Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Formation of segregated and integrated groups

A model of group formation is presented such that the number of groups is fixed, and a person can only join a group if the group’s members approve the person’s joining. Agents have either local status preferences (each agent wants to be the highest status agent in his group) or global status preferences (each agent wants to join the highest status group that she can join). For both preference types, conditions are provided which guarantee the existence of a segregated stable partition such that similar people are grouped together, and conditions are provided which guarantee the existence of an integrated stable partition such that dissimilar people are grouped together. Additionally, in a dynamic framework we show that if a new empty group is added to a segregated stable partition, then integration may occur.
Image Attributes and Diffusion via Twitter: The Case of #guncontrol

We report on a study exploring how Twitter user attributes and the characteristics of the images they share online influence the diffusion of those images. Two-hundred and ninety unique images were collected from Twitter in October 2013 associated with the gun control hash tag [guncontrol]. A coding protocol was developed and images classified based on frame (attribute, goal, or risk), appeal (e.g. Fear, humor), and valence (positive or negative). Results indicate that shared images with attribute frames, fear and humor appeals, and positive valence are retweeted more often. Also retweeted more frequently are messages from users with larger networks and whose tweets contain hash tags. Results also show a significant negative relationship between the time since the last major shooting event in the United States and the likelihood that messages with images are retweeted. These results are discussed in the context of evolving mass media systems and online social networks.
An Admission Control Scheme for Sensor Networks

A way of evaluation of a topology structure model, especially the Internet topology structure model, was studied. SLS (Signless Laplacian Spectra), is used to quantitatively identify the topology properties of the Internet generated by the model and the Internet out of real measuring. SLS eigenvectors could be gained out of this procedure, then a cross-correlation algorithm was performed on the eigenvectors to give the difference identification in a quantitative way. With this, a specific way of using the estimation approach within a Genetic Algorithm was finally given.
Behavior of 2.4 GHz ISM bandpass filters of different materials by applying UWB pulses

This paper describes measurements to show possible nonlineraties of different bandpass filters which can be used in the 2.4 GHz ISM band. Interdigital filters of different PCB materials and a commercial Surface Acoustic Wave (SAW) filter have been investigated. With the use of the linear Fourier transformation of applied UWB pulses to these filters, the transfer function has been calculated and compared to the transfer function measured with a vector network analyzer. A nonlinear behavior of these filters has been observed depending on the used material and on the applied peak amplitude of the UWB pulse.
You Can Jam But You Cannot Hide: Defending Against Jamming Attacks for Geo-Location Database Driven Spectrum Sharing

The emerging paradigm for dynamic spectrum sharing is based on allowing secondary users (SUs) to exploit white space frequency that is not occupied by primary users. White space database provides an opportunity for SUs to obtain spectrum availability information by submitting a location-based query. However, this new paradigm can also be exploited by the attackers to significantly enhance their jamming capability due to the available channel information from spectrum queries, which is expected to increasingly block SUs. The challenge is that the unique characteristics (e.g., lack of the wide range frequencies or continuous broadband) make existing anti-jamming techniques (e.g., direct-sequence spread spectrum and frequency hopping spread spectrum) difficult to be applied. In this paper, we present a novel Jammer Inference-based Jamming Defense (jDefender) framework. The main idea of jDefender is inferring the likelihood of a user being a jammer based on the observed jamming events and then utilizing the inferred attack likelihood to enhance the effectiveness of a series of the proposed anti-jamming strategies. Specifically, we first propose the Channel Allocation-based Jammer Inference scheme to infer the likelihood of an SU being a jammer based on the channels occupied by SUs even under the collusion attack performed by multiple jammers. The strength of the anti-jamming strategies (e.g., puzzle difficulties, available spectrum resources) will be correlated with the possibility of an SU being a jammer to achieve the tradeoff between system performance and jamming tolerance. We then implement the proposed scheme on Universal Software Radio Peripheral and PC. Extensive evaluations are performed to validate the effectiveness of the attacks and countermeasures.
Confirmation of heat generation and anomalous element caused by plasma electrolysis in the liquid

Plasma was formed on the electrode surface in a liquid electrolyte when a metal cathode was polarized in high voltage electrolysis in the solution. During the plasma electrolysis large amounts of heat are sometimes generated. The heat can exceed input substantially, in some cases by up to 200 percent of input power. At the same time, anomalous elements are detected in the electrolyte and on the electrode surface. Based on the heat and the product, we hypothesize a nuclear reaction can be induced by photon activation on the cathode element.
Skeletal Muscle-Specific Expression of PGC-1α-b, an Exercise-Responsive Isoform, Increases Exercise Capacity and Peak Oxygen Uptake

Background Maximal oxygen uptake (VO2max) predicts mortality and is associated with endurance performance. Trained subjects have a high VO2max due to a high cardiac output and high metabolic capacity of skeletal muscles. Peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor γ coactivator 1α (PGC-1α), a nuclear receptor coactivator, promotes mitochondrial biogenesis, a fiber-type switch to oxidative fibers, and angiogenesis in skeletal muscle. Because exercise training increases PGC-1α in skeletal muscle, PGC-1α-mediated changes may contribute to the improvement of exercise capacity and VO2max. There are three isoforms of PGC-1α mRNA. PGC-1α-b protein, whose amino terminus is different from PGC-1α-a protein, is a predominant PGC-1α isoform in response to exercise. We investigated whether alterations of skeletal muscle metabolism by overexpression of PGC-1α-b in skeletal muscle, but not heart, would increase VO2max and exercise capacity. Methodology/Principal Findings Transgenic mice showed overexpression of PGC-1α-b protein in skeletal muscle but not in heart. Overexpression of PGC-1α-b promoted mitochondrial biogenesis 4-fold, increased the expression of fatty acid transporters, enhanced angiogenesis in skeletal muscle 1.4 to 2.7-fold, and promoted exercise capacity (expressed by maximum speed) by 35% and peak oxygen uptake by 20%. Across a broad range of either the absolute exercise intensity, or the same relative exercise intensities, lipid oxidation was always higher in the transgenic mice than wild-type littermates, suggesting that lipid is the predominant fuel source for exercise in the transgenic mice. However, muscle glycogen usage during exercise was absent in the transgenic mice. Conclusions/Significance Increased mitochondrial biogenesis, capillaries, and fatty acid transporters in skeletal muscles may contribute to improved exercise capacity via an increase in fatty acid utilization. Increases in PGC-1α-b protein or function might be a useful strategy for sedentary subjects to perform exercise efficiently, which would lead to prevention of life-style related diseases and increased lifespan.
Performing Arithmetic Operations on Round-to-Nearest Representations

During any composite computation, there is a constant need for rounding intermediate results before they can participate in further processing. Recently, a class of number representations denoted RN-Codings were introduced, allowing an unbiased rounding-to-nearest to take place by a simple truncation, with the property that problems with double-roundings are avoided. In this paper, we first investigate a particular encoding of the binary representation. This encoding is generalized to any radix and digit set; however, radix complement representations for even values of the radix turn out to be particularly feasible. The encoding is essentially an ordinary radix complement representation with an appended round-bit, but still allowing rounding-to-nearest by truncation, and thus avoiding problems with double-roundings. Conversions from radix complement to these round-to-nearest representations can be performed in constant time, whereas conversion the other way, in general, takes at least logarithmic time. Not only is rounding-to-nearest a constant time operation, but so is also sign inversion, both of which are at best log-time operations on ordinary two's complement representations. Addition and multiplication on such fixed-point representations are first analyzed and defined in such a way that rounding information can be carried along in a meaningful way, at minimal cost. The analysis is carried through for a compact (canonical) encoding using two's complement representation, supplied with a round-bit. Based on the fixed-point encoding, it is shown possible to define floating-point representations, and a sketch of the implementation of an FPU is presented.
Human Behavior and the Efficiency of the Financial System

Recent literature in empirical finance is surveyed in its relation to underlying behavioral principles, principles which come primarily from psychology, sociology and anthropology. The behavioral principles discussed are: prospect theory, regret and cognitive dissonance mental compartments, overconfidence, over- and underreaction, representativeness heuristic disjunction effect, gambling behavior and speculation, perceived irrelevance of history thinking, quasi-magical thinking, attention anomalies, the availability heuristic contagion, and global culture.
Genome-Wide Development and Use of Microsatellite Markers for Large-Scale Genotyping Applications in Foxtail Millet [Setaria italica (L.)]

The availability of well-validated informative co-dominant microsatellite markers and saturated genetic linkage map has been limited in foxtail millet (Setaria italica L.). In view of this, we conducted a genome-wide analysis and identified 28 342 microsatellite repeat-motifs spanning 405.3 Mb of foxtail millet genome. The trinucleotide repeats (∼48%) was prevalent when compared with dinucleotide repeats (∼46%). Of the 28 342 microsatellites, 21 294 (∼75%) primer pairs were successfully designed, and a total of 15 573 markers were physically mapped on 9 chromosomes of foxtail millet. About 159 markers were validated successfully in 8 accessions of Setaria sp. with ∼67% polymorphic potential. The high percentage (89.3%) of cross-genera transferability across millet and non-millet species with higher transferability percentage in bioenergy grasses (∼79%, Switchgrass and ∼93%, Pearl millet) signifies their importance in studying the bioenergy grasses. In silico comparative mapping of 15 573 foxtail millet microsatellite markers against the mapping data of sorghum (16.9%), maize (14.5%) and rice (6.4%) indicated syntenic relationships among the chromosomes of foxtail millet and target species. The results, thus, demonstrate the immense applicability of developed microsatellite markers in germplasm characterization, phylogenetics, construction of genetic linkage map for gene/quantitative trait loci discovery, comparative mapping in foxtail millet, including other millets and bioenergy grass species.
Therapeutical potential of a peptide mimicking the SOCS1 kinase inhibitory region in skin immune responses

IFN‐γ‐activated keratinocytes are key contributors to the pathogenetic mechanisms leading to type‐1 immune‐mediated skin disorders. In these epidermal cells, SOCS1 negatively regulates the molecular cascades triggered by IFN‐γ by disabling JAK2 phosphorylation through its kinase inhibitory region (KIR). Aimed at potentiating the SOCS1 inhibitory function on JAK2/STAT1 axis in keratinocytes, we recently developed a set of peptides mimicking the SOCS1 KIR domain, which are capable of efficiently binding JAK2 in vitro. Here, the effects of one such SOCS1 KIR mimetic named PS‐5 on IFN‐γ‐activated human keratinocytes were evaluated. We found that IFN‐γ‐activated keratinocytes treated with PS‐5 exhibited impaired JAK2, IFN‐γRα, and STAT1 phosphorylation. We also observed reduced levels of the IRF‐1 transcription factor, and a strong reduction in ICAM‐1, HLA‐DR, CXCL10, and CCL2 inflammatory gene expression. ICAM‐1 reduced expression resulted in an impaired adhesiveness of T lymphocytes to autologous keratinocytes. Consistently, the migration of T cells toward supernatants from PS‐5‐treated keratinocytes was drastically reduced. Finally, PS‐5 treatment hampered STAT1 activation and the expression of STAT1‐dependent inflammatory genes in IFN‐γ‐treated explants of human skin. These data collectively indicate that PS‐5 has an important therapeutic potential in the treatment of type‐1 immune‐mediated skin diseases.
Mixed mode execution with context threading

Interpreters are widely used to implement portable language runtime environments. Programs written in these languages may benefit from performance beyond that obtainable by optimizing interpretation alone. A modern high-performance mixed-mode virtual machine (VM) includes amethod-based Just In Time (JIT) compiler. A method-based JIT, however, requires the up-front development of a complex compilation infrastructure before any performance benefits are realized.Ideally, the architecture for a mixed-mode VM could detect and execute a variety of shapes of hot regions of a virtual program. Our VM architecture is based on context threading. It supports powerful, efficient instrumentation and a simple framework for dynamic code generation. It has the potential to directly support a full spectrum of mixed-mode execution: from interpreted bytecode bodies, to specialized bytecode generated at runtime, to traces, to compiled methods. Further, it provides the necessary tools to detect these regions at runtime.We extended two VMs, SableVM and the OCaml interpreter with our infrastructure on both the P4 and PPC. To demonstrate the power and flexibility of our infrastructure we compare the selection and dispatch effectiveness for three common region shapes: whole methods, partial methods, and SPECL traces. We report results for a preliminary version of our code generator which compiles a region into a sequence of direct calls to bytecode bodies.
Information density, Heaps’ Law, and perception of factiness in news

Seeking information online can be an exercise in time wasted wading through repetitive, verbose text with little actual content. Some documents are more densely populated with factoids (fact-like claims) than others. The densest documents are potentially the most efficient use of time, likely to include the most information. Thus some measure of “factiness” might be useful to readers. Based on crowdsourced ratings of the factual content of 772 online news articles, we find that after controlling for widely varying document length using Heaps’ Law, a significant positive correlation exists between perceived factual content and relative information entropy.
Deletion of Lysine 121 Creates a Temperature-sensitive Alteration in Insulin Binding by the Insulin Receptor (*)

Recently we reported the deletion of Lys-121 in one allele of the insulin receptor gene from a child with severe insulin resistance. In the present work, this mutant receptor (M121) was shown to have an abnormal sensitivity to temperature and an alteration in “negative cooperativity. ” In contrast to the wild-type receptor (HIRC), insulin binding by the M121 receptor was rapidly and irreversibly lost at temperatures above 30°C with the phosphorylated form of the receptor being more temperature-sensitive than the nonphosphorylated form. Although insulin binding activity was lost, Western analysis and other studies showed that the mutant receptor remained intact. Measurements of I-insulin dissociation at 21°C in the presence of native insulin (an estimate of negative cooperativity) demonstrated a difference between the mutant and wild-type receptor. Insulin dissociation from the mutant receptor was not as pronounced as that found with the wild-type receptor. Thus, an abnormality in insulin binding by the mutation was evident at lower “permissive” temperatures. The results of these and other studies argue that Lys-121 occupies an important position for the regulation of insulin receptor conformation. This regulation apparently influences negative cooperative interactions with insulin and modulates signal transduction.
Interaction between the Corticotropin-Releasing Factor System and Hypocretins (Orexins): A Novel Circuit Mediating Stress Response

The hypothalamic neuropeptides hypocretins (orexins) play a crucial role in the stability of arousal and alertness. We tested whether the hypocretinergic system is a critical component of the stress response activated by the corticotropin-releasing factor (CRF). Our results show that CRF-immunoreactive terminals make direct contact with hypocretin-expressing neurons in the lateral hypothalamus and that numerous hypocretinergic neurons express the CRF-R1/2 receptors. We also demonstrate that application of CRF to hypothalamic slices containing identified hypocretin neurons depolarizes membrane potential and increases firing rate in a subpopulation of hypocretinergic cells. CRF-induced depolarization was tetrodotoxin insensitive and was blocked by the peptidergic CRF-R1 antagonist astressin. Moreover, activation of hypocretinergic neurons in response to acute stress was severely impaired in CRF-R1 knock-out mice. Together, our data provide evidence of a direct neuroanatomical and physiological input from CRF peptidergic system onto hypocretin neurons. We propose that, after stressor stimuli, CRF stimulates the release of hypocretins and that this circuit contributes to activation and maintenance of arousal associated with the stress response.
The Molecular Switch of Telomere Phages: High Binding Specificity of the PY54 Cro Lytic Repressor to a Single Operator Site

Temperate bacteriophages possess a molecular switch, which regulates the lytic and lysogenic growth. The genomes of the temperate telomere phages N15, PY54 and ϕKO2 harbor a primary immunity region (immB) comprising genes for the prophage repressor, the lytic repressor and a putative antiterminator. The roles of these products are thought to be similar to those of the lambda proteins CI, Cro and Q, respectively. Moreover, the gene order and the location of several operator sites in the prototype telomere phage N15 and in ϕKO2 are also reminiscent of lambda-like phages. By contrast, in silico analyses revealed the presence of only one operator (OR3) in PY54. The purified PY54 Cro protein was used for EMSA studies demonstrating that it exclusively binds to a 16-bp palindromic site (OR3) upstream of the prophage repressor gene. The OR3 operator sequences of PY54 and ϕKO2/N15 only differ by their peripheral base pairs, which are responsible for Cro specificity. PY54 cI and cro transcription is regulated by highly active promoters initiating the synthesis of a homogenious species of leaderless mRNA. The location of the PY54 Cro binding site and of the identified promoters suggests that the lytic repressor suppresses cI transcription but not its own synthesis. The results indicate an unexpected diversity of the growth regulation mechanisms in lambda-related phages.
Isolation and purification of Echinococcus granulosus antigen B from hydatid cyst fluid using three different methods

Hydatid cyst, the larval stage of cestodes Echinococcus spp. , is recognized as a zoonotic infection in the world. The World Health Organization (WHO) has recently classified echinococcosis in a group of neglected tropical diseases. The prevalence of Echinococcus granulosus infection is high in Iran due to the presence of various intermediate hosts in this country. Considering the rising trend of this zoonotic parasitic disease based on national epidemiological studies, diagnosis is of great significance. WHO has suggested the use of specific antigens, especially antigen B (AgB) for serological diagnostic tests. In general, AgB is a polymeric lipoprotein, which disintegrates into 8.12, 16, and 20.24 kDa subunits. In the present study, we applied three different methods for AgB isolation from hydatid cyst fluid (HCF) and compared their efficacy in AgB isolation. Finally, the protein concentration of this antigen was measured by Bradford assay and confirmed by sodium dodecyl sulfate-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis (SDS-PAGE). The results showed that the application of polyethylene glycol (PEG 4000) as a thickener agent beside purification of HCF in dialysis bag and filtering and also dialysis against acetate buffer leading to the best quantity in purified antigen B.
Design and Implementation of the Online ILSP Greek Corpus

This paper presents the Hellenic National (HNC), which is the corpus of Modern Greek developed by the Institute for Language and Speech Processing (ILSP). The presentation describes all stages of the creation of the corpus: collection of the material, tagging and tokenizing, construction of the database and the online implementation which aims at rendering the corpus accessible over Internet to the research community.
Epidemiology of Dementia among the Elderly in Sub-Saharan Africa

Objectives. To review epidemiologic studies on the prevalence, incidence, and risk factors of dementia in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA). Methods. A MEDLINE search (from January 1992 to December 31, 2013) of epidemiologic studies, with no language restriction, was conducted using the keywords “dementia” or “Alzheimer's” and “Africa. ” We selected for review population and hospital-based studies that reported the prevalence, incidence, or risk factors of dementia in SSA in people aged 60 years and above. References of selected articles were reviewed to identify additional relevant articles that met our selection criteria. Results. Of a total of 522 articles, 41 were selected and reviewed. The reported prevalence of dementia in SSA varied widely (range: 2.29%–21.60%); Alzheimer's disease was the most prevalent type of dementia. Only two studies conducted in Nigeria reported incidence data. Major risk factors identified include older age, female gender, cardiovascular disease, and illiteracy. Conclusion. Data on the epidemiology of dementia in SSA is limited. While earlier studies reported a lower prevalence of dementia in older persons, recent studies have put these findings into question suggesting that dementia prevalence rates in SSA in fact parallel data from Western countries.