Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
A Novel Feedback Controlled Multimedia Transmission Scheme

The number of multimedia transmissions over the existing network infrastructure is continually increasing. This leads to longer periods of network congestion which affects these transmissions and hence their play-out. We propose a novel feedback controlled multimedia transmission scheme in order to ensure continuous stream delivery and play-out, even in the case of network congestion. Data transmission and the exchange of control information are done via a double-channel (TCP and UDP) link. A special protocol (Client Initiated Protocol) has been defined to provide the transmission mechanism with a reduced overhead. We describe both its components, the Client Initiated Streaming Protocol (CISP) used for control and the Client Initiated Transport Protocol (CITP) used for data transmissions. We also present the feedback scheme and describe the server's possible state transitions. A multicast approach is explored and its advantages and disadvantages outlined. We present some experimental results to show the functionality of our scheme.
Patch-based deep learning architectures for sparse annotated very high resolution datasets

In this paper, we compare the performance of different deep-learning architectures under a patch-based framework for the semantic labeling of sparse annotated urban scenes from very high resolution images. In particular, the simple convolutional network ConvNet, the AlexNet and the VGG models have been trained and tested on the publicly available, multispectral, very high resolution Summer Zurich v1.0 dataset. Experiments with patches of different dimensions have been performed and compared, indicating the optimal size for the semantic segmentation of very high resolution satellite data. The overall validation and assessment indicated the robustness of the high level features that are computed with the employed deep architectures for the semantic labeling of urban scenes.
Denoising using Non Local Linear Filtering and Quantization Matrix Estimation Using ANFIS Algorithm for JPEG Error Analysis to Digital Image Forensics

One of the most commonly used image format is Joint Photographic Experts Group (JPEG). The recognition of JPEG compression plays a significant part in digital forensics. In previous work, JPEG image can be compressed upto n times. However, in the compression techniques noise of the JPEG images and the error analysis in the JPEG images are not primarily concentrated. Hence, the recognition of the JPEG compression results will turn out to be complicated. With the intention of overcoming these concern and eliminate the noise from the image samples, in this study formulated a blend of non local-means filter and its method noise thresholding by means of wavelets. In order to diminish the size of the JPEG image, a Growcut based seam carving technique is employed in this study. Subsequently noises are added to image to carry out Non local Linear Filter (NLF) and its Method Noise Thresholding by means of wavelets (NLFMT) denoising framework. For the purpose of assessing the influence of image compression on the performance of JPEG, a sample Discrete Cosine Transform-Singular Value Decomposition (DCT-SVD) was computed for single and double image compression, images were quantized by means of numerous quantization matrices, quantization matrix results are assessed with the help of Adaptive Neuro Fuzzy Inference System (ANFIS). Based on ANFIS, the elevated frequency coefficients in quantization matrix are employed to make a distinction among singly and doubly compressed images. Extensive experiments and evaluations with previous techniques reveal that the proposed DCT-SVD-ANFIS scheme can discover the double JPEG compression efficiently and noise in the image samples are eliminated with the help of NLFMT methods; it outperforms the existing approaches considerably based on the parameters like Peak Signal to Noise Ratio (PSNR) and Mean Square Error (MSE). The quantization matrix results were assessed using ANFIS; it has extremely much significance in the field of digital forensics.
Human Immunodeficiency Virus Replication in a Primary Effusion Lymphoma Cell Line Stimulates Lytic-Phase Replication of Kaposi’s Sarcoma-Associated Herpesvirus

ABSTRACT Human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) and Kaposi’s sarcoma-associated herpesvirus (KSHV) coinfect many individuals in North America and in parts of Africa. Infection with HIV is a leading risk factor for the development of Kaposi’s sarcoma (KS). In this study, we tested the hypothesis that HIV infection of common or adjacent cells would stimulate replication and spread of KSHV. Infection of a primary effusion lymphoma cell line by vesicular stomatitis virus type G-pseudotyped HIV type 1 led to a rapid induction of lytic-phase KSHV replication. Induction of lytic KSHV replication by HIV required active replication of HIV. The addition of the nucleoside reverse transcriptase inhibitor azidothymidine or the protease inhibitor indinavir to the culture prevented HIV spread and inhibited the associated induction of KSHV lytic replication. Lytic replication occurred in both HIV-infected and HIV-uninfected cells within the culture, and could be induced in uninfected cells via a soluble factor released from the HIV-infected cells. Transmission of infectious KSHV to an uninfected target cell was enhanced by HIV replication and was inhibited by antiretroviral drugs. These results may have implications for the pathogenesis and treatment of KS in individuals coinfected with KSHV and HIV.
Voronoi-based adaptive scalable transfer revisited: gain and loss of a Voronoi-based peer-to-peer approach for MMOG

We present and evaluate an implementation of VAST (Voronoi-based Adaptive Scalable Transfer) as proposed by Shun-Yun Hu and Guan-Ming Liao in Scalable Peer-to-Peer Networked Virtual Environment [4]. VAST is a fully-distributed peer-to-peer protocol, designed to handle event messages in MMOGs (Massively Multiplayer Online Games) and virtual worlds. VAST relies on voronoi diagrams and AOI (Areas Of Interest) for neighbor discovery. Benefits and problems of using voronoi diagrams in peer-to-peer-based MMOGs and virtual worlds are discussed, by looking at bandwidth usage, scalability and consistency of VAST and comparing it to other approaches. We point out certain issues regarding VASTs consistency and propose some changes to VASTs architecture aiming at enhancing its consistency. Finally we have a look at future extensions like group management and adaptive areas of interest per peer, in order to reduce bandwidth requirements and further increase VASTs consistency.
Efficiently Solving the Piecewise Constant Mumford-Shah Model using Graph Cuts

This paper presents an efficient algorithm for solving one sort of region-based active contour models, i.e. the active contours without edges model [1]. We develop the link between traditional level-set based segmentation models and graph based discrete formulation by converting the original PDE based energy function to its discrete form, and show that it can be solved via graph cuts optimization conveniently. We also propose an efficient algorithm to regulate the smoothness of the interfaces, which plays a similar roll as the re-initialization of the signed distance function in solving level sets. Our new algorithm outperforms the traditional PDE driven level set methods in several ways. Firstly, it is significantly faster by taking advantage of the dynamic graph cuts algorithm. Secondly, it is numerically stable and it avoids some original drawbacks in solving PDEs. Furthermore, the new algorithm is less sensitive to the initialization. The experimental results show that the performance improvement is quite significant, which makes it plausible for real-time processing.
Role of Intracellular Lipid Logistics in the Preferential Usage of Very Long Chain-Ceramides in Glucosylceramide

Ceramide is a common precursor of sphingomyelin (SM) and glycosphingolipids (GSLs) in mammalian cells. Ceramide synthase 2 (CERS2), one of the six ceramide synthase isoforms, is responsible for the synthesis of very long chain fatty acid (C20–26 fatty acids) (VLC)-containing ceramides (VLC-Cer). It is known that the proportion of VLC species in GSLs is higher than that in SM. To address the mechanism of the VLC-preference of GSLs, we used genome editing to establish three HeLa cell mutants that expressed different amounts of CERS2 and compared the acyl chain lengths of SM and GSLs by metabolic labeling experiments. VLC-sphingolipid expression was increased along with that of CERS2, and the proportion of VLC species in glucosylceramide (GlcCer) was higher than that in SM for all expression levels of CERS2. This higher proportion was still maintained even when the proportion of C16-Cer to the total ceramides was increased by disrupting the ceramide transport protein (CERT)-dependent C16-Cer delivery pathway for SM synthesis. On the other hand, merging the Golgi apparatus and the endoplasmic reticulum (ER) by Brefeldin A decreased the proportion of VLC species in GlcCer probably due to higher accessibility of UDP-glucose ceramide glucosyltransferase (UGCG) to C16-rich ceramides. These results suggest the existence of a yet-to-be-identified mechanism rendering VLC-Cer more accessible than C16-Cer to UGCG, which is independent of CERT.
Final results of a phase IIa, randomised, open-label trial to evaluate the percutaneous intramyocardial transplantation of autologous skeletal myoblasts in congestive heart failure patients: the SEISMIC trial.

AIMS The SEISMIC study was an open-label, prospective, randomised study to assess the safety and feasibility of percutaneous myoblast implantation in heart failure patients with implanted cardioverter-defibrillators (ICD). METHODS AND RESULTS Patients were randomised 2:1 to autologous skeletal myoblast therapy vs. optimal medical treatment. The primary safety end-point was defined as the incidence of procedural and device related serious adverse events, whereas the efficacy endpoints were defined as the change in global LVEF by MUGA scan, change in NYHA classification of heart failure and in the distance achieved during a six-minute walk test (6MW) at 6-month follow-up. Forty subjects were randomised to the treatment arm (n=26), or to the control arm (n=14). There were 12 sustained arrhythmic events and one death after episodes of ventricular tachycardia (VT) in the treatment group and 14 events in the control group (P=ns). At 6-month follow-up, 6MW distance improved by 60.3±54.1? meters in the treated group as compared to no improvement in the control group (0.4±185.7? meters; P=ns). In the control group, 28.6% experienced worsening of heart failure status (4/14), while 14.3% experienced an improvement in NYHA classification (2/14). In the myoblast-treatment arm, one patient experienced a deterioration in NYHA classification (8.0%), whereas five patients improved one or two classes (20.0%; P=0.06). However, therapy did not improve global LVEF measured by MUGA at 6-month follow-up. CONCLUSIONS These data indicate that implantation of myoblasts in patients with HF is feasible, appears to be safe and may provide symptomatic relief, though no significant effect was detected on global LVEF.
Cognition and attitude of bachelor dental students towards HIV/AIDS

Background: Effective oral health care is vital for HIV/AIDS positive patients. Dental practitioners should master accurate knowledge and proper attitudes towards HIV-positive patients. This research aimed to investigate the knowledge and attitudes towards HIV/AIDS-related infections in fourth to fifth year bachelor dental students in Henan province. Methods: A survey was conducted to analyze the knowledge and attitudes of dental students with different clinical practice towards HIV/AIDS-infected patients. Results: The average scores of HIV/AIDS-related knowledge in the fourth- and fifth-year students was 69.80 ± 9.72 and 79.41 ± 6.30, respectively, showing a significant difference. There were no significant differences in the basic practical knowledge and awareness of HIV/AIDS transmission routes between two groups. However, there were significant differences between two groups, regarding the knowledge on oral lesions, high-risk populations, and transmission in dental settings. Furthermore, students in both groups had very negative or passive attitudes towards AIDS patients, with the fifth-year students possessing a much more positive attitude. Conclusions: A good knowledge doesn’t mean a positive attitude towards HIV/AIDS. Clinical practice and urgent education are required to improve this condition.
Cognitive no-reference video quality assessment for mobile streaming services

The evaluation of mobile streaming services, particularly in terms of delivered Quality of Experience (QoE), entails the use of automated methods (which excludes subjective QoE) that can be executed in real-time (i.e. without delaying the streaming process). This calls for lightweight algorithms that provide accurate results under considerable constraints. Starting from a low complexity no-reference objective algorithm for still images, in this work we contribute a new version that not only works for videos but, is general enough to adjust to a diverse range of video types while not significantly increasing the computational complexity. To achieve the necessary level of flexibility and computational efficiency, our method relies merely on information available at the client side and is equipped with a lightweight Artificial Neural Network which makes the algorithm independent from type of network or video. Its resource efficiency and generality make our method fit to be used in mobile streaming services. To prove the viability of our approach, we show a high level of correlation with the well-known full-reference method SSIM.
Gene Structure and Differential Regulation of the Rhizobium-Induced Peroxidase Gene rip1

Primary expression of the Rhizobium meliloti-induced peroxidase gene rip1 occurs prior to nodule morphogenesis, specifically at the site of impending rhizobial infection (D. Cook, D. Dreyer, D. Bonnet, M. Howell, E. Nony, K. VandenBosch [1995] Plant Cell 7:43–55). We examined the distribution and structure of rip1 transcript throughout nodule development. We determined that expression of rip1 in root tips is correlated with the competence of this zone for symbiotic association, whereas after rhizobial infection rip1 transcript is specifically associated with the zone of nodule development, including nascent nodule primordia. rip1 transcripts are characterized by multiple polyadenylation sites distributed within 200 to 400 bp of the translation stop site, and a single major transcription initiation site in close proximity to the rip1 open reading frame. Thus, rip1 expression is likely to be mediated through effects on a single transcription unit. Immediately 5[prime] of the rip1 transcription unit DNA sequence analysis identified a 377-bp DNA element containing extensive repeat structure that is widely distributed in the Medicago truncatula genome.
Optimizing sparse matrix-vector multiplication using index and value compression

Previous research work has identified memory bandwidth as the main bottleneck of the ubiquitous Sparse Matrix-Vector Multiplication kernel. To attack this problem, we aim at reducing the overall data volume of the algorithm. Typical sparse matrix representation schemes store only the non-zero elements of the matrix and employ additional indexing information to properly iterate over these elements. In this paper we propose two distinct compression methods targeting index and numerical values respectively. We perform a set of experiments on a large real-world matrix set and demonstrate that the index compression method can be applied successfully to a wide range of matrices. Moreover, the value compression method is able to achieve impressive speedups in a more limited yet important class of sparse matrices that contain a small number of distinct values
Data protection by means of fragmentation in various different distributed storage systems - a survey

This paper analyzes various distributed storage systems that use data fragmentation and dispersal as a way of protection.Existing solutions have been organized into two categories: bitwise and structurewise. Systems from the bitwise category are operating on unstructured data and in a uniform environment. Those having structured input data with predefined confidentiality level and disposing of a heterogeneous environment in terms of machine trustworthiness were classified as structurewise. Furthermore, we outline high-level requirements and desirable architecture traits of an eficient data fragmentation system, which will address performance (including latency), availability, resilience and scalability.
Study on electric vehicles cluster model considering load response of power grid

Large scale of electric vehicles integration will pose inevitable impacts on the planning and operation of power system in the future. Considering electric vehicles as movable and distributed storage units, a cluster model, in which the electric vehicles participate load response of power grid, is built. In this paper, coordinated charging modes and charging time of different kinds of EVs are proposed. The Monte Carlo simulation is applied to determine the starting state of charge(SOC) and the initial charging time, etc. Taking the daily load curve in a certain day for example, the impacts of power demand of EVs in different scales on original load curve are calculated. The results show that the natural charging-discharging characteristic of EVs can be controlled to discharge during the peak load time and charge during the load valley.
Suicide and Society in India

1. Introduction 2. Previous Studies of Suicide in India 3.The Reliability of Indian Suicide Data 4. The Aetiology of Suicide in India 5. The Methods of Suicide 6. Trends in Suicide in India 7. Gender and Suicide 8. Age and Suicide 9. Urbanisation and Suicide in India 10. Education and Suicide 11. Occupation and Suicide 12. Marriage, the Family and Suicide 13. Alcohol and Suicide 14. Suicide in the Indian Diaspora 15. Suicide in Pondicherry 16. Conclusion
Management of a severely resorbed mandibular ridge with the neutral zone technique

The loose and unstable lower complete denture is one of the most common problems faced by denture patients. One of the methods used to solve this problem is the neutral zone technique. The neutral zone is the area where the displacing forces of the lips, cheeks, and tongue are in balance. It is in this zone that the natural dentitions lie and this is where the artificial teeth should be positioned. This area of minimal conflict may be located by using the neutral zone technique. The artificial teeth can then be set up in the correct positions.
A sharp convergence estimate for the method of subspace corrections for singular systems of equations

This paper is devoted to the convergence rate estimate for the method of successive subspace corrections applied to symmetric and positive semidefinite (singular) problems. In a general Hilbert space setting, a convergence rate identity is obtained for the method of subspace corrections in terms of the subspace solvers. As an illustration, the new abstract theory is used to show uniform convergence of a multigrid method applied to the solution of the Laplace equation with pure Neumann boundary conditions.
Industrial Validation of Test Coverage Quality

This thesis shows the results of an empirical experiment that used three industrial case studies to investigate the effect of coverage testing on software quality. Moreover, the experiment investigated the relative costs of coverage testing. Several test suites were created that achieved 5 different coverage percentages for the metrics statement, branch and basis path coverage. Test suites consisted mostly of test cases that were created based on the test-driven development methodology. We show that a positive correlation is likely to exist for each metric between the coverage percentage that is achieved by a test suite and the number of faults that are found. In most cases, increasing the coverage percentage for any of the tested metrics results in a higher number of faults found. We also show that despite using coverage metrics, even with high coverage percentages, a significant portion of faults is left undetected. Moreover, we show that increasing the coverage percentage influences the costs by a linear increase. The costs were calculated using the number of test cases, number of tested functions and the total tested cyclomatic complexity.
Structural insights of the MLF1/14‐3‐3 interaction

Myeloid leukaemia factor 1 (MLF1) binds to 14‐3‐3 adapter proteins by a sequence surrounding Ser34 with the functional consequences of this interaction largely unknown. We present here the high‐resolution crystal structure of this binding motif [MLF1(29–42)pSer34] in complex with 14‐3‐3ε and analyse the interaction with isothermal titration calorimetry. Fragment‐based ligand discovery employing crystals of the binary 14‐3‐3ε/MLF1(29–42)pSer34 complex was used to identify a molecule that binds to the interface rim of the two proteins, potentially representing the starting point for the development of a small molecule that stabilizes the MLF1/14‐3‐3 protein–protein interaction. Such a compound might be used as a chemical biology tool to further analyse the 14‐3‐3/MLF1 interaction without the use of genetic methods.
Role of CD28-B7 Interactions in Generation and Maintenance of CD8 T Cell Memory

Although the role of CD28-B7 interaction in the activation of naive T cells is well established, its importance in the generation and maintenance of T cell memory is not well understood. In this study, we examined the requirement for CD28-B7 interactions in primary T cell activation and immune memory. Ag-specific CD8 T cell responses were compared between wild-type (+/+) and CD28-deficient (CD28−/−) mice following an acute infection with lymphocytic choriomeningitis virus (LCMV). During the primary response, there was a substantial activation and expansion of LCMV-specific CD8 T cells in both +/+ and CD28−/− mice. However, the magnitude of the primary CD8 T cell response to both dominant and subdominant LCMV CTL epitopes was ∼2- to 3-fold lower in CD28−/− mice compared with +/+ mice; the lack of CD28-mediated costimulation did not lead to preferential suppression of CD8 T cell responses to the weaker subdominant epitopes. As seen in CD28−/− mice, blockade of B7-mediated costimulation by CTLA4-Ig treatment of +/+ mice also resulted in a 2-fold reduction in the anti-LCMV CD8 T cell responses. Loss of CD28/B7 interactions did not significantly affect the generation and maintenance of CD8 T cell memory; the magnitude of CD8 T cell memory was ∼2-fold lower in CD28−/− mice as compared with +/+ mice. Further, in CD28−/− mice, LCMV-specific memory CD8 T cells showed normal homeostatic proliferation in vivo and also conferred protective immunity. Therefore, CD28 signaling is not necessary for the proliferative renewal and maintenance of memory CD8 T cells.