Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Computation and communication efficient graph processing with distributed immutable view

Cyclops is a new vertex-oriented graph-parallel framework for writing distributed graph analytics. Unlike existing distributed graph computation models, Cyclops retains simplicity and computation-efficiency by synchronously computing over a distributed immutable view, which grants a vertex with read-only access to all its neighboring vertices. The view is provided via read- only replication of vertices for edges spanning machines during a graph cut. Cyclops follows a centralized computation model by assigning a master vertex to update and propagate the value to its replicas unidirectionally in each iteration, which can significantly reduce messages and avoid contention on replicas. Being aware of the pervasively available multicore-based clusters, Cyclops is further extended with a hierarchical processing model, which aggregates messages and replicas in a single multicore machine and transparently decomposes each worker into multiple threads on-demand for different stages of computation. We have implemented Cyclops based on an open-source Pregel clone called Hama. Our evaluation using a set of graph algorithms on an in-house multicore cluster shows that Cyclops outperforms Hama from 2.06X to 8.69X and 5.95X to 23.04X using hash-based and Metis partition algorithms accordingly, due to the elimination of contention on messages and hierarchical optimization for the multicore-based clusters. Cyclops (written in Java) also has comparable performance with PowerGraph (written in C++) despite the language difference, due to the significantly lower number of messages and avoided contention.
Confocal laser scanning microscopy of whole mouse ovaries: Excellent morphology, apoptosis detection, and spectroscopy

Ovaries consist of numerous follicles, oocytes, and granulosa cells in different stages of development. Many of these follicles will undergo an apoptotic process during the lifetime of the animal. By using proper tissue preparation methods, the events within the whole ovary can be observed by using 3D confocal microscopy.
Quantum arithmetic and numerical analysis using Repeat-Until-Success circuits

We develop a method for approximate synthesis of single--qubit rotations of the form $e^{-i f(\phi_1,\ldots,\phi_k)X}$ that is based on the Repeat-Until-Success (RUS) framework for quantum circuit synthesis. We demonstrate how smooth computable functions $f$ can be synthesized from two basic primitives. This synthesis approach constitutes a manifestly quantum form of arithmetic that differs greatly from the approaches commonly used in quantum algorithms. The key advantage of our approach is that it requires far fewer qubits than existing approaches: as a case in point, we show that using as few as $3$ ancilla qubits, one can obtain RUS circuits for approximate multiplication and reciprocals. We also analyze the costs of performing multiplication and inversion on a quantum computer using conventional approaches and find that they can require too many qubits to execute on a small quantum computer, unlike our approach.
MMSE Based Transceiver Design for MIMO Relay Systems with Mean and Covariance Feedback

In this paper, the problem of transceiver design in a non-regenerative MIMO relay system is addressed, where linear signal processing is applied at the source, relay and destination to minimize the mean-squared error (MSE) of the signal waveform estimation at the destination. In the proposed design scheme, optimal structure of the source and relay precoding matrices are obtained with the assumption that the relay knows the mean and channel covariance information (CCI) of the relay-destination link and the full channel state information (CSI) of the source-relay link. Based on this assumption, an iterative joint source and relay precoder design is proposed to achieve the minimum MSE of the signal estimation at the destination. In order to reduce computational complexity of the proposed iterative design, a suboptimal relay-only precoder design is proposed. A numerical example shows that the performance of the proposed iterative joint source and relay precoder design is very close to that of the algorithm using full CSI.
Simvastatin in moderate-to-severe COPD.

To the Editor: Criner et al. (June 5 issue)1 found that simvastatin had no effect on the frequency or the severity of exacerbations in patients with moderate-to-severe chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). These findings must be interpreted with caution because approximately 85% of the patients in the simvastatin group had used systemic glucocorticoids within the previous 12 months. Early evidence suggests that the pleiotropic effects of statins, which include their antiinflammatory effects, may be caused, at least in part, by an increase in sphingosine-1-phosphate (S1P) signaling pathways.2 Other evidence suggests that the concurrent use of systemic glucocorticoid therapy in patients receiving statins may repress or blunt the pleiotropic effects of these drugs by inhibiting S1P signaling.3 These observations are supported by the evidence that atorvastatin may lessen inflammation and promote resolution of the inflammation in the airways, thereby reducing cough in patients with bronchiectasis who have not used systemic glucocorticoids recently.4 The lack of effect of simvastatin on the frequency or severity of exacerbations in patients with moderate-to-severe COPD, as observed in the study by Criner et al., may therefore be due, at least in part, to the concurrent or recent use of systemic glucocorticoid therapy.
On the Feedback from Super Stellar Clusters. I. The Structure of Giant H II Regions and H II Galaxies

We review the structural properties of giant extragalactic H II regions and H II galaxies based on two-dimensional hydrodynamic calculations and propose an evolutionary sequence that accounts for their observed detailed structure. The model assumes a massive and young stellar cluster surrounded by a large collection of clouds. These are thus exposed to the most important star formation feedback mechanisms: photoionization and the cluster wind. The models show how the two feedback mechanisms compete with each other in the disruption of clouds and lead to two different hydrodynamic solutions: the storage of clouds into a long-lasting ragged shell that inhibits the expansion of the thermalized wind and the steady filtering of the shocked wind gas through channels carved within the cloud stratum. Both solutions are here claimed to be concurrently at work in giant H II regions and H II galaxies, causing their detailed inner structure. This includes multiple large-scale shells, filled with an X-ray-emitting gas, that evolve to finally merge with each other, giving the appearance of shells within shells. The models also show how the inner filamentary structure of the giant superbubbles is largely enhanced with matter ablated from clouds and how cloud ablation proceeds within the original cloud stratum. The calculations point at the initial contrast density between the cloud and the intercloud media as the factor that defines which of the two feedback mechanisms becomes dominant throughout the evolution. Animated versions of the models presented can be found at http://www.iaa. csic.es/~eperez/ssc/ssc.html.
Unified Mechanism for Positive- and Negative-Bias Temperature Instability in GaN MOSFETs

We present a comprehensive study of bias temperature instability (BTI) in GaN MOSFETs under moderate positive and negative gate bias stress. We investigate the evolution of threshold voltage (<inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">${\rm {V_T}})$ </tex-math></inline-formula>, maximum transconductance (<inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">${\rm {g_{m,max}}})$ </tex-math></inline-formula>, and subthreshold swing (S). Our results show a universal continuous, symmetrical, and reversible <inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">${\rm {V_T}}$ </tex-math></inline-formula> shift and <inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">${\rm {g_{m, max}}}$ </tex-math></inline-formula> change as gate stress voltage (<inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$\text {V}_{{{\text {GS},\text {stress}}}})$ </tex-math></inline-formula> increases from −5 to 5V at room temperature. The time evolution of <inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">${\rm {V_T}}$ </tex-math></inline-formula> is well described by a power law model. The voltage dependence, time dependence, and temperature dependence of our results suggest that for moderate gate bias stress, positive BTI and negative BTI are due to a single reversible mechanism. This is electron trapping/detrapping in preexisting oxide traps that form a defect band very close to the GaN/oxide interface and extend in energy beyond the conduction band edge of GaN and below the Fermi level at the channel surface at 0 V.
High-density microelectrode array recordings and real-time spike sorting for closed-loop experiments: an emerging technology to study neural plasticity

Understanding plasticity of neural networks is a key to comprehending their development and function. A powerful technique to study neural plasticity includes recording and control of pre- and post-synaptic neural activity, e.g., by using simultaneous intracellular recording and stimulation of several neurons. Intracellular recording is, however, a demanding technique and has its limitations in that only a small number of neurons can be stimulated and recorded from at the same time. Extracellular techniques offer the possibility to simultaneously record from larger numbers of neurons with relative ease, at the expenses of increased efforts to sort out single neuronal activities from the recorded mixture, which is a time consuming and error prone step, referred to as spike sorting. In this mini-review, we describe recent technological developments in two separate fields, namely CMOS-based high-density microelectrode arrays, which also allow for extracellular stimulation of neurons, and real-time spike sorting. We argue that these techniques, when combined, will provide a powerful tool to study plasticity in neural networks consisting of several thousand neurons in vitro.
Renal Denervation Reduces Monocyte Activation and Monocyte–Platelet Aggregate Formation: An Anti-Inflammatory Effect Relevant for Cardiovascular Risk

Overactivation of renal sympathetic nervous system and low-grade systemic inflammation are common features of hypertension. Renal denervation (RDN) reduces sympathetic activity in patients with resistant hypertension. However, its effect on systemic inflammation has not been examined. We prospectively investigated the effect of RDN on monocyte activation and inflammation in patients with uncontrolled hypertension scheduled for RDN. Ambulatory blood pressure, monocyte, and monocyte subset activation and inflammatory markers were assessed at baseline, 3 months, and 6 months after procedure in 42 patients. RDN significantly lowered blood pressure at 3 months (150.5±11.2/81.0±11.2 mm Hg to 144.7±11.8/77.9±11.0 mm Hg), which was sustained at 6 months (144.7±13.8/78.6±11.0 mm Hg). Activation status of monocytes significantly decreased at 3 months (P<0.01) and 6 months (P<0.01) after the procedure. In particular, classical monocyte activation was reduced at 6 months (P<0.05). Similarly, we observed a reduction of several inflammatory markers, including monocyte–platelet aggregates (3 months, P<0.01), plasma monocyte chemoattractant protein-1 levels (3 months, P<0.0001; 6 months, P<0.05), interleukin-1&bgr; (3 months, P<0.05; 6 months, P<0.05), tumor necrosis factor-&agr; (3 months, P<0.01; 6 months, P<0.05), and interleukin-12 (3 months, P<0.01; 6 months, P<0.05). A positive correlation was observed between muscle sympathetic nerve activity and monocyte activation before and after the procedure. These results indicate that inhibition of sympathetic activity via RDN is associated with a reduction of monocyte activation and other inflammatory markers in hypertensive patients. These findings point to a direct interaction between the inflammatory and sympathetic nervous system, which is of central relevance for the understanding of beneficial cardiovascular effects of RDN.
Protein Kinase B β/Akt2 Plays a Specific Role in Muscle Differentiation*

Insulin-like growth factors positively regulate muscle differentiation through activation of the phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase/protein kinase B (PKB/Akt) signaling pathway. Here, we compare the role of the two closely related α (Akt1) and β (Akt2) isoforms of PKB in muscle differentiation. During differentiation of C2.7 or L6D2 myoblasts, PKBβ was up-regulated whereas expression of PKBα was unaltered. Although the two isoforms were found active in both myoblasts and myotubes, cell fractionation experiments indicated that they displayed distinct subcellular localizations in differentiated cells with only PKBβ localized in the nuclei. In a transactivation assay, PKBβ (either wild-type or constitutively active) was more efficient than PKBα in activating muscle-specific gene expression. Moreover, microinjection of specific antibodies to PKBβ inhibited differentiation of muscle cells, whereas control or anti-PKBα antibodies did not. On the other hand, microinjection of the anti-PKBα antibodies caused a block in cell cycle progression in both non muscle and muscle cells, whereas anti-PKBβ antibodies had no effect. Taken together, these results show that PKBβ plays a crucial role in the commitment of myoblasts to differentiation that cannot be substituted by PKBα.
Validating a Notch Filter for Detection of Targets at Sea With ALOS-PALSAR Data: Tokyo Bay

The surveillance of maritime areas is a major topic for security aimed at fighting issues as illegal trafficking, illegal fishing, piracy, etc. In this context, Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) has proven to be particularly beneficial due to its all-weather and night time acquisition capabilities. Moreover, the recent generation of satellites can provide high quality images with high resolution and polarimetric capabilities. This paper is devoted to the validation of a recently developed ship detector, the Geometrical Perturbations Polarimetric Notch Filter (GP-PNF) exploiting L-band polarimetric data. The algorithm is able to isolate the return coming from the sea background and trigger a detection if a target with different polarimetric behavior is present. Moreover, the algorithm is adaptive and is able to account for changes of sea clutter both in polarimetry and intensity. In this work, the GP-PNF is tested and validated for the first time ever with L-band data, exploiting one ALOS-PALSAR quad-pol dataset acquired on the 9th of October 2008 in Tokyo Bay. One of the motivations of the analysis is also the attempt of testing the suitability of GP-PNF to be used with the new generations of L-band satellites (e.g., ALOS-2). The acquisitions are accompanied by a ground truth performed with a video survey. A comparison with two other detectors is presented, one exploiting a single polarimetric channel and the other considering quad-polarimetric data. Moreover, a test exploiting dual-polarimetric modes (HH/VV and HH/HV) is performed. The GP-PNF shows the capability to detect targets presenting pixel intensity smaller than the surrounding sea clutter in some polarimetric channels. Finally, the quad-polarimetric GP-PNF outperformed in some situations the other two detectors.
A Darker Shade of Blue: Depression Predicts Distortion in Memory for Daily Emotional Experience

Memories for emotional experiences are influenced by a person's mood at the time of recall. This makes evaluating memory accuracy particularly challenging when asking about the daily experiences of people with a history of depression. People who report depressive symptoms typically experience negative moods and report more negative life experiences. As a result, it is unclear the extent to which their memories reflect a negativity bias based on their negative mood at the time of recall, or instead accurately represent their prior experiences. Using data from a daily diary study (N = 1,657), the association between meeting criteria for depression in the past year and bias in memory for positive and negative emotional experiences that occurred during the prior week was examined. It was further tested whether trait negative affect (TNA) and trait positive affect (TPA) explained these associations. Overall, people recalled more negative emotional experiences from the past week than they had indicated in daily reports. Recalled negative emotions, but not positive emotions, differed more from daily reports for those with a recent history of depression. TNA fully explained this association, and both TNA and TPA influenced how emotions were recalled. Specifically, higher TNA was related to greater overestimation, and higher TPA was related to less overestimation, in recalling negative emotions.
Packet-based whitted and distribution ray tracing

Much progress has been made toward interactive ray tracing, but most research has focused specifically on ray casting. A common approach is to use "packets" of rays to amortize cost across sets of rays. Whether "packets" can be used to speed up the cost of reflection and refraction rays is unclear. The issue is complicated since such rays do not share common origins and often have less directional coherence than viewing and shadow rays. Since the primary advantage of ray tracing over rasterization is the computation of global effects, such as accurate reflection and refraction, this lack of knowledge should be corrected. We are also interested in exploring whether distribution ray tracing, due to its stochastic properties, further erodes the effectiveness of techniques used to accelerate ray casting. This paper addresses the question of whether packet-based ray tracing algorithms can be effectively used for more than visibility computation. We show that by choosing an appropriate data structure and a suitable packet assembly algorithm we can extend the idea of "packets" from ray casting to Whitted-style and distribution ray tracing, while maintaining efficiency.
Stimulation of psychological listener experiences by semi-automatically composed electroacoustic environments

This work represents the first steps in an almost completely unexplored field, in which electroacoustic composition, based on several signal processing techniques including additive synthesis, pitch extraction and bandpass filtering, is exploited to produce unique sonic environments for stimulating targeted listener experiences. We propose three semi-automatically composed electroacoustic environments and evaluate their psychological potential considering four areas: creativity, emotion, self-perception and mental associations. This empirical study uses a cross-modal perceptual test, completed by 100 listeners. Results presented indicate that electroacoustic music can successfully evoke specific colour connections and individual self-perception. Additionally, we show that synthesised sound based on bio-signals, such as a heart beat, can promote concrete thought and negative emotional states. Our future goal is to fully-automate electroacoustic music composition environments for use in therapy, education and entertainment to promote and encourage human well-being.
Livestock Antibiotic Effects on Nitrification, Denitrification, and Microbial Community Composition in Soils

The broiler (Gallus gallus domesticus) industry in the United States and several other countries routinely includes subtherapeutic levels of antibiotics such as roxarsone, virginiamycin, and bacitracin in the feed to improve bird growth yields. Large fractions of the antibiotics fed to the birds are excreted in manure (litter), which is often applied to soils to improve fertility. Some concerns with this practice are antibiotic-induced alterations in microbially-mediated nutrient cycling, which could influence plant productivity and environmental quality. To investigate this possibility, a series of lab experiments were conducted to determine the effects of increasing levels of the three livestock antibiotics on nitrification, denitrification, and microbial community composition (fatty acid methyl ester profiles) of soils collected along a catena. Roxarsone and virginiamycin significantly influenced microbial community composition and inhibited nitrification in the soils, but only at levels that were several-fold higher than expected in poultry litter-applied soils. Bacitracin did not affect microbial growth, microbial community composition, or nitrification at any concentration tested (up to 500 mg·kg-1). None of the antibiotics influenced denitrification at environmentally-relevant concentrations. Amounts of antibiotics in soil solution were greatly reduced by sorption, which followed Freundlich models in the concentration range of 1 - 500 mg·L-1. Results from this study indicated that addition of roxarsone, virginiamycin, or bacitracin to these soils at environmentally-relevant concentrations would not likely impact microbial community composition, nitrification or denitrification due to intrinsic resistance/insensitivity of microorganisms to these antibiotics and reductions in the bioavailable amounts due to sorption by soil surfaces.
A Quantitative Examination of Title I and Non-Title I Elementary Schools in East Tennessee Using Fourth-Grade Math and Reading Standardized Test Scores.

In January 2002, President George W. Bush signed the No Child Left Behind legislation into law. The law established new standards of accountability for individual students, schools, and school systems. Because of No Child Left Behind , the penalties for schools with poor academic performance in our country are the loss of reputation, student enrollment, and financial support. The purpose of this study was to determine if there was a difference in standardized test scores in reading and math between fourth-grade students in Title I schools and those in NonTitle I schools. The study focused on the following subgroups: gender, economically disadvantaged students, and students with disabilities. The data were gathered from an analysis of standardized test scores in reading and math of fourth-grade students in 172 elementary schools located in 21 East Tennessee school systems. The data were collected from the 2002-2003 Terra Nova Standardized Assessment Test scores. The Terra Nova test is a standardized test used to evaluate academic progress in the state of Tennessee. In summary, there were some differences between Title I and NonTitle I fourth-grade students in the subject areas of reading and math. Significant differences were noted within the subcategory of gender in both reading and math. Significant differences were also noted within the subcategory of students with disabilities in the content area of math. No significant differences were found in reading for students with disabilities. There were no significant differences between Title I and NonTitle I schools in reading and math within the subcategory of economically disadvantaged students.