Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
C-VeT the UCLA campus vehicular testbed: Integration of VANET and Mesh networks

Vehicular communications are becoming a reality under the push of increased transportation safety requirements and huge investments of several actors in the field like car manufacturers and Public Transport Authorities. As a consequence, the building blocks of the ”Vehicle Grid” (radios, Access Points, spectrum, standards, etc.) will soon be in place enabling a broad gamut of applications ranging from automatic safety systems, intelligent transport, entertainment, urban sensing and environmental protection/monitoring. In this paper, we take a visionary look at ”Vehicular Grid” and we argue that the cooperation of pure ad-hoc vehicle-to-vehicle communications and roadside infrastructure is fundamental to broaden the supported applications. The paper further describes the activities carried out at UCLA to deploy an open testbed integrating ad hoc vehicle-to-vehicle communications and a wireless mesh backhaul based on MobiMESH hardware/software solutions.
Carbocyclic Thymidine Analogues for Use as Potential Therapeutic Agents

The discovery of azidothymidine's (AZT) activity against human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) provided strong rationale for the design of additional thymidine analogues. One drawback of many nucleoside analogues is the toxicity that often arises due to phosphorylation by cellular kinases. In order to overcome this problem, a number of truncated nucleosides lacking the 4′-hydroxymethyl group have been synthesized. In that regard, the synthesis and preliminary biological results for two truncated carbocyclic thymidine analogues are presented herein.
Calcium Prerinse before Fluoride Rinse Reduces Enamel Demineralization: An in situ Caries Study

A calcium (Ca) prerinse before a fluoride (F) rinse has been shown to increase oral F levels. We tested the anticaries effect of this combination in a dose-response in situ caries model. In a double-blind, crossover experiment, 10 volunteers carried enamel slabs in palatal appliances for 14 days, during which they rinsed twice/day with one of four rinse combinations: (1) a placebo prerinse (150 mM sodium lactate) followed by a distilled water rinse (negative control); (2) a placebo prerinse followed by a 250 ppm F rinse; (3) a placebo prerinse followed by a 1,000 ppm F rinse, or (4) a Ca prerinse (150 mM Ca, as calcium lactate) followed by a 250 ppm F rinse. Sucrose solution was dripped onto the slabs 8×/day to simulate a high cariogenic challenge. The percent surface hardness loss (%SHL) was significantly lower in the Ca prerinse used with the 250 ppm F rinse group (%SHL = 38.0 ± 21.0) when compared with the F rinse alone (%SHL = 59.5 ± 24.1) and similar to the 1,000 ppm F rinse group (%SHL = 42.0 ± 18.3). Compared with the 250 ppm F rinse, the Ca prerinse increased biofilm fluid F only twice (nonsignificant). However, it greatly increased F in biofilm solids (∼22×). The Ca prerinse had little effect on loosely or firmly bound enamel F. The results showed an increased level of protection against demineralization by the use of a Ca prerinse, which seems to be caused by the enhancement of F concentration in the biofilm.
Publishing DisGeNET as Nanopublications

The increasing and unprecedented publication rate in the biomedical field is a major bottleneck for discovery in Life Sciences. The scientific community cannot process assertions from biomedical publications and integrate them into the current knowledge at the same rate. The automatic extraction of assertions about entities and their relationships by text-mining the scientific literature is an extended approach to structure up-to-date knowledge. For knowledge integration, the publication of assertions in the Semantic Web is gaining adoption, but it opens new challenges regarding the tracking of the provenance, and how to ensure versioned data linking. Nanopublications are a new way of publishing structured data that consists of an assertion along with its provenance. Trusty URIs is a novel approach to make resources in the Web immutable, and to ensure the unambiguity of the data linking in the (semantic) Web. We present the publication of DisGeNET nanopublications as a new Linked Dataset implemented in combination of the Trusty URIs approach. DisGeNET is a database of human gene-disease associations from expert-curated databases and text-mining the scientific literature. With a series of illustrative queries we demonstrate its utility.
Prandial subcutaneous injections of glucagon-like peptide-1 cause weight loss in obese human subjects

Recombinant glucagon-like peptide-1 (7–36)amide (rGLP-1) was recently shown to cause significant weight loss in type 2 diabetics when administered for 6 weeks as a continuous subcutaneous infusion. The mechanisms responsible for the weight loss are not clarified. In the present study, rGLP-1 was given for 5d by prandial subcutaneous injections (PSI) (76nmol 30min before meals, four times daily; a total of 302·4nmol/24h) or by continuous subcutaneous infusion (CSI) (12·7nmol/h; a total of 304·8nmol/24h). This was performed in nineteen healthy obese subjects (mean age 44·2 (sem 2·5) years; BMI 39·0 (sem 1·2)kg/m2) in a prospective randomised, double-blind, placebo-controlled, cross-over study. Compared with the placebo, rGLP-1 administered as PSI and by CSI generated a 15% reduction in mean food intake per meal (P=0·02) after 5d treatment. A weight loss of 0·55 (sem 0·2) kg (P<0·05) was registered after 5d with PSI of rGLP-1. Gastric emptying rate was reduced during both PSI (P<0·001) and CSI (P<0·05) treatment, but more rapidly and to a greater extent with PSI of rGLP-1. To conclude, a 5d treatment of rGLP-1 at high doses by PSI, but not CSI, promptly slowed gastric emptying as a probable mechanism of action of increased satiety, decreased hunger and, hence, reduced food intake with an ensuing weight loss.
Lithospheric flexure and the evolution of the dichotomy boundary on Mars

The boundary of the Martian crustal dichotomy in the eastern hemisphere is one of the most striking topographic features on the planet. The long wavelength topography of much of the boundary is expressed by a broad rise and an arched ramp that slopes downward from the southern highlands into the northern lowlands and often ends in a steep scarp. Lithospheric flexure of the southern highlands for both a continuous and broken plate boundary with the northern lowlands lithosphere is modeled. We find that the long wavelength topography of the boundary is best fit by a lithospheric deflection profile of a broken lithosphere for reasonable values of the flexural parameter. The lithosphere near the dichotomy boundary may have been weakened by tectonic stress associated with the formation of the crustal dichotomy by subcrustal transport caused by overturn of an early magma ocean.
Automated analysis of binocular alignment using an infrared camera and selective wavelength filter.

PURPOSE We present a computerized method of measuring binocular alignment using a selective wavelength filter and an infrared camera, and validate the efficacy of automated image analysis compared to the gold standard prism and alternate cover test (PCT). METHODS A prospective observational pilot study was performed on 30 subjects with intermittent exotropia, 30 subjects with esotropia, and 30 orthotropic subjects who were able to cooperate with the PCT. Two independent ophthalmologists examined the angle of deviation using the PCT. Full-face images were obtained with an infrared camera while a selective wavelength filter was placed in front of either eye. Images were analyzed using the 3D Strabismus Photo Analyzer. Interobserver variability, test-retest reliability and correlation between the angles of deviation were determined for both methods. RESULTS The 95% limit of agreement of interobserver variability was ± 4.8 prism diopters (PD) for the PCT and ± 4.3 PD for the selective wavelength filter analysis. The 95% limit of agreement of test-retest reliability between the PCT and selective wavelength filter analysis was ± 8.5 PD. Results of the PCT and selective wavelength filter analysis showed a strong positive correlation (R = 0.900, P < 0.001). CONCLUSIONS Infrared images acquired with a selective wavelength filter can detect the latent components of strabismus, and automated image analysis showed excellent agreement with the standard PCT. This automated method is an accurate and reliable tool for measuring ocular deviation with minimal observer dependency.
Multilingual PRF: english lends a helping hand

In this paper, we present a novel approach to Pseudo-Relevance Feedback (PRF) called Multilingual PRF (MultiPRF). The key idea is to harness multilinguality. Given a query in a language, we take the help of another language to ameliorate the well known problems of PRF, viz. (a) The expansion terms from PRF are primarily based on co-occurrence relationships with query terms, and thus other terms which are lexically and semantically related, such as morphological variants and synonyms, are not explicitly captured, and (b) PRF is quite sensitive to the quality of the initially retrieved top k documents and is thus not robust. In MultiPRF, given a query in language L1, it is translated into language L2 and PRF is performed on a collection in language L2 and the resultant feedback model is translated from L2 back into L1. The final feedback model is obtained by combining the translated model with the original feedback model of the query in L1. Experiments were performed on standard CLEF collections in languages with widely differing characteristics, viz., French, German, Finnish and Hungarian with English as the assisting language. We observe that MultiPRF outperforms PRF and is more robust with consistent and significant improvements in the above widely differing languages. A thorough analysis of the results reveal that the second language helps in obtaining both co-occurrence based conceptual terms as well as lexically and semantically related terms. Additionally, the use of the second language collection reduces the sensitivity to performance of initial retrieval, thereby making it more robust.
A role for endothelial cells in promoting the maturation of astrocytes through the apelin/APJ system in mice

Interactions between astrocytes and endothelial cells (ECs) are crucial for retinal vascular formation. Astrocytes induce migration and proliferation of ECs via their production of vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) and, conversely, ECs induce maturation of astrocytes possibly by the secretion of leukemia inhibitory factor (LIF). Together with the maturation of astrocytes, this finalizes angiogenesis. Thus far, the mechanisms triggering LIF production in ECs are unclear. Here we show that apelin, a ligand for the endothelial receptor APJ, induces maturation of astrocytes mediated by the production of LIF from ECs. APJ (Aplnr)- and Apln-deficient mice show delayed angiogenesis; however, aberrant overgrowth of endothelial networks with immature astrocyte overgrowth was induced. When ECs were stimulated with apelin, LIF expression was upregulated and intraocular injection of LIF into APJ-deficient mice suppressed EC and astrocyte overgrowth. These data suggest an involvement of apelin/APJ in the maturation process of retinal angiogenesis.
Using Algebra-Algorithmic and Term Rewriting Tools for Developing Efficient Parallel Programs

An approach to program design and synthesis using algebraalgorithmic specifications and rewriting rules techniques is proposed. An algebra-algorithmic toolkit based on the approach allows building syntactically correct and easy-to-understand algorithm specifications. The term rewriting system supplements the algebra-algorithmic toolkit with facilities for transformation of the sequential and parallel algorithms, enabling their improvement.
Social justice and leadership development

The revised professional standards for the teaching profession in Scotland are underpinned by a set of values which includes a detailed articulation of social justice for education covering rights, diversity and sustainability. There is a future orientation in these standards that privileges the contribution of teachers and leaders to realizing a wider social aspiration for social justice. This expectation on leaders to contribute to this wider aspiration for social justice raises questions about the practice of leaders and their development. This article considers the implications of the articulation of social justice in the professional standards for career-long leadership development. The article explores some of the issues related to social justice and the role of leadership in school. The article then focuses on the context of Scottish education, looking firstly at the professional standards and secondly at the issues related to social justice leadership. From this discussion the implications for career-long leadership development are considered. The article concludes with a framework for social justice leadership development identifying key aspects of values, knowledge and understanding, inclusive practice, policy, issues of equity and equality that can be developed progressively across a leadership development continuum.
Internet Use and its Correlation with Psychiatric Symptoms Ã¢ÂÂ Results of anOnline Survey Based on Psychometric Risk Profiles of the German Version ofthe Ã¢ÂÂCompulsive Internet Use ScaleÃ¢ÂÂ

Aims: Increased co-morbidity rates of affective and anxiety disorders as well as ADHD have been reported in the context of excessive and addictive internet use. The “Compulsive Internet Use Scale" (CIUS) provides a promising conceptualization for the assessment of compulsive internet use behaviour. The aim of the present study was the investigation of psychopathological abnormalities in a student’s sample with high values on the CIUS within the scope of an online survey in a cross-sectional design. Participants: N=2,506 German students of the University of Tuebingen participated in the online survey. Based on CIUS-values students were divided into two subgroups, with high values (CIUS group, N=90, CIUS > 28), and low values (control group, N = 90). Measurements: In addition to the CIUS, depressive and manic episodes, quality of life and psychopathological abnormalities were explored. Findings: Participants with high CIUS-values showed increased depressive and manic affect profiles, lower quality of life and augmented difficulties in coping with study requirements compared to the control group. Furthermore, the high scorers reported more depressive episodes, anxiety disorders, ADHD and suicidal ideation in their lifetime. Conclusion: Compulsive internet use is related to increased psychopathological abnormalities current and lifetime.
Wavelet based motion artifact removal for Functional Near Infrared Spectroscopy

Functional Near Infrared Spectroscopy (fNIRS) enables researchers to conduct studies in situations where use of other functional imaging methods is impossible. An important shortcoming of fNIRS is the sensitivity to motion artifacts. We propose a new wavelet based algorithm for removing movement artifacts from fNIRS signals. We tested the method on simulated and experimental fNIRS data. The results show an average of 18.97dB and 15.54dB attenuation in motion artifacts power for our two test subjects without introducing significant distortion in the artifact-free regions of the signal.
Distributed sender-driven video streaming

A system for sender-driven video streaming from multiple servers to a single receiver is considered in this paper. The receiver monitors incoming packets on each network path and returns, to the senders, estimates of the available bandwidth on all the network paths. The senders in turn employ this information to compute transmission schedules for packets belonging to the video stream sent to the receiver. An optimization framework is proposed that enables the senders to compute their transmission schedules in a distributed way, and yet to dynamically coordinate them over time such that the resulting video quality at the receiver is maximized. Experimental results demonstrate that the proposed streaming framework provides superior performance over distortion-agnostic transmission schemes that perform proportional packet scheduling based only on the available network bandwidths.
Development of a radiation-hardened standard cell library for 65nm CMOS technology

We have developed a radiation-hardened standard cell library for space applications based on the commercial 65nm CMOS technology process. The standard cells are designed using some radiation-hardened (RH) techniques, and the effects of these RH approaches have been validated. Also this 65nm CMOS RH standard cell library has been characterized to support the verilog to GDSII design flow, and the designed radiation tolerant features of this library are: TID > 500 Krad(Si), SEL > 100 MeV·cm2/mg, SEU > 37 MeV cm2/mg.
The neuro-m method for fitting neural network parametric pedotransfer functions

Parametric pedotransfer functions (PTFs), which predict parameters of a model from basic soil properties are useful in deriving continuous functions of soil properties, such as water retention curves. The common method for deriving parametric water retention PTFs involves estimating the parameters of a soil hydraulic model by fitting the model to the data, and then forming empirical relationships between basic soil properties and parameters. The latter step usually utilizes multiple linear regression or artificial neural networks. Neural network analysis is a powerful tool and has been shown to perform better than multiple linear regression. However neural-network PTFs are usually trained with an objective function that fits the estimated parameters of a soil hydraulic model. We called this the neuro-p method. The estimated parameters may carry errors and since the aim is to be able to estimate water retention, it is sensible to train the network to fit the measured water content. We propose a new objective function for neural network training, which predicts the parameters of the soil hydraulic model and optimizes the PTF to match the measured and observed water content, we called this neuro-m method. This method was used to predict the parameters of the van Genuchten model. Using Australian soil hydraulic data as a training set, neuro-m predicted the water retention from bulk density and particle-size distribution with a mean accuracy of 0.04 m 3 m 3 . The relative improvement of neuro-m over neural networks that was optimized to fit the parameters (neuro-p) is 13%. Compared with a published neural network PTF, the new method is 30% more accurate and less biased.
Effect of Tip Mass on Atomic Force Microscope Calibration by Thermal Method

The Atomic Force Microscope (AFM) plays a key role in various disciplines, providing a versatile tool for nano-scale topography imaging, manipulation and studies of nano-scale material properties. Contrary to what the name suggests, the Atomic Force Microscope actually measures displacement; calibration is required to determine the spring constant relating the measured displacement to the force exerted between the sample and the AFM probe tip. It is important to determine these tip-sample forces in many AFM applications, for example, to determine the force exerted during imaging or to determine bond strengths when studying protein unfolding. Current AFM calibration methods neglect the effect of the probe tip, yet previous works have shown that the AFM tip may comprise 50% or more of the effective mass of the probe. This work shows that the probe tip can have a significant effect on the spring constant determined by the Thermal calibration method of Hutter and Bechhoefer in some scenarios. An analytical model of a probe with a rigid tip is used to quantify the error induced in the calibration if the tip is neglected, and the results are evaluated in light of previously reported experimental work.
Architectural Principles for Safe Web Programs

Web content is migrating away from simple hyperlinked documents towards a diverse set of programs that execute within the web browser. Unfortunately, modern browsers do not provide a safe environment for running these web programs. In this paper, we show how current web security threats are symptoms of four key problems in supporting web programs: vague program boundaries, unwanted code, poor isolation, and inconsistent security policies. In response, we introduce abstractions for web programs and program instances, and we present a set of architectural principles to address these fundamental problems.
Contraception in the Roman Empire

Summary of Argument It has long been recognized that upper class Romans in their desire for small families practised abortion on a large scale. What is not well known is the extent to which these same upper class Romans were concerned with contraception. Some of the methods advocated by Greek and Roman doctors could have been very effective, and aspects of ancient contraceptive theory were as advanced as any modern theory before the middle of the 19th century. Such contraceptive theory was part of a lively literary medical tradition, appearing first in Aristotle and in the Hippocratic Corpus; its repeated appearance in our fragmentary sources, when considered together with the organization of doctors’ training, argues for its significance in medical practice, at least among the upper class. Nonetheless, the total effect of contraception upon fertility in Rome cannot be seen only in these terms.
Family Functioning and Stress in African American Families

Having social support substantially reduces the effects of stressful experiences. Family relationships are central components of social support for African Americans. In a community-based sample of African Americans (n = 255), the relationship between family functioning and stress was examined, as well as possible mediators of this relationship, independent of demographic variables. Using multiple regression analysis, close and flexible family relationships were linked to lower perceived stress levels. The association of family functioning and stress operated through the internal processes of anxiety, depression, daily hassles, and higher hardiness and explained more than half of the variance in stress levels. These findings also remained above and beyond the known stressor of discrimination and the known stress reducer of spirituality. These findings suggest that expanding traditional stress management programs to include strategies for bolstering family functioning could have significant benefits.
Emotion and Stress in Serious and Hedonistic Leisure Sport Activities

Forty-four Japanese women recreational tennis players aged 28 to 58 years old acted as the main sample of volunteer participants in this reversal theory-based study of changes in emotion and stress induced by a single session of leisure activity. Based on their primary reason for playing tennis (e.g., health, exercise, weight control, versus fun, challenge), participants were divided into “serious” (telic) and “hedonistic” (paratelic) leisure groups respectively. Participants completed the Tension and Effort Stress Inventory (TESI), five minutes before and within five minutes after playing tennis. Although no significant inter-group differences were found, a number of significant pre-to post-session intra-group changes were revealed following statistical analysis. For the serious group, a decrease in overall unpleasant emotions was significant, as were decreases in external tension stress. A significant decrease in external tension stress was also obtained for the hedonistic group. For individual emotions, a number of statistically significant results were also revealed. Taken together, the results indicated that, especially for the serious group, tennis activities had a therapeutic effect, producing an improvement in overall affect.