Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Automated checkpointing for enabling intensive applications on energy harvesting devices

We propose a framework that enables intensive computation on ultra-low power devices with discontinuous energy-harvesting supplies. We devise an optimization algorithm that efficiently partitions the applications into smaller computational steps during high-level synthesis. Our system finds low-overhead checkpoints that minimize recomputation cost due to power losses, then inserts the checkpoints at the design's registertransfer level. The checkpointing rate is automatically adapted to the source's realtime behavior. We evaluate our mechanisms on a battery-less RF energy-harvester platform. Extensive experiments targeting applications in medical implant devices demonstrate our approach's ability to successfully execute complex computations for various supply patterns with low time, energy, and area overheads.
From molecular model to sparse representation of chromatographic signals with an unknown number of peaks

Analysis of a fluid mixture using a chromatographic system is a standard technique for many biomedical applications such as in-vitro diagnostic of body fluids or air and water quality assessment. The analysis is often dedicated towards a set of molecules or biomarkers. However, due to the fluid complexity, the number of mixture components is often larger than the list of targeted molecules. In order to get an analysis as exhaustive as possible and also to take into account possible interferences, it is important to identify and to quantify all the components that are included in the chromatographic signal. Thus the signal processing aims to reconstruct a list of an unknown number of components and their relative concentrations. We address this question as a problem of sparse representation of a chromatographic signal. The innovative representation is based on a stochastic forward model describing the transport of elementary molecules in the chromatography column as a molecular random walk. We investigate three methods: two probabilistic Bayesian approaches, one parametric and one non-parametric, and a determinist approach based on a parsimonious decomposition on a dictionary basis. We examine the performances of these 3 approaches on an experimental case dedicated to the analysis of mixtures of the micro-pollutants Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons (PAH) in a methanol solution in two cases of high and low signal to noise ratio (SNR).
A Sparse Discretization for Integral Equation Formulations of High Frequency Scattering Problems

We consider two-dimensional scattering problems, formulated as an integral equation defined on the boundary of the scattering obstacle. The oscillatory nature of high-frequency scattering problems necessitates a large number of unknowns in classical boundary element methods. In addition, the corresponding discretization matrix of the integral equation is dense. We formulate a boundary element method with basis functions that incorporate the asymptotic behavior of the solution at high frequencies. The method exhibits the effectiveness of asymptotic methods at high frequencies with only few unknowns, but retains accuracy for lower frequencies. New in our approach is that we combine this hybrid method with very effective quadrature rules for oscillatory integrals. As a result, we obtain a sparse discretization matrix for the oscillatory problem. Moreover, numerical experiments indicate that the accuracy of the solution actually increases with increasing frequency. The sparse discretization applies to problems where the phase of the solution can be predicted a priori, for example in the case of smooth and convex scatterers.
Association between IL-16 rs 4778889 and rs 4072111 polymorphisms and ovarian cancer risk in Chinese Han population : a case-control study

Background: Interleukin-16 (IL16) as a multifunctional cytokine, plays a key role in inflammatory and autoimmune diseases as well as tumour growth and progression. However, there are no data about the role of IL-16 polymorphism in development of ovarian cancer. Patients and methods: A hospital-based case-control study was conducted among 220 patients with ovarian cancer and 220 healthy controls to investigate the possible association between the IL-16 rs4778889 T/C and rs4072111 C/T polymorphisms respectively, and the risk of ovarian cancer. Results: Significant differences of genotype distribution were observed between ovarian cancer cases and controls at the IL-16 rs4778889 T/C genotypes. Compared with the IL-16 rs4778889 T/C homozygote TT, the heterozygous TC genotype was associated with significantly increased risk for ovarian cancer (OR=2.31, 95% CI=(1.38-3.91), P=0.026); the CC genotype was associated with increased risk for ovarian cancer (OR=1.89, 95% CI=1.48-3.80, P=0.015). TC and CC combined variants were associated with increased risk for ovarian cancer compared with the TT genotype (OR=1.95, 95% CI=1.42-4.85, P=0.023). Moreover, the genotype GG of IL-16 rs4778889 T/C carried a higher risk of ovarian cancer metastasis and later stages, compared with the TT genotype. However, the genotype and allele frequencies of IL-16 rs4072111 C/T polymorphisms in ovarian cancer patients were not significantly different from controls. Conclusion: This study showed that the IL-16 rs4778889 T/C genotype was associated with increased risk for development and metastasis of ovarian cancer in Chinese Han population.
Evaluation of aspartate transaminase activity and beta-hydroxybutyrate concentration in blood as tests for prediction of left displaced abomasum in dairy cows.

OBJECTIVE To evaluate aspartate transaminase (AST) activity and beta-hydroxybutyrate (BHB) concentration in blood obtained during the first or second postpartum (PP) week as tests for prediction of subsequent left displaced abomasum (LDA) diagnosis in dairy cows. ANIMALS 36 cows with LDA tested at a mean 3 PP days, which was 7 to 22 days prior to LDA diagnosis (25, 75% quantiles), and 28 cows with LDA tested at 10 PP days, which was 5 to 18 days prior to LDA diagnosis, were matched to 3 controls per case by herd and calving date. Data were available from a large field study. PROCEDURE Odds ratio, sensitivity, specificity, and likelihood ratio were determined for various AST and BHB cutoff values. RESULTS AST, using cutoff values between 100 and 180 U/L, and BHB, using cutoff values between 1,000 and 1,600 mumol/L, were significantly associated with subsequent LDA diagnosis. When cutoff values were increased, odds ratio and likelihood ratio increased; however, sensitivity decreased and specificity increased. CONCLUSION AND CLINICAL RELEVANCE AST activity and BHB concentration in blood obtained during the first or second PP week might be useful as predictors of subsequent LDA diagnosis.
Continuous Spinal Anesthesia for Obstetric Anesthesia and Analgesia

The widespread use of continuous spinal anesthesia (CSA) in obstetrics has been slow because of the high risk for post-dural puncture headache (PDPH) associated with epidural needles and catheters. New advances in equipment and technique have not significantly overcome this disadvantage. However, CSA offers an alternative to epidural anesthesia in morbidly obese women, women with severe cardiac disease, and patients with prior spinal surgery. It should be strongly considered in parturients who receive an accidental dural puncture with a large bore needle, on the basis of recent work suggesting significant reduction in PDPH when intrathecal catheters are used. Small doses of drug can be administered and extension of labor analgesia for emergency cesarean delivery may occur more rapidly compared to continuous epidural techniques.
Ring Chromosome 9 and Chromosome 9p Deletion Syndrome in a Patient Associated with Developmental Delay: A Case Report and Review of the Literature

Ring chromosomes have been described for all human chromosomes and are typically associated with physical and/or mental abnormalities resulting from a deletion of the terminal ends of both chromosome arms. This report describes the presence of a ring chromosome 9 in a 2-year-old male child associated with developmental delay. The proband manifested a severe phenotype comprising facial dysmorphism, congenital heart defects, and seizures. The child also exhibited multiple cell lines with mosaic patterns of double rings, a dicentric ring and loss of the ring associated with mitotic instability and dynamic tissue-specific mosaicism. His karyotype was 46,XY,r(9)(p22q34)[89]/46,XY,dic r(9; 9)(p22q34;p22q34)[6]/45, XY,-9[4]/47,XY,r(9),+r(9)[1]. However, the karyotypes of his parents and elder brother were normal. FISH using mBAND probe and subtelomeric probes specific for p and q arms for chromosome 9 showed no deletion in any of the regions. Chromosomal microarray analysis led to the identification of a heterozygous deletion of 15.7 Mb from 9p22.3 to 9p24.3. The probable role of the deleted genes in the manifestation of the phenotype of the proband is discussed.
A Simple Way to Cultivate Referencing Habits in First Year Biology Students

Scientific writing skills are an important aspect of undergraduate science curricula, and science careers. Learning activities and assessment tasks that are designed to enhance students’ scientific writing skills place emphasis on the students’ existing ability to search and cite valid references. This can sometimes be an intimidating expectation, especially for international students. This study investigated a simple way to cultivate and sustain appropriate referencing habits in first year undergraduate science students, and related these habits to academic performance. The students were enrolled at The University of Queensland (UQ), Australia, but studying at Taylor’s University, Malaysia, as part of a twinning arrangement between the two institutions. This study found that careful scaffolding of practical reports and the inclusion of one challenging question per practical report was enough to significantly improve student skills in referencing and academic performance. It further found that students generally preferred to use the course textbook as their major reference, followed by a variety of sources including journal articles.
Cell Number Regulator1 Affects Plant and Organ Size in Maize: Implications for Crop Yield Enhancement and Heterosis[C][W]

This study describes the isolation and characterization of the maize CNR gene family. It provides evidence that CNR1 affects plant size as a negative regulator of cell number, suggesting potential for application to crop improvement. Genes involved in cell number regulation may affect plant growth and organ size and, ultimately, crop yield. The tomato (genus Solanum) fruit weight gene fw2.2, for instance, governs a quantitative trait locus that accounts for 30% of fruit size variation, with increased fruit size chiefly due to increased carpel ovary cell number. To expand investigation of how related genes may impact other crop plant or organ sizes, we identified the maize (Zea mays) gene family of putative fw2.2 orthologs, naming them Cell Number Regulator (CNR) genes. This family represents an ancient eukaryotic family of Cys-rich proteins containing the PLAC8 or DUF614 conserved motif. We focused on native expression and transgene analysis of the two maize members closest to Le-fw2.2, namely, CNR1 and CNR2. We show that CNR1 reduced overall plant size when ectopically overexpressed and that plant and organ size increased when its expression was cosuppressed or silenced. Leaf epidermal cell counts showed that the increased or decreased transgenic plant and organ size was due to changes in cell number, not cell size. CNR2 expression was found to be negatively correlated with tissue growth activity and hybrid seedling vigor. The effects of CNR1 on plant size and cell number are reminiscent of heterosis, which also increases plant size primarily through increased cell number. Regardless of whether CNRs and other cell number–influencing genes directly contribute to, or merely mimic, heterosis, they may aid generation of more vigorous and productive crop plants.
Investigation of negative sequence components for stator shorted turn detection in induction motors

Online diagnostics is preferred specifically in critical induction machines for timely analysis of their health and to predict any incipient failures. For early fault detection, the negative sequence current component can offer a fast and reliable monitoring technique. However, the negative sequence component method contains inherent non-idealities (such as inherent machine asymmetries) and is sensitive to external effects (such as load change and supply voltage imbalances). This paper addresses these limitations while considering real system disturbances and non-linearities using a dynamic motor model which is also verified by the experimental studies. The effectiveness of the negative sequence component analysis as well as the behavior of the model under load change and voltage unbalance was discussed. The negative sequence components due to stator faults and the interaction with voltage and load variation were also presented in the paper.
Sign Language Fingerspelling Classification from Depth and Color Images Using a Deep Belief Network

Automatic sign language recognition is an open problem that has received a lot of attention recently, not only because of its usefulness to signers, but also due to the numerous applications a sign classifier can have. In this article, we present a new feature extraction technique for hand pose recognition using depth and intensity images captured from a Microsoft Kinect sensor. We applied our technique to American Sign Language finger spelling classification using a Deep Belief Network, for which our feature extraction technique is tailored. We evaluated our results on a multi-user data set with two scenarios: one with all known users and one with an unseen user. We achieved 99% recall and precision on the first, and 77% recall and 79% precision on the second. Our method is also capable of real-time sign classification and is adaptive to any environment or lightning intensity.
Identification of Carbonate-Rich Outcrops on Mars by the Spirit Rover

Ancient Carbonate Minerals on Mars The historical presence of liquid water on Mars together with a CO 2-rich atmosphere should have resulted in the accumulation of large deposits of carbonate minerals. Yet, evidence for the presence of carbonates on the surface of Mars has been scarce. Using data collected by the Mars Exploration Rover, Spirit, Morris et al. (p. 421, published online 3 June; see the Perspective by Harvey) now present evidence for carbonate-rich outcrops in the Comanche outcrops within the Gusev crater. The carbonate is a major outcrop component and may have formed in the Noachian era (∼4 billion years ago) by precipitation from hydrothermal solutions that passed through buried carbonate deposits. Thus, it is likely that extensive aqueous activity under neutral pH conditions did occur on Mars. Substantial carbonate concentration in martian outcrops implies extensive aqueous activity in the past. Decades of speculation about a warmer, wetter Mars climate in the planet’s first billion years postulate a denser CO2-rich atmosphere than at present. Such an atmosphere should have led to the formation of outcrops rich in carbonate minerals, for which evidence has been sparse. Using the Mars Exploration Rover Spirit, we have now identified outcrops rich in magnesium-iron carbonate (16 to 34 weight percent) in the Columbia Hills of Gusev crater. Its composition approximates the average composition of the carbonate globules in martian meteorite ALH 84001. The Gusev carbonate probably precipitated from carbonate-bearing solutions under hydrothermal conditions at near-neutral pH in association with volcanic activity during the Noachian era.
A Low-Cost Implementation of a 360° Vision Distributed Aperture System

Visible light cameras commonly used for surveillance applications usually have a limited field of view (FoV). To acquire a broader FoV, distributed aperture systems (DASs) combine views from multiple cameras. Although some commercial or proprietary systems already exist, the open literature in this field reports solely the performance and/or hardware architecture of the respective systems, and omits the required details for a reimplementation. In this paper we present a low-cost, personal-computer-based 360° DAS, with a full description of the hardware architecture and the software implementation details. In particular, we describe in detail two problems, the offline estimation of the orientations of the cameras of the proposed DAS and the online synthesis of a virtual view in real time. For the first problem, we propose an area-based bundle adjuster by combining the forward additive Lucas-Kanade algorithm with a bundle adjustment strategy. The color virtual view of up to 2048 × 1024 pixels is synthesized online at 39 frames/s. A large majority of the workload of the online phase is implemented on the graphic processing unit. The techniques and methods proposed in this paper are generic and independent on the arrangement of cameras.
The relationship between serotonin, decision-making and mood

The serotonin (5-HT) system has been implicated in both depression and reward and punishment processing. This thesis presents data from four studies designed to better understand the role of serotonin in decision-making and mood. Following the general introduction and description of the main experimental methods, the first experimental chapter presents a study that examined the relationship between naturally-varying 5-HT1A receptor availability, measured using positron emission tomography, and decision-making in healthy volunteers. This study identified correlations between 5-HT1A receptor availability in the hippocampal complex and both impulsivity and sensitivity to the probability of an outcome during decision-making. The second experimental chapter examined decision-making in healthy volunteers 3 days following MDMA (3,4-methylenedioxymethamphetamine) administration, when serotonin transmission is thought to be reduced. A specific type of decision-making process, “pruning” (the reflexive avoidance of aversive outcomes when searching through a tree of potential decisions), was significantly attenuated 3 days following MDMA administration. However, the expected positive relationship between the attenuation in this decision-making process and low mood was not observed. The third experimental chapter attempted to extend this finding using the acute tryptophan depletion method, which removes tryptophan (the precursor to serotonin) from the diet and is thought to reduce serotonin synthesis. Performance on three decision making tasks (pruning, gambling and impulsivity) was examined in healthy volunteers following tryptophan depletion. Results revealed that treatment decreased participants’ choosing of high probability gambles. The final chapter examined pruning in unmedicated depressed patients, and found that they behaved very similarly to healthy volunteers when evaluating aversive outcomes in the context of a tree of potential decisions, despite the hypothesised disruption to the serotonin system in this disorder. These experiments provide a more complete understanding of the relationship between serotonin, decision-making and mood, and are discussed in relation to theories of depression that pose a central role for disrupted decision-making.
Concept and behavior in a tlaxcalan cargo hierarchy

The degree of congruence between culturally patterned behaviors and the cognitive models from which the behaviors presumably follow; i.e., the distinction between ideal and real culture, is of considerable interest to anthropologists. Close examination can reveal adherence to or deviation from shared standards and expectations of behavior or, alternatively, that there is only limited sharing of standards and expectations. That such intracultural diversity exists should hardly be surprising. Pelto and Pelto ( I 97 5), following the leads of Roberts ( I 9 5 I, I 96 I ) and Wallace (I96I), suggest the necessity for intragroup cognitive and behavioral diversity for the process of human adaptation. On the other hand, it is also clear that large-scale cultural patterns exist despite varied cognitions and behaviors of actors. This paper compares a conceptual model of the organization of the religious oiceholding system (the cargo system) of a Mesoamerican community with the patterns of ohiceholding that actually occur in the village. This comparison suggests neither behavioral nor cognitive homogeneity in regard to ohiceholding or the relative ranks of offices but it does indicate that some measure of accord does exist in these areas. In addition, the differences found between the conceptual and behavioral models of the cargo system in the village of San Rafael Tepatlaxco emphasize the need to consider both cognition and behavior in the understanding of culture.
Engineering the compression of massive tables: an experimental approach

We study the problem of compressing massive tables. We devise a novel compression paradigm—training for lossless compression— which assumes that the data exhibit dependencies that can be learned by examining a small amount of training material. We develop an experimental methodology to test the approach. Our result is a system, pzip, which outperforms gzip by factors of two in compression size and both compression and uncompression time for various tabular data. Pzip is now in production use in an AT&T network traffic data warehouse.
Mechanisms of low back pain: a guide for diagnosis and therapy

Chronic low back pain (CLBP) is a chronic pain syndrome in the lower back region, lasting for at least 3 months. CLBP represents the second leading cause of disability worldwide being a major welfare and economic problem. The prevalence of CLBP in adults has increased more than 100% in the last decade and continues to increase dramatically in the aging population, affecting both men and women in all ethnic groups, with a significant impact on functional capacity and occupational activities. It can also be influenced by psychological factors, such as stress, depression and/or anxiety. Given this complexity, the diagnostic evaluation of patients with CLBP can be very challenging and requires complex clinical decision-making. Answering the question “what is the pain generator” among the several structures potentially involved in CLBP is a key factor in the management of these patients, since a mis-diagnosis can generate therapeutical mistakes. Traditionally, the notion that the etiology of 80% to 90% of LBP cases is unknown has been mistaken perpetuated across decades. In most cases, low back pain can be attributed to specific pain generator, with its own characteristics and with different therapeutical opportunity. Here we discuss about radicular pain, facet Joint pain, sacro-iliac pain, pain related to lumbar stenosis, discogenic pain. Our article aims to offer to the clinicians a simple guidance to identify pain generators in a safer and faster way, relying a correct diagnosis and further therapeutical approach.
An Exploratory Study of Befriending Programs with Refugees

ABSTRACT The losses associated with exile often leave refugees with limited resources to face the challenge of adjusting to a new society. To enhance the successful integration of refugees, it is important to assist them in their efforts in rebuilding and extending their support systems. By matching refugees with volunteers, Befriending Programs aim at creating a supportive environment. Based on information provided by twenty-five organizations that offer befriending programs in Australia, Canada, England, and the United States, this paper explores obstacles they face in the recruitment and retention of befrienders as well as their strategies in overcoming challenges.