Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Effective negotiation with partial preference information

Users' preferences play a key role in automated negotiation since they dictate how an agent will act on behalf of its user. However, elicitation of these preferences from the user is difficul when there are dependencies between preferences. In many settings, expecting a user to provide a total ordering of her preferences is unrealistic. Thus, it is essential to build agents that can negotiate with only partial preference information. In order to achieve this goal, we develop negotiation strategies that work on qualitative preference representations, such as CP-nets that require only partial preference information.
Interactive Direct Rendering of Trivariate B-Spline Scalar Functions

This paper presents a direct rendering paradigm of trivariate B-spline functions that is able to incrementally update complex volumetric data sets in the order of millions of coefficients at interactive rates of several frames per second on modern workstations. This incremental rendering scheme can hence be employed in modeling sessions of volumetric trivariate functions, offering interactive volumetric sculpting capabilities. The rendering is conducted from a fixed viewpoint and in two phases. The first, preprocessing stage accumulates the effect that the coefficients of the trivariate function have on the pixels in the image. This preprocessing stage is conducted offline and only once per trivariate and viewing direction. The second stage conducts the actual rendering of the trivariate functions. As an example, during a volumetric sculpting operation, the artist can sculpt the volume and get a displayed feedback, in interactive rates.
Monte Carlo error in the Bayesian estimation of risk ratios using log-binomial regression models: an efficient MCMC method

In cohort studies binary outcomes are very often analyzed by logistic regression. However, it is well-known that when the goal is to estimate a risk ratio, the logistic regression is inappropriate if the outcome is common. In these cases, a log-binomial regression model is preferable. On the other hand, the estimation of the regression coefficients of the log-binomial model is difficult due to the constraints that must be imposed on these coefficients. Bayesian methods allow a straightforward approach for log-binomial regression models, produce smaller mean squared errors and the posterior inferences can be obtained using the software WinBUGS. However, the Markov chain Monte Carlo (MCMC) methods implemented in WinBUGS can lead to a high Monte Carlo error. To avoid this drawback we propose an MCMC algorithm that uses a reparameterization based on a Poisson approximation and has been designed to efficiently explore the constrained parameter space.
HYBRID ADAPTIVE NEURO FUZZY BASED SPEED CONTROLLER FOR BRUSHLESS DC MOTOR

This paper presents a Hybrid Adaptive Neuro Fuzzy Control technique for speed control of BLDC motor drives. The proposed controller is an integration of adaptive neuro fuzzy, Fuzzy PID and PD controllers. The objective is to utilize the best attribute of Fuzzy PID and PD controllers, which produces better response than the neuro fuzzy controllers. The Error Back Propagation learning algorithm is used to train the data to minimize learning error to the possible extent. To validate the performance of proposed controller, simulations are done in MATLAB and comparison is made with conventional PI, PD and fuzzy PID controllers. In addition, the performance of proposed controller is bench marked with other controllers reported in literature. The results of the proposed controller are promising in terms of quick settling time, zero peak overshoot and zero steady state error.
Response of the wasp (Cotesia glomerata) to larvae of the large white butterfly (Pieris brassicae)

The large white butterfly (Pieris brassicae L) first invaded northernmost Japan from Siberia around 1994, and after a few years, began to expand its range. The wasp, Cotesia glomerata (L) parasitizes larvae of the small white butterfly (Pieris rapae crucivora Boisduval), a usual host in the same geographic area. Some Pieris brassicae larvae in Hokkaido have been parasitized by Cotesia glomerata, but the parasitism rate of Pieris brassicae larvae tends to be lower than that of Pieris rapae. To examine the process of parasitizing Pieris brassicae larvae, we observed how the parasitoid wasp responded to the host larvae on damaged leaves. Cotesia glomerata females tended to avoid Pieris brassicae larvae, and even when female wasps inserted their ovipositors into Pieris brassicae larvae, none laid eggs. The parasitoids obtained from Pieris rapae larvae failed to parasitize Pieris brassicae during the host-acceptance step.
Antigens of Neisseria gonorrhoeae: Characterization by Gel Filtration, Complement Fixation, and Agar-Gel Diffusion of Antigens of Gonococcal Protoplasm

With the use of the agar-gel-diffusion and complement-fixation techniques, it was shown that protoplasm from different gonococcal isolates reacted with sera from some humans with a history of gonorrhea but did not react with “normal” human sera. The reactive antigen(s) could be partially separated from the other antigens by passing the gonococcal protoplasm through Sephadex G-200. The antigen(s) reacting in the gel-diffusion and complement-fixation tests appeared in the same fraction. On the basis of Sephadex gel filtration, the molecular weight of this antigen(s) is probably greater than 200,000.
Controlling force variations during soft-tissue grasping

Abstract This paper develops a mechatronic grasper that can be used to investigate a preliminary experiment of a simple model-independent approach to control soft-tissue grasping based on, first, measurement of the total tangential grasp force and, second, discrimination of relaxation and frictional forces by imposing a limited basis set of grasper motions. The main motivation for this work is that tissue grasping is an important component of surgical procedures. However, there is a major criterion which should be achieved: maintaining grasp stability while avoiding damage due to excessive grip force. Thus, the automation of grasping force control requires a controller to apply grasping forces just sufficient to maintain grasp stability. This task is complicated by the serially connected dynamics of grasp friction and tissue relaxation.
The Jamming Transition and the Marginally Jammed Solid

When a system jams, it undergoes a transition from a flowing to a rigid state. Despite this important change in the dynamics, the internal structure of the system remains disordered in the solid as well as the fluid phase. In this way jamming is quite different from crystallization, the other common way in which a fluid solidifies. Jamming is a paradigm for thinking about how many different types of fluids—from molecular liquids to macroscopic granular matter—develop rigidity. Here we review recent work on the jamming transition. We start with perhaps the simplest model: frictionless spheres interacting via repulsive finite-range forces at zero temperature. In this highly idealized case, the transition has aspects of both first- and second-order transitions. From studies of the normal modes of vibration for the marginally jammed solid, new physics has emerged for how a material can be rigid without having the elastic properties of a normal solid. We first survey the simulation data and theoretical argumen.
Methods for antenna frequency control and user effect compensation in mobile terminals

In this thesis, new methods for mobile terminal antenna frequency control and user effect compensation are presented. The thesis is divided into two parts. The first part includes frequency reconfigurable and tuneable antennas for mobile terminals. At first, the efficient frequency reconfiguration methods for a slot-, planar inverted-F (PIFA) and inverted-F (IFA) antennas are presented. Methods are based either on the use of RF switches, or on variable capacitor loading. One of the frequency tuneable antennas is used for the antenna frequency bandwidth enhancement in an internal digital television reception antenna, offering a continuous tunability range from 470 MHz to 702 MHz with 8 MHz instantaneous bandwidth. The second part of this thesis is concentrated on the user effect on the mobile terminal antennas, and especially, on the active compensation of the user-induced losses. At first, an experimental user effect study is conducted for triple-band PIFA and the body loss, comprising both the reflection loss and absorption loss, is characterized and formulated. It was observed that with the highly loaded mobile terminal antenna the majority of the losses are absorption losses and the user-induced reflection losses play a minor role. An active method of compensating the body loss, and especially the absorptive part of it, is designed and developed in this thesis. The switchable two-antenna arrangement is applied to a dual-band top-bottom PIFA that yielded up to 9 dB compensation of the body loss with a specific phantom hand grips in the lower band (GSM 850). In the higher band (GSM 1900 and WCDMA) 2 dB compensation is obtained. The same method is verified with two side by side-located PIFA and monopole configurations in order to compensate the effect of the user’s index finger. The losses from switching circuitry proved to be smaller than the benefit achieved by the compensation method.
Enhance Intelligence Video Surveillance with depth and color information

Recently, Intelligent Video Surveillance (IVS) mainly use color image to detect people who are entering, leaving and loitering at a fixed area. When detected event is happening, Intelligent Video Surveillance can turn passive into active to notify security guard immediately, and it makes security guard reduce response time. Actually, the color image may be influenced by light and shadow change condition during background removal and foreground extraction. Foreground object is not easily divided up, and it makes detecting object incomplete and may be misjudged. This research uses a color camera to combine with a depth camera to detect the events. Depth information can resolve the light and shadow change condition problem and complicated color background. It divides up the foreground object easier and more completed, and the foreground object is used to detect the events. Experiment result shows that using depth information to divide up the foreground object for detection can enhance effectively accuracy. Although using depth information to detect can resolve the light and shadow change problem and complicated color background problem, depth information has the distance limit of detection. But color information does not have the distance limit. In view of this, I integrate the advantages of color and depth to implement the Intelligent Video Surveillance. The result shows this is better than only using color or only using depth. The system is very suitable for use in the indoor environment.
Glypican 1 Stimulates S Phase Entry and DNA Replication in Human Glioma Cells and Normal Astrocytes

ABSTRACT Malignant gliomas are highly lethal neoplasms with limited treatment options. We previously found that the heparan sulfate proteoglycan glypican 1 (GPC1) is universally and highly expressed in human gliomas. In this study, we investigated the biological activity of GPC1 expression in both human glioma cells and normal astrocytes in vitro. Expression of GPC1 inactivates the G1/S checkpoint and strongly stimulates DNA replication. Constitutive expression of GPC1 causes DNA rereplication and DNA damage, suggesting a mutagenic activity for GPC1. GPC1 expression leads to a significant downregulation of the tumor suppressors pRb, Cip/Kip cyclin-dependent kinase inhibitors (CKIs), and CDH1, and upregulation of the pro-oncogenic proteins cyclin E, cyclin-dependent kinase 2 (CDK2), Skp2, and Cdt1. These GPC1-induced changes are accompanied by a significant reduction in all types of D cyclins, which is independent of serum supplementation. It is likely that GPC1 stimulates the so-called Skp2 autoinduction loop, independent of cyclin D-CDK4/6. Knockdown of Skp2, CDK2, or cyclin E, three key elements within the network modulated by GPC1, results in a reduction of the S phase and aneuploid fractions, implying a functional role for these regulators in GPC1-induced S phase entry and DNA rereplication. In addition, a significant activation of both the extracellular signal-regulated kinase (ERK)/mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK) and phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase (PI3K)/Akt signaling pathways by GPC1 is seen in normal human astrocytes even in the presence of growth factor supplement. Both pathways are constitutively activated in human gliomas. The surprising magnitude and the mitogenic and mutagenic nature of the effect exerted by GPC1 on the cell cycle imply that GPC1 may play an important role in both glioma tumorigenesis and growth.
Characterization of the fluorescence of the protamine thynnine and studies of binding to double‐stranded DNA

The protamine thynnine is an arginine‐rich protein approximately 30 amino acids long with a tyrosine in the middle of its sequence. Its fluorescence decay kinetics can be described by a biexponential function with lifetimes of 0.52 and 2.1 ns, with almost equal preexponential factors. The fluorescence quencher CsCl does not affect the short lifetime but shifts the equilibrium between the long and short lifetime toward the short one and reduces the long lifetime. In nature, thynnine is found complexed with chromosomal DNA. In vitro complexes of thynnine with double‐stranded (ds) DNA are stable at physiologic ionic strength but dissociate at high NaCl concentration. This dissociation can be monitored by steady‐state fluorescence. From the salt concentration dependence of the dissociation of the complex of thynnine with ds‐DNA 145 bp long, it can be concluded that only 4 of 21 possible full electrostatic bonds are involved in thynnine‐DNA binding. In addition, the binding constant at 1M NaCl is of the order of 106, indicating a strong nonelectrostatic component in arginine‐DNA binding.
Studying the evolution of transcription factor binding events using multi-species ChIP-Seq data

Abstract Recent technology advances make it possible to collect whole-genome transcription factor binding (TFB) profiles from multiple species through the ChIP-Seq data. This provides rich information to understand TFB evolution. However, few rigorous statistical models are available to infer TFB evolution from these data. We have developed a phylogenetic tree based method to model the on/off rates of TFB events. There are two unique features of our method compared to existing models. First, we mask nucleotide substitutions and focus on INDEL disruption of TFB events, which are rarer evolution events and more appropriate for divergent species and non-coding regulatory regions. Second, we correct for ascertainment bias in ChIP-Seq data by maximizing likelihood conditional on the observed (incomplete) data. Simulations show that our method works well in model selection and parameter estimation when there are sufficient aligned TFB events. When this method is applied to a ChIP-Seq data set with five vertebrates, we find that the instantaneous transition rates to INDELs are higher in TFB regions than in homologous non-binding regions. This is driven by an excess of alignment columns showing binding in one species but gaps in all other species. When we compare the inferred transition rates between the conserved and non-conserved regions, as expected, the conserved regions are estimated to have lower transition rates. The R package TFBphylo that implements the described model can be downloaded from http://bioinformatics.med.yale.edu/.
Identification of a candidate gene responsible for the high blood pressure of spontaneously hypertensive rats

Objective: We have recently isolated a gene, designated as the SA gene, which is more than 10 times more abundantly expressed in the kidneys of spontaneously hypertensive rats (SHR) than in those of Wistar-Kyoto (WKY) rats. To address the issue whether the SA gene is one of the genes responsible for the hypertension of SHR, a genetic cosegregation analysis of the blood pressure values with the genotypes in an F2 rat population was undertaken in this study. Methods and design: Male F2 rats were bred from SHR and WKY rats. The genotypes of the SA gene of the F2 rats were determined by utilizing the Stu I restriction fragment length polymorphism of the SA gene between SHR and WKY rats. The blood pressure values were determined by the tail-cuff method. The effect of the genotype of the SA gene on the blood pressure of the F2 rats was analysed by one-way analysis of variance. Results and conclusion: The blood pressure of the F2 rats inheriting two SHR alleles of the SA gene was significantly higher than that of the F2 rats inheriting two WKY alleles. This indicates that the SA gene, or a gene closely linked to it, has a capacity to influence the blood pressure values of the F2 rat population. Further studies to identify functions of the SA gene products will be necessary.
Pichia pastoris as a host system for transformations

We developed a methylotrophic yeast, Pichia pastoris, as a host for DNA transformations. The system is based on an auxotrophic mutant host of P. pastoris which is defective in histidinol dehydrogenase. As a selectable marker, we isolated and characterized the P. pastoris HIS4 gene. Plasmid vectors which contained either the P. pastoris or the Saccharomyces cerevisiae HIS4 gene transformed the P. pastoris mutant host. DNA transfer was accomplished by a modified version of the spheroplast generation (CaCl2-polyethylene glycol)-fusion procedure developed for S. cerevisiae. In addition, we report the isolation and characterization of P. pastoris DNA fragments with autonomous replication sequence activity. Two fragments, PARS1 and PARS2, when present on plasmids increased transformation frequencies to 10(5)/micrograms and maintained the plasmids as autonomous elements in P. pastoris cells.
The effect of spironolactone on morbidity and mortality in patients with severe heart failure. Randomized Aldactone Evaluation Study Investigators.

BACKGROUND AND METHODS Aldosterone is important in the pathophysiology of heart failure. In a doubleblind study, we enrolled 1663 patients who had severe heart failure and a left ventricular ejection fraction of no more than 35 percent and who were being treated with an angiotensin-converting-enzyme inhibitor, a loop diuretic, and in most cases digoxin. A total of 822 patients were randomly assigned to receive 25 mg of spironolactone daily, and 841 to receive placebo. The primary end point was death from all causes. RESULTS The trial was discontinued early, after a mean follow-up period of 24 months, because an interim analysis determined that spironolactone was efficacious. There were 386 deaths in the placebo group (46 percent) and 284 in the spironolactone group (35 percent; relative risk of death, 0.70; 95 percent confidence interval, 0.60 to 0.82; P<0.001). This 30 percent reduction in the risk of death among patients in the spironolactone group was attributed to a lower risk of both death from progressive heart failure and sudden death from cardiac causes. The frequency of hospitalization for worsening heart failure was 35 percent lower in the spironolactone group than in the placebo group (relative risk of hospitalization, 0.65; 95 percent confidence interval, 0.54 to 0.77; P<0.001). In addition, patients who received spironolactone had a significant improvement in the symptoms of heart failure, as assessed on the basis of the New York Heart Association functional class (P<0.001). Gynecomastia or breast pain was reported in 10 percent of men who were treated with spironolactone, as compared with 1 percent of men in the placebo group (P<0.001). The incidence of serious hyperkalemia was minimal in both groups of patients. CONCLUSIONS Blockade of aldosterone receptors by spironolactone, in addition to standard therapy, substantially reduces the risk of both morbidity and death among patients with severe heart failure.
Multiple frequencies and AR parameters estimation from one bit quantized signal via the EM algorithm

A novel algorithm to estimate the coefficient of q AR (autoregressive) processes from a coarsely quantized signal is presented. The input signal to the quantizer is the superposition of qAR processes and noise. In a related problem a modified version of the above algorithm is used to estimate the frequencies of closely quantized data obtained from q sinusoids embedded in noise. The proposed algorithm can accommodate a nonuniform m-level quantizer, as well as the special case of 1-b quantizer. The proposed estimator is based on the maximum likelihood (ML) criterion and is realized here by judiciously combining the expectation-maximization algorithm of A.D. Dempster et al. (1977) and the Gaussian fit scheme. Simulations reveal that one can accurately estimate the coefficients of several AR processes, or the frequencies of several sinusoids by using 1-b quantized data at low signal to noise ratios and moderate number of observations. <<ETX>>
Impact of Sampling Source Repetition Frequency in Linear Optical Sampling

We report the repetition frequency constraint of a passively mode-locked fiber laser (PMFL) for linear optical sampling based M-ary phase-shift keying (PSK) constellation characterization, based on the commonly used Viterbi-Viterbi carrier phase estimation algorithm. Referred to the error vector magnitude (EVM) value by the conventional high-speed electronic coherent detection, we put forward a benchmark of EVMRMS_error to evaluate the accuracy of constellation characterization by linear optical sampling. Due to the repetition frequency constraint of the PMFL, the EVMRMS_error will reach an ultimate value of 0.25% for the purpose of PSK constellation characterization, while it is insensitive to the signal symbol rate. The analytical results of a typical 28-GBaud QPSK signal well agree with those of the simulation and the experiment, therefore providing guidance for the repetition frequency optimization of PMFL-based linear optical sampling.
Exploring the Intricacies of Integrating with a Port Community System

On the basis of an exploratory case study, this paper is intended to provide understanding on the intricacies associated with the integration of firms with a business sector information infrastructure (BSII) such as a port community system (PCS). Although there is some research on the implementation of PCS, these studies have rarely addressed the issue of integration of preexisting systems. We address this gap with a case study of a PCS in a Spanish port community, which, moreover, complements prior studies by adopting a processual socio-technical perspective on integration. Finally we elaborate implications relevant to the implementation of BSIIs.
Platform-independence in Model-based Multi-device UI Development

Platform-independence of a model clearly means that a certain model does not depend on characteristics of a certain platform. The crucial issue in this definition to make it concise is: what is a platform? The answer to this question is important as such a platform definition defines which characteristics must not be considered in platform-independent models. This paper compares the notion of platform and the corresponding implications in the Model Driven Architecture proposed by OMG and the Cameleon Reference Framework, a framework that has been developed to classify model-based user interface generation approaches. In particular we compare the implications of platform-independence in the context of different model-based user interface development approaches that support multi-device UI development.