Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Degree-constrained network flows

A d-furcated flow is a network flow whose support graph has maximum out degree d. Take a single-sink multi-commodity flow problem on any network and with any set of routing demands. Then we show that the existence of feasible fractional flow with node congestion one implies the existence of a d-furcated flow with congestion at most 1+1/(d-1), for d ≥ 2. This result is tight, and sothe congestion gap for d-furcated flows is bounded andexactly equal to 1+ 1/(d-1). For the case d=1 (confluent flows), it is known that the congestion gap is unbounded, namely Θ(log n). Thus, allowing single-sink multicommodity network flows to increase their maximum out degree from one to two virtually eliminates this previously observed congestion gap. As a corollary we obtain a factor 1 + 1/(d-1)-approximation algorithm for the problem of finding a minimum congestion d-furcated flow; we also prove that this problem is max SNP-hard. Using known techniques these results also extend to degree-constrained unsplittable routing,where each individual demand must be routed along a unique path.
ETFRC: Enhanced TFRC for Media Traffic

Due to the remarkable increase in media traffic over Internet, its congestion state is expected to worsen. TCP-friendly rate control protocol TFRC is one of the most promising congestion control techniques developed so far. TFRC has been thoroughly tested in terms of being TCP-friendly, responsive, and fair. Yet, its impact on the visual quality and the peak signal-tonoise ratio PSNR of the media traffic traversing Internet is still questionable. In this paper we aimed to point out the enhancement required for TFRC that enables producing the maximum PSNR value for Internet media traffic. Firstly, we suspected the default value of Nfb that represents the frequency of feedback messages sent by TFRC receiver to its sender every round-trip time RTT to be the optimum for our goal. Secondly, we managed to modify the mechanism of TFRC by changing this default value of Nfb over a range of values aiming to reach the required optimum. Thirdly, we investigated the effect of such variation over a simulated network environment to study its effect on the resulting PSNR for a number of arbitrary video sequences. Finally, our simulations results showed that running TFRC with Nfb=4 led to reaching the maximum PSNR values among all the examined values of Nfb including its default value. We hereby suggest using an enhanced TFRC that we abbreviated as ETFRC which has the Nfb value set to four as a replacement for the traditional TFRC to enable reaching higher PSNR for media traffic over Internet. Kerwords—TFRC, Congestion Control, PSNR
Bilateral and Unilateral Asymmetries of Isokinetic Strength and Flexibility in Male Young Professional Soccer Players

This study investigated bilateral and unilateral asymmetries of strength and flexibility in male young professional soccer players. Thirty-six soccer players (age: 18.9 ± 1.4 years) participated in this study. A Biodex Isokinetic Dynamometer was used to assess the hamstring and quadriceps strength at selected speeds of 60°/s, 180°/s and 300°/s. Hip joint flexibility was measured using a goniometer. No difference was observed in conventional strength ratio, dynamic control ratio and fast/slow speed ratio between the dominant and non-dominant legs (p>0.05). All but one of the players (97.2%) had musculoskeletal abnormality (bilateral imbalance > 10%) in one or more specific muscle groups. The dominant leg had greater hip joint flexibility compared with the non-dominant leg (108.8 ± 10.7° versus 104.6 ± 9.8°, respectively). The findings support the hypothesis that physical performance and movement pattern experienced during soccer playing may negatively change the balance of strength in both legs (bilateral strength balance), but not on the same leg of the young male professional soccer players. The results can be helpful for trainers and coaches to decide whether the players need to improve their balance and strength which in turn may prevent injury. It is suggested that in professional soccer training, quadriceps and hamstrings muscle strength, as well as hip joint flexibility should not be overlooked.
Leaf palmate venation and vascular redundancy confer tolerance of hydraulic disruption

Leaf venation is a showcase of plant diversity, ranging from the grid-like network in grasses, to a wide variety of dendritic systems in other angiosperms. A principal function of the venation is to deliver water; however, a hydraulic significance has never been demonstrated for contrasting major venation architectures, including the most basic dichotomy, “pinnate” and “palmate” systems. We hypothesized that vascular redundancy confers tolerance of vein breakage such as would occur during mechanical or insect damage. We subjected leaves of woody angiosperms of contrasting venation architecture to severing treatments in vivo, and, after wounds healed, made detailed measurements of physiological performance relative to control leaves. When the midrib was severed near the leaf base, the pinnately veined leaves declined strongly in leaf hydraulic conductance, stomatal conductance, and photosynthetic rate, whereas palmately veined leaves were minimally affected. Across all of the species examined, a higher density of primary veins predicted tolerance of midrib damage. This benefit for palmate venation is consistent with its repeated evolution and its biogeographic and habitat distribution. All leaves tested showed complete tolerance of damage to second- and higher-order veins, demonstrating that the parallel flow paths provided by the redundant, reticulate minor vein network protect the leaf from the impact of hydraulic disruption. These findings point to a hydraulic explanation for the diversification of low-order vein architecture and the commonness of reticulate, hierarchical leaf venation. These structures suggest roles for both economic constraints and risk tolerance in shaping leaf morphology during 130 million years of flowering plant evolution.
The Euro’s Effect on Trade Imbalances

When does trade become a one-way relationship? We study bilateral trade balances for a sample of 18 European countries over the period from 1948 through 2008. We find that, with the introduction of the euro, trade imbalances among euro area members widened considerably, even after allowing for permanent asymmetries in trade competitiveness within pairs of countries or in the overall trade competitiveness of individual countries. This is consistent with indications that pair-wise trade tends to be more balanced when nominal exchange rates are flexible. Intra-euro area imbalances also seem to have become more persistent with the introduction of the euro, some of which is linked to labor market inflexibility. Reviewing the direction of imbalances, we find that bilateral trade surpluses are decreasing in the real exchange rate, decreasing in growth differentials, and increasing in the relative volatility of national business cycles. Finally, countries with relatively higher fiscal deficits and less flexible labor and product markets exhibit systematically lower trade surpluses than others.
An Analysis of Inference with the Universum

We study a pattern classification algorithm which has recently been proposed by Vapnik and coworkers. It builds on a new inductive principle which assumes that in addition to positive and negative data, a third class of data is available, termed the Universum. We assay the behavior of the algorithm by establishing links with Fisher discriminant analysis and oriented PCA, as well as with an SVM in a projected subspace (or, equivalently, with a data-dependent reduced kernel). We also provide experimental results.
Genome-wide meta-analyses of nonsyndromic orofacial clefts identify novel associations between FOXE 1 and all orofacial clefts , and TP 63 and cleft lip with or without cleft palate

Purpose—To examine maternal smoking and body mass index (BMI) interactions in contributing to risk of oral clefts. Methods—We studied 4935 cases and 10,557 controls from 6 population-based studies and estimated a pooled logistic regression of individual-level data, controlling for study fixed effects and individual-level risk factors. Results—We found a significant negative smoking-BMI interaction, with cleft risk with smoking generally declining with higher BMI. For all clefts combined, the OR for smoking was 1.61 (95% CI: 1.39–1.86) at BMI 17 (underweight), 1.47 (95% CI: 1.34–1.62) at BMI 22 (normal weight), 1.35 (95% CI: 1.22–1.48) at BMI 27 (overweight), 1.21 (95% CI: 1.04–1.41) at BMI 33 (obese), and 1.13 (95% CI: 0.92–1.38) at BMI 37 (very obese). A negative interaction was also observed for isolated clefts and across cleft types but was more pronounced for cleft lip only and cleft palate only. Conclusions—Our findings suggest that the risk of oral clefts associated with maternal smoking is largest among underweight mothers, although the smoking-BMI interaction is strongest for cleft lip only and cleft palate only. BMI was not protective for the effects of smoking; a clinically relevant increase in smoking-related cleft risk was still present among heavier women. Publisher's Disclaimer: This is a PDF file of an unedited manuscript that has been accepted for publication. As a service to our customers we are providing this early version of the manuscript. The manuscript will undergo copyediting, typesetting, and review of the resulting proof before it is published in its final citable form. Please note that during the production process errors may be discovered which could affect the content, and all legal disclaimers that apply to the journal pertain. HHS Public Access Author manuscript Ann Epidemiol. Author manuscript; available in PMC 2018 February 01. Published in final edited form as: Ann Epidemiol. 2017 February ; 27(2): 103–107.e2. doi:10.1016/j.annepidem. 2016.11. 009. A uhor M anscript
Absence of Malolactic Activity Is a Characteristic of H+-ATPase-Deficient Mutants of the Lactic Acid Bacterium Oenococcus oeni

ABSTRACT The lack of malolactic activity in H+-ATPase-deficient mutants of Oenococcus oeni selected previously was analyzed at the molecular level. Western blot experiments revealed a spot at 60 kDa corresponding to the malolactic enzyme only in the parental strain. Moreover, the mleA transcript encoding the malolactic enzyme was not detected by reverse transcription (RT)-PCR analysis of mutants. These results suggest that the malolactic operon was not transcribed in ATPase-deficient mutants. The mleR gene encoding a LysR-type regulatory protein which should be involved in expression of the malolactic genes was described previously for O. oeni. Results obtained in this study show that the mleR transcript was not detected in the mutants by RT-PCR. No mutation in the nucleotide sequences of the mleR gene and the malolactic operon was found. The effect of a reduction in H+-ATPase activity on l-malate metabolism was then investigated by using other malolactic bacteria. Spontaneous H+-ATPase-deficient mutant strains of Lactococcus lactis and Leuconostoc mesenteroides were isolated by using neomycin resistance. Two mutants were selected. These mutants exhibited ATPase activities that were reduced to 54 and 70% of the activities obtained for the L. lactis and L. mesenteroides parental strains, respectively. These mutants were also acid sensitive. However, in contrast to the ATPase-deficient mutants of O. oeni, activation of l-malate metabolism was observed with the L. lactis and L. mesenteroides mutants under optimal or acidic growth conditions. These data support the suggestion that expression of the genes encoding malolactic enzymes in O. oeni is regulated by the mleR product, as it is in L. lactis. Nevertheless, our results strongly suggest that there is a difference between the regulation of expression of the malolactic locus in O. oeni and the regulation of expression of this locus in less acidophilic lactic acid bacteria.
Shape Representation and Interoperability for Virtual Prototyping in a Distributed Design Environment

Internet technology opens up another domain for building a future CAD/CAM environment. The environment will be global, network-centric, and spatially distributed. In this paper, we present an approach to network-centric virtual prototyping (NetVP) in a distributed design environment. The presented approach combines the current virtual assembly modelling and analysis technique with distributed computing and communication technology for supporting virtual prototyping activities over the network. This paper focuses on shape representation and interoperability of product models for distributed virtual prototyping. STEP standard and CORBA-based interfaces allow bi-directional communication between the CAD model and the virtual prototyping model, which makes it possible to solve the problems of interoperability, heterogeneity of platforms, and data sharing. STEP AP203 is used as a means of transferring and sharing product models. In addition, Attributed Abstracted B-rep (AAB) is introduced as 3D shape abstraction for transparent transmission of 3D models and for the maintenance of naming consistency between CAD models and virtual prototyping models over the network.
Automatic blood pressure measuring instrument and method

An automatic blood pressure measuring instrument for measuring and displaying a blood pressure of a subject in a non-invasive manner includes a pressure sensor for obtaining a pulse wave signal from a wrist of the subject, a pulse wave signal processing section for amplifying, filtering, and removing noise from the pulse wave applied from the pressure sensor, electrocardiogram electrodes for obtaining an electrocardiogram signal of the subject, an electrocardiogram signal processing section for amplifying, filtering, and removing noise from the electrocardiogram signal, an A/D converting section for converting the pulse wave signal the electrocardiogram signal into digital signals, a controlling section for comparing and analyzing the digital pulse wave signal and the digital electrocardiogram signal to determine the blood pressure of the subject, and a display for displaying the blood pressure of the subject determined by the controlling section.
onMelt-Pool Characteristics in LaserWelding of Metals

Laser welding of metals involves with formation of a melt-pool and subsequent rapid solidification, resulting in alteration of properties and the microstructure of the welded metal. Understanding and predicting relationships between laser welding process parameters, such as laser speed and welding power, and melt-pool characteristics have been the subjects of many studies in literature because this knowledge is critical to controlling and improving laser welding. Recent advances in metal additive manufacturing processes have renewed interest in the melt-pool studies because in many of these processes, part fabrication involves small moving melt-pools. *e present work is a critical review of the literature on experimental and modeling studies on laser welding, with the focus being on the influence of process parameters on geometry, thermodynamics, fluid dynamics, microstructure, and porosity characteristics of the melt-pool. *ese data may inform future experimental laser welding studies and may be used for verification and validation of results obtained in future melt-pool modeling studies.
Measurement Setup for RF/Digital Buffers Characterization

This paper presents a measurement setup for digital output buffers' characterization. This is of recognized importance for the integrated circuit industry and has rarely been addressed in the literature related to output buffer modeling. Currently, the model extraction is typically performed by simulating the transistor-level model of the device, which raises important issues regarding intellectual property protection, long-simulation times, and deembedding inaccuracies of the high-speed device mount parasitics. In the presented approach, a well-defined experimental procedure is proposed to extract and validate a state-of-the-art model for a commercial noninverting output buffer in a packaged format.
On Explaining Inter-Country Differences in Economic Growth Rates of OECD countries for 1996-2008: Does Regulatory Quality Matter

This study empirically examines the role of regulatory quality in explaining the differences in economic growth rates of the twenty three OECD countries over the 1996-2008 period. The model we adopt is a generalized version of the growth accounting, production function model of Solow in which the rate of economic growth is a function of capital and labour accumulation and total factor productivity. In this model, the quality of regulation affects economic growth via its impact on total factor productivity. Our findings do lend support for the view that the better the quality of regulation, the higher rate of economic growth. In particular, our empirical results indicate that countries in which the institutional framework is more conducive to the formulation and implementation of effective regulatory policies also more likely to have better macroeconomic performance.
An Outline of Ontology Based Image Retrieval Using Semantic Image Descriptions

DOI: 10.21276/sjet.2018. 6.6. 1 Abstract: This architecture addresses the issues of keyword based image retrieval and content-based image retrieval through the use of qualitative spatial representations over semantic image annotations. Three types of image retrieval Semantic Retrieval based on Global Labels of Images, Semantic Retrieval based on Image concepts, Semantic Retrieval based on Qualitative Relations. This research proposes an ontology based image retrieval framework from a corpus of natural scene images by imparting human cognition in the retrieval process. The proposed architecture addresses the issues of keyword based image retrieval and content-based image retrieval through the use of qualitative spatial representations over semantic image annotations. Domain ontology has been developed to model qualitative semantic image descriptions and retrieval, thereafter can be accomplished either using a natural language description of an image containing semantic concepts and spatial relations, or in a query by example fashion. A psychophysical evaluation has also been carried out to evaluate the effectiveness of our approach and results of different experiments are quite promising in terms of retrieval accuracy and relevance of retrieved images.
Non-Coding Changes Cause Sex-Specific Wing Size Differences between Closely Related Species of Nasonia

The genetic basis of morphological differences among species is still poorly understood. We investigated the genetic basis of sex-specific differences in wing size between two closely related species of Nasonia by positional cloning a major male-specific locus, wing-size1 (ws1). Male wing size increases by 45% through cell size and cell number changes when the ws1 allele from N. giraulti is backcrossed into a N. vitripennis genetic background. A positional cloning approach was used to fine-scale map the ws1 locus to a 13.5 kilobase region. This region falls between prospero (a transcription factor involved in neurogenesis) and the master sex-determining gene doublesex. It contains the 5′-UTR and cis-regulatory domain of doublesex, and no coding sequence. Wing size reduction correlates with an increase in doublesex expression level that is specific to developing male wings. Our results indicate that non-coding changes are responsible for recent divergence in sex-specific morphology between two closely related species. We have not yet resolved whether wing size evolution at the ws1 locus is caused by regulatory alterations of dsx or prospero, or by another mechanism. This study demonstrates the feasibility of efficient positional cloning of quantitative trait loci (QTL) involved in a broad array of phenotypic differences among Nasonia species.
Optimizations for Risk-Aware Secure Supply Chain Master Planning

Supply chain master planning strives for optimally aligned production, warehousing and transportation decisions across a multiple number of partners. Its execution in practice is limited by business partners' reluctance to share their vital business data. Secure Multi-Party Computation (SMC) can be used to make such collaborative computations privacy-preserving by applying cryptographic techniques. Thus, computation becomes acceptable in practice, but the performance of SMC re- mains critical for real world-sized problems. We assess the disclosure risk of the input and output data and then apply a protection level appropriate for the risk under the assumption that SMC at lower protection levels can be performed faster. This speeds up the secure computation and enables significant improvements in the supply chain.
Merced Proceedings of the Annual Meeting of the Cognitive Science Society Title Implicit transfer of mirrored spatial structure in visuomotor sequence learning

Implicit transfer in sequential learning can occur with some spatiotemporal structures but not with others. Here, we investigated whether the consistent mirror-reversal of visuomotor sequences would lead to implicit transfer. A "set" comprised three sequential button presses and seven consecutive sets comprised a "hyperset. " Participants learned hypersets by trial and error with their right hand. Then, they learned another hyperset, in which each set was vertically mirrored, horizontally mirrored, or randomly generated. Even when the participants did not notice the mirrored rule, the mirrored hypersets led to implicit transfer in terms of accuracy for both vertical and horizontal reversals. Furthermore, the vertical reserval also led to implicit transfer of performance speed. Taken together, the present results suggest that people can implicitly apply their learned representations to the mirrored visuomotor sequences.
Less is More: Making Institutional Investor Activism a Valuable Mechanism of Corporate Governance

Institutional investors have increasingly engaged in corporate governance activities, introducing proxy proposals and negotiating with management, with a goal of improving performance. As shareholder activism has become more pronounced, financial economists have attempted to measure its effect on performance. This Article reviews the finance literature on institutional investors' activities in corporate governance and uses the findings of the empirical literature to inform normative recommendations for the proxy process. In brief, there is an apparent paradox: notwithstanding the development of shareholder activism and commentators' generally positive assessments of it, the empirical research indicates that such activism has little or no effect on targeted firms' performance. This implies that activist institutions ought to reassess their agendas, in order to use their resources more effectively. The Article takes a two-pronged approach to furthering this aim. First, it suggests a mechanism of internal control, whereby funds would engage in periodic review of their shareholder-activism programs to identify the most fruitful governance objectives. Second, it seeks ways to provide incentives to undertake such internal revaluations, advocating elimination or significant reduction of the subsidy of proposal sponsorship under the SEC rules unless a proposal achieves substantial voting support, or permitting firms' shareholders to choose what level of subsidy they wish to provide proposal sponsors. The estimated savings from eliminating the subsidy for proposals that fail to receive at least 40% of the votes ranges from $293 million to $1.9 billion.