Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Compact routing with minimum stretch

We present the first universal compact routing algorithm with maximum stretch bounded by 3 that uses sublinear space at every vertex. The algorithm uses local routing tables of size O(n2/3log4/3n) and achieves paths that are most 3 times the length of the shortest path distances for all nodes in an arbitrary weighted undirected network. This answers an open question of Gavoille and Gengler who showed that any universal compact routing algorithm with maximum stretch strictly less than 3 must use ? (n) local space at some vertex.
Snow layering effects on L-band passive measurements at Dome C - Antarctica

The analysis of microwave measurements collected by ground-based radiometers at Dome C, Antarctica, during the Domex experiments reveals that snow layering has a significant impact on the microwave emission of snow even at such low frequency. In order to better understand the relationships between the measured brightness temperature and the ice sheet parameters acquired data has been simulated by using an electromagnetic model and a Monte Carlo analysis in order to consider the natural variability of snow parameters. The e.m. model (Dense Medium Radiative Transfer theory under Quasi Cristalline Apporximation with Coherent potentials in multilayers version) was used to fit the angular trend of microwave observations collected at C- and L-band at Concordia Station. The analysis permitted to identify the variability in the snow density vertical profile as a major factor in determining the microwave signature of the snow emission. To further assess the impact of density profile, also the time-series of the sun microwave radiation reflected by the snowpack was simulated. This analysis pointed out that the coherent interference of the sun radiation among the layers can explain the particular sun signature found in Domex dataset.
Verification of ALDH Activity as a Biomarker in Colon Cancer Stem Cells-Derived HT-29 Cell Line

Background: Recent evidence has suggested that epithelial cancers including colorectal cancer (CRC) have driven by a small population of self-renewing, multi-potent cells termed cancer stem cells (CSCs) which could be responsible for recurrence of cancer. Aldehyde dehydrogenase 1 (ALDH1) activity has used as a functional stem cell biomarker to isolate CSCs in different cancers such as colorectal cancer. Objectives: The main aim of this research was to determine the utility of ALDH1 activity along with CD44 and EPCAM in identifying stem cell-like cells in human HT-29 colonic adenocarcinoma cell line. Materials and Methods: In this experimental study, colon CSCs biomarkers including CD44, EPCAM and ALDH1 in colonospheres and parent cells have analyzed by flow cytometry. The expression levels of stemness genes in spheroid and parental cells have investigated using SYBR Green real-time PCR. In addition, in vivo xenografts assay has performed to determine tumorigenic potential of tumor spheroid cells in nude mice. Results: According to results, over 92% of spheroids were CD44+/EpCAM+, while parent cells only have expressed 38% of CD44/EpCAM biomarkers (P < 0.001). Controversially, ALDH activity was about 2-fold higher in the parent cells than spheroid cells (P < 0.05). In comparison with the parental cells, expression levels of ‘‘stemness’’ genes, like Sox2, Oct4, Nanog, C-myc, and Klf4 have significantly increased in colonosphere cells (P < 0.05). Further, administration of 2500 spheroids could be sufficient to initiate tumor growth in nude mice, while 1x106 of parental cells has needed to form tumor. Conclusions: For the first time, we have shown that colonospheres with low ALDH1 activity has indicated increased tumorigenic potential and stemness properties. So, it hasn’t seemed that ALDH1 could become a useful biomarker to identify CSCs population in HT-29 cell line.
Handling consistent dynamic updates on distributed systems

While updating a software system, it is paramount to safeguard the consistency of execution and let as many operations as possible execute undisturbed in order to minimise disruption. This paper proposes a framework that supports transparent dynamic updates of distributed systems consisting of Java classes. This framework aims at: (i) ensuring the consistency of the execution flow, and (ii) handling coordination issues concerning the update of the distributed parts. The operations of the framework are transparent with respect to the system to be updated, thanks to appropriate selective rewriting of bytecode performed at load-time. Consistency of the execution flow has been obtained by devising appropriate means to check and selectively block execution on components of the running system.
In Vivo Measurement of Phosphorous Markers of Disease

Phosphorus Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy (31P-MRS) has been utilized to study energy, carbohydrate, and phospholipid metabolism in vitro and in vivo in live tissues non-invasively. Despite its lack of sensitivity, its application has extended to in situ human tissues and organs since proper signal localization was devised. Follow-up of phosphocreatine in neuromuscular diseases and schizophrenia and follow-up of phospholipid-related molecules in tumors are described here to demonstrate the value of 31P-MRS as an imaging technique to determine in vivo markers of disease and in the diagnosis, prognosis, and follow-up of human diseases.
Reproductive Intentions and Outcomes among Women on Antiretroviral Therapy in Rural Uganda: A Prospective Cohort Study

Background Antiretroviral therapy (ART) may influence the biological, social and behavioral determinants of pregnancy in HIV-infected women. However, there are limited longitudinal data on the reproductive intentions and outcomes among women on ART in Africa. Methodology /Principal Findings Using a prospective cohort design, we analyzed trends in desire for children and predictors of pregnancy among a cohort of 733 HIV-infected women in rural Uganda who initiated ART between May 2003 and May 2004 and were followed up in their homes until June 2006. Women answered in-depth social and behavioral questionnaires administered every quarter in year 1 after initiating ART, and every 6 to 12 months thereafter. Use of family planning methods was assessed at 18 and 24 months after starting ART. We tested for non-constant pregnancy incidence by using a shape parameter test from the Weibull distribution. We modeled repeated measurements of all variables related to the women's desire for children over time using a generalized estimating equation (GEE) extension to the logistic regression model. Risk factors for pregnancy were examined using Cox proportional hazards model. 711 women eligible for the study were followed-up for a median time of 2.4 years after starting ART. During this time, less than 7% of women reported wanting more children at any time point yet 120 (16.9%) women experienced 140 pregnancies and pregnancy incidence increased from 3.46 per 100 women-years (WY) in the first quarter to 9.5 per 100 WY at 24 months (p<0.0001). This was paralleled by an increase in the proportion of women reporting sexual activity in the past 3 months, from 24.4% at baseline to 32.5% over 24 months of follow-up (p = 0.001). Only 14% of women used permanent or semi-permanent family planning methods by their second year on ART. In the multivariate model, younger age (HR = 2.71 per 10-year decrease, 95% CI: 2.95–3.78), having a BMI>18.5 (HR = 1.09, CI: 1.01–1.18) and not having used condoms consistently in the last 3 months (HR = 1.79, CI: 1.02–3.13) were independently associated with pregnancy. Conclusion/Significance Women on ART and their partners should be consistently counseled on the effects of ART in restoring fertility, and offered regularly free and comprehensive family planning services as part of their standard package of care.
Astroglial nuclear factor‐κB regulates learning and memory and synaptic plasticity in female mice

Astrocytes play a pivotal role in regulating synaptic plasticity and synapse formation. The nuclear factor‐kappa B (NF‐κB) family of transcription factors has recently been demonstrated to be an important modulator of synaptic plasticity and learning/memory. In this study, we investigated the role of astroglial NF‐κB in synaptic plasticity and learning/memory using transgenic mice over‐expressing an N‐terminal truncated form of inhibitor of NF‐κB alpha (IκBα) in astrocytes (GFAP‐IκΒα‐dn). We demonstrated that female transgenic mice, but not males, have robust deficits in hippocampal and extra‐hippocampal‐dependent learning and memory. We also determined that there are significant deficits in LTP and expression of metabotropic glutamate receptor 5 and post‐synaptic density protein 95 (PSD95) in female transgenic mice. These findings indicate that astroglial NF‐κB is an important regulator of learning/memory and synaptic plasticity.
DESSERT: a DividE-and-conquer methodology for identifying categorieS, choiceS, and choicE Relations for Test case generation

This paper extends the choce relation framework, abbreviated as choc'late, which assists software testers in the application of category/choice methods to testing. choc'late assumes that the tester is able to construct a single choice relation table from the entire specification; this table then forms the basis for test case generation using the associated algorithms. This assumption, however, may not hold true when the specification is complex and contains many specification components. For such a specification, the tester may construct a preliminary choice relation table from each specification component, and then consolidate all the preliminary tables into a final table to be processed by choc'late for test case generation. However, it is often difficult to merge these preliminary tables because such merging may give rise to inconsistencies among choice relations or overlaps among choices. To alleviate this problem, we introduce a DividE-and-conquer methodology for identifying categorieS, choiceS, and choicE Relations for Test case generation, abbreviated as dessert. The theoretical framework and the associated algorithms are discussed. To demonstrate the viability and effectiveness of our methodology, we describe case studies using the specifications of three real-life commercial software systems.
A Representation Approach for Relative Entropy Minimization with Expectation Constraints

We consider the general problem of relative entropy minimization and entropy maximization subject to expectation constraints. We show that the solutions can be represented as members of an exponential family subject to weaker conditions than previously shown, and the representation can be simplied further if an appropriate conjugate prior density is used. As a result, the solutions can be found by optimization with respect to members of the parametric families corresponding to these representations.
An evolutionary model of carcinogenesis.

A quantitative model of carcinogenesis based on methods from population biology and game theory demonstrates normal cells in vivo occupy a ridge-shaped maximum in a well-defined tissue fitness landscape, a novel configuration that allows cooperative coexistence of multiple cellular populations. This state, although necessary for development of functioning multicellular organisms, is subject to invasion by fitter, mutant phenotypes permitting somatic evolution of cancer. The model demonstrates carcinogenesis is an emergent phenomenon requiring a sequence of evolutionary steps as cellular proliferation follows successful adaptation to varying environmental constraints. In the initial development of preneoplastic lesions, cellular proliferation is controlled exclusively by interactions with other cells, the extracellular matrix, and soluble or insoluble growth factors so that gain of function mutations in oncogenes, loss of function mutations in tumor suppressor genes, and disruption of normal senescence pathways will permit clonal expansion. This provides explicit selection mechanisms for the mutations depicted in the classical Fearon-Vogelstein model of colorectal carcinogenesis. The model demonstrates neoplastic cellular proliferation can also be promoted by alterations in the somatic landscape that reduce inhibitory signals produced by the normal cells and extracellular matrix. This is consistent with experimental evidence for a strong microenvironmental influence in tumorigenesis independent of genomic changes in the neoplastic populations. However, we find that these changes alone produce only self-limited neoplastic growth because cellular crowding alters system dynamics so that proliferation is dependent on substrate availability. Consequent cellular competition for critical nutrients results in Darwinian selection pressures favoring phenotypes that increase substrate delivery (e.g., angiogenesis) or uptake (e.g., amplify membrane transporters). These previously unknown substrate dynamics in the later stages of carcinogenesis provide a mechanism for evolution of cellular properties typically found in invasive cancers including the angiogenic and glycolytic phenotypes.
ESTIMATING SEISMIC DAMAGE AND REPAIR COSTS

Since many structures in seismic regions are seismically vulnerable, building owners and decision makers must determine whether they will rehabilitate their structures. While this may seem to be a simple decision, in business it could possibly not be justified to retrofit, especially if the retrofitting costs are very large or the probability of a damaging earthquake is exceedingly low. Significant research exists pertaining to the cost to retrofit certain structures; however, less information is available to estimate the cost to repair an unretrofitted building following a damaging earthquake, an essential piece of information for the decision-making process. Because the level of earthquake damage is directly connected to the cost to repair the building, this report also investigates the relationship between interstory drift ratios and various levels of damage. A case-study is developed for a 1980s five-story reinforced concrete in Memphis, Tennessee, and the cost to repair the structure for specific scenario earthquakes is explored.
Design and Development of Microcontroller Based Auto- Flow Assembly for Biosensor Application

flow assembly for a biosensor has been developed in this paper. In recent years there has been a growing interest in the field of in-vivo biosensors for continuous monitoring. For this continuous monitoring of biological interactions, a need for the development of auto-flow assembly arises. The automated flow assembly inherently coupled to a biosensor, forms a Flow Injection Analysis (FIA) system. The designed auto-flow assembly consists of three micro-fluidic solenoid valves actuated through a microcontroller AT89C51. A programmable turn-on time for each valve can be entered through a 4x3 keypad and its switching can be controlled by the microcontroller. In addition, a temperature-sensing unit for online monitoring of the buffer temperature at the biosensor has been interfaced to the microcontroller. The automated flow assembly offers the advantage of faster response. The work includes interfacing of the temperature sensor, keypad (for selecting the time), display unit (liquid crystal display) and solenoid valves to the microcontroller and development of the software for the same.
A Generic Knowledge-Base Browser and Editor

The GKB Editor is a generic editor and browser of knowledge bases (KBs) and ontologies -- generic in the sense that it is portable across several frame knowledge representation systems (FRSs). This generality is possible because the GKB Editor performs all KB access operations using a generic application programming interface to FRSs called the Generic Frame Protocol (GFP). To adapt the GKB Editor to a new FRS, we need only to create a GFP implementation for that FRS - a task that is usually considerably simpler than implementing a complete KB editor. The GKB Editor also contains several relatively advanced features, including three different viewers of KB relationships, incremental browsing of large graphs, KB analysis tools, extensive customizability, complex selection operations, cut-and-paste operations, and both user- and KB-specific profiles. The GKB Editor is in active use in the development of several ontologies and KBs. This paper discusses the design of the GKB Editor from a graphical user interface point of view, and describes the difficulties encountered in achieving true portability across multiple FRSs.
Research of O2O-Oriented Service Discovery Method Based on User Context

In the last few years, O2O (Online To Offline) mode become more and more popular, which brings offline service and online web service together, it is important to consider the quality attributes of offline service when recommending service for users online. But in the field of service discovery system, most of the studies focused on function and quality requirements of online service, not on offline service. Furthermore, the existing service discovery methods are generally based on users' function and quality requirements, ignoring the fact that users may have different needs in different contexts. In this paper, we proposed a context-based O2O-ortiented service discovery method, selecting service with function and quality requirements first, and then filtering service with context information, to get the contextual personalized services for users.
Chinese Sentence-Level Sentiment Classification Based on Sentiment Morphemes

In this paper, we take morphemes as the basic tokens and present a fine-to-coarse strategy for Chinese sentence-level sentiment classification. This study involves three parts. First, we employ morphological productivity to extract sentiment morphemes from a sentiment dictionary and to calculate their polarity intensity at the same time. Then, we apply the acquired morpheme-level sentiment information to predict the semantic orientation of sentiment words and phrases within an opinionated sentence. Finally, all the sentiment phrases and their polarity scores are combined to determine the semantic orientation of the sentence. The experimental results on NTCIR-6 OAPT test set show our system can achieve state-of-the-art performance.
The –SH Protection Method for Determining Accurate Kd Values for Enzyme-Coenzyme Complexes of NAD+-Dependent Glutamate Dehydrogenase and Engineered Mutants: Evidence for Nonproductive NADPH Complexes

Inactivation rates have been measured for clostridial glutamate dehydrogenase and several engineered mutants at various DTNB concentrations. Analysis of rate constants allowed determination of Kd for each non-covalent enzyme-DTNB complex and the rate constant for reaction to form the inactive enzyme-thionitrobenzoate adduct. Both parameters are sensitive to the mutations F238S, P262S, the double mutation F238S/P262S, and D263K, all in the coenzyme binding site. Study of the effects of NAD+, NADH and NADPH at various concentrations in protecting against inactivation by 200 μM DTNB allowed determination of Kd values for binding of these coenzymes to each protein, yielding surprising results. The mutations were originally devised to lessen discrimination against the disfavoured coenzyme NADP(H), and activity measurements showed this was achieved. However, the Kd determinations indicated that, although Kd values for NAD+ and NADH were increased considerably, Kd for NADPH was increased even more than for NADH, so that discrimination against binding of NADPH was not decreased. This apparent contradiction can only be explained if NADPH has a nonproductive binding mode that is not weakened by the mutations, and a catalytically productive mode that, though strengthened, is masked by the nonproductive binding. Awareness of the latter is important in planning further mutagenesis.
Bistability in nonlinear optical structures involving photonic crystals

Periodic inhomogeneities of linear dielectric materials are known to give rise to highly complex transmission spectra, widely adjustable by tuning geometric parameters. In this work, the theory of optical periodic structures is extended to materials exhibiting the nonlinear Kerr effect. A new computational scheme, based on the transfer-matrix method, is introduced in order to perform, in a selfconsistent way, the simultaneous adjustment of the refractive index and transisting electric field and compute the intensity-dependent transmittance of nonlinear films. For adequate geometries and with a suitably adjusted frequency, hysteresis loops can appear in the transmittance vs. intensity diagrams, signaling bistability. We observe that a bistable behavior can appear without the construction of a Fabry-Perot structure. For a nonlinear film structured by a periodic side variation of the refractive index, we provide evidence that bistability can also take place for frequencies corresponding to Fano resonances. Depending on the geometry of the film, we observe a wide variety of shapes for the transmittance hysteresis loops.
USING GRAPHICS PROCESSING UNITS TO ENABLE REAL-TIME BONE SURFACE EXTRACTION FROM VOLUMETRIC MEDICAL ULTRASOUND IMAGE DATA USING LOCAL PHASE FEATURES

Previously, we demonstrated the effectiveness of phase symmetry (PS) features for segmentation and localisation of bone fractures in 3D ultrasound for the purpose of orthopaedic fracture reduction surgery. We recently proposed a novel real-time image-processing method of bone surface extraction from local phase features of clinical 3D B-mode ultrasound data. We are presenting a computational study and outline of planned future developments for integration into a computer aided orthopaedic surgery framework.Our image-processing pipeline was implemented on three platforms: (1) using an existing PS extraction C++ algorithm on a dual processor machine with two Xeon x5472 CPUs @ 3GHz with 8GB of RAM, (2) using our proposed method implemented in MATLAB running on the same machine as in (1), and (3) CUDA implementation of our method implemented on a professional GPU (Nvidia Tesla c2050). We ran these three implementations 20 times each on 128×128×128 scans of the iliac crest in live subjects and repeated the proc.
Security and Performance Evaluation of ESIGN and RSA on IC Cards by Using Byte-Unit Modular Algorithms

Digital signature is by far one of the most important cryptographic techniques used in the e-govemment and e-commerce applications. It provides authentication of senders or receivers and offers non-repudiation of transmission (senders cannot deny their digital signature in the signed documents and the document cannot be altered in transmission without being detected). This paper presents our implementation results of digital signature algorithms on IC cards by using byte-unit modular arithmetic algorithm method [13], [20]. We evaluated the performance of well-known ESIGN and RSA digital signature algorithms on the dedicated IC card chips and showed that ESIGN is more efficient than RSA.