Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
A ug 2 00 7 Constraining Dark Energy Anisotropic Stress

We investigate the possibility of using cosmological observations to probe and constrain an imperfect dark energy fluid. We consider a general parameterization of the dark energy component accounting for an equation of state, speed of sound and viscosity. We use present and future data from the cosmic microwave background radiation (CMB), large scale structures and supernovae type Ia. We find that both the speed of sound and viscosity parameters are difficult to nail down with the present cosmological data. Also, we argue that it will be hard to improve the constraints significantly with future CMB data sets. The implication is that a perfect fluid description might ultimately turn out to be a phenomenologically sufficient description of all the observational consequences of dark energy. The fundamental lesson is however that even then one cannot exclude, by appealing to observational evidence alone, the possibility of imperfectness in dark energy. PACS numbers: 98.80. -k,98.80. Jk Constraining Dark Energy Anisotropic Stress 2
Sequential Hypothesis Testing Based Approach for Replica Cluster Detection in Wireless Sensor Networks

In wireless sensor networks, replica node attacks are very dangerous because the attacker can compromise a single node and generate as many replicas of the compromised node as he wants, and then exploit these replicas to disrupt the normal operations of sensor networks. Several schemes have been proposed to detect replica node attacks in sensor networks. Although these schemes are capable of detecting replicas that are widely spread in the network, they will likely fail to detect replica cluster attacks in which replicas form a cluster in a small region. These attacks are also harmful because the attacker can leverage a replica cluster to harmfully impact on the much of the network. To defend against replica cluster attacks, we propose an efficient and effective replica cluster detection scheme using the Sequential Hypothesis Testing. We evaluate our proposed scheme through analysis and simulation. The evaluation results demonstrate that it accomplishes robust replica cluster detection capability.
Spatial effects of transport infrastructure: The role of market structure

Theoretical reasoning shows that spatial effects of transport cost reductions may crucially depend on market structures in the tradables sector (degree of market power, strength of economies of scale, free or no free entry). The aim of this paper is to compare empirically the effects of transport cost reductions due to infrastructure investments, emerging under different market structures. To this end, a computable spatial general equilibrium model with costly interregional trade is presented, which is calibrated for a large number of regions covering Europe. Applying this model, transport cost reductions are simulated under two different assumptions with regard to the market structure prevailing in the tradables sector: (1) perfect competition with constant returns to scale, and (2) monopolistic competition with increasing returns and free entry. Results are compared in terms of money-metric measures of regional welfare changes.
Preserving Sensor Location Privacy in Internet of Things

Internet of Things (IoT) links uniquely identifiable objects (things) to their virtual representations in the internet. Meanwhile, wireless sensor networks are widely used in IoT and various sensors which collect different information containing the identity, status, location of a object or any other business, social or privately relevant information. But some issues related to sensor's location privacy will be paid attention to. In this paper, we focus on protecting the sensor's location by introducing suitable modifications to sensor routing to make it difficult for an eavesdropper to find the original location. And we propose a flexible routing strategy, called Multi-routing Random Walk, which protects the sensor's location. Our strategy can efficiently reduce the chance of packets being detected.
A Protocol for Releasing Purpose Marks to Prevent Illegal Information Flow

A transaction is assigned with a purpose which is a collection of roles. Suppose a transaction T1 writes an object o2 after reading an object o1 and then another transaction T2 reads the object o2 and writes an object o3. Here, data in the object o1 might flow into o3 via o2. Unless T2 is granted a read access right of the object o1, illegal information flow occur. In order to prevent the illegal information flow, T1 marks the object o2 with the purpose of T1. T2 cannot read o2 unless the purpose of T2 includes a read right of o1. In result, the throughput is degraded. Objects whose information may flow into an object o are source objects of o. An object is timed out if it takes some time units after the object is lastly written. While there occur no illegal information flow in our purpose marking (PM)protocol, transactions which imply illegal information flow are aborted. We evaluate the PM protocol in terms of how many transactions are aborted.
Dendritic Cell Profile Induced by Schistosoma mansoni Antigen in Cutaneous Leishmaniasis Patients

The inflammatory response in cutaneous leishmaniasis (CL), although responsible for controlling the infection, is associated with the pathogenesis of disease. Conversely, the immune response induced by S. mansoni antigens is able to prevent immune-mediated diseases. The aim of this study was to evaluate the potential of the S. mansoni Sm29 antigen to change the profile of monocyte-derived dendritic cells (MoDCs) from subjects with cutaneous leishmaniasis (CL) in vitro. Monocytes derived from the peripheral blood mononuclear cells of twelve patients were cultured with GM-CSF and IL-4 for differentiation into dendritic cells and then stimulated with soluble Leishmania antigen (SLA) in the presence or absence of Sm29 antigen. The expression of surface molecules associated with maturation and activation (HLA-DR, CD40, CD83, CD80, and CD86), inflammation (IL-12, TNF), and downregulation (IL-10, IL-10R) was evaluated using flow cytometry. We observed that the frequencies of HLA-DR, CD83, CD80, and CD86 as well as of IL-10 and IL-10R on MoDCs were higher in cultures stimulated with Sm29, compared to the unstimulated cell cultures. Our results indicate that the Sm29 antigen is able to activate regulatory MoDCs in patients with cutaneous leishmaniasis. It might be useful to control the inflammatory process associated with this disease.
On the impact of structural circuit partitioning on SAT-based combinational circuit verification

In this work we present an approach for SAT-based combinational circuit verification using partitionings of the set of primary outputs. We formally analyze the applied partitioning heuristics for the first time and present a closed verification framework incorporating traditional techniques. We report on experiments using our partitioning-based verification procedure that result in speedups of 276% on the average compared to traditional techniques.
4th International Workshop on Data Management for Sensor Networks (DMSN’07)

In this paper, we consider a large scale sensor network comprising multiple, say K, base stations and a large number of wireless sensors. Such an infrastructure is expected to be more energy efficient and scale well with the size of the sensor nodes. To support a large number of queries, we examine the problem of allocating queries across the base stations to minimize the total data communication cost among the sensors. In particular, we examine similarity-aware techniques that exploit the similarities among queries when allocating queries, so that queries that require data from a common set of sensor nodes are allocated to the same base stations. We first approximate the problem of allocating queries to K base stations as a max-K-cut problem, and adapts an existing solution to our context. However, the scheme only works in a static context, where all queries are known in advance. In order to operate in a dynamic environment with frequent query arrivals and termination, we further propose a novel similarity-aware strategy that allocates queries to base stations one at a time. We also propose several heuristics to order a batch of queries for incremental allocation. We conducted experiments to evaluate our proposed schemes, and our results show that our similarity-aware query allocation schemes can effectively exploit the sharing among queries to greatly reduce the communication cost.
Using nonlinear neurogenetic models with profit related objective functions to trade the US Tbond future

Trading decision models are often designed by optimizing standard statistical measures of error to create forecasts from which trading rules are then indirectly synthesized. In the context of a bond futures trading model, we find that by directly optimizing a number of profit related objective functions, superior results are attained than when using mean square error. Moreover, by using a genetic training method we gain flexibility with regards to the choice of objective function by dispensing with the need to operate within a gradient based framework.
Promoting Quality Outcomes in Higher Eduction using New Learning Technologies: Processes and Plans at RMIT

Producing quality educational subjects has become a major concern of many institutions. Driven by the need to compete in a more global market and with government budgets shrinking, many universities are turning to the adoption of new learning technologies to expand their markets and improve the flexibility of their offerings. This paper considers how the economic realities associated with the new market place can be reconciled and even contribute to the development of quality educational products and outcomes. In this paper we explore a model of organisational behaviour based on a series of interlocking quality improvement cycles. We use this to examine current practice at RMIT and identify areas to focus on for improving performance and effectiveness of a range of institutional initiatives, associated with an institutional approach to coordinating the adoption of new technologies for online flexible learning and student management.
Current Pharmacological Treatments for Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder

Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder (OCD) is a severe, chronic condition that affects 2% to 3% of the United States population, or 4 million to 7 million people. 1 The illness is characterized by recurrent thoughts, images, feelings, or behaviors that persist against the patient’s wishes to suppress them and are usually accompanied by marked anxiety. These symptoms are often associated with marked impairment of function. 2 OCD affects people regardless their cultural background or socio-economic status. 3 OCD was listed as the tenth leading cause of disability worldwide by a recent World Health Organization study. The total cost of the disorder in the US is estimated to be more than $8 billion. 4 OCD is a treatable condition with 50% to 60% of patients responding to first line of treatment, which includes pharmacological and/or psychological intervention. 5,6 However, about one-third of the patients improve only partially, and roughly 20% do not respond to conventional treatment strategies. 7 The situation is complicated by the fact that many health professionals are not educated about the appropriate treatments that can be offered to OCD patients. 8
A Divergence Prior for Adaptive Learning

We assume that (x, y) ∈ X × {±1} is a pair of (input, label) variables with a joint distribution p(x, y). A fundamental problem in inductive learning is to learn a decision function f ∈ F : X → Y that not only correctly classifies observed samples drawn from p(x, y), but also generalizes to unseen samples drawn from the same distribution. In other words, we desire to learn an f that minimizes the true risk Rp(f) = E(x,y)∼p(x,y)[Q(f(x), y)] under certain loss function Q(·). In practice, this is often approached by minimizing the empirical risk Remp(f) = 1 m ∑m i=1 Q(f(xi), yi) on a training set, while utilizing certain regularization strategy to guarantee good generalization performance [1]. The target (or test-time) distribution, however, is often different from the training distribution. Sometimes, the difference only resides in the input distribution p(x), while the conditional relation p(y|x) remains the same. In several learning paradigms, this type of difference has been partially accounted for by explicitly taking into account the test input distribution [2, 3]. A learning setting that has not received as much theoretical attention is that of ”adaptive learning”, which studies a more general case where both p(x) and p(y|x) at test time vary from their training counterparts. Another distinctive assumption of adaptive learning is that while there may be essentially an unlimited amount of labeled training distribution data, only a small amount of labeled adaptation data drawn from the target distribution is available.
Intermedia and Transmedia User Experience with Multi-Touch Apps

In the Web of devices, information and services are designed for multi-device use. As each device has its specific characteristics, inter-device adjustments and adaptations result in inconsistent inter-device (system) models. They are perceived by users on visual and functional experience layers as well as on information architecture and prevent users from building transparent mental models. Evidence from case studies reveals the nature of cognitive information processing in this situation of rich user experience. Consistency design rules seem to be insufficient to overcome the rich user experience problems, as us-ers' exploration of inconsistencies lead to interaction problems. In consequence, a systemic intermedia perspective is needed. This is explored in this chapter.
A generalized method to analyze the small-signal stability for a multi-inverter islanded grid with droop controllers

In recent years, the concept of multi-inverter microgrid as the building block for the future distribution system has been commonly accepted and widely studied in literature. One of the recognized advantages of microgrids is the possibility of operate autonomously in absence of the main utility supply. In this case, droop control techniques are the most attractive solution for their capability of operate the microgrid without requiring any communication among the inverters. This paper proposes a simple mathematical model of droop controlled islanded microgrids, with the objective of providing a tool by means of which a microgrid of arbitrary complexity can be modeled, and the local droop controllers of the inverters can be designed to guarantee the small-signal stability and achieve a satisfactory dynamic behaviour. The proposed model has been validated through Matlab/Simulink simulation.
PLD1 Negatively Regulates Dendritic Branching

Neurons have characteristic dendritic arborization patterns that contribute to information processing. One essential component of dendritic arborization is the formation of a specific number of branches. Although intracellular pathways promoting dendritic growth and branching are being elucidated, the mechanisms that negatively regulate the branching of dendrites remain enigmatic. In this study, using gain-of-function and loss-of-function studies, we show that phospholipase D1 (PLD1) acts as a negative regulator of dendritic branching in cultured hippocampal neurons from embryonic day 18 rat embryos. Overexpression of wild-type PLD1 (WT-PLD1) decreases the complexity of dendrites, whereas knockdown or inhibition of PLD1 increases dendritic branching. We further demonstrated that PLD1 acts downstream of RhoA, one of the small Rho GTPases, to suppress dendritic branching. The restriction of dendritic branching by constitutively active RhoA (V14-RhoA) can be partially rescued by knockdown of PLD1. Moreover, the inhibition of dendritic branching by V14-RhoA and WT-PLD1 can be partially ameliorated by reducing the level of phosphatidic acid (PA), which is the enzymatic product of PLD1. Together, these results suggest that RhoA-PLD1-PA may represent a novel signaling pathway in the restriction of dendritic branching and may thus provide insight into the mechanisms of dendritic morphogenesis.
Accounting for the Fertility Transition in the US

This study investigates the determinants of the fertility transition in the US from 1850 to the end of the 20th century. We find a negative relationship between years of schooling and fertility, which suggests that the rise in schooling accounts for at least 60 percent of the US fertility decline. By contrast, the analysis shows no evidence of a robust relationship between GDP per capita and fertility. These empirical facts corroborate theories stressing the importance of human capital investments in generating a transition from high to low fertility.
On the boundary of self affine tilings generated by Pisot numbers

Definition and fundamentals of tilings generated by Pisot numbers are shown by arithmetic consideration. Results include the case that a Pisot number does not have a finitely expansible property, i.e. a sofic Pisot case. Especially we show that the boundary of each tile has Lebesgue measure zero under some weak condition.
Mucin Secretion in the Rat Tracheal Epithelial Cells by Epidermal Growth Factor and Pseudomonas Aeruginosa Extracts

Background : Hypersecretion of mucin due to goblet cell hyperplasia is frequently encountered in many chronic airway diseases, such as chronic bronchitis, bronchiectasis, bronchial asthma and cystic fibrosis. Even in normal individuals, viral infection or bacterial pneumonia frequently provoke huge amounts of bronchial secretions which may cause airway obstruction. The production of mucin was regulated by epidermal growth factor (EGF) in vitro2). To know whether this EGF system regulates mucin secretion in vivo and Pseudomonas also stimulates the mucin secretion by the same pathway, we studied these relationships in the cultured rat tracheal epithelial cells. Methods : Rat tracheal epithelial cells were obtained by pronase dissociation from the male Fisher 344 rats. When cells became confluent, they were divided into 6 groups and stimulated with either EGF for 24 hours or Pseudomonas extracts for 12 hours with or without selective EGF-R tyrosine kinase inhibitor tyrphostin AG 1478. Results : We found that both EGF and Pseudomonas extracts phosphorylated the tyrosine residue in the EGF receptor from the rat tracheal epithelial cells and this tyrosine phosphorylation was nearly completely blocked by selective EGF-R tyrosine kinase inhibitor tyrphostin AG 1478. The mucin secretion was also stimulated by either EGF or Pseudomonas extracts but more strong secretion of mucin and MUC5AC gene expression in the rat tracheal epithelial cell was done by Pseudomonas extracts. Conclusion : These data suggest that Pseudomonas secretes the mucin by way of the EGF receptor and MUC5AC gene expression and the inhibitors of EGF receptor tyrosine phosphorylation would be useful to prevent the huge production of mucin due to Pseudomonas aeruginosa lung infection.
Differential reflectance modulation sensing with diffractive microstructures

We present a method for differential ratiometric measurement of reflectance change due to molecular adsorption using a diffractive microstructure fabricated on a reflectance contrast enhancing substrate for bulk refractometry and surface molecular binding detection applications. The differential method suppresses signal fluctuations due to thermal or concentration gradients in the sample flow cell by more than 40× and enables the real-time measurement of molecular interactions on the surface with a noise floor of about 70 pm.
On the Hardness of Planning Problems with Simple Causal Graphs

We present three new complexity results for classes of planning problems with simple causal graphs. First, we describe a polynomial time algorithm that uses macros to generate plans for a class of planning problems with binary state variables and acyclic causal graphs. This implies that plan generation may not be intractable just because a planning problem has exponential length solution. We also prove that the problem of plan existence for planning problems with multi-valued variables and chain causal graphs is NP-hard. Finally, we show that plan existence for planning problems with binary state variables and polytree causal graphs is NP-complete.
Cultural Ways of Learning: Individual Traits or Repertoires of Practice

This article addresses a challenge faced by those who study cultural variation in approaches to learning: how to characterize regularities of individuals’ approaches according to their cultural background. We argue against the common approach of assuming that regularities are static, and that general traits of individuals are attributable categorically to ethnic group membership. We suggest that a cultural-historical approach can be used to help move beyond this assumption by focusing researchers’ and practitioners’ attention on variations in individuals’ and groups’ histories of engagement in cultural practices because the variations reside not as traits of individuals or collections of individuals, but as proclivities of people with certain histories of engagement with specific cultural activities. Thus, individuals’ and groups’ experience in activities—not their traits—becomes the focus. Also, we note that cultural-historical work needs to devote more attention to researching regularities in the variations among cultural communities in order to bring these ideas to fruition.
BEDS : A proposal for Best Effort Differentiated Services

We propose extending the traditional Best-Effort servicewith several Qualify-of-Service classes named ”Best-Effort Di fferentiated Services (BEDS)”. Each class has a different policy for degradi ng the quality of packet forwarding during congestion. For example, one cl ass may constrain the packet queuing delay (delay-conservative), whi le another class may constrain the packet drop probability (drop-conservative). Applications can choose among such new flavors of Best Effort accordi ng to their needs. It is expected that time-sensitive but drop-toleran t applications such as voice over IP would benefit most when using a delay-conserv ative class, while file and web transfers may benefit from drop-conservati ve class. BEDS does not require admission control and does not provide hard QoS guarantees. Therefore, BEDS is most useful to elastic appli cations that currently use Best-Effort. An important benefit of BEDS consist s in providing a set of enhanced services without the important overhead of admission control, resource brokers, and policy servers as it is requi red by current Differentiated Services proposals. We provide experimental results that confirm our models’ prediction that FTP/TCP, HTTP/TCP, and VoIP/UDP applications can simultaneously benefit from BEDS. The experiments were conducted in a testbe d with multiple Nortel Networks routers and switches. The implementation of our proposed BEDS PHB group is based on a simple extension to schedul ing and queue management algorithms as we demonstrate in the aforem entioned testbed. Keywords—Differentiated Services, Best-Effort, Random Early Dect ion (RED), Queue Management, TCP, Voice over IP (VoIP).