Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Optimisation in a natural system: Argentine ants solve the Towers of Hanoi

SUMMARY Natural systems are a source of inspiration for computer algorithms designed to solve optimisation problems. Yet most ‘nature-inspired’ algorithms take only superficial inspiration from biology, and little is known about how real biological systems solve difficult problems. Moreover, ant algorithms, neural networks and similar methods are usually applied to static problems, whereas most biological systems have evolved to perform under dynamically changing conditions. We used the Towers of Hanoi puzzle to test whether Argentine ants can solve a potentially difficult optimisation problem. We also tested whether the ants can adapt to dynamic changes in the problem. We mapped all possible solutions to the Towers of Hanoi on a single graph and converted this into a maze for the ants to solve. We show that the ants are capable of solving the Towers of Hanoi, and are able to adapt when sections of the maze are blocked off and new sections installed. The presence of exploration pheromone increased the efficiency of the resulting network and increased the ants' ability to adapt to changing conditions. Contrary to previous studies, our study shows that mass-recruiting ant species such as the Argentine ant can forage effectively in a dynamic environment. Our results also suggest that novel optimisation algorithms can benefit from stronger biological mimicry.
The influence of sex hormones on antidepressant-induced alterations in neurotransmitter receptor binding

Long term (21-day) treatment with antidepressants induces a decrease in beta-adrenergic and serotonin 2 (5-HT2) receptor binding in rat brain frontal cortex. Since hormone imbalances are known to be associated with affective illness, the present study was undertaken to determine whether sex hormones influence these alterations in neurotransmitter receptor binding. Using receptor binding assays, we found that castration abolishes the decline in the concentration of 5-HT2, but not beta-adrenergic, receptors brought on by chronic imipramine or iprindole treatment in both male and female rats. In contrast, the receptor responses to trazodone, mianserin, and pargyline were not influenced by surgery. Furthermore, mianserin was found to reduce beta- adrenergic binding in intact females, but not males, suggesting a sex- related specificity with regard to the response to this agent. Testosterone and estrogen, but not dihydrotestosterone, reversed the effects of castration in males, suggesting that the interaction between the steroids and antidepressants is mediated through estrogenic, rather than androgenic, receptors. The results indicate that the receptor responses to some antidepressant drugs is dependent, at least in part, on the hormonal state of the animals.
Radar measurement of precipitation in cold mountainous areas: the Garonne basin

Abstract The object of this paper is to discuss, using the example of the upper basin of the Garonne river, the conditions of use of radar for the measurement of precipitation in order to forecast floods in areas with substantial relief and a cold season, which is the case for most French basins. The principle of radar measurement of precipitation fields is summarily expounded and the factors influencing the quality of these measurements are presented, notably those in relation to the relief and climatology of precipitation and to the 0°C isotherm (precipitation melting level). The main difficulty is that, at mid-latitudes, the precipitation melting layer (i.e. the 0°C isotherm) is located at low altitude, which implies that, except in summer, radar does not observe a homogeneous scattering environment viz. rain or snow. Most of the time, the radar beam reaches, at a short distance, the altitude of the upper limit of the rain. This problem is made worse in mountainous areas because, for the azimuthal swee.
κ-Carrageenan Enhances Lipopolysaccharide-Induced Interleukin-8 Secretion by Stimulating the Bcl10-NF-κB Pathway in HT-29 Cells and Aggravates C. freundii-Induced Inflammation in Mice

Background. The dietary usage of carrageenan as common food additive has increased observably over the last 50 years. But there is substantial controversy about its safety. Methods. We investigated whether the κ-carrageenan could enhance lipopolysaccharide-induced IL-8 expression by studying its actions on the TLR4-NF-κB pathway. The aggravating effect of κ-carrageenan on Citrobacter freundii DBS100-induced intestinal inflammation was also investigated in a mouse model. Results. Our data show that κ-carrageenan pretreatment promoted LPS-induced IL-8 expression in HT-29 cells. Although CD14, MD-2, and TLR4 were upregulated, the binding of LPS was not enhanced. However, the pathway of Bcl10-NF-κB was triggered. Interestingly, κ-carrageenan competitively blocked the binding of FITC-LPS. Furthermore, pretreatment with κ-carrageenan for one week previous to gavage with C. freundii DBS100 markedly aggravated weight loss, mortality, and colonic damage. The secretion of cytokines was unbalanced and the ratio of Tregs was decreased significantly. In addition, κ-carrageenan, together with C. freundii DBS100, enhanced the transcription and secretion of TLR4 and NF-κB. Conclusions. κ-Carrageenan can synergistically activate LPS-induced inflammatory through the Bcl10-NF-κB pathway, as indicated by its aggravation of C. freundii DBS100-induced colitis in mice. General Significance. Our results suggest that κ-carrageenan serves as a potential inflammatory agent that magnifies existing intestinal inflammation.
DO THE NEARBY BLUE HORIZONTAL BRANCH STARS BELONG TO THE THICK DISK OR THE HALO?

We study the Milky Way region (|Z|< 3.0 kpc) where the thick disk and inner halo overlap by using the kinematics of local blue horizontal branch (BHB) stars (within 1 kpc) and new samples of BHB stars and A-type stars from the Century Survey. We derive Galactic U, V, and W velocities for these BHB and A-type star samples using proper motions from the NOMAD catalog. The mean velocities and the velocity dispersions of the BHB samples (|Z| < 3 kpc) are characteristic of the halo, while those of the Century Survey A-type stars are characteristic of the thick disk. There is no evidence from our samples that the BHB stars rotate with the thick disk in the region |Z| < 3 kpc. Nearly a third of the nearby local RR Lyrae stars have disk kinematics and are more metal rich than [Fe/H] ∼ −1. Only a few percent of the Century Survey BHB (CBHB) stars have these properties. Only one nearby BHB star (HD 130201) is likely to be such a disk star but selection based on high proper motions will have tended to exclude such stars from the local sample. The scale height derived from a sample of local RR Lyrae stars agrees with that of the CBHB stars. The local samples of BHB stars and metal-weak red giants are too incomplete for a similar comparison.
Maternal cortisol over the course of pregnancy and subsequent child amygdala and hippocampus volumes and affective problems

Stress-related variation in the intrauterine milieu may impact brain development and emergent function, with long-term implications in terms of susceptibility for affective disorders. Studies in animals suggest limbic regions in the developing brain are particularly sensitive to exposure to the stress hormone cortisol. However, the nature, magnitude, and time course of these effects have not yet been adequately characterized in humans. A prospective, longitudinal study was conducted in 65 normal, healthy mother–child dyads to examine the association of maternal cortisol in early, mid-, and late gestation with subsequent measures at approximately 7 y age of child amygdala and hippocampus volume and affective problems. After accounting for the effects of potential confounding pre- and postnatal factors, higher maternal cortisol levels in earlier but not later gestation was associated with a larger right amygdala volume in girls (a 1 SD increase in cortisol was associated with a 6.4% increase in right amygdala volume), but not in boys. Moreover, higher maternal cortisol levels in early gestation was associated with more affective problems in girls, and this association was mediated, in part, by amygdala volume. No association between maternal cortisol in pregnancy and child hippocampus volume was observed in either sex. The current findings represent, to the best of our knowledge, the first report linking maternal stress hormone levels in human pregnancy with subsequent child amygdala volume and affect. The results underscore the importance of the intrauterine environment and suggest the origins of neuropsychiatric disorders may have their foundations early in life.
Cholesterol, C-Reactive Protein, and Periodontitis: HMG-CoA-Reductase Inhibitors (Statins) as Effect Modifiers

Common risk factors of periodontitis and cardiovascular diseases fuel the debate on interrelationships between them. The aim is to prove whether statins may influence periodontal parameters by affecting either of these factors. Out of the 4,290 subjects of SHIP (Study of Health in Pomerania), we included subjects aged >30 years (219 with statins, 2937 without) and excluded edentulous. We determined periodontal measures, cholesterol fractions, and inflammation markers. Statin use and periodontal risk factors were assessed. Gingival plaque and periodontal attachment loss were associated with systemic LDL cholesterol (P < 0.001) and C-reactive protein CRP (P = 0.019) revealing interaction with statin use. When adjusted for age, sex, smoking, diabetes, education, and dental service, statins were identified as effect modifiers abolishing the relationship between attachment loss and LDL and between gingival plaque and LDL (interactions P < 0.001). No statin-related interaction was detected with increase in CRP. The interaction supports the view of inter-relationships between periodontal and systemic inflammatory mediators.
Cigarette smoking and human papillomavirus in patients with reported cervical cytological abnormality.

OBJECTIVE--To assess the relation between two risk factors for cervical neoplasia: smoking and infection with oncogenic human papillomavirus. It has been suggested that smoking causes a local immunological defect, which could facilitate the infection and persistence of human papillomavirus. DESIGN--Cross sectional epidemiological study. Completion of a structured questionnaire by the patients, analysis of cervical scrapes for human papillomavirus, and morphological examination of biopsy specimens. SETTING--Outpatient gynaecological clinic. SUBJECTS--181 women with a report of cervical cytological abnormality. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES--Prevalence of infection with oncogenic human papillomavirus and smoking habits. RESULTS--Oncogenic human papillomavirus was found in the cervix of 26 (41%) of the 63 women who did not smoke, 22 (58%) of the 38 who smoked 1-10 cigarettes a day, 28 (61%) of the 46 who smoked 11-20 cigarettes a day, and 26 (76%) of the 34 who smoked > or = 21 cigarettes a day. The prevalence of the virus thus increased in accordance with the number of cigarettes smoked (p = 0.001). This relation remained after adjustment for age at first intercourse and lifetime number of sexual partners. Of the 63 non-smokers, 23 had previously smoked at least 10 cigarettes a day at some time. Of these 23 women, 14 (61%) had oncogenic human papillomavirus in their cervix. Of the 40 women who had never smoked at least 10 cigarettes a day, 12 (30%) had the virus. The prevalence of oncogenic human papillomavirus in non-smokers therefore depended on previous smoking habits (p = 0.03). CONCLUSION--The dose dependent effect of cigarette smoking on the occurrence of oncogenic human papillomavirus favours a causal relation between these risk factors for cervical neoplasia.
Leveraging Web Query Logs to Learn User Intent Via Bayesian Discrete Latent Variable Model

A key task in Spoken Language Understanding (SLU) is interpreting user intentions from speech utterances. This task is considered to be a classification problem with the goal of categorizing a given speech utterance into one of many semantic intent classes. Due to substantial utterance var, significant quantity of labeled utterances is needed to build robust intent detection systems. In this paper, we approach intent detection as a two-stage semi-supervised learning problem, which utilizes a large number of unlabeled queries collected from internet seach engine click logs. We first capture the underlying structure of the user queries using bayesian latent feature model. We then propagate this structure onto the unlabeled queries to obtain quality training data via a graph summarization algorithm. Our approach improves intent detection compared to comparison to our baseline, which uses a standard classification model with actual features.
High-Level Synthesis Case Study: Implementation of a Memcached Server

Abstract High-Level Synthesis (HLS) aspires to raise the levelof abstraction in hardware design without sacricing hardwareefciency. It has so far been successfully employed in signal andvideo processing but has found only limited use in other areas.This paper utilizes a commercial HLS tool, namely Vivado R HLS, to implement the processing of a common data centerapplication, the Key-Value Store (KVS) application memcached,as a deeply pipelined dataow architecture. We compared ourresults to a fully equivalent RTL implementation done previouslyin our group and found that it matches its performance, yieldstangible improvements in latency (between 7-30%) and resourceconsumption (22% in LUTs and 35% in registers), all whilerequiring 3x less lines of code and 2x less development time. Theimplementation was validated in hardware on a Xilinx R VC709development board, meeting timing requirements for 10Gbps linerate processing. I. I NTRODUCTION FPGAs have long shown great promise in acceleratingcomputation for a multitude of applications [1], but theiradoption has been hampered by a very low level programmingenvironment which makes code hard and costly to developas well as inexible. This is particularly relevant in a highlydynamic environment such as data centers, where a reductionin FPGA development time is fundamental to enable operatorsto implement and deploy part of their volatile software stackson FPGAs. Considerable research has own into changing this,with C-to-RTL synthesis being one of the most popular ap-proaches. One tool which employs this technique is Xilinx's
Lazy evaluation and the logic variable

Functional languages can be enriched with logic variables to provide new computational features such as incremental construction of data structures. In this paper, we present a novel application for logic variables that highlights their importance: we argue that they are essential for explicating the process of demand propagation in lazy evaluation of functional programs. There are two applications of this result. First, it provides a 'RISC' approach to lazy evaluation that has several advantages over implementations based on literal graph reduction. Second, it suggests new strictness analysis algorithms in which logic variables play an important role.
The Opposites Task: Using General Rules to Test Cognitive Flexibility in Preschoolers

Executive functions play an important role in cognitive development, and during the preschool years especially, children's performance is limited in tasks that demand flexibility in their behavior. We asked whether preschoolers would exhibit limitations when they are required to apply a general rule in the context of novel stimuli on every trial (the “opposites” task). Two types of inhibitory processing were measured: response interference (resistance to interference from a competing response) and proactive interference (resistance to interference from a previously relevant rule). Group data show 3-year-olds have difficulty inhibiting prepotent tendencies under these conditions, whereas 5-year-olds’ accuracy is near ceiling in the task.
ADAPTIVE PREMIUMS FOR EVOLUTIONARY CLAIMS IN NON-LIFE INSURANCE

Rapid growth in heavy-tailed claim severity in commercial liability insurance requires insurer response by way of flexible mechanisms to update premiums. To this end in this paper a new premium principle is established for heavy-tailed claims, and its properties investigated. Risk-neutral premiums for heavy-tailed claims are consistently and unbiasedly estimated by the ratio of the first two extremes of the claims distribution. That is, the heavy-tailed risk-neutral premium has a Pareto distribution with the same tail-index as the claims distribution. Insurers must predicate premiums on larger tailindex values, if solvency is to be maintained. Additionally, the structure of heavy-tailed premiums is shown to lead to a natural model for tail-index imprecision (demonstrably inescapable in the sample sizes with which we deal). Premiums which compensate for tail-index uncertainty preserve the ratio structure of risk-neutral premiums, but make a 'prudent' adjustment which reflects the insurer's risk-profile. An example using Swiss Re's (1999) major disaster data is used to illustrate application of the methodology to the largest claims in any insurance class.
Three-dimensional reconstruction of normal and early glaucoma monkey optic nerve head connective tissues.

PURPOSE To introduce high-resolution, digital three-dimensional (3-D) reconstruction of the connective tissues of the optic nerve head (ONH). METHODS Trephinated ONH and peripapillary sclera from both eyes of three monkeys with early glaucoma (EG; one eye normal, one eye given laser-induced EG) were embedded in paraffin and serial sectioned at 3-mum thickness from the vitreous surface through the orbital optic nerve, with the embedded tissue block face stained and imaged after each cut. Each image was aligned, and then the scleral canal wall, sclera, border tissue of Elschnig, Bruch's membrane, lamina cribrosa, optic nerve septa, pial sheath, and vasculature were delineated as unique objects. Delineated images were stacked, color mapped, and volume rendered and then serial sagittal and transverse digital sections of the resultant voxel geometries were viewed and measured. RESULTS Substantial differences in the 3-D architecture of the peripapillary sclera, scleral canal wall, and lamina cribrosa were present among the three normal eyes. All three EG eyes displayed permanent posterior deformation of the central lamina cribrosa, as well as expansion of the anterior and posterior neural canal openings in comparison with their respective contralateral normal control eyes. Peripherally, whereas laminar deformation was greatest inferiorly or superiorly in all three EG eyes, statistically significant deformation was present in all four quadrants of all three eyes. CONCLUSIONS High-resolution, digital 3-D reconstructions of the load-bearing connective tissues of the monkey ONH confirm that the ONH connective tissues are profoundly altered at the onset of detectable ONH surface change in experimental glaucoma.
Abstract—this Paper Proposes a New Method for Online Identification of a Nonlinear System Using Reproducing Kernel Hilbert Space (rkhs) Models. the Rkhs Model Is a Linear

combination of kernel functions applied to the used training set observations. For large datasets, this kernel based to severs computational problems and makes identification techniques unsuitable to the online case. For instance, in the Kernel Principal Component Analysis (KPCA) scheme the Gram matrix order grows with the number of training observations and its eigen decomposition. The proposed method is based on Reduced Kernel Principal Component Analysis technique (RKPCA), to extract the principal component will be time consuming.
Dynamic changes in anterior segment (AS) parameters in eyes with primary angle closure (PAC) and PAC glaucoma and open-angle eyes assessed using AS optical coherence tomography.

PURPOSE To evaluate serial changes in anterior segment (AS) parameters in terms of variation in pupil diameter (PD) using AS optical coherence tomography (OCT) in eyes with primary angle closure or primary angle closure glaucoma (PCG), age-matched open-angle (AO) eyes, and young open-angle (YO) eyes. METHODS Forty-four PCG (mean ± SD; 62.2 ± 7.5 years), 36 AO (62.0 ± 12.3 years), and 58 YO eyes (29.1 ± 7.0 years) were imaged under four standardized lighting conditions (3.25, 100.8, 426, and 1420 cd/m(2)). PD, anterior chamber depth (ACD), iris cross-sectional area (IA), iris thicknesses at 750 and 1500 μm from the scleral spur (IT750, IT1500), iris curvature (IC), lens vault (LV), and anterior chamber area (ACA), were calculated. The slope of the change in each AS parameter in terms of variation in PD was determined by a linear mixed-effect model. RESULTS The mean ACD was significantly shallower (P < 0.001), the IC higher (P < 0.001), the IT750 greater (P = 0.026), the ACA smaller (P < 0.001), the LV greater (P < 0.001), and the IA wider (P = 0.019) in PCG eyes compared with AO eyes. However, the mean slope of no parameter differed significantly between PCG and AO eyes. The mean slopes of IC, IT1500, and IA differed between AO and YO eyes. CONCLUSIONS Older eyes showed significantly different dynamic AS parameter responses in terms of change in PD compared with younger eyes. Thus, the authors suggest that changes in the dynamic features of AS parameters with age may contribute to angle closure development, in addition to any predisposing anatomic condition.
Neural Network-Based Teeth Recognition Using Singular Value Decomposition and Color Histogram

Nowadays, biometric technology is used in various security applications. The efficiency of such applications depends upon a type of biometric information. Nevertheless, some information can be faked by intent surgery or they are unexpectedly reshaped such as face, iris, palmprint and fingerprint. Unlike ordinary features, teeth cannot be easily reshaped. In this paper, we proposed appropriate features including machine learning model for teeth recognition. The features of our system are composed of singular values and color histogram of teeth image. These features were fed into the multilayer perceptron network with Levenberg-Marquart backpropagation training algorithm. With these features and model, the proposed method performs better than other existing techniques in terms of accuracy and error.
Recommendations beyond the ratings matrix

Recommender systems have become indispensable for several Web sites, such as Amazon, Netflix and Google News, helping users navigate through the abundance of available choices. Although the field has advanced impressively in the last years with respect to models, usage of heterogeneous information, such as ratings and text reviews, and recommendations for modern applications beyond purchases, almost all of the approaches rely on the data that exist within the recommender and on user explicit input. In a rapidly connected world, though, information is not isolated and does not necessarily lie in the database of a single recommender. Rather, Web offers tremendous amount of information on almost everything, from items to users and their tendency to certain items, but also information on general trends and demographics. We envision an out-of-the-box recommender system that exploits the existing information in a recommender, namely, items, users and ratings, but also explores new sources of information out of the database, like user online traces and online discussions about data items, and exploits them for better and innovative recommendations. We discuss the challenges that such an out-of-the-box approach effects and how it reshapes the field of recommenders.