Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
BOTT TOWERS, CROSSPOLYTOPES AND TORUS ACTIONS

We study the geometry and topology of Bott towers in the context of toric geometry. We show that any kth stage of a Bott tower is a smooth projective toric variety associated to a fan arising from a crosspolytope; conversely, we prove that any toric variety associated to a fan obtained from a crosspolytope actually gives rise to a Bott tower. The former leads us to a description of the tangent bundle of the kth stage of the tower, considered as a complex manifold, which splits into a sum of complex line bundles. Applying Danilov-Jurkiewicz theorem, we compute the cohomology ring of any kth stage, and by way of construction, we provide all the monomial identities defining the related affine toric varieties.
Equivariant embeddings of homogeneous spaces

Homogeneous spaces of algebraic groups naturally arise in various problems of geometry and representation theory. The same reasons that motivate considering projective spaces instead of affine spaces (e.g. solutions “at infinity” of systems of algebraic equations) stimulate the study of compactifications or, more generally, equivariant embeddings of homogeneous spaces. The embedding theory of a homogeneous space is governed by a certain numerical invariant called complexity. We discuss the geometric and representation-theoretic meaning and methods to compute this invariant. Homogeneous spaces of complexity zero are called spherical. They can be characterized by a number of remarkable equivalent conditions and have an elegant and well controlled theory of equivariant embeddings. We consider various applications of this theory. As a particular case, we study equivariant embeddings of reductive groups. The embedding theory of spherical spaces is deduced from general results of Luna and Vust on embeddings of arbitrary homogeneous spaces and can be generalized to homogeneous spaces of the “next level of complexity”—complexity one.
Child malnutrition and recurrent flooding in rural eastern India: a community-based survey

Objectives This study aims to improve the understanding of the relationship between exposure to floods and malnutrition in children aged 6–59 months in rural India. Research has focused exclusively on Bangladeshi children, and few controlled epidemiological studies are available. Method A community-based cross-sectional study of child nutritional status was carried out in 14 flooded and 18 non-flooded villages of Jagatsinghpur district (Orissa) within one month of the September 2008 floods, and similarly affected by flooding in August 2006. Face-to-face interviews were conducted in 757 households in the flooded villages and 816 in the non-flooded communities. Data used in this study were from those households with children aged 6–59 months. In total, 191 and 161 children were measured, respectively. The association between various malnutrition indicators and the exposure to floods was assessed by univariate and multivariate logistic regression. Results Adjusted analyses revealed that children in flooded households were more likely stunted compared with those in non-flooded ones (adjusted prevalence ratio 1.60; 95% CI 1.05 to 2.44). The prevalence of underweight was also higher in children living in the flooded communities (adjusted prevalence ratio 1.86; 95% CI 1.04 to 3.30). Further analyses found that the 26–36-month flooded cohort, thus those children younger than 1 year during the precedent flood in August 2006, attained the largest difference in levels of stunting compared with the unexposed group of the same age. Conclusion Exposure to floods is associated with long-term malnutrition in these rural communities of Orissa, India. Children exposed to floods during their first year of life presented higher levels of chronic malnutrition. Long-term malnutrition prevention programmes after floods should be implemented in flood-prone areas.
Effect of Channel Noise on Fractionally Spaced CMA and MMA

This paper analyzes and compares the robustness of the constant modulus algorithm (CMA) and multimodulus algorithm (MMA) in the presence of additive channel noise when the channel satisfies the zero-forcing conditions. A generalized formulation of the relocation of stationary points toward the origin in terms of signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) was developed for both the CMA and the MMA to facilitate the comparison of the sensitivity to channel noise of CMA with that of MMA for various source constellations. Relationships between the relocation of the stationary points for the MMA and CMA were derived. Simulation results appear to confirm the main results of this work, regarding the sensitivity to channel noise when the fractionally spaced CMA (FS-CMA) and fractionally spaced MMA (FS- MMA) criteria were applied with various sources.
Modeling and Evaluating the Reliability of Cluster-Based Wireless Sensor Networks

The reliability of wireless sensor networks (WSNs) depends on both sensing coverage and reliable transmission of collected data provided by the target cluster of sensors in the proximity of the phenomenon to the observer. In this paper, we establish a probabilistic fundamental quantitative notion for performance-critical applications on reliable information transfer and propose a new analytical model to calculate the coverage-oriented reliability of cluster-based WSNs. Here, the packet loss probability is modeled as a function of two main parameters. The first is the probability of link failure when the node’s buffer at the end point of the link is full (discarding the packet) or when the link encounters some errors (corrupting the packet). The second is the probability of path failure when at least the energy of one node is depleted on the path. Most of network properties are considered as random variables and a queuing-theory based model is derived. Simulation results are used to validate the proposed model. The simulation results agree well with the model.
Document de Travail n ° 2008-45 EDUCATION , CORRUPTION AND THE NATURAL RESOURCE CURSE

The empirical evidence on the determinants of growth across countries has found that growth is lower when natural resources are abundant, corruption widespread and educational attainment low. An extensive literature has examined the way in which these three variables can impact growth, but has tended to address them separately. In this paper we argue that corruption and education are interrelated and that both crucially depend on a country’s endowment of natural resources. The key element is the fact that resources affect the relative returns to investing in human and in political capital, and, through these investments, output levels and growth. In this context, inequality plays a key role both as a determinant of the possible equilibria of the economy and as an outcome of the growth process. JEL classification numbers: O11,O13, O15.
Chemical Sensors Based on Cyclodextrin Derivatives

This review focuses on chemical sensors based on cyclodextrin (CD) derivatives. This has been a field of classical interest, and is now of current interest for numerous scientists. First, typical chemical sensors using chromophore appended CDs are mentioned. Various “turn-off” and “turn-on” fluorescent chemical sensors, in which fluorescence intensity was decreased or increased by complexation with guest molecules, respectively, were synthesized. Dye modified CDs and photoactive metal ion-ligand complex appended CDs, metallocyclodextrins, were also applied for chemical sensors. Furthermore, recent novel approaches to chemical sensing systems using supramolecular structures such as CD dimers, trimers and cooperative binding systems of CDs with the other macrocycle [2]rotaxane and supramolecular polymers consisting of CD units are mentioned. New chemical sensors using hybrids of CDs with π-conjugated polymers, peptides, DNA, nanocarbons and nanoparticles are also described in this review.
Placing Replicated Data to Reduce Seek Delays Y Placing Replicated Data to Reduce Seek Delays

In many environments, seek time is a major component of the disk access time. In this paper we introduce the idea of replicating data on a disk to reduce the average seek time. Our focus is on the problem of placing replicated data. We present several techniques for replica placement and evaluate their performance using trace-driven simulations.
An Energy Efficient and Reliable Composite Metric for RPL Organized Networks

In the recent past, we witnessed to a dramatic growth of networks with a huge number of interconnected wireless nodes exchanging large amounts of information. This has brought to the need of ad-hoc, energy-aware protocols suitable for low-power and lossy networks. Among these, Routing Protocol for Low Power and Lossy Networks (RPL) is surely one of the most interesting ones. It chooses the optimal routes from a source to a destination node, based on specific metrics. In this work we present a RPL compliant composite metric that considers both reliability and energy. Its aim is twofold. First, it realizes energy consumption balancing, so that each node tends to consume the same amount of energy of all the others, thus prolonging the overall network lifetime. Second, it takes into account data reliability along the paths, expressed by the well known Expected Transmission Count (ETX). The effectiveness of the proposed metric is confirmed by some interesting simulation results, that strongly encourage a deeper investigation on this issue.
Forming Consensus on Testability in Software Developing Organizations

Testing is an important activity in all software development projects and organizations. Therefore, it is important that all parts of the organization have the same view on testing and testability of software components and systems. In this paper we study the view on testability by software engineers, software testers, and managers, using a questionnaire followed by interviews. The questionnaire also contained a set of software metrics that the respondents grade based on their expected impact on testability. We find, in general, that there is a high consensus within each group of people on their view on testability. Further, we have identified that the software engineers and the testers mostly have the same view, but that their respective views differ on how much the coupling between modules and the number of parameters to a module impact the testability. Base on the grading of the software metrics we conclude that size and complexity metrics could be complemented with more specific metrics related to memory management operations.
Augmenting for purchasing with mobile: Usage and design scenario for ice dessert

As a prominent technology most tech-savvy retailers turning to, Augmented Reality (AR) is seen today as a sales marketing instrument to dramatically enhance the brand experience. This paper underlines characteristics of a group of products with a lot of assortments, mostly seen in the food retail industry. The ice dessert scenario is used to motivate the need for a digital facilitator because paper menus or physical displays are not able to showcase every possible combination of flavors and toppings. In order to get the design, a task analysis is performed and interaction requirements are acknowledged according to the interaction design principle. The prototype, which comprises of an iOS AR application and a web application, is developed. The ice flavors and toppings are augmented over the real cone/cup by the customer himself. The customer is able to see what he will get with his order as it is shown in real-time on the mobile screen before he can then order the preferred combination from the smartphone and the parlor will receive it through the web application. The interactive nature of the application assists not only in completing the purchase efficiently and effectively, but also in enhancing overall customer experiences, and attracting more customers.
IMF Working Paper Fiscal Affairs Department Waste Not , Want Not : The Efficiency of Health Expenditure in Emerging and Developing Economies

Public health spending is low in emerging and developing economies relative to advanced economies and health outputs and outcomes need to be substantially improved. Simply increasing public expenditure in the health sector, however, may not significantly affect health outcomes if the efficiency of this spending is low. This paper quantifies the inefficiency of public health expenditure and the associated potential gains for emerging and developing economies using a stochastic frontier model that controls for the socioeconomic determinants of health, and provides country-specific estimates. The results suggest that African economies have the lowest efficiency. At current spending levels, they could boost life expectancy up to about five years if they followed best practices. JEL Classification Numbers: H51, I12, I18
European Conference on Information Systems ( ECIS ) Summer 10-6-2011 INSTITUTIONALIZING XBRL IN THE UK : AN ORGANIZING VISION PERSPECTIVE

eXtensible Business Reporting Language (XBRL) presents opportunities for integrating the flow of financial information within communities of diverse organizations which can significantly enhance the effectiveness and efficiency of underlying business information supply chains. Using the organizing vision framework to examine the emergence of XBRL in the United Kingdom, we explore how institutional arrangements are brought about and shape collective action when heterogeneous organizations engage in complex patterns of interaction in attempts to develop XBRL as an ICT innovation. We find that, initially, XBRL entrepreneurs in the UK may have undermined community understanding of XBRL by adopting a technical lexicon that created confusion in the community. Furthermore, lack of adequate tools prevented curious organizational actors from appreciating XBRL benefits in practice. Current and ongoing participation of regulators is increasingly legitimizing XBRL while their coercive influences are increasing urgency and enhancing organizational participation for refining the organizing vision of XBRL in the UK. This paper contributes to existing literature by highlighting the value of the organizing vision framework as a compelling tool to illuminate and explain the institutional impacts of heterogeneous networks of organizational actors on emerging ICT innovations such as XBRL.
PUT Contribution to TREC CDS 2016

This paper describes the medical information retrieval systems designed by the Poznan University of Technology of for clinical decision support CDS) which were submitted to the TREC 2016. The baseline is the Terrier DPH Bo1 which recently has been shown to be the most effective Terrier option. We also used Mesh query expansion, word2vec query expansion, and the combination of these two options. In all measures our results are approximately 0,02 above the median.
Institutional Correlates with Female Board Representation

Gender equality on boards is a global and highly politicized issue. To this day, there is considerable cross-country variation in female board representation. We examine institutional supply- and demand-side factors associated with this issue. Our results indicate that a societal climate of gender equality contributes to more women on boards, mainly through fostering the supply of suitable candidates. Therefore, the glass ceiling should be improved through a societal supply-side effort which needs to complement demand-side (quota) regulation.
A Sketching Algorithm for Spectral Graph Sparsification

We study the problem of compressing a weighted graph $G$ on $n$ vertices, building a "sketch" $H$ of $G$, so that given any vector $x \in \mathbb{R}^n$, the value $x^T L_G x$ can be approximated up to a multiplicative $1+\epsilon$ factor from only $H$ and $x$, where $L_G$ denotes the Laplacian of $G$. One solution to this problem is to build a spectral sparsifier $H$ of $G$, which, using the result of Batson, Spielman, and Srivastava, consists of $O(n \epsilon^{-2})$ reweighted edges of $G$ and has the property that simultaneously for all $x \in \mathbb{R}^n$, $x^T L_H x = (1 \pm \epsilon) x^T L_G x$. The $O(n \epsilon^{-2})$ bound is optimal for spectral sparsifiers. We show that if one is interested in only preserving the value of $x^T L_G x$ for a {\it fixed} $x \in \mathbb{R}^n$ (specified at query time) with high probability, then there is a sketch $H$ using only $\tilde{O}(n \epsilon^{-1.6})$ bits of space. This is the first data structure achieving a sub-quadratic dependence on $\epsilon$. Our work builds upon recent work of Andoni, Krauthgamer, and Woodruff who showed that $\tilde{O}(n \epsilon^{-1})$ bits of space is possible for preserving a fixed {\it cut query} (i.e., $x\in \{0,1\}^n$) with high probability; here we show that even for a general query vector $x \in \mathbb{R}^n$, a sub-quadratic dependence on $\epsilon$ is possible. Our result for Laplacians is in sharp contrast to sketches for general $n \times n$ positive semidefinite matrices $A$ with $O(\log n)$ bit entries, for which even to preserve the value of $x^T A x$ for a fixed $x \in \mathbb{R}^n$ (specified at query time) up to a $1+\epsilon$ factor with constant probability, we show an $\Omega(n \epsilon^{-2})$ lower bound.
Linear and generalized linear models for the detection of QTL effects on within-subject variability

Summary Quantitative trait loci (QTLs) may affect not only the mean of a trait but also its variability. A special aspect is the variability between multiple measured traits of genotyped animals, such as the within-litter variance of piglet birth weights. The sample variance of repeated measurements is assigned as an observation for every genotyped individual. It is shown that the conditional distribution of the non-normally distributed trait can be approximated by a gamma distribution. To detect QTL effects in the daughter design, a generalized linear model with the identity link function is applied. Suitable test statistics are constructed to test the null hypothesis H0: No QTL with effect on the within-litter variance is segregating versus HA: There is a QTL with effect on the variability of birth weight within litter. Furthermore, estimates of the QTL effect and the QTL position are introduced and discussed. The efficiency of the presented tests is compared with a test based on weighted regression. The error probability of the first type as well as the power of QTL detection are discussed and compared for the different tests.
Dynamic shared data in structured parallel programming frameworks

This work originates from the wish to simplify the coding of irregular applications within structured parallel programming environments. In these environments parallelism is exploited by composing “skeletons”, i.e. parallelism exploitation patterns. The skeletal approach has been proved to be effective, at least if application algorithms can be somehow expressed in terms of skeleton composition. However, in some cases our skeletal frameworks fail in providing the application programmer with convincing solutions both from ease of programming and performance viewpoints. Major lacks of expressivity have emerged in dynamic/irregular algorithms and applications that oddly access to large data sets. The first part of the thesis moves along this path, and reports all attempts we made to improve the effectiveness of environments’ compiler, static optimizer, and run-time support. The main goal of the thesis is to take a step further with respect to the achieved results. In particular we aim to defeat expressivity lacks emerged in skeletal languages approaching irregular problems and dealing with dynamic data structures. The basic idea consists in providing the application designer with a shared address space and a skeletal framework that enables and enforces the co-design of (shared) dynamic data structures and (parallel) algorithms. At this aim, a new skeletal programming environment based on shared address programming is proposed (i.e. eskimo). The language is as an extension of a “host” language (i.e. the C language). eskimo is conceived to be a framework to experiment how to support dynamic data structures in a skeletal framework. Its run-time support is based on a software distributed shared memory, and allows the programmer to freely access data items in the shared memory. eskimo is designed to match the hooks offered by ASSIST, thus to be experimented within. Notably eskimo is not yet another DSM, rather it relies on DSM already known technologies to experiment the co-design of dynamic data structures and parallel programming patterns enforcing locality in the distributed memory access. eskimo has been designed and developed from scratch. eskimo run-time support exploits multithreading, dynamic data-driven scheduling, and is very tolerant with respect to standard POSIX programming framework. It will be released as open source package.
Self-Organizing Process Based On Lateral Inhibition And Synaptic Resource Redistribution

Self-organizing feature maps are usually implemented by abstracting the low-level neural and parallel distributed processes. An external supervisor nds the unit whose weight vector is closest in Euclidian distance to the input vector and determines the neighborhood for weight adaptation. The weights are changed proportional to the Euclidian distance. In a biologically more plausible implementation, similarity is measured by a scalar product, neighborhood is selected through lateral inhibition and weights are changed by redistributing synaptic resources. The resulting self-organizing process is quite similar to the abstract case. However, the process is somewhat hampered by boundary e ects and the parameters need to be carefully evolved. It is also necessary to add a redundant dimension to the input vectors.
2 Distributed Data Management Iii 12.1 Input/output Specs

In this section we study distributed data (or file) management methods based on pointer structures and load balancing, and we demonstrate how to use them in peer-to-peer systems. If we ignore for the moment the problem of handling arrivals and departures of peers, the problem of managing data or files boils down to the problem of maintaining a concurrent searchable data structure. Sequential data structures for searchability are usually implemented as directed labelled pointer graphs, e.g. binary search trees with proper labels ensuring that the cost of the search is proportional to the diameter of the data structure. For that reason, most of the work on data structures focuses on how to keep the diameter of the underlying pointer graph as small as possible, i.e. by balancing trees as in 2-3 or red-black trees. However, such pointer graphs (2-3 trees, linked lists, etc.) are " fault-sensitive " in the sense that deleting or corrupting a single memory location (i.e., the root of the tree and its pointers) may cause many or even all other locations to become unreachable. Since our ultimate goal is embedding our data structures onto dynamic distributed systems in a highly fault-tolerant manner, we limit our attention to data structures whose underlying pointer graph has a high expansion, such as the Hyperring presented in the previous section. We start with some general specifications a searchable data structure has to fulfill. Sequential Searchable Data Structure. S is a sequential searchable data structure if it offers the following operations for objects from the universe All Objects: