Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Covariance Estimation in High Dimensions Via Kronecker Product Expansions

This paper presents a new method for estimating high dimensional covariance matrices. The method, permuted rank-penalized least-squares (PRLS), is based on a Kronecker product series expansion of the true covariance matrix. Assuming an i.i. d. Gaussian random sample, we establish high dimensional rates of convergence to the true covariance as both the number of samples and the number of variables go to infinity. For covariance matrices of low separation rank, our results establish that PRLS has significantly faster convergence than the standard sample covariance matrix (SCM) estimator. The convergence rate captures a fundamental tradeoff between estimation error and approximation error, thus providing a scalable covariance estimation framework in terms of separation rank, similar to low rank approximation of covariance matrices . The MSE convergence rates generalize the high dimensional rates recently obtained for the ML Flip-flop algorithm , for Kronecker product covariance estimation. We show that a class of block Toeplitz covariance matrices is approximatable by low separation rank and give bounds on the minimal separation rank r that ensures a given level of bias. Simulations are presented to validate the theoretical bounds. As a real world application, we illustrate the utility of the proposed Kronecker covariance estimator for spatio-temporal linear least squares prediction of multivariate wind speed measurements.
Inflation dynamics and New Keynesian Phillips Curve in Australia

The New Keynesian Phillips Curve (NKPC) is a standard model in the analysis of inflation dynamics. For the Australian economy, this study establishes the empirical evidence that the NKPC can explain the process of inflation dynamics and the price-setting mechanism. The trade shocks, such as the real exchange rate and the terms of trade, play an important role in inflation dynamics.
Identifying Scanning Activities in Honeynet Data Using Data Mining

Businesses attract different types of attacks mostly due to the financial benefits associated with gaining unauthorized access. As a first step to launching attacks, attackers scan production networks looking for open services and vulnerable software. These scanning or enumeration activities, if monitored properly, can be used as early warning systems against a much sophisticated and dedicated attack. Honey nets are deployed for the purpose of tracking malicious activities and learn about hackers' origin, methods and attacks. However, today's Honey nets produce an enormous amount of data which becomes a challenge to analyze. In this paper, we attempt to separate and identify scanning traffic from other types of traffic. To accomplish this, we have developed a tool that utilizes known data mining techniques to find the scanning activities in Honey net data, which is an aggregate traffic data collected by multiple Honey pots. Being able to identify scanning activities will allow security analysts to focus more on other types of traffic, and hence be able to study and analyze other types of attacks.
WWW electronic commerce and java trojan horses

World Wide Web electronic commerce applications often require consumers to enter private information (such as credit card numbers) into forms in the browser window. If third parties can insert trojan horse applications onto a consumer's machine, they can monitor keyboard strokes and steal private information. This paper outlines a simple way to accomplish this using Java or similar remote execution facilities. We implemented a simple version of this attack. We give a general method, window personalization, that can thwart or prevent this attack.
Formation of Stationary Magnetohydrodynamic Outflows from a Disk by Time-dependent Simulations

We report the discovery of a family of stationary magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) outflows from a disk found by time-dependent, axisymmetric MHD simulations. The initial poloidal magnetic field threading the disk was taken to be a tapered monopole field, with the field strength on the disk decreasing outwardly to small values. At the disk surface, matter was given a small initial push with a speed less than the slow magnetosonic speed. In the simulations, the outflowing matter is observed to be accelerated by magnetic and centrifugal forces up to velocities in excess of the fast magnetosonic speed and in excess of the escape speed.
Improving the PoS tagging accuracy of Icelandic text

Previous work on part-of-speech (PoS) tagging Icelandic has shown that the morphological complexity of the language poses considerable difficulties for PoS taggers. In this paper, we increase the tagging accuracy of Icelandic text by using two methods. First, we present a new tagger, by integrating an HMM tagger into a linguistic rule-based tagger. Our tagger obtains state-of-the-art tagging accuracy of 92.31% using the standard test set derived from the IFD corpus, and 92.51% using a corrected version of the corpus. Second, we design an external tagset, by removing information from the internal tagset which reflects distinctions that are not morphologically based. Using the external tagset for evaluation, the tagging accuracy further increases to 93.63%.
Application of Data Warehouse and Data Mining in the Steel Enterprise Information Integration System

The Small&Medium steel enterprises is relatively weak on information technology, and the information management personnel lack the urgent need for information integration. According to the actual needs of the Small&Medium steel enterprises information management, three-tier architecture of information integration systems is proposed in this paper. By using SQL Server to implement database and data warehouse, data mining models is built and the design of information integration system is completed. The system covers the steel purchase, inventory, sale, distribution, contracts, finance, statistical analysis, decision support and other management functions. The proposed system can meet the Small&Medium steel enterprises scientific and orderly management for information resources, and the needs of managers forecasting, decision-making. Data warehouse and data mining applications can give an excellent support to the implementation of business intelligence in the future.
The Interest in Nanomaterials for Topical Photoprotection

Wearing clothes and using sun protection products are effective ways of preventing non-melanocytic skin cancer. Sun protection products are classified as cosmetics in Europe. The number of filters authorized by Regulation (EC) No 1223/2009 amended by Regulation (EU) No 344/2013 stands at a total of 27 (26 organic filters and one inorganic filter-titanium dioxide). After the development of methods for determining the efficacy of sun protection products (both in vivo and in vitro), a certain number of authors took an interest in the parameters involved in the efficacy of this category of products. The nature of the filter, the concentration used and the influence of certain ingredients in the formula are all criteria to be taken into account. Concerning titanium dioxide, considerable progress has been made in order to increase its efficacy and to facilitate its implementation. The reduction of the size of the particles used has allowed the products to be more transparent (the pale clown’s mask of days passed is just a bad memory) and above all, to be more effective. The study of a large number of commercial forms of titanium dioxide enables to conclude that nanoparticular titanium dioxide is far superior to pigmentary titanium dioxide. An emulsion composed of 25% pigmentary titanium dioxide only enables Sun Protection Factor (SPF) 5 to be obtained. The same emulsion but with 25% coated nanoparticular titanium dioxide (Tayca MT-100TV) enables a Sun Protection Factor of around 40 to be reached. The reduction of the size of the filtering particles thus proves to be indispensable for the development of highly protective sun protection products.
The effectiveness of preemptive analgesia varies according to the type of surgery: a randomized, double-blind study.

UNLABELLED The reliability of preemptive analgesia is controversial. Its effectiveness may vary among anatomical areas or surgical types. We evaluated preemptive analgesia by epidural morphine in six surgery types in a randomized, double-blind manner. Pain intensity was rated using a visual analog scale, a verbal report, and a measurement of postsurgical morphine consumption. Preemptive analgesia was effective in limb surgery and mastectomy, but ineffective for gastrectomy, hysterectomy, herniorrhaphy, and appendectomy. Relief of postsurgical pain in hemiorrhaphy was more rapid than that in the other surgery types. Preemptive analgesia was effective in limb surgery and mastectomy, but not in surgeries involving laparotomy, regardless of whether the surgery was major (gastrectomy and hysterectomy) or minor (herniorrhaphy and appendectomy). These results suggest that viscero-peritoneal nociception is involved in postsurgical pain. The abdominal viscera and peritoneum are innervated both heterosegmentally (in duplicate or triplicate by the vagus and/or phrenic nerves) and segmentally (by the spinal nerves). Therefore, supraspinal and/or cervical spinal neurons might be sensitized, despite the blockade of the segmental nerves with epidural morphine. The rapid retreat of the pain after hemiorrhaphy suggests that central sensitization remits soon after minor surgery, but that in appendicitis, it may be protracted by additional noxious stimuli, such as infection. IMPLICATIONS Epidural preemptive analgesia was reliably effective in limb and breast surgeries but ineffective in abdominal surgery, suggesting involvement of the brainstem and cervical spinal cord via the vagus and phlenic nerves.
A Framework for Finding Possible Historic Pollutant Sources: Vance County, NC as a Case Study

Breast cancer is an important health issue in the United States, as the most common cancer and the second leading cause of death among women. Since genetic and lifestyle factors account for only approximately 25-47% of breast cancer cases, environmental pollutants likely explain a significant portion of breast cancer incidence. The Nicholas School of the Environment and the Comprehensive Cancer Center at Duke University are collaborating on a project looking at environmental causes of possible breast cancer clusters in six counties in North Carolina: Caswell, Durham, Granville, Orange, Person, and Vance. There is a need for identification of possible pollutant sources in the counties, along with construction of a systematic way to find relevant facilities. This paper briefly examines the connection between the environment and breast cancer and aims to construct an organized framework for finding possible pollutant sources with the resources available in national and state databases. Vance County is selected as a case study due to preliminary research indicating its unusually high rate of breast cancer in young women (25-34 years old), and the highest discrepancy between black and white women in fiscal year survival rates. The adaptive process of creating the framework was performed simultaneously with the research for the case study, using peer-reviewed literature, internet research, and meetings with state environmental managers. The resulting framework consists of five stages designed as an iterative flowchart. Using Vance County as a case study, the successes and difficulties presented in the process are evaluated. National and state databases were used to collect facility and pollutant information that might be connected to the breast cancer cluster. The disorganization and lack of information located online hindered the search for historic pollutant sources in Vance. It was difficult to find facility information connected with emitted pollutants. Recommendations on improving the process include the importance of establishing clear goals and limitations, the lack of information found in national and state databases, and a need for overall improved database management. Future research may include field sampling and spatial analysis using geographic information systems (GIS).
Supergravity loop contributions to brane world supersymmetry breaking

We compute the supergravity loop contributions to the visible sector scalar masses in the simplest 5D `brane-world' model. Supersymmetry is assumed to be broken away from the visible brane and the contributions are UV finite due to 5D locality. We perform the calculation with N = 1 supergraphs, using a formulation of 5D supergravity in terms of N = 1 superfields. We compute contributions to the 4D effective action that determine the visible scalar masses, and we find that the mass-squared terms are negative.
Consumer choice for quality and sustainability in seafood products: empirical findings from United Kingdom

There has been a growing interest in recent years in the poten tial use of product differentiation (through eco-type labelling) as a means of promoting and rewarding the sustainable management and exploitation of fish stocks. This interest is marked by the growing literature on the topic, exploring both the concept and the key issues associated with it. It reflects a frustration among certain groups with the supply-side measures currently employed in fisheries management, which on their own have proven insufficient to counter the negative incentive structures characterising open-a ccess fisheries. The potential encapsulated by product differentiation has, however, yet to be tested in the market place. One of the debates that continues to accompany the concept is the nature and extent of the response of consumers to the introduction of labelled seafood products. Though differentiated seafood products are starting to come onto the market, we are still essentially dealing with a hypothetical market situation in terms of analysing consumer behaviour. Moving the debate from theoretical extrapolation to one of empirical evidence, this paper presents the preliminary empirical results of a study undertaken in the UK. The study aimed, amongst other things, to evaluate whether UK consumers are prepared to pay a premium for seafood products that are differentiated on the grounds that the fish is either of (a) high quality or (b) comes from a sustainably managed fishery. It also aimed to establish whether the quantity of fish products purchased would change. The results are presented in this paper.
An evolution-inspired algorithm for efficient dynamic spectrum selection

Spectrum selection is a key issue in Dynamic Spectrum Access (DSA). The purpose of the selection is to minimize interference with legacy devices and maximize the discovery of opportunities or white spaces. There are several solutions to this issue, and Reinforcement Learning algorithms are among the most successful. Through simulation, we compare the performance of the Q-Learning algorithm to our proposal which is based on an Evolution Strategy. Our proposal outperforms Q-Learning in most scenarios, and has the further advantage of not requiring any parameterization since the parameters are automatically adjusted by the algorithm.
The Diversity of Insect-bacteria Interactions and its Applications for Disease Control

Abstract Prokaryotic microorganisms are widespread in all environments on Earth, establishing diverse interactions with many eukaryotic taxa, including insects. These associations may be symbiotic, pathogenic and vectoring. Independently of the type of interaction, each association starts with the adhesion of the microorganism to the host, entry and “invasion” of the host, then progresses to establishment and dissemination within the host, by avoiding host immune responses, and concludes with transmission back to the environment or to a new host. Advances in genomics and genetics have allowed the dissection of these processes and provided important information on the elements driving the shaping of the members of each association. Furthermore, many mechanisms involved in the establishment of the associations have been scrutinised, along with the development of new methods for the management of insect populations.
Paralleled Three-Phase Current-Source Rectifiers for High-Efficiency Power Supply Applications

This paper presents the paralleling operation of three-phase current-source rectifiers (CSRs) as the front-end power conversion stage of data center power supply systems based on 400-Vdc power delivery architecture, which has been proven to have higher efficiency than traditional ac architectures. A control algorithm of paralleled three-phase CSRs is introduced to achieve balanced outputs and individual rectifier module hot swap, which are required by power supply systems. By using silicon carbide (SiC) power semiconductors, SiC MOSFETs, and Schottky diodes, the power losses of the front-end stage are reduced, and the power supply system efficiency can be further increased. The prototype of a 19-kW front-end rectifier to convert 480 Vac,rms to 400 Vdc, based on three paralleled three-phase CSRs, is developed. Each CSR is an all-SiC converter and designed for high efficiency, and the front-end stage full-load efficiency is greater than 98% from experimental tests. The balanced outputs and individual converter hot swap are realized in the hardware prototype too.
Managing Complex Taxonomic Data in an Object-Oriented Database

This thesis addresses the problem of multiple overlapping classifications in object-oriented databases through the example of plant taxonomy. These multiple overlapping classifications are independent simple classifications that share information (nodes and leaves), therefore overlap. Plant taxonomy was chosen as the motivational application domain because taxonomic classifications are especially complex and have changed over long periods of time, therefore overlap in a significant manner. This work extracts basic requirements for the support of multiple overlapping classifications in general, and in the context of plant taxonomy in particular. These requirements form the basis on which a prototype is defmed and built. The prototype, an extended object-oriented database, is extended from an object-oriented model based on ODMG through the provision of a relationship management mechanism. These relationships form the main feature used to build classifications. This emphasis on relationships allows the description of classifications orthogonal to the classified data (for reuse and integration of the mechanism with existing databases and for classification of non co-operating data), and allows an easier and more powerful management of semantic data (both within and without a classification). Additional mechanisms such as integrity constraints are investigated and implemented. Finally, the implementation of the prototype is presented and is evaluated, from the point of view of both usability and expressiveness (using plant taxonomy as an application), and its performance as a database system. This evaluation shows that the prototype meets the needs of taxonomists.
Presence of Extensive Wolbachia Symbiont Insertions Discovered in the Genome of Its Host Glossina morsitans morsitans

Tsetse flies (Glossina spp.) are the cyclical vectors of Trypanosoma spp. , which are unicellular parasites responsible for multiple diseases, including nagana in livestock and sleeping sickness in humans in Africa. Glossina species, including Glossina morsitans morsitans (Gmm), for which the Whole Genome Sequence (WGS) is now available, have established symbiotic associations with three endosymbionts: Wigglesworthia glossinidia, Sodalis glossinidius and Wolbachia pipientis (Wolbachia). The presence of Wolbachia in both natural and laboratory populations of Glossina species, including the presence of horizontal gene transfer (HGT) events in a laboratory colony of Gmm, has already been shown. We herein report on the draft genome sequence of the cytoplasmic Wolbachia endosymbiont (cytWol) associated with Gmm. By in silico and molecular and cytogenetic analysis, we discovered and validated the presence of multiple insertions of Wolbachia (chrWol) in the host Gmm genome. We identified at least two large insertions of chrWol, 527,507 and 484,123 bp in size, from Gmm WGS data. Southern hybridizations confirmed the presence of Wolbachia insertions in Gmm genome, and FISH revealed multiple insertions located on the two sex chromosomes (X and Y), as well as on the supernumerary B-chromosomes. We compare the chrWol insertions to the cytWol draft genome in an attempt to clarify the evolutionary history of the HGT events. We discuss our findings in light of the evolution of Wolbachia infections in the tsetse fly and their potential impacts on the control of tsetse populations and trypanosomiasis.
On the Minimum Label Spanning Tree Problem

The minimum label spanning tree problem is a combinatorial optimization problem with applications in telecommunication network design with the goal of deriving a network that is preferably uniform w.r. t. to the used communication facilities. For the minimum label spanning tree problem we are given a connected graph with labels associated to its edges. The goal is to derive a spanning tree requiring a minimum amount of labels in the sense that for each edge an according label must be selected. The problem has been shown to be NP-complete. So far, research has primarily been devoted to the development and analysis of approximation algorithms and heuristics, but also some exact solution methods have been proposed. It has been shown that no polynomial constant-factor approximation algorithms do exist (unless P = NP), but however, heuristic and metaheuristic algorithms are able to provide high quality solutions within a reasonable amount of computation time. Exact methods are only capable of solving relatively small instances in practice, but the development of elaborate methods may significantly shift the border of exactly solvable instances towards larger ones, enabling their application for practical purposes. Within this thesis exact and heuristic methods for the minimum label spanning tree problem and some variations are investigated. Regarding metaheuristics, main emphasis is given to the application of ant colony optimization, which has not yet been considered for the given problem. Moreover, it is studied how these methods can be used as primal heuristics to speed up exact solution methods. In the following, exact methods based on mixed integer programming are investigated. Within this context existing formulations are strengthened by new classes of inequalities and new formulations are proposed. In particular it is shown how odd-hole inequalities can be used to cut-off fractional label solutions in order to tighten the linear programming relaxation. For the latter ones a heuristic separation procedure based on a mixed integer linear program using Miller-Tucker-Zemlin inequalities is proposed, to be used within a cutting-plane algorithm. All the presented heuristic and exact methods have been implemented and evaluated by comprehensive
Identification, cDNA Cloning, and Targeted Deletion of p70, a Novel, Ubiquitously Expressed SH3 Domain-Containing Protein

ABSTRACT In a screen for proteins that interact with Jak2, we identified a previously uncharacterized 70-kDa protein and cloned the corresponding cDNA. The predicated sequence indicates that p70 contains an SH3 domain and a C-terminal domain with similarities to the catalytic motif of phosphoglycerate mutase. p70 transcripts were found in all tissues examined. Similarly, when an antibody raised against a C-terminal peptide to analyze p70 protein expression was used, all murine tissues examined were found to express p70. To investigate the in vivo role of p70, we generated a p70-deficient mouse strain. Mice lacking p70 are viable, develop normally, and do not display any obvious abnormalities. No differences were detected in various hematological parameters, including bone marrow colony-forming ability, in response to cytokines that utilize Jak2. In addition, no impairment in B- and T-cell development and proliferative ability was detected.