Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Linking innovation investment and environmental performance: an impure dynamic public good model

This paper develops a theoretical model in order to study how investment decisions in innovation taken by a single agent are influenced by environmental externalities produced by investment decisions taken by other agents. The model acts in a dynamic framework, where knowledge stock represents the capital good on which investment decisions are taken over time. Knowledge stock is considered as an impure public good which results in both public and private benefits. We first show that the reaction function between one representative agents' investments in innovation and the other agents' investments in the public characteristic of the impure public good has a positive slope under general conditions. We also find that its sensitiveness is affected by the elasticity of substitution in the benefit function as well as by the degree of complementarity between public and private characteristics.
Automated software evolution towards design patterns

During the evolution of a software system, it may be necessary to refactor the software in order to make it more flexible and amenable to new requirements that are being introduced. A typical aim of such a refactoring is to apply a suitable design pattern to the program in order to enhance its flexibility. Performing such a transformation by hand is an error-prone process, so automated support would be useful.We have developed a methodology for the creation of automated transformations that can apply a design pattern to an existing program. In this paper we present a brief description of this methodology, and report on the results of using this methodology to develop program transformations that can apply the Gamma et al design patterns. It is found that in almost 75% of cases a satisfactory transformation is developed, and that much of the commonality between design patterns can be captured in reusable minitransformations.
Equity Premia and State-Dependent Risks

This paper analyzes the empirical relations between equity premia and state-dependent consumption and market risks. These relations are derived from a flexible specification of the CCAPM with mixture distribution, which admits the existence of two regimes. Focusing on the market return, we find that the consumption and market risks are priced in each state, and the responses of expected equity premia to these risks are state dependent. Extending to various portfolio returns, we show that the responses to downside consumption risks are the most important, they are almost always statistically larger than the responses to upside consumption risks, and they are much larger for firms having smaller sizes and facing more financial distresses.
Daily energy expenditure increases in response to low nutritional stress in an Arctic‐breeding seabird with no effect on mortality

Summary 1. The regulation of energy expenditure in relation to food availability and its consequences for individual fitness in free-ranging animals are poorly understood. Increased daily energy expenditure (DEE) may be viewed as the result of two different processes: expenditure may be forced upwards by low food availability (forcing hypothesis) or enabled to increase by high levels of food resources (enabling hypothesis). Several studies have suggested long-term fitness costs due to increased mortality as a trade-off to increased DEE. 2. We examined the relationship between energy expenditure and an indirect measure of food availability, and the short-term fitness consequences associated with changes in DEE in a small, Arctic seabird, the little auk (Alle alle). We measured DEE of 43 parent little auks by the doubly labelled water method during two consecutive breeding seasons and inferred food availability from plasma concentrations of the stress hormone corticosterone (CORT). 3. We found that DEE was elevated by 26·7% in the year with reduced levels of CORT, indicating that little auks responded to increased food availability by increasing their DEE. These results support the enabling hypothesis. Elevated DEE was presumably caused by increased parental effort as reflected by higher chick provisioning rates and larger chick meals, and was associated with fitness benefits in terms of enhanced current reproductive success. 4. Contrary to earlier studies, our data did not indicate adverse effects associated with elevated DEE; there was no negative relationship between DEE and the probability of adults returning to the colony the following year. Instead, adult return rate was positively related to body mass, with lower return rates when food was limited. 5. These results suggest that ecological consequences associated with limited resource availability may outweigh possible direct negative physiological effects of elevated DEE.
Acute systemic 11-cis-retinal intervention improves abnormal outer retinal ion channel closure in diabetic mice

Purpose To test the hypothesis that in dark-adapted diabetic mice subnormal manganese uptake in the outer retina can be ameliorated with exogenous 11-cis-retinal intervention. Methods Three groups were studied: age-matched controls and mice that had been diabetic for 3 months with and without acute, systemic 11-cis-retinal treatment administered 30 min before the manganese injection. Mice in each group were examined with manganese-enhanced magnetic resonance imaging (MEMRI) to assess central intraretinal manganese uptake and extraocular muscle manganese uptake. Bodyweights and glycated hemoglobin were determined. Results Both diabetic groups had lower bodyweights and higher glycated hemoglobin levels relative to controls; no differences in these parameters between diabetic groups were noted. No substantial differences in muscle uptake were noted between any of the groups. Diabetes produced a subnormal intraretinal uptake of manganese; acute exogenous 11-cis-retinal significantly corrected only outer retinal uptake, although not to control levels. Conclusions The present results provide for the first time evidence that raises the possibility of a critical role of 11-cis-retinal, a key participant of the visual cycle, in diabetes-evoked outer retinal dysfunction.
Error recovery for multicast conversational video over error-prone networks (with application to ad hoc WLANs)

Packet error rates in multicast conversational video transmissions over error-prone networks severely affect the performance of motion-compensated hybrid decoders. The loss of information in one frame has a considerable impact on the quality of the following frames, and errors propagate in the sequence. Conversational video requires fast error recovery, but multicast transmission with real-time interactive constraints introduces serious difficulties. We introduce a feedback-based protocol for resilient multicast videoconferencing in error-prone LANs. In particular, we focus on video transmission over ad hoc wireless LANs (WLANs). Unlike previous approaches, our scheme not only improves video quality at error-prone receivers, but also maximizes the overall video quality of the session and achieves efficient use of the available bandwidth. This protocol uses a decentralized repair request algorithm with (i) a new multicast suppression technique that protects critical correction requests and eliminates duplicated or overlapped control packets, and (ii) a new error resilience scheme based on multicast repair packets that convey predictive correction information to the video session. We present experimental videoconferencing results that demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed protocol in ad hoc WLANs.
Comparison of two Anisotropic Layer models applied to induction motors

A general description of the Anisotropic Layer Theory, derived in the polar coordinate system, and applied to the analysis of squirrel-cage induction motors (IMs), is presented. The theory considers non-conductive layers, layer with predefined current density and layers with induced current density. The electromagnetic field equations are solved by means of Fourier analysis. Further, we propose two different magnetic models for IMs, namely the Direct Rotor Current (DRC) model and the Indirect Rotor Current (IRC) model. The magnetic models are coupled to the single phase equivalent circuit by means of an iterative algorithm, which also accounts for saturation of the main flux path. Finally, motor parameters are given for a benchmark motor and the DRC model and IRC model are validated against Finite Element Analysis predictions. Comparison of the validation results shows that the IRC model is the most promising one.
Joint space and time domain processing for DOA estimation

The small degrees of freedom (DOFs) and low SNR of incoming signal lead to direction of arrival (DOA) estimation performance degradation. A spacetime signal processing method for DOA estimation is presented. This method takes advantage of the spatial and temporal statistics of the incoming signal, expanding the dimensions of covariance matrix by increasing the time delay taps which can reduces the spatial correlation between the steering vectors of incoming signals, to improve the robustness of steering beam. The simulation and experiment results by using measured data show the excellent and stable performance of the proposed processing in the case of small degree of freedom, low SNR of incoming signal and small number of snapshots, compared with the conventional method using only spatial statistics.
Adaptive Switching Mean Filter for Impulse Noise Removal

The adaptive switching mean filter is proposed to remove impulse noise from the corrupted image. The proposed filter first identifies the noise pixels using the morphological noise detector and then removes the detected impulses using the adaptive trimmed mean filter. Simulation results show that the proposed filter can realize the accurate noise detection and it can suppress impulse noise effectively while preserving details in the image very well, thus providing significantly better restoration performance than the traditional median filter and numerous well known switching-based filters.
Genome-Wide Analysis of the bZIP Transcription Factors in Cucumber

bZIP proteins are one of the largest transcriptional regulators playing crucial roles in plant development, physiological processes, and biotic/abiotic stress responses. Despite the availability of recently published draft genome sequence of Cucumis sativus, no comprehensive investigation of these family members has been presented for cucumber. We have identified 64 bZIP transcription factor-encoding genes in the cucumber genome. Based on structural features of their encoded proteins, CsbZIP genes could be classified into 6 groups. Cucumber bZIP genes were expanded mainly by segmental duplication rather than tandem duplication. Although segmental duplication rate of the CsbZIP genes was lower than that of Arabidopsis, rice and sorghum, it was observed as a common expansion mechanism. Some orthologous relationships and chromosomal rearrangements were observed according to comparative mapping analysis with other species. Genome-wide expression analysis of bZIP genes indicated that 64 CsbZIP genes were differentially expressed in at least one of the ten sampled tissues. A total of 4 CsbZIP genes displayed higher expression values in leaf, flowers and root tissues. The in silico micro-RNA (miRNA) and target transcript analyses identified that a total of 21 CsbZIP genes were targeted by 38 plant miRNAs. CsbZIP20 and CsbZIP22 are the most targeted by miR165 and miR166 family members, respectively. We also analyzed the expression of ten CsbZIP genes in the root and leaf tissues of drought-stressed cucumber using quantitative RT-PCR. All of the selected CsbZIP genes were measured as increased in root tissue at 24th h upon PEG treatment. Contrarily, the down-regulation was observed in leaf tissues of all analyzed CsbZIP genes. CsbZIP12 and CsbZIP44 genes showed gradual induction of expression in root tissues during time points. This genome-wide identification and expression profiling provides new opportunities for cloning and functional analyses, which may be used in further studies for improving stress tolerance in plants.
Diverse Roles of Eph/ephrin Signaling in the Mouse Lens

Recent genetic studies show that the Eph/ephrin bidirectional signaling pathway is associated with both congenital and age-related cataracts in mice and humans. We have investigated the molecular mechanisms of cataractogenesis and the roles of ephrin-A5 and EphA2 in the lens. Ephrin-A5 knockout (-/-) mice often display anterior polar cataracts while EphA2(-/-) lenses show very mild cortical or nuclear cataracts at weaning age. The anterior polar cataract of ephrin-A5(-/-) lenses is correlated with multilayers of aberrant cells that express alpha smooth muscle actin, a marker for mesenchymal cells. Only select fiber cells are altered in ephrin-A5(-/-) lenses. Moreover, the disruption of membrane-associated β-catenin and E-cadherin junctions is observed in ephrin-A5(-/-) lens central epithelial cells. In contrast, EphA2(-/-) lenses display normal monolayer epithelium while disorganization is apparent in all lens fiber cells. Immunostaining of ephrin-A5 proteins, highly expressed in lens epithelial cells, were not colocalized with EphA2 proteins, mainly expressed in lens fiber cells. Besides the previously reported function of ephrin-A5 in lens fiber cells, this work suggests that ephrin-A5 regulates β-catenin signaling and E-cadherin to prevent lens anterior epithelial cells from undergoing the epithelial-to-mesenchymal transition while EphA2 is essential for controlling the organization of lens fiber cells through an unknown mechanism. Ephrin-A5 and EphA2 likely interacting with other members of Eph/ephrin family to play diverse functions in lens epithelial cells and/or fiber cells.
Comparative functional expression of nAChR subtypes in rodent DRG neurons

We investigated the functional expression of nicotinic acetylcholine receptors (nAChRs) in heterogeneous populations of dissociated rat and mouse lumbar dorsal root ganglion (DRG) neurons by calcium imaging. By this experimental approach, it is possible to investigate the functional expression of multiple receptor and ion-channel subtypes across more than 100 neuronal and glial cells simultaneously. Based on nAChR expression, DRG neurons could be divided into four subclasses: (1) neurons that express predominantly α3β4 and α6β4 nAChRs; (2) neurons that express predominantly α7 nAChRs; (3) neurons that express a combination of α3β4/α6β4 and α7 nAChRs; and (4) neurons that do not express nAChRs. In this comparative study, the same four neuronal subclasses were observed in mouse and rat DRG. However, the expression frequency differed between species: substantially more rat DRG neurons were in the first three subclasses than mouse DRG neurons, at all developmental time points tested in our study. Approximately 70–80% of rat DRG neurons expressed functional nAChRs, in contrast to only ~15–30% of mouse DRG neurons. Our study also demonstrated functional coupling between nAChRs, voltage-gated calcium channels, and mitochondrial Ca2+ transport in discrete subsets of DRG neurons. In contrast to the expression of nAChRs in DRG neurons, we demonstrated that a subset of non-neuronal DRG cells expressed muscarinic acetylcholine receptors and not nAChRs. The general approach to comparative cellular neurobiology outlined in this paper has the potential to better integrate molecular and systems neuroscience by uncovering the spectrum of neuronal subclasses present in a given cell population and the functionally integrated signaling components expressed in each subclass.
Combined screening with ultrasound and mammography vs mammography alone in women at elevated risk of breast cancer.

CONTEXT Screening ultrasound may depict small, node-negative breast cancers not seen on mammography. OBJECTIVE To compare the diagnostic yield, defined as the proportion of women with positive screen test results and positive reference standard, and performance of screening with ultrasound plus mammography vs mammography alone in women at elevated risk of breast cancer. DESIGN, SETTING, AND PARTICIPANTS From April 2004 to February 2006, 2809 women, with at least heterogeneously dense breast tissue in at least 1 quadrant, were recruited from 21 sites to undergo mammographic and physician-performed ultrasonographic examinations in randomized order by a radiologist masked to the other examination results. Reference standard was defined as a combination of pathology and 12-month follow-up and was available for 2637 (96.8%) of the 2725 eligible participants. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES Diagnostic yield, sensitivity, specificity, and diagnostic accuracy (assessed by the area under the receiver operating characteristic curve) of combined mammography plus ultrasound vs mammography alone and the positive predictive value of biopsy recommendations for mammography plus ultrasound vs mammography alone. RESULTS Forty participants (41 breasts) were diagnosed with cancer: 8 suspicious on both ultrasound and mammography, 12 on ultrasound alone, 12 on mammography alone, and 8 participants (9 breasts) on neither. The diagnostic yield for mammography was 7.6 per 1000 women screened (20 of 2637) and increased to 11.8 per 1000 (31 of 2637) for combined mammography plus ultrasound; the supplemental yield was 4.2 per 1000 women screened (95% confidence interval [CI], 1.1-7.2 per 1000; P = .003 that supplemental yield is 0). The diagnostic accuracy for mammography was 0.78 (95% CI, 0.67-0.87) and increased to 0.91 (95% CI, 0.84-0.96) for mammography plus ultrasound (P = .003 that difference is 0). Of 12 supplemental cancers detected by ultrasound alone, 11 (92%) were invasive with a median size of 10 mm (range, 5-40 mm; mean [SE], 12.6 [3.0] mm) and 8 of the 9 lesions (89%) reported had negative nodes. The positive predictive value of biopsy recommendation after full diagnostic workup was 19 of 84 for mammography (22.6%; 95% CI, 14.2%-33%), 21 of 235 for ultrasound (8.9%, 95% CI, 5.6%-13.3%), and 31 of 276 for combined mammography plus ultrasound (11.2%; 95% CI. 7.8%-15.6%). CONCLUSIONS Adding a single screening ultrasound to mammography will yield an additional 1.1 to 7.2 cancers per 1000 high-risk women, but it will also substantially increase the number of false positives. TRIAL REGISTRATION clinicaltrials.gov Identifier: NCT00072501.
Cache-timing Attacks on AES

—This paper presents several tests to demonstrate the effectiveness of cache-timing attacks against AES on a newest processor: Intel Atom N2800. Cache-timing attack is a type of side channel attacks that takes advantage of the information leaked by encryption devices. We also implement the attack on other two Intel processors: Intel Core i5 and Intel Xeon E5410 to compare the immunity level of the Intel Atom N2800.
SIXTH PAINLEVÉ EQUATION , UNIVERSAL ELLIPTIC CURVE , AND MIRROR OF P 2

0. Introduction 0.1. Three approaches to the Painlevé equations. The differential equations studied in this paper form a family PVI α,β,γ,δ depending on four parameters α, β, γ, δ, and classically written as: d 2 X dt 2 = 1 2 1 X + 1 X − 1 + 1 X − t dX dt 2 − 1 t + 1 t − 1 + 1 X − t dX dt + + X(X − 1)(X − t) t 2 (t − 1) 2 α + β t X 2 + γ t − 1 (X − 1) 2 + δ t(t − 1) (X − t) 2. (0.1) They were discovered around 1906 and have been approached from at least three different directions. a. Study of non–linear ordinary differential equations of the second order whose solutions have no movable critical points. Their classification program was initiated by Painlevé, but he inadvertently omitted (0.1) due to an error in calculations. It was B. Gambier [G] who completed Painlevé's list and found (0.1). b. Study of the isomonodromic deformations of linear differential equations. c. Theory of abelian integrals depending on parameters and taken over chains with algebraic boundary (not necessarily cycles.) These two approaches are due to R. Fuchs [F]. In the subsequent development of the theory, relationship with isomonodromic deformations proved to be most fruitful. For some recent research and bibliography the reader may consult [JM], [O1], [H1], [H2]. In this paper I take up the somewhat neglected approach via abelian integrals and algebraic geometry. My principal motivation was the desire to understand the quantum cohomology of P 2 and to find an algebraic–geometric object which could be reasonably called the mirror of P 2 , thus tentatively extending the scope of the mirror duality discovered for Calabi–Yau manifolds. As was explained in a preprint version of [D] (cf. also [DFI] and [H3]), the potential of the quantum cohomology of P 2 can be reduced by a change of variables to a particular solution of the Painlevé equation with parameters (α, β, γ, δ) = (1 8 , − 1 8 , 0, 1 2). The Painlevé transcendents are generally " new " functions, but for certain values of parameters all or some solutions can be expressed through more classical special functions. Whether this is true for the P 2 –solution referred to above, seems an open problem. N. Hitchin …
Robust front-end and back-end processing for feature extraction for Hindi speech recognition

In this paper, we present a robust feature extraction algorithm based on auditory periphery model for Speech Recognition. At the front-end, a normalized filter bank based on Gammatone filtering is applied to the speech spectra followed by a power law non-linearity. Experiments show that the proposed features named as EFCCs (ERB scale cepstral coefficients) outperform MFCCs in noisy environments without losing performance in clean environment as well. To improve the performance further, a feature enhancement algorithm named as MVA (Mean subtraction, Variance Normalization and ARMA filtering) is applied at the back-end. A 238-word continuous speech recognition task was used to evaluate the proposed feature extraction algorithm. Tests conducted in presence of additive white Gaussian noise at different Signal to Noise ratios (SNR) reveal that EFCCs performed 10.5% (on average) better than MFCCs. Performance improvement in case of EFCCs-MVA was observed to be 16.1%.
Understanding Information System Failures from the Complexity Perspective

Problem Statement: Failure of computer based information systems had been a source of major concern in the modern technological era. Information System (IS) researchers have spent a significant amount of their time and effort in understanding the recurring failure of Information Systems. Studies in this regard have ranged from being primarily technical in their approach to those having a much stronger socio-technical bias. The purpose of this paper was to analyze information system failures using the lens of complexity theory. Approach: Complexity theory was proposed as an alternative paradigm for understanding and analyzing Information System failures. Other research frameworks within which system failures were studied were also discussed. The core concepts of complexity and the salient features of information systems were elucidated. It was shown that information systems could be interpreted as complex entities both from the structural and functional viewpoints. Pictorial representations were given to corroborate this point. Results: It was shown that the complexity framework could be utilized to understand the different types of system failures, viz. process, correspondence and interaction failures in a more meaningful way. The idea of recurrent failures was also examined in the context of complexity theory. It was shown how such failures could be tackled much better by using lessons drawn from complexity. The inadequacy of the systems approach was pointed out that necessiated the introduction of complexity. Conclusions: It appeared that adopting certain features of complexity in the analysis, design and management of information systems could help in avoiding certain failures related to information systems. Some of these features were facilitating the process of co-evolution, exploring the space of possibilities and encouraging self-organization and emergent behaviour.