Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Switching the optical divide: fundamental challenges for hybrid electrical/optical datacenter networks

Recent proposals to build hybrid electrical (packet-switched) and optical (circuit switched) data center interconnects promise to reduce the cost, complexity, and energy requirements of very large data center networks. Supporting realistic traffic patterns, however, exposes a number of unexpected and difficult challenges to actually deploying these systems "in the wild. " In this paper, we explore several of these challenges, uncovered during a year of experience using hybrid interconnects. We discuss both the problems that must be addressed to make these interconnects truly useful, and the implications of these challenges on what solutions are likely to be ultimately feasible.
Higher-order Alcohols as Biofuels: an Interdisciplinary Examination

The prospect of transportation fuels produced on a large scale without the use of petroleum feedstock has received prominent attention in recent years, motivated by several potential economic, environmental, and geopolitical advantages. Among possible gasoline replacements, ethanol has been the focus of the greatest attention thus far, building on centuries-old knowledge developed through its production for human consumption. At this juncture however, its commercial viability as a fuel appears tenuous due to several intrinsic challenges, including low energy content, miscibility in water, and corrosivity to existing engines. Looking ahead, higher-order alcohols are an attractive alternative, for while they share with ethanol a high compatibility with native microbial metabolism, their chemical properties suggest they are more likely to be commercially viable. It should be noted though, that certain environmental, techno-economic, and governance issues still remain outstanding, issues that are best addressed in the near-term while the technological development and infrastructure investment are at an early stage.
The influence of the use of English in Dutch job advertisements: An experimental study into the effects on text evaluation, on attitudes towards the organisation and the job, and on comprehension

Thirty-nine per cent of job advertisements in a Dutch national paper contain one or more English words (Korzilius, Van Meurs & Hermans, submitted). Several authors have claimed that the use of English in advertising in non-English-speaking countries is associated with prestige (e.g. Friedrich 2002; Haarmann 1989). The present study aims to test the effects of the use of English in Dutch job ads. In a between-subjects experimental design, three manipulated versions of a job ad were presented to potential applicants. One version was completely in English, one version contained 11 different English words, and the third version was completely in Dutch. The respondents answered questions on the intelligibility and appreciation of the advertisement as a whole, on the image of the organisation and of the job offered, and on their motivation to respond to the ad. In addition, they indicated the degree to which they understood the meaning of the manipulated Dutch and English items as they occurred in their version of the ad, and paraphrased the meaning of these manipulated terms. Results showed that there was no statistically significant difference between the scores of the completely Dutch and partly English versions on the attractiveness and intelligibility of the ad as a whole, on the image of the company and of the position on offer, and on motivation to respond. As for comprehension, the manipulated Dutch items scored better on respondents' own estimation of their understanding of the items and on the number of correct paraphrases. The results for the completely English version will be available shortly. On the basis of the two versions analysed, it may be concluded that English words and phrases are less well understood than their native equivalents, but, contrary to claims in the literature, the use of English instead of Dutch words does not affect potential applicants' attitudes towards various aspects of the ad, the job and the organisation, at least not in the case of young and highly educated respondents.
Hypoxia Preconditioned Mesenchymal Stem Cells Prevent Cardiac Fibroblast Activation and Collagen Production via Leptin

Aims Activation of cardiac fibroblasts into myofibroblasts constitutes a key step in cardiac remodeling after myocardial infarction (MI), due to interstitial fibrosis. Mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) have been shown to improve post-MI remodeling an effect that is enhanced by hypoxia preconditioning (HPC). Leptin has been shown to promote cardiac fibrosis. The expression of leptin is significantly increased in MSCs after HPC but it is unknown whether leptin contributes to MSC therapy or the fibrosis process. The objective of this study was to determine whether leptin secreted from MSCs modulates cardiac fibrosis. Methods Cardiac fibroblast (CF) activation was induced by hypoxia (0.5% O2). The effects of MSCs on fibroblast activation were analyzed by co-culturing MSCs with CFs, and detecting the expression of α-SMA, SM22α, and collagen IαI in CFs by western blot, immunofluorescence and Sirius red staining. In vivo MSCs antifibrotic effects on left ventricular remodeling were investigated using an acute MI model involving permanent ligation of the left anterior descending coronary artery. Results Co-cultured MSCs decreased fibroblast activation and HPC enhanced the effects. Leptin deficit MSCs from Ob/Ob mice did not decrease fibroblast activation. Consistent with this, H-MSCs significantly inhibited cardiac fibrosis after MI and mediated decreased expression of TGF-β/Smad2 and MRTF-A in CFs. These effects were again absent in leptin-deficient MSCs. Conclusion Our data demonstrate that activation of cardiac fibroblast was inhibited by MSCs in a manner that was leptin-dependent. The mechanism may involve blocking TGF-β/Smad2 and MRTF-A signal pathways.
Protective Effect of Total Flavonoids of Seabuckthorn (Hippophae rhamnoides) in Simulated High-Altitude Polycythemia in Rats

Seabuckthorn (Hippophae rhamnoides L.) has been used to treat high altitude diseases. The effects of five-week treatment with total flavonoids of seabuckthorn (35, 70, 140 mg/kg, ig) on cobalt chloride (5.5 mg/kg, ip)- and hypobaric chamber (simulating 5,000 m)-induced high-altitude polycythemia in rats were measured. Total flavonoids decreased red blood cell number, hemoglobin, hematocrit, mean corpuscular hemoglobin levels, span of red blood cell electrophoretic mobility, aggregation index of red blood cell, plasma viscosity, whole blood viscosity, and increased deformation index of red blood cell, erythropoietin level in serum. Total flavonoids increased pH, pO2, SpO2, pCO2 levels in arterial blood, and increased Na+, HCO3−, Cl−, but decreased K+ concentrations. Total flavonoids increased mean arterial pressure, left ventricular systolic pressure, end-diastolic pressure, maximal rate of rise and decrease, decreased heart rate and protected right ventricle morphology. Changes in hemodynamic, hematologic parameters, and erythropoietin content suggest that administration of total flavonoids from seabuckthorn may be useful in the prevention of high altitude polycythaemia in rats.
Electrophysiological potentials in the hippocampus during recognition memory

Neural circuits within the medial temporal lobe, including the hippocampus, support recognition memory. Patients and animals with circumscribed hippocampus damage experience significant episodic memory deficits but their general intellectual abilities remain intact. The present thesis sought to determine whether electrical field potentials generated in the hippocampus during a recognition memory task are influenced by stimulus repetition. Electroencephalography (EEG) is a non-invasive technique used to measure the voltage changes on the scalp in regards to a specific cognitive event. Event related potentials (ERP) is a post-hoc analysis of recorded EEG and allows the voltage changes to be time-locked to the occurrence of an event. EEG/ERP analysis was used to measure the voltage change in normal, healthy college students in a recognition memory task. When visual stimuli are presented repeatedly certain ERP components that are associated with recognition memory are attenuated, although some discrepancies exist in the literature. Beamforming spatial filtering analysis is a source estimation technique that allows inferences to be made about the locations of generators of the evoked potentials that are recorded at the scalp. In the current study, a repetition effect was observed for pictures and words at select electrode sites. Pictures and words previously seen (“Old’) had significantly decreased peak amplitude compared to pictures and words that had not been seen before. Although stimulus repetition clearly attenuated electrophysiological signals recorded on certain regions of the scalp, beamforming analysis of the hippocampus showed that these changes were not accompanied by similar changes in the field potentials generated within the hippocampus. Interestingly, however, pictures and words produced markedly different hippocampal field potentials.
Characteristics of Tropical Cyclone Rapid Intensification over the Western North Pacific

This study statistically investigates the characteristics of tropical cyclones (TCs) undergoing rapid intensification (RI) in the western North Pacific in the 37 years from 1979 to 2015 and the relevant atmospheric and oceanic environments. Among 900 TCs, 201 TCs undergoing RI (RI-TCs) are detected by our definition as a wind speed increase of 30 kt (15.4 m s−1) or more in a 24-h period. RI-TCs potentially occur throughout the year, with low variation in RI-TC occurrence rate among the seasons. Conversely, the annual occurrence of RI-TC varies widely. In El Niño years, TCs tend to undergo RI mainly as a result of average locations at the time of tropical storm formation (TSF) being farther east and south, whereas TCs experience RI less frequently in La Niña years. The occurrence rates of RI-TC increased from the 1990s to the late 2000s. The RI onset time is typically 0–66 h after the TSF and the duration that satisfies the criteria of RI is 1–2 days. RI frequently occurs over the zonally elongated area around the eastern Philippine Sea. The development stage and life-span are longer in RI-TCs than in TCs that do not undergo RI. RI-TCs are small at the time of TSF and tend to develop as intense TCs as a result of environmental conditions favorable for TC development, weak vertical wind shear, high convective available potential energy, and tropical cyclone heat potential. The occurrence rates of RI-TCs that make landfall in Japan and the Philippines are higher than in China and Vietnam.
Heterogeneous nucleation on a completely wettable substrate

It is widely believed that heterogeneous nucleation occurs without an activation process when the surface is completely wettable. In this report, we review our previous work [J.Chem.Phys {\bf 134}, 234709 (2011)] to show that the critical nucleus (droplet) can exist and the activation process may be observable. In fact, a critical nucleus and a free energy barrier always exist if the surface potential or the disjoining pressure allows for the first-order pre-wetting transition on a completely wettable substrate where the contact angle is zero. Furthermore, the critical nucleus changes character from the critical nucleus of surface phase transition below bulk coexistence (undersaturation) to the critical nucleus of bulk heterogeneous nucleation above the coexistence (oversaturation) when it crosses the coexistence. In this paper the morphology and work of formation of a critical nucleus on a completely-wettable substrate are re-examined to point out the possibility of observing a critical droplet on a completely wettable substrate.
Asynchronous Media Streaming Over Wireless Broadcast Channels

We consider wireless broadcasting of multimedia content to allow asynchronous media access. Receivers subscribe at any time to the ongoing broadcast session, but are still able to display the media stream from the beginning. A fully scalable broadcasting scheme is presented where the media stream is appropriately segmented and segments are protected by fountain codes. The decoding behavior of rateless codes on wireless as well as on erasure channels is considered within the framework of information collection. Asynchronous data access and full reliability at the same time are achieved. Depending on its receiving conditions the receiver adapts its initial playout delay for high probability of successful playout. Analytical expressions for the failure probability of successful media playout are derived depending on the initial delay and the channel conditions at the receiver
An Acto-Myosin II Constricting Ring Initiates the Fission of Activity-Dependent Bulk Endosomes in Neurosecretory Cells

Activity-dependent bulk endocytosis allows neurons to internalize large portions of the plasma membrane in response to stimulation. However, whether this critical type of compensatory endocytosis is unique to neurons or also occurs in other excitable cells is currently unknown. Here we used fluorescent 70 kDa dextran to demonstrate that secretagogue-induced bulk endocytosis also occurs in bovine chromaffin cells. The relatively large size of the bulk endosomes found in this model allowed us to investigate how the neck of the budding endosomes constricts to allow efficient recruitment of the fission machinery. Using time-lapse imaging of Lifeact–GFP-transfected chromaffin cells in combination with fluorescent 70 kDa dextran, we detected acto-myosin II rings surrounding dextran-positive budding endosomes. Importantly, these rings were transient and contracted before disappearing, suggesting that they might be involved in restricting the size of the budding endosome neck. Based on the complete recovery of dextran fluorescence after photobleaching, we demonstrated that the actin ring-associated budding endosomes were still connected with the extracellular fluid. In contrast, no such recovery was observed following the constriction and disappearance of the actin rings, suggesting that these structures were pinched-off endosomes. Finally, we showed that the rings were initiated by a circular array of phosphatidylinositol(4,5)bisphosphate microdomains, and that their constriction was sensitive to both myosin II and dynamin inhibition. The acto-myosin II rings therefore play a key role in constricting the neck of budding bulk endosomes before dynamin-dependent fission from the plasma membrane of neurosecretory cells.
A Novel Distributed Reinforcement Learning Training System for Network Congestion Control

Network communication is the foundation of various industries and the Internet. As the core of network communication, congestion control (CC) algorithms directly impact network quality. Traditional CC algorithms, such as CUBIC and BBR, are designed by experts. With the advancement of deep reinforcement learning (RL) technology, many researchers have designed reinforcement learning algorithms to achieve self-learning models. However, existing RL models are limited to generating training samples on a single machine, which restricts the training efficiency of the. Additionally, during the model training process, the lack of online analysis tools makes it difficult to analyze the training failures of the model. In this paper, we propose an RL-distributed training system for CC, which utilizes multiple machines to generate training samples. Furthermore, we have designed an online analysis kit to observe the model's control performance in real-time. In experiments, we successfully replicated Indigo using the distributed training system. The experimental results show the effectiveness of the system and the online analysis kit.
Minimal Standards for Rigorous MANET Routing Protocol Evaluation *

Mobile Ad Hoc Network (MANET) simulation-based research is an involved process driven by the scenarios used in the simulations. Scenarios must be properly constructed in order to be effective in evaluating the performance of routing protocols. For example, in scenarios with a low average hop count, little routing is needed, and poor protocols will appear successful. On the other hand, in scenarios with a high degree of partitioning, many pairs of nodes have no usable route between them, and good protocols will appear unsuccessful. We surveyed articles published at the MobiHoc Conference (2000-2005) and found that many of them used simulation scenarios with an average shortest-path hop count less than 2, and some of them used simulation scenarios that had more than 90% of the node pairs partitioned (on average). Thus, many of the simulation scenarios described in published MobiHoc articles are inadequate to provide a rigorous evaluation of a routing protocol. This paper makes three contributions. First, we propose minimal standardsto qualify a simulation scenario to be used for rigorous protocol evaluation, based on the scenario’s average shortest-path hop count and its amount of network partitioning. Second, we describe several scenarios that meet our minimal standards; these scenarios can be used to rigorously test MANET routing protocols. Third, we describe an easy-toimplement method that researchers can use to produce additional simulation scenarios that meet the standards we propose. See http://toilers.mines. edu for information on obtaining code used in this study.
Transcriptome-wide identification of NMD-targeted human mRNAs reveals extensive redundancy between SMG6- and SMG7-mediated degradation pathways

Besides degrading aberrant mRNAs that harbor a premature translation termination codon (PTC), nonsense-mediated mRNA decay (NMD) also targets many seemingly “normal” mRNAs that encode for full-length proteins. To identify a bona fide set of such endogenous NMD targets in human cells, we applied a meta-analysis approach in which we combined transcriptome profiling of knockdowns and rescues of the three NMD factors UPF1, SMG6, and SMG7. We provide evidence that this combinatorial approach identifies NMD-targeted transcripts more reliably than previous attempts that focused on inactivation of single NMD factors. Our data revealed that SMG6 and SMG7 act on essentially the same transcripts, indicating extensive redundancy between the endo- and exonucleolytic decay routes. Besides mRNAs, we also identified as NMD targets many long noncoding RNAs as well as miRNA and snoRNA host genes. The NMD target feature with the most predictive value is an intron in the 3′ UTR, followed by the presence of upstream open reading frames (uORFs) and long 3′ UTRs. Furthermore, the 3′ UTRs of NMD-targeted transcripts tend to have an increased GC content and to be phylogenetically less conserved when compared to 3′ UTRs of NMD insensitive transcripts.
Neuroenhancement of Memory for Children with Autism by a Mind–Body Exercise

The memory deficits found in individuals with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) may be caused by the lack of an effective strategy to aid memory. The executive control of memory processing is mediated largely by the timely coupling between frontal and posterior brain regions. The present study aimed to explore the potential effect of a Chinese mind–body exercise, namely Nei Gong, for enhancing learning and memory in children with ASD, and the possible neural basis of the improvement. Sixty-six children with ASD were randomly assigned to groups receiving Nei Gong training (NGT), progressive muscle relaxation (PMR) training, or no training for 1 month. Before and after training, the participants were tested individually on a computerized visual memory task while EEG signals were acquired during the memory encoding phase. Children in the NGT group demonstrated significantly enhanced memory performance and more effective use of a memory strategy, which was not observed in the other two groups. Furthermore, the improved memory after NGT was consistent with findings of elevated EEG theta coherence between frontal and posterior brain regions, a measure of functional coupling. The scalp EEG signals were localized by the standardized low resolution brain electromagnetic tomography method and found to originate from a neural network that promotes effective memory processing, including the prefrontal cortex, the parietal cortex, and the medial and inferior temporal cortex. This alteration in neural processing was not found in children receiving PMR or in those who received no training. The present findings suggest that the mind–body exercise program may have the potential effect on modulating neural functional connectivity underlying memory processing and hence enhance memory functions in individuals with autism.
Value of Absolute Eosinophil Count in Patients with Acute Coronary Syndrome Undergoing Percutaneous Coronary Intervention

Background and Aims Elevated eosinophils typically indicate hypersensitive inflammation; however, their involvement in cardiovascular events remains incompletely understood. We investigated the association between the absolute eosinophil count (AEC) and major adverse cardiovascular and cerebrovascular events (MACCEs) in patients with acute coronary syndrome (ACS) undergoing percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI). Additionally, we determine whether the integration of AEC with the SYNTAX II score could improve predictive ability. Methods and Results The AECs of 1711 patients with ACS undergoing PCI from June 2016 to November 2017 were analyzed on admission. All recruitments were splitted into three groups based on AEC tertiles and 101 participants underwent one or more noteworthy outcomings. The association between AEC and MACCEs (defined as a composite of cardiovascular death, myocardial infarction [MI], and stroke) was tested by Cox proportional-hazards regression analysis. After adjusting for confounders, AEC was independently associated with MACCEs (HR 11.555, 95% CI: 3.318–40.239). Patients in the lowest AEC tertile (T1) as a reference, those in the higher tertiles had an incrementally higher risk of MACCEs (T3: HR 1.848 95% CI: 1.157–2.952; P for trend=0.008). Inclusion of AEC enhanced the predictive accuracy of the SYNTAX II score for MACCEs (AUC: from 0.701 [95% CI: 0.646–0.756] to 0.728 [95% CI: 0.677–0.780]; DeLong’s test, P = 0.020). Conclusion AEC is independently linked to MACCEs in ACS patients who underwent PCI, and adds incremental predictive information to the SYNTAX II score.
ON THE STRUCTURE OF SOLUTIONS OF ERGODIC TYPE BELLMAN EQUATION RELATED TO RISK-SENSITIVE CONTROL

Bellman equations of ergodic type related to risk-sensitive control are considered. We treat the case that the nonlinear term is positive quadratic form on first-order partial derivatives of solution, which includes linear exponential quadratic Gaussian control problem. In this paper we prove that the equation in general has multiple solutions. We shall specify the set of all the classical solutions and classify the solutions by a global behavior of the diffusion process associated with the given solution. The solution associated with ergodic diffusion process plays particular role. We shall also prove the uniqueness of such solution. Furthermore, the solution which gives us ergodicity is stable under perturbation of coefficients. Finally, we have a representation result for the solution corresponding to the ergodic diffusion.