Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
A Flash-Aware Cluster Allocation Scheme for Legacy File Systems

As the multimedia handheld devices using NAND flash memory as storage media is becoming more popular, the importance of the flash file system is increasing. Although there has been substantial research on file systems dedicated to NAND flash memory, little attention has been paid to legacy file systems running on top of NAND flash memory. In this paper, we propose an anti-fragmentation cluster allocation (AFCA) scheme for the Linux Ext2 file system. For the proposed scheme, we re-define the concept of file system fragmentation that takes into account the characteristics of NAND flash memory. The proposed AFCA scheme tries to minimize the performance degradation resulting from the fragmentation problem by discriminately allocating free clusters to files depending on their size relative to the flash memory block size. Evaluation results show that compared to the original cluster allocation scheme in Ext2, the proposed AFCA scheme significantly reduces the file system fragmentation according to the new definition and improves the file system performance, especially the write performance, by up to 43%.
Effect of a social peer on risky decision making in male Sprague Dawley rats.

Adolescence is a period associated with increased risk taking and peer relations. Research has shown that age is correlated with vulnerability to peer pressure, with youth being more influenced by peers compared with adults, leading to exacerbated risk taking, including risk for drug abuse. Preclinical research suggests that these findings may also be applicable to rodents, as younger rats find social interaction rewarding and are prone to risky behavior. However, there is little research on the effect of social interaction on rodent models of risky decision making. This study examined risky decision making utilizing a dual-compartment apparatus that consisted of two adjacent operant conditioning chambers separated by a wire mesh screen partition that allowed for limited social interaction. Male rats performed a risky decision making task in which they had a choice between a small reinforcer and larger reinforcer that was associated with a mild footshock, which increased in probability across the session. Rats were initially trained during adolescence and performance on the task was assessed in the presence or absence of a peer in the adjacent chamber during young adulthood. Results revealed that there was less risk discounting, leading to greater preference for the larger, risky reinforcer, in rats that had daily exposure to a social peer during training. These results provide evidence that social influence on risk taking can be modeled in rats, perhaps having implications for drug abuse risk. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2019 APA, all rights reserved).
MecaTeam Framework: An Infrastructure for the Development of Soccer Agents for Simulated Robots

This paper presents the MecaTeam framework, a solution to reduce the effort on developing new soccer teams of robots for the 2D simulation category of the RoboCup. MecaTeam is an object-oriented framework based on features of two robot soccer teams: the MecaTeam 2006 and Uva Trilearn. The architecture of the proposed framework is presented and aspects of its use are discussed. Besides facilitating the development of new teams, the use of the MecaTeam framework may decrease the impact of changes in chunks of related code. Finally, the MecaTeam framework can be used by new researchers interested in simulated robots for soccer games.
Lack of the antioxidant glutathione peroxidase-1 (GPx1) exacerbates retinopathy of prematurity in mice.

PURPOSE Glutathione peroxidase-1 (GPx1) is highly expressed during normal retinal maturation; however, its role in retinopathy of prematurity (ROP) is not fully understood. We postulated that GPx1 plays an important role in protecting the premature retina from oxidative injury in a mouse model of ROP. METHODS ROP was induced in wild-type (WT) and GPx1 knockout (KO) mice by exposing neonatal mice to 75% oxygen from postnatal days 7 to 11, followed by 1 week of room air. Structural effects of ROP were evaluated by retinal histology, and gene expression of retinal pro-angiogenic factors was measured by qRT-PCR. RESULTS Retinas from ROP GPx1 KO mice had a significantly larger central avascular area compared to those from ROP WT mice (P < 0.001), indicative of a more severe vaso-obliteration. In ROP GPx1 KO mice, retinas also displayed increased preretinal neovascularization (P = 0.05) with a concurrent increase in the expression of vascular endothelial growth factor (P < 0.05) compared to values in ROP WT mice. Elevated oxidative stress was observed in ROP GPx1 KO retinas as evidenced by increased nitrotyrosine immunolabeling (P < 0.01) and superoxide (P < 0.05) in vessels compared to ROP WT retinas. In contrast to these findings of exacerbated retinal vascular injury in GPx1 KO mice, Müller cell gliosis and microglial density were similar in ROP GPx1 KO and ROP WT mice. CONCLUSIONS GPx1, an important antioxidant enzyme of the premature retina, afforded protection against oxidative stress and oxidative injury in ROP. Lack of GPx1 was associated with increased oxidative stress, an increase in retinal avascular area, upregulation of retinal VEGF, and increased neovascularization in a mouse model of ROP.
Anti-adhesive activity of Aframomum melegueta major phenolics on lower respiratory tract pathogens

Abstract Recent studies have raised interest in the potential health effect of Aframomum melegueta, which is related to the phenolic content of its seeds. The methanolic extract of A. melegueta seeds showed a significant anti-adhesive effect against Staphylococcus aureus to lung carcinoma cell line in a concentration-dependent manner. The n-butanol and the chloroform fractions exhibited a significant antiadhesive activity against S. aureus. The chloroform fraction exhibited an antiadhesive effect of 49.53%, 40.15% and 70.34% at concentrations 25, 50 and 100 µg/mL, respectively. Through a biologically guided isolation, the chloroform fraction yielded a new diarylheptanoid identified using 1D, 2D NMR and HREIMS and named 3-(S)-acetyl-1-(4′,5′-dihydroxy-3′- methoxyphenyl)-7-(3″,4″-dihydroxyphenyl)heptane(1), in addition to eight known compounds (2–9). Compounds (1), 6-paradol (5), [6]-shogaol (7), [8]-gingerol(8) and dihydro[6]paradol (9) exhibited a significant anti-adhesive activity against S. aureus with a % of inhibition of adhesion of 60.58, 50, 70.07, 85.4, 59.85% at 50 µg/mL, respectively. Additionally, the extract’s capacity to reduce adhesion without reducing bacterial growth reduces the likeliness of resistance development.
REconstruction Of Macromolecular Envelopes From Crystal x-ray diffraction amplitudes

The envelope problem in macromolecular x-ray crystallography involves determining the boundary of a molecule from measurements of amplitudes of x-rays diffracted from a crystalline specimen. This represents a highly underdetermined image reconstruction problem with a large number of degrees of freedom. We regularize the problem by applying binary and connectivity constraints to the image, and seek the solution using the method of iterated projections. However, since the constraints are highly non-convex, the usual methods of generalized projections are not effective. We use the difference map projection algorithm and show that this is effective with simulated diffraction data from a protein envelope.
Epigenome modulated xenobiotic detoxification pathways control DMBA-induced breast cancer in agouti Avy/a mice

ABSTRACT Environmental xenobiotics with genotoxic activity are carcinogenic. However, individual differences in the susceptibility to xenobiotic-induced breast cancer remain unclear. Since epigenetic modifications could control the expression of metabolic enzymes, our goal was to determine whether epigenome modulated metabolic networks determine susceptibility to xenobiotic-induced breast cancer. The effect of epigenetic background on predisposition to carcinogen 7,12-dimethylbenz(a)anthracene (DMBA)-induced breast cancer development and progression was assessed using the Avy/a mouse model. In a randomized block design, 22 isogenic Avy/a (8 yellow, 7 slightly mottled, 7 pseudoagouti) and 8 wild type non-agouti (a/a black) age matched female mice were subjected to DMBA (30 mg/kg per mouse weight) once a week for 6 weeks to induce breast cancer. Compared to pseudoagouti littermates, a significant decrease in tumour latency with increased tumour burden was observed in slightly mottled and yellow littermates (p ≤ 0.05). However, tumour latency and tumour burden were similar in non-agouti a/a mice and Avy/a cohorts. Network analysis of differentially expressed liver genes identified altered metabolic gene networks among agouti phenotypes. Consequently, in HPLC analyses, DMBA metabolites were significantly increased in Avy/a pseudoagouti mice (p ≤ 0.05). Relative to Avy/a slightly mottled, Avy/a yellow and non-agouti a/a black mice, DMBA metabolites increased nine-, eight-, and four-fold, respectively, in Avy/a pseudoagouti mice. In agreement with this, seven phase 2 xenobiotic detoxification genes were significantly upregulated in Avy/a pseudoagouti mice (p ≤ 0.05). The Results from this study suggest that epigenome modulation of xenobiotic detoxification pathways may control xenobiotic-induced breast cancer susceptibility in Avy/a mice.
A flexible-resolution 3D laser scanning method based on DSP

This paper is focused on a method about collecting data from 3D data collection system for mobile robot efficiently. The system consists of a 2D laser scanner LMS291 and a motor module, through planning the motorpsilas velocity profile, the scanner can get the objectpsilas three-dimensional information, aiming at the traditional scanning modepsilas fault in collecting efficiency, this paper presents a flexible-resolution 3D laser scanning method based on DSP, utilizing the high capacity of DSP, we divide the process of collecting and location to different steps, according to the information collected from the fore-step, DSP can plan the next steppsilas velocity profile, through planning velocity profile, the scanner can have a high scanning efficiency, compared with the traditional scanning approach, utilizing this method can get more useful information under the same condition.
Flow cytometry data analysis: Recent tools and algorithms

Flow cytometry (FCM) allows scientists to rapidly quantify up to 50 parameters for millions of cells per sample. The bottleneck in the application of the technology is data analysis, and the high number of parameters measured by the current generation of instruments requires the use of advanced computational algorithms to make full use of their capabilities. This review summarizes the main steps of FCM data analysis, focusing on the use of the most recent bioinformatic tools developed for an R‐based programming environment. In particular, for each stage of the data analysis, libraries and packages currently available are listed, and a brief description of their functioning is included.
The Detachment and Compartmentalization Inventory (DCI): An assessment tool for two potentially distinct forms of dissociation

ABSTRACT While evidence suggests a division between two qualitatively distinct forms of dissociation, no scale has been specifically designed to differentiate between them. This study describes the development and validation of the Detachment and Compartmentalization Inventory (DCI). The DCI was developed from dissociation theory, 29 existing dissociation scales and expert opinion. An initial pilot study was conducted which assessed readability, explored validity and reduced items before the DCI was administered online to 89 nonclinical and 105 clinical participants. The Dissociative Experiences Scale (DES), Somatoform Dissociation Questionnaire (SDQ), and Mindfulness Attention Awareness Scale (MAAS) were included in the survey battery. The DCI exhibited good internal reliability, discriminant validity, convergent validity, construct validity and concurrent validity. The final version containing 22-items, is self-administered, grounded in the theoretical literature and supported by initial psychometric evaluation. It has 10 items assessing compartmentalization, 10 items assessing detachment and two items examining valid responding. The DCI could detect compartmentalization and detachment, and was designed for clinical research and for screening patients.
GPU‐based Collision Detection for Deformable Parameterized Surfaces

Based on the potential of current programmable GPUs, recently several approaches were developed that use the GPU to calculate deformations of surfaces like the folding of cloth or to convert higher level geometry to renderable primitives like NURBS or subdivision surfaces. These algorithms are realized as a per‐frame operation and take advantage of the parallel processing power of the GPU. Unfortunately, an efficient accurate collision detection, that is necessary for the simulation itself or for the interaction with and editing of the objects, can currently not be integrated seamlessly into these GPU‐based approaches without switching back to the CPU. In this paper we describe a novel GPU‐based collision detection method for deformable parameterized surfaces that can easily be combined with the aforementioned approaches. Representing the individual parameterized surfaces by stenciled geometry images allows to generate GPU‐optimized bounding volume hierarchies in real‐time that serve as a basis for an optimized GPU‐based hierarchical collision detection algorithm. As a test case we applied our algorithm to the collision detection of deformable trimmed NURBS models, which is an important problem in industry. For the trimming and tessellation of the NURBS on the GPU we used a recent approach [GBK05] and combined it with our collision detection algorithm. This way we are able to render and check collisions for deformable models consisting of several thousands of trimmed NURBS patches in real‐time.
Molecular dynamics simulations of membrane proteins under asymmetric ionic concentrations

A computational method is developed to allow molecular dynamics simulations of biomembrane systems under realistic ionic gradients and asymmetric salt concentrations while maintaining the conventional periodic boundary conditions required to minimize finite-size effects in an all-atom explicit solvent representation. The method, which consists of introducing a nonperiodic energy step acting on the ionic species at the edge of the simulation cell, is first tested with illustrative applications to a simple membrane slab model and a phospholipid membrane bilayer. The nonperiodic energy-step method is then used to calculate the reversal potential of the bacterial porin OmpF, a large cation-specific β-barrel channel, by simulating the I-V curve under an asymmetric 10:1 KCl concentration gradient. The calculated reversal potential of 28.6 mV is found to be in excellent agreement with the values of 26–27 mV measured from lipid bilayer experiments, thereby demonstrating that the method allows realistic simulations of nonequilibrium membrane transport with quantitative accuracy. As a final example, the pore domain of Kv1.2, a highly selective voltage-activated K+ channel, is simulated in a lipid bilayer under conditions that recreate, for the first time, the physiological K+ and Na+ concentration gradients and the electrostatic potential difference of living cells.
The Campylobacter jejuni helical to coccoid transition involves changes to peptidoglycan and the ability to elicit an immune response

Campylobacter jejuni is a prevalent enteric pathogen that changes morphology from helical to coccoid under unfavorable conditions. Bacterial peptidoglycan maintains cell shape. As C. jejuni transformed from helical to coccoid, peptidoglycan dipeptides increased and tri‐ and tetrapeptides decreased. The DL‐carboxypeptidase Pgp1 important for C. jejuni helical morphology and putative N‐acetylmuramoyl‐L‐alanyl amidase AmiA were both involved in the coccoid transition. Mutants in pgp1 and amiA showed reduced coccoid formation, with ∆pgp1∆amiA producing minimal coccoids. Both ∆amiA and ∆amiA∆pgp1 lacked flagella and formed unseparated chains of cells consistent with a role for AmiA in cell separation. All strains accumulated peptidoglycan dipeptides over time, but only strains capable of becoming coccoid displayed tripeptide changes. C. jejuni helical shape and corresponding peptidoglycan structure are important for pathogenesis‐related attributes. Concomitantly, changing to a coccoid morphology resulted in differences in pathogenic properties; coccoid C. jejuni were non‐motile and non‐infectious, with minimal adherence and invasion of epithelial cells and an inability to stimulate IL‐8. Coccoid peptidoglycan exhibited reduced activation of innate immune receptors Nod1 and Nod2 versus helical peptidoglycan. C. jejuni also transitioned to coccoid within epithelial cells, so the inability of the immune system to detect coccoid C. jejuni may be significant in its pathogenesis.
USLE-Based Assessment of Soil Erosion by Water in the Nyabarongo River Catchment, Rwanda

Soil erosion has become a serious problem in recent decades due to unhalted trends of unsustainable land use practices. Assessment of soil erosion is a prominent tool in planning and conservation of soil and water resource ecosystems. The Universal Soil Loss Equation (USLE) was applied to Nyabarongo River Catchment that drains about 8413.75 km2 (33%) of the total Rwanda coverage and a small part of the Southern Uganda (about 64.50 km2) using Geographic Information Systems (GIS) and Remote Sensing technologies. The estimated total annual actual soil loss was approximately estimated at 409 million tons with a mean erosion rate of 490 t·ha−1·y−1 (i.e., 32.67 mm·y−1). The cropland that occupied 74.85% of the total catchment presented a mean erosion rate of 618 t·ha−1·y−1 (i.e., 41.20 mm·y−1) and was responsible for 95.8% of total annual soil loss. Emergency soil erosion control is required with a priority accorded to cropland area of 173,244 ha, which is extremely exposed to actual soil erosion rate of 2222 t·ha−1·y−1 (i.e., 148.13 mm·y−1) and contributed to 96.2% of the total extreme soil loss in the catchment. According to this study, terracing cultivation method could reduce the current erosion rate in cropland areas by about 78%. Therefore, the present study suggests the catchment management by constructing check dams, terracing, agroforestry and reforestation of highly exposed areas as suitable measures for erosion and water pollution control within the Nyabarongo River Catchment and in other regions facing the same problems.
High Speed Lane Recognition under Complex Road Conditions

To improve the speed and stability of lanes recognition under complex road conditions, a rapid detection algorithm combined with dynamic window and prior knowledge is proposed. The method of grid is used to segment initial image and define the region of interest (ROI), then all the pixels are eliminated except those on the intersection of the grid lines, thus feature pixels of the lane edge in these intersections will be detected and can be used to generate some dynamic windows with the dilatation algorithm. Then, images are processed in these dynamic windows to obtain lane edge feature. Slope and intercept of the lane can be attained by Hough transformation. To obtain the correct lane information, the information obtained in current processing cycle will be judged and filtered by the prior knowledge. Experiments in structured road showed that the speed of image processing was about 22ms/frame and the proposed algorithm could meet the real-time and stability requirements of high-speed vehicle vision navigation system.
Achieving high-bandwidth nanopositioning in presence of plant uncertainties

In the absence of plant parameter uncertainties, inversion-based feedforward techniques have been known to deliver accurate tracking performance. Due to changes in operating conditions like ambient temperature, humidity and loading, piezoelectric-stack actuated nanopositioning platforms can undergo significant changes in their system parameters. Nonlinear effects of hysteresis, an inherent property of a piezoelectric actuator, are also present; charge actuation is applied to reduce the effects of hysteresis. In this work, a suitable feedback controller that reduces the effects of parameter uncertainties is integrated with the inversion-based feedforward technique to deliver accurate nanopositioning over a large bandwidth. It is shown experimentally that by integrating closed-loop damping, inversion-based feedforward and charge actuation, the tracking bandwidth of the platform from can be increased significantly from 310 Hz to 1320 Hz.
Patient safety competency and the new nursing care delivery model.

AIM To identify the factors affecting nurses' patient safety competency under the new nursing care delivery model. BACKGROUND In Korea, a new model was introduced in 2013 to ensure that nursing personnel provided inpatients with care without relying on guardians. After the launch of this service, there continue to be nurse-related patient safety incidents. METHODS This is a descriptive study. Data from 132 general hospital nurses were collected during 15-24 February 2017 and analysed using hierarchical multiple regression. RESULTS Participants' mean patient safety competency score was 3.82 (range 1-5). Clinical career (Pratt index = 47.3%), critical thinking disposition (30.4%), teamwork (24.1%) and critical thinking training experience (7.3%) were found to affect nurses' patient safety competency. CONCLUSION Under the new model, new nurses showed a low level of patient safety competency. Clinical career most influenced patient safety competency. Enhanced critical thinking and teamwork training are needed to improve patient safety competency among nurses. IMPLICATIONS FOR NURSING MANAGEMENT Nursing leaders must consider qualitative staffing mix involving appropriate placement of experienced nurses as well as quantitative staffing level to provide patients with high-quality, safe care and to implement the new model successfully. Regular training on critical thinking and teamwork should be carried out.
Optimal DMT transceivers over fading channels

Discrete Fourier transform (DFT) based discrete multitone modulation (DMT) systems have been widely applied to various applications. We study a broader class of DMT systems using more general unitary matrices instead of DFT matrices. For this class we show how to design the optimal DMT systems over fading channels with colored noise. Examples are given to show the improvement over the traditional DFT based DMT system. In addition we introduce a modified DFT based DMT system. The new system has the same complexity but better noise rejection property.
Design and measurement of 450MHz LNA utilizing 0.13um RF CMOS process

A low-noise amplifier (LNA) integrated circuit (IC) has been designed and implemented on a 0.13um RF CMOS process technology. The LNA was designed to resonate at 450MHz frequency. This paper presents the design methodology and compares the simulated and measurement results of the cascode LNA with inductive degeneration. There were expected mismatch between simulation and measurement data, thus some of the matching elements were intentionally placed outside of the chip so adjustment can be done using external components. The overall design methodology employed in this work gives certain confidence that if the LNA resonates at intended frequency with specific input network matching, the same input network matching arrangement can be applied at the input of the same LNA at front-end of a complete Receive chain. On simulation, Noise Figure (NF) of the LNA was simulated at 1.23dB and Gain at 28.17dB.