Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Dual Competing Photovoltaic Supply Chains: A Social Welfare Maximization Perspective

In the past decades, the inappropriate subsidy policies in many nations have caused problems such as serious oversupply, fierce competition and subpar social welfare in the photovoltaic (PV) industry in many nations. There is a clear shortage in the PV industry literature regarding how dual supply chains compete and the key decision issues regarding the competition between dual PV supply chains. It is critical to develop effective subsidy policies for the competing PV supply chains to achieve social welfare maximization. This study has explored the dual PV supply chain competition under the Bertrand competition assumption by three game-theoretical modeling scenarios (or supply chain strategies) considering either the public subsidy or no subsidy from a social welfare maximization perspective. A numerical analysis complemented by two sensitivity analyses provides a better understanding of the pricing and quantity decision dynamics in the dual supply chains under three different supply chain strategies and the corresponding outcomes regarding the total supply chain profits, the social welfare and the required total subsidies. The key findings disclose that if there are public subsidies, the dual PV supply chains have the strongest intention to pursue the decentralized strategy to achieve their maximal returns rather than the centralized strategy that would achieve the maximal social welfare; however, the government would need to pay for the maximal subsidy budget. Thus, the best option for the government would be to encourage the dual PV supply chains to adopt a centralized strategy since this will not only maximize the social welfare but also, at the same time, minimize the public subsidy. With a smart subsidy policy, the PV industry can make the best use of the subsidy budget and grow in a sustainable way to support the highly demanded solar power generation in many countries trying very hard to increase the proportion of their clean energy to combat the global warming effect. Several subsidy policies such as shared solar energy arrangements and performance-based incentive (PBI) are proposed to integrate the market users and the PV supply chains. This study serves as a pioneering study into the dual PV supply chain research which is very limited in the PV management and policy study literature. The findings and several untended issues provide a foundation for the future PV supply chain studies.
An Analysis of Scheduling Scheme for QoS Guaranteed Interactive Multimedia over High Speed Wireless Campus Networks

Interactive Multimedia (IMM) applications have observed quick growth in the world of computer and communication technologies. Voice, video conferencing, graphics services are considered as IMM applications, at low cost with more flexibility in a high speed Wireless Local Area Network (WLAN) that can be defined as a high speed Wireless Campus Network (WCN). The networks' traffic flow determines the participating users work as a sender or receiver during the voice or video conversation. The IMM applications have to be kept the least data loss and maximum throughput over WCN. Packets scheduling and channel allocation mechanism are the challenging issues for improving IMM transmission and it is still an unresolved problem over WCN. This paper reviews on different exist scheduling mechanisms and channel allocation algorithms of IMM related to various applications and highlights the current issues. A new priority based scheduling scheme and dynamic channel allocation mechanisms have been proposed in this paper. It is expected that the proposed mechanisms ensure the minimum requirement of the IMM applications which will deliver QoS with the least handoff delay and minimize the call dropping probabilities for IMM applications though WCNs.
Integrating Neurobiological Findings Into Psychodynamic Psychotherapy Training and Practice

New knowledge regarding the neurobiology of human development has enormous implications for the field of psychotherapy. Recent discoveries confirm the existence of mirror neurons, explain the intersubjective neurobiology of affect regulation, highlight the role of implicit/procedural memory in attachment processes, and document the fact that gene-environment interactions structurally change the brain throughout life. Addressing the fact that psychotherapeutic techniques have lagged behind in incorporating these findings, this paper describes one method of integrating these neuroscience findings and their implications for treatment into a graduate psychotherapy training course. Basic principles of attachment theory and psychodynamic psychotherapy are evaluated in light of these new neuroscience data. In addition, interpersonal dynamics in the classroom can trigger instinctive neurological processes, especially when the subject matter is the impact of trauma in human lives. The students' potential for neurobiologically co-constructed learning experiences inform the lecturers' presentations of content and clinical material. For example, when employing photographic, auditory or video training materials involving trauma, the authors discuss techniques designed to help students maintain a self-regulatory state that keeps their prefrontal lobes and self-reflective capacities active despite the potential of traumatic material to trigger nonconscious, affective responses that can block thought. The authors' interactions with the students and with each other in the context of the course, contribute to students' nonconscious procedural knowledge, hopefully enriching the conscious, verbal, left hemisphere-dominant learning that is also taking place. In today's psychotherapy training program, the content and the context and the intersubjective experience are the message.
System for blocking misbehaving users in anonymising networks

Anonymizing networks such as Tor allow users to access Internet services privately by using a series of routers to hide the client's IP address from the server. The success of such networks, however, has been limited by users employing this anonymity for abusive purposes such as defacing popular websites. Website administrators routinely rely on IPaddress blocking for disabling access to misbehaving users, but blocking IP addresses is not practical if the abuser routes through an anonymizing network. Web site administrators cannot identify individual malicious users IP addresses; they blacklist the entire network by blocking all known exit nodes of anonymizing networks. Such measures eliminate malicious activity through anonymising networks at the cost of denying anonymous access to behaving users. To address this problem, we present a system in which servers can " blacklist " misbehaving users, thereby blocking users without compromising their anonymity. In the new system users acquire an ordered collection of actions, a special type of pseudonym, to connect to websites. Without additional information, these actions are computationally hard to link and hence, using the stream of actions simulates anonymous access to services. Websites servers can blacklist users by obtaining a reaction for a particular action, allowing them to link future actions from the same user those used before the complaints are not linkable. Servers can therefore blacklist anonymous users without knowledge of their IP addresses while allowing behaving users to connect anonymously. The system is thus agnostic to different servers' definitions of misbehavior, servers can blacklist users for whatever reason, and the privacy of blacklisted users is maintained.
ChronOS Linux: A best-effort real-time multiprocessor Linux kernel

We present ChronOS Linux, a best-effort real-time Linux kernel for chip multiprocessors (CMPs). ChronOS addresses the intersection of three problem spaces: a) OS-support for obtaining best-effort timing assurances, b) real-time Linux kernel augmented with the PREEMPT_RT patch, and c) OS support for CMP-aware real-time scheduling. While each of these spaces have been studied in the past, their intersection, which has strong problem motivations, was previously empty. Best-effort timeliness targets real-time applications with run-time uncertainties and resource overloads, and optimizes collective application timeliness — as specified by the application. ChronOS directly supports the implementation of best-effort real-time schedulers on CMPs, in addition to others, in the global and partitioned scheduling disciplines. ChronOS extends the PREEMPT_RT Linux patch, and thus provides full kernel preemptibility and retains stock Linux features. We validate our claims by reporting on the implementation of a suite of best-effort and non-best-effort CMP schedulers on a quad-core AMD Phenom platform.
Children need music

Neurobiological and anthropological reasons call for high-priority attention to the human need for music as a rhythmically organized sound experience and an expressive tool for communication. Every human being is born with a certain level of musical potential. The most powerful neural networks and behavioural attitudes are developed during childhood. Therefore, music education plays an essential role in developing and consolidating this given potential.
Functional data analysis of daily curves in traffic: Transportation forecasting in the real-time

This study is motivated by an increasing focus on the intelligent transportation systems (ITS) that help people manage traffic flow and reduce travel times. Based on functional data analysis (FDA), we develop a prediction model to estimate the future traffic flow in the real-time. The proposed algorithm is built on existing methodology by applying the idea of initialization. Our algorithm is applied to the traffic flow from National Highway 5 in Taiwan. The experimental results show that the proposed method successfully reduces the prediction error by 30% or more.
Fatigue Failure of External Hexagon Connections on Cemented Implant-Supported Crowns

Purpose: To evaluate the probability of survival and failure modes of different external hexagon connection systems restored with anterior cement-retained single-unit crowns. The postulated null hypothesis was that there would be no differences under accelerated life testing. Materials and Methods: Fifty-four external hexagon dental implants (∼4 mm diameter) were used for single cement-retained crown replacement and divided into 3 groups: (3i) Full OSSEOTITE, Biomet 3i (n = 18); (OL) OEX P4, Osseolife Implants (n = 18); and (IL) Unihex, Intra-Lock International (n = 18). Abutments were torqued to the implants, and maxillary central incisor crowns were cemented and subjected to step-stress–accelerated life testing in water. Use-level probability Weibull curves and probability of survival for a mission of 100,000 cycles at 200 N (95% 2-sided confidence intervals) were calculated. Stereo and scanning electron microscopes were used for failure inspection. Results: The beta values for 3i, OL, and IL (1.60, 1.69, and 1.23, respectively) indicated that fatigue accelerated the failure of the 3 groups. Reliability for the 3i and OL (41% and 68%, respectively) was not different between each other, but both were significantly lower than IL group (98%). Abutment screw fracture was the failure mode consistently observed in all groups. Conclusion: Because the reliability was significantly different between the 3 groups, our postulated null hypothesis was rejected.
Intramembranous charge movement in frog cut twitch fibers mounted in a double vaseline-gap chamber

Intramembranous charge movement was measured in cut twitch fibers mounted in a double Vaseline-gap chamber with either a tetraethylammonium chloride (TEA.Cl) or a TEA2.SO4 solution (13-14 degrees C) in the central pool. Charge vs. voltage data were fitted by a single two-state Boltzmann distribution function. The average values of V (the voltage at which steady-state charge is equally distributed between the two Boltzmann states), k (the voltage dependence factor), and qmax/cm (the maximum charge divided by the linear capacitance, both per unit length of fiber) were V = -53.3 mV (SEM, 1.1 mV), k = 6.3 mV (SEM, 0.3 mV), qmax/cm = 18.0 nC/microF (SEM, 1.1 nC/microF) in the TEA.Cl solution; and V = -35.1 mV (SEM, 1.8 mV), k = 10.5 mV (SEM, 0.9 mV), qmax/cm = 36.3 nC/microF (SEM, 3.2 nC/microF) in the TEA2.SO4 solution. These values of k are smaller than those previously reported for cut twitch fibers and are as small as those reported for intact fibers. If a correction is made for the contributions of currents from under the Vaseline seals, V = -51.2 mV (SEM, 1.1 mV), k = 7.2 mV (SEM, 0.4 mV), qmax/cm = 22.9 nC/microF (SEM, 1.4 nC/microF) in the TEA.Cl solution; and V = -34.0 mV (SEM, 1.9 mV), k = 10.1 mV (SEM, 1.1 mV), qmax/cm = 38.8 nC/microF (SEM, 3.2 nC/microF) in the TEA2.SO4 solution. With this correction, however, the fit of the theoretical curve to the data is poor. A good fit with this correction can be obtained with a sum of two Boltzmann distribution functions. The first has average values V = -33.0 mV (SEM, 2.8 mV), k = 11.0 mV (SEM, 0.5 mV), qmax/cm = 10.6 nC/microF (SEM, 1.0 nC/microF) in the TEA.Cl solution; and V = - 20.0 mV (SEM, 3.3 mV), k = 17.0 mV (SEM, 2.0 mV), qmax/cm = 36.4 nC/microF (SEM, 2.3 nC/microF) in the TEA2.SO4 solution. The second has average values V = -56.5 mV (SEM, 1.3 mV), k = 2.9 mV (SEM, 0.4 mV), qmax/cm = 13.2 nC/microF (SEM, 1.0 nC/microF) in the TEA.Cl solution; and V = -41.6 mV (SEM, 1.4 mV), k = 2.5 mV (SEM, 0.8 mV), qmax/cm = 11.8 nC/microF (SEM, 1.7 nC/microF) in the TEA2.SO4 solution. When a fiber is depolarized to near V of the second Boltzmann function, a slowly developing "hump" appears in the ON-segment of the current record. (ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 400 WORDS)
Fine-Grained Emotion Detection in Suicide Notes: A Thresholding Approach to Multi-Label Classification

We present a system to automatically identify emotion-carrying sentences in suicide notes and to detect the specific fine-grained emotion conveyed. With this system, we competed in Track 2 of the 2011 Medical NLP Challenge, 14 where the task was to distinguish between fifteen emotion labels, from guilt, sorrow, and hopelessness to hopefulness and happiness. Since a sentence can be annotated with multiple emotions, we designed a thresholding approach that enables assigning multiple labels to a single instance. We rely on the probability estimates returned by an SVM classifier and experimentally set thresholds on these probabilities. Emotion labels are assigned only if their probability exceeds a certain threshold and if the probability of the sentence being emotion-free is low enough. We show the advantages of this thresholding approach by comparing it to a naïve system that assigns only the most probable label to each test sentence, and to a system trained on emotion-carrying sentences only.
HaptoClone (Haptic-Optical Clone): Mid-air Haptic-Optical Human-Human Interaction with Perfect Synchronization

In this research, we propose a new interactive system that can display haptic and optical clone image in mid-air. We named our system "HaptoClone". Fig. 1 (a) shows how our system works. Our system provides following new experiences. 1) The people facing our system are optically copied to the other side without any time delay by using the Aerial Imaging Plates. 2) A user can see both their own hand and the other's cloned body in the same coordinate. The position and the timing of the clone image is perfectly synchronized to original motion. 3) Tactile feedback can be given when they virtually touch each other. The tactile feedback is given in mid-air by using a phase-controlled ultrasound array. Our system enables users to communicate with each other through haptics in real time with optical clone image.
Phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase/AKT signalling pathway components in human breast cancer: clinicopathological correlations.

BACKGROUND The phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase (PI3K)/Akt signalling pathway plays a major role in the regulation of breast cancer growth and survival, but the clinical value of its components in human tumours is unclear. PATIENTS AND METHODS PI3K was analysed using Western blotting with monoclonal antibodies to the p85 subunit in tumour and adjacent mammary gland samples from 33 breast cancer patients. Activated Akt1 (pAkt1) expression was quantified in 46 sample pairs by a direct sandwich ELISA assay. RESULTS Tumour PI3K expression was increased in 79% of the investigated sample pairs and was not associated with the main clinico-pathological features. Only 49% of breast cancers had increased pAkt1, but the frequency of its elevation was positively associated with tumour size and histological grade, and controversially related to estrogen and progesterone receptor status. CONCLUSION Increased PI3K but not pAkt1, expression appears to be a widespread feature of human breast cancer indicating the different roles of the two components of one signalling system.
Uncertainty Propagation in Stochastic Systems via Mixture Models with Error Quantification

Uncertainty propagation in non-linear dynamical systems has become a key problem in various fields including control theory and machine learning. In this work we focus on discrete-time non-linear stochastic dynamical systems. We present a novel approach to approximate the distribution of the system over a given finite time horizon with a mixture of distributions. The key novelty of our approach is that it not only provides tractable approximations for the distribution of a non-linear stochastic system, but also comes with formal guarantees of correctness. In particular, we consider the total variation (TV) distance to quantify the distance between two distributions and derive an upper bound on the TV between the distribution of the original system and the approximating mixture distribution derived with our framework. We show that in various cases of interest, including in the case of Gaussian noise, the resulting bound can be efficiently computed in closed form. This allows us to quantify the correctness of the approximation and to optimize the parameters of the resulting mixture distribution to minimize such distance. The effectiveness of our approach is illustrated on several benchmarks from the control community.
The multiple-orientability thresholds for random hypergraphs

A <i>k</i>-uniform hypergraph <i>H</i> = (<i>V, E</i>) is called <i>l</i>-orientable, if there is an assignment of each edge <i>e</i> ε <i>E</i> to one of its vertices <i>v</i> ε <i>e</i> such that no vertex is assigned more than <i>l</i> edges. Let <i>H</i><sub><i>n,m,k</i></sub> be a hypergraph, drawn uniformly at random from the set of all <i>k</i>-uniform hypergraphs with <i>n</i> vertices and <i>m</i> edges. In this paper we establish the threshold for the <i>l</i>-orientability of <i>H</i><sub><i>n,m,k</i></sub> for all <i>k</i> ≥ 3 and <i>l</i> ≥ 1, i.e., we determine a critical quantity <i>c</i>*<sub><i>k,l</i></sub> such that with probability 1 − <i>o</i>(1) the graph <i>H</i><sub><i>n,cn,k</i></sub> has an <i>l</i>-orientation if <i>c</i> < <i>c</i>*<sub><i>k,l</i></sub>, but fails doing so if <i>c</i> > <i>c</i>*<sub><i>k,l</i></sub>. Our result has various applications including sharp load thresholds for cuckoo hashing, load balancing with guaranteed maximum load, and massive parallel access to hard disk arrays.
Measuring the Reliability of Wheelchair User Route Planning based on Volunteered Geographic Information

The development of a wheelchair user friendly route planning application inherits a number of special requirements and details that need to be considered during the generation of the routing graph and the corresponding algorithm, making this task much more complex than car or pedestrian related applications. Each wheelchair type and, more importantly, each individual user might have different needs with regards to the way condition or other criteria. This study proposes a new approach to route planning for wheelchair users tailored for individual and personal requirements provided by the user and the calculation of a reliability factor of the computed wheelchair path. The routing graph is based on the freely available Volunteered Geographic Information (VGI) retrieved from the OpenStreetMap (OSM) project. The newly created algorithm is evaluated and tested for a selected area in Bonn, Germany. A new reliability factor is introduced that gives direct feedback about the quality of the generated path. Similar factor estimations can also be utilized for multiple route planning applications where VGI or other commercial or administrative data is implemented and more detailed factors than a simple geometric representation of a street network are of importance.
A Novel Mouse Synaptonemal Complex Protein Is Essential for Loading of Central Element Proteins, Recombination, and Fertility

The synaptonemal complex (SC) is a proteinaceous, meiosis-specific structure that is highly conserved in evolution. During meiosis, the SC mediates synapsis of homologous chromosomes. It is essential for proper recombination and segregation of homologous chromosomes, and therefore for genome haploidization. Mutations in human SC genes can cause infertility. In order to gain a better understanding of the process of SC assembly in a model system that would be relevant for humans, we are investigating meiosis in mice. Here, we report on a newly identified component of the murine SC, which we named SYCE3. SYCE3 is strongly conserved among mammals and localizes to the central element (CE) of the SC. By generating a Syce3 knockout mouse, we found that SYCE3 is required for fertility in both sexes. Loss of SYCE3 blocks synapsis initiation and results in meiotic arrest. In the absence of SYCE3, initiation of meiotic recombination appears to be normal, but its progression is severely impaired resulting in complete absence of MLH1 foci, which are presumed markers of crossovers in wild-type meiocytes. In the process of SC assembly, SYCE3 is required downstream of transverse filament protein SYCP1, but upstream of the other previously described CE–specific proteins. We conclude that SYCE3 enables chromosome loading of the other CE–specific proteins, which in turn would promote synapsis between homologous chromosomes.
Effects of combination therapy of docetaxel with selenium on the human breast cancer cell lines MDA-MB-231 and MCF-7

Purpose The anticancer property and cytoprotective role of selenium in chemotherapy have been reported. However, the combination effects of selenium on chemotherapy for advanced breast cancer have not yet been clearly defined. The purpose of this study was to investigate the combined effects of selenium on chemotherapy using docetaxel on breast cancer cell lines. Methods Under adherent culture conditions, two breast cancer cell lines, MDA-MB-231 and MCF-7, were treated with docetaxel at 500pM and selenium at 100nM, 1µM, or 10µM. Changes in cell growth, cell cycle duration, and degree of apoptosis after 72 hours in each treated group were evaluated. Results In the MDA-MB-231 cells, the combination therapy group (docetaxel at 500pM plus selenium at 10µM) showed a significantly decreased percentage of cell growth (15% vs. 28%; P = 0.004), a significantly increased percentage of late apoptosis (63% vs. 26%; P = 0.001), and an increased cell cycle arrest in the G2/M phase (P = 0.001) compared with the solitary docetaxel therapy group. Isobologram analysis demonstrated the synergistic effect of the combination therapy in the MDA-MB-231 cells. However, in the MCF-7 cells, no significant differences in the percentage of cell growth apoptosis, the percentage of apoptosis, and the pattern of cell cycle arrest were noted between the combination therapy groups and the solitary docetaxel therapy group. Conclusion Our in vitro study indicated that the combination of selenium with docetaxel inhibits cell proliferation through apoptosis and cell arrest in the G2/M phase in MDA-MB-231 breast cancer cells.