Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Reducing the Braking Distance of an SQL Query Engine

In a recent paper, we proposed adding aSTOP AFTER clause to SQL to permit the cardinality of a query result to be explicitly limited by query writers and query tools. We demonstrated the usefulness of having this clause, showed how to extend a traditional cost-based query optimizer to accommodateit, and demonstrated via DB2-basedsimulations that large performancegains are possible whenSTOP AFTER queries are explicitly supported by the database engine. In this paper, we present several new strategies for efficiently processing STOP AFTER queries. These strategies, based largely on the use of range partitioning techniques, offer significant additional savings for handling STOP AFTER queries that yield sizeable result sets. We describe classes of queries where such savings would indeed arise and present experimental measurements that show the benefits and tradeoffs associated with the new processing strategies.
The accuracy of the modified Evan's blue dye test in predicting aspiration

Objectives/Hypothesis: The modified Evan's blue dye test (MEBDT) is a relatively simple, inexpensive bedside procedure for the assessment of aspiration in the tracheotomized patient. Recent investigations have questioned its diagnostic accuracy. The purpose of the study was to evaluate the accuracy of the MEBDT in predicting aspiration among tracheotomized patients. Study Design: Prospective observational study. Methods: In the setting of a long‐term acute care hospital, all persons with a tracheotomy tube undergoing a bedside swallowing evaluation between October 1, 2001, and March 31, 2002, were prospectively evaluated. All individuals underwent a MEBDT and a subsequent fiberoptic endoscopic evaluation of swallowing (FEES) using a standardized protocol. The sensitivity and specificity of the MEBDT in predicting aspiration were determined. Results: Thirty persons were evaluated. The mean age of the cohort was 65 years (SD ± 11 y). Sixty percent (18 of 30) were men. The sensitivity and specificity of the MEBDT for the entire cohort were 82% and 38%, respectively. The sensitivity of the MEBDT for patients receiving mechanical ventilation was 100% compared with 76% for individuals not receiving mechanical ventilation. The specificity of the MEBDT remained low, regardless of ventilator status (33%–40%). Conclusion: The sensitivity of the MEBDT in predicting aspiration among individuals in our cohort was 82%. The sensitivity was even higher (100%) when performed on persons receiving mechanical ventilation. These results support the use of the MEBDT as a screening tool for persons with a tracheotomy tube. The specific technique of performing the MEBDT is imperative, and the results of the study must be differentiated from other reports evaluating the MEBDT that use a different test protocol.
Genotoxic effects of petroleum industry emissions in Richardson's Ground Squirrels (Spermophilus richardsonii)

The petroleum industry is a major political and economic force in western Canada, and rural communities are concerned that airborne emissions from extraction and processing facilities may be adversely affecting their health and the environment. Since these emissions contain genotoxic contaminants, including polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons and other organic compounds, the overall goal of this research was to assess whether chronic exposure to airborne emissions from petroleum field facilities is damaging to the genetic make-up of a representative small mammal, Richardson's ground squirrel (Spermophilus richardsonii). In 2002, ground squirrels were captured at 21 sites in Alberta and Saskatchewan representing a range of exposure to oil and gas field facilities. Tissue analysis included four methods (cytochrome P450 induction, the comet assay, flow cytometric DNA analysis, and histopathology) that were used to evaluate the progression of genotoxic effects, as well as two general indices of health, body condition and white blood cell (WBC) counts. The number of facilities and the total volumes of gases flared or vented within a defined radius of the trap locations were then examined for any association with measured biological outcomes. Hepatic cytochrome P4501A1 activity, as measured by the 7-ethoxyresorufin 0deethylase (EROD) assay, was increased in association with gas venting from small facilities (e.g. batteries; P < 0.0101) and the number of oil and gas wells (P < 0.0249), while cytochrome P4501A2 activity, as determined by the 7-methoxyresorufin 0deethylase (MROD) assay, was unrelated to facility exposure. The comet assay suggested evidence of primary genetic damage (DNA strand breaks) in peripheral WBCs, as comet tail ratios were significantly increased in association with flaring from gas processing plants (P < 0.0124). However, flow cytometry results provided no indication of chromosomal damage in WBCs associated with facility exposure. The incidence of lesions in the liver, but not in the lung, kidney, or heart, was significantly increased in ground squirrels exposed to gas plant flaring (P = 0.01 09). Among the nonspecific health indicators, only total WBC counts and lymphocyte counts were related to petroleum
Stroke and conditions that mimic it: a protocol secures a safe early recognition.

OBJECTIVE Certain disorders may be falsely diagnosed as stroke. We examined the efficacy of the diagnostic protocol that is followed in our stroke unit and was designed in order to early differentiate more efficiently between stroke and conditions that mimic it. METHODS-PATIENTS: Three hundred sixty-two elderly patients (196 male, 166 female with average age 74.56 years), who were hospitalized at our stroke center between January of 2005 and June of 2007 and diagnosed at admission as stroke patients, were retrospectively studied in order to investigate if the final diagnosis agreed with the initial diagnosis of stroke on admission.Our diagnostic protocol included medical history of the patient, assessment of state of consciousness, blood pressure, electrocardiogram, complete blood cell count (hematocrit/hemoglobin, leukocytes, platelets), clotting mechanism (prothrombin time, activated partial thromboplastin time), glucose, electrolytes (Na, K, Ca), renal (blood urea nitrogen, creatinine) and liver function (SGOT, SGPT), as well as imaging methods like chest X-Ray and brain CT scan. RESULTS In 95% of patients, the final diagnosis agreed with the initial diagnosis of stroke at admission. According to final diagnosis, 344 (95%) of them had stroke -either hemorrhagic or ischemic-, while from the rest 18 (5%), 12 (66.7%) were found to have metastatic neoplasm of brain, 3 (18.7%) had primal tumour of brain, whereas 3 (18.7%) suffered from other diseases (respiratory infection, meningoencephalitis, thyrotoxicosis). The principal symptoms of the conditions that mimicked a stroke were: aphasic disturbances (27.3%), dizziness/fainting (27.3%), headache/diplopia (11.1%), dysarthria (11.1%), hiccup and/or swallow disturbances (5.6%). CONCLUSION Our diagnostic protocol seems to ensure a high degree of differential diagnosis between stroke and conditions that mimic it.
FetA Antibodies Induced by an Outer Membrane Vesicle Vaccine Derived from a Serogroup B Meningococcal Isolate with Constitutive FetA Expression

Invasive meningococcal disease causes over 3500 cases each year in Europe, with particularly high incidence among young children. Among serogroup B meningococci, which cause most of the cases, high diversity in the outer membrane proteins (OMPs) is observed in endemic situations; however, comprehensive molecular epidemiological data are available for the diversity and distribution of the OMPs PorA and FetA and these can be used to rationally design a vaccine with high coverage of the case isolates. The aim of this study was to determine whether outer membrane vesicles (OMVs) derived from an isolate with constitutive FetA expression (MenPF-1 vaccine) could be used to induce antibodies against both the PorA and FetA antigens. The immunogenicity of various dose levels and number of doses was evaluated in mice and rabbits, and IgG antibody responses tested against OMVs and recombinant PorA and FetA proteins. A panel of four isogenic mutants was generated and used to evaluate the relative ability of the vaccine to induce serum bactericidal activity (SBA) against FetA and PorA. Sera from mice were tested in SBA against the four target strains. Results demonstrated that the MenPF-1 OMVs were immunogenic against PorA and FetA in both animal models. Furthermore, the murine antibodies induced were bactericidal against isogenic mutant strains, suggesting that antibodies to both PorA and FetA were functional. The data presented indicate that the MenPF-1 vaccine is a suitable formulation for presenting PorA and FetA OMPs in order to induce bactericidal antibodies, and that proceeding to a Phase I clinical trial with this vaccine candidate is justified.
Voltage-dependent chloride conductance of the squid axon membrane and its blockade by some disulfonic stilbene derivatives

When giant axons of squid, Sepioteuthis, were bathed in a 100 mM Ca- salt solution containing tetrodotoxin (TTX) and internally perfused with a solution of 100 mM tetraethylammonium-salt (TEA-salt) or tetramethylammonium-salt (TMA-salt), the membrane potential was found to become sensitive to anions, especially Cl-. Membrane currents recorded from those axons showed practically no time-dependent properties, but they had a strong voltage-dependent characteristic, i.e., outward rectification. Cl- had a strong effect upon the voltage- dependent membrane currents. The nonlinear property of the currents was almost completely suppressed by some disulfonic stilbene derivatives applied intracellularly, such as 4-acetoamido-4'-isothiocyanostilbene- 2,2'-disulfonic acid (SITS) and as 4,4'-diisothiocyanostilbene-2,2'- disulfonic acid (DIDS), which are blockers of chloride transport. On the basis of these experimental results, it is concluded that a voltage- dependent chloride-permeable channel exists in the squid axon membrane. The chloride permeability (PCl) is a function of voltage, and its value at the resting membrane (Em = -60 mV) is calculated, using the Goldman- Hodgkin-Katz equation, to be 3.0 X 10(-7) cm/s.
World musics and music education : facing the issues

Deepens understandings of key issues about multiculturalism in music education. Covers a broad range of the world's musics: Japanese, Native American, Australian Aborigine, South African, Hispanic, African-American, Israeli, Hawaiian, Amazon Indian, Tennessee Mountain, and more. Based on a Northwestern University Music Education Leadership Seminar.
Task-Cloning Algorithms in a MapReduce Cluster with Competitive Performance Bounds

Job scheduling for a MapReduce cluster has been an active research topic in recent years. However, measurement traces from real-world production environment show that the duration of tasks within a job vary widely. The overall elapsed time of a job, i.e. The so-called flow time, is often dictated by one or few slowly-running tasks within a job, generally referred as the "stragglers". The cause of stragglers include tasks running on partially/intermittently failing machines or the existence of some localized resource bottleneck(s) within a MapReduce cluster. To tackle this online job scheduling challenge, we adopt the task cloning approach and design the corresponding scheduling algorithms which aim at minimizing the weighted sum of job flow times in a MapReduce cluster based on the Shortest Remaining Processing Time scheduler (SRPT). To be more specific, we first design a 2-competitive offline algorithm when the variance of task-duration is negligible. We then extend this offline algorithm to yield the so-called SRPTMS+C algorithm for the online case and show that SRPTMS+C is (1 + ϵ) - speed o (1/ϵ2) - competitive in reducing the weighted sum of job flow times within a cluster. Both of the algorithms explicitly consider the precedence constraints between the two phases within the MapReduce framework. We also demonstrate via trace-driven simulations that SRPTMS+C can significantly reduce the weighted/unweighted sum of job flow times by cutting down the elapsed time of small jobs substantially. In particular, SRPTMS+C beats the Microsoft Mantri scheme by nearly 25% according to this metric.
Pacemaker and Network Mechanisms of Neural Rhythm Generation

The origin of flexible rhythmic activity in brain circuits, or even in smaller neural networks, like central pattern generator (CPG) motor networks, is still not fully understood. The main unresolved questions are (i) what are the respective roles of intrinsic neuronal rhythms and network based dynamics in systems of coupled, heterogeneous, intrinsically complex, even chaotic, neurons? and (ii) what mechanisms are underlying the coexistence of robustness and flexibility in the observed rhythmic spatio-temporal patterns? One common view is that particular neurons provide the rhythmogenic component while the connections between different neurons are responsible for the regularization and synchronization of groups of neurons and for specific phase relationships in multi-phasic bursting patterns. The opposing view is that constituent neurons are by themselves nonrhythmogenic and the emergence of rhythmic bursting behaviors is entirely due to the network interactions. The reality is more interesting and challenging, especially, when we are concerned about the brain. Usually, different mechanisms of rhythm generation coexist in the brain and rhythms from different sources and different levels of integration interact closely. It is important to emphasize that fast rhythms and slow rhythms need different levels of abstraction for describing and understanding them. It is reasonable to consider three such levels: (i) the neuronal level, (ii) the neuronal module or neuronal mass level, and (iii) the mental mode level. The analysis of low frequency (< 0.1 Hz) oscillations, for example, needs coarse-grained models of the interaction of mental modes, i.e., perceptional, cognitive and emotional modes. The chapter is organized in the following way. In the first part (neuronal level) we describe the results of computer simulations examining how spatio-temporal rhythmic patterns emerge in motif networks of Hodgkin-Huxley (H-H) neurons connected by slow inhibitory synapses with a non-symmetric pattern of coupling strengths. We demonstrate that the interplay between intrinsic and network dynamics can lead to either cooperation or competition, depending on three basic control parameters identified in the models: (i) the shape of intrinsic bursts, (ii) the strength of the coupling between neurons and (iii) the degree of asymmetry in the connectivity matrix. The cooperation of intrinsic dynamics and network mechanisms is shown to correlate with bistability, i.e., the coexistence of two different attractors in the phase space of the system
Biology, Life History, and Laboratory Rearing of Spathius galinae (Hymenoptera: Braconidae), a Larval Parasitoid of the Invasive Emerald Ash Borer (Coleoptera: Buprestidae)

ABSTRACT Spathius galinae Belokobylskij & Strazanac is a recently described parasitoid of the emerald ash borer, Agrilus planipennis Fairmaire, in the Russian Far East, and is currently being considered for biocontrol introduction in the United States. Using A. planipennis larvae reared with freshly cut ash (Fraxinus spp.) sticks, we investigated the biology, life cycle, and rearing of S. galinae in the laboratory under normal rearing conditions (25 ± 1°C, 65 ± 10% relative humidity, and a photoperiod of 16:8 [L:D] h). Our study showed that S. galinae took approximately 1 mo (29 d) to complete a single generation (from egg to adult) under the laboratory rearing conditions. After éclosion from eggs, larvae of S. galinae molted four times to reach the fifth instar, which then spun cocoons for pupation and development to adults. Adult female wasps had a median survival time of 7 wk with fecundity peaking 3 wk after emergence when reared in groups (of five females and five males) and 2 wk in single pairs. Throughout the life span, a single female S. galinae produced a mean (±SE) of 31 (±3.0) progeny when reared in groups, and a mean (±SE) of 47 (±5.3) progeny when reared in single pairs. Results from our study also showed that S. galinae could be effectively reared with A. planipennis larvae reared in both green (Fraxinus pennsylvanica Marshall) and tropical [Fraxinus uhdei (Wenzig) Lingelsh] ash sticks. However, the abortion (unemergence) rate of S. galinae progeny was much higher (20%) when reared with host larvae in green ash sticks than that (2.1%) in tropical ash sticks.
Competition with Forward Contracts : A Laboratory Analysis Motivated by Electricity Market Design

We use experiments to study the efficiency effects for a market as a whole of adding the possibility of forward contracting to a pre-existing spot market. We deal separately with the cases where spot market competition is in quantities and where it is in supply functions. In both cases we compare the effect of adding a contract market with the introduction of an additional competitor, changing the market structure from a triopoly to a quadropoly. We find that, as theory suggests, for both types of competition the introduction of a forward market significantly lowers prices. The combination of supply function competition with a forward market leads to high efficiency levels.
Measuring Presence: A Response to the Witmer and Singer Presence Questionnaire

Witmer and Singer recently published a questionnaire for eliciting presence in virtual environments together with a questionnaire for measuring a person’s immersive tendencies (Witmer & Singer, 1998). The authors mentioned that they did not agree with my notion of immersion: ‘Though the VE equipment is instrumental in enabling immersion, we do not agree with Slater’s view that immersion is an objective description of the VE technology’. On first reading I was happy to take this as simply a difference of terminology which is what it is. I had defined the term immersion to mean the extent to which the actual system delivers a surrounding environment, one which shuts out sensations from the ‘real world’, which accommodates many sensory modalities, has rich representational capability, and so on (described, for example, in Slater & Wilbur, 1997). These are obviously measurable aspects of a VE system. For example, given two VE systems, and other things being equal, if one allows the participant to turn their head in any direction at all and still receive visual information only from within the VE then this is called (in my definition) a more ‘immersive’ system than one where the participant can only see VE visual signals along one fixed direction. Given two systems, if one has a larger field of view than the other, then the first is (in my definition) more immersive than the second. As a last example, if one generates shadows in realtime and the other does not, then again, the first is called (by me) more immersive. These are examples of what I mean by more or less ‘immersion’. Clearly for all of these types of things metrics can be established which are descriptions of the system, and not descriptions of people’s responses to the system. Witmer and Singer, however, define immersion as the person’s response to the VE system. This difference in terminology is unfortunate, but not a matter of any great concern. In order to
BET bromodomain-targeting compounds reactivate HIV from latency via a Tat-independent mechanism

The therapeutic potential of pharmacologic inhibition of bromodomain and extraterminal (BET) proteins has recently emerged in hematological malignancies and chronic inflammation. We find that BET inhibitor compounds (JQ1, I-Bet, I-Bet151 and MS417) reactivate HIV from latency. This is evident in polyclonal Jurkat cell populations containing latent infectious HIV, as well as in a primary T-cell model of HIV latency. Importantly, we show that this activation is dependent on the positive transcription elongation factor p-TEFb but independent from the viral Tat protein, arguing against the possibility that removal of the BET protein BRD4, which functions as a cellular competitor for Tat, serves as a primary mechanism for BET inhibitor action. Instead, we find that the related BET protein, BRD2, enforces HIV latency in the absence of Tat, pointing to a new target for BET inhibitor treatment in HIV infection. In shRNA-mediated knockdown experiments, knockdown of BRD2 activates HIV transcription to the same extent as JQ1 treatment, while a lesser effect is observed with BRD4. In single-cell time-lapse fluorescence microscopy, quantitative analyses across ~2,000 viral integration sites confirm the Tat-independent effect of JQ1 and point to positive effects of JQ1 on transcription elongation, while delaying re-initiation of the polymerase complex at the viral promoter. Collectively, our results identify BRD2 as a new Tat-independent suppressor of HIV transcription in latently infected cells and underscore the therapeutic potential of BET inhibitors in the reversal of HIV latency.
Influence of Tillage and Mulch on Soil Physical Properties and Wheat Yield in Rice-Wheat System

Zero tillage along with application of mulch is an important strategy for soil conservation which maintains sustainability of agricultural system. A randomized complete block design in a split plot arrangement was used with four tillage methods [conventional tillage, (CT); deep tillage, (DT); zero tillage with zone disc tiller, (ZDT); and happy seeder, (HS)] in main plots and five mulch materials [no mulch, (M 0 ); rice straw, (M Rice ); wheat straw, (M Wheat ); plastic sheet, (M Plastic ) at 4 t ha -1 , and natural mulch, (M Natural )] in subplots during 2009-10 and 2010-11. Results showed that DT significantly decreased soil bulk density, penetration resistance, and volumetric moisture content when compared with CT, ZDT, and HS. However, wheat yield parameters such as germination count, fertile tillers, grain yield and water use efficiency were significantly higher in HS compared with other tillage treatments while root length and grain protein were higher in DT. Plant height remained non-significant during 2009-10, while in 2010-11 it differed significantly and was higher in HS than other tillage treatments. Wheat yield parameters were significantly higher in M Plastic at 4 t ha -1 than other mulch materials. Happy seeder and deep tillage along with plastic mulch have positive impact on soil physical properties, root growth, water use efficiency and yield parameters by creating a favorable soil environment.
Discrete elastic model for stretching-induced flagellar polymorphs

Force-induced reversible transformations between coiled and normal polymorphs of bacterial flagella have been observed in recent optical-tweezer experiment. We introduce a discrete elastic rod model with two competing helical states governed by a fluctuating spin-like variable that represents the underlying conformational states of flagellin monomers. Using hybrid Brownian dynamics Monte Carlo simulations, we show that a helix undergoes shape transitions dominated by domain wall nucleation and motion in response to externally applied uniaxial tension. A scaling argument for the critical force is presented in good agreement with experimental and simulation results. Stretching-rate-dependent elasticity including a buckling instability are found, also consistent with the experiment.