Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Graph Data Exchange with Target Constraints

Data exchange is the problem of translating data structured under a source schema according to a target schema and a set of source-to-target constraints known as schema mappings. In this paper, we investigate the problem of data exchange in a heterogeneous setting, where the source is a relational database, the target is a graph database, and the schema mappings are defined across them. We study the classical problems considered in data exchange, namely the existence of solutions and query answering. We show that both problems are intractable in the presence of target constraints, already under significant restrictions.
FineComb: Measuring Microscopic Latency and Loss in the Presence of Reordering

Modern stock trading and cluster applications require microsecond latencies and almost no losses in data centers. This paper introduces an algorithm called FineComb that can obtain fine-grain end-to-end loss and latency measurements between edge routers in these networks. Such a mechanism can allow managers to distinguish between latencies and loss singularities caused by servers and those caused by the network. Compared to prior work, such as Lossy Difference Aggregator (LDA), which focused on switch-level latency measurements, the requirement of end-to-end latency measurements introduces the challenge of reordering that occurs commonly in IP networks due to churn. The problem is even more acute in switches across data center networks that employ multipath routing algorithms to exploit the inherent path diversity. Without proper care, a loss estimation algorithm can confound loss and reordering; furthermore, any attempt to aggregate delay estimates in the presence of reordering results in severe errors. FineComb deals with these problems using order-agnostic packet digests and a simple new idea we call stash recovery. Our evaluation demonstrates that FineComb is orders of magnitude more accurate than LDA in loss and delay estimates in the presence of reordering.
Systemic Expression of Kaposi Sarcoma Herpesvirus (KSHV) Vflip in Endothelial Cells Leads to a Profound Proinflammatory Phenotype and Myeloid Lineage Remodeling In Vivo

KSHV is the causative agent of Kaposi sarcoma (KS), a spindle-shaped endothelial cell neoplasm accompanied by an inflammatory infiltrate. To evaluate the role of KSHV vFLIP in the pathogenesis of KS, we constructed mice with inducible expression of vFLIP in endothelial cells. Abnormal cells with endothelial marker expression and fusiform appearance were observed in several tissues reminiscent of the spindle cells found in KS. Serum cytokines displayed a profound perturbation similar to that described in KSHV inflammatory cytokine syndrome (KICS), a recently described clinical condition characterized by elevated IL6 and IL10. An increased myeloid component with suppressive immune phenotype was found, which may contribute to functional changes in the microenvironment and cellular heterogeneity as observed in KS. These mice represent the first in vivo demonstration that vFLIP is capable of inducing vascular abnormalities and changes in host microenvironment with important implications for understanding the pathogenesis and treating KSHV-associated diseases.
Extreme strength observed in limpet teeth

The teeth of limpets exploit distinctive composite nanostructures consisting of high volume fractions of reinforcing goethite nanofibres within a softer protein phase to provide mechanical integrity when rasping over rock surfaces during feeding. The tensile strength of discrete volumes of limpet tooth material measured using in situ atomic force microscopy was found to range from 3.0 to 6.5 GPa and was independent of sample size. These observations highlight an absolute material tensile strength that is the highest recorded for a biological material, outperforming the high strength of spider silk currently considered to be the strongest natural material, and approaching values comparable to those of the strongest man-made fibres. This considerable tensile strength of limpet teeth is attributed to a high mineral volume fraction of reinforcing goethite nanofibres with diameters below a defect-controlled critical size, suggesting that natural design in limpet teeth is optimized towards theoretical strength limits.
Recovery Oriented Computing (ROC): Motivation, Definition, Techniques, and Case Studies

It is time to broaden our performance-dominated research agenda. A four order of magnitude increase in performance since the first ASPLOS in 1982 means that few outside CS&E research community believe that speed is the only problem of computer hardware and software. Current systems crash and freeze so frequently that people become violent. 1 Fast but flaky should not be our 21 st century legacy. Recovery Oriented Computing (ROC) takes the perspective that hardware faults, software bugs, and operator errors are facts to be coped with, not problems to be solved. By concentrating on Mean Time to Repair (MTTR) rather than Mean Time to Failure (MTTF), ROC reduces recovery time and thus offers higher availability. Since a large portion of system administration is dealing with failures, ROC may also reduce total cost of ownership. One to two orders of magnitude reduction in cost mean that the purchase price of hardware and software is now a small part of the total cost of ownership. In addition to giving the motivation and definition of ROC, we introduce failure data for Internet sites that shows that the leading cause of outages is operator error. We also demonstrate five ROC techniques in five case studies, which we hope will influence designers of architectures and operating systems. If we embrace availability and maintainability, systems of the future may compete on recovery performance rather than just SPEC performance, and on total cost of ownership rather than just system price. Such a change may restore our pride in the architectures and operating systems we craft.
Transforming Growth Factor-β1 Gene Polymorphism (T29C) in Egyptian Patients with Hepatitis B Virus Infection: A Preliminary Study

The interindividual variations in the capacity of transforming growth factor-β1 (TGF-β1) production have been ascribed to genetic polymorphisms in TGF-β1 gene. As pathogenesis of HBV has a genetic background, this preliminary study was designed to assess the impact of TGF-β1 (T29C) on the susceptibility of Egyptians to HBV infection. Genotyping was performed using single stranded polymorphism-polymerase chain reaction (SSP-PCR) in 65 Egyptian hepatitis B patients and 50 healthy controls. TGF-β1 plasma levels were measured using Enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA). The frequency of CC genotype was significantly higher (P < 0.05) in HBV patients compared to controls. On the contrary, TC genotype did not show significant difference in both groups. TT genotype was significantly higher (P < 0.01) in controls than HBV patients. Our current preliminary data revealed that the frequency of the genotypes in the controls were within Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium (HWE) while the patients group was out of HWE (P < 0.01). TGF-β1 was significantly (r = −0.684; P < 0.001) deceased in the sera of patients as compared to normal subjects. Depending on our preliminary work, CC genotype may act as a host genetic factor in the susceptibility to HBV infection in Egyptians. Taken together, the current data pointed to the importance of polymorphism of TGF-β1 gene (T29C) in HBV infection.
Comparison of the effects of gelatin, Ringer’s solution and a modern hydroxyl ethyl starch solution after coronary artery bypass graft surgery

Objective The aim of this study was to compare the effect of 6% hydroxyl ethyl starch solution with 4% gelatin and Ringer’s solutions on the haemodynamic stability of patients after coronary artery bypass graft (CABG) surgery and immediately after discontinuation of cardiopulmonary bypass (CPB). Methods This was a randomised, double-blind clinical trial of 92 patients who were candidates for on-pump CABG. After discontinuation of CPB, all patients were transferred to the intensive care unit (ICU) and divided randomly into three groups. The first group received Ringer’s solution, the second group 4% gelatin, and the third 6% hydroxyl ethyl starch (HES) solution (Voluven). Haemodynamic parameters such as heart rate, mean arterial pressure, systolic blood pressure, diastolic blood pressure, central venous pressure, cardiac output and the presence of arrhythmias were documented. Results The volume needed for maintaining normal blood pressure and central venous pressure in the range of 10–14 mmHg was less in the HES group than in the other groups. The volume was similar however in the gelatin and Ringer’s groups in the first 24 hours after surgery. Urinary output in the first four and 24 hours after surgery were significantly higher in the HES group than in the other two groups. Mean creatinine levels were significantly lower in the HES group. Conclusion HES (6%) had a better volume-expanding effect than gelatin (4%) and Ringer’s solutions, and its short-term effects on renal function were also better than gelatin and Ringer’s solutions.
Employer Learning, Productivity and the Earnings Distribution: Evidence from Performance Measures

Two ubiquitous empirical regularities in pay distributions are that the variance of wages increases with experience, and innovations in wage residuals have a large, unpredictable component. The leading explanations for these patterns are that over time, either firms learn about worker productivity but productivity remains fixed or workers' productivities themselves evolve heterogeneously. In this paper, we seek to disentangle these two models and place magnitudes on their relative importance. We derive a dynamic model of learning and productivity that nests both models and allows them to coexist. We estimate our model on a 20-year panel of pay and performance measures from a single, large firm (the Baker-Gibbs-Holmstrom data). Incorporating performance measures yields two key innovations. First, the panel structure implies that we have repeat measures of correlates of productivity, as opposed to the empirical evidence on employer learning which uses one fixed measure. Second, we can separate productivity from pay, whereas the previous literature on productivity evolution could not. We find that both models are important in explaining the data. However, the predominant effect is that worker productivity evolves idiosyncratically over time, implying firms must continuously learn about a moving target. Therefore, while the majority of pay dispersion is driven by variation in individual productivity, wages differ significantly from individual productivity at all experience levels due to imperfect information. We believe this represents a significant reinterpretation of the empirical literature on employer learning.
A thermal stress-aware algorithm for power and temperature management of MPSoCs

In this work, we propose a thermal stress-aware algorithm for the management of the power and temperature in MPSoCs. The algorithm, which uses a heuristic approach, controls the power consumption, maximum temperature, thermal cycles, and temporal/spatial thermal gradients of MPSoCs. At the top level, the decision on turning the cores on and off is made based on the constraints of peak temperature, maximum spatial thermal gradient, and power consumption. At the next tier, the optimal frequencies (and supply voltages) of the ON cores, formulated in a convex optimization problem, are determined again based on satisfying the constraints of the maximum total power consumption, peak temperature, thermal cycles, and also temporal thermal gradient. The technique may be applied to both the heterogeneous and homogenous MPSoCs. The efficacy of the proposed approach in reducing the thermal cycles as well as temporal thermal gradient is evaluated by comparing its results with a similar previous power and temperature management approach. The evaluation which is performed on 8-core processors under Splash2 benchmarks, demonstrates the ability of the suggested technique in limiting a considerable reduction in the thermal stress parameters.
A new descriptor for image retrieval using Contourlet Co-Occurrence

In this paper, a new descriptor for the feature extraction of images in the image database is presented. The new descriptor called the Contourlet Co-Occurrence is based on the combination of the contourlet transform and the Grey Level Co-occurrence Matrix (GLCM). In order to evaluate the proposed descriptor, we perform the comparative analysis of existing methods such as Contourlet [2], GLCM [14] descriptors with the Contourlet Co-Occurrence descriptor for image retrieval. Experimental results demonstrate that the proposed method shows a slightly improvement in the retrieval effectiveness.
Action Recognition by Hierarchical Sequence Summarization

Recent progress has shown that learning from hierarchical feature representations leads to improvements in various computer vision tasks. Motivated by the observation that human activity data contains information at various temporal resolutions, we present a hierarchical sequence summarization approach for action recognition that learns multiple layers of discriminative feature representations at different temporal granularities. We build up a hierarchy dynamically and recursively by alternating sequence learning and sequence summarization. For sequence learning we use CRFs with latent variables to learn hidden spatio-temporal dynamics, for sequence summarization we group observations that have similar semantic meaning in the latent space. For each layer we learn an abstract feature representation through non-linear gate functions. This procedure is repeated to obtain a hierarchical sequence summary representation. We develop an efficient learning method to train our model and show that its complexity grows sub linearly with the size of the hierarchy. Experimental results show the effectiveness of our approach, achieving the best published results on the Arm Gesture and Canal9 datasets.
Islet-Derived CD4 T Cells Targeting Proinsulin in Human Autoimmune Diabetes

Type 1 diabetes results from chronic autoimmune destruction of insulin-producing β-cells within pancreatic islets. Although insulin is a critical self-antigen in animal models of autoimmune diabetes, due to extremely limited access to pancreas samples, little is known about human antigenic targets for islet-infiltrating T cells. Here we show that proinsulin peptides are targeted by islet-infiltrating T cells from patients with type 1 diabetes. We identified hundreds of T cells from inflamed pancreatic islets of three young organ donors with type 1 diabetes with a short disease duration with high-risk HLA genes using a direct T-cell receptor (TCR) sequencing approach without long-term cell culture. Among 85 selected CD4 TCRs tested for reactivity to preproinsulin peptides presented by diabetes-susceptible HLA-DQ and HLA-DR molecules, one T cell recognized C-peptide amino acids 19–35, and two clones from separate donors responded to insulin B-chain amino acids 9–23 (B:9–23), which are known to be a critical self-antigen–driving disease progress in animal models of autoimmune diabetes. These B:9–23–specific T cells from islets responded to whole proinsulin and islets, whereas previously identified B:9–23 responsive clones from peripheral blood did not, highlighting the importance of proinsulin-specific T cells in the islet microenvironment.
Mammillothalamic tract lesions disrupt dead reckoning in the rat

Debate surrounds the role of the limbic system structures’ contribution to spatial orientation. The results from previous studies have supported a role for the mammillary bodies and their projections to the anterior thalamus in rapid encoding of relationships among environmental cues; however, this work is based on behavioral tasks in which environmental and self‐movement cues could not be dissociated. The present study examines the effects of mammillothalamic tract lesions on spatial orientation in the food hoarding paradigm and the water maze. Although the food hoarding paradigm dissociates the use of environmental and self‐movement cues, both sources of information are available to guide performance in the water maze. Mammillothalamic tract lesions selectively impaired performance on both tasks. These impairments are interpreted as providing further evidence for the role of limbic system structures in processing self‐movement cues.
Pancreatic (cid:1) -Cell Failure and Diabetes in Mice With a Deletion Mutation of the Endoplasmic Reticulum Molecular Chaperone Gene P58 IPK

The endoplasmic reticulum (ER) transmits apoptotic signals in the pancreas during ER stress, implicating ER stress–mediated apoptosis in the development of diabe- tes. P58 IPK ( DNAJC3 ) is induced during ER stress and functions as a negative feedback component to inhibit eIF-2 (cid:2) signaling and attenuate the later phases of the ER stress response. To gain insight into a more compre- hensive role of P58 IPK function, we generated deletion mutant mice that showed a gradual onset of glucosuria and hyperglycemia associated with increasing apoptosis of pancreatic islet cells. Lack of P58 IPK had no apparent effect on the functional integrity of viable (cid:1) -cells. A set of genes associated with apoptosis showed altered ex- pression in pancreatic islets from P58 IPK -null mice, further substantiating the apoptosis phenotype. The data provide in vivo evidence to support the concept that P58 IPK functions as a signal for the downregulation of ER-associated proteins involved in the initial ER stress response, thus preventing excessive cell loss by degradation pathways. Insulin deﬁciency associated with the absence of P58 IPK mimics (cid:1) -cell failure associated with type 1 and late-stage type 2 diabetes. P58 IPK function and activity may therefore provide a novel area of investigation into ER-mediated mechanistic and therapeutic approaches for diabetes. Diabetes 54:1074–1081, 2005 of
Segmentation Algorithm Study for Infrared Images with Occluded Target Based on Artificial Immune System

Image segmentation is an important component of image processing. The improvements of the segmentation efficiency and quality are the two significant issues for each segmentation algorithm. This paper proposed a segmentation algorithm based on the negative selection mechanism of the artificial immune system. The algorithm can extract the occluded target in an infrared image by using a template constructed from negative selection method. A segmentation algorithm combined with the information entropy and the clonal selection algorithm is introduced to avoid the drawbacks of deciding a segmentation threshold subjectively. The simulation results presented that the two proposed algorithms do have some advantages on the segmentation of the occluded target in an infrared image, especially the latter can acquire a stable result leading to an ideal effect.
The Accretion Disk Wind in the Black Hole GRO J1655–40

We report on simultaneous Chandra HETGS and RXTE observations of the transient stellar-mass black hole GRO J1655–40, made during its 2005 outburst. Chandra reveals a line-rich X-ray absorption spectrum consistent with a disk wind. Prior modeling of the spectrum suggested that the wind may be magnetically driven, potentially providing insights into the nature of disk accretion onto black holes. In this paper, we present results obtained with new models for this spectrum, generated using three independent photoionization codes: XSTAR, Cloudy, and our own code. Fits to the spectrum in particular narrow wavelength ranges, in evenly spaced wavelength slices, and across a broad wavelength band all strongly prefer a combination of high density, high ionization, and small inner radius. Indeed, the results obtained from all three codes require a wind that originates more than 10 times closer to the black hole and carrying a mass flux that is on the order of 1000 times higher than predicted by thermal driving models. If seminal work on thermally driven disk winds is robust, magnetic forces may play a role in driving the disk wind in GRO J1655–40. However, even these modeling efforts must be regarded as crude given the complexity of the spectra. We discuss these results in the context of accretion flows in black holes and other compact objects.
Repertoire of Porcine MicroRNAs in Adult Ovary and Testis by Deep Sequencing

BACKGROUND MicroRNAs (miRNAs), a large family of short endogenous RNAs known to post-transcriptionally repress gene expression, participate in the regulation of almost every cellular process. Changes in miRNA expression are associated with many pathologies. Ovarian folliculogenesis and testicular spermatogenesis are complex and coordinated biological processes, in which tightly regulated expression and interaction of a multitude of genes could be regulated by these miRNAs. Identification and preliminary characterization of gonad-specific miRNAs would be a prerequisite for a thorough understanding of the role that miRNA-mediated posttranscriptional gene regulation plays in mammalian reproduction. METHOD Here, we present the identification of a repertoire of porcine miRNAs in adult ovary and testis using deep sequencing technology. A bioinformatics pipeline was developed to distinguish authentic mature miRNA sequences from other classes of small RNAs represented in the sequencing data. RESULTS Using this approach, we detected 582 precursor hairpins (pre-miRNAs) encoding for 732 mature miRNAs, of which 673 are unique. Statistically, 224 unique miRNAs (out of 673, 33.28%) were identified which had significant differential expression (DE) between ovary and testis libraries (P < 0.001). Most of DE miRNAs located on the X chromosome (X-linked miRNAs) (24 out of 34, 70.59%) significantly up-regulated in ovary versus testis (P < 0.001). Predictably, X-linked miRNAs are expressed in a testis-preferential or testis-specific pattern. To explore the potential for co-expression among genomic location clusters of X-linked miRNAs, we surveyed the relationship between the distance separating miRNA loci and the coordinate expression patterns of 32 high confidence X-linked miRNAs in seven normal pig tissues using the real-time quantitative PCR (q-PCR) approach. Our results show that proximal pairs of miRNAs are generally co-expressed implying that miRNAs within 50 kb of genomic bases are typically derived from a common transcript. CONCLUSIONS The present study characterizes the miRNA transcriptome of adult porcine gonads, with an emphasis on the co-expression patterns of X-linked miRNAs. Our report should facilitate studies of the organ-specific reproductive roles of miRNAs.