Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
A Large-Scale Study of Flash Memory Failures in the Field

Servers use flash memory based solid state drives (SSDs) as a high-performance alternative to hard disk drives to store persistent data. Unfortunately, recent increases in flash density have also brought about decreases in chip-level reliability. In a data center environment, flash-based SSD failures can lead to downtime and, in the worst case, data loss. As a result, it is important to understand flash memory reliability characteristics over flash lifetime in a realistic production data center environment running modern applications and system software. This paper presents the first large-scale study of flash-based SSD reliability in the field. We analyze data collected across a majority of flash-based solid state drives at Facebook data centers over nearly four years and many millions of operational hours in order to understand failure properties and trends of flash-based SSDs. Our study considers a variety of SSD characteristics, including: the amount of data written to and read from flash chips; how data is mapped within the SSD address space; the amount of data copied, erased, and discarded by the flash controller; and flash board temperature and bus power. Based on our field analysis of how flash memory errors manifest when running modern workloads on modern SSDs, this paper is the first to make several major observations: (1) SSD failure rates do not increase monotonically with flash chip wear; instead they go through several distinct periods corresponding to how failures emerge and are subsequently detected, (2) the effects of read disturbance errors are not prevalent in the field, (3) sparse logical data layout across an SSD's physical address space (e.g., non-contiguous data), as measured by the amount of metadata required to track logical address translations stored in an SSD-internal DRAM buffer, can greatly affect SSD failure rate, (4) higher temperatures lead to higher failure rates, but techniques that throttle SSD operation appear to greatly reduce the negative reliability impact of higher temperatures, and (5) data written by the operating system to flash-based SSDs does not always accurately indicate the amount of wear induced on flash cells due to optimizations in the SSD controller and buffering employed in the system software. We hope that the findings of this first large-scale flash memory reliability study can inspire others to develop other publicly-available analyses and novel flash reliability solutions.
Influences of reinforcing bars on crack depth measurement by stress waves

A research program was undertaken to evaluate the influences of steel reinforcing bars on signals obtained from depth measurements of surface-opening cracks in reinforced concrete structures based on transient stress waves generated by elastic impact. Numerical studies were performed to gain an understanding of the interaction of transient stress waves with steel bars in concrete structures containing surface-opening cracks. A reinforced concrete beam was constructed as an experimental specimen. The specimen was simply supported and loaded at the center point until cracks occurred. Experimental studies were carried out on the cracked beam. Two displacement receivers were placed on the opposite sides of a surface-opening crack to monitor disturbances caused by the arrivals of stress waves generated by impact. The first receiver and impact were located on the same side of the crack. The first receiver was used to trace the start time of impact. The second one placed on the opposite side of the crack was used to find the arrival time of P-wave propagating through steel bars, and the arrival time of the diffracted P-wave from the bottom edge of the crack. Numerical and experimental results show that the presence of steel bars results in an initial disturbance in the waveform recorded by the second receiver because P-waves can propagate across the crack along the steel bars. It is also shown that the shortest travel path for a P-wave from the impact point through the steel bars to the second receiver is obtained if the P-wave is incident upon the concrete/steel interface with a critical angle of incidence. Equations for determining the depth of steel bars are presented. Because the amplitude of the initial disturbance caused by the steel bars is small, it is still easy to identify the following arrival of the P-wave diffracted from the bottom edge of the crack. Thus, the presence of steel reinforcing bars does not have a significant influence on measuring the crack depth.
Evaluation of two outcome prediction models on an independent database.

OBJECTIVE To evaluate the performance of the New Simplified Acute Physiology Score (SAPS II) and the admission Mortality Probability Model (MPM0) in a large independent database, using formal statistical assessment. DESIGN Analysis of the database of a multicenter, multinational, prospective cohort study, EURICUS-I. SETTING Eighty nine intensive care units (ICUs) from 13 European areas. PATIENTS Data of 16,060 patients consecutively admitted to the participating ICUs were collected during a period of 4 months. Following the original SAPS II and MPM0 criteria, the analysis excluded: patients <18 ys of age; readmissions; patients admitted with acute myocardial infarction; burns; and patients in the postoperative period after coronary artery bypass surgery. All patients with a length of stay <8 hrs were excluded from the study to keep comparability between both systems. A total of 10,027 patients were analyzed. INTERVENTIONS Collection of the first 24 hrs' admission data necessary for the calculation of SAPS II and MPM0 and basic demographic statistics. Vital status at discharge from the hospital was registered. MEASUREMENTS AND MAIN RESULTS Despite having a good discriminative capability, as measured by the area under the receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curves (SAPS II: ROC = 0.822 +/- 0.005 SEM; MPM0: ROC = 0.785 +/- 0.006 SEM), both models presented poor calibration, with significant differences between observed and predicted mortality (Hosmer-Lemeshow goodness-of-fit tests H and C, p < .0001). Both SAPS II (predicted risk >40%) and MPM0 (predicted risk >30%) overestimated the risk of death. The evaluation of the uniformity of fit of SAPS II and MPM0 demonstrated large variations across the various subgroups of patients. CONCLUSIONS The original SAPS II and MPM0 models did not accurately predict mortality on an independent large international multicenter ICU patient database. Results of studies utilizing general outcome prediction models without previous validation in the target population should be interpreted with prudence.
A Performance Analysis of DES and RSA Cryptography

Security is playing a vital role in the field of communication system and Internet. Data encryption standard (DES) and the Rivest-Shamir-Adleman (RSA) algorithms are the two popular encryption algorithms that vouch confidentiality and authenticity over an insecure communication network and Internet. There has been paltry cryptanalytic progress against these two algorithms since their advent. This paper presents the comparison between the DES private key based Algorithm and RSA public key based algorithm. The main feature that specifies and differentiate one algorithm from another are the ability to the speed of encryption and decryption of the input plain text. It also includes several computational issues as well as the analysis of DES algorithm and RSA algorithm like the encryption throughput and decryption throughput. The recipe of finding the encryption throughput and decryption throughput is discovered.
ASSESSMENTS FOR 3D RECONSTRUCTIONS OF CULTURAL HERITAGE USING DIGITAL TECHNOLOGIES

The aim of this contribution is to show the results of evaluations on 3D digitizations performed using different methodologies and technologies. In particular, for surveys conducted at the architectural and urban scale, the recent reduction of costs related to Time of Flight and phase shift laser scanners is actually enhancing the replacement of traditional topographic instruments (i.e. total stations) with range-based technologies for the acquisition of 3D data related to built heritage. If compared to surveys performed using traditional topographic technologies, range-based ones offer a wide range of advantages, but they also require different skills, procedures and times. The present contribution shows the results of a practical application of both approaches on the same case study. Another application was suggested by the recent developments in the photogrammetric field that enhance the improvement of software able to automatically orient uncalibrated cameras and derive dense and accurate 3D point clouds, with evident benefits in reduction of costs required for survey equipment. Therefore, the presented case study constituted the occasion to compare a rangebased survey with a fast 3D acquisition and modelling using a Structure from Motion solution. These survey procedures were adopted at an architectural scale, on a single building, that was surveyed both on the outside and on the inside. Assessments on the quality of the rebuilt information is reported, as far as metric accuracy and reliability is concerned, as well as on time consuming and on skills required during each step of the adopted pipelines. For all approaches, these analysis highlighted advantages and disadvantages that allow to conduct evaluations on the possible convenience of adopting range-based technologies instead of a traditional topographic approach or a photogrammetric one instead of a range based one in case of surveys conducted at an architectural/urban scale.
The Min System as a General Cell Geometry Detection Mechanism: Branch Lengths in Y-Shaped Escherichia coli Cells Affect Min Oscillation Patterns and Division Dynamics

ABSTRACT In Escherichia coli, division site placement is regulated by the dynamic behavior of the MinCDE proteins, which oscillate from pole to pole and confine septation to the centers of normal rod-shaped cells. Some current mathematical models explain these oscillations by considering interactions among the Min proteins without recourse to additional localization signals. So far, such models have been applied only to regularly shaped bacteria, but here we test these models further by employing aberrantly shaped E. coli cells as miniature reactors. The locations of MinCDE proteins fused to derivatives of green fluorescent protein were monitored in branched cells with at least three conspicuous poles. MinCDE most often moved from one branch to another in an invariant order, following a nonreversing clockwise or counterclockwise direction over the time periods observed. In cells with two short branches or nubs, the proteins oscillated symmetrically from one end to the other. The locations of FtsZ rings were consistent with a broad MinC-free zone near the branch junctions, and Min rings exhibited the surprising behavior of moving quickly from one possible position to another. Using a reaction-diffusion model that reproduces the observed MinCD oscillations in rod-shaped and round E. coli, we predict that the oscillation patterns in branched cells are a natural response of Min behavior in cellular geometries having different relative branch lengths. The results provide further evidence that Min protein oscillations act as a general cell geometry detection mechanism that can locate poles even in branched cells.
Lumped Element Modeling of a Flexible Manipulator System

This paper is concerned with a modeling method that can be used for an experimental identification of a dynamic system. More specifically, an equivalent lumped element system is presented to represent in a unique and exact manner a complete proportional-derivative (PD) controlled servo positioning system having a flexible manipulator. The impedance and mobility approach is used to transform the P and D control gains to an electrical spring and an electrical damper, respectively. The impedance model method is used to transform the flexible manipulator to a coupled system between a single contact mass at the driving position and a series of noncontact masses each of which is connected to the contact mass via a resilient member. This method is applicable whenever the driving point response of such a manipulator is available. Experimental work is presented to support the theory developed.
Metabolic Consequences of Chronic Alcohol Abuse in Non-Smokers: A Pilot Study

An alcohol use disorder (AUD) is associated with an increased susceptibility to respiratory infection and injury and, upon hospitalization, higher mortality rates. Studies in model systems show effects of alcohol on mitochondrial function, lipid metabolism and antioxidant systems. The present study applied high-resolution metabolomics to test for these changes in bronchoalveolar lavage fluid (BALF) of subjects with an AUD. Smokers were excluded to avoid confounding effects and compliance was verified by cotinine measurements. Statistically significant metabolic features, differentially expressed by control and AUD subjects, were identified by statistical and bioinformatic methods. The results show that fatty acid and acylcarnitine concentrations were increased in AUD subjects, consistent with perturbed mitochondrial and lipid metabolism. Decreased concentrations of methyl-donor compounds suggest altered one-carbon metabolism and oxidative stress. An accumulation of peptides suggests proteolytic activity, which could reflect altered epithelial barrier function. Two metabolites of possible microbial origin suggest subclinical bacterial infection. Furthermore, increased diacetylspermine suggests additional metabolic perturbations, which could contribute to dysregulated alveolar macrophage function and vulnerability to infection. Together, the results show an extended metabolic consequence of AUD in the bronchoalveolar space.
Spectroscopic failures in photometric redshift calibration: cosmological biases and survey requirements

We use N-body-spectrophotometric simulations to investigate the impact of incompleteness andincorrectredshiftsinspectroscopicsurveysonphotometricredshifttrainingandcalibration and the resulting effects on cosmological parameter estimation from weak lensing shear–shear correlations. The photometry of the simulations is modelled after the upcoming Dark Energy Survey and the spectroscopy is based on a low/intermediate-resolution spectrograph with wavelengthcoverageof5500 1.3. We discuss several approaches for reducing the cosmological biases, in particular finding that photo-z error estimators can reduce biases appreciably when the photo-z errors are correlated with the spectroscopic failures, but not otherwise.
CONTEMPORARY CHALLENGES IN AUTOIMMUNITY Cognitive Functioning in Behçet’s Disease

The impact of Behçet’s disease on higher cognitive functions is still poorly understood. We proposed (1) to characterize the neuropsychological profile of Behçet’s disease patients with (Neuro-BD) and without (BD) neurological manifestations; (2) to identify which clinical, psychopathological, and genetic variables are related to neuropsychological performance; and (3) to explore the association between cognitive functioning and neuroimaging findings in BD patients. Fifteen Neuro-BD and 35 BD patients in the nonactive phase of their illness underwent a neurological examination, performed a comprehensive battery of neuropsychological tests, and answered the hospital anxiety and depression scale. Human leukocyte antigen (HLA)-B ∗ 51 genotyping was also performed. Patients’ neuropsychological performances were compared to those of healthy demographically matched subjects. Within one month from the testing date, a subset of 20-BD patients underwent a magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scan. Fifty-three percent of Neuro-BD and 40% of BD patients were impaired at least on one neuropsychological measure (i.e., digit span–forward). Poorer cognitive functioning in Neuro-BD was associated with parenchymal involvement, whereas in BD it was related to presence of white matter changes in the frontal lobes, history of headache complaints, or higher levels of anxiety and depression. Current prednisone intake had a positive impact on neuropsychological performance. Disease duration, time since onset of neurological manifestations, or presence of HLA-B ∗ 51 allele had no significant influence. Our results indicate that Behçet’s disease may affect cognitive abilities in the absence of overt neurological symptoms. These findings point to an insidious course of neurological involvement.
The Structural and Functional Organization of the Podocyte Filtration Slits Is Regulated by Tjp1/ZO-1

Blood filtration in the kidney glomerulus is essential for physiological homeostasis. The filtration apparatus of the kidney glomerulus is composed of three distinct components: the fenestrated endothelial cells, the glomerular basement membrane, and interdigitating foot processes of podocytes that form the slit diaphragm. Recent studies have demonstrated that podocytes play a crucial role in blood filtration and in the pathogenesis of proteinuria and glomerular sclerosis; however, the molecular mechanisms that organize the podocyte filtration barrier are not fully understood. In this study, we suggest that tight junction protein 1 (Tjp1 or ZO-1), which is encoded by Tjp1 gene, plays an essential role in establishing the podocyte filtration barrier. The podocyte-specific deletion of Tjp1 down-regulated the expression of podocyte membrane proteins, impaired the interdigitation of the foot processes and the formation of the slit diaphragm, resulting in glomerular dysfunction. We found the possibility that podocyte filtration barrier requires the integration of two independent units, the pre-existing epithelial junction components and the newly synthesized podocyte-specific components, at the final stage in glomerular morphogenesis, for which Tjp1 is indispensable. Together with previous findings that Tjp1 expression was decreased in glomerular diseases in human and animal models, our results indicate that the suppression of Tjp1 could directly aggravate glomerular disorders, highlights Tjp1 as a potential therapeutic target.
Limitations on information theoretically secure quantum homomorphic encryption

Homomorphic encryption is a form of encryption which allows computation to be carried out on the encrypted data without the need for decryption. The success of quantum approaches to related tasks in a delegated computation setting has raised the question of whether quantum mechanics may be used to achieve information-theoretically-secure fully homomorphic encryption. Here we show, via an information localization argument, that deterministic fully homomorphic encryption necessarily incurs exponential overhead if perfect security is required.
Predicting Infarction Within the Diffusion-Weighted Imaging Lesion: Does the Mean Transit Time Have Added Value?

Background and Purpose— There is ample evidence that in anterior circulation stroke, the diffusion-weighted imaging (DWI) lesion may escape infarction and thus is not a reliable infarct predictor. In this study, we assessed the predictive value of the mean transit time (MTT) for final infarction within the DWI lesion, first in patients scanned back-to-back with 15O-positron emission tomography and MR (DWI and perfusion-weighted imaging; “Cambridge sample”) within 7 to 21 hours of clinical onset, then in a large sample of patients with anterior circulation stroke receiving DWI and perfusion-weighted imaging within 12 hours (85% within 6 hours; “I-KNOW sample”). Methods— Both samples underwent structural MRI at approximately 1 month to map final infarcts. For both imaging modalities, MTT was calculated as cerebral blood volume/cerebral blood flow. After image coregistration and matrix resampling, the MTT values between voxels of interest that later infarcted or not were compared separately within and outside DWI lesions (DWI+ and DWI−, respectively) both within and across patients. In the I-KNOW sample, receiver operating characteristic curves were calculated for these voxel of interest populations and areas under the curve and optimal thresholds calculated. Results— In the Cambridge data set (n=4), there was good concordance between predictive values of MTTpositron emission tomography and MTTperfusion-weighted imaging for both DWI+ and DWI− voxels of interest indicating adequate reliability of MTTperfusion-weighted imaging for this purpose. In the I-KNOW data set (N=42), the MTT significantly added to the DWI lesion to predict infarction in both DWI− and DWI+ voxels of interest with areas under the curve approximately 0.78 and 0.64 (both P<0.001) and optimal thresholds approximately 8 seconds and 11 seconds, respectively. Conclusions— Despite the relatively small samples, this study suggests that adding MTTperfusion-weighted imaging may improve infarct prediction not only as already known outside, but also within, DWI lesions.
Specifying the brain anatomy underlying temporo‐parietal junction activations for theory of mind: A review using probabilistic atlases from different imaging modalities

In this quantitative review, we specified the anatomical basis of brain activity reported in the Temporo‐Parietal Junction (TPJ) in Theory of Mind (ToM) research. Using probabilistic brain atlases, we labeled TPJ peak coordinates reported in the literature. This was carried out for four different atlas modalities: (i) gyral‐parcellation, (ii) sulco‐gyral parcellation, (iii) cytoarchitectonic parcellation and (iv) connectivity‐based parcellation. In addition, our review distinguished between two ToM task types (false belief and social animations) and a nonsocial task (attention reorienting). We estimated the mean probabilities of activation for each atlas label, and found that for all three task types part of TPJ activations fell into the same areas: (i) Angular Gyrus (AG) and Lateral Occpital Cortex (LOC) in terms of a gyral atlas, (ii) AG and Superior Temporal Sulcus (STS) in terms of a sulco‐gyral atlas, (iii) areas PGa and PGp in terms of cytoarchitecture and (iv) area TPJp in terms of a connectivity‐based parcellation atlas. Beside these commonalities, we also found that individual task types showed preferential activation for particular labels. Main findings for the right hemisphere were preferential activation for false belief tasks in AG/PGa, and in Supramarginal Gyrus (SMG)/PFm for attention reorienting. Social animations showed strongest selective activation in the left hemisphere, specifically in left Middle Temporal Gyrus (MTG). We discuss how our results (i.e., identified atlas structures) can provide a new reference for describing future findings, with the aim to integrate different labels and terminologies used for studying brain activity around the TPJ. Hum Brain Mapp 38:4788–4805, 2017. © 2017 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
Developmental changes in resting gamma power from age three to adulthood

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