Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Integrated capacity planning and production control of a parallel-machine manufacturing system

Optimal capacity planning and optimal production control are both very important to the improvement of the performance of a manufacturing system. However, in existing research and practice, the two problems are usually studied separately, although they actually depend on each other. In this paper, we investigate the problem of integrated capacity planning and production control of a multiple-parallel machine and single-part-type manufacturing system, in which every machine has the same maximum production rate, failure rate and repair rate, so that better performances on both sides can be obtained. To solve this problem, firstly, we develop the method of computing the probability distribution of the state variables for a parallel-machine system under the hedging point policy. Based on that, the average production cost for inventory holding and demand backlog are evaluated. A derivative-based analytical method of optimizing the hedging point is proposed to minimize the production cost, and a binary search algorithm is employed to optimize the production capacity. Finally, numerical experiments are conducted to verify the feasibility of this method, and the effectiveness of this algorithm.
Evaluating the Bank of England Density Forecasts of Inflation

We consider evaluating the UK Monetary Policy Committee's inflation density forecasts using probability integral transform goodness-of-fit tests. These tests evaluate the whole forecast density. We also consider whether the probabilities assigned to inflation being in certain ranges are well calibrated, where the ranges are chosen to be those of particular relevance to the MPC, given its remit of maintaining inflation rates in a band. Finally, we discuss the decision-based approach to forecast evaluation in relation to the MPC forecasts. Copyright 2004 Royal Economic Society.
Site-specific translocation and evidence of postnatal origin of the t(1;19) E2A-PBX1 fusion in childhood acute lymphoblastic leukemia

The t(1;19) translocation yields a fusion between E2A and PBX1 genes and occurs in 5% of acute lymphoblastic leukemia in children and adults. We used chromosomal translocations and Ig heavy chain (IGH)/T cell antigen receptor (TCR) rearrangements to develop an understanding of the etiology and natural history of this subtype of leukemia. We sequenced the genomic fusion between E2A and PBX1 in 22 preB acute lymphoblastic leukemias and two cell lines. The prenatal origin of the leukemia was assessed in 15 pediatric patients by screening for the clonotypic E2A-PBX1 translocation in neonatal blood spots, or Guthrie cards, obtained from the children at the time of birth. Two patients were determined to be weakly positive for the fusion at the time of birth, in contrast to previously studied childhood leukemia fusions, t(12;21), t(8;21), and t(4;11), which were predominantly prenatal. The presence of extensive N-nucleotides at the point of fusion in the E2A-PBX1 translocation as well as specific characteristics of the IGH/TCR rearrangements provided additional evidence for a postnatal, preB cell origin. Intriguingly, 16 of 24 breakpoints on the 3.2-kb E2A intron 14 were located within 5 bp, providing evidence for a site-specific recombination mechanism. Breakpoints on the 232-kb PBX1 intron 1 were more dispersed but highly clustered proximal to exon 2. In sum, the translocation breakpoints displayed evidence of unique temporal, ontological, and mechanistic formation than the previously analyzed pediatric leukemia translocation breakpoints and emphasize the need to differentiate cytogenetic and molecular subgroups for studies of leukemia causality.
Identification and mitigation of NLOS based on channel state information for indoor WiFi localization

Indoor localization could benefit greatly from non-line-of-sight (NLOS) identification and mitigation, since the major challenge for WiFi indoor ranging-based localization technologies are multipath and NLOS. NLOS identification and mitigation on commodity WiFi devices, however, is challenge due to limited bandwidth and coarse multipath resolution with mere MAC layer RSSI. In this study, we explore and exploit the finer-grained PHY layer channel state information (CSI) to identify and mitigate NLOS. Key to our approach is exploiting several statistical features of CSI, which are proved to be particularly effective. Approach based on machine learning is proposed to identify NLOS and mitigate NLOS error. Experiment results in various indoor scenarios with severe interferences demonstrate that the proposed approach outperform previous threshold-based approaches and mitigate the impact of NLOS conditions perfectly.
E-Commerce and Agricultural Markets

E-commerce will have a profound effect on agricultural markets. Due to lower transactions costs, more firms throughout the agricultural value chain will be able to engage in business-to-business e-commerce. Products and services will be increasingly unbundled throughout the marketing channel. Firms will be able to specialize in narrow niches and will face competition from other similarly specialized firms. Many more products and services will be traded as "commodities," and price discovery throughout the value chain will become more transparent and observable. Differentiated or value-added agricultural products, such as high oil corn, or "Roundup Ready" soybeans could be traded on organized, perhaps virtual, exchanges. To increase the probability of success of new contracts, exchanges should use information technologies, demutualize, design contracts to meet industry needs, encourage inter- and intra-market spreading, and develop new means to certify product quality. Producers will benefit from e-commerce if they can gain competitive access to the virtual value chain.
NMDA Receptor NR2 Subunit Dependence of the Slow Component of Magnesium Unblock

NMDA receptor activity is important for many physiological functions, including synapse formation and alterations in synaptic strength. NMDA receptors are composed most commonly of NR1 and NR2 subunits. There are four NR2 subunits (NR2A–NR2D). NR2 subunit expression varies across both brain regions and developmental stages. The identity of the NR2 subunit within a functional NMDA receptor helps to determine many pharmacological and biophysical receptor properties, including strength of block by external Mg2+ (Mgo2+). Mgo2+ block confers strong voltage dependence to NMDA receptor-mediated responses and is critically important for many of the functions that the NMDA receptor plays within the CNS. Here we describe the NR2 subunit dependence of the kinetics of Mgo2+ unblock after rapid depolarizations. We find that Mgo2+ unblocks from NR1/2A and NR1/2B receptors with a prominent slow component similar to that previously described in native hippocampal and cortical NMDA receptors. Strikingly, this slow component of Mgo2+ unblock is completely absent from NR1/2C and NR1/2D receptors. Thus currents from NR1/2C and NR1/2D receptors respond more rapidly to fast depolarizations than currents from NR1/2A and NR1/2B receptors. In addition, the slow component of Mgo2+ unblock from NR1/2B receptors is consistently slower than from NR1/2A receptors. This makes rapid depolarizations, such as action potential waveforms, more efficacious at stimulating Mgo2+ unblock from NR1/2A than from NR1/2B receptors. These NR2 subunit differences in the kinetics of Mgo2+ unblock are likely to help determine the contribution of each NMDA receptor subtype to current flow during synaptic activity.
Generalized synchronization via multi-agent systems

This paper shows generalized multi-synchronization problem as a leader-following consensus problem from an algebraic point of view. Here, a multi-agent system is treated as a network of strictly different nonlinear systems with fixed and not strongly connected topology. This problem is solved using the differential primitive element as a linear combination of state measurements and control inputs. The former is necessary to construct a family of transformations to carry out the multi-agent network to a Generalized Observability Canonical Form Multi-output (GOCFM) and construct a dynamical controller able to asymptotically achieve consensus for all agents in the network.
Predicting dyslexia based on the shape of the Corpus Callosum in MR images

This paper investigates the extent to which the shape of one of the brain structures, the Corpus Callosum, is correlated to (or moreover, can predict) the presence of dyslexia . A statistical shape analysis reveals differences in CC shap e between a group of 20 normal subjects and a group of 20 dyslexic subjects. Moreover, a classification system based on the length of the isthmus region can accurately classify nor mal/dyslexic subjects about 80% of the time in a 52 (28 normal and 24 dyslexic) CC shape set. As far as we know, this is the first attempt to automatically predict dyslexia based on the characteristics of the Corpus Callosum extracted from MR images.
A single chip direct conversion CMOS transceiver for quad-band GSM/GPRS/EDGE and WLAN with integrated VCO's and fractional-N synthesizer

This paper presents the first WWAN + WLAN integrated radio transceiver. The 0.18 /spl mu/m CMOS chip includes a fully integrated receiver, transmitter and frequency synthesizer. The device includes a direct conversion receiver that converts the RF signal to quadrature analog baseband while yielding a high IIP2 (> +45.0 dBm) and low LO radiation (<-100 dBm over all bands). The receiver includes selectable baseband filters and variable gain amplifiers. The transmitter uses a quadrature direct modulator and pre-power amplifiers; that can support low gain GSM PAs with low carrier leakage (<-40 dB). An RF /spl Sigma//spl Delta/ fractional-N synthesizer is integrated on-chip to generate the system local oscillator signal. A flexible baseband interface is provided to allow for control via two distinct baseband processor systems.
A hyperactive piggyBac transposase for mammalian applications

DNA transposons have been widely used for transgenesis and insertional mutagenesis in various organisms. Among the transposons active in mammalian cells, the moth-derived transposon piggyBac is most promising with its highly efficient transposition, large cargo capacity, and precise repair of the donor site. Here we report the generation of a hyperactive piggyBac transposase. The active transposition of piggyBac in multiple organisms allowed us to screen a transposase mutant library in yeast for hyperactive mutants and then to test candidates in mouse ES cells. We isolated 18 hyperactive mutants in yeast, among which five were also hyperactive in mammalian cells. By combining all mutations, a total of 7 aa substitutions, into a single reading frame, we generated a unique hyperactive piggyBac transposase with 17-fold and ninefold increases in excision and integration, respectively. We showed its applicability by demonstrating an increased efficiency of generation of transgene-free mouse induced pluripotent stem cells. We also analyzed whether this hyperactive piggyBac transposase affects the genomic integrity of the host cells. The frequency of footprints left by the hyperactive piggyBac transposase was as low as WT transposase (~1%) and we found no evidence that the expression of the transposase affects genomic integrity. This hyperactive piggyBac transposase expands the utility of the piggyBac transposon for applications in mammalian genetics and gene therapy.
Juggling Paradoxical Strategies: The Emergent Role of IT Capabilities

The simultaneous pursuit of paradoxical strategies is an emergent means of attaining competitive advantage. By nature, exploration and exploitation are fundamentally different, inconsistent and contradictory, thus reflecting an instance of organizational ambidexterity. We assert that IT capabilities act through different mechanisms to influence ambidexterity. To test our model, we selected to gather data from 352 manufacturing firms in high growth sectors in India – a setting that provides an exemplar for the world’s enterprises undergoing rapid changes in the 21st century. Through OLS analysis we find strong support for our assertion that an organization’s IT capabilities individually and jointly influence organizational ambidexterity, hitherto a challenging competitive possibility. We are thus also able to account for previously unexplained variance in IT payoffs in the emerging economy and small and medium enterprise contexts. Overall, through this research, we validate the emergent role of IT capabilities in juggling paradoxical strategies in the 21st century.
Prospects For A US-Taiwan Free Trade Agreement

Taiwan has a special status for the United States, as both a leading high-technology economic partner and a place of political and security concern. The authors look at both the quantitative and qualitative evidence on the potential effects of a US-Taiwan free trade agreement (FTA), both for maximizing US economic benefits and for securing a prosperous and secure future for Taiwan. Their analysis indicates that the direct economic benefits of a prospective FTA would be modest and that the FTA could be most valuable to the United States if it leads Taiwan toward greater regional integration.
The dynamics of growth: Econometric modelling and the implications for employment.

This thesis presents the author's work in two parts. Part I contains two studies of the modelling of growth and convergence, Part II examines empirical issues regarding the determinants of labour market outcomes. In Chapter 1 we tackle and solve a methodological issue in the application of the distribution dynamics method for studying the evolution in time of an entire cross section distribution. The problem of discretisation of a continuous state space Markov process is solved by employing a new method proposed in the statistical literature. The method is applied to the distribution of per capita income across countries and the (non-) convergence phenomenon is reassessed. In Chapter 2 we model the evolution of per capita incomes across countries as a semi-markov process, with variable sojourn times between states. We uncover asymmetries in the distribution of transition times and find very low persistence of income dynamics, especially in the high portion of the income distribution. In Chapter 3 we investigate the existence of a long run equilibrium relationship between unemployment and a set of labour market institutional variables by means of newly developed panel unit root and cointegration models. We find that these variables are integrated of order one and cointegrated. We estimate the long run effects of institutions on unemployment. In Chapter 4 we estimate a model of equilibrium employment with endogenous technological progress. Innovation arises as a consequence of investment in research and development and impacts on job creation and job destruction. We find that technological progress increases unemployment on impact, but has a positive long run effect on job creation.
H.264/AVC Error Resilience Scheme Based on OFDM System Using Space-Time Block Coding

In this paper, an error resilience scheme based on H.264/AVC progressive image transmission over wireless fading channels is proposed. The source coding approach is based on data partitioning (DP) defined in H.264 standard. DP units with unequal important data are applied optimal channel code allocation in terms of their importance, thus yielding a certain degree of error resilience. To overcome frequency selective fading of wireless channels and improve capacity of the system, OFDM system using space-time block coding (STBC) is considered. Simulation results show that the scheme can obviously improve the error resilience compared to the scheme without DP, especially when the channel is in bad condition; the performance of the scheme with higher spatial diversity gains is better than the scheme with lower spatial diversity gains.
CSTS: A Prototype Tool for Testing COM Component Security

The automatic testing tools of component security bring great effect on component-based software engineering, and they can effectively ensure the security of component-based software. A prototype tool named CSTS (component security testing system) is designed and implemented to test the security of the widely-used COTS (Commercial-off-the-Shelf) Microsoft COM (component object model) component. CSTS, a GUI (graphical user interface) software, adopts both static and dynamic testing based on fault injection and dynamic monitoring. Firstly, CSTS analyzes component type information and statically injects parameter faults into interface methods. Secondly, environment faults such as memory fault, file fault and process fault are injected into the tested component when the component is driven. Dynamic monitoring mechanism can monitor the running process of component and analyze the component security exceptions. Some commercial components were tested in the CSTS. The experimental results show that CSTS is effective and operable.
Path-Diverse Inorder Routing

We present Path-Diverse In-Order Routing (PDIOR), an oblivious routing method which guarantees network-level inorder delivery for multi-path routing. Based on Exclusive Dynamic Virtual Channel Allocation (EDVCA), which allows single-path efficient inorder delivery with dynamic virtual channel allocation, PDIOR extends the same guarantees to routing schemes where each flow may be routed via more than one path. As with EDVCA, PDIOR avoids the overheads inherent in reordering packets at the destination core, and requires only minor, inexpensive changes to traditional oblivious router architectures: for example, an implementation of PDIOR on 8× 8 mesh network with 4 VCs per port requires 492 bytes of memory per node, while inorder packet delivery in a comparable conventional network may requires tens to hundreds of kilobytes of reorder buffer memory at each node.
“Think” Pragmatically: Children’s Interpretation of Belief Reports

ABSTRACT Children under 4 years of age often evaluate belief reports based on reality instead of beliefs. They tend to reject sentences like, “John thinks that giraffes have stripes” on the grounds that giraffes do not have stripes. Previous accounts have proposed that such judgments reflect immature Theory of Mind or immature syntactic/semantic representations. We argue that the difficulty is actually pragmatic. Adults frequently use belief reports to provide information about reality (e.g., “I think the stove is still hot”). Young children have difficulty determining when the main point is reality (the stove situation) vs. mental states (John’s ideas about giraffes). We show that if the context emphasizes beliefs, children are more able to evaluate belief reports appropriately (Experiment 1). The pattern of children’s truth value judgments demonstrates that they understand the literal meaning of think sentences, despite their pragmatic difficulty grasping the speaker’s intention (Experiment 2).
Automated spatiotemporal and semantic information extraction for hazards

Automated spatiotemporal and semantic information extraction for hazards. " PhD (Doctor of Philosophy) thesis, ii To everyone who has supported and helped me over the years. iii ACKNOWLEDGMENTS It has been a long journey since I started my Ph.D. study at the University of Iowa. During the six years, I received many supports from my adviser, professors, my family and friends. First of all, I would like to give my sincerest thanks to my adviser Dr. Kathleen Stewart for her enormous contributions of advices and time. She brought me to this research field to start the journey. She gave me a lot of inspirations to explore the new path, and kept me on the right track. I also want to thank my committee members Dr. time and supports. Thanks to all professors and colleagues in the Department of Geographical and Sustainability Science at University of Iowa for their help during my study period. I would like to thank my family and friends for all their supports and love during the 6 years for my Ph.D. study. Last but not least, I want to give my best thanks to my husband. He gives me a lot of supports and encouragement throughout my study. Without his supports, I could not achieve to the destination of the journey. Thank you to all of you. iv ABSTRACT This dissertation explores three research topics related to automated spatiotemporal and semantic information extraction about hazard events from Web news reports and other social media. The dissertation makes a unique contribution of bridging geographic information science, geographic information retrieval, and natural language processing. Geographic information retrieval and natural language processing techniques are applied to extract spatiotemporal and semantic information automatically from Web documents, to retrieve information about patterns of hazard events that are not explicitly described in the texts. Chapters 2, 3 and 4 can be regarded as three standalone journal papers. The research topics covered by the three chapters are related to each other, and are presented in a sequential way. Chapter 2 begins with an investigation of methods for automatically extracting spatial and temporal information about hazards from Web news reports. A set of rules is developed to combine the spatial and temporal information contained in the reports based on how this information is presented in text in order to capture the dynamics of hazard events (e.g., changes in event locations, new events occurring) as they …
Targeted Discovery of Glycoside Hydrolases from a Switchgrass-Adapted Compost Community

Development of cellulosic biofuels from non-food crops is currently an area of intense research interest. Tailoring depolymerizing enzymes to particular feedstocks and pretreatment conditions is one promising avenue of research in this area. Here we added a green-waste compost inoculum to switchgrass (Panicum virgatum) and simulated thermophilic composting in a bioreactor to select for a switchgrass-adapted community and to facilitate targeted discovery of glycoside hydrolases. Small-subunit (SSU) rRNA-based community profiles revealed that the microbial community changed dramatically between the initial and switchgrass-adapted compost (SAC) with some bacterial populations being enriched over 20-fold. We obtained 225 Mbp of 454-titanium pyrosequence data from the SAC community and conservatively identified 800 genes encoding glycoside hydrolase domains that were biased toward depolymerizing grass cell wall components. Of these, ∼10% were putative cellulases mostly belonging to families GH5 and GH9. We synthesized two SAC GH9 genes with codon optimization for heterologous expression in Escherichia coli and observed activity for one on carboxymethyl cellulose. The active GH9 enzyme has a temperature optimum of 50°C and pH range of 5.5 to 8 consistent with the composting conditions applied. We demonstrate that microbial communities adapt to switchgrass decomposition using simulated composting condition and that full-length genes can be identified from complex metagenomic sequence data, synthesized and expressed resulting in active enzyme.