Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
A discipline-spanning development process for self-adaptive mechatronic systems

Technical systems contain mechanical, electrical, and software parts. Consequently, they are developed by engineers of the respective disciplines. However, current industrial practice as well as existing development processes do not account for the required tight integration between the engineers of the different disciplines. Processes become even more complex, when self-adaptive systems are built. In this paper, we present a development process for self-adaptive mechatronic systems which particularly addresses the integration between the disciplines concerned with the development of software, namely control and software engineering. We illustrate the process by presenting examples from the development of autonomous railway vehicles which build convoys to improve energy efficiency.
Revenue generation for truthful spectrum auction in dynamic spectrum access

Spectrum is a critical yet scarce resource and it has been shown that dynamic spectrum access can significantly improve spectrum utilization. To achieve this, it is important to incentivize the primary license holders to open up their under-utilized spectrum for sharing. In this paper we present a secondary spectrum market where a primary license holder can sell access to its unused or under-used spectrum resources in the form of certain fine-grained spectrum-space-time unit. Secondary wireless service providers can purchase such contracts to deploy new service, enhance their existing service, or deploy ad hoc service to meet flash crowds demand. Within the context of this market, we investigate how to use auction mechanisms to allocate and price spectrum resources so that the primary license holder's revenue is maximized. We begin by classifying a number of alternative auction formats in terms of spectrum demand. We then study a specific auction format where secondary wireless service providers have demands for fixed locations (cells). We propose an optimal auction based on the concept of virtual valuation. Assuming the knowledge of valuation distributions, the optimal auction uses the Vickrey-Clarke-Groves (VCG) mechanism to maximize the expected revenue while enforcing truthfulness. To reduce the computational complexity, we further design a truthful suboptimal auction with polynomial time complexity. It uses a monotone allocation and critical value payment to enforce truthfulness. Simulation results show that this suboptimal auction can generate stable expected revenue.
GentleRain+: Making GentleRain Robust on Clock Anomalies

Causal consistency is in an intermediate consistency model that can be achieved together with high availability and high performance requirements even in presence of network partitions. There are several proposals in the literature for causally consistent data stores. Thanks to the use of single scalar physical clocks, GentleRain has a throughput higher than other proposals such as COPS or Orbe. However, both of its correctness and performance relay on monotonic synchronized physical clocks. Specifically, if physical clocks go backward its correctness is violated. In addition, GentleRain is sensitive on the clock synchronization, and clock skew may slow write operations in GenlteRain. In this paper, we want to solve this issue in GenlteRain by using Hybrid Logical Clock (HLC) instead of physical clocks. Using HLC, GentleRain protocl is not sensitive on the clock skew anymore. In addition, even if clocks go backward, the correctness of the system is not violated. Furthermore, by HLC, we timestamp versions with a clock very close to the physical clocks. Thus, we can take causally consistency snapshot of the system at any give physical time. We call GentleRain protocol with HLCs GentleRain+. We have implemented GentleRain+ protocol, and have evaluated it experimentally. GentleRain+ provides faster write operations compare to GentleRain that rely solely on physical clocks to achieve causal consistency. We have also shown that using HLC instead of physical clock does not have any overhead. Thus, it makes GentleRain more robust on clock anomalies at no cost.
Pharmacokinetics and Metabolism of 14C-Brivaracetam, a Novel SV2A Ligand, in Healthy Subjects

This study was designed to investigate the human absorption, disposition, and mass balance of 14C-brivaracetam, a novel high affinity SV2A ligand with potent anticonvulsant activity. Six healthy male subjects received a single p.o. dose of 14C-brivaracetam (150 mg, 82 μCi, or 3.03 MBq). Serial blood and complete urine and feces were collected until 144 h postdose. Expired air samples were obtained until 24 h. Brivaracetam was rapidly absorbed, with Cmax of 4 μg/ml occurring within 1.5 h of dosing. Unchanged brivaracetam amounted to 90% of the total plasma radioactivity, suggesting a modest first-pass effect. Plasma protein binding of radioactivity was low (17.5%). Urinary excretion exceeded 90% after 2 days, and the final mass balance reached 96.8% of the radioactivity in urine and 0.7% in feces. Only 8.6% of the radioactive dose was recovered in urine as unchanged brivaracetam, the remainder being identified as non–cytochrome P450 (P450)- and P450-dependent biotransformation products resulting from hydrolysis of the amide moiety (M9, 34.2%), hydroxylation of the n-propyl side chain (M1b, 15.9%), and a combination of these two pathways leading to the hydroxy acid (M4b, 15.2%). Minor amounts of taurine and glucuronic acid conjugates and other oxidized derivatives were also identified. Brivaracetam is completely absorbed, is weakly bound to plasma proteins, extensively biotransformed through several metabolic pathways, and eliminated renally.
Variational Cumulant Expansions for Intractable Distributions

Intractable distributions present a common difficulty in inference within the probabilistic knowledge representation framework and variational methods have recently been popular in providing an approximate solution. In this article, we describe a perturbational approach in the form of a cumulant expansion which, to lowest order, recovers the standdard Kullback-Leibler variational bound. Higher-order terms describe corrections on the variational approach without incurring much further computational cost. The relationship to other perturbational approaches such as TAP is also elucidated. We demonstrate the method on a particular class of undirected graphical models, Boltzmann machines, for which our simulation results confirm improved accuracy and enhanced stability during learning.
Noncommutative gravity in two dimensions

We deform a two-dimensional topological gravity making use of its gauge theory formulation. The obtained noncommutative gravity model is shown to be invariant under a class of transformations that reduce to standard diffeomorphisms once the noncommutativity parameter is set to zero. Some solutions of the deformed model, such as fuzzy AdS2, are obtained. Furthermore, the transformation properties of the model under the Seiberg–Witten map are studied.
On death, taxes, and sleep disorder bugs in smartphones

According to Benjamin Franklin, life holds but two certainties, death and taxes. As we enter the mobile era, the primary mobile device, i.e., the smartphone, faces the certainties of adopting agressive sleeping polices to conserve battery energy, requiring programmers to use explicit power control APIs to keep the SOC/CPU on, and a third certainty that unavoidably rises from these: sleep disorder bugs. In this paper, we articulate the fate and destiny of smartphone apps, sleep disorder bugs, as a critical technical challenge in the mobile era. We then present a taxonomy of sleep disorder bugs, and a categorization of time-critical sections which are the root cause of sleep disorders, in apps, framework services and the Android kernel. Finally, we present a unified system for detecting the spectrum of sleep disorder bugs.
Lies and propaganda: detecting spam users in collaborative filtering

Collaborative Filtering systems are essentially social systems which base their recommendation on the judgment of a large number of people. However, like other social systems, they are also vulnerable to manipulation by malicious social elements. Lies and Propaganda may be spread by a malicious user who may have an interest in promoting an item, or downplaying the popularity of another one. By doing this systematically, with either multiple identities, or by involving more people, a few malicious user votes and profiles can be injected into a collaborative recommender system. This can significantly affect the robustness of a system or algorithm, as has been studied in recent work [5, 7]. While current detection algorithms are able to use certain characteristics of spam profiles to detect them, they suffer from low precision, and require a large amount of training data. In this work, we provide a simple unsupervised algorithm, which exploits statistical properties of effective spam profiles to provide a highly accurate and fast algorithm for detecting spam.
Targeted Disruption of the Multidrug and Toxin Extrusion 1 (Mate1) Gene in Mice Reduces Renal Secretion of Metformin

Multidrug and toxin extrusion 1 (MATE1/SLC47A1) is important for excretion of organic cations in the kidney and liver, where it is located on the luminal side. Although its functional and regulatory characteristics have been clarified, its pharmacokinetic roles in vivo have yet to be elucidated. In the present study, to clarify the relevance of MATE1 in vivo, targeted disruption of the murine Mate1 gene was carried out. The lack of Mate1 expression in the kidney and liver was confirmed by reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction and Western blot analysis. The mRNA levels of other organic cation transporters such as Octs did not differ significantly between wild-type [Mate1(+/+)] and Mate1 knockout [Mate1(-/-)] mice. It is noteworthy that the Mate1(-/-) mice were viable and fertile. Pharmacokinetic characterization was carried out using metformin, a typical substrate of MATE1. After a single intravenous administration of metformin (5 mg/kg), a 2-fold increase in the area under the blood concentration-time curve for 60 min (AUC0-60) of metformin in Mate1(-/-) mice was observed. Urinary excretion of metformin for 60 min after the intravenous administration was significantly decreased in Mate1(-/-) mice compared with Mate1(+/+) mice. The renal clearance (CLren) and renal secretory clearance (CLsec) of metformin in Mate1(-/-) mice were approximately 18 and 14% of those in Mate1(+/+) mice, respectively. This is the first report to demonstrate an essential role of MATE1 in systemic clearance of metformin.
A characterization of polynomial complexity classes using dependency pairs

The dependency pair method has already shown its power in proving termination of term rewriting systems. We adapt this framework using polynomial assignments in order to characterize with two distinct criteria the set of the functions computable in polynomial time and the set of the functions computable in polynomial space. To our knowledge, this is a first attempt to capture complexity classes using of the dependency pair method. The characterizations presented are inspired by previous works on implicit computational complexity, and, particularly, by the notions of quasi-interpretation and sup-interpretation. Both criteria are decidable so that we can synthesize resource upper-bounds.
Flexible compensation of uniparental care: female poison frogs take over when males disappear

Lay Summary Caring mothers step in for deadbeat dads. Flexible compensation has evolved as a countermeasure against reduced or lost parental care and is commonly found in biparental species. In the poison frog Allobates femoralis with obligatory male-only care, we show that females flexibly perform tadpole transport when males disappear. This demonstrates that compensatory flexibility also evolved in species with unisexual care, suggesting that parental care systems are more flexible than previously thought.
Electromagnetic brain imaging based on standardized resting-state networks

We have recently proposed a electromagnetic brain imaging based on multiple fMRI spatial priors: NEtwork-based SOurce Imaging (NESOI) [Lei et al. "fMRI Functional Networks for EEG Source Imaging," Human Brain Mapping, vol. 32, pp. 1141-1160, 2011]. In our previous method, the spatial priors is extracted from the fMRI dataset on the same subject within the same paradigm. In this paper, we present a resting-state NEtwork-based SOurce Imaing (rsNESOI), which includes fMRI priors without extra fMRI scan. While simultaneous electroencephalogram (EEG) recording within fMRI scanner is available currently, rsNESOI is more convenient for EEG source reconstruction. The real data test suggests that rsNESOI is distinctly valuable in improvement of distributed source localization in contrast to the previous methods.
Simultaneous Top-down Modulation of the Primary Somatosensory Cortex and Thalamic Nuclei during Active Tactile Discrimination

The rat somatosensory system contains multiple thalamocortical loops (TCLs) that altogether process, in fundamentally different ways, tactile stimuli delivered passively or actively sampled. To elucidate potential top-down mechanisms that govern TCL processing in awake, behaving animals, we simultaneously recorded neuronal ensemble activity across multiple cortical and thalamic areas while rats performed an active aperture discrimination task. Single neurons located in the primary somatosensory cortex (S1), the ventroposterior medial, and the posterior medial thalamic nuclei of the trigeminal somatosensory pathways exhibited prominent anticipatory firing modulations before the whiskers touching the aperture edges. This cortical and thalamic anticipatory firing could not be explained by whisker movements or whisker stimulation, because neither trigeminal ganglion sensory-evoked responses nor EMG activity were detected during the same period. Both thalamic and S1 anticipatory activity were predictive of the animal's discrimination accuracy. Inactivation of the primary motor cortex (M1) with muscimol affected anticipatory patterns in S1 and the thalamus, and impaired the ability to predict the animal's performance accuracy based on thalamocortical anticipatory activity. These findings suggest that neural processing in TCLs is launched in anticipation of whisker contact with objects, depends on top-down effects generated in part by M1 activity, and cannot be explained by the classical feedforward model of the rat trigeminal system.
Association of Altered Serum MicroRNAs with Perihematomal Edema after Acute Intracerebral Hemorrhage

Background and Purpose Perihematomal edema (PHE) contributes to secondary brain damage and aggravates patient outcomes after intracerebral hemorrhage (ICH). MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are stable in circulation, and their unique expression profiles have fundamental roles in modulating vascular disease. The objective of this study was to test the hypothesis that altered miRNA levels are associated with PHE in ICH patients. Methods Hematoma and PHE volumes of ICH patients were measured on admission and in follow-up computed tomography scans. Whole-genome miRNA profiles of ICH patients and healthy controls were determined using the Exiqon miRCURY LNA Array, and validated by quantitative reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (qRT-PCR). Bioinformatics analysis investigated dysregulated miRNA target genes and the signaling pathways involved. Results We identified 55 miRNAs that were differentially expressed in ICH patients compared with normal controls, of which 54 were down-regulated and one was up-regulated. qRT-PCR confirmation showed decreases in miR-126 (0.63-fold), miR-146a (0.64-fold), miR-let-7a (0.50-fold), and miR-26a (0.54-fold) in ICH patients relative to controls. Serum miR-126, but not miR-146a, miR-let-7a or miR-26a, levels were significantly correlated with relative PHE volume on days 3–4 (r = −0.714; P<0.001) in patients with ICH. Conclusions ICH patients appear to have a specific miRNA expression profile. Low expression of miR-126 was positively correlated with the extent of PHE, suggesting it may have a pathogenic role in the development of PHE after ICH.
BER, SNR, PAPR Analysis for Multiple Accesses

The Long term Evolution (LTE) Uses Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiple Access (OFDMA) in the downlink and Single Carrier Frequency Division Multiple Access (SCFDMA) in the uplink. This paper introduces the transceiver of OFDMA and SCFDMA, discusses difference between the OFDMA and SCFDMA, and highlight the factor that leverages the performance of both multiple access technique, the graphical re- sults shows the relation between SNR, BER, Pe with the type of modulation used in LTE, and the PAPR graphical results shows the main reason of choosing the SCFDMA for the uplink with proposed subcarrier mapping LFDMA and DFDMA (IFDMA).
Greedy Aggregation for Vector Quantization

PCT No. PCT/JP85/00266 Sec. 371 Date Jan. 13, 1986 Sec. 102(e) Date Jan. 13, 1986 PCT Filed May 11, 1985 PCT Pub. No. WO85/05517 PCT Pub. Date Dec. 5, 1985.The apparatus uses at least data in the straight PCM mode and data in the differential PCM mode of second or higher orders as data based upon a sampling value of input signals, and detects and compares maximum absolute values of data of these modes. Here, the apparatus so compares that the maximum absolute value of the differential PCM mode is more weighted than the maximum absolute value of the straight PCM mode, selects the mode having the smaller maximum absolute value, and transmits the data of the selected mode in the form of digital signals. This makes it possible to suppress low-pass noise when medium-pass signals are input, to advantageously utilize the masking effect, to reduce the effect of code error, and to improve apparent SN ratio.
Fluorescence-based duplex–quadruplex competition test to screen for telomerase RNA quadruplex ligands

RNA and DNA guanine-rich sequences can adopt unusual structures called Guanine quadruplexes (G4). A quadruplex-prone RNA sequence is present at the 5′-end of the 451-nt-long RNA component of telomerase, hTERC. As this quadruplex may interfere with P1 helix formation, a key structural element for this RNA, we are seeking molecules that would alter this RNA duplex–quadruplex equilibrium. In this work, we present a fluorescence-based test designed to identify G4 ligands specific for the hTERC G-rich motif and that can prevent P1 helix formation. From an initial panel of 169 different molecules, 11 were found to be excellent P1 duplex inhibitors. Interestingly, some of the compounds not only exhibit a strong selectivity for quadruplexes over duplexes, but also demonstrated a preference for G4–RNA over all other quadruplexes. This test may easily be adapted to almost any quadruplex-forming sequence and converted into HTS format.
Plasmodium falciparum rosetting is associated with malaria severity in Kenya

Rosette formation in 154 fresh Plasmodium falciparum isolates from Kenyan children with mild (n = 54), moderate (n = 64), or severe (n = 36) malaria was studied to determine whether the ability to form rosettes in vitro is correlated with malaria severity. There was a wide distribution of rosette frequencies within each clinical category; however, a clear trend towards higher rosette frequency with increasing severity of disease was seen, with the median rosette frequency of the mild-malaria group (1%; range, 0 to 82%) being significantly lower than those of the moderate-malaria group (5%; range, 0 to 45%; Mann-Whitney U test, P < 0.02) and the severe-malaria group (7%; range, 0 to 97%; Mann-Whitney U test, P < 0.003). Within the severe-malaria category there was no difference in rosetting among isolates from cerebral malaria patients or those with other forms of severe malaria. We also examined the ABO blood groups of the patients from whom isolates were obtained and found that isolates from group O patients (median rosette frequency, 2%; range 0 to 45%) rosetted less well than those from group A (median, 7%; range 0 to 82%; Mann-Whitney U test, P < 0.01) or group AB (median, 11%; range 0 to 94%; Mann-Whitney U test, P < 0.03). We therefore confirm that rosetting is associated with severe malaria and provide further evidence that rosetting is influenced by ABO blood group type. Whether rosetting itself plays a direct role in the pathogenesis of severe malaria or is a marker for some other causal factor remains unknown.
Towards Utilizing Heterogeneous Analytics Interfaces in Coastal Infrastructure Management

Geo-spatial data such as multiple return LIDAR terrain data, sonar data and ocean surge data play a significant role in various emergency response and planning scenarios. Such multi-planar and volumetric data is rich in geographic features; more importantly, it also contains a significant temporal component. Understanding geospatial-temporal changes is a fundamental aspect of analyzing, understanding and responding to natural phenomena (e.g. hurricane impacts, coastal infrastructure changes, and ocean surges). We are collaborating with a number of scientific colleagues on projects relating to prediction of and response to various natural disasters such as hurricanes and oil spills. These colleagues and their supporting agencies have identified several visual analytic needs relating to inspecting and cleaning up multi-return LIDAR and sonar data and volumetric ocean flows. These include the ability to provide efficient interactive display systems and user interfaces for navigating, selecting and inspecting outlier 3D points or flow vectors; the ability for multiple co-located, collaborating scientists to perform such analysis on visually dense 3D data; and the ability of the system to semi-automatically extract high-level features from large data sets and to then help the scientist construct a narrative that explains the salient temporal-spatial features in a concise textual and abstract visual form.
The RNA-binding region of human TRBP interacts with microRNA precursors through two independent domains

MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are small non-coding RNAs that regulate gene expression through RNA interference. Human miRNAs are generated through a series of enzymatic processing steps. The precursor miRNA (pre-miRNA) is recognized and cleaved by a complex containing Dicer and several non-catalytic accessory proteins. HIV TAR element binding protein (TRBP) is a constituent of the Dicer complex, which augments complex stability and potentially functions in substrate recognition and product transfer to the RNA-induced silencing complex. Here we have analysed the interaction between the RNA-binding region of TRBP and an oncogenic human miRNA, miR-155, at different stages in the biogenesis pathway. We show that the region of TRBP that binds immature miRNAs comprises two independent double-stranded RNA-binding domains connected by a 60-residue flexible linker. No evidence of contact between the two double-stranded RNA-binding domains was observed either in the apo- or RNA-bound state. We establish that the RNA-binding region of TRBP interacts with both pre-miR-155 and the miR-155/miR-155* duplex through the same binding surfaces and with similar affinities, and that two protein molecules can simultaneously interact with each immature miRNA. These data suggest that TRBP could play a role before and after processing of pre-miRNAs by Dicer.
Studying Transient Lightning Effects on 230 KV Double-Circuit Lines using Tower Modeling

Excess lightning voltage in long transmission lines are of great importance. In this article, we attempt to study the 230 KV double-circuit transmission line. In the carried out study, in order to evaluate phase to earth sparks, and tower side sparking to conductors, three prevalent tower models in transient studies including simplified multistory, and simplified extended line model were evaluated. Results obtained from simulations using ATP/EMTP software will prove helpful in finding the best model in terms of performance against lightning. KeywordsExcess Voltage, Transient Behavior, Multistory Model, Simplified Multistory Model, Simplified Extended Line Model, ATP/EMTP Software