Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Array-Tree: A persistent data structure to compactly store frequent itemsets

Frequent itemset mining discovers correlations among data items in a transactional dataset. A huge amount of itemsets is often extracted, which is usually hard to process and analyze. The efficient management of the extracted frequent itemsets is still an open research issue. This paper presents a new persistent structure, the Array- Tree, that compactly stores frequent itemsets. It is an arraybased structure exploiting both prefix-path sharing and subtree sharing to reduce data replication in the tree, thus increasing its compactness. The Array-Tree can be profitably exploited to efficiently query extracted itemsets by enforcing user-defined item or support constraints. Experiments performed on real and synthetic datasets show both the compactness of the Array-Tree data representation and its efficient support to user queries.
Vasque: a privacy preserving casual communication system based on a circular mirror metaphor

An always-on video communication system can increase the opportunity for casual communication between remotely connected users, but privacy concerns prohibit the wide usage of such a system. To address this problem, we propose a new system for remote communication, which has wide-angle lens that faces the ceiling, and which allows an always-on connection while protecting the privacy of unintended users and keeping the background scenery naturally out of the line of sight. Furthermore, a circular mirror metaphor allows both local and remote users to participate in the conversation as if they were at the same roundtable.
MRP: Mix real cores and pseudo cores for FPGA-based chip-multiprocessor simulation

Facing the speed bottleneck of software-based simulators, FPGA-based simulation has been explored more and more. This paper proposes a novel methodology to simulate a chip-multiprocessor (CMP) on the limited FPGA resource. By mixing real cores and pseudo cores together (MRP), we can simulate a multicore system with fewer FPGA resource requirements and achieve a much higher simulation speed. We propose several methods to construct the pseudo cores. We implement our idea on a dual Virtex-6 FPGA board to simulate a general-purpose 4-core high performance CMP processor. Comparison experiments against the corresponding tape-out chip prove the effectiveness of MRP. We also evaluate MRP prototype's performance by running SPEC CPU2006 benchmarks on an unmodified Linux operating system, achieving tens to hundreds speedup compared to two other commonly-used simulators.
Low-power front-end and local oscillator for millimeter-wave receivers

This paper presents the design of a 60-GHz millimeter wave (mm-wave) receiver RF front-end (LNA and mixer) and the local oscillator in CMOS65nm and 1.2-V supply. The system-level design and specifications of all blocks are discussed. Two-stage LNA is used to provide a total gain of 11dB with 6-dB NF. The power consumption for the LNA is 10mW and occupies an area of 0.08mm2. Fully differential Gilbert mixer is used with current bleeding technique to increase the gain. The conversion gain is more than 4dB at 10-MHz intermediate frequency. The area of the mixer is 0.0054mm2 and the power dissipation is 5mW. A differential Clapp oscillator is used for the push-push oscillator topology, which is suitable for mm-wave generation. The oscillator is single-ended and an on-chip balun is used to convert the output to differential. The receiver achieves 16-dB conversion gain and consumes 24mW.
The role of public debt in the game of double chicken

This paper explores how debt accumulation is affected by the strategic interactions between monetary and fiscal authorities. To achieve the second best with a dependent central bank, the government needs to be made both more conservative and more impatient. However, in the absence of political distortions, an optimally designed conservative, independent central bank is sufficient to establish the second best. In the presence of political distortions, however, also an optimal debt target is needed. Keywords: Central bank independence, price stability weights, (optimal) debt targets, strategic debt management, political distortions, optimal preferences.
Oligodendrocyte-specific expression and autoantigenicity of transaldolase in multiple sclerosis

Although the etiology of multiple sclerosis (MS) is unknown, there is compelling evidence that its pathogenesis is mediated through the immune system. Molecular mimicry, i.e., crossreactivity between self- antigens and viral proteins, has been implicated in the initiation of autoimmunity and MS. Based on homology to human T cell lymphotropic virus type I (HTLV-I) a novel human retrotransposon was cloned and found to constitute an integral part of the coding sequence of the human transaldolase gene (TAL-H). TAL-H is a key enzyme of the nonoxidative pentose phosphate pathway (PPP) providing ribose-5- phosphate for nucleic acid synthesis and NADPH for lipid biosynthesis. Another fundamental function of the PPP is to maintain glutathione at a reduced state and, consequently, to protect sulfhydryl groups and cellular integrity from oxygen radicals. Immunohistochemical analyses of human brain sections and primary murine brain cell cultures demonstrated that TAL is expressed selectively in oligodendrocytes at high levels, possibly linked to production of large amounts of lipids as a major component of myelin, and to the protection of the vast network of myelin sheaths from oxygen radicals. High-affinity autoantibodies to recombinant TAL-H were detected in serum (25/87) and cerebrospinal fluid (15/20) of patients with MS. By contrast, TAL-H antibodies were absent in 145 normal individuals and patients with other autoimmune and neurological diseases. In addition, recombinant TAL-H stimulated proliferation and caused aggregate formation of peripheral blood lymphocytes from patients with MS. Remarkable amino acid sequence homologies were noted between TAL-H and core proteins of human retroviruses. Presence of crossreactive antigenic epitopes between recombinant TAL-H and HTLV-I/human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1) gas proteins was demonstrated by Western blot analysis. The results suggest that molecular mimicry between viral core proteins and TAL-H may play a role in breaking immunological tolerance and leading to a selective destruction of oligodendrocytes in MS.
FDIC Improvement Act and corporate governance of commercial banks

This paper examines provisions of the FDIC Improvement Act related to corporate governance of banks. These provisions focus on the composition and independence of the audit committee and on increased regulatory influence over executive compensation. The composition of audit committees for a sample of banking firms for 1990 is compared with those of industrial firms and with the provisions of FDICIA. The findings suggest only minor differences between banks and other firms; however, under FDICIA provisions, large changes in the composition of bank audit committees are likely. Provisions related to compensation have focused on CEOs. To address this issue, I compare the 1990 levels and factors explaining differences in CEO compensation for a sample of banks and industrial firms. The findings suggest that bank CEOs earn slightly less than their industrial counterparts and that cross-sectional differences in CEO compensation in banking and other industries are explained by similar factors.
THU QUANTA at TAC 2009 KBP and RTE Track

This paper describes the systems of THU QUANTA in Text Analysis Conference (TAC) 2008. We participated in the Question Answering (QA) track, and the Recognizing Textual Entailment (RTE) track. For question answering track, we enhanced the traditional question answering system by sentiment lexicon based opinion analysis. The rigid list questions are divided into two categories based on their answer types. And two snippet extraction approaches are proposed to answer squishy list questions. For RTE track, we design different strategies to recognize true entailment and false entailment. The similarity between hypothesis and text is measured to recognize true entailment. We detect the exact entity and relation mismatch to recognize the false entailment. The evaluation results show that the proposed approaches are very effective for the QA and RTE tasks. In this year's Text Analysis Conference, we participated in two tracks: the Question Answering (QA) track and the Recognizing Textual Entailment (RTE) track. This paper reports on our two developed systems for these two tracks. The TAC 2008 QA track is different from previous TREC QA. It focuses on finding answers to opinion questions. We develop the opinion question answering system by enhancing our past participated system QUANTA(3) with lexicon based sentiment analysis. We not only consider the topic relevance, but also pay attention to the sentiment match between question and answers. By analyzing the rigid list questions, we divide all the rigid list questions into two categories: the Opinion Holder Rigid List questions and Other Types Rigid List questions. Opinion Holder Rigid List questions refer to the questions whose answers are blog nicknames or blog holders. Other Types Rigid List questions refer to the questions whose answers are same to traditional factoid questions, such as person names, cities etc. The different strategies are designed for these two types of rigid list questions. We also propose two snippet extraction approaches to answer
Collapsing Polynomial-Time

For reducibilities r and r 0 such that r is weaker than r 0 , we say that the r-degree of A, i.e., the class of sets which are r-equivalent to A, collapses to the r 0-degree of A if both degrees coincide. We investigate for the polynomial-time bounded many-one, bounded truth-table, truth-table, and Turing reducibilities whether and under which conditions such collapses can occur. While we show that such collapses do not occur for sets which are hard for exponential time, we have been able to construct a recursive set such that its bounded truth-table degree collapses to its many-one degree. The question whether there is a set such that its Turing degree collapses to its many-one degree is still open; however, we show that such a set { if it exists { must be recursive.
Finite temperature gases of fermionic strings

We show that in the absence of a Ramond-Ramond sector both the type IIA and type IIB free string gases have a thermal instability due to low temperature tachyon modes. The gas of free IIA strings undergoes a thermal duality transition into a gas of free IIB strings at the self-dual temperature. The free heterotic string gas is a tachyon-free ensemble with gauge symmetry SO(16)$\times$SO(16) in the presence of a timelike Wilson line background. It exhibits a holographic duality relation undergoing a self-dual phase transition with positive free energy and positive specific heat. The type IB open and closed string ensemble is related by thermal duality to the type I' string ensemble. We identify the order parameter for the Kosterlitz-Thouless phase transition from a low temperature gas of short open strings to a high temperature long string phase at or below T_C. Note Added (Sep 2005).
Sound and kinesthesis in virtual environments: pilot experiment to compare physical and digital sound contradictions

Although virtual reality is a field that attracts research interest over the past years, certain aspects of the virtual environments are often overlooked. For example, the importance of sound in virtual environments is recognized but it remains rather vague, since the relation between virtual world and physical world sounds is not studied in detail. In addition, kinesthetic parameters are also important, since the user movement can affect the overall experience. The present study focuses on human factors in conditions that the physical and the virtual world sounds are contradicting. Kinesthesis is also considered and combined with user vision and hearing. There were 2 experimental conditions, in one the users experienced three levels of sound-vision in a virtual world and no sound on the physical world, while they are walking on a smooth surface and in the second experimental condition, the same three levels of sound-vision were compared to different and contradicting sound in the physical world, while the user was walking on a plastic surface that produced sound. The results indicated there were a few differences between the two experimental conditions (mainly concerning distraction from the virtual environment and perceived usability). However, in most measures the two groups did not seem to be largely affected by the physical world and seemed to immerse in the virtual one. Future works will focus on a combination of different surfaces and natural sounds, in relation to the virtual world.
Purification and characterization of the urease enzymes of Helicobacter species from humans and animals

The urease enzymes of Helicobacter pylori, H. mustelae, H. felis, and H. nemestrinae have been purified to homogeneity by affinity chromatography and characterized. The native urease enzymes of the four organisms were found to be almost identical, with a pI of 6.1 and molecular masses of 480 to 500 kDa, as determined by electrophoretic mobility in nondenaturing polyacrylamide gels. Transmission electron microscopy of the native urease showed it to be a molecule approximately 13 nm in diameter, with hexagonal symmetry. Denaturation studies indicated that each urease enzyme molecule was composed of two nonidentical subunits with molecular masses of approximately 64 and 30 kDa. The subunits were present in a 1:1 ratio, suggesting a hexameric stoichiometry for the native molecule. The predicted molecular mass of H. pylori urease, based on subunit molecular weight and stoichiometry, is 568 kDa. N-terminal amino acid sequencing of the enzyme subunits from the four species revealed high levels of homology. The large subunits (UreB) were found to be 92 to 100% homologous, and the small subunits (UreA) were 75 to 95% homologous over the first 12 to 20 residues. The high degree of homology suggests a common ancestral origin and an important role for the urease enzymes of these organisms.
The Social Context of Conduct Problems and Delinquency in Adolescence.

This paper describes a study of African-American families (N.10) that have one son in placement in a youth facility. The paper investigates the social context of behavioral problems among these Detroit youth, exploring the challenges faced by low-income minority families. Participants in the study described critical events in their lives, and recounted the paths leading to conduct problems. The youth elaborated on spirituality, social support, race, manhood, and prospects for the future. Some of the themes that emerged included the early absence of a parental, weak parental coalitions, early signs of impulsivity, and substance abuse. It was also found that living in transitional communities presented a challenge to the parents of these at-risk youth. The findings illuminate the confusion manifested in the acceptance of criminal identity and behaviors. Delinquency, for these youth, may also represent a series of system failures, such as the absence of early interventions for learning disabilities and family violence. The conditions of the study group are contrasted with the experiences of youthful offenders in South Africa. (RJM) ******************************************************************************** Reproductions supplied by EDRS are the best that can be made from the original document. ******************************************************************************** Social Context of Delinquency
4′-Phosphopantetheinyl Transferase PptT, a New Drug Target Required for Mycobacterium tuberculosis Growth and Persistence In Vivo

The cell envelope of Mycobacterium tuberculosis, the causative agent of tuberculosis in humans, contains lipids with unusual structures. These lipids play a key role in both virulence and resistance to the various hostile environments encountered by the bacteria during infection. They are synthesized by complex enzymatic systems, including type-I polyketide synthases and type-I and -II fatty acid synthases, which require a post-translational modification to become active. This modification consists of the covalent attachment of the 4′-phosphopantetheine moiety of Coenzyme A catalyzed by phosphopantetheinyl transferases (PPTases). PptT, one of the two PPTases produced by mycobacteria, is involved in post-translational modification of various type-I polyketide synthases required for the formation of both mycolic acids and lipid virulence factors in mycobacteria. Here we identify PptT as a new target for anti-tuberculosis drugs; we address all the critical issues of target validation to demonstrate that PptT can be used to search for new drugs. We confirm that PptT is essential for the growth of M. bovis BCG in vitro and show that it is required for persistence of M. bovis BCG in both infected macrophages and immunodeficient mice. We generated a conditional expression mutant of M. tuberculosis, in which the expression of the pptT gene is tightly regulated by tetracycline derivatives. We used this construct to demonstrate that PptT is required for the replication and survival of the tubercle bacillus during the acute and chronic phases of infection in mice. Finally, we developed a robust and miniaturized assay based on scintillation proximity assay technology to search for inhibitors of PPTases, and especially of PptT, by high-throughput screening. Our various findings indicate that PptT meets the key criteria for being a therapeutic target for the treatment of mycobacterial infections.
An unsupervised model for rule-based similarity learning from textual data

This paper presents a preliminary research on construction of a new unsupervised model for learning a semantic similarity measure from text corpora. Two main components of the model are a semantic interpreter of texts and a rule-based similarity function. The first one associates particular documents with concepts defined in a knowledge base which corresponds to the topics covered by the corpus. It shifts the representation of a meaning of the texts from words that can be ambiguous to concepts with predefined semantics. With this new representation, the similarity function is derived from data using a modification of the Dynamic Rule-Based Similarity (DRBS) model, which is adjusted to the unsupervised case. This adjustment is based on a novel notion of information bireducts. This extension of classical information reducts is used in order to find diverse sets of reference documents that determine different aspects of the similarity. The paper explains a general idea of the approach and gives some implementation guidelines.
Breaking the Cycle of Failed School Reform: What Five Failed Reforms Tell Us

Chapter 1 A Chronology of Past School Reforms Chapter 2 Profiling the Failures of School Reforms Chapter 3 Autopsy Data From Past Reforms Chapter 4 Initiatives That May Break the Cycle of Failed Reforms Chapter 5 Glossary Chapter 6 Appendix A: The Lancastrian Plan Chapter 7 Appendix B: The Age-Graded Plan Chapter 8 Appendix C: The Gary Plan Chapter 9 Appendix D: The Trump Plan Chapter 10 Appendix E: The Coalition of Essential Schools Plan Chapter 11 Appendix F: The School Development Plan
Localization of luteinizing hormone-releasing hormone (LHRH) neurons that project to the median eminence

The neuropeptide, luteinizing hormone-releasing hormone (LHRH), is released from nerve terminals in the median eminence and carried via the hypophysial portal system to the anterior pituitary, where it stimulates the release of gonadotropins. LHRH-containing neurons are located in many different regions of the rodent brain, including olfactory, septal, preoptic, and hypothalamic structures. Since those LHRH neurons that project to the median eminence form the final common pathway for the regulation of the pituitary/gonadal axis, we wished to determine which of these cell groups are afferent to this structure. A retrograde tracer, the lectin wheat germ agglutinin (WGA), was placed directly on the exposed surface of median eminence. Following survival times of 8–13 hr, brains were prepared for the dual immunocytochemical detection of WGA and LHRH. Approximately 50% of the LHRH neurons from the level of the septal nuclei caudalward were found to contain WGA immunoreactivity and therefore to project to the median eminence. The remaining single-labeled LHRH neurons were intermingled with the double- labeled cells. The 2 populations were not distinguishable from each other on either cytological or cytoarchitectonic criteria. Those LHRH neurons that were not retrogradely labeled following an injection of tracer into the median eminence are presumed to project to other regions of the central nervous system. We conclude that the LHRH neurons that are directly involved in the regulation of reproductive function are very heterogeneous, widely scattered in telencephalic and diencephalic regions.
The Role of Glial Cells in Chronic Pain

INTRODUCTION Pain management remains a significant health concern, especially for those who suffer from chronic pain. Also known as neuropathic pain, this type of pain usually follows injury, surgery, infection, or chemotherapy (Marx, 2004). Chronic pain, or pain that persists beyond the natural course of healing, affects over five million people in the United States (Tawfik et al., 2007) and costs over $100 billion annually in medical expenses and lost productive time pharmaceutical industry, nearly two-thirds of patients receive little to no relief from current pain chronic pain was perceived to be a message transmitted to the brain via neurons, like any other sensory signal (Miller, 2005). However, breakthroughs in pain research have indicated that a previously ignored third factor, glia, actually contributes to chronic pain. Glial cells, specifically microglia and astrocytes, traditionally act as the " support system " for neurons, yet more research is confirming that glial cells are also primary promoters of have shown increased activation of glial cells, particularly microglia and astrocytes, in chronic pain states. Additionally, studies concentrating on glial behavior, secretion of cytokines and neurotrophins, and possible targets of drug therapy have yielded encouraging results that may pave the way for chronic pain treatment. Current research suggests that microglia secrete cytokines and neurotrophins, which send signals to astrocytes. Astrocytes, which monitor the passing of substances from blood vessels to the brain via the blood-brain barrier, experience increased permeability as a result of cytokine and neurotrophin expression. This increased permeability may contribute to increased neuron sensitivity, thus resulting in neuropathic pain. Since so many people fall victim to neuropathic pain, and because there is virtually no effective treatment, support for present and future research is imperative. While research has addressed many questions concerning the relationship between glial activation and neuron sensitivity, there remain many unanswered questions regarding why glial activation occurs, the role of secreted cytokines and neurotrophins, and how glia can be used as targets of drug therapy. A thorough literature review has revealed compelling answers to these questions, answers that have furthered knowledge about the nervous system and may be able to improve chronic pain treatments in the future.