Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Implementation with a bounded action space

While traditional mechanism design typically assumes isomorphism between the agents' type- and action spaces, in many situations the agents face strict restrictions on their action space due to, e.g., technical, behavioral or regulatory reasons. We devise a general framework for the study of mechanism design in single-parameter environments with restricted action spaces. Our contribution is threefold. First, we characterize sufficient conditions under which the information-theoretically optimal social-choice rule can be implemented in dominant strategies, and prove that any multi-linear social-choice rule is dominant-strategy implementable with no additional cost. Second, we identify necessary conditions for the optimality of action-bounded mechanisms, and fully characterize the optimal mechanisms and strategies in games with two players and two alternatives. Finally, we prove that for any multilinear social-choice rule, the optimal mechanism with k actions incurs an expected loss of O( 1k2 ) compared to the optimal mechanisms with unrestricted action spaces. Our results apply to various economic and computational settings, and we demonstrate their applicability to signaling games, public-good models and routing in networks.
Molecular Cloud Structure in the Magellanic Clouds: Effect of Metallicity

The chemical structure of neutral clouds in low-metallicity environments is examined, with particular emphasis on the H to H2 and C+ to CO transitions. We observed near-IR H2 (1, 0) S(1), (2, 1) S(1), and (5, 3) O(3) lines and the 12CO J = 1 → 0 line from 30 Doradus and N159/N160 in the Large Magellanic Cloud and from DEM S 16, DEM S 37, and LI-SMC 36 in the Small Magellanic Cloud. We find that the H2 emission is UV-excited and that (weak) CO emission always exists (in our surveyed regions) toward positions where H2 and [C II] emission have been detected. Using a PDR code and a radiative transfer code, we simulate the emission of line radiation from spherical clouds and from large planar clouds. Because [C II] emission and H2 emission arise on the surface of the cloud and because the lines are optically thin, these lines are not affected by changes in the relative sizes of the neutral cloud and the CO-bearing core, while the optically thick CO emission can be strongly affected. The sizes of clouds are estimated by measuring the deviation of CO emission strength from that predicted by a planar cloud model of a given size. The average cloud column density, and therefore its size, increases as the metallicity decreases. Our result agrees with the photoionization-regulated star formation theory of McKee.
Analytical Switching Loss Model of Cascode GaN HEMTs Based Totem-Pole PFC Converters Considering Stray Inductances

In this paper, a practical analytical switching loss model that depends on curves provided by datasheets is used to predict its power losses during hard-switching operation. In order to analyze and apply it easily, the transmission delays introduced by Si MOSFET and interconnection inductances are ignored in modeling. Meanwhile, the nonlinear junction capacitances of the device and circuit stray inductances are also incorporated to increase the accuracy of model. Moreover, the implement method of the totem-pole PFC converter efficiency calculation is introduced in detail. Finally, the accuracy of the model is validated with simulation and experiment results, and a peak efficiency of 99.26% is achieved for a 3.6 kW single phase CCM Totem-Pole PFC AC/DC converter switching at 50 kHz based on 650V cascode gallium nitride high electron mobility transistors (GaN HEMTs).
Fairness issues with TCP congestion window

In the networks with high bandwidth delay product (BDP), high speed Transmission Control Protocol (TCP) variants adjust their congestion windows with different rules. We investigate the trade off between fairness and recovery frequency when updating congestion window. We then suggest a rule when setting the values in Additive Increase Multiplicative Decrease (AIMD) parameters. The analytical and simulation results verify the fairness of the rule.
Scalable and accurate identification of AS-level forwarding paths

Traceroute is used heavily by network operators and researchers to identify the IP forwarding path from a source to a destination. In practice, knowing the autonomous system (AS) associated with each hop in the path is also quite valuable. In previous work we showed that the IP-to-AS mapping extracted from BGP routing tables is not sufficient for determining the AS-level forwarding paths. By comparing BGP and traceroute AS paths from multiple vantage points, Z. Morley Mao et al. (2003) proposed heuristics that identify the root causes of the mismatches and fix the inaccurate IP-to-AS mappings. These heuristics, though effective, are labor-intensive and mostly ad hoc. This paper proposes a systematic way to construct accurate IP-to-AS mappings using dynamic programming and iterative improvement. Our algorithm reduces the initial mismatch ratio of 15% between BGP and traceroute AS paths to 5% while changing only 2.9% of the assignments in the initial IP-to-AS mappings. This is in contrast to the results of Z. Morley Mao et al. (2003), where 10% of the assignments were modified and the mismatch ratio was only reduced to 9%. We show that our algorithm is robust and can yield near-optimal results even when the initial mapping is corrupted or when the number of probing sources or destinations is reduced. Our work is a key step towards building a scalable and accurate AS-level traceroute tool
Standardized Multimedia Retrieval based on Web Service technologies and the MPEG Query Format

In recent years, the growing number of digital audiovisual media files available over the internet or even on users hard discs is overwhelming. In order to support efficient storage and retrieval of those data, several comprehensive and rich multimedia retrieval systems (MMRS) have been introduced. Unfortunately, a standardized query format does not yet exist and almost every retrieval framework provides its own proprietary solution. Therefore, the ISO/IEC SC29 WG11 committee decided to contribute to this application by establishing the MPEG Query Format (MPQF). The MPQF is currently in Final Committee Draft (FCD) status and provides besides the standardization of messages from and to multimedia services also functionalities for service discovery, aggregated services and definition of service capability descriptions. In this context, the paper briefly introduces the MPQF and concentrates thereby on the management part. Based on this, a Web Service based framework is presented that realizes the management functionalities of MPQF. One of its central novel features is the distribution of a MPQF request to multiple multimedia services and the aggregation of individual result sets.
Arctic marine fishes and their fisheries in light of global change

In light of ocean warming and loss of Arctic sea ice, harvested marine fishes of boreal origin (and their fisheries) move poleward into yet unexploited parts of the Arctic seas. Industrial fisheries, already in place on many Arctic shelves, will radically affect the local fish species as they turn up as unprecedented bycatch. Arctic marine fishes are indispensable to ecosystem structuring and functioning, but they are still beyond credible assessment due to lack of basic biological data. The time for conservation actions is now, and precautionary management practices by the Arctic coastal states are needed to mitigate the impact of industrial fisheries in Arctic waters. We outline four possible conservation actions: scientific credibility, ‘green technology’, legitimate management and overarching coordination.
On Efficient Feature Ranking Methods for High-Throughput Data Analysis

Efficient mining of high-throughput data has become one of the popular themes in the big data era. Existing biology-related feature ranking methods mainly focus on statistical and annotation information. In this study, two efficient feature ranking methods are presented. Multi-target regression and graph embedding are incorporated in an optimization framework, and feature ranking is achieved by introducing structured sparsity norm. Unlike existing methods, the presented methods have two advantages: (1) the feature subset simultaneously account for global margin information as well as locality manifold information. Consequently, both global and locality information are considered. (2) Features are selected by batch rather than individually in the algorithm framework. Thus, the interactions between features are considered and the optimal feature subset can be guaranteed. In addition, this study presents a theoretical justification. Empirical experiments demonstrate the effectiveness and efficiency of the two algorithms in comparison with some state-of-the-art feature ranking methods through a set of real-world gene expression data sets.
Gaussian process regression approach for bridging GPS outages in integrated navigation systems

A Kalman filter (KF) enhanced by the Gaussian process regression (GPR) technique is suggested to bridge GPS-outages in navigation solutions where inertial navigation systems (INS) and GPS are integrated. A KF utilises linearised dynamic models. If a low-cost MEMS-based INS with complex stochastic nonlinearity is considered, performance degrades significantly during short periods of GPS-outages owing to linearised models. Proposed is a novel usage of GPR as a nonlinear INS-errors predictor. During GPS availability, the correct vehicle state, sensor measurements, and INS output deviations from GPS are collected. During GPS-outages, GPR is applied to this data set to predict INS deviations enabling the KF to estimate all INS errors. The proposed technique was tested on real road experiments showing significant improvements during long GPS-outages.
Novel mobile robot FastSLAM based on unscented transform

This paper proposes a novel FastSLAM based on UT (Unscented Transform). A novel proposal distribution which integrates current observation is proposed, wherein the particles sampled from the proposal distribution based on Unscented Transform is driven to move to the high probability region of posterior distribution. The landmarks in map are updated with UKF (Unscented Kalman Filter) to avoid the problem of linearization related to non-Gaussian and nonlinear state estimations caused by Extended Kalman Filter. A group of sigma points in UKF are used to approximate system statistical properties, in which sigma points are calculated based on nonlinear equation instead of linear one, for the proposed method has many superior advantages as compared to the traditional one. Finally the metric map is built and the superior performances of the proposed method are shown in experiments.
Institutionalization in Efficient Markets: The Case of Price Bubbles

We seek to deepen understanding of the micro-foundations of institutionalization while contributing to a sociological theory of markets by investigating the puzzle of price bubbles in financial markets. We find that such markets, despite textbook conditions of high efficiency -- perfect information, atomistic agents, no uncertainty -- quickly develop patterns consistent with institutionalization processes.
Resonant Converter for the Application ofDC-To-DC Energy Conversions

Resonant power conversion has many advantages over conventionally adopted pulse-width modulation, which are, low electromagnetic interference, low switching losses, small volume, and light weight of components due to a high switching frequency, high efficiency, and low reverse recovery losses in diodes results to a low di/dt at switching instant. So, this resonant converter is used for direct current (dc)-to-dc energy conversion applications. The proposed resonant converter topology comprises a half-bridge inductor-capacitor-inductor (L-C-L) resonant inverter and a diode bridge rectifier. Then, the output stage of resonant converter is filtered by using low-pass filter. The measured energy conversion efficiency of the resonant converter reaches up to 88.3%. Capacitor-inductor-capacitor(CL- C) resonant converter is more preferable than the L-C-L resonant converter; because of, it improves the energy conversion efficiency and also reduces the equipment cost. The efficiency of C-L-C resonant converter is up to 93%. Moreover, test results demonstrate a satisfactory performance of the resonant converter. Furthermore, the proposed converter is highly promising for applications of power electronic productions such as switching power supplies, battery chargers, uninterruptible power systems, renewable energy generation systems, and telecom power supplies.
Vehicle Stability Control Strategy Based on Active Torque Distribution and Differential Braking

The paper presents a vehicle yaw stability control strategy devoted to prevent vehicles from spinning and drifting out. The yaw stability control system is integrated with active torque distribution and differential braking system. Active torque distribution systems utilize active differentials to independently control the drive torque distributed to each drive wheel and thus provide active control of both traction and yaw moment. However, if the coefficient of road friction were small or if the vehicle speed were too high, active torque distribution system may not afford adequate yaw moment to response the driver needs. With this improved integrated control system, the vehicle can afford nice manoeuvrability and stability.
Ta(l)king English Phonetics Across Frontiers Ta(l)king English Phonetics Across Frontiers

Ta(l)king English Phonetics Across Frontiers is a collection of fourteen research papers by authors from ten universities and six different countries – Serbia and Slovenia in the Balkan region, but also the UK, Spain, Switzerland, Hungary, and Japan. In this sense, this collection indeed takes the study of English phonetics across frontiers, bringing together researchers of different backgrounds, perspectives, and approaches. Although spoken English has always been an attractive research area for linguists and phoneticians, this was the very first conference in Serbia dedicated exclusively to the issues of English phonetics, phonology, and pronunciation in EFL. The conference, broader in scope and gathering a larger number of researchers, as well as this book, which represents a narrower selection of topics and studies, aimed to highlight some of the important, intriguing, or curious aspects of English phonetics and phonology, relevant today from a variety of standpoints – those of native or global speakers, those of linguistic variety and of language teaching and learning, and those of language contact, development, and change. The kaleidoscopic picture this collection aims to paint thus emerges from the contributions addressing different aspects of English phonetics and phonology from various perspectives. This volume, however, does not aspire to offer an extensive or state-of-the art review of the current theoretical issues in English phonetics and phonology. Rather, its intention is to emphasise the necessity of taking a very broad view of what 'spoken English' means today. This integration of different perspectives includes the necessity to take phonetics, as instrumental and experimental analysis, and phonology, as the study of the symbolic representations of cognitive primes and processes, if not as one and the same discipline (cf. Ohala 2007: 3), then at least as two aspects of the same strand of scientific study. "One striking discovery that has Introduction viii emerged from recent work", state Ramchand and Reiss (2007b), is "the importance of the various interfaces between modules . in understanding the nature of the language faculty [–] between syntax and semantics, semantics and pragmatics, phonetics and phonology, or even syntax and phonology"; furthermore, "some of the most intellectually engaging and challenging research in recent years has emerged precisely at these interfaces" (Ramchand and Reiss 2007b: 2). The papers collected here do not deal with crucial theoretical or methodological issues, nor do they aim to illustrate the deep complexity and richness of phonetic or phonological theory. Instead, the aim of …
CD4 T Cell Tolerance to Human C-reactive Protein, an Inducible Serum Protein, Is Mediated by Medullary Thymic Epithelium

Inducible serum proteins whose concentrations oscillate between nontolerogenic and tolerogenic levels pose a particular challenge to the maintenance of self-tolerance. Temporal restrictions of intrathymic antigen supply should prevent continuous central tolerization of T cells, in analogy to the spatial limitation imposed by tissue-restricted antigen expression. Major acute-phase proteins such as human C-reactive protein (hCRP) are typical examples for such inducible self-antigens. The circulating concentration of hCRP, which is secreted by hepatocytes, is induced up to 1,000-fold during an acute-phase reaction. We have analyzed tolerance to hCRP expressed in transgenic mice under its autologous regulatory regions. Physiological regulation of basal levels (<10−9 M) and inducibility (>500-fold) are preserved in female transgenics, whereas male transgenics constitutively display induced levels. Surprisingly, crossing of hCRP transgenic mice to two lines of T cell receptor transgenic mice (specific for either a dominant or a subdominant epitope) showed that tolerance is mediated by intrathymic deletion of immature thymocytes, irrespective of widely differing serum levels. In the absence of induction, hCRP expressed by thymic medullary epithelial cells rather than liver-derived hCRP is necessary and sufficient to induce tolerance. Importantly, medullary epithelial cells also express two homologous mouse acute-phase proteins. These results support a physiological role of “ectopic” thymic expression in tolerance induction to acute-phase proteins and possibly other inducible self-antigens and have implications for delineating the relative contributions of central versus peripheral tolerance.
A term weighting model based on utility theory

2.1 Binary and weighted retrieval In information retrieval it is customary to represent each stored record and each information request by sets of content identifiers, or terms. The terms attached to the items may be assigned automatically or chosen manually; in either case, the terms used for a given item collectively represent the information content of the item. In conventional retrieval systems it is not customary to assign weights to the terms to designate term importance. Instead a term is either assigned to an item or it is not: when assigned, the term may be assumed to carry a weight of 1; otherwise, it carries a weight of 0. In standard retrieval a document is retrieved when it contains all the terms specified in the query. The use of unweighted terms is advantageous in the sense that the indexing operation-that is, the assignment of content identifiers to the items of a collection-is relatively simple. In that case, it is not necessary to consider the degree to which a given term may be useful to represent the content of an item: any term that appears at least marginally relevant is assigned to the corresponding item; the term is rejected when it is clearly extraneous. This kind of binary indexing simplifies the input processing; the retrieval operations, on the other hand, may become complicated by the fact that in a binary indexing system the documents retrieved in response to a given query are indistinguishable from one another. All retrieved items are treated as equally 'close' to the query, because the number of terms assigned jointly to the query and the retrieved items is the same for all items. This leads to the retrieval of potentially large classes of items that are difficult to deal with by the system user. In an interactive retrieval environment where the previously retrieved items are often used to generate improved query formulations, it is particularly important to introduce distinctions among various classes of retrieved items-f o r example, by first bringing to the users' attention those items that appear most 'relevant' to a given query. The easiest way of introducing distinctions among classes of retrieved items is to use weighted instead of binary index terms to identify queries and documents. ~In such a situation it becomes possible to compute a similarity measure between a given query and each stored record as a function of the 1980 TOC …
TiF4 and NaF varnishes as anti-erosive agents on enamel and dentin erosion progression in vitro

Objective This study assessed the effect of fluoride varnishes on the progression of tooth erosion in vitro. Material and Methods: Forty-eight enamel and 60 root dentin samples were previously demineralized (0.1% citric acid, pH 2.5, 30 min), leading to a baseline and erosive wear of 12.9 and 11.4 µm, respectively. The samples were randomly treated (6 h) with a 4% TiF4 varnish (2.45%F-, pH 1.0), a 5.42% NaF varnish (2.45%F-, pH 5.0), a placebo varnish and no varnish (control). The samples were then subjected to erosive pH cycles (4x90 s/day in 0.1% citric acid, intercalated with artificial saliva) for 5 days. The increment of the erosive tooth wear was calculated. In the case of dentin, this final measurement was done with and without the demineralized organic matrix (DOM). Enamel and dentin data were analyzed using ANOVA/Tukey’s and Kruskal-Wallis/Dunn tests, respectively (p<0.05). Results The TiF4 (mean±s.d: 1.5±1.1 µm) and NaF (2.1±1.7 µm) varnishes significantly reduced enamel wear progression compared to the placebo varnish (3.9±1.1 µm) and control (4.5±0.9 µm). The same differences were found for dentin in the presence and absence of the DOM, respectively: TiF4 (average: 0.97/1.87 µm), NaF (1.03/2.13 µm), placebo varnish (3.53/4.47 µm) and control (3.53/4.36 µm). Conclusion The TiF4 and NaF varnishes were equally effective in reducing the progression of tooth erosion in vitro.
A Bold Proposition: Using COI Barcodes as a Diagnostic Tool for Microlepidoptera Survey

While there may some lingering debate over the comparative validity of molecular and morphological taxonomy, genetic analysis is an increasingly prevalent identification tool in arthropod surveys. Molecular identification can be especially useful for insects because of their small size, the paucity of taxonomic experts, unavailable technical literature, and the often marginal condition of specimens. One approach that has gained recent traction is to compare cytochrome c oxidase I sequence data – the so‐called COI barcode (Hebert et al. 2003). Barcoding has been used successfully for rapid Lepidoptera surveys, detecting both cryptic species and new exotics (de Waard et al. 2009).