Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Traffic Flow Estimation based Channel Assignment for Wireless Mesh Networks

Wireless mesh networks (WMNs) provide high-speed backbone networks without any wired cable. Many researchers have tried to increase network throughput by using multi-channel and multi-radio interfaces. A multi-radio multi-channel WMN requires channel assignment algorithm to decide the number of channels needed for each link. Since the channel assignment affects routing and interference directly, it is a critical component for enhancing network performance. However, the optimal channel assignment is known as a NP complete problem. For high performance, most of previous works assign channels in a centralized manner but they are limited in being applied for dynamic network environments. In this paper, we propose a simple flow estimation algorithm and a hybrid channel assignment algorithm. Our flow estimation algorithm obtains aggregated flow rate information between routers by packet sampling, thereby achieving high scalability. Our hybrid channel assignment algorithm initially assigns channels in a centralized manner first, and runs in a distributed manner to adjust channel assignment when notable traffic changes are detected. This approach provides high scalability and high performance compared with existing algorithms, and they are confirmed through extensive performance evaluations.
Performance analysis for Amplify-and-Forward relay selection with outdated channel estimates

Performance evaluation by considering outdated channel estimates in cooperative communications systems is formulated, with only Amplify-and-Forward (AF) relaying mode being considered in this paper. The approximation of closed-form solution for the system analysis is derived. The wireless relay channels between different nodes (e.g., source to relay, relay to destination, or source to destination) are assumed to suffer from an independent and identically distributed (i.i.d.) Rayleigh fading, and the potential performance gain obtained through cooperation and relay selection is analyzed as well. In the presence of high-speed objects, autocorrelation Jakes' Model is employed to formulate the wireless fading channels. Both theoretical analyses and simulation results indicate the validity of the proposed method in terms of both the outage probability and the symbol error probability (SEP). With channel state information being known at the source node or with the Doppler Shift being negligible, a best-relay selection scheme can be performed to optimize both the outage probability and SEP. Numerical results finally validate the proposed analyses.
Abundance of amino sugars and peptidoglycan in marine particulate and dissolved organic matter

Several recent studies indicated that amino sugars were likely to be major components of marine carbon and nitrogen cycles, but there has been insufficient data to investigate this hypothesis. In the present study, hydrolyzable amino sugars were measured in a variety of marine organisms and particulate organic matter (POM) and in ultrafiltered dissolved organic matter (UDOM) from various ocean basins and depths. Glucosamine (GlcN) and galactosamine (GalN) were abundant and common to all samples. Concentrations of these two amino sugars were similar to their neutral sugar counterparts, glucose and galactose, and in surface water they accounted for up to ~1.5% of C and N in POM and 2.5% of C and 7.1% of N in UDOM. Chitin, a polymer of glucosamine, is produced by many marine organisms, but based on the low GlcN : GalN ratios (1.0–2.5) in POM and UDOM, it does not appear to be a primary source of glucosamine in these samples. Muramic acid, an amino sugar found only in the bacterial cell wall polymer peptidoglycan, was relatively abundant in POM, indicating that bacterial detritus is a principal component of submicron particles in seawater. Muramic acid was measured in all UDOM samples, but its concentrations were low (<1 nmol L−1), indicating that intact fragments of peptidoglycan were a relatively minor component of UDOM. The abundance of GlcN and GalN and their similar concentrations in POM and UDOM provide novel information suggesting a major prokaryotic source.
Recent Developments in Halogen Free Flame Retardants for Epoxy Resins for Electrical and Electronic Applications

The recent implementation of new environmental legislations led to a change in the manufacturing of composites that has repercussions on printed wiring boards (PWB). This in turn led to alternate processing methods (e.g., lead-free soldering), which affected the required physical and chemical properties of the additives used to impart flame retardancy. This review will discuss the latest advancements in phosphorus containing flame retardants for electrical and electronic (EE) applications and compare them with commercially available ones. The mechanism of degradation and flame retardancy of phosphorus flame retardants in epoxy resins will also be discussed.
Smad 4 is critical for self-renewal of hematopoietic stem cells

JEM © The Rockefeller University Press $15.00 Vol. 204, No. 3, March 19, 2007 467–474 www.jem. org/cgi/doi/10.1084/jem.20060465 467 On the cell surface, TGF-β superfamily growth factors, including TGF-βs, activins, and bone morphogenetic proteins (BMPs), bind to type I and type II serine/threonine kinase receptors. Upon association with the ligand, type II receptors form a complex with their respective type I receptors. Subsequently, TGF-β and activin signals progress through phosphorylation of receptor-activated Smads (R-Smads) 2 and 3, whereas R-Smads 1, 5, and 8 mediate BMP signaling. R-Smads of both pathways eventually heteroligomerize with the common mediator Smad4, and the resulting complex translocates to the nucleus and recruits transcriptional cofactors to control gene expression. Additionally, in a negative feedback mechanism, Smad6 and 7 inhibit TGF-β superfamily signaling by competing with R-Smads for Smad4 interaction and receptor binding and by targeting receptors for ubiquitination and degradation. In addition to the canonical Smad circuitry, TGF-β superfamily members have been reported to signal through other pathways, predominantly including members of the mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK) family (1). In the hematopoietic system, numerous TGF-β family members have been established as modulators of hematopoietic stem cell (HSC) fate decisions (2–4). BMP-4 is critical for mesoderm formation and, thus, hematopoietic development in various model organisms, as well as from human embryonic stem cells. Furthermore, BMP stimulation aff ects proliferation and diff erentiation of human hematopoietic progenitors and can prolong the maintenance of functional human cord blood HSCs in vitro through as of yet unidentifi ed mechanisms. Conversely, the TGF-βs are generally context-dependent, potent inhibitors of primitive hematopoietic cell proliferation in vitro. The mechanisms behind TGF-β–induced growth arrest in hematopoietic progenitors are intricate, involving both downregulation of cytokine receptors and modulation of genes involved in the cell cycle. Previously, it has been reported that TGF-β1–null mice and inducible TGF-β receptor (TβR) knockout models develop a transplantable lethal infl ammatory disorder aff ecting multiple organs (5–7). Smad4 is critical for self-renewal of hematopoietic stem cells
Effective E-learning using 3D Virtual Tutors and WebRTC Based Multimedia Chat

This paper discuss the novel implementation of Learner Centered Design Approach of E-learning System using 3D Virtual Tutors [1] and further enhances this work in facilitating young learners to interact with human tutors using WebRTC Based Multimedia Chat system. The present work adds three main features such as: Firstly, addition of live video lecture session by which students can interact with the tutor just like video call of Skype system. Secondly, the presentation of 3D virtual tutors' narrations of articles in the text form of live transcriptions of avatars' speech. Thirdly, introduction of timed quiz by which a real-life objective examination can be mimicked and thereby evaluating the performance of students. Lastly, we present a comparative evaluation of the original system and its improved version with respect to responses received from a large pool of young learners using the system.
Mapping BPMN to Agents : An Analysis

In industry the development of software applications is usually a complex and demanding task, and the design and the technical realisation is often spread among different roles, which leads to a time consuming and error-prone exchange of knowledge. In order to ensure the correct translation from business idea to implementation it is crucial to allow for the correct and complete exchange of information between these roles. In this paper, we describe an automated mapping from business process diagrams to agent concepts that simplify the transfer of knowledge between the roles involved in the software development process. Our approach benefits from building upon an intuitive visual specification language on the one hand, and from using a powerful and flexible execution platform on the other.
Parallelization of Structured Invariant Neural Networks for Shift and Rotation Invariant Pattern Recognition

In this paper is presented an algorithm for the parallel implementation and data distribution of struc-tured invariant neural networks (SINN) for invariant pattern recognition. Structured invariant neural networks have shown convincing results for the task of shift and rotation invariant pattern recognition. They perform the invariant feature extraction and adaptive classiication simultaneously in a sparsely connected architecture with shared weights, thus leading to a fast invariant recognition of gray scale images. Additional speed up of the image processing system can be achieved by parallelization. Image capturing and preprocessing with parallel computers can lead to an enormous acceleration. Here we present a parallel implementation of the SINN that is necessary to meet real time demands also for the task of invariant pattern recognition. First we give a reordering algorithm for the highly irregular and complex data access patterns of the SINN minimizing the communication overhead. This algorithm accepts a wide class of possible input distributions determined by the implementation at the preceeding preprocess-ing step. The resulting data distribution allows the local computation of parts of the network architecture in parallel on a large number of processors. Our experimental results show a signiicant speedup of this parallelization compared to a sequential computation of the SINN.
Higher Education Policy Change in Europe: Academic Research Funding and the Impact Agenda

In the policy period following the Lisbon Strategy of 2000, European governments increasingly regard universities, and the research they produce, as key to enhancing economic performance. With this heightened respect for the value of university-based research, comes an impatience to see returns on the public investments made. We analyze how policy is being used to influence the academic research process through the evaluations and funding allocation that accompany public funding. This paper features examples from the European Union and recent policy developments in two nation states to investigate how policy seeks to enhance the non-academic impacts of academic research.
Pathobiology of Visceral Pain : Molecular Mechanisms and Theraputic Implications

Isom, Lori L. Pathobiology of Visceral Pain: Molecular Mechanisms and Theraputic Implications. I. Cellular and molecular biology of sodium channel b-subunits: therapeutic implications for pain? Am. J. Physiol. Gastrointest. Liver Physiol. 278: G349–G353, 2000. —Voltage-gated sodium channel a-subunits have been shown to be key mediators of the pathophysiology of pain. The present review considers the role of sodium channel auxiliary b-subunits in channel modulation, channel protein expression levels, and interactions with extracellular matrix and cytoskeletal signaling molecules. Although b-subunits have not yet been directly implicated in pain mechanisms, their intimate association with and ability to regulate a-subunits predicts that they may be a viable target for therapeutic intervention in the future. It is proposed that multifunctional sodium channel b-subunits provide a critical link between extracellular and intracellular signaling molecules and thus have the ability to fine tune channel activity and electrical excitability.
Strong atmospheric chemistry feedback to climate warming from Arctic methane emissions

The magnitude and feedbacks of future methane release from the Arctic region are unknown. Despite limited documentation of potential future releases associated with thawing permafrost and degassing methane hydrates, the large potential for future methane releases calls for improved understanding of the interaction of a changing climate with processes in the Arctic and chemical feedbacks in the atmosphere. Here we apply a “state of the art” atmospheric chemistry transport model to show that large emissions of CH4 would likely have an unexpectedly large impact on the chemical composition of the atmosphere and on radiative forcing (RF). The indirect contribution to RF of additional methane emission is particularly important. It is shown that if global methane emissions were to increase by factors of 2.5 and 5.2 above current emissions, the indirect contributions to RF would be about 250% and 400%, respectively, of the RF that can be attributed to directly emitted methane alone. Assuming several hypothetical scenarios of CH4 release associated with permafrost thaw, shallow marine hydrate degassing, and submarine landslides, we find a strong positive feedback on RF through atmospheric chemistry. In particular, the impact of CH4 is enhanced through increase of its lifetime, and of atmospheric abundances of ozone, stratospheric water vapor, and CO2 as a result of atmospheric chemical processes. Despite uncertainties in emission scenarios, our results provide a better understanding of the feedbacks in the atmospheric chemistry that would amplify climate warming.
Ju n 20 06 ASYMPTOTIC BEHAVIOR OF MULTIGRADED REGULARITY

Let S be a standard N k-graded polynomial ring over a field K, let I be a multigraded homogeneous ideal of S, and let M be a finitely generated Z k-graded S-module. We prove that the resolution regularity, a multigraded variant of Castelnuovo-Mumford regularity, of I n M is asymptotically a linear function. This shows that the well known Z-graded phenomenon carries to multigraded situation.
A Practical Approach for Maximizing Satisfiability in Qualitative Spatial and Temporal Constraint Networks

We introduce and study the problem of obtaining a spatial or temporal configuration that maximizes the number of constraints satisfied in a qualitative constraint network (QCN). We call this problem the MAX-QCN problem and prove that it is NP-hard for most of the qualitative calculi. We also propose a complete generic branch and bound algorithm for solving the MAX-QCN problem. This algorithm builds on techniques used in the literature for solving the consistency checking problem and the minimal labeling problem of a given QCN. In particular, we make use of a tractable subclass of relations, a chordal graph provided by a triangulation of the input QCN, and the partial weak composition as a filtering method. The experimentation that we have conducted with QCNs from the Interval Algebra and the Region Connection Calculus shows the interest of our proposed algorithm.
Pitch Estimation Based on a Harmonic Sinusoidal Autocorrelation Model and a Time-Domain Matching Scheme

In this paper, a method for the estimation of pitch from noise-corrupted speech observations based on extracting a pitch harmonic and the corresponding harmonic number is proposed. Starting from the harmonic representation of clean speech, a simple yet accurate harmonic sinusoidal autocorrelation (HSAC) model is first derived. By employing this HSAC model expressed in terms of the pitch harmonics of the clean speech, a new autocorrelation-domain least-squares fitting optimization technique is developed to extract a pitch harmonic from the noisy speech. Then, the harmonic number associated with the pitch harmonic is determined by maximizing an objective function formulated as an impulse-train weighted symmetric average magnitude sum function (SAMSF) of the noisy speech. The period of the impulse-train is governed by the estimated pitch harmonic and the maximization of the objective function is carried out through a time-domain matching of periodicity of the impulse-train with that of the SAMSF. An SAMSF-based pitch tracking scheme using dynamic programming is devised to obtain a smoothed pitch contour. In order to demonstrate the efficacy of the proposed method, simulations are conducted by considering naturally spoken speech signals in the presence of white or multi-talker babble noise at different signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) levels. A comprehensive evaluation of the pitch estimation results shows the superiority of the proposed method over some of the state-of-the-art methods under low levels of SNR.
Increasing excess mortality among non-married elderly people in developed countries

This article analyses changes in marital status differences in mortality from approximately 1970 to 1995 among men and women aged 65-74 in ten developed countries (Belgium, Canada, Denmark, England and Wales, Finland, France, Japan, Netherlands, Norway, and Sweden). Data were obtained from the United Nations Demographic Yearbooks and national statistical sources. According to the results there has been a trend towards increasing excess mortality among single men compared to married men and single, divorced and widowed women compared to married women in most western European countries and Canada in the 1980s and 1990s. This has been brought about by a more rapid decline in mortality among married persons and a slower decline or even an increase among non-married persons. In Japan the excess mortality of non-married men and women decreased.
Sweeping through the Topic Space: Bad luck? Roll again!

Topic Models (TM) such as Latent Dirichlet Allocation (LDA) are increasingly used in Natural Language Processing applications. At this, the model parameters and the influence of randomized sampling and inference are rarely examined --- usually, the recommendations from the original papers are adopted. In this paper, we examine the parameter space of LDA topic models with respect to the application of Text Segmentation (TS), specifically targeting error rates and their variance across different runs. We find that the recommended settings result in error rates far from optimal for our application. We show substantial variance in the results for different runs of model estimation and inference, and give recommendations for increasing the robustness and stability of topic models. Running the inference step several times and selecting the last topic ID assigned per token, shows considerable improvements. Similar improvements are achieved with the mode method: We store all assigned topic IDs during each inference iteration step and select the most frequent topic ID assigned to each word. These recommendations do not only apply to TS, but are generic enough to transfer to other applications.
ECME 2006 TOUCHED BY MUSICAL DISCOVERY. DISCIPLINARY AND CULTURAL PERSPECTIVES

What happens when young children play with a virtual musician ? The relationships between children and new technologies is a relevant topic in the field of music education (Webster 2002; Folkestad et al. 1998; Bamberger 2003) as well as in t he field of psychological sciences (Turkle 1996, De Kerckhove 1991, Kenway, J. & Bul len 2004). However, only a few studies have considered the "nature" of the interaction between c hildren and musical
Escolhas Contábeis: reflexões para a pesquisa Accounting Choices: reflections for research Opciones de Contabilidad: reflexiones para la investigación

In this essay is promoted a critical discussion of theories and major works dealing with the study of accounting choices, in order to arouse provocations and reflections for the development of research on this topic. The literature of the area offered contributions over the years, however, issues such as the existence of a consolidated theory of accounting choices and determinants of multiple accounting choices are not yet clear. The main contributions of this study are: to provide a theoretical triangulation from discussions based on the Contract Theory of the Firm on economic theories that underpin the so-called ‘Positive Accounting Theory’ and the Institutional Theory; and propose reflections to the study of multiple determinants and economic consequences of the accounting choices, using different methodological approaches. It is believed that the theoretical and hypothetical moorings (as well as its limitations) derived from the interaction between the theories here criticized can awaken the need for restructuring of the research on accounting choices, both in theoretical and methodological terms.
Research, part of a Special Feature on Sustaining Ecosystem Services in Cultural Landscapes: Analysis and Management Options Balancing Ecosystem Services and Disservices: Smallholder Farmers' Use and Management of Forest and Trees in an Agricultural Landscape in Southwestern Ethiopia

Farmers' practices in the management of agricultural landscapes influence biodiversity with implications for livelihoods, ecosystem service provision, and biodiversity conservation. In this study, we examined how smallholding farmers in an agriculture- forest mosaic landscape in southwestern Ethiopia manage trees and forests with regard to a few selected ecosystem services and disservices that they highlighted as "beneficial" or "problematic. " Qualitative and quantitative data were collected from six villages, located both near and far from forest, using participatory field mapping and semistructured interviews, tree species inventory, focus group discussions, and observation. The study showed that farmers' management practices, i.e., the planting of trees on field boundaries amid their removal from inside arable fields, preservation of trees in semimanaged forest coffee, maintenance of patches of shade coffee fields in the agricultural landscape, and establishment of woodlots with exotic trees result in a restructuring of the forest-agriculture mosaic. In addition, the strategies farmers employed to mitigate crop damage by wild mammals such as baboons and bush pigs, e.g., migration and allocation of migrants on lands along forests, have contributed to a reduction in forest and tree cover in the agricultural landscape. Because farmers' management practices were overall geared toward mitigating the negative impact of disservices and to augment positive services, we conclude that it is important to operationalize ecosystem processes as both services and disservices in studies related to agricultural landscapes.