Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
On the distribution of the free path length of the linear flow in a honeycomb

Let $\ell \geq 2$ be an integer. For each $\eps >0$ remove from $\R^2$ the union of discs of radius $\eps$ centered at the integer lattice points $(m,n$, with $m\nequiv n\mod{\ell}$. Consider a point-like particle moving linearly at unit speed, with velocity $\omega$, along a trajectory starting at the origin, and its free path length $\tau_{\ell,\eps} (\omega)\in [0,\infty]$. We prove the weak convergence of the probability measures associated with the random variables $\eps \tau_{\ell,\eps}$ as $\eps \to 0^+$ and explicitly compute the limiting distribution. For $\ell=3$ this leads to an asymptotic formula for the length of the trajectory of a billiard in a regular hexagon, starting at the center, with circular pockets of radius $\eps\to 0^+$ removed from the corners. For $\ell=2$ this corresponds to the trajectory of a billiard in a unit square with circular pockets removed from the corners and trajectory starting at the center of the square. The limiting probability measures on $[0,\infty)$ have a tail at infinity, which contrasts with the case of a square with pockets and trajectory starting from one of the corners, where the limiting probability measure has compact support.
Impact of Location on Content Delivery

The increasing number of users as well as their demand for more and richer content has led to an exponential growth of Internet traffic for more than 15 years. In addition, new applications and use cases have changed the type of traffic. For example, social networking enables users to publish their own content. This user generated content is often published on popular sites such as YouTube, Twitter, and Facebook. Another example are the offerings of interactive and multi-media content by content providers, e. g. , Google Maps or IPTV services. With the introduction of peer-to-peer (P2P) protocols in 1998 an even more radical change emerged because P2P protocols allow users to directly exchange large amounts of content: The peers transfer data without the need for an intermediary and often centralized server. However, as shown by recent studies Internet traffic is again dominated by HTTP, mostly at the expense of P2P. This traffic growth increases the demands on the infrastructure components that form the Internet, e. g. , servers and routers. Moreover, most of the traffic is generated by a few very popular services. The enormous demand for such popular content cannot be satisfied by the traditional hosting model in which content is located on a single server. Instead, content providers need to scale up their delivery infrastructure, e. g. , by using replication in large data centers or by buying service from content delivery infrastructures, e. g. , Akamai or Limelight. Moreover, not only content providers have to copewith the demand: The network infrastructure also needs to be constantly upgraded to keep up with the growing demand for content. In this thesis we characterize the impact of content delivery on the network. We utilize data sets from both active and passive measurements. This allows us to cover a wide range of abstraction levels from a detailed protocol level view of several content delivery mechanisms to the high-level picture of identifying and mapping the content infrastructures that are hosting the most popular content. We find that caching content is still hard and that the user’s choice of DNS resolvers has a profound impact on the server selection mechanism of content distribution infrastructures. We propose Web content cartography to infer how content distribution infrastructures are deployed and what the role of different organizations in the Internet is. We conclude by putting our findings in the context of contemporary work and give recommendations on how to improve content delivery to all parties involved: users, Internet service providers, and content distribution infrastructures.
TrAVis to enhance online tutoring and learning activities: Real-time visualization of students tracking data

Purpose – This paper presents a part of our research work that places an emphasis on Tracking Data Analysis and Visualization (TrAVis) tools, a web‐based system, designed to enhance online tutoring and learning activities, supported by computer‐mediated communication (CMC) tools. TrAVis is particularly dedicated to assist both tutors and students in the task of exploiting tracking data of communication activities throughout the learning process. This paper focuses on the technical aspects of TrAVis, the visualization of students' tracking data and the experiment we have conducted in an authentic learning situation.Design/methodology/approach – A mixture of iterative and participative approaches has been adopted for the design of TrAVis. Different versions of TrAVis were built during the progress of our research. The major changes in each build have particularly involved the conceptual design of data indicators of students' activities and the visualization techniques of the data indicators. Both case studi.
Supercritical oxygen heat transfer

Heat transfer to supercritical oxygen was experimentally measured in electrical heated tubes. Experimental data were obtained for pressures ranging from 17 to 34.5 MPa (2460 to 5000 psia), and heat fluxes from 2 to 90 million w/sq cm (1.2 to 55 Btu/(sq in. sec)). Bulk temperatures ranged from 96 to 217 K (173 to 391 R). Experimental data obtained by other investigators were added to this to increase the range of pressure down to 2 MPa (290 psia) and increase the range of bulk temperature up to 566 K (1019 R). From this compilation of experimental data a correlating equation was developed which predicts over 95% of the experimental data within + or - 30%.
Focused ultrasound enhanced molecular imaging and gene therapy for multifusion reporter gene in glioma-bearing rat model

The ability to monitor the responses of and inhibit the growth of brain tumors during gene therapy has been severely limited due to the blood-brain barrier (BBB). A previous study has demonstrated the feasibility of noninvasive in vivo imaging with 123I-2′-fluoro-2′-deoxy-5-iodo-1-β-D-arabinofuranosyluracil (123I-FIAU) for monitoring herpes simplex virus type 1 thymidine kinase (HSV1-tk) cancer gene expression in an experimental animal model. Here, we tested the enhancement of SPECT with 123I-FIAU and ganciclovir (GCV) treatment in brain tumors after BBB disruption induced by focused ultrasound (FUS) in the presence of microbubbles. We established an orthotopic F98 glioma-bearing rat model with trifusion reporter genes. The results of this study showed that the rat model of HSV1-tk-expressing glioma cells could be successfully detected by SPECT imaging after FUS-induced BBB disruption on day 10 after implantation. Compared to the control group, animals receiving the GCV with or without sonication exhibited a significant antitumor activity (P < 0.05) of glioma cells on day 16 after implantation. Moreover, combining sonication with GCV significantly inhibited tumor growth compared with GCV alone. This study demonstrated that FUS may be used to deliver a wide variety of theranostic agents to the brain for molecular imaging and gene therapy in brain diseases.
Experimental comparison of some methods to assess cytotoxicity

We have been witnessing an intensive growth in the medical and pharmaceutical fields in the recent years. New therapies are being introduced and elements of potential medicines are being developed, both of which require numerous trials and tests before they can be universally used. Prerequisite stage of many laboratory tests is cytotoxicity assessment. For that reason, it is vital to check reliability of such techniques. In this study, we compared ATPlite and ATPlite 1step tests based on the assessment of ATP released by cells and the measurement of chemiluminescence as well as DELFIA ® EuTDA Cytotoxicity assay based on labeling of target cells with Europium and evaluating TRF. As target cells, the following cell lines were used: Jurkat, HL-60, RPMI 8226, and CCRF 913. In order to determine the linearity, we assessed values of the signals read with increasing numbers of target cells. A reliable test should be quantitative, reproducible and should ensure high sensitivity with a minimal number of cells.Test DELFIA ® EuTDA Cytotoxicity has the most advantages and fulfils these requirements.
NewsFerret : Supporting Identity Risk Identification and Analysis Through News Story Text Mining

Individuals, organizations, and devices are now interconnected to an unprecedented degree, forcing identity risk analysts to redefine “identity” in such contexts and explore new techniques for analyzing expanding threat contexts. Major hurdles to modeling in this field include a lack of publicly available data due to privacy and safety concerns, as well as the unstructured nature of incident reports. Thus, this report uses news story text mining to develop a new system for strengthening identity risk models. The NewsFerret system collects and analyzes stories about identity theft, establishes semantic relatedness measures between identity concept pairs, and supports analysis of those measures with reports, visualizations, and relevant news stories. Risk analysts can utilize the resulting analytical models to define and validate identity risk models. Keywords-identity; risk analysis; risk modeling
Comparison of 24 hour whole body versus patch tests for estimating body surface electrolyte losses.

PURPOSE To compare dermal electrolyte loss between whole body and regional patch methods in women during 24-h. METHODS Dermal loss was collected in 6 healthy women mean age 27 +/- 4 years, while consuming 936 mg/d sodium, 1764 mg/d potassium, 696 mg/d calcium, and 152 mg/d magnesium. Twenty-four hour whole body dermal loss was collected using cotton suits by a washdown procedure. Twenty-four hour patch loss was collected from 8 patches placed on the legs, arms, and back. RESULTS Dermal loss from whole body was 108 +/- 110 mg/d sodium, 133 +/- 87 mg/d potassium, 103 +/- 22 mg/d calcium, and 35 +/- 13 mg/d magnesium. Electrolyte content from the 8 patches was similar among sites and ranged from 1.01-1.41 mg/d sodium, 0.35-0.83 mg/d potassium, 1.0-1.45 mg/d calcium, and 0.43-0.49 mg/d magnesium. Projections from patches to whole body by the ratio of body surface area appear to overestimate actual whole body losses by 3.2X for sodium and calcium, 3.6X for magnesium, and 1.3X for potassium. CONCLUSIONS Regional patch methods are more appropriate for relative comparisons than for accurately determining total daily dermal electrolyte losses.
Bone Mass and Strength in School‐Age Children Exhibit Sexual Dimorphism Related to Differences in Lean Mass: The Generation R Study

Bone strength, a key determinant of fracture risk, has been shown to display clear sexual dimorphism after puberty. We sought to determine whether sex differences in bone mass and hip bone geometry as an index of strength exist in school‐age prepubertal children and the degree to which the differences are independent of body size and lean mass. We studied 3514 children whose whole‐body and hip scans were measured using the same densitometer (GE‐Lunar iDXA) at a mean age of 6.2 years. Hip dual‐energy X‐ray absorptiometry (DXA) scans underwent hip structural analyses (HSA) with derivation of bone strength indices. Sex differences in these parameters were assessed by regression models adjusted for age, height, ethnicity, weight, and lean mass fraction (LMF). Whole‐body bone mineral density (BMD) and bone mineral content (BMC) levels were 1.3% and 4.3% higher in girls after adjustment by LMF. Independent of LMF, boys had 1.5% shorter femurs, 1.9% and 2.2% narrower shaft and femoral neck with 1.6% to 3.4% thicker cortices than girls. Consequent with this geometry configuration, girls observed 6.6% higher stresses in the medial femoral neck than boys. When considering LMF, the sexual differences on the derived bone strength indices were attenuated, suggesting that differences in muscle loads may reflect an innate disadvantage in bone strength in girls, as consequence of their lower muscular acquisition. In summary, we show that bone sexual dimorphism is already present at 6 years of age, with boys having stronger bones than girls, the relation of which is influenced by body composition and likely attributable to differential adaptation to mechanical loading. Our results support the view that early life interventions (ie, increased physical activity) targeted during the pre‐ and peripubertal stages may be of high importance, particularly in girls, because before puberty onset, muscle mass is strongly associated with bone density and geometry in children. © 2015 American Society for Bone and Mineral Research.
Ontology and CBR-based Dynamic Enterprise Knowledge Repository Construction

The efficiency of knowledge sharing and learning is the key to obtain sustainable development for the knowledge-intensive industry. However, current application of enterprise knowledge repository can hardly adapt to the personalized retrieval with semantic expansion and can not support the dynamic mechanism of knowledge sharing. This paper focuses on an integrated framework and operating processes of dynamic knowledge repository construction. Through analyzing the key technology points of business logic processing layer and data services layer particularly, the ontology and CBR-based knowledge storage and retrieval mechanism are studied, which improve the effectiveness of knowledge management.
Tract-Based Bayesian Multivariate Analysis of Mild Traumatic Brain Injury

Purpose. Detecting brain regions characterizing mild traumatic brain injury (mTBI) by combining Tract-Based Spatial Statistics (TBSS) and Graphical-model-based Multivariate Analysis (GAMMA). Materials and Methods. This study included 39 mTBI patients and 28 normal controls. Local research ethics committee approved this prospective study. Diffusion-tensor imaging was performed in mTBI patients within 7 days of injury. Skeletonized fractional anisotropy (FA) maps were generated by using TBSS. Brain regions characterizing mTBI were detected by GAMMA. Results. Two clusters of lower frontal white matter FA were present in mTBI patients. We constructed classifiers based on FA values in these two clusters to differentiate mTBI and controls. The mean accuracy, sensitivity, and specificity, across five different classifiers, were 0.80, 0.94, and 0.61, respectively. Conclusions. Combining TBSS and GAMMA can detect neuroimaging biomarkers characterizing mTBI.
Mapping Chondrocyte Viability, Matrix Glycosaminoglycan, and Water Content on the Surface of a Bovine Metatarsophalangeal Joint

Objective The purpose of this study was to determine if there were variations in chondrocyte viability, matrix glycosaminoglycan (GAG), and water content between different areas of the articular surface of a bovine metatarsophalangeal joint, a common and reliable source of articular cartilage for experimental study, which may compromise the validity of using multiple samples from different sites within the joint. Methods Nine fresh cadaveric bovine metatarsophalangeal joints were obtained. From each joint, 16 osteochondral explants were taken from 4 facets, yielding a total of 144 cartilage specimens for evaluation of chondrocyte viability, matrix GAG, and water content. A less invasive method for harvesting osteochondral explants and for processing the biopsy for the assessment of chondrocyte viability was developed, which maintained maximal viability within each cartilage explant. Results There was no significant difference between the 16 biopsy sites from the different areas of the joint surface with respect to chondrocyte viability, matrix GAG and water content. Pooled data of all samples from each joint established the baseline values of chondrocyte viability to be 89.4% ± 3.8%, 94.4% ± 2.2%, and 77.9% ± 7.8%, in the superficial quarter, central half, and deep quarter (with regard to depth from the articular surface), respectively. The matrix GAG content of bovine articular cartilage was 6.06 ± 0.41 μg/mg cartilage, and the cartilage water content was 72.4% ± 1.5%. There were also no significant differences of these 3 variables between the different joints. Conclusion It is thus reasonable to compare biopsies obtained from different sites, as a biopsy from one site would be considered representative of the whole joint.
Spatial correlation measurements for broadband MIMO wireless channels

In this paper, we propose a method to determine the transmit and receive side spatial correlations for an arbitrary antenna spacing in the arrays from a directional MIMO channel measurement. A broadband MIMO channel measurement platform has been developed, which is used to obtain the angles of arrival (AOA) and angles of departure (AOD) of resolvable multipath components (MPC). The AOAs and AODs are estimated from the measured MIMO channel data by using a sequential unitary ESPRIT algorithm. The measured AOAs, AODs and corresponding powers of the MPCs are used to compute the power angle spectrum for the transmitter and receiver sides of the MIMO propagation channel. The spatial correlation matrices and MIMO capacity can then be obtained from these directional measurements. Capacity results from the correlation measurements using a stochastic broadband MIMO channel model are observed to closely match the directly measured MIMO capacity for different propagation conditions and antenna spacings.
A metasurface assisted half-mode leaky waveguide

A leaky waveguide structure assisted by metasurfaces is demonstrated in this paper, both theoretically and experimentally. The proposed structure is inspired from a combination of gap waveguides and non-radiating dielectric waveguides, when used in a leaky fashion. The guided mode is a half TE10 mode with horizontal polarization, confined in a region of the transverse plane by a magnetic-conductor-type metasurface in the top wall, and being under cutoff elsewhere in the plane transverse to propagation. The guided wave also has gradual leakage into the vertically polarized parallel plate mode in the transverse plane, thus radiating into free space from the sides, with orthogonal polarization to the guided mode. Based on this, a leaky wave antenna is designed, with its principle of operation and the dispersion diagram presented and experimentally demonstrated. The structure has the advantage of being simple, low cost, easy to fabricate, and requiring no vias, pins, or dielectric blocks.
A sufficient condition of nonergodicity of a Markov chain (Corresp.)

A natural and easily verifiable sufficient condition is given for the nonergodicity of a Markov chain. The result provides a converse to a theorem of Pakes and implies as special cases several recently published sufficient conditions for the instability of various forms of slotted ALOHA systems with Markovian retransmissions.
Using resemblance to support component reuse and evolution

The aim of a component-based approach to software is to allow the construction of a system by reusing and connecting together a number of existing components. To successfully reuse a component, alterations generally need to be made to it, particularly if the abstraction level is high. However, existing usage of a component means that it cannot be altered without affecting the systems that reuse it already. This leads to a dilemma which frustrates the goals of the compositional approach to reuse.To help resolve this dilemma, we introduce the resemblance construct, allowing a new component to be defined in terms of changes to a base component. This allows us to effectively alter a base component for reuse, without affecting the existing definition or any users of the component. We use an example to show how this and other constructs ameliorate the reuse problems of complex, possibly composite, components.
A practical introduction to multivariate meta-analysis

Multivariate meta-analysis is becoming increasingly popular and official routines or self-programmed functions have been included in many statistical software. In this article, we review the statistical methods and the related software for multivariate meta-analysis. Emphasis is placed on Bayesian methods using Markov chain Monte Carlo, and codes in WinBUGS are provided. The various model-fitting options are illustrated in two examples and specific guidance is provided on how to run a multivariate meta-analysis using various software packages.
Efficient Information Retrieval: Tools for Knowledge Management

Knowledge has become an important resource in many organisations. Thesuccess of an organisation depends on its ability to transform personal knowledge of employees into organisational knowledge. This knowledge can then be madewidely available to the entire organisation and be reused when needed.One necessary prerequisite for reusing knowledge, coded and stored indocuments, are appropriate classification and retrieval procedures. Classificationaccompanies the process of knowledge externalisation and retrieval supports the process of knowledge internalisation by enabling the capturing of appropriatecoded knowledge. In this paper we will evaluate currently available retrieval mechanism with respect to their effectiveness in knowledge management. We will then present a comprehensive classification and retrieval technology based on the Q-Technology, which provides support for the automated and intelligent classification and retrieval of knowledge.
Gene expression profile of the adult human retinal ganglion cell layer.

PURPOSE Pathophysiological events in the retinal ganglion cell layer (GCL) are a prominent feature of several optic neuropathies including glaucoma. The purpose of this study was to identify and catalog genes whose expression in the human retina is restricted to the GCL. METHODS Laser capture microdissection (LCM) technology was used to isolate tissue from the perimacular retina of three human donors without retinal or optic nerve disease. RNA was isolated from the (1) retinal GCL and (2) the inner and outer nuclear layers of the same retina, and the gene expression profiles of both fractions were determined using Affymetrix Hu133Plus 2.0 GeneChips. Data were analyzed to identify those genes whose expression is substantially more prevalent in the GCL when compared to the outer retinal layers. Differential expression of selected genes was confirmed by real-time PCR and immunohistochemistry. RESULTS The results show that mRNA levels of previously described ganglion cell markers, e.g. the neurofilament genes (NEFH, NEF3, or NEFL) and the Brn3a transcription factor (POU4F1), were highly enriched in the isolated GCL fraction. In contrast, transcripts for genes associated with phototransduction (RHO), photoreceptor development (NR2E3), or interphotoreceptor matrix constituents (IMPG1) were nearly absent from the GCL fraction. Using bioinformatics approaches over 80 genes were identified whose expression in the human retina appears to be limited to the GCL. CONCLUSIONS We have successfully used LCM technology to generate gene expression profiles of highly enriched GCL fractions of the normal human retina. These data not only provide clues to the normal function of retinal ganglion cells but also serve as a resource in the development of ganglion cell specific markers or transfection vectors, and the identification of candidate genes for hereditary forms of glaucoma.