Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Application Crash Consistency and Performance with CCFS

Recent research has shown that applications often incorrectly implement crash consistency. We present the Crash-Consistent File System (ccfs), a file system that improves the correctness of application-level crash consistency protocols while maintaining high performance. A key idea in ccfs is the abstraction of a stream. Within a stream, updates are committed in program order, improving correctness; across streams, there are no ordering restrictions, enabling scheduling flexibility and high performance. We empirically demonstrate that applications running atop ccfs achieve high levels of crash consistency. Further, we show that ccfs performance under standard file-system benchmarks is excellent, in the worst case on par with the highest performing modes of Linux ext4, and in some cases notably better. Overall, we demonstrate that both application correctness and high performance can be realized in a modern file system.
On Your Feet!: Enhancing Vection in Leaning-Based Interfaces through Multisensory Stimuli

When navigating larger virtual environments and computer games, natural walking is often unfeasible. Here, we investigate how alternatives such as joystick- or leaning-based locomotion interfaces ("human joystick") can be enhanced by adding walking-related cues following a sensory substitution approach. Using a custom-designed foot haptics system and evaluating it in a multi-part study, we show that adding walking related auditory cues (footstep sounds), visual cues (simulating bobbing head-motions from walking), and vibrotactile cues (via vibrotactile transducers and bass-shakers under participants' feet) could all enhance participants' sensation of self-motion (vection) and involement/presence. These benefits occurred similarly for seated joystick and standing leaning locomotion. Footstep sounds and vibrotactile cues also enhanced participants' self-reported ability to judge self-motion velocities and distances traveled. Compared to seated joystick control, standing leaning enhanced self-motion sensations. Combining standing leaning with a minimal walking-in-place procedure showed no benefits and reduced usability, though. Together, results highlight the potential of incorporating walking-related auditory, visual, and vibrotactile cues for improving user experience and self-motion perception in applications such as virtual reality, gaming, and tele-presence.
F stars, metallicity and the ages of red galaxies at z > 1

We explore whether the rest-frame near-ultraviolet spectral region, observable in high-redshift galaxies via optical spectroscopy, contains sufficient information to allow the degeneracy between age and metallicity to be lifted. We do this by first testing the ability of evolutionary synthesis models to reclaim the correct metallicity when fitted to the near-ultraviolet spectra of F stars of known (subsolar and supersolar) metallicity. F stars are of particular interest because the rest-frame near-ultraviolet spectra of the oldest known elliptical galaxies at z > 1 appear to be dominated by F stars near to the main-sequence turn-off. We find that, in the case of the F stars, where the Hubble Space Telescope ultraviolet spectra have a high signal-to-noise ratio, fitting models in which the metallicity is allowed to vary as a free parameter is rather successful at deriving the correct metallicity. As a result, the estimated turn-off ages of these stars yielded by model-fitting are well constrained. Encouraged by this we have fitted these same variable-metallicity models to the deep, optical spectra of the z ≃ 1.5 mJy radio galaxies 53W091 and 53W069 obtained with the Keck telescope. While the age and metallicity are not so easily constrained for these galaxies, we find that even when metallicity is allowed as a free parameter, the best estimates of their ages are still ≥ 3 Gyr, with ages younger than 2 Gyr now strongly excluded. Furthermore, we find that a search of the entire parameter space of metallicity and star formation history using MOPED leads to the same conclusion. Our results therefore continue to argue strongly against an Einstein-de Sitter universe, and favour a A-dominated universe in which star formation in at least these particular elliptical galaxies was completed somewhere in the redshift range z = 3-5.
Hearing screening for school children: comparison of low-cost, computer-based and conventional audiometry.

BACKGROUND There is a need to develop affordable but effective audiometric screening equipment, particularly for use in low-income countries. With advances in computer technology, low-cost computer-based audiometer software has been developed. However, the efficacy of computer-based audiometers in hearing screening and diagnostic assessment requires investigation. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the accuracy of a low-cost, computer-based audiometric system in a school-based hearing screening programme. METHODS Eighty children were screened using the computer-based audiometer and with a conventional pure tone screening audiometer. Overall refer rates, as well as frequency and age effects on the accuracy of the computer-based audiometer, were considered. RESULTS There was a significant relationship between the low-cost, computer-based audiometer and a conventional pure tone audiometer when a 40 dBHL refer criterion was used in school hearing screening and when test results at 500 Hz were excluded from analysis. However, background noise effects and software limitations in the computer-based system had major adverse effects on screening performance. CONCLUSIONS The study results and preliminary practical experience with the system suggest that, with further software and hardware improvements, a low-cost, computer-based system may well be feasible for routine school screening in developing countries.
Transformed polynomials for global registration of point clouds

In this paper, we introduce a novel approach for global registration of partially overlapping point clouds. The approach identifies feature points of matching objects based on surface-approximating polynomials and finds an initial transformation depending on these polynomials. We compute an extended set of rotationally-invariant features for polynomials. In contrast to purely feature-based approaches, we do not only compute transformations based on the invariant properties of polynomials, but actually transform the polynomials into a common coordinate system and compare the transformed coefficients. This results in an improved correspondence analysis of local surfaces. Hence, using transformed polynomials, we gain more discriminating information about different structures. Therefore, the approach can handle partial scans of different objects simultaneously. Each partial scan is assigned to one of the objects and registered accordingly. Moreover, the approach is robust against noise and can process real data.
Burst-Induced Synaptic Depression and Its Modulation Contribute to Information Transfer at Aplysia Sensorimotor Synapses: Empirical and Computational Analyses

The Aplysia sensorimotor synapse is a key site of plasticity for several simple forms of learning. Plasticity of this synapse has been extensively studied, albeit primarily with individual action potentials elicited at low frequencies. Yet, the mechanosensory neurons fire high-frequency bursts in response to even moderate tactile stimuli delivered to the skin. In the present study, we extend this analysis to show that sensory neurons also fire bursts in the range of 1-60 Hz in response to electrical stimuli similar to those used in behavioral studies of sensitization. Intracellular stimulation of sensory neurons to fire a burst of action potentials at 10 Hz for 1 sec led to significant homosynaptic depression of postsynaptic responses. The depression was transient and fully recovered within 10 min. During the burst, the steady-state depressed phase of the postsynaptic response, which was only 20% of the initial EPSP of the burst, still contributed to firing the motor neuron. To explore the functional contribution of transient homosynaptic depression to the response of the motor neuron, computer simulations of the sensorimotor synapse with and without depression were compared. Depression allowed the motor neuron to produce graded responses over a wide range of presynaptic input strength. In addition, enhancement of synaptic transmission throughout a burst increased motor neuron output substantially more than did preferential enhancement of the initial phase of a burst. Thus, synaptic depression increased the dynamic range of the sensorimotor synapse and can, in principle, have a profound effect on information processing.
Electrically Small Loop Antenna Standing on Compact Ground in Wireless Sensor Package

This letter presents the design and performance of an electrically small loop antenna standing on the compact ground in wireless sensor package. The loop antenna works at 434 MHz Industrial, Scientific, and Medical (ISM) band with the size 18 ×18 ×12 mm3. The performance is simulated complied with measurement. Over 5 MHz of -10-dB impedance bandwidth and more than 22% radiation efficiency in the frequency are achieved. Moreover, one essential step for the electrically small loop antenna measurement is proposed. The small volume makes the proposed miniaturization technique possible for the sensor package, which would have significance for the rapidly increasing Internet of Things (IOT) industry.
Uncoded transmission of correlated Gaussian sources over broadcast channels with feedback

Motivated by the practical requirement for delay and complexity constrained broadcasting, we study uncoded transmission of a pair of correlated Gaussian sources over a two-user Gaussian broadcast channel with unit-delay noiseless feedback links (GBCF). Differently from previous works, in the present work we focus on the finite horizon regime. We present two joint source-channel coding schemes, one is based on the Ozarow-Leung (OL) coding scheme for the GBCF and the other is based on the linear quadratic Gaussian (LQG) code by Ardestanizadeh et al. Our LQG-oriented code uses an improved decoder which outperforms the original decoder of Ardestanizadeh et al. in the finite horizon regime. We further derive lower and upper bounds on the minimal number of channel uses needed to achieve a specified pair of distortion levels for each scheme, and using these bounds, we explicitly characterize a range of transmit powers in which the OL code outperforms the LQG-oriented code.
Corpus-based Semantic Relatedness for the Construction of Polish WordNet

The construction of a wordnet, a labour-intensive enterprise, can be significantly assisted by automatic grouping of lexical material and discovery of lexical semantic relations. The objective is to ensure high quality of automatically acquired results before they are presented for lexicographers approval. We discuss a software tool that suggests synset members using a measure of semantic relatedness with a given verb or adjective; this extends previous work on nominal synsets in Polish WordNet. Syntactically-motivated constraints are deployed on a large morphologically annotated corpus of Polish. Evaluation has been performed via the WordNet-Based Similarity Test and additionally supported by human raters. A lexicographer also manually assessed a suitable sample of suggestions. The results compare favourably with other known methods of acquiring semantic relations.
Frequency of impacted teeth and categorization of impacted canines: A retrospective radiographic study using orthopantomograms

ABSTRACT Objective: The objective of this study is to determine the frequency of impacted maxillary canines using seven subtype classification system. For this purpose, impacted maxillary canines have been divided into seven various subtypes. Materials and Methods: This is a descriptive, cross-sectional, and retrospective study conducted using radiographic data of residents of Madinah, Al Munawwarah. Radiographic data of 14,000 patients, who attended College of Dentistry, Taibah University, from January 2011 to February 2015, were screened against the selection criteria for the presence of impacted teeth. The individuals with maxillary impacted canines were matched to maxillary canine impaction. The occurrence of each subtype of impacted canines was calculated. Results: Impacted teeth are more common in the maxilla compared to mandible. The impacted canine represented the highest proportion of all impacted maxillary teeth followed by the second premolars and the central incisors. According to the classification system represented, Type II of canine impaction comprised the highest proportion (51%) while Type IV (0.5%) comprised the lowest frequency. The maxillary canine is the most frequently impacted tooth followed by mandibular canines. Conclusions: Although there are many variations, the majority of impacted canines fall into Type II of the classification of impacted canines.
Downlink SDMA with Limited Feedback in Interference-Limited Wireless Networks

The tremendous capacity gains promised by space division multiple access (SDMA) depend critically on the accuracy of the transmit channel state information. In the broadcast channel, even without any network interference, it is known that such gains collapse due to interstream interference if the feedback is delayed or low rate. In this paper, we investigate SDMA in the presence of interference from many other simultaneously active transmitters distributed randomly over the network. In particular we consider zero-forcing beamforming in a decentralized (ad hoc) network where each receiver provides feedback to its respective transmitter. We derive closed-form expressions for the outage probability, network throughput, transmission capacity, and average achievable rate and go on to quantify the degradation in network performance due to residual self-interference as a function of key system parameters. One particular finding is that as in the classical broadcast channel, the per-user feedback rate must increase linearly with the number of transmit antennas and SINR (in dB) for the full multiplexing gains to be preserved with limited feedback. We derive the throughput-maximizing number of streams, establishing that single-stream transmission is optimal in most practically relevant settings. In short, SDMA does not appear to be a prudent design choice for interference-limited wireless networks.
Relationship of fasting serum insulin concentrations with blood pressure in a representative sample of the adult population of the Seychelles.

Several studies have been performed to determine if plasma insulin concentration bears a relationship with blood pressure and may be a causative factor in the genesis of hypertension. The results reported were discrepant between studies: insulin was observed to be independently correlated with blood pressure in some studies, whereas no such relationship was observed in others. Serum insulin, whole blood glucose, weight, height, and diastolic and systolic blood pressure of 839 fasting individuals, randomly selected from the adult population of Mahé Island, The Seychelles, were recorded; this population has a high hypertension prevalence rate. The proportion of hypertension was higher in subgroups of individuals with diabetes mellitus (52.4 percent) and with overweight (34.5 percent) than in the general population. Subgroups of individuals with diabetes, excessive weight or high blood pressure had higher mean fasting plasma insulin (13.6 +/- (s.d.) 7.9, 14.0 +/- 8.0, 11.1 +/- 9.7 respectively) than individuals not affected with these conditions (8.1 +/- 4.6 microU/ml). Both systolic and diastolic blood pressure were positively correlated with age, body mass index and fasting blood glucose in a multivariate model. No correlation with insulin was observed. In contrast, in a subgroup of 223 overweight individuals, age, blood glucose and plasma insulin were each positively correlated with blood pressure. It is concluded that, in this cross-sectional study, insulin was not independently correlated with blood pressure except for overweight individuals.
Circadian Variation of Sudden Cardiac Death Reflects Age‐Related Variability in Ventricular Fibrillation

BackgroundPrevious studies report a morning peak in the occurrence of out-of-hospital sudden cardiac death but lack detailed information on underlying arrhythmias. We used the documentation system of the semiautomated defibrillators used by emergency medical technicians to investigate the circadian pattern of defined arrhythmias and the influence of demographic patient characteristics on this pattern. Methods and ResultsFrom December 1988 to December 1990, 703 consecutive patients (63% men; age, 67±17 years) with sudden cardiac death were registered in the Klinikum Steglitz area of the Berlin emergency care system. Determination of time of day of the event was based on the arrival time of the rescue squad. A marked circadian variation (P<.0001) in the occurrence of sudden cardiac death was observed with a primary morning peak (6 AM to noon) and a secondary afternoon peak (3 to 7 PM). The subgroup of294 patients with ventricular fibrillation as initially documented arrhythmia showed a similar circadian variation (P<.0001). In significant contrast (P<.01), patients with asystole (n=260) or pulseless bradyarrhythmias (n=149) were more evenly distributed during the daytime with a primary night trough. Multivariate logistic regression analysis revealed that the circadian pattern of ventricular fibrillation was similar in both gender groups but tended to differ with regard to age: patients older than 65 years demonstrated a monophasic distribution, whereas patients aged 65 years or less had a biphasic distribution with peaks in the morning and in the afternoon. ConclusionsThe circadian pattern of sudden cardiac death reflects primarily a circadian variation in onset of ventricular fibrillation. The different circadian patterns of ventricular fibrillation, pulseless bradyarrhythmias, and asystole suggest different pathophysiological mechanisms of causation of death. The age dependence of the pattern of ventricular fibrillation may indicate different underlying external or endogenous triggers.
Prenatal Air Pollution Exposure and Newborn Blood Pressure

Background Air pollution exposure has been associated with increased blood pressure in adults. Objective: We examined associations of antenatal exposure to ambient air pollution with newborn systolic blood pressure (SBP). Methods: We studied 1,131 mother–infant pairs in a Boston, Massachusetts, area pre-birth cohort. We calculated average exposures by trimester and during the 2 to 90 days before birth for temporally resolved fine particulate matter (≤ 2.5 μm; PM2.5), black carbon (BC), nitrogen oxides, nitrogen dioxide, ozone (O3), and carbon monoxide measured at stationary monitoring sites, and for spatiotemporally resolved estimates of PM2.5 and BC at the residence level. We measured SBP at a mean age of 30 ± 18 hr with an automated device. We used mixed-effects models to examine associations between air pollutant exposures and SBP, taking into account measurement circumstances; child’s birth weight; mother’s age, race/ethnicity, socioeconomic position, and third-trimester BP; and time trend. Estimates represent differences in SBP associated with an interquartile range (IQR) increase in each pollutant. Results: Higher mean PM2.5 and BC exposures during the third trimester were associated with higher SBP (e.g., 1.0 mmHg; 95% CI: 0.1, 1.8 for a 0.32-μg/m3 increase in mean 90-day residential BC). In contrast, O3 was negatively associated with SBP (e.g., –2.3 mmHg; 95% CI: –4.4, –0.2 for a 13.5-ppb increase during the 90 days before birth). Conclusions: Exposures to PM2.5 and BC in late pregnancy were positively associated with newborn SBP, whereas O3 was negatively associated with SBP. Longitudinal follow-up will enable us to assess the implications of these findings for health during later childhood and adulthood. Citation: van Rossem L, Rifas-Shiman SL, Melly SJ, Kloog I, Luttmann-Gibson H, Zanobetti A, Coull BA, Schwartz JD, Mittleman MA, Oken E, Gillman MW, Koutrakis P, Gold DR. 2015. Prenatal air pollution exposure and newborn blood pressure. Environ Health Perspect 123:353–359; http://dx.doi. org/10.1289/ehp.1307419
Anterior Pituitary Progenitor Cells Express Costimulatory Molecule 4Ig-B7-H31

Stem/Progenitor cells in the postnatal pituitary gland are embedded in a marginal cell layer around Rathke’s pouch. However, the nature and behavior of anterior pituitary progenitor cells remain unclear. We established bovine anterior pituitary progenitor cell line (BAPC)-1 from the anterior pituitary gland, which expressed stem/progenitor cell-related genes and several inflammatory cytokines. To characterize and localize these pituitary progenitor cells, we produced a mAb (12B mAb) against BAPC-1. The 12B mAb recognized the 4Ig-B7-H3 molecule, which is a costimulatory molecule and negative regulator in T cell activation. WC1+ γδ T cells in young bovine PBMC express the 4Ig-B7-H3 molecule, but few or no 4Ig-B7-H3-immunoreactive cells are expressed in PBMC in adult cattle. The 12B-immunoreactive cells in the bovine anterior pituitary gland were localized around Rathke’s pouch and expressed IL-18 and MHC class II. However, the number of 12B-immunoreactive cells was lower in adult than in young cattle. BAPC-1 expressed IL-18 and MHC class II, and demonstrated phagocytotic activity. BAPC-1 also had the ability to promote CD25 expression in PBMC after 5 days of coculture, and blocking 4Ig-B7-H3 × 12B mAb enhanced their expression of CD25. In addition, the 12B-immunoreactive cells were observed around the pars tuberalis closely bordering the median eminence and in the blood vessels of the primary portal plexus in the anterior pituitary gland. These results suggest that an established BAPC-1 may originate from these progenitor cells, and that the progenitor cells with 4Ig-B7-H3 may play a critical role in the immunoendocrine network.
Modulatory effects on dendritic cells by human herpesvirus 6

Human herpesvirus 6A and 6B are β-herpesviruses approaching 100% seroprevalance worldwide. These viruses are involved in several clinical syndromes and have important immunomodulatory effects. Dendritic cells (DC) are key players in innate and adaptive immunity. Accordingly, DC are implicated in the pathogenesis of many human diseases, including infections. In this review the effects of HHV-6 infection on DC will be discussed.
MEAN MOTION RESONANCES IN EXOPLANET SYSTEMS: AN INVESTIGATION INTO NODDING BEHAVIOR

Motivated by the large number of extrasolar planetary systems that are near mean motion resonances, this paper explores a related type of dynamical behavior known as “nodding. ” Here, the resonance angle of a planetary system executes libration (oscillatory motion) for several cycles, circulates for one or more cycles, and then enters once again into libration. This type of complicated dynamics can affect our interpretation of observed planetary systems that are in or near mean motion resonance. This work shows that planetary systems in (near) mean motion resonance can exhibit nodding behavior, and outlines the portion of parameter space where it occurs. This problem is addressed using both full numerical integrations of the planetary systems and via model equations obtained through expansions of the disturbing function. In the latter approach, we identify the relevant terms that allow for nodding. The two approaches are in agreement, and show that nodding often occurs when a small body is in an external mean motion resonance with a larger planet. As a result, the nodding phenomenon can be important for interpreting observations of transit timing variations, where the existence of smaller bodies is inferred through their effects on larger, observed transiting planets. For example, in actively nodding planetary systems, both the amplitude and frequency of the transit timing variations depend on the observational time window.