Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Differentiation forwarding with hotspot

Social-based forwarding is one of the most interesting and significant topics in opportunistic networks. Whereas this scheme brings us a lot of opportunities and poses new challenges as well, due to the unique features such as the intermittently connected environment and the multi-properties pertaining to each node e.g., the centrality and similarity. In this paper, we focus on the following questions: 1 Can we effectively evaluate node centrality and similarity in dynamic environment? ; 2 Can we quickly and adaptively differentiate them only based on nodes' local observations? ; 3 How does our method improve opportunistic forwarding? We propose DifferHot, a three-phase architecture for not only evaluating effectively but also adjusting adaptively the weight for centrality and similarity in social opportunistic scenarios. With the great advantage of this differentiated forwarding scheme, DifferHot helps considerably in reducing up to seven times and four times overhead in Prophet and MobySpace, respectively, while keeping delivery ratio sufficiently close to that by Epidemic.
Exploiting accelerometers to improve movement classification for prosthetics

Recent studies have explored the integration of additional input modalities to improve myoelectric control of prostheses. Arm dynamics in particular are an interesting option, as these can be measured easily by means of accelerometers. In this work, the benefit of accelerometer signals is demonstrated on a large scale movement classification task, consisting of 40 hand and wrist movements obtained from 20 subjects. The results demonstrate that the accelerometer modality is indeed highly informative and even outperforms surface electromyography in terms of classification accuracy. The highest accuracy, however, is obtained when both modalities are integrated in a multi-modal classifier.
Parallel Monte Carlo methods for physical mapping of chromosomes

Reconstructing a physical map of a chromosome from a genomic library presents a central computational problem in genetics. Physical map reconstruction in the presence of errors is a problem of high, computational complexity. Parallel Monte Carlo methods for a maximum likelihood estimation-based approach to physical map reconstruction are presented. The estimation procedure entails gradient descent search for determining the optimal spacings between probes for a given probe ordering. The optimal probe ordering is determined using a simulated Monte Carlo algorithm. A two-tier parallelization. strategy is proposed wherein the gradient descent search is parallelized at the lower level and the simulated Monte Carlo algorithm is simultaneously parallelized at the higher level. Implementation and experimental results on a network of shared-memory symmetric multiprocessors (SMP) are presented.
The Development of Murine Plasmacytoid Dendritic Cell Precursors Is Differentially Regulated by FLT3-ligand and Granulocyte/Macrophage Colony-Stimulating Factor

Plasmacytoid predendritic cells or type 1 interferon (IFN)-producing cells (IPCs) have recently been identified in mice. Although culture systems giving rise to different murine dendritic cell subsets have been established, the developmental regulation of murine plasmacytoid IPCs and the culture conditions leading to their generation remain unknown. Here we show that large numbers of over 40% pure CD11c+CD11b−B220+Gr-1+ IPCs can be generated from mouse bone marrow cultures with FLT3-ligand. By contrast GM-CSF or TNF-α, which promote the generation of CD11c+CD11b+B220− myeloid DCs, block completely the development of IPCs. IPCs generated display similar features to human IPCs, such as the plasmacytoid morphology, the ability to produce large amounts of IFN-α in responses to herpes simplex virus, and the capacity to respond to ligands for Toll-like receptor 9 (TLR-9; CpG ODN 1668), but not to ligands for TLR-4 (lipopolysaccharide [LPS]). Unlike human IPCs which produce little IL-12p70, mouse IPCs produce IL-12p70 in response to CpG ODN 1668 and herpes simplex virus. This study demonstrates that the development of murine CD11c+CD11b−B220+Gr-1+ IPCs and CD11c+CD11b+B220− myeloid DCs is differentially regulated by FLT3-ligand and granulocyte/macrophage colony-stimulating factor. Human IPCs and mouse IPCs display different ability to produce IL-12p70. Large numbers of mouse IPCs can now be obtained from total bone marrow culture.
ECG Denoising and Compression Using a Modified Extended Kalman Filter Structure

This paper presents efficient denoising and lossy compression schemes for electrocardiogram (ECG) signals based on a modified extended Kalman filter (EKF) structure. We have used a previously introduced two-dimensional EKF structure and modified its governing equations to be extended to a 17-dimensional case. The new EKF structure is used not only for denoising, but also for compression, since it provides estimation for each of the new 15 model parameters. Using these specific parameters, the signal is reconstructed with regard to the dynamical equations of the model. The performances of the proposed method are evaluated using standard denoising and compression efficiency measures. For denosing, the SNR improvement criterion is used, while for compression, we have considered the compression ratio (CR), the percentage area difference (PAD), and the weighted diagnostic distortion (WDD) measure. Several Massachusetts Institute of Technology-Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center (MIT-BIH) ECG databases are used for performance evaluation. Simulation results illustrate that both applications can contribute to and enhance the clinical ECG data denoising and compression performance. For denoising, an average SNR improvement of 10.16 dB was achieved, which is 1.8 dB more than the next benchmark methods such as MAB WT or EKF2. For compression, the algorithm was extended to include more than five Gaussian kernels. Results show a typical average CR of 11.37:1 with WDD < 1.73 %. Consequently, the proposed framework is suitable for a hybrid system that integrates these algorithmic approaches for clean ECG data storage or transmission scenarios with high output SNRs, high CRs, and low distortions.
Energy detection based spectrum sensing in cognitive radio networks over spatially-correlated channels

The well-known energy detector, due to its simplicity, has been proposed as an efficient spectrum sensing method for cognitive radio networks. However, shadowing and fading degrade performance of energy detector. In this paper, to combat these effects, we exploit multiple antennas for each user and cooperation among users. Moreover, we consider spatial correlation among users as well as among antennas to evaluate the method in a realistic environment. From simulation results, it can be found that two secondary users (SUs) each having three antennas show a better performance than a single SU with twenty antennas.
Code generation in the polyhedral model is easier than you think

Many advances in automatic parallelization and optimization have been achieved through the polyhedral model. It has been extensively shown that this computational model provides convenient abstractions to reason about and apply program transformations. Nevertheless, the complexity of code generation has long been a deterrent for using polyhedral representation in optimizing compilers. First, code generators have a hard time coping with generated code size and control overhead that may spoil theoretical benefits achieved by the transformations. Second, this step is usually time consuming, hampering the integration of the polyhedral framework in production compilers or feedback-directed, iterative optimization schemes. Moreover, current code generation algorithms only cover a restrictive set of possible transformation functions. This paper discusses a general transformation framework able to deal with nonunimodular, noninvertible, nonintegral or even nonuniform functions. It presents several improvements to a state-of-the-art code generation algorithm. Two directions are explored: generated code size and code generator efficiency. Experimental evidence proves the ability of the improved method to handle real-life problems.
Common Variants within MECP2 Confer Risk of Systemic Lupus Erythematosus

Systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) is a predominantly female autoimmune disease that affects multiple organ systems. Herein, we report on an X-chromosome gene association with SLE. Methyl-CpG-binding protein 2 (MECP2) is located on chromosome Xq28 and encodes for a protein that plays a critical role in epigenetic transcriptional regulation of methylation-sensitive genes. Utilizing a candidate gene association approach, we genotyped 21 SNPs within and around MECP2 in SLE patients and controls. We identify and replicate association between SLE and the genomic element containing MECP2 in two independent SLE cohorts from two ethnically divergent populations. These findings are potentially related to the overexpression of methylation-sensitive genes in SLE.
Intensive Short-Term Dynamic Psychotherapy: Theory and Technique

The Integration of Theory and Technique in Davanloo's Intensive Short-Term Dynamic Psychotherapy. The Trial Therapy. Working with Defenses. Restructuring Regressive Defenses. Facilitating Grief. Working with Positive and Erotic Feelings. Working Through toward Character Change. Termination and Follow-Up. References. Indexes.
Examining Caregiver Appraisal of Functional Capacity in Family Members with Dementia

vii Chapter I: Introduction 1 Alzheimer’s Disease and Related Dementia 1 The Role of Families in the Care of People with Dementia 3 Caregiver Appraisal of Functional Capacity in People with Dementia 4 Proposed Papers using Secondary Data Analysis 6 Psychometric evaluation of the Functional Capacity Card Sort. 7 Factors associated with caregiver appraisal of functional capacity in people with dementia. 7 Home environmental conditions and caregiver appraisal of functional capacity in people with dementia. 8 Summary 8 Chapter II: Psychometric Evaluation of the Functional Capacity Card Sort: Measuring Caregiver Appraisal of Functional Capacity in Persons with Dementia 10 Cognitive Disabilities Model 12 Study Purpose and Research Questions 15 Literature Review 16 Content Development of the Functional Capacity Card Sort 22 Development 22 Field testing 24 Refinement 25 Confirmation 25 Methods 26 Description of data set 26 Participants 27 Measures 27 Caregiver Appraisal of Function and Upset (CAFU) 27 Neuropsychiatric Inventory (NPI) 28 Content Validity Questionnaire 28 Data Analysis 29 Results 30 Sample characteristics 30 Construct validity 31 Interrater reliability 33
Revisiting a recent resource-efficient technique for increasing the throughput of stream ciphers

At CT-RSA 2014, Armknecht and Mikhalev presented a new technique for increasing the throughput of stream ciphers that are based on Feedback Shift Registers (FSRs) which requires practically no additional memory. The authors provided concise sufficient conditions for the applicability of this technique and demonstrated its usefulness on the stream cipher Grain-128. However, as these conditions are quite involved, the authors raised as an open question if and to what extent this technique can be applied to other ciphers as well. In this work, we revisit this technique and examine its applicability to other stream ciphers. On the one hand we show on the example of Grain-128a that the technique can be successfully applied to other ciphers as well. On the other hand we list several stream ciphers where the technique is not applicable for different structural reasons.
Epigenetic reprogramming in somatic cells induced by extract from germinal vesicle stage pig oocytes

Genomic reprogramming factors in the cytoplasm of germinal vesicle (GV) stage oocytes have been shown to improve the efficiency of producing cloned mouse offspring through the exposure of nuclei to a GV cytoplasmic extract prior to somatic cell nuclear transfer (SCNT) to enucleated oocytes. Here, we developed an extract of GV stage pig oocytes (GVcyto-extract) to investigate epigenetic reprogramming events in treated somatic cell nuclei. This extract induced differentiation-associated changes in fibroblasts, resulting in cells that exhibit pluripotent stem cell-like characteristics and that redifferentiate into three primary germ cell layers both in vivo and in vitro. The GVcyto-extract treatment induced large numbers of high-quality SCNT-generated blastocysts, with methylation and acetylation of H3-K9 and expression of Oct4 and Nanog at levels similar to in vitro fertilized embryos. Thus, GVcyto-extract could elicit differentiation plasticity in treated fibroblasts, and SCNT-mediated reprogramming reset the epigenetic state in treated cells more efficiently than in untreated cells. In summary, we provide evidence for the generation of stem-like cells from differentiated somatic cells by treatment with porcine GVcyto-extract.
KHATT: Arabic Offline Handwritten Text Database

In this paper, we report our comprehensive Arabic offline Handwritten Text database (KHATT) after completion of the collection of 1000 handwritten forms written by 1000 writers from different countries. It is composed of an image database containing images of the written text at 200, 300, and 600 dpi resolutions, a manually verified ground truth database that contains meta-data describing the written text at the page, paragraph, and line levels. A formal verification procedure is implemented to align the handwritten text with its ground truth at the form, paragraph and line levels. Tools to extract paragraphs from pages and segment paragraphs into lines are developed. Preliminary experiments on Arabic handwritten text recognition are conducted using sample data from the database and the results are reported. The database will be made freely available to researchers world-wide for research in various handwritten-related problems such as text recognition, writer identification and verification, etc.
Improving Exploration in Deep Reinforcement Learning

—Deep learning has begun to demonstrate great success in reinforcement learning, as deep networks trained using Q-learning have recently shown exceptional performance on a range of Atari video games. However, this approach succeeds only on games for which the major challenge is representational, which can be overcome with deep learning. On many games, performance is still quite poor because the system has no sophisticated means for balancing exploration and exploitation, i.e. deciding when to act in a way that reduces uncertainty about the environment, and when to act in a way that maximises performance. This project looks to develop improved mechanisms of exploration for deep reinforcement learning. The main approach starting from (cid:15) -greedy methods is to build on existing reinforcement learning methods to improve exploration and ﬁnd ways to make them scalable in a deep reinforcement learning framework.
The N-terminal cytoplasmic region of NCBE displays features of an intrinsic disordered structure and represents a novel target for specific drug screening

The sodium dependent bicarbonate transporter NCBE/NBCn2 is predominantly expressed in the central nervous system (CNS). The highest protein concentrations are found in the choroid plexus. The primary function of this integral plasma membrane transport protein is to regulate intracellular neuronal pH and also probably to maintain the pH homeostasis across the blood-cerebrospinal fluid barrier. NCBE is predicted to contain at least 10 transmembrane helices. The N- and C- termini are both cytoplasmic, with a large N-terminal domain (Nt-NCBE) and a relatively small C-terminal domain (Ct-NCBE). The Nt-NCBE is likely to be involved in bicarbonate recognition and transport and contains key areas of regulation involving pH sensing and protein-protein interactions. Intrinsic disordered protein regions (IDPRs) are defined as protein regions having no rigid three-dimensional structure under physiological conditions. They are believed to be involved in signaling networks in which specific, low affinity, protein-protein interactions play an important role. We predict that NCBE and other SoLute Carrier 4 (SLC4) family members have a high level of intrinsic disorder in their cytoplasmic regions. To provide biophysical evidence for the IDPRs predicted in Nt-NCBE, we produced pure (>99%), recombinant Nt-NCBE using E. coli as the expression host. The protein was used to perform differential scanning fluorescence spectroscopy (DSF), in order to search for small molecules that would induce secondary or tertiary structure in the IDPRs. We expect this to assist the development of selective pharmaceutical compounds against individual SLC4 family members. We have also determined a low resolution (4 Å) X-ray crystal structure of the N-terminal core domain. The N-terminal cytoplasmic domain (cdb3) of anion exchanger 1 (AE1) shares a similar fold with the N-terminal core domain of NCBE. Crystallization conditions for the full-length N-terminal domain have been sought, but only the core domain yields diffracting crystals.
Clinical risk factors, DNA variants, and the development of type 2 diabetes.

* A total of 15.6% of the 10,600 subjects in the Malmö cohort were reclassified into categories that more accurately reflected the observed risk than the category to which they were originally assigned. The observed risk (shown in parentheses) is for the median follow-up time of 24.8 years. To the Editor: With the availability of strong evidence that prevention of type 2 diabetes among people at high risk for the disease might be feasible,1 the interest in identifying people at high risk who might benefit from interventions is topical. Using 28 years of follow-up data from the Framingham Offspring Study, Meigs et al. (Nov. 20 issue)2 found that a combination of simple clinical measures (age, sex, presence or absence of a family history, body-mass index, fasting glucose level, systolic blood pressure, high-density lipoprotein cholesterol level, and triglyceride level) can predict the incidence of future type 2 diabetes with an accuracy of 90%. The addition of information from genotyping did not improve the prediction. The accompanying article by Lyssenko et al. from Sweden and Finland3 presents similar findings. Taken together, all of the evidence suggests that policy should emphasize the use of existing knowledge to both identify people who are at risk for diabetes and to aggressively implement measures for primary prevention. We have simple, reliable means to identify people who are at risk and powerful interventions to prevent or delay progression to diabetes. The disproportionate attention and resources dedicated to finding the genes are skewing priorities away from what we can currently accomplish.
Improved Query Topic Models via Pseudo-Relevant Pólya Document Models

Query-expansion via pseudo-relevance feedback is a popular method of overcoming the problem of vocabulary mismatch and of increasing average retrieval effectiveness. In this paper, we develop a new method that estimates a query topic model from a set of pseudo-relevant documents using a new language modelling framework. We assume that documents are generated via a mixture of multivariate Polya distributions, and we show that by identifying the topical terms in each document, we can appropriately select terms that are likely to belong to the query topic model. The results of experiments on several TREC collections show that the new approach compares favourably to current state-of-the-art expansion methods.
Vitamin, Mineral, and Specialty Supplements and Risk of Hematologic Malignancies in the Prospective VITamins And Lifestyle (VITAL) Study

Background: Increasing evidence suggests that nutrients from fruits and vegetables have chemoprotective effects on various cancers including hematologic malignancies, but the effects of nutritional supplements are poorly examined. Methods: Herein, we prospectively evaluated the association of vitamin, mineral, and specialty supplements with incident hematologic malignancies in 66,227 men and women aged 50 to 76 years from Washington State recruited from year 2000 to 2002 to the VITamins And Lifestyle (VITAL) cohort study. Hematologic malignancies cases (n = 588) were identified through December 2008 by linkage to the Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results (SEER) cancer registry. HRs and 95% CIs associated with supplement use were estimated with Cox proportional hazards models. Results: After adjustment, high use of garlic supplements [≥4 days per week for ≥3 years; HR = 0.55 (95% CI = 0.34–0.87); Ptrend = 0.028] and ever use of grape seed supplements [HR = 0.57 (95% CI = 0.37–0.88)] were inversely associated with hematologic malignancies in our models. In addition, high use (8–10 pill-years) of multivitamins was suggestive of an inverse association [HR = 0.80 (95% CI = 0.64–1.01)]. In contrast, no associations were observed for the remaining supplements. Conclusions: These data indicate that the use of garlic and grape seed may be associated with reduced risk of hematologic malignancies. Impact: This is the first cohort study to suggest a possible role of these supplements in the chemoprevention of hematologic malignancies. Cancer Epidemiol Biomarkers Prev; 20(10); 2298–308. ©2011 AACR.
Device-independent quantum key distribution secure against collective attacks

Device-independent quantum key distribution (DIQKD) represents a relaxation of the security assumptions made in usual quantum key distribution (QKD). As in usual QKD, the security of DIQKD follows from the laws of quantum physics, but contrary to usual QKD, it does not rely on any assumptions about the internal working of the quantum devices used in the protocol. In this paper, we present in detail the security proof for a DIQKD protocol introduced in Acín et al (2008 Phys. Rev. Lett. 98 230501). This proof exploits the full structure of quantum theory (as opposed to other proofs that exploit only the no-signaling principle), but only holds against collective attacks, where the eavesdropper is assumed to act on the quantum systems of the honest parties independently and identically in each round of the protocol (although she can act coherently on her systems at any time). The security of any DIQKD protocol necessarily relies on the violation of a Bell inequality. We discuss the issue of loopholes in Bell experiments in this context.
The effect of personality traits on private brand consumer tendencies

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to investigate the association between three personality traits (individualism, materialism and the “need for cognition”) and two characteristics of shoppers who buy private‐label brands (their predisposition to do so, and the importance they attach to the “brand dimensions”) across four member countries of the Union of the Mediterranean.Design/methodology/approach – A questionnaire in the local language, using questions, items and scales adapted from previous studies, was completed by 683 undergraduate students. The scaled data were analysed by SPSS, and tested for internal reliability and equivalence.Findings – Overall, the personality traits were significantly associated with both behavioural characteristics. Specifically, materialism and the need for cognition were linked to inclination to purchase private brands, and materialism and individualism to the perceived importance of brand dimensions. Cross‐cultural differences were found.Originality/value – The demogr.