebrate development is the pharyngeal arches, which are a series of bulges on the lateral surface of the head of vertebrate embryos. Although each pharyngeal arch is segmented by the reiterative formation of endodermal outpocketings called pharyngeal pouches, the molecular network underlying the reiterative pattern remains unclear. Here, we show that pax1 plays crucial roles in pouch segmentation in medaka (Oryzias latipes) embryos. Importantly, pax1 expression in the endoderm prefigures the location of the next pouch before the cells bud from the epithelium. TALEN-generated pax1 mutants did not form pharyngeal pouches posterior to the second arch. Segmental expression of tbx1 and fgf3, which play essential roles in pouch development, was almost non-existent in the pharyngeal endoderm of pax1 mutants, with disturbance of the reiterative pattern of pax1 expression. These results suggest that pax1 plays a key role in generating the primary pattern for segmentation in the pharyngeal endoderm by regulating tbx1 and fgf3 expression. Our findings illustrate the crucial roles of pax1 in vertebrate pharyngeal segmentation and provide insights into the evolutionary origin of the deuterostome gill slit. Summary: Medaka Pax1 plays a key role in generating the primary pattern for segmentation in the pharyngeal endoderm by regulating the expression of Tbx1 and Fgf3.
Clinical use of Bevacizumab in treating refractory glaucoma

Bevacizumab is a recombinant humanized monoclonal antibody directed against vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF). Though other VEGF inhibitors are being approved for the treatment of ophthalmological conditions, bevacizumab found its way into ophthalmology and clinical practice all around the world. The objective of this review is to present the ophthalmic dosage and administration pathways of bevacizumab in treating refractory glaucoma patients. Abbreviations: VEGF = vascular endothelial growth factor, FDA = Food and Drug Administration, AMD = age-related macular degeneration
A Conceptual Security Framework for Cloud Computing Issues

In this article, perspectives from Cloud computing practitioners are shown in order to address clients concerns and bring about awareness of the measures that put in place to ensure software security of the client services running in the Cloud. In addition, the authors have investigated the impacts of a number of the existing approaches and techniques to put a systematic survey of the current software security issues in the Cloud environment. Based on such perspectives and survey, a generic framework conceptually is designed to outline the possible current solutions of software security issues in the Cloud and to present a preferred software security approach to investigate the Cloud research community. As a potential enhancement on the proposed Cloud software security framework, the concepts of fuzzy systems might be used to solve a large numbers of issues in the Cloud security on different framework levels.
Optimal prefetching and caching for parallel I/O sytems

We address the problem of prefetching and caching in a parallel I/O system and present a new algorithm for optimal parallel-disk scheduling. Traditional buffer management algorithms that minimize the number of I/O disk accesses, are substantially suboptimal in a parallel I/O system where multiple I/Os can proceed simultaneously. We present a new algorithm SUPERVISOR for parallel-disk I/O scheduling. We show that in the off-line case, where apriori knowledge of all the requests is available, SUPERVISOR performs the minimum number of I/Os to service the given I/O requests. This is the first parallel I/O scheduling algorithm that is provably offline optimal. In the on-line case, we study SUPERVISOR in the context of global L-block lookahead, which gives the buffer management algorithm a lookahead consisting of L distinct requests. We show that the competitive ratio of SUPERVISOR, with global L-block lookahead, is &THgr;(M - L + D), when L ≤ M, and &THgr;(MD/L), when L > M, where the number of disks is D and buffer size is M.
Effect of Different Illumination Sources on Reading and Visual Performance

Purpose: To investigate visual performance during reading under different illumination sources. Methods: This experimental quantitative study included 40 (20 females and 20 males) emmetropic participants with no history of ocular pathology. The participants were randomly assigned to read a near visual task under four different illuminations (400-lux constant): compact fluorescent light (CFL), tungsten light (TUNG), fluorescent tube light (FLUO), and light emitting diode (LED). Subsequently, we evaluated the participants' experiences of eight symptoms of visual comfort. Results: The mean age of the participants was 19.86 ± 1.09 (range: 18–21) years. There was no statistically significant difference between the reading rates of males and females under the different illuminations (P = 0.99); however, the reading rate was fastest among males under CFL, and among females under FLUO. One way analysis of variance (ANOVA) revealed a strong significant difference (P = 0.001) between males and females (P = 0.002) regarding the visual performance and illuminations. Conclusion: This study demonstrates the influence of illumination on reading rate; there were no significant differences between males and females under different illuminations, however, males preferred CFL and females preferred FLUO for faster reading and visual comfort. Interestingly, neither preferred LED or TUNG. Although energy-efficient, visual performance under LED is poor; it is uncomfortable for prolonged reading and causes early symptoms of fatigue.
The UK Women's Cohort Study: comparison of vegetarians, fish-eaters and meat-eaters

Abstract Background: This paper describes the development of the UK Women's Cohort Study and presents cohort baseline characteristics. Methods: In total, 35 372 women, aged 35–69 years at recruitment, were selected to ensure a wide range of dietary intakes. Diet was assessed by a 217-item food-frequency questionnaire (FFQ). Detailed lifestyle information was collected by postal questionnaire. Vegetarians, fish-eaters and meat-eaters were compared. Results: The cohort women are mainly white, well-educated, middle-class and married with children. They are health-conscious with only 11% current smokers and 58% taking dietary supplements. Twenty-eight per cent of subjects self-report as being vegetarian and 1% as vegan. However, only 18% are defined as 'vegetarian' from the FFQ. Fat provides 32% of energy; vitamin and mineral intakes are high, with a broad range of intakes. Meat-eaters are older, with a higher body mass index (BMI) and the lowest intakes of carbohydrate, fibre, vitamin C, folate, iron and calcium. Other fish-eaters are similar to vegetarians. Vegetarians have the lowest intakes of protein, fat and saturated fat. Oily fish-eaters have the lowest BMI; are the least likely to smoke or use full-fat milk; and are the most likely to use dietary supplements and consume the most fruit and vegetables. Oily fish-eaters have the highest total energy intake and vegetarians the lowest. Semi-skimmed milk, bread, potatoes, wine, bananas and muesli are important contributors to energy for all groups. Conclusion: A large cohort of middle-aged women has been created encompassing a wide range of different eating patterns, including diets currently of interest to research into protection against cancer and coronary heart disease. Participants will be followed up to study the effects of different food and nutrient intakes on long-term health outcomes.
Robust Tracking Controller Backstepping Design for SISO Uncertain Nonlinear System

Abstract Controller design problem is dealt with for a class of plants with time-varying nonlinear uncertainties and unmodeled dynamics. A new method based on signal compensation is proposed to design a robust controller. A controller designed by this method consists of a nominal controller and a robust compensator. It is shown that robust tracking property and robust tracking transient performance can be achieved simultaneously. A salient feature of our results, shown in the present paper, is that the controller is linear and time-invariant one and we can tell the users how to tune on-line the parameters of the controller with the proposed robust and transient performance.
NTRUCipher-Lattice Based Secret Key Encryption

NTRU cryptosystem has allowed designing a range of cryptographic schemes due to its flexibility and efficiency. Although NTRU cryptosystem was introduced nearly two decades ago, it has not yet received any attention like designing a secret key encryption. In this paper, we propose a secret key encryption over NTRU lattices, named as NTRUCipher. This NTRUCipher is designed using modification of the NTRU public key encryption. We analyze this cipher efficiency and the space complexity with respect to security aspects, and also show that the NTRUCipher is secured under the indistinguishability chosen plaintext attack.
SOS Technical Report: Everything You Always Wanted to Know about NFS Trace Analysis, but Were Afraid to Ask

The past two decades in file system design have been driven by the sequence of trace-based file system studies that have informed the research community of the general access patterns applied to secondary storage systems. Those same two decades have witnessed a radical shift in the types of people who use computer systems and a resulting change in the workloads to which today’s systems are subjected. In this paper, we continue the tradition of trace-based studies, but with some important differences. First, we use passive monitoring of NFS traffic to collect our data; we believe that the non-invasive nature of this technique will improve the community’s ability to collect a wider range of workloads. Second, we focus on two different types of workloads, the traditional CS departmental load typically used in such studies and the load from a campus-wide, ISP-like environment. As might be expected, these workloads differ dramatically. The departmental workload does not follow previous predictions as directly as might have been expected and the ISP-like workload turns out to provide a detailed analysis of file-system-based mail handling. Our findings demonstrate that the set of static parameters and heuristics that most file systems provide is inadequate to adapt to complex, specialized workloads.