Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Classification of Vertex‐Transitive Cubic Partial Cubes

Partial cubes are graphs isometrically embeddable into hypercubes. In this article, it is proved that every cubic, vertex‐transitive partial cube is isomorphic to one of the following graphs: K2□C2n , for n≥2 , the generalized Petersen graph G(10, 3), the cubic permutahedron, the truncated cuboctahedron, or the truncated icosidodecahedron. This classification is a generalization of results of Brešar et al. (Eur J Combin 25 (2004), 55–64) on cubic mirror graphs; it includes all cubic, distance‐regular partial cubes (P. M. Weichsel, Discrete Math 109 (1992), 297–306), and presents a contribution to the classification of all cubic partial cubes.
Rigid-Body Image Registration using Mutual Information

Mutual information is a technique that has been successfully used as a comparison function for registering images. It is a measure of how much information one image contains about another. In this paper, mutual information has been used as an objective function for finding the best transformation that will align the misregistered image with the original image. This work is restricted to rigid affine transforms only (e.g. rotation, translation, scaling, and scew). The parameters yielding the maximum mutual information will be the parameters that best register the misregistered image. This algorithm is implemented in Matlab and tested using different protocols of MRI images.
Initial Profile Generation in Recommender Systems Using Pairwise Comparison

Most recommender systems, such as collaborative filtering, cannot provide personalized recommendations until a user profile has been created. This is known as the new user cold-start problem. Several systems try to learn the new users' profiles as part of the sign up process by asking them to provide feedback regarding several items. We present a new, anytime preferences elicitation method that uses the idea of pairwise comparison between items. Our method uses a lazy decision tree, with pairwise comparisons at the decision nodes. Based on the user's response to a certain comparison, we select on-the-fly what pairwise comparison should next be asked. A comparative field study has been conducted to examine the suitability of the proposed method for eliciting the user's initial profile. The results indicate that the proposed pairwise approach provides more accurate recommendations than existing methods and requires less effort when signing up newcomers.
Release of decay-accelerating factor (DAF) from the cell membrane by phosphatidylinositol-specific phospholipase C (PIPLC). Selective modification of a complement regulatory protein

Decay-accelerating factor (DAF) is a 70,000 Mr membrane protein that inhibits amplification of the complement cascade on the cell surface, and protects cells from damage. Purified DAF can be reincorporated into the membrane of red cells and is functional. DAF is deficient in paroxysmal nocturnal hemoglobinuria (PNH), a disease characterized by increased sensitivity of erythrocytes to complement lysis. We show here that DAF is part of a newly described family of membrane proteins anchored to the lipid bilayer by means of phosphatidylinositol (PI). Treatment with PI-specific phospholipase C (PIPLC) releases 70-80, 60, and 10% of cell surface DAF from mononuclear cells, neutrophils, and erythrocytes, respectively. The PIPLC-released DAF (DAF-S) is slightly smaller (67,000 Mr) than the membrane form. DAF and DAF-S cannot be distinguished antigenically. Furthermore, DAF-S has lost its ability to significantly inhibit the C3-convertase, as well as its ability to incorporate into cell membranes. Since DAF can only inhibit C3- convertase endogenously, i.e., within the membrane of the same cell, it is likely that the loss of activity of DAF-S is causally related to its inability to reincorporate in the lipid bilayer. As shown by others, the complement-sensitive red cells from PNH patients lack acetylcholinesterase, which is also anchored to the membrane by PI (9). Thus it is possible that the molecular defect in PNH lies in the biosynthetic pathways leading to the attachment of PI to the polypeptide chains, in the transport of these proteins to the surface, or in their release by the action of endogenous phospholipases. From a practical standpoint the specific release of DAF by PIPLC could facilitate killing of tumor cells by amplifying the effects of the complement cascade on the surface of antibody-sensitized cells.
Code Design for Multihop Wireless Relay Networks

We consider a wireless relay network, where a transmitter node communicates with a receiver node with the help of relay nodes. Most coding strategies considered so far assume that the relay nodes are used for one hop. We address the problem of code design when relay nodes may be used for more than one hop. We consider as a protocol a more elaborated version of amplify-and-forward, called distributedspace-time coding, where the relay nodes multiply their received signal with a unitary matrix, in such a way that the receiver senses a space-time code. We first show that in this scenario, as expected, the so-called full-diversity condition holds, namely, the codebook of distributed space-time codewords has to be designed such that the difference of any two distinct codewords is full rank. We then compute the diversity of the channel, and show that it is given by the minimum number of relay nodes among the hops. We finally give a systematic way of building fully diverse codebooks and provide simulation results for their performance.
A Possible Brown Dwarf Companion to the White Dwarf GD 1400

An unresolved, likely L dwarf companion to the DA white dwarf GD 1400 is reported. This would be only the second such system known, discovered 17 years after the prototype L dwarf, GD 165B, was determined to be a companion to a white dwarf. Photometric observations and model-predicted of the well-studied white dwarf primary stellar parameters indicate that GD 1400B has J - K ≳ 2.0 and MK = 12.13 mag. If correct, this would place GD 1400B at spectral type L6, and it would be the lowest-luminosity unevolved companion known to a white dwarf and thus a definite brown dwarf. However, a low-resolution Keck NIRSPEC 2.1–2.4 μm spectrum may not be consistent with known L dwarfs. Uncertainties in classification will remain until the binary is resolved or a trigonometric parallax is measured.
Applications and Processing of Transparent Conducting Oxides

The first report of a transparent conducting oxide (TCO) was published in 1907, when Badeker reported that thin films of Cd metal deposited in a glow discharge chamber could be oxidized to become transparent while remaining electrically conducting. Since then, the commercial value of these thin films has been recognized, and the list of potential TCO materials has expanded to include, for example, Al-doped ZnO, GdInO x , SnO 2 , F-doped In 2 O 3 , and many others. Since the 1960s, the most widely used TCO for optoelectronic device applications has been tin-doped indium oxide (ITO). At present, and likely well into the future, this material offers the best available performance in terms of conductivity and transmissivity, combined with excellent environmental stability, reproducibility, and good surface morphology. The use of other TCOs in large quantities is application-specific. For example, tin oxide is now widely used in architectural glass applications.
Comparison of supervised learning methods for spike time coding in spiking neural networks

In this review we focus our attention on supervised learning methods for spike time coding in Spiking Neural Networks (SNNs). This study is motivated by recent experimental results regarding information coding in biological neural systems, which suggest that precise timing of individual spikes may be essential for efficient computation in the brain. We are concerned with the fundamental question: What paradigms of neural temporal coding can be implemented with the recent learning methods? In order to answer this question, we discuss various approaches to the learning task considered. We shortly describe the particular learning algorithms and report the results of experiments. Finally, we discuss the properties, assumptions and limitations of each method. We complete this review with a comprehensive list of pointers to the literature.
Functional Modelling and Classification of Longitudinal Data.

We review and extend some statistical tools that have proved useful for analysing functional data. Functional data analysis primarily is designed for the analysis of random trajectories and infinite-dimensional data, and there exists a need for the development of adequate statistical estimation and inference techniques. While this field is in flux, some methods have proven useful. These include warping methods, functional principal component analysis, and conditioning under Gaussian assumptions for the case of sparse data. The latter is a recent development that may provide a bridge between functional and more classical longitudinal data analysis. Besides presenting a brief review of functional principal components and functional regression, we develop some concepts for estimating functional principal component scores in the sparse situation. An extension of the so-called generalized functional linear model to the case of sparse longitudinal predictors is proposed. This extension includes functional binary regression models for longitudinal data and is illustrated with data on primary biliary cirrhosis.
Modelling accentual phrase intonation in Slovak and Hungarian

According to Jun and Fletcher (2014), languages with fixed lexical stress towards the edge of the word often include accentual phrases (AP) as a structural prosodic unit between the Prosodic Word (PrWd) and the Intermediate Phrase (ip). APs also tend to show a stable recurrent F0 pattern in various contexts. Slovak and Hungarian both have fixed word-initial lexical stress, and we test the hypothesis that APs are consistently marked with stable F0 contours, which is a precondition for their relevance in the intonational phonologies of the two languages. We employ linear and second-order polynomial stylizations of F0 throughout putative APs and intonation phrases (IPs) in a corpus of spontaneous utterances in Slovak and Hungarian from collaborative dialogues. The results show that these putative APs have consistent F0 contour patterns that are differentiated from the IP pattern in both languages: the Hungarian ones fall, while the Slovak ones rise before they fall.
Multipath rate allocation algorithm for overlay networks with feedback from overlay nodes

We develop and evaluate a rate-allocation multipath algorithm for delivery of video in a Video-on-Demand (VoD) system built upon an overlay network. To evaluate how well the rate-allocation algorithms approach the optimum, we have earlier built a benchmarking system that provides the optimal solution for assigning available bandwidth to delivery paths. This solution is also proportionally-fair. We implement a distributed algorithm for multipath rate allocation that operates based on information collected by overlay nodes. The algorithm is evaluated in the OMNet++ simulation environment and analyzed against the aforementioned benchmarking.
Passive wireless permittivity sensor based on frequency-coded chipless RFID tags

This paper proposes to integrate the functions of identification and sensing into a passive chipless RFID tag. A frequency-coded tag which contains a dual-band capacitive-loaded resonator is proposed. The first resonance is used for identification and the second one is used for sensing the permittivity of the material attached to the tag. A theoretical model is proposed and simulated and measured results are presented.
Single-mode lasing from ZnO-SiO2 thin film nanoresonators obtained by magnetron sputtering method

Investigations of the spontaneous and stimulated emission spectra by optical pumping of ZnO layers deposited on SiO2-Si and opal were carried out. The stimulated emission pumped under ultra violet 337 nm N2 laser excitation was observed at 397 nm at room temperature from ZnO-SiO2-Si type and ZnO-opal type thin film structures. The threshold pumped power for the electron-hole plasma recombination laser process is of the order of 35 MW/cm2 for ZnO-SiO2-Si and 300 KW/cm2 for ZnO-opal structures.
Nicotinamide Adenine Dinucleotide (NAD+) and Nicotinamide: Sex Differences in Cerebral Ischemia

Background— Previous literature suggests that cell death pathways activated after cerebral ischemia differ between the sexes. While caspase-dependent mechanisms predominate in the female brain, caspase-independent cell death induced by activation of Poly (ADP-ribose) polymerase (PARP) predominates in the male brain. PARP-1 gene deletion decreases infarction volume in the male brain, but paradoxically increases damage in PARP-1 knockout females. Purpose— This study examined stroke induced changes in NAD+, a key energy molecule involved in PARP-1 activation in both sexes. Methods— Mice were subjected to Middle Cerebral Artery Occlusion and NAD+ levels were assessed. Caspase-3 activity and nuclear translocation was assessed 6 hours after ischemia. In additional cohorts, Nicotinamide (500mg/kg i.p.) a precursor of NAD+ or vehicle was administered and infarction volume was measured 24 hours after ischemia. Results— Males have higher baseline NAD+ levels than females. Significant stroke-induced NAD+ depletion occurred in males and ovariectomized females but not in intact females. PARP-1 deletion prevented the stroke induced loss in NAD+ in males, but worsened NAD+ loss in PARP-1 deficient females. Preventing NAD+ loss with nicotinamide reduced infarct in wild-type males and PARP-1 knockout mice of both sexes, with no effect in WT females. Caspase-3 activity was significantly increased in PARP-1 knockout females compared to males and wild-type females, this was reversed with nicotinamide. Conclusions— Sex differences exist in baseline and stroke-induced NAD+ levels. Nicotinamide protected males and PARP knockout mice, but had minimal effects in the wild-type female brain. This may be secondary to differences in energy metabolism between the sexes.
Representation of echo roughness and its relationship to amplitude‐modulation processing in the bat auditory midbrain

Bats use natural landmarks such as trees for orientation. Echoes reflected by a tree are stochastic and complex. The degree of irregular loudness fluctuations of perceived echoes, i.e. the echo roughness, may be used to classify natural objects reliably. Bats are able to discriminate and classify echoes of different roughness. A neural correlate of the psychophysical roughness sensitivity has been described in the auditory cortex of the bat Phyllostomus discolor. Here, the role of the inferior colliculus of P. discolor is explored in the neural representation of echo roughness. Using extracellular recording techniques, responses were obtained to simulated stochastic echoes of different roughness. The representation of these irregular loudness fluctuations in echoes is compared to the representation of periodic loudness fluctuations elicited by sinusoidal amplitude modulation (SAM) and to the shape of the peri‐stimulus time histogram in response to pure tones. About half the recorded units responded significantly differently to echoes with different roughness. Roughness sensitivity was related to the units’ sensitivity to the depth of an SAM: units that responded best to strong SAMs also responded best to echoes of high roughness. In response to pure tones, these units were typically characterized as Onset units. In contrast to the auditory cortex experiments, the responses of many units in the inferior colliculus decreased with increasing echo roughness. These units typically preferred weak SAMs and showed a sustained response to pure tones. The data show that auditory midbrain sensitivity to SAM is an important prerequisite for the neural representation of echo roughness as an ecologically important echo‐acoustic parameter.
A full custom half-band filter used for sigma-delta ADC

A low power full custom Half-Band FIR digtal Alter with fixed coefficients used for sigma-delta ADC is presented. The Half-Band FIR digtal filter uses three- stage cascaded strcture and has linear phase and lowpass characteristics. It achieves passband ripple of 0.003dB and stopband attenuation of 82dB, and dissipates only 15mW with a 3V supply based on a 0.35um CMOS process.
Feature Selection and Classification - A Probabilistic Wrapper Approach

Feature selection is de ned as a problem to nd a minimum set of M features for an inductive al gorithm to achieve the highest predictive accuracy from the data described by the original N features where M N A probabilistic wrapper model is proposed as another method besides the exhaus tive search and the heuristic approach The aim of this model is to avoid local minima and exhaustive search The highest predictive accuracy is the crite rion in search of the smallest M Analysis and ex periments show that this model can e ectively nd relevant features and remove irrelevant ones in the context of improving the predictive accuracy of an induction algorithm It is simple straightforward and providing fast solutions while searching for the optimal The applications of such a model its future work and some related issues are also discussed
Long‐Term Results in Recipients of Combined HLA‐Mismatched Kidney and Bone Marrow Transplantation Without Maintenance Immunosuppression

We report here the long‐term results of HLA‐mismatched kidney transplantation without maintenance immunosuppression (IS) in 10 subjects following combined kidney and bone marrow transplantation. All subjects were treated with nonmyeloablative conditioning and an 8‐ to 14‐month course of calcineurin inhibitor with or without rituximab. All 10 subjects developed transient chimerism, and in seven of these, IS was successfully discontinued for 4 or more years. Currently, four subjects remain IS free for periods of 4.5–11.4 years, while three required reinstitution of IS after 5–8 years due to recurrence of original disease or chronic antibody‐mediated rejection. Of the 10 renal allografts, three failed due to thrombotic microangiopathy or rejection. When compared with 21 immunologically similar living donor kidney recipients treated with conventional IS, the long‐term IS‐free survivors developed significantly fewer posttransplant complications. Although most recipients treated with none or two doses of rituximab developed donor‐specific antibody (DSA), no DSA was detected in recipients treated with four doses of rituximab. Although further revisions of the current conditioning regimen are planned in order to improve consistency of the results, this study shows that long‐term stable kidney allograft survival without maintenance IS can be achieved following transient mixed chimerism induction.
Impedance transformers for compact and robust coupled magnetic resonance systems

An innovative coupled magnetic resonance system (CMRS), introducing two lumped impedance transformers, is proposed. The source coil and load coil of conventional CMRS are replaced with two cored transformers so that the system can be quite compact in size and robust to ambient changes. The design of the system is simplified due to no magnetic flux leakage from the source coil and load coil. A class-E inverter at 500 kHz switching frequency was used for experiments. It is concluded in this paper that the CMRS, in general, is a special form of conventional inductive power transfer systems.
Experimental Analysis of the MRF Algorithm for Segmentation of Noisy Medical Images

We show here that the implementation of the Markov random fields image segmentation algorithm of Hochbaum 2001 works well for the purpose of denoising and segmenting medical images. One of the main contributions here is the ability for a user to manipulate online the image so as to achieve clear delineation of objects of interest in the image. This is made possible by the efficiency of the implementation. Results are presented for images that are generated by Single Photon Emission Computed Tomography and Magnetic Resonance Imaging. The results show that the method presented is effective at denoising medical images as well as segmenting tissue types, organs, lesions, and other features within medical images. We advocate that this method should be considered as part of the medical imaging toolbox.
Biobutanol: An attractive biofuel

Biofuels are an attractive means to prevent a further increase of carbon dioxide emissions. Currently, gasoline is blended with ethanol at various percentages. However, butanol has several advantages over ethanol, such as higher energy content, lower water absorption, better blending ability, and use in conventional combustion engines without modification. Like ethanol, it can be produced fermentatively or petrochemically. Current crude oil prices render the biotechnological process economic again. The best‐studied bacterium to perform a butanol fermentation is Clostridium acetobutylicum. Its genome has been sequenced, and the regulation of solvent formation is under intensive investigation. This opens the possibility to engineer recombinant strains with superior biobutanol‐producing ability.
Convergence and Divergence Issues in Strategic Management – An Asian Perspective on the Balanced Scorecard in HR management ( Working paper ) ( Reproduction prohibited without

Global competitive pressures shape an enterprise’s focus on strategic management systems, and in particular the Balanced Scorecard; this shift suggests that global companies adopt a handful of management best practices, most of which originate in the West. Divergence factors such as national culture, leadership styles and human resource management practices underscore the trend towards convergence of global management practices; however, Asian empirical evidence on the effectiveness of such practices is limited as is the impact of Asian Balanced Scorecard contextual variables. This paper considers a conceptual framework, based on the Balanced Scorecard, in which to consider convergence and divergence impacts on developing high performance cultures in Asian contexts. A Balanced Scorecard implementation case study undertaken by the Central Bank of Indonesia is the basis for discussing Asian firms’ challenges in adopting Western management practices.