Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Online Algorithms and Policies Using Adaptive and Machine Learning Approaches

This paper considers the problem of real-time control and learning in dynamic systems subjected to parametric uncertainties. A combination of Adaptive Control (AC) in the inner loop and a Reinforcement Learning (RL) based policy in the outer loop is proposed such that in real-time the inner-loop AC contracts the closed-loop dynamics towards a reference system, and as the contraction takes hold, the RL in the outer-loop directs the overall system towards optimal performance. Two classes of nonlinear dynamic systems are considered, both of which are control-aﬃne. The ﬁrst class of dynamic systems utilizes equilibrium points with expansion forms around these points and employs a Lyapunov approach while second class of nonlinear systems uses contraction theory. AC-RL controllers are proposed for both classes of systems and shown to lead to online policies that guarantee stability using a high-order tuner and accommodate parametric uncertainties and magnitude limits on the input. In addition to establish-ing a stability guarantee with real-time control, the AC-RL controller is also shown to lead to parameter learning with persistent excitation for the ﬁrst class of systems. Numerical validations of all algorithms are carried out using a quadrotor landing task on a moving platform. These results point out the clear advantage of the proposed integrative AC-RL approach.
UM-Adapt: Unsupervised Multi-Task Adaptation Using Adversarial Cross-Task Distillation

Existing literature shows efficacy of simultaneous adaptation at hierarchical feature levels, while minimizing domain discrepancy for multi-layer deep architectures. Long et al. [5] suggested to apply moment matching at multiple levels of feature hierarchy to bridge both marginal and conditional distribution for improved domain adaptation performance. Recently Kundu et al. [4] proposed to use two different discriminators; one at the latent representation and the other at the final output prediction to yield efficient adaptation for spatially-structured depth prediction task. Motivated by this, we design a discriminator which can match the joint distribution of latent representation and the final task-specific structured prediction maps with the corresponding true joint distribution. As shown in Figure 1, the predicted joint distribution denoted as P (Mt(Xt), Ŷ depth t , Ŷ normal t , Ŷ seg t ) is matched with actual true distribution denoted as P (Ms(Xs), Y depth s , Y normal s , Y seg s ). To realize this, we employ a discriminator with initial task specific convolutional layers after late-fusion
Stochastic Linear-Quadratic Optimal Control Problems with Random Coefficients: Closed-Loop Representation of Open-Loop Optimal Controls

This paper is concerned with a stochastic linear-quadratic optimal control problem in a finite time horizon, where the coefficients of the control system and the weighting matrices in the cost functional are all allowed to be random and the latter are even allowed to be indefinite. Based on a Hilbert space approach, the convexity of the cost functional is shown to be necessary for the existence of an open-loop optimal control, and the uniform convexity, which is slightly stronger than the convexity, is shown to be sufficient. The unique solvability of the associated stochastic Riccati equation is established under the uniform convexity condition, which contains the classical assumption that the weighting matrices in the cost functional are positive definite as a special case. Further, it is shown that the open-loop optimal control admits a closed-loop representation. The paper therefore solves Bismut and Peng’s open problem in a general framework.
A node degree dependent random perturbation method for prediction of missing links in the network

In present study, I proposed a node degree dependent random perturbation algorithm for prediction of missing links in the network. In the algorithm, I assume that a node with more existing links harbors more missing links. There are two rules. Rule 1 means that a randomly chosen node tends to connect to the node with greater degree. Rule 2 means that a link tends to be created between two nodes with greater degrees. Missing links of some tumor related networks (pathways) are predicted. The results prove that the prediction efficiency and percentage of correctly predicted links against predicted missing links with the algorithm increases as the increase of network complexity. The required number for finding true missing links in the predicted list reduces as the increase of network complexity. Prediction efficiency is complexity-depedent only. Matlab codes of the algorithm are given also. Finally, prospect of prediction for missing links is briefly reviewed. So far all prediction methods based on static topological structure only (represented by adjacency matrix) seems to be low efficient. Network evolution based, node similarity based, and sampling based (correlation based) methods are expected to be the most promising in the future.
A robust and efficient band selection method using graph representation for hyperspectral imagery

ABSTRACT In the field of unsupervised band selection, both robustness and efficiency are of great importance. In this article, we propose a new unsupervised band selection method termed graph representation based band selection (GRBS), which is expected to be insensitive to noisy bands and computationally inexpensive. In GRBS, bands are treated as the nodes of graph in high-dimensional space and centres of the band clusters are considered as the ideal choice. Interestingly, different from other clustering-based band selection methods, GRBS does not involve band clustering. Instead, it employs an easily computed criterion function to select the desired bands, which greatly improves the efficiency. The experiments demonstrate that GRBS has a promising performance and outperforms the compared methods in terms of both accuracy and efficiency.
Non-ulcerative sexually transmitted diseases as risk factors for HIV-1 transmission in women: results from a cohort study.

OBJECTIVES The heterosexual spread of HIV-1 is occurring at different rates in different parts of the world. The transmission probability of HIV-1 per sexual contact is low, but may be greatly enhanced by several cofactors. Sexually transmitted diseases (STD), especially genital ulcers, may be such factors. So far, epidemiological evidence that other STD facilitate HIV-1 transmission is weak. The objective of this study was to determine whether treatable STD enhanced sexual transmission of HIV-1 in a cohort of female prostitutes in Kinshasa, Zaire. METHODS We conducted a nested case-control study of 431 initially HIV-1-negative women followed prospectively for a mean duration of 2 years (with monthly STD check-ups and 3-monthly HIV-1 serology). Cases (seroconverters, n = 68) were compared with controls (women who remained HIV-1-negative, n = 126) for incidence of STD and sexual exposure during the presumed period of HIV-1 acquisition. RESULTS The annual incidence of HIV-1 in this cohort was 9.8%. Seroconverters were younger than HIV-1-negative women (mean age, 24.6 versus 26.8 years; P = 0.04). During the period of HIV-1 acquisition, cases had a much higher incidence of gonorrhoea, chlamydial infection and trichomoniasis, and engaged in unprotected sex with clients and partners more frequently than controls. After controlling for sexual exposure by multivariate analysis, adjusted odds ratios for seroconversion were 4.8 [95% confidence interval (CI), 2.4-9.8] for gonorrhoea, 3.6 (95% CI, 1.4-9.1) for chlamydial infection and 1.9 (95% CI, 0.9-4.1) for trichomoniasis. Genital ulcers were more frequent in cases than controls, but much less common than other STD. CONCLUSION Non-ulcerative STD were risk factors for sexual transmission of HIV-1 in women, after controlling for sexual exposure. Because of their high prevalence in some populations, non-ulcerative STD may represent a considerable population-attributable risk in the transmission of HIV-1 worldwide. The identification of treatable STD as risk factors for HIV-1 transmission offers an important additional strategy for the prevention of HIV/AIDS.
Purification and Molecular Characterization of a Novel 16-kDa Galectin from the Nematode Caenorhabditis elegans(*)

In our previous study (Hirabayashi, J., Satoh, M., Ohyama, Y., and Kasai, K.(1992) J. Biochem. (Tokyo) 111, 553-555), two β-galactoside-binding lectins (apparent subunit molecular masses, 16 and 32 kDa, respectively) were identified in the nematode Caenorhabditis elegans. The subsequent study revealed that the 32-kDa lectin is a member of the galectin family. Since the 32-kDa galectin was found to consist of two homologous domains (16 kDa), 16-kDa lectin was thought to be a degradation product of the 32-kDa galectin. To clarify this, the 16-kDa lectin was purified by an improved procedure employing extraction with a calcium-supplemented buffer. The purified 16-kDa lectin was found to exist as a dimer (30 kDa) and showed hemagglutinating activity toward trypsinized rabbit erythrocytes, which was inhibited by lactose. Almost the whole sequence of the 16-kDa polypeptide (approximately 95%, 135 amino acids) was determined after digestion with various proteases. Based on the obtained information, a full-length cDNA was cloned with the aid of RNA-polymerase chain reaction. The clone encoded 146 amino acids including initiator methionine (calculated molecular mass, 15,928 Da). Based on these results, it was concluded that the 16-kDa lectin is a novel member of the galectin family, but not a degradation product of the 32-kDa galectin as had previously thought. However, the 16-kDa galectin showed relatively low sequence similarities to both the N-terminal and the C-terminal domains of the 32-kDa galectin (28% and 27% identities, respectively) and to various vertebrate galectins (14-27%). Nonetheless, all of the critical amino acids involved in carbohydrate binding were conserved. These observations suggest that, in spite of phylogenic distance between nematodes and vertebrates, both the 16-kDa and 32-kDa nematode isolectins have conserved essentially the same function(s) as those of vertebrate galectins, probably through recognition of a key disaccharide moiety, “N-acetyllactosamine. ”
ASNM Datasets: A Collection of Network Attacks for Testing of Adversarial Classifiers and Intrusion Detectors

In this paper, we present three datasets that have been built from network traffic traces using ASNM (Advanced Security Network Metrics) features, designed in our previous work. The first dataset was built using a state-of-the-art dataset CDX 2009 that was collected during a cyber defense exercise, while the remaining two datasets were collected by us in 2015 and 2018 using publicly available network services containing buffer overflow and other high severity vulnerabilities. These two datasets contain several adversarial obfuscation techniques that were applied onto malicious as well as legitimate traffic samples during “the execution” of their TCP network connections. Adversarial obfuscation techniques were used for evading machine learning-based network intrusion detection classifiers. We show that the performance of such classifiers can be improved when partially augmenting their training data by samples obtained from obfuscation techniques. In detail, we utilized tunneling obfuscation in HTTP(S) protocol and non-payload-based obfuscations modifying various properties of network traffic by, e.g., TCP segmentation, re-transmissions, corrupting and reordering of packets, etc. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first collection of network traffic data that contains adversarial techniques and is intended for non-payload-based network intrusion detection and adversarial classification. Provided datasets enable testing of the evasion resistance of arbitrary machine learning-based classifiers.
Multi-attention-based soft partition network for vehicle re-identification

Vehicle re-identification helps in distinguishing between images of the same and other vehicles. It is a challenging process because of significant intra-instance differences between identical vehicles from different views and subtle inter-instance differences between similar vehicles. To solve this issue, researchers have extracted view-aware or part-specific features via spatial attention mechanisms, which usually result in noisy attention maps or otherwise require expensive additional annotation for metadata, such as key points, to improve the quality. Meanwhile, based on the researchers’ insights, various handcrafted multi-attention architectures for specific viewpoints or vehicle parts have been proposed. However, this approach does not guarantee that the number and nature of attention branches will be optimal for real-world re-identification tasks. To address these problems, we proposed a new vehicle re-identification network based on a multiple soft attention mechanism for capturing various discriminative regions from different viewpoints more efficiently. Furthermore, this model can significantly reduce the noise in spatial attention maps by devising a new method for creating an attention map for insignificant regions and then excluding it from generating the final result. We also combined a channel-wise attention mechanism with a spatial attention mechanism for the efficient selection of important semantic attributes for vehicle re-identification. Our experiments showed that our proposed model achieved a state-of-the-art (SOTA) performance among the attention-based methods without metadata and was comparable to the approaches using metadata for the VehicleID and VERI-Wild datasets.
Endocrine Paraneoplastic Syndromes: A Review

Paraneoplastic endocrine syndromes result from ectopic production of hormones by different tumors. Hypercalcemia of malignancy is the most common, mostly caused by ectopic parathyroid hormone related peptide (PTHrP) production which increases bone resorption. Other causes include the rare ectopic parathyroid hormone (PTH) production, ectopic production of 1, 25-(OH)2 vitamin D by the tumor and its adjacent macrophages and bone metastasis which by itself in addition to the local production of PTHrP at the level of the bone lead to bone resorption and thus hypercalcemia. Treatment includes extracellular fluid volume repletion, bisphosphonates or denosumab and calcitonin. Ectopic Cushing's syndrome caused by ectopic ACTH production results in hypokalemia, proximal muscle weakness, easy bruisability, hypertension, diabetes and psychiatric abnormalities including depression and mood disorders. Different diagnostic measures help to differentiate Cushing's disease from ectopic Cushing's syndrome. Treatment includes surgical resection of tumor and medical therapy to suppress excess cortisol production. Ectopic secretion of ADH has been associated with different tumor types. The best treatment options include removal of the underlying tumor, chemotherapy, or radiotherapy in addition to free water restriction, demeclocycline and vaptans. Ectopic growth hormone releasing hormone secretion has been identified with carcinoids, phechromocytoma and other tumors. Surgery is the mainstay of therapy with systemic therapy used in metastatic disease. Other rare ectopic hormone syndromes have also been identified including ectopic prolactin, ectopic erythropoietin, and thrombopoetin in addition to others.
A comparison of the real and non-archimedean

Let X be a proper algebraic variety over a non-archimedean, non-trivially valued field and L a line bundle on X. Given an algebraic model of L, a continuous semipositive metric on Lan induces a metric on the trivial line bundle which corresponds to a continuous function on Xan. If the model of L is defined on a strongly nondegenerate strictly polystable formal model of Xan, this function is convex on the faces of the corresponding skeleton. We show that if it additionally factorizes through the skeleton then on the maximal dimensional open faces its real Monge-Ampère measure is equal to the non-archimedean Monge-Ampère measure of the metric we started with up to multiplication by a constant. In order to prove this we generalize the definition of the non-archimedean Monge-Ampère measure from analytifications of proper algebraic varieties to a broader class of analytic spaces. It is then possible to formulate and prove the desired result locally by starting with a convex function on a maximal dimensional open face of some skeleton of Xan. As an application we can transfer regularity results for solutions of the real MongeAmpère problem to the non-archimedean situation. In an appendix we examine an example which in the archimedean setting led to the insight that nef line bundles need not carry smooth semipositive metrics. We show that the non-archimedean analogue, which was a promising candidate for a similar result, does admit a semipositive metric in the sense of Zhang.
A major asymmetric ice trap in a planet-forming disk

Gas-phase sulphur-bearing volatiles appear to be severely depleted in protoplanetary disks. The detection of CS and the non-detections of SO and SO2 in many disks have shown that the gas in the warm molecular layer, where giant planets accrete their atmospheres, has a high C/O ratio. In this Letter, we report the detection of SO and SO2 in the Oph-IRS 48 disk using ALMA. This is the first case of prominent SO2 emission detected from a protoplanetary disk. The molecular emissions of both molecules is spatially correlated with the asymmetric dust trap. We propose that this is due to the sublimation of ices at the edge of the dust cavity and that the bulk of the ice reservoir is coincident with the millimetre-sized dust grains. Depending on the partition of elemental sulphur between refractory and volatile materials, the observed molecules can account for 15–100% of the total volatile sulphur budget in the disk. In stark contrast to previous results, we constrain the C/O ratio from the CS/SO ratio to be < 1 and potentially solar. This has important implications for the elemental composition of planets forming within the cavities of warm transition disks.
Normal Gravity Fields and Equipotential Ellipsoids of Small Objects in the Solar System: A Closed-form Solution in Ellipsoidal Harmonics up to the Second Degree

We propose a definition for the normal gravity fields and normal figures of small objects in the solar system, such as asteroids, cometary nuclei, and planetary moons. Their gravity fields are represented as series of ellipsoidal harmonics, ensuring more robust field evaluation in the proximity of an arbitrary, convex shape than using spherical harmonics. The normal gravity field, approximate to the actual field, can be described by a finite series of three terms, that is, degree zero, and the zonal and sectoral harmonics of degree two. The normal gravity is that of an equipotential ellipsoid, defined as the normal ellipsoid of the body. The normal ellipsoid may be distinct from the actual figure. We present a rationale for specifying and a numerical method for determining the parameters of the normal ellipsoid. The definition presented here generalizes the convention of the normal spheroid of a large, hydrostatically equilibrated planet, such as Earth. Modeling the normal gravity and the normal ellipsoid is relevant to studying the formation of the “rubble pile” objects, which may have been accreted, or reorganized after disruption, under self-gravitation. While the proposed methodology applies to convex, approximately ellipsoidal objects, those bi-lobed objects can be treated as contact binaries comprising individual convex subunits. We study an exemplary case of the nearly ellipsoidal Martian moon, Phobos, subject to strong tidal influence in its present orbit around Mars. The results allude to the formation of Phobos via gravitational accretion at some further distance from Mars.
Oral Immunization with Escherichia coli Expressing a Lipidated Form of LigA Protects Hamsters against Challenge with Leptospira interrogans Serovar Copenhageni

ABSTRACT Leptospirosis is a potentially fatal zoonosis transmitted by reservoir host animals that harbor leptospires in their renal tubules and shed the bacteria in their urine. Leptospira interrogans serovar Copenhageni transmitted from Rattus norvegicus to humans is the most prevalent cause of urban leptospirosis. We examined L. interrogans LigA, domains 7 to 13 (LigA7-13), as an oral vaccine delivered by Escherichia coli as a lipidated, membrane-associated protein. The efficacy of the vaccine was evaluated in a susceptible hamster model in terms of the humoral immune response and survival from leptospiral challenge. Four weeks of oral administration of live E. coli expressing LigA7-13 improved survival from intraperitoneal (i.p.) and intradermal (i.d.) challenge by L. interrogans serovar Copenhageni strain Fiocruz L1-130 in Golden Syrian hamsters. Immunization with E. coli expressing LigA7-13 resulted in a systemic antibody response, and a significant LigA7-13 IgG level after the first 2 weeks of immunization was completely predictive of survival 28 days after challenge. As in previous LigA vaccine studies, all immunized hamsters that survived infection had renal leptospiral colonization and histopathological changes. In summary, an oral LigA-based vaccine improved survival from leptospiral challenge by either the i.p. or i.d. route.
Purification and molecular characterization of chitinases from soil actinomycetes

Microbial extracellular chitinases are used in agriculture as effective biocontrol agents and in waste degradation, pharmaceutical and food industry. Actinomycetes are widely tapped group for production of extracellular chitinases. In the present study, approximately 260 actinomycetes were isolated from various ecological habitats was subjected to primary analyses and screened for production of chitinase by plate assay method. Diameter of zones of hydrolysis ranged from 8 to 16 mm. Based on the results, isolates 130, 194, 184, NRRLB 24916 (Streptomyces mexicanus) and NRRLB 16746 (Streptomyces albidoflavus, positive control) were selected for secondary screening and purification. Enzyme activity was estimated in crude cell free extract and partially purified samples. Activity ranged from 7.16 to 14.12 IU/ml (in crude extracts) and 12.1 to 23.10 IU/ml (in partially purified samples). In case of highest chitinase producing isolate 130, effect of various fermentation conditions (pH, temperature and substrate concentration) was studied in crude extract. Furthermore, complete purification of isolate 130 was done by column chromatography and the activity in purified fraction was found to be 32.12 IU/ml. The Km and Vmax values of the purified fractions for isolate 130 were 2.11 µg/ml/min and 53.11mg/ml respectively. This shows that the enzyme has high affinity for the substrate. SDS gel electrophoresis of the purified fraction showed presence of single band of approximately 65 to 70 kDa. Analyses of purified chitinase were done using MS/MS technique. N-terminal sequence corresponded to chitinase, the gene encodes a protein of 453 amino acid residues. Comparison of deduced amino acid sequence to other chitinases in the database indicated that enzyme showed 70% similarity with chitinase from Streptomyces plicatus and belongs to glycoside hydrolase family 18. Homology modeling showed that the enzyme was folded into a domain of (α/β)8 barrel structure. Identification of secondary structure was done by CD spectroscopy. Isolate 130 was capable of degrading biodegradable wastes such as crustacean shells. Key words: Actinomycetes, extracellular chitinase, primary screening, secondary screening, purification, MS/MS analyses, homology modelling, protein structure, biodegradation.