Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Collaborative Image Coding and Transmission over Wireless Sensor Networks

The imaging sensors are able to provide intuitive visual information for quick recognition and decision. However, imaging sensors usually generate vast amount of data. Therefore, processing and coding of image data collected in a sensor network for the purpose of energy efficient transmission poses a significant technical challenge. In particular, multiple sensors may be collecting similar visual information simultaneously. We propose in this paper a novel collaborative image coding and transmission scheme to minimize the energy for data transmission. First, we apply a shape matching method to coarsely register images to find out maximal overlap to exploit the spatial correlation between images acquired from neighboring sensors. For a given image sequence, we transmit background image only once. A lightweight and efficient background subtraction method is employed to detect targets. Only the regions of target and their spatial locations are transmitted to the monitoring center. The whole image can then be reconstructed by fusing the background and the target images as well as their spatial locations. Experimental results show that the energy for image transmission can indeed be greatly reduced with collaborative image coding and transmission.
Characterization of a pathogenesis-related protein 4 (PR-4) induced in Capsicum chinense L3 plants with dual RNase and DNase activities

Resistance conferred by the L3 gene is active against most of the tobamoviruses, including the Spanish strain (PMMoV-S), a P1,2 pathotype, but not against certain strains of pepper mild mottle virus (PMMoV), termed as P1,2,3 pathotype, such as the Italian strain (PMMoV-I). PMMoV-S induces a hypersensitive reaction (HR) in C. chinense PI159236 plant leaves with the formation of necrotic local lesions and restriction of the virus at the primary infection sites. In this paper, a C. chinense PR-4 protein induced during both the compatible and the incompatible interactions has been identified. It was strongly associated with HR induction and to a lesser extent with the compatible interaction, but only in the later stages of infection. Moreover, it was found to accumulate during the necrogenic reaction induced by Potato virus X. The C. chinense PR-4 protein belongs to the PR-4 protein subgroup II, based on the absence of a hevein domain. Furthermore, it is shown that the purified protein does not have chitinase activity, as previously proposed for PR-4 proteins. Instead, it has both RNase and DNase activity, although its contribution to the bulk activity of nucleases in infected plants is very low.
Demographic, maltreatment, and neurobiological correlates of PTSD symptoms in children and adolescents.

OBJECTIVE To examine the relationships of demographic, maltreatment, neurostructural and neuropsychological measures with total posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptoms. METHODS Participants included 216 children with maltreatment histories (N = 49), maltreatment and PTSD (N = 49), or no maltreatment (N = 118). Participants received diagnostic interviews, brain imaging, and neuropsychological evaluations. RESULTS We examined a hierarchical regression model comprised of independent variables including demographics, trauma and maltreatment-related variables, and hippocampal volumes and neuropsychological measures to model PTSD symptoms. Important independent contributors to this model were SES, and General Maltreatment and Sexual Abuse Factors. Although hippocampal volumes were not significant, Visual Memory was a significant contributor to this model. CONCLUSIONS Similar to adult PTSD, pediatric PTSD symptoms are associated with lower Visual Memory performance. It is an important correlate of PTSD beyond established predictors of PTSD symptoms. These results support models of developmental traumatology and suggest that treatments which enhance visual memory may decrease symptoms of PTSD.
Integrated lot-sizing and scheduling for just-in-time production of complex assemblies with finite set-ups

This paper addresses the integrated scheduling and lot-sizing problem in a manufacturing environment which produces complex assemblies. Given the duedates of the end items, the objective is to minimize the cumulative lead time of the production schedule (total makespan) and reduce set-up and inventory holding costs. A JIT production strategy is adopted in which production is scheduled as late as possible (to minimize WIP costs), but without backlogging end items. The integrated scheduling and lot-sizing problem within such an environment has been formulated and is NP hard. An efficient heuristic is developed that schedules operations by exploiting the critical path of a network and iteratively groups orders to determine lot-sizes that minimize the makespan as well as set-up and holding costs. The performance of the proposed heuristic is evaluated and numerical results are presented comparing the savings achieved in makespan and cost over a lot-for-lot production strategy, and scheduling using an existing .
Algorithm Design for Performance Aware VM Consolidation

Consolidation of multiple workloads, encapsulated in virtual machines (VMs), can significantly improve efficiency in cloud infrastructures. But consolidation also introduces contention in shared resources such as the memory hierarchy, leading to degraded VM performance. To avoid such degradation, the current practice is to not pack VMs tightly and leave a large fraction of server resource unused. This is wasteful. We present a performance preserving VM consolidation system that selectively places those VMs together that are likely to have the least contention. This drastically reduces the amount of wasted resources. While the problem of selecting the most suitable VM combinations is NP-Complete, our system employs a practical method that performs provably close to the optimal. In some scenarios resource efficiency may trump performance and our system also implements techniques for this case. Experimental results show that the proposed system realizes over 30% savings in energy costs and up to 52% reduction in performance degradation compared to consolidation algorithms that do not consider degradation.
Cognitive Impairment Is Associated with a Low Omega-3 Index in the Elderly: Results from the KORA-Age Study

Background: Omega-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFA) may affect the risk of cognitive decline in older adults. Methods: Cross-sectional analysis was conducted among 720 (50.4% women) participants aged 68-92 years (mean age: 77.6, SD ±6.2) of the population-based KORA-Age study. Eicosapentaenoic acid and docosahexaenoic acid (omega-3 index) were measured in erythrocytes as a percentage of total fatty acids. The categories low (<5.7), intermediate (5.7-6.8), and high (>6.8) levels of the omega-3 index were built using tertiles. The association between cognitive status and omega-3 levels was assessed by logistic regression analyses with adjustments for important concurrent risk factors of cognitive decline. Results: In the sex- and age-adjusted model (model 1), subjects with a low omega-3 index were at a significantly higher risk for cognitive impairment (OR: 1.77, 95% CI: 1.15-2.73, p = 0.009). This association remained stable after further adjusting for educational level (model 2; OR: 1.75, 95% CI: 1.13-2.71, p = 0.01) and metabolic risk factors (model 3; OR: 1.77, 95% CI: 1.14-2.75, p = 0.01). After further controlling for affective disorders (model 4), the association did not attenuate (OR: 1.77, 95% CI: 1.14-2.76, p = 0.01). Conclusion: A robust association was found between low omega-3 levels and cognitive impairment in an elderly population. Further research is needed to understand the link between omega-3 PUFA and cognitive functioning.
Whites' racial policy attitudes

Objective. Recent race attitude research has focused on the disparity between whites' support for principles of racial equality on the one hand and their intransigence on social policies designed to redress racial inequities on the other, the so-called principle-implementation gap. Whites' views on racial policy issues and the factors that shape these views are examined in this paper. Methods. Attitudes toward racial policies that span a broad political spectrum are modeled using data from two national surveys, the 1990 General Social Survey and the 1986 American National Election Study. Results. A multicausal interpretation of the principle-policy divide is supported. Structural attributions of the sources of racial inequality, recognition of the embeddedness of discrimination toward blacks, and group self-interest combine to shape whites' racial policy attitudes. Conclusions. Education programs aimed at increasing whites' understanding of the insidious nature of past and present discrimination and of the effects of structured inequality can improve the prospects for successful policy implementation
Do Managers Pay for their Growth Options ? An Empirical Analysis of Buy-and-Build Acquisitions

This paper considers premiums paid for initial intra-industry acquisitions part of a " buy-and-build " acquisition strategy for industry consolidation. We find that buy-and-build acquirers on average pay between 8 and 20% higher premiums for their first acquisition compared to acquirers that don't follow such a strategy. The higher premium can be explained following real option theory in serial acquisitions where the first acquisition in a series serves as the prerequisite for future target appropriation and, considering the total future value of the acquisition series, can justify payment of a higher premium. Our empirical analysis suggests that the strategic idea of pursuing a buy-and-build strategy offers the best explanation for the difference in premiums paid compared to related non buy-and build acquisitions. The insignificant market reaction suggests there is no short term, ex-ante added shareholder value in this particular acquisition strategy.
Energy-efficient resource-provisioning algorithms for optical clouds

Rising energy costs and climate change have led to an increased concern for energy efficiency (EE). As information and communication technology is responsible for about 4% of total energy consumption worldwide, it is essential to devise policies aimed at reducing it. In this paper, we propose a routing and scheduling algorithm for a cloud architecture that targets minimal total energy consumption by enabling switching off unused network and/or information technology (IT) resources, exploiting the cloud-specific anycast principle. A detailed energy model for the entire cloud infrastructure comprising a wide-area optical network and IT resources is provided. This model is used to make a single-step decision on which IT end points to use for a given request, including the routing of the network connection toward these end points. Our simulations quantitatively assess the EE algorithm's potential energy savings but also assess the influence this may have on traditional quality-of-service parameters such as service blocking. Furthermore, we compare the one-step scheduling with traditional scheduling and routing schemes, which calculate the resource provisioning in a two-step approach (selecting first the destination IT end point and subsequently using unicast routing toward it). We show that depending on the offered infrastructure load, our proposed one-step calculation considerably lowers the total energy consumption (reduction up to 50%) compared to the traditional iterative scheduling and routing, especially in low- to medium-load scenarios, without any significant increase in the service blocking.
Feasibility and Effectiveness of Indicator Condition-Guided Testing for HIV: Results from HIDES I (HIV Indicator Diseases across Europe Study)

Improved methods for targeting HIV testing among patients most likely to be infected are required; HIDES I aimed to define the methodology of a European wide study of HIV prevalence in individuals presenting with one of eight indicator conditions/diseases (ID); sexually transmitted infection, lymphoma, cervical or anal cancer/dysplasia, herpes zoster, hepatitis B/C, mononucleosis-like illness, unexplained leukocytopenia/thrombocytopenia and seborrheic dermatitis/exanthema, and to identify those with an HIV prevalence of >0.1%, a level determined to be cost effective. A staff questionnaire was performed. From October 2009– February 2011, individuals, not known to be HIV positive, presenting with one of the ID were offered an HIV test; additional information was collected on previous HIV testing behaviour and recent medical history. A total of 3588 individuals from 16 centres were included. Sixty-six tested positive for HIV, giving an HIV prevalence of 1.8% [95% CI: 1.42–2.34]; all eight ID exceeded 0.1% prevalence. Of those testing HIV positive, 83% were male, 58% identified as MSM and 9% were injecting drug users. Twenty percent reported previously having potentially HIV-related symptoms and 52% had previously tested HIV negative (median time since last test: 1.58 years); which together with the median CD4 count at diagnosis (400 cell/uL) adds weight to this strategy being effective in diagnosing HIV at an earlier stage. A positive test was more likely for non-white individuals, MSM, injecting drug users and those testing in non-Northern regions. HIDES I describes an effective strategy to detect undiagnosed HIV infection. All eight ID fulfilled the >0.1% criterion for cost effectiveness. All individuals presenting to any health care setting with one of these ID should be strongly recommended an HIV test. A strategy is being developed in collaboration with ECDC and WHO Europe to guide the implementation of this novel public health initiative across Europe.
Geometrical dependence of decoherence by electronic interactions in a GaAs/GaAlAs square network.

We investigate weak localization in metallic networks etched in a two-dimensional electron gas between 25 and 750 mK when electron-electron (e-e) interaction is the dominant phase breaking mechanism. We show that, at the highest temperatures, the contributions arising from trajectories that wind around the rings and trajectories that do not are governed by two different length scales. This is achieved by analyzing separately the envelope and the oscillating part of the magnetoconductance. For T > or approximately 0.3 K we find L phi env proportional T(-1/3) for the envelope and L phi osc proportional, T(-1/2) for the oscillations, in agreement with the prediction for a single ring [T. Ludwig and A. D. Mirlin, Phys. Rev. B 69, 193306 (2004); 10.1103/PhysRevB.69. 193306C. Texier and G. Montambaux, Phys. Rev. B 72, 115327 (2005); 10.1103/PhysRevB.72. 115327C. Texier, Phys. Rev. B76, 153312 (2007)10.1103/PhysRevB.76. 153312]. This is the first experimental confirmation of the geometry dependence of decoherence due to e-e interaction.
Temperamental Influences on Risk-taking during Middle Childhood

This thesis concerns temperamental qualities and their influence on risk-taking behavior during middle childhood (7–11 years of age). Contemporary research generally agrees upon the notion that temperament constitutes two motivational systems, sensitive to punishment and reward respectively, together with a third system that is responsible for regulating the motivational systems. Risk-taking is generally regarded as the tendency to engage in potentially harmful or dangerous behaviors that at the same time provide opportunities for positive outcomes (Leigh, 1999). Study 1 of this thesis provides a psychometric evaluation of the Temperament in Middle Childhood Questionnaire (TMCQ; Simonds & Rothbart, 2004), one of the temperament questionnaires used in the other two studies. We also tested the ability of the punishment and reward sensitivity factors from the r-RST, as measured by the Sensitivity to Punishment, Sensitivity to Reward Questionnaire for Children (SPSRQ-C; Colder et al., 2011), to validate the corresponding factors from the TMCQ. Our second study examines the interaction effects between temperamental traits fear, drive, and activation control on risk-taking. Fear and drive represent the punishment sensitivity system and the reward system respectively, and activation control is the ability to control the reactions in these two systems. Results from this study suggest that the joint influence of the temperamental systems is of great importance in risk-taking, and also that activation control abilities provide a good protection for children prone to risk-taking behavior. Lastly, our third study examines how children’s temperamental qualities interact with incentive contexts in risky decision-making. Results suggest that incentive-related contextual factors have a strong influence on risky decision-making and that temperament modifies this influence, thereby reducing or increasing children’s proneness to take risks. The findings supported predictions based on the revised Reinforcement Sensitivity Theory (r-RST; Gray & McNaughton, 2000), regarding how temperament and incentive context jointly determine behavior in risk-taking situations. The results from our studies provide a better understanding of how temperamental qualities interact in children’s risk-taking, and of how the effects of temperament on risky decision-making can be moderated. This is highly relevant information, since research suggests that effortful control abilities are possible to improve through training.
Introduction SENSORY PRECONDITIONING IN HONEYBEES

animals are confronted with stimuli that, in changing combinations, characterize relevant objects and predict important events; thus, it is a basic challenge for all animals to adjust their behaviour accordingly through learning. This involves at least two tasks, one is that animals must learn which elements of the sensory input belong together and constitute an object, and the other task is more of a Pavlovian problem in that animals must learn the predictive relationships among these objects. While such predictive learning is intensively studied, less emphasis has been given to issues of object recognition. Here, we use a sensory preconditioning paradigm to examine some aspects of object recognition. In the first phase of a sensory preconditioning paradigm (Brogden, 1939), a compound stimulus is presented without reinforcement (compound pretraining: AB−); then the element B is tested (pre-test). In the second phase, the other element is reinforced (element training: A+) and then B is tested again (test). Sensory preconditioning is indicated by an increase in the response levels to B between pre-test and test. This effect was observed for compounds within (Barnet et al. 1972) sensory modalities. Thus, during AB pretraining, animals learn that A and B belong together, and responses to B are ultimately a result of that learning. Therefore, sensory preconditioning can be used as a model to analyze how perception of objects characterized by combined stimulus elements are formed in an experience-dependent way. Several explanations for associative learning have been proposed specifying mechanisms that could underlie sensory preconditioning. First, combined stimuli might result in single units (Rescorla, 1980), configural cues (Rudy and Sutherland, 1992) or configural units (Pearce, 1994) as a result of experience, in which case at least one simultaneous occurrence of the stimuli is required to form such a unitary representation. We think it is important that the formation of this configural unit is itself envisaged to be an experience-dependent process. In the formalized model of Pearce (1994), a unit once formed does not change through further presentations. Thus, if sensory preconditioning came about through these configural units, it should not improve with additional compound presentations. Furthermore, simultaneous presentation of the stimuli forming the compound would be predicted to yield stronger sensory preconditioning than sequential presentation. Second, it has been suggested that associations might be formed between the elements of a compound (Speers et al., 1980; Rescorla and Durlach, 1981). If such associations included the asymmetric, predictive …
Biofilm formation and antimicrobial resistance in methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus isolated from burn patients, Iran.

INTRODUCTION Burns are the most serious forms of trauma and a major cause of mortality worldwide. Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) is one of the most common pathogens of burn wound infections; treatment has faced serious problems due to antibiotic resistance in these strains. Biofilm formation, which increases antibiotic resistance capabilities and is considered to be a virulence factor, also causes treatment failure and recurrent staphylococcal infections in burn patients. METHODOLOGY A total of 135 pus/wound swabs were collected; S. aureus was identified by confirmatory tests. The icaA/D and mecA genes were detected in DNA extracts by polymerase chain reaction assay separately. To determine the prevalence of biofilm formation, a modified Congo red agar and the microtiter plate method were used. Investigation of antibiotic resistance was performed using the disk diffusion method. RESULTS S. aureus (48.87%) was identified in 65 (48.87%) samples, of which 40 (61.53%) were confirmed to be MRSA. Among MRSA and methicillin-sensitive S. aureus (MSSA) isolates, 97.5% and 60% produced biofilm, respectively. Resistance of MRSA isolates to amikacin, ceftriaxone, ciprofloxacin, erythromycin, gentamicin, mupirocin, rifampin, tetracycline, and tobramycin was 64.1%, 76.92%, 51.28%, 87.18%, 71.8%, 10.26%, 5.13%, 89.74%, and 61.54%, respectively. All MRSA and MSSA isolates were susceptible to fusidic acid, linezolid, teicoplanin, tigecycline, and vancomycin. CONCLUSIONS The high prevalence of biofilm-producing, drug-resistant S. aureus isolates in our study suggests that epidemiological studies on the characteristics of common strains found in burn centers and a definition of their antibiotic resistance pattern would be helpful for therapeutic decisions.