Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Precise Relaxation of the Mumford-Shah Functional

Jumps, edges and cutoffs are prevalent in our world across many modalities. The Mumford-Shah functional is a classical and elegant approach for modeling such discontinuities but global optimization of this non-convex functional remains challenging. The state of the art are convex representations based on the theory of calibrations. The major drawback of these approaches is the ultimate discretization of the co-domain into labels. For the case of total variation regularization, this issue has been partially resolved by recent sublabel-accurate relaxations, a generalization of which to other regularizers is not straightforward. In this work, we show that sublabel-accurate lifting approaches can be derived by discretizing a continuous relaxation of the Mumford-Shah functional by means of finite elements. We thereby unify and generalize existing functional lifting approaches. We show the efficiency of the proposed discretizations on discontinuity-preserving denoising tasks.
Conversational Structured Hybrid 3D Virtual Environments

Structured 3D Virtual Environments are 3D virtual spaces where some users' interactions are regulated by a subjacent Organisation Centered Multi Agent System (OCMAS) ---an Electronic Institution (EI). They are task-oriented hybrid systems, where staff (organisational) software agents support --based on activities' specification and current EI state--human users in their task achievement. The contribution of this paper is a conversational task-oriented structured 3D environment, where users interact with staff bots (i.e. the embodiment of staff agents) using natural language and, as a result, the communication is improved. With this aim, we extend the Artificial Intelligence Mark-up Language (AIML) with special tags to enable the complex flow of task-oriented conversations. They are characterised by different conversation' states --such as asked, responded, failed or confirmed--and by data types from the EI ontology. We evaluate the usability of our conversational proposal and compare it to a previous command-based interaction system. As expected, data analysis on users' skills --command-based novice vs expert profile-- suggests the co-existence both conversational and command-based user-agent interaction styles. But overall, results show a higher users' satisfaction with the conversational approach which, in average, also performs better in terms of efficiency, effectiveness and errors.
Challenges in measuring wisdom-relevant constructs in young adult undergraduate students

ABSTRACT University settings present a unique opportunity for young adults to develop characteristics constitutive of wisdom. One challenge for educators working to support this development involves effectively measuring these characteristics. In this article, we present results from a secondary analysis of cognitive interviews to examine challenges that may arise when young adult undergraduate students respond to self-report measures of Meaning, Identification with all Humanity and Dedication to Lifelong Service—three characteristics of personality-focused accounts of wisdom. Although the items had well-fitting exploratory and confirmatory latent variable models, between 12.5% and 87.5% of students (n = 8 for each item) provided unintended interpretations for each item. This mismatch between students’ interpretations and the intended interpretations can threaten item validity and obfuscate findings from applications such as pre-post assessments. Further research is needed to better understand the factors affecting young adults’ responses to measures of wisdom-relevant characteristics.
Energy-efficient best-select relaying in wireless cooperative networks

Due to the exponentially-increasing energy consumption of wireless mobile networks, energy efficiency has become an important metric in designing these networks. In this paper, we present an analysis of the energy efficiency of best-select relaying, where a single best relay is chosen to relay the source message, and compare its performance with direct communication. To improve the energy efficiency further, the optimal constellation size and transmission bandwidth are studied; we show that significant performance gain is possible compared to a direct communication scheme.
Are transformational and laissez-faire leadership related to state anxiety among subordinates? A two-wave prospective study of forward and reverse associations

ABSTRACT The aim of this study was to determine the direction of associations between perceived leadership styles of an immediate leader and state anxiety among subordinates using time-lagged data from a large and heterogeneous probability sample of Norwegian employees. It was hypothesised that high levels of transformational leadership would be associated with a decrease, whereas high levels of laissez-faire leadership would be associated with an increase, in subsequent levels of anxiety. Reciprocal associations were also expected in that higher levels of anxiety were hypothesised to be related to subsequent increase in reports of laissez-faire, and decrease in reported exposure to transformational leadership. The sample comprised 1149 Norwegian employees. The design was a two-wave full panel study with a six-month time interval between the baseline and follow-up assessments. Contrary to hypotheses, neither transformational nor laissez-faire leadership were significantly related to subsequent levels of state anxiety. In support of hypotheses, baseline low levels of state anxiety were associated with reporting the immediate leader as less transformational and more laissez-faire six months later. In conclusion, the findings challenge theoretical models that explain leadership as a one-way superior–subordinate influence process.
Alpha-Toxin Is Required for Biofilm Formation by Staphylococcus aureus

ABSTRACT Staphylococcus aureus is a common pathogen associated with nosocomial infections. It can persist in clinical settings and gain increased resistance to antimicrobial agents through biofilm formation. We have found that alpha-toxin, a secreted, multimeric, hemolytic toxin encoded by the hla gene, plays an integral role in biofilm formation. The hla mutant was unable to fully colonize plastic surfaces under both static and flow conditions. Based on microscopy studies, we propose that alpha-hemolysin is required for cell-to-cell interactions during biofilm formation.
The Nicotinic Acetylcholine Receptor: The Founding Father of the Pentameric Ligand-gated Ion Channel Superfamily*

A critical event in the history of biological chemistry was the chemical identification of the first neurotransmitter receptor, the nicotinic acetylcholine receptor. Disciplines as diverse as electrophysiology, pharmacology, and biochemistry joined together in a unified and rational manner with the common goal of successfully identifying the molecular device that converts a chemical signal into an electrical one in the nervous system. The nicotinic receptor has become the founding father of a broad family of pentameric membrane receptors, paving the way for their identification, including that of the GABAA receptors.
Avoiding significant monetary policy mistakes

We deduce properties of optimal monetary policies based on modern theory and standard empirical findings. In light of this analysis, we examine FOMC policy procedures and conclude that they put too much emphasis on short-term economic stabilization and too little emphasis on longer-term price stability. We propose a form of inflation targeting to address this problem.
Computational Statistics and Data Analysis Shrinkage-based Regularization Tests for High-dimensional Data with Application to Gene Set Analysis

Keywords: Feature selection Gene set analysis High dimensionality MANOVA Power Regularization a b s t r a c t Traditional multivariate tests such as Hotelling's test or Wilk's test are designed for classical problems, where the number of observations is much larger than the dimension of the variables. For high-dimensional data, however, this assumption cannot be met any longer. In this article, we consider testing problems in high-dimensional MANOVA where the number of variables exceeds the sample size. To overcome the challenges with high dimensionality, we propose a new approach called a shrinkage-based regularization test, which is suitable for a variety of data structures including the one-sample problem and one-way MANOVA. Our approach uses a ridge regularization to overcome the singularity of the sample covariance matrix and applies a soft-thresholding technique to reduce random noise and improve the testing power. An appealing property of this approach is its ability to select relevant variables that provide evidence against the hypothesis. We compare the performance of our approach with some competing approaches via real microarray data and simulation studies. The results illustrate that the proposed statistics maintains relatively high power in detecting a wide family of alternatives.
Optimal PWM for further loss reduction in electrical drives

Converter losses can be reduced by use of new components like SiC or GaN, but unfortunately they come with prohibitive prices. Another way of reducing losses is employing PWM clamping techniques. The method proposed in this work is based on PWM clamping following the maximum current for reducing the switching losses of the converter. The simulation and laboratory tests are showing a relative power loss reduction of about 6% starting from the no-load condition.
Object recognition based on deformable edge set

We aim to solve the object recognition problem by a novel contour feature called Deformable Edge Set (DES). The DES consists of several Deformable Edge Features (DEF), which is deformed from an edge template to the actual object contour according to the distribution model of pixels. Then the DES is constructed based on the combination of DEF, where the arrangement and the deformable parameters are learned in a subspace. The RealAdaBoost algorithm is further utilized to select meaningful DES to localize the object. Experimental results show that the proposed approach not only locates the object bounding boxes but also captures the object contours well. It also achieves performance competitive with the commonly-used algorithms.
Cloud computing model based on MPI and OpenMP

According to the features of Message Passing Interface (MPI) and OpenMP, the cloud computing application methods based on MPI and OpenMP, including the MPI and OpenMP cloud computing algorithm design model, cloud computing principles, the core model, and the process are proposed. The distributed characteristic and parallel characteristic are introduced. Theoretical analysis results show this algorithm is feasible, effective and superior to the traditional parallel technology, and it can provide the new method to distribute and parallelize the ordinary algorithms.
Integrin-Specific Control of Focal Adhesion Kinase and RhoA Regulates Membrane Protrusion and Invasion

Cell invasion through extracellular matrix (ECM) is a hallmark of the metastatic cascade. Cancer cells require adhesion to surrounding tissues for efficient migration to occur, which is mediated through the integrin family of receptors. Alterations in expression levels of β1 and β3 integrins have previously been reported in a number of human cancers. However, whether there are specific roles for these ubiquitous receptors in mediating cell invasion remains unclear. Here we demonstrate that loss of β1 but not β3 integrins leads to increased spread cell area and focal adhesion number in cells on 2D immobilized fibronectin. Increased adhesion numbers in β1 knockdown cells correlated with decreased cell migration on 2D surfaces. Conversely, cells depleted of β1 integrins showed increased migration speed on 3D cell-derived matrix as well as in 3D organotypic cultures and inverted invasion assays. This increased invasive potential was also seen in cells lacking β3 integrin but only in 3D cultures containing fibroblasts. Mechanistically, in situ analysis using FRET biosensors revealed that enhanced invasion in cells lacking β1 integrins was directly coupled with reduced activation of focal adhesion kinase (FAK) and the small GTPase RhoA resulting in formation of enhanced dynamic protrusions and increased invasion. These reductions in FAK-RhoA signal activationwere not detected in β3 knockdown cells under the same conditions. This data demonstrates a specific role for β1 integrins in the modulation of a FAK-RhoA-actomyosin signaling axis to regulate cell invasion through complex ECM environments.
The Fuce processor: The Execution Model and The Programming Methodologies

Nowadays, development of processors which support concurrent multi-thread execution is becoming a trend. Most of these processors are aimed at exploiting instruction level parallelism (ILP). But many researchers feel that the limits of ILP exploitation are rapidly being reached. In addition, exploiting more ILP makes the circuitry of processor very complicated. We are taking another simpler approach, and developing a processor focused only on thread level parallelism (TLP). Our processor is named Fuce. it is based on the continuation model which is derived from the dataflow computing model. In this paper, we introduce the core concepts of Fuce, the programming model for Fuce and an overview of Fuce architecture. We also show simulation results.
The standard and degenerate primordial nucleosynthesis versus recent experimental data

We report the results on Big Bang Nucleosynthesis (BBN) based on an updated code, with accuracy of the order of 0.1 % on 4He abundance, compared with the predictions of other recent similar analysis. We discuss the compatibility of the theoretical results, for vanishing neutrino chemical potentials, with the observational data. Bounds on the number of relativistic neutrinos and baryon abundance are obtained by a likelihood analysis. We also analyze the effect of large neutrino chemical potentials on primordial nucleosynthesis, motivated by the recent results on the Cosmic Microwave Background Radiation spectrum. The BBN exclusion plots for electron neutrino chemical potential and the effective number of relativistic neutrinos are reported. We find that the standard BBN seems to be only marginally in agreement with the recent BOOMERANG and MAXIMA-1 results, while the agreement is much better for degenerate BBN scenarios for large effective number of neutrinos, Nν ~ 10. For the low D data, standard BBN is still viable for η ~ (5÷6) 10−10.
Where is mineral ballast important for surface export of particulate organic carbon in the ocean?

Correlations between particulate organic carbon (POC) and mineral fluxes in the deep ocean have inspired the inclusion of “ballast effect” parameterizations in carbon cycle models. A recent study demonstrated regional variability in the effect of ballast minerals on the flux of POC in the deep ocean. We have undertaken a similar analysis of shallow export data from the Arctic, Atlantic, and Southern Oceans. Mineral ballasting is of greatest importance in the high‐latitude North Atlantic, where 60% of the POC flux is associated with ballast minerals. This fraction drops to around 40% in the Southern Ocean. The remainder of the export flux is not associated with minerals, and this unballasted fraction thus often dominates the export flux. The proportion of mineral‐associated POC flux often scales with regional variation in export efficiency (the proportion of primary production that is exported). However, local discrepancies suggest that regional differences in ecology also impact the magnitude of surface export. We propose that POC export will not respond equally across all high‐latitude regions to possible future changes in ballast availability.
A novel image denoising algorithm for suppressing mixture of speckle and impulse noise in spatial domain

This paper proposes a novel image denoising algorithm in spatial domain for filtering mixture of speckle and impulse noise using combination of local statistics and non-linear Robust Estimator. Proper choice of despeckling filter is an important requirement for contrast enhancement. On the other hand suppression of impulse noise aids the enhancement and preservation of edges. The proposed algorithm improves the local statistics approach for despeckling followed by application of Robust Estimator for efficient filtering of high density impulse noise. Peak Signal to Noise Ratio (PSNR) and Coefficient of Correlation (COC) are used as quality metrics for evaluating the performance of the proposed algorithm. Simulation results portray significant improvement in the restored image obtained after suppression of the noise mixture (speckle + impulse) along with preservation of local features in comparison to other algorithms.
AN ALMA SURVEY OF SUBMILLIMETER GALAXIES IN THE EXTENDED CHANDRA DEEP FIELD SOUTH: SOURCE CATALOG AND MULTIPLICITY

We present an Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) Cycle 0 survey of 126 submillimeter sources from the LABOCA ECDFS Submillimeter Survey (LESS). Our 870 μm survey with ALMA (ALESS) has produced maps ∼3× deeper and with a beam area ∼200× smaller than the original LESS observations, doubling the current number of interferometrically-observed submillimeter sources. The high resolution of these maps allows us to resolve sources that were previously blended and accurately identify the origin of the submillimeter emission. We discuss the creation of the ALESS submillimeter galaxy (SMG) catalog, including the main sample of 99 SMGs and a supplementary sample of 32 SMGs. We find that at least 35% (possibly up to 50%) of the detected LABOCA sources have been resolved into multiple SMGs, and that the average number of SMGs per LESS source increases with LESS flux density. Using the (now precisely known) SMG positions, we empirically test the theoretical expectation for the uncertainty in the single-dish source positions. We also compare our catalog to the previously predicted radio/mid-infrared counterparts, finding that 45% of the ALESS SMGs were missed by this method. Our ∼1. ″6 resolution allows us to measure a size of ∼9 kpc × 5 kpc for the rest-frame ∼300 μm emission region in one resolved SMG, implying a star formation rate surface density of 80 M☉ yr−1 kpc−2, and we constrain the emission regions in the remaining SMGs to be <10 kpc. As the first statistically reliable survey of SMGs, this will provide the basis for an unbiased multiwavelength study of SMG properties.
Positivity and stabilization of fractional discrete-time systems with delays

The problem of finding a gain matrix of the state-feedback of fractional discrete-time linear system with delays such that the closed-loop system is positive and asymptotically stable is formulated and solved. Necessary and sufficient conditions for the solvability of the problem are established. A procedure for computation of the gain matrix is given and illustrated by numerical example.
Air traffic functions in the NextGen and SESAR airspace

The air traffic system enabled by NextGen and SESAR will allow functions to be executed by the most appropriate element given the strategic and tactical situation rather than limited to the existing roles predicated on 1960's technology and procedures. The current allocation of functions is based on historical technical limitations. To ensure the most efficient air traffic system (in terms of throughput, safety, environmental impact, etc.), the functions need to be assessed for their best allocation to prevent over-optimizing one area of the system at the expense of other areas. The information-based, shared situational awareness, and collaborative decision making paradigm enables the redistribution of functions both strategically and tactically. The functions may also be distributed differently for different stakeholders. The method for establishing which element has the tools and information needed to execute these functions is defined in the systems engineering process. The systems engineering process entails developing and evaluating alternative functional allocations based on the system requirements. The most advantageous functional allocation is determined through a requirements-based and benefits-based selection process. This process develops trades of the alternatives, lists the pros and cons, and then selects the best alternative. This is important because “best” can be different for varying scenarios and elements. The major elements, or actors, in the air traffic system are the airplane, ATC, and AOC. These are composed of sub-elements themselves and require assessment of the allocation of functions by management time horizon. The proposed management time horizons are capacity, flow, traffic, separation, and collision avoidance. Once functions have been allocated, simulations (fast-time and human-in-the-loop) and field trials can be used to develop and validate performance requirements for those functions. Finally an example of the possible re-allocation of one of the functions of the Air Transportation system is discussed along with the benefits of this alternate allocation.
P2P Computing in Design of VANET Routing Protocol

The study of peer-to-peer network and vehicle ad hoc network (VANET) are currently two hotspots in distributed computing and mobile communication researching domain. By building up a P2P overlay network on top of VANET's physical infrastructure, we effectively integrated P2P network's advantage on sustaining highly dynamic network into the design of VANET routing protocol. By deploying passive VANET routing algorithms with innovative P2P routing mechanisms, we propose a new kind of VANET routing protocol named Peer Computing based Ad hoc On Demand Vector (PAV). A detailed description of the P2P decentralized naming, route discovering, route querying and updating algorithm used in PAV is presented in this paper. The simulation results indicate that PAV has an improved routing performance in comparison with the popularly used AODV protocol.
Event based vision sensing and processing

In this paper we briefly summarize the fundamental properties of spike events processing applied to artificial vision systems. This sensing and processing technology is capable of very high speed throughput, because it does not rely on sensing and processing sequences of frames, and because it allows for complex hierarchically structured cortical-like layers for sophisticated processing. The paper describes briefly cortex-like spike event vision processing principles, and the AER (Address Event Representation) technique used in hardware spiking systems. Then a texture-based image retrieval using the AER technique is proposed. Realistic behavioral simulations based on existing hardware characteristics, reveal that the application, although processing large kernel convolutions, is capable of performing recognition in less than 10 ms.