Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Topologies on the group of homeomorphisms of a Cantor set

Let $\text{\rm Homeo}(\Omega)$ be the group of all homeomorphisms of a Cantor set $\Omega$. We study topological properties of $\text{\rm Homeo}(\Omega)$ and its subsets with respect to the uniform $(\tau)$ and weak $(\tau_w)$ topologies. The classes of odometers and periodic, aperiodic, minimal, rank 1 homeomorphisms are considered and the closures of those classes in $\tau$ and $\tau_w$ are found.
Wiener crosses borders: interpolation based on second order models

Interpolation of signals (arbitrary dimension, here: 2D images) with missing data points is addressed from a statistical point of view. We present a general framework for which a Wiener-style MMSE estimator can be seamlessly adapted to deal with problems such as image interpolation (inpainting), reconstruction from sparse samples, and image extrapolation. The proposed method gives a precise answer on a) how arbitrary can linear filters can be applied to initially incomplete signals and b) shows the definite way to extend images beyond theirs borders such that no size reduction occurs if a linear filter/operator is to be applied to the image.
March AB, a state-of-the-art march test for realistic static linked faults and dynamic faults in SRAMs

Memory testing commonly faces two issues: the characterisation of detailed and realistic fault models, and the definition of time-efficient test algorithms able to detect them. Among the different types of algorithms proposed for testing static random access memories (SRAMs), march tests have proven to be faster, simpler and regularly structured. The continuous evolution of the memory technology requires the constant introduction of new classes of faults, such as dynamic and linked faults. Presented here is March AB, a march test targeting realistic memory static linked faults and dynamic unlinked faults. Comparison results show that the proposed march test provides the same fault coverage of already published algorithms reducing the test complexity and therefore the test time
Evolutionary techniques for fault tolerance

Artificial evolution can integrate fault tolerance considerations into the automatic design process, producing inherently fault-tolerant designs without explicit redundant parts. Population dynamics can give rise to some level of fault tolerance `for free'. Requirements for fault tolerance can also be incorporated into the fitness function. The practicalities of these methods are investigated, grounded in the study of a real-world evolved electronic control system for a mobile robot.
Survey of volatile substances in kitchen utensils made from acrylonitrile–butadiene–styrene and acrylonitrile–styrene resin in Japan

Residual levels of 14 volatile substances, including 1,3-butadiene, acrylonitrile, benzene, ethylbenzene, and styrene, in 30 kitchen utensils made from acrylonitrile–butadiene–styrene resin (ABS) and acrylonitrile–styrene resin (AS) such as slicers, picks, cups, and lunch boxes in Japan were simultaneously determined using headspace gas chromatography/mass spectroscopy (HS-GC/MS). The maximum residual levels in the ABS and AS samples were found to be 2000 and 2800 μg/g of styrene, respectively. The residual levels of 1,3-butadiene ranged from 0.06 to 1.7 μg/g in ABS, and three of 15 ABS samples exceeded the regulatory limit for this compound as established by the European Union (EU). The residual levels of acrylonitrile ranged from 0.15 to 20 μg/g in ABS and from 19 to 180 μg/g in AS. The levels of this substance in seven ABS and six AS samples exceeded the limit set by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA). Furthermore, the levels of acrylonitrile in three AS samples exceeded the voluntary standard established by Japanese industries. These results clearly indicate that the residual levels of some volatile compounds are still high in ABS and AS kitchen utensils and further observations are needed.
The effect of nitroglycerin on hemodynamic changes during laparoscopic low anterior resection

Background More laparoscopic low anterior resections (LAR) are being performed in recent years. There has been controversy around the hemodynamic changes affected by the Trendelenburg position and pneumoperitoneum during LAR. The goal of this study was to analyze the effect of nitroglycerin (NTG) on hemodynamic changes during LAR. Methods Forty ASA physical status I-II patients undergoing LAR were randomized into two groups: the NTG infused group (N group, n = 20) and the control group (C group, n = 20). Anesthesia was maintained with sevoflurane at 1-3 vol%, air/oxygen (50%/50%) and continuous infusion with remifentanil. The N group patients were given 0.5 µg/kg/min of NTG during anesthesia. Mean arterial pressure (MAP), heart rate (HR), central venous pressure (CVP), cardiac index (CI), stroke volume (SV) and systemic vascular resistance (SVR) were assessed 10 min after induction (T1), 5 min after pneumoperitoneum in the supine position (T2), 10 min after pneumoperitoneum in the Trendelenburg position (T3), 30 min after pneumoperitoneum in the Trendelenburg position (T4), 1 hr after pneumoperitoneum in the Trendelenburg position (T5) in addition to 5 (T6), 10 (T7) and 30 min (T8) after removal of the pneumoperitoneum in the supine position. Results The increases of MAP were milder in the N group (22.6-7.3%) than the C group (32.3-17.7%) during pneumoperitoneum and while in the Trendelenburg position. The significant decreases of HR were maintained in the C group, but the changes in HR were not significant in N group during the operation. The increases in CVP were less in N group than C group. The increases of SVR were milder in N group (19.4-1.4%) than C group (41.7-16.6%) during pneumoperitoneum in the Trendelenburg position. Conclusions Intraoperative NTG infusions were effective to some degree in reducing the hemodynamic changes during pneumoperitoneum with Trendelenburg positioning for LAR.
Sum-Rate Maximization for Two-Way MIMO Amplify-and-Forward Relaying Systems

This paper considers two-way relaying systems with a multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) relay between two MIMO terminal nodes. The two-way relaying protocol can en- hance the spectral efficiency compared with the one-way protocol by compensating the loss from half-duplex signaling. In this paper, we propose an iterative scheme to find a relay weighting matrix maximizing the sum-rate for two-way relay channels. Due to the non-convexity of the given problem, the proposed scheme iteratively identifies a local optimal solution by deriving the gradient of the sum-rate and applying the gradient descent algorithm. Simulation results show that the proposed iterative scheme with provable convergence achieves a near-optimal sum- rate for the two-way MIMO relay channels. Also, we show that the proposed scheme with a few iterations still outperforms the conventional schemes.
Pseudozero set of interval polynomials

Interval polynomials are useful to describe perturbed polynomials. We present a graphical tool to describe how perturbations of the polynomial coefficients affect its zeros without using interval arithmetic nor matrix representation. This tool implements real pseudozero set that differ from the well known complex pseudozero set restricting perturbations to be real and applied to real polynomials. We introduce a computable formula for this real pseudozero set and compare complex and real pseudozero sets. We propose a graphical MATLAB interface to draw zeros of such interval polynomials.
Design of Low Transition Pseudo-Random Pattern Generator for BIST Applications

Built in self testing (BIST) is most attractive technique to test different kind of circuits. In BIST, test patterns are generated by different techniques of test pattern generation and applied to the circuit under test (CUT). In pseudorandom BIST architecture, test patterns are generated by Linear Feedback Shift Register (LFSR). Due to high Switching in pattern generation by conventional LFSR, power dissipation is high in conventional LFSR. Power is an important constraint in VLSI (Very Large Scale Integration) testing. This paper presents a modification in LFSR to generate pattern for BIST applications with reduced power requirement. This new technique represent low transition pattern pseudorandom generator (LT-PRG) for Test-perClock and Test-per-Scan BIST applications. The LT-PRPG is designed with the use of a LFSR and a 2x1 multiplexer. Experimental results show that the implementation of BitSwapping LFSR can reduce the internal transition activity probability which directly affect the dissipation of power in CUT without affecting the fault coverage.
Youth assets and sexual risk behavior: the importance of assets for youth residing in one-parent households.

CONTEXT Youth assets are associated with a reduction in sexual risk behavior; however, little is known about this association among youth at high risk of engaging in unsafe behavior, such as those in one-parent households. METHODS In-home interviews were used to collect data from 1,253 inner-city teenagers and their parents. Multivariate logistic regressions were conducted separately for youth from one- and two-parent households to assess relationships between youth assets and four behaviors related to sexual risk: never having had sexual intercourse, not being currently sexually active, having delayed intercourse until age 17, and having used birth control at last intercourse. RESULTS Among youth living in one-parent households, those with the aspirations for the future, good health practices (exercise/nutrition), peer role models and family communication assets had significantly elevated odds of reporting one of the behaviors examined (odds ratios, 1.8-7.3). The peer role models asset also interacted with parental education to significantly predict an absence of current sexual activity for youth in one-parent households (21.2). Among youth living in two-parent households, community involvement was linked to increased odds of never having had sex (1.9), but no other significant relationships were found. Youths' total number of assets significantly predicted three of the four behaviors among youth in one-parent households (1.2-1.8), but predicted only sexual inexperience among those in two-parent households (1.4). CONCLUSION Future research should more fully investigate the role of family structure in relationships between youth assets and risk behaviors. Certain youth assets may be particularly effective in reducing sexual risk behavior among youth in one-parent households.
PeerNil: An approach to publish and lookup Nilsimsa digest in chord

Nilsimsa algorithm plays an important part in the anti-spam technique. In this paper, we introduce the concept of Nilsimsa vector based on the research on the procedure of the Nilsimsa digest generation. By taking the length of Nilsimsa vector as the key, we propose an approach to publish and perform lookup for Nilsimsa digest in Chord: PeerNil. We analyze the lookup efficiency and load balancing issue in PeerNil. The experiment results demonstrate the effectiveness of PeerNil.
EFFECTS OF IN VIVO DECALCIFICATION ON ULTRASTRUCTURE OF ADULT RAT LIVER

A method of in situ perfusion of rat liver via the portal vein is described, by which osmiumtetroxide fixative can be introduced rapidly and uniformly to all parts of the tissue. Previous perfusion with balanced physiological saline solution, under the conditions described, of itself causes minimal change in the liver cell and liver architecture. Perfusion with a chelating agent causes no further detectable alteration within the liver cell but results in separation of the cells, even to the extent of producing a free cell suspension. The separation of cells is not accompanied by any recognizable damage to the plasma membrane but there is a striking tendency to pseudopod formation on the newly exposed surface. These findings provide direct evidence to support the classical concept of the importance of calcium to the adhesiveness of the plasma membrane in the tissues of the adult rat.
Appropriate Child Participation and the Risks of Spiritual Abuse

How can churches empower children-at-risk as ‘vulnerable agents of God’s mission,’ while also protecting them from potential risks for manipulation, exploitation, or spiritual abuse? What is ‘appropriate participation’? What types of manipulation, exploitation, or spiritual abuse might occur in this participation? This essay seeks to define ‘appropriate participation’ in the church and mission, drawing substantially from Hart’s ladder of participation to analyze the participation of children-at-risk as agents of mission. With this as a foundation, spiritual abuse is defined, and a discussion of how this might happen within the realm of child participation in the ministry of the church and mission is presented. Finally, it presents principles and guidelines that the church should consider as they seek to protect children and youth from potential abuse during the process of participating in God’s mission.
Almost Optimal Streaming Algorithms for Coverage Problems

Maximum coverage and minimum set cover problems---here collectively called coverage problems---have been studied extensively in streaming models. However, previous research not only achieves suboptimal approximation factors and space complexities but also study a restricted set-arrival model which makes an explicit or implicit assumption on oracle access to the sets, ignoring the complexity of reading and storing the whole set at once. In this paper, we address the above shortcomings and present algorithms with improved approximation factor and improved space complexity, and prove that our results are almost tight. Moreover, unlike most of the previous work, our results hold in a more general edge-arrival model. More specifically, consider an instance with n sets, together covering m elements. Information arrives in the form of "edges" from sets to elements (denoting membership) in arbitrary order. We present (almost) optimal approximation algorithms for maximum coverage and minimum set cover problems in the streaming model with an (almost) optimal space complexity of Õ(n); i.e., the space is independent of the size of the sets or the size of the ground set of elements. These results not only improve the best known algorithms for the set-arrival model, but also are the first such algorithms for the more powerful edge-arrival model. In order to achieve the above results, we introduce a new general sketching technique for coverage functions: One can apply this sketching scheme to convert an α-approximation algorithm for a coverage problem to a (1-ε)α-approximation algorithm for the same problem in streaming model. We show the significance of our sketching technique by ruling out the possibility of solving coverage problems via accessing (as a black box) a (1 ± ε)-approximate oracle (e.g., a sketch function) that estimates the coverage function on any subfamily of the sets. Finally, we show that our streaming algorithms achieve an almost optimal space complexity.
Nicotine Blocks the Hyperpolarization-Activated Current Ih and Severely Impairs the Oscillatory Behavior of Oriens-Lacunosum Moleculare Interneurons

In the brain, high cognitive functions are encoded by coherent network oscillations. Key players are inhibitory interneurons that, by releasing GABA into principal cells, pace targeted cells. Among these, oriens-lacunosum moleculare (O-LM) interneurons that provide a theta frequency patterned output to distal dendrites of pyramidal cells are endowed with HCN channels responsible for the slowly activating inwardly rectifying Ih current and their pacemaking activity. Here we show that, in transgenic mice expressing EGFP (enhanced green fluorescent protein) in a subset of stratum oriens somatostatin-containing interneurons that mostly comprise O-LM cells, nicotine, the active component of tobacco, reduced Ih and the oscillatory behavior of O-LM interneurons. In cells hyperpolarized at −90 mV, nicotine suppressed the theta resonance in the same way as ZD 7288 (4-ethylphenylamino-1,2-dimethyl-6-methylaminopyrimidinium chloride), a selective blocker of Ih. Nicotine blocked Ih in a concentration-dependent way with an EC50 of 62 nm. Similar effects were produced by epibatidine, a structural analog of nicotine. The effects of nicotine and epibatidine were independent on nicotinic ACh receptor (nAChR) activation because they persisted in the presence of nAChR antagonists. Furthermore, nicotine slowed down the interspike depolarizing slope and the firing rate, thus severely disrupting the oscillatory behavior of O-LM cells. Molecular modeling suggests that, similarly to ZD 7288, nicotine and epibatidine directly bind to the inner pore of the HCN channels. It is therefore likely that nicotine severely influences rhythmogenesis and high cognitive functions in smokers.
Biological activities of thymosin ß4 defined by active sites in short peptide sequences

Thymosin ß4, a small ubiquitous protein containing 43 aa, has structure/function activity via its actin‐binding domain and numerous biological affects on cells. Since it is the major actin‐sequestering molecule in eukaryotic cells and is found essentially in all cells and body fluids, thymosin ß4 has the potential for significant roles in tissue development, maintenance, repair, and pathology. Several active sites with unique functions have been identified, including the amino‐terminal site containing 4 aa (Ac‐SDKP) that generally blocks inflammation and reduces fibrosis. Another active site at the amino terminus contains 15 aa, including Ac‐SDKP, and promotes cell survival and blocks apoptosis, while a short sequence containing LKKTETQ, the central actin‐binding domain (aa 17–23) plus 1 additional amino acid (Q), promotes angiogenesis, wound healing, and cell migration. Several additional biological activities have been identified but not yet localized in the molecule, including its antimicrobial activity, the induction of various genes (including laminin‐5, MMPs, TGF ß, zyxin, terminal deoxynucleotidyl transferase, and angiogenesis‐related proteins), and the ability to activate ILK/PINCH/Akt, and other signaling molecules important in both apoptosis and inflammatory pathways. This review details these important physiologically and pathologically active sites and their potential therapeutic uses. —Sosne, G. , Qiu, P., Goldstein, A L. , Wheater. M. Biological activities of thymosin β4 defined by active sites in short peptide sequences. FASEB J. 24, 2144–2151 (2010). www.fasebj. org
Restoration of faded images without noise amplification

This paper1 focuses on an automatic model for contrast enhancement of digitized archive photographic prints. It exploits the relation between the change of contrast along scales and the Lipschitz regularity of the image for producing an adaptive enhancement. This strategy allows to drastically reduce typical effects as halo and noise amplification, resulting completely automatic thanks to the use of the visibility laws.
Evolving Constants of Motion

A critical presentation of Rovelli's ``evolving constants of motion'' is given. Previous criticisms by Kucha\v{r} concerning the role of factor ordering and the non-existence of observables are dealt with and shown to be unfounded. Kucha\v{r}'s criticisms that this approach does not solve the global, multiple choice or Hilbert space problems of time are confirmed, and new insight into why this is so is obtained.
A rational SHIRA method for the Hamiltonian eigenvalue problem

The SHIRA method of Mehrmann and Watkins belongs among the structure preserving Krylov subspace methods for solving skew-Hamiltonian eigenvalue problems. It can also be applied to Hamiltonian eigenproblems by considering a suitable transformation. Structure-induced shift-and-invert techniques are employed to steer the algorithm towards the interesting region of the spectrum. However, the shift cannot be altered in the middle of the computation without discarding the information that has been accumulated so far. This paper shows how SHIRA can be combined with ideas from Ruhe’s Rational Krylov algorithm to yield a method that permits an adjustment of shift after every step of the computation, adding greatly to the flexibility of the algorithm. We call this new method Rational SHIRA. A numerical example is presented to demonstrate its efficiency.
A model-independent definition of attractor behavior applicable to interactive tasks

Both in designing teleoperators or haptic interfaces and in fundamental biological motor control studies, it is important to characterize the motor commands and mechanical impedance responses of the operator (or subject). Although such a characterization is fundamentally impossible for isolated movements when these two aspects of motor behavior have similar time scales (as is the case with humans), it is nonetheless possible, if we are dealing with repeated movements, to measure a trajectory which is analogous to the current source in Norton-equivalent electrical circuits. We define the attractor trajectory to be this equivalent source and show that it rigorously embodies the notion of the attractor point of a time-evolving system. We demonstrate that most previous attempts to test a controversial motor control hypothesis known as the "equilibrium point" or "virtual trajectory" hypothesis are based on inadequate models of the neuromuscular system, and we propose a model-independent means of testing the hypothesis based on a comparison of measurable attractor trajectories at different levels of the motor system. We present and demonstrate means of making such measurements experimentally and of assigning error bounds to the estimated trajectories.
Directed movements in probabilistic time geography

This article studies probabilistic time geography for space–time prisms, that is, for situations where observers know the location of an agent at one time and then again at another time. In the intervening period, the agent would have moved freely, according to its time budget. The article demonstrates that the probability of finding the agent somewhere in the space–time prism is not equally distributed, so any attempt of a quantitative time geographic analysis must consider the actual probability distribution. This article develops, implements, and demonstrates this distribution. A preceding article introduced probabilistic time geography for space–time cones. With cones and prisms, the elementary space–time volumes of time geography are provided.