Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Low-Power 32-bit Dual-MAC 120  $\mu$W/MHz 1.0 V icyflex1 DSP/MCU Core

A low-power programmable processor named icyflex1 was designed combining features of a digital signal processor (DSP) and a micro-controller unit (MCU). Implemented as a synthesizable VHDL software intellectual property core, the processor implements a broad range of power saving features including its customizable architecture and reconfigurable instruction set. Its performance is compared with other processors from the market and values are given for its integration in a 180 nm technology. The processor targets applications with tight power consumption constraints and correspondingly significant processing performance.
Detection of the Time of a Step Change in Monitoring Survival Time

Abstract—Precise identiﬁcation of the time when a changein a hospital outcome has occurred enables clinical experts tosearch for a potential special cause more effectively. In thispaper, we develop change point estimation methods for survivaltime of a clinical procedure in a Bayesian framework in thepresence of patient mix. We apply Bayesian hierarchical modelsto formulate the change point where there exists a drop in themean of survival time of patients who underwent a cardiacsurgery. The data are right censored since the monitoring isconducted over a limited follow-up period. We capture the effectof risk factors prior to the surgery using a Weibull acceleratedfailure time regression model. Markov Chain Monte Carlois used to obtain posterior distributions of the change pointparameters including location and magnitude of drops andalso corresponding probabilistic intervals and inferences. Theperformance of the Bayesian estimator is investigated throughsimulations and the result shows that precise estimates canbe obtained when they are used in conjunction with the risk-adjusted survival time CUSUM control charts for differentmagnitude scenarios. This advantage enhances when probabilityquantiﬁcation, ﬂexibility and generalizability of the Bayesianchange point detection model are also considered.Index Terms—Bayesian Hierarchical Model, CardiacSurgery, Change Point, Markov Chain Monte Carlo, Risk-Adjusted Survival Time Control Charts.
Estrogen-dependent effect of soy extract on pentylenetetrazole-induced seizures in rats.

OBJECTIVE To study the different effects of soy extract on pentylenetetrazole (PTZ)-induced seizures in the presence and absence of ovarian hormones in rats, and the gender-dependent differences in the effects of phytoestrogens on behavior. METHODS Male and female Wistar rats were randomly divided into nine groups with eight in each, namely, male-saline (M-saline), male-low-dose soy (M-LDS), male-high-dose soy (M-HDS), sham-saline (Sh-saline), sham-low-dose soy (Sh-LDS), sham-high-dose soy (Sh-HDS), ovariectomized-saline (OVX-saline), ovariectomized-low-dose soy (OVX-LDS) and ovariectomized-high-dose soy (OVX-HDS). The rats of groups 7 to 9 were ovariectomized under ketamine anesthesia. The rats of groups 2, 5 and 8 were treated by 20 mg/kg of soy extract while the animals of groups 3, 6 and 9 received 60 mg/kg of soy extract for two weeks. In groups 1, 4 and 7, saline was injected instead of soy extract. The animals were then injected by a single dose of PTZ (90 mg/kg body weight, intraperitoneally) and placed in a plexiglas cage and the latency to minimal clonic seizure (MCS) and generalized tonic-clonic seizure (GTCS) was recorded. RESULTS Both MCS and GTCS latency in M-LDS and M-HDS groups was significantly lower than that in M-saline group (P<0.05 or P<0.01). Treatment for female sham rats by soy extract did not affect MCS and GTCS latency. The animals of OVX-LDS and OVX-HDS groups had lower MCS and GTCS latency in comparison with OVX-saline group (P<0.05 or P<0.01). CONCLUSION It is concluded that the phytoestrogens of soy affect seizure severity induced by PTZ, but their effects are different in the presence or absence of ovarian hormones. However, further studies are necessary to be done.
Joint Simulation of Transmission X-ray Imaging on GPU and Patient’s Respiration on CPU

In this extended abstract, we propose a join deterministic simulation of i) X-ray transmission imaging on the GPU and ii) patient’s respiration on the CPU. It has been initially deployed into a medical simulator for training percutaneous transhepatic cholangiography (PTC), i.e. ﬂuoroscopy guidance of needles. The patient’s respiration is modelled and it supports diﬀerent breathing patterns. The dynamic polygon meshes of the patient is then used as the input data for the X-ray simulation. Our previous attempt to simulate X-ray attenuation from polygon meshes utilising the GPU showed signiﬁcant increase of performance, with respect to a validated software implementation, without loss of accuracy. However, the simulations were restricted to monochromatic X-rays and ﬁnite point sources. We present here an extension to our method to perform physically more realistic simulations by taking into account polychromatic X-rays and focal spots causing blur.
The capacity of low-density parity-check codes under message-passing decoding

We present a general method for determining the capacity of low-density parity-check (LDPC) codes under message-passing decoding when used over any binary-input memoryless channel with discrete or continuous output alphabets. Transmitting at rates below this capacity, a randomly chosen element of the given ensemble will achieve an arbitrarily small target probability of error with a probability that approaches one exponentially fast in the length of the code. (By concatenating with an appropriate outer code one can achieve a probability of error that approaches zero exponentially fast in the length of the code with arbitrarily small loss in rate.) Conversely, transmitting at rates above this capacity the probability of error is bounded away from zero by a strictly positive constant which is independent of the length of the code and of the number of iterations performed. Our results are based on the observation that the concentration of the performance of the decoder around its average performance, as observed by Luby et al. in the case of a binary-symmetric channel and a binary message-passing algorithm, is a general phenomenon. For the particularly important case of belief-propagation decoders, we provide an effective algorithm to determine the corresponding capacity to any desired degree of accuracy. The ideas presented in this paper are broadly applicable and extensions of the general method to low-density parity-check codes over larger alphabets, turbo codes, and other concatenated coding schemes are outlined.
Effect of vitamin B12 and folic acid deficiency on small intestinal absorption

Three patients are described, and they provide further evidence that deficiency of folic acid and vitamin B12 may sometimes affect small intestinal function. Malabsorption of both xylose and vitamin B12 returned to normal in one patient after treatment of a megaloblastic anaemia due to dietary deficiency of folic acid. Impaired absorption of vitamin B12 was corrected by vitamin B12 therapy in the other two patients. The initial cause of the vitamin B12 deficiency in one patient was not apparent, but she was taking Gynovlar 21, which may have been an aetiological factor. In the third patient the small intestinal defect was secondary to pernicious anaemia, and in a group of 98 other patients with pernicious anaemia intrinsic factor did not improve vitamin B12 absorption in six, and only partially corrected absorption in 30. The significance of these observations is discussed.
Multi-Document Summarisation Using Generic Relation Extraction

Experiments are reported that investigate the effect of various source document representations on the accuracy of the sentence extraction phase of a multi-document summarisation task. A novel representation is introduced based on generic relation extraction (GRE), which aims to build systems for relation identification and characterisation that can be transferred across domains and tasks without modification of model parameters. Results demonstrate performance that is significantly higher than a non-trivial baseline that uses tf*idf-weighted words and at least as good as a comparable but less general approach from the literature. Analysis shows that the representations compared are complementary, suggesting that extraction performance could be further improved through system combination.
The roles of ARID1A in gynecologic cancer

One of the exciting findings in recent cancer genome studies is the discovery of somatic mutations in several chromatin remodeling genes. These studies not only illuminate the emerging roles of chromatin remodeling in the pathogenesis of human cancer but also provide molecular genetic basis of aberrant epigenomic regulation as one of the key mechanisms driving cancer development. This is because chromatin remodeling influences a variety of DNA activities such as replication, transcription, repair, methylation, and recombination. Among the mutated chromatin remodeling genes reported, ARID1A is frequently mutated in a variety of human cancers, especially in endometrium-related neoplasms including ovarian clear cell carcinoma, ovarian endometrioid carcinomas, and uterine endometrioid carcinomas, all of which arise from endometrial epithelium. This review will summarize the recent advances in studying the roles of ARID1A mutations in gynecologic cancers with special emphasis on how this new knowledge will further extend our understanding of the pathogenesis of endometrium-related carcinomas.
Randomised Evaluations in Single-Agent Search

Most game playing programs are based on heuristic game tree search: the nodes at distance t from the root are evaluated by a heuristic evaluation function, and these values are backed up to the root by minimaxing. Following an old investigation by Beal and Smith [1], we discuss depth-t search with randomised evaluation functions: the heuristic leaf evaluations are artificially randomised before backing them up. Our experiments were done for single-agent search, namely in the sliding tile puzzle SlideThree [7]. The main finding is that applying a random disturbance to the heuristic leaf values may considerably improve the playing strength.
Coreference Resolution with Loose Transitivity Constraints

Our system treats coreference resolution as an integer linear programming (ILP) problem. Extending Denis and Baldridge (2007) and Finkel and Manning (2008)'s work, we exploit loose transitivity constraints on coreference pairs. Instead of enforcing transitivity closure constraints, which brings O(n3) complexity, we employ a strategy to reduce the number of constraints without large performance decrease, i.e., eliminating coreference pairs with probability below a threshold θ. Experimental results show that it achieves a better performance than pairwise classifiers.
Creative reminiscence as an early intervention for depression: Results of a pilot project

Reminiscence may help in resolving conflicts from the past and making up the balance of one's life. Life-review may be further enhanced by the creative expression of memories in stories, poems or drawings. In this way people are encouraged to create and discover metaphors, images and stories that symbolically represent the subjective and inner meaning of their lives. In this article, a new intervention, which combines reminiscence and creative expression aimed at early treatment of depression, is described. A pilot project showed that the intervention Searching for the meaning in life may generate small-sized effects in reducing depression. Additionally, it appears to generate effects of medium size in enhancing mastery. Several possible ways to improve the effectiveness of the intervention are described.
CABD : A Content Agnostic Botnet Detection System

A botnet is a network of compromised hosts controlled by a single entity, called the botmaster. These compromised hosts can be utilized for malicious activities such as Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) attacks, SPAM, and information extraction such as the extraction of user authentication via key-logging each of which nets profits to the botmaster. Research in the detection of botnets is extensive and ongoing. Previous techniques looked at packet contents to determine botnet command and control (C&C) traffic, however botnets are evolving and as such are encrypting their traffic. Therefore content agnostic botnet detection mechanisms are needed. This paper presents CABD a content agnostic botnet detection system to detect bot infected hosts inside a network. CABD should work independent of the underlying botnet structure, be able to detect infected hosts without the correlation of network events between two or more hosts, and, as “content agnostic” implies, perform detection in spite of encryption. Furthermore CABD should not depend on noisy malicious activities, such as SPAM and DDoS traffic, and finally CABD should have an acceptably low false positive rate. CABD should generate content agnostic botnet traffic signatures in a three step process. First CABD will summarize known botnet traffic flows collected from long running instances of Anubis [2]. Second CABD will cluster similar flows together, and finally CABD will extract unique information from each cluster to produce a signature usable in an system similar to a network intrusion detection system (NIDS). When complete, CABD will be evaluated using various large-scale, real-world network traffic traces that will hopefully verify that CABD does indeed produce an acceptably low number of false positives.
Exception Handling in Open Multithreaded Transactions

This paper describes a model for providing transaction support for object-oriented concurrent programming languages. In order to achieve seamless integration, the use of the concurrency features provided by the programming language should not be restricted inside a transaction. A transaction model that meets this requirement is presented. Threads inside such a transaction may spawn new threads, but also external threads are allowed to join an ongoing transaction. A blocking commit protocol ensures that no thread leaves the transaction before its outcome has been determined. Exceptions are used to inform all participants in case a transaction aborts.
Analysis and Comparison of Three Topologies of the Ladder Multilevel DC/DC Converter

In this paper, three dc/dc ladder multilevel converters are compared. The first one is the classical ladder topology and the two other topologies presented are based on the classical one. A mathematical calculation of the output resistance and the gain of the converter as a function of the number of levels is carried out for the three topologies in order to estimate the voltage drop due to the output current. These calculations are validated with simulations and experimental results. Finally, the behavior of the three topologies is compared through experimental tests. Results show higher performance for the presented converters compared to the classical ladder.
A New Superhard Phase and Physical Properties of ZrB3 from First-Principles Calculations

Using the first-principles particle swarm optimization algorithm for crystal structural prediction, we have predicted a novel monoclinic C2/m structure for ZrB3, which is more energetically favorable than the previously proposed FeB3-, TcP3-, MoB3-, WB3-, and OsB3-type structures in the considered pressure range. The new phase is mechanically and dynamically stable, as confirmed by the calculations of its elastic constants and phonon dispersion curve. The calculated large shear modulus (227 GPa) and high hardness (42.2 GPa) show that ZrB3 within the monoclinic phase is a potentially superhard material. The analyses of the electronic density of states and chemical bonding reveal that the strong B–B and B–Zr covalent bonds are attributed to its high hardness. By the quasi-harmonic Debye model, the heat capacity, thermal expansion coefficient and Grüneisen parameter of ZrB3 are also systemically investigated.
Efficient Test Selection in Active Diagnosis via Entropy Approximation

We consider the problem of diagnosing faults in a system represented by a Bayesian network, where diagnosis corresponds to recovering the most likely state of unobserved nodes given the outcomes of tests (observed nodes). Finding an optimal subset of tests in this setting is intractable in general. We show that it is difficult even to compute the next most-informative test using greedy test selection, as it involves several entropy terms whose exact computation is intractable. We propose an approximate approach that utilizes the loopy belief propagation infrastructure to simultaneously compute approximations of marginal and conditional entropies on multiple subsets of nodes. We apply our method to fault diagnosis in computer networks, and show the algorithm to be very effective on realistic Internet-like topologies. We also provide theoretical justification for the greedy test selection approach, along with some performance guarantees.
Catheter Ablation of Atrial Fibrillation Raises the Plasma Level of NGF-β Which Is Associated with Sympathetic Nerve Activity

Purpose The expression of nerve growth factor-β (NGF-β) is related to cardiac nerve sprouting and sympathetic hyper innervation. We investigated the changes of plasma levels of NGF-β and the relationship to follow-up heart rate variability (HRV) after radiofrequency catheter ablation (RFCA) of atrial fibrillation (AF). Materials and Methods This study included 147 patients with AF (117 men, 55.8±11.5 years, 106 paroxysmal AF) who underwent RFCA. The plasma levels of NGF-β were quantified using double sandwich enzyme linked immunosorbent assay method before (NGF-βpre) and 1 hour after RFCA (NGF-βpost-1hr). HRV at pre-procedure (HRVpre), 3 months (HRVpost-3mo), and 1 year post-procedure (HRVpost-1yr) were analyzed and compared with plasma levels of NGF-β. Results 1) The plasma levels of NGF-β significantly increased after RFCA (20.05±11.09 pg/mL vs. 29.60±19.43 pg/mL, p<0.001). The patients who did not show increased NGF-βpost-1hr were older (p=0.023) and had greater left atrial volume index (p=0.028) than those with increased NGF-βpost-1hr. 2) In patients with NGF-βpre >18 pg/mL, low frequency components (LF)/high-frequency components (HF) (p=0.003) and the number of atrial premature contractions (APCs, p=0.045) in HRVpost-3mo were significantly higher than those with ≤18 pg/mL. 3) The LF/HF at HRVpost-3mo was linearly associated with the NGF-βpre (B=4.240, 95% CI 1.114-7.336, p=0.008) and the NGF-βpost-1hr (B=7.617, 95% CI 2.106-13.127, p=0.007). 4) Both NGF-βpre (OR=1.159, 95% CI 1.045-1.286, p=0.005) and NGF-βpost-1hr (OR=1.098, 95% CI 1.030-1.170, p=0.004) were independent predictors for the increase of LF/HF at HRVpost-3mo. Conclusion AF catheter ablation increases plasma level of NGF-β, and high plasma levels of NGF-βpre was associated with higher sympathetic nerve activity and higher frequency of APCs in HRVpost-3mo.
Some experiments on modeling stock market behavior using investor sentiment analysis and posting volume from Twitter

The analysis of microblogging data related with stock markets can reveal relevant new signals of investor sentiment and attention. It may also provide sentiment and attention indicators in a more rapid and cost-effective manner than other sources. In this study, we created several indicators using Twitter data and investigated their value when modeling relevant stock market variables, namely returns, trading volume and volatility. We collected recent data from nine major technological companies. Several sentiment analysis methods were explored, by comparing 5 popular lexical resources and two novel lexicons (emoticon based and the merge of all 6 lexicons) and sentiment indicators produced using two strategies (based on daily words and individual tweet classifications). Also, we measured posting volume associated with tweets related to the analyzed companies. While a short time period is considered (32 days), we found scarce evidence that sentiment indicators can explain these stock returns. However, interesting results were obtained when measuring the value of using posting volume for fitting trading volume and, in particular, volatility.
Hibernating Myocardium Retains Metabolic and Contractile Reserve Despite Regional Reductions in Flow, Function, and Oxygen Consumption at Rest

Abstract— Hibernating myocardium, characterized by reductions in flow and function at rest, has limited contractile reserve in response to increases in external workload. We hypothesized that this attenuation of function reflects an adaptive downregulation that prevents the development of metabolic evidence of ischemia during stress. To test this hypothesis, pigs were chronically instrumented with a proximal left anterior descending artery stenosis for 3 months, resulting in severe anteroapical hypokinesis with reduced resting perfusion (0.78±0.05 versus 0.94±0.07 mL · min−1 · g−1 in remote, P <0.01; and 0.99±0.08 in controls, P <0.05). Open-chest studies confirmed resting dysfunction compared with normal controls (segment shortening 9.2±2.2% versus 23.5±1.1%, P <0.05). Resting myocardial oxygen consumption was reduced (63±3 versus 77±6 &mgr;L · g−1 · min−1 in controls, P <0.05), yet lactate consumption was normal. Although subendocardial perfusion failed to increase during graded, intravenous epinephrine infusion (n=8), peak segment shortening (to 17.3±3.1%, P <0.05) and oxygen consumption (to 90±6 &mgr;L · g−1 · min−1, P <0.01) increased from the depressed resting levels. There was no lactate production in hibernating myocardium, and lactate uptake increased during stress (0.7±0.1 to 1.2±0.1 &mgr;mol · g−1 · min−1, P <0.05). The absence of metabolic evidence of ischemia was also confirmed during atrial pacing to a rate of 120 bpm (n=8). Thus, despite reductions in function and oxygen consumption at rest, hibernating myocardium retains the ability to increase metabolism without the development of acute ischemia. This supports the hypothesis that the downregulation of oxygen consumption and function in hibernating myocardium is an adaptive response that prevents a supply-demand imbalance during submaximal increases in cardiac workload when coronary flow reserve is limited.
Involvement of interleukin-17A-induced expression of heat shock protein 47 in intestinal fibrosis in Crohn's disease

Objective Intestinal fibrosis is a clinically important issue in Crohn's disease (CD). Heat shock protein (HSP) 47 is a collagen-specific molecular chaperone involved in fibrotic diseases. The molecular mechanisms of HSP47 induction in intestinal fibrosis related to CD, however, remain unclear. Here we investigated the role of interleukin (IL)-17A-induced HSP47 expression in intestinal fibrosis in CD. Design Expressions of HSP47 and IL-17A in the intestinal tissues of patients with IBD were determined. HSP47 and collagen I expressions were assessed in intestinal subepithelial myofibroblasts (ISEMFs) isolated from patients with IBD and CCD-18Co cells treated with IL-17A. We examined the role of HSP47 in IL-17A-induced collagen I expression by administration of short hairpin RNA (shRNA) to HSP47 and investigated signalling pathways of IL-17A-induced HSP47 expression using specific inhibitors in CCD-18Co cells. Results Gene expressions of HSP47 and IL-17A were significantly elevated in the intestinal tissues of patients with active CD. Immunohistochemistry revealed HSP47 was expressed in α-smooth muscle actin (α-SMA)-positive cells and the number of HSP47-positive cells was significantly increased in the intestinal tissues of patients with active CD. IL-17A enhanced HSP47 and collagen I expressions in ISEMFs and CCD-18Co cells. Knockdown of HSP47 in these cells resulted in the inhibition of IL-17A-induced collagen I expression, and analysis of IL-17A signalling pathways revealed the involvement of c-Jun N-terminal kinase in IL-17A-induced HSP47 expression. Conclusions IL-17A-induced HSP47 expression is involved in collagen I expression in ISEMFs, which might contribute to intestinal fibrosis in CD.