Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Association of the Co-stimulatory Molecules Polymorphisms with CMV Infection in Liver Transplant Recipients

Background: Co-stimulatory molecules play a critical role in regulating T-cell function during CMV infection after liver transplantation. Objective: To investigate the relationship between the polymorphisms of the co-stimulatory genes and the susceptibility to CMV infection after liver transplantation. Methods: Single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in PD-1 gene (PD1.1 A/G, PD1.3 A/G, PD1.9 C/T) ICOS (-693 A/G, 1720 C/T), CTLA-4 gene (318 C/T, 1722 T/C, 1661 A/G, 49 A/G) and CD28 (+17 C/T) were analyzed by PCR-RFLP in 70 liver transplant patients. CMV infection was determined in these patients by antigenemia test. Results: CTLA-4 49G showed significant association with CMV infection (p=0.03, OR=3.82, 95% CI: 0–3.5; p=0.01, OR=004, 95% CI: 0–1.3). G and T alleles in CTLA-4 gene (318 C/T and 1661 A/G) (p=0.03, OR=0, 95% CI: 0–3.5; p=0.01, OR=0.04, 95% CI: 0–1.3) were significantly higher in CMV-infected rejector group. Conclusion: CTLA-4 have significant role in CMV pathogenesis and rejection among CMV-positive liver transplant patients.
Towards the capacity region of multiplicative linear operator broadcast channels

Recent research indicates that packet transmission employing random linear network coding can be regarded as transmitting subspaces over a linear operator channel (LOC). In this paper we propose the framework of linear operator broadcast channels (LOBCs) to model packet broadcasting over LOCs, and we do initial work on the capacity region of constant-dimension multiplicative LOBCs (CMLOBCs), a generalization of broadcast erasure channels. Two fundamental problems regarding CMLOBCs are addressed-finding necessary and sufficient conditions for degradation and deciding whether time sharing suffices to achieve the boundary of the capacity region in the degraded case.
An axiomatic basis for computer programming

In this paper an attempt is made to explore the logical foundations of computer programming by use of techniques which were first applied in the study of geometry and have later been extended to other branches of mathematics. This involves the elucidation of sets of axioms and rules of inference which can be used in proofs of the properties of computer programs. Examples are given of such axioms and rules, and a formal proof of a simple theorem is displayed. Finally, it is argued that important advantages, both theoretical and practical, may follow from a pursuance of these topics.
Subcutaneous Versus Submuscular Anterior Transposition of the Ulnar Nerve for Cubital Tunnel Syndrome

Abstract Subcutaneous and submuscular anterior ulnar nerve transposition have been widely used in patients with cubital tunnel syndrome. However, the reliable evidence in favor of 1 of 2 surgical options on clinical improvement remains controversial. To maximize the value of the available literature, we performed a systematic review and meta-analysis to compare subcutaneous versus submuscular anterior ulnar nerve transposition in patients with ulnar neuropathy at the elbow. PubMed, Cochrane Library, and EMBASE databases were searched for randomized and observational studies that compared subcutaneous transposition with submuscular transposition of ulnar nerve for cubital tunnel syndrome. The primary outcome was clinically relevant improvement in function compared to the baseline. Randomized and observational studies were separately analyzed with relative risks (RRs) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs). Two randomized controlled trials (RCTs) and 7 observational studies, involving 605 patients, were included. Our meta-analysis suggested that no significant differences in the primary outcomes were observed between comparison groups, both in RCT (RR, 1.16; 95% CI 0.68–1.98; P = 0.60; I2 = 81%) and observational studies (RR, 1.01; 95% CI 0.95–1.08; P = 0.69; I2 = 0%). These findings were also consistent with all subgroup analyses for observational studies. In the secondary outcomes, the incidence of adverse events was significantly lower in subcutaneous group than in submuscular group (RR, 0.54; 95% CI 0.33–0.87; P = 0.01; I2 = 0%), whereas subcutaneous transposition failed to reveal more superiority than submuscular transposition in static two-point discrimination (MD, 0.04; 95% CI −0.18–0.25; P = 0.74; I2 = 0%). The available evidence is not adequately powered to identify the best anterior ulnar nerve transposition technique for cubital tunnel syndrome on the basis of clinical outcomes, that is, suggests that subcutaneous and submuscular anterior transposition might be equally effective in terms of postoperative clinical improvement. However, differences in clinical outcomes metrics should be noted, and these findings largely rely on the outcomes data from observational studies that are potentially subject to a high risk of selection bias. Therefore, more high-quality and adequately powered RCTs with standardized clinical outcomes metrics are necessary for proper comparison of these techniques.
Reinforcement learning of a motor skill for wearing a T-shirt using topology coordinates

This article focuses on learning motor skills for anthropomorphic robots that must interact with non-rigid materials to perform such tasks as wearing clothes, turning socks inside out, and applying bandages. We propose a novel reinforcement learning framework for learning motor skills that interact with non-rigid materials. Our learning framework focuses on the topological relationship between the configuration of the robot and the non-rigid material based on the consideration that most details of the material (e.g. wrinkles) are not important for performing the motor tasks. This focus allows us to define the task performance and provide reward signals based on a low-dimensional variable, i.e. topology coordinates, in a real environment using reliable sensors. We constructed an experimental setting with an anthropomorphic dual-arm robot and a tailor-made T-shirt for it. To demonstrate the feasibility of our framework, a robot performed a T-shirt wearing task, whose goal was to put both of its arms into the corresponding sleeves of the T-shirt. The robot acquired sequential movements that put both of its arms into the T-shirt.
Parameter Estimation in Large Dynamic Paired Comparison Experiments

Paired comparison data in which the abilities or merits of the objects being compared may be changing over time can be modelled as a non‐linear state space model. When the population of objects being compared is large, likelihood‐based analyses can be too computationally cumbersome to carry out regularly. This presents a problem for rating populations of chess players and other large groups which often consist of tens of thousands of competitors. This problem is overcome through a computationally simple non‐iterative algorithm for fitting a particular dynamic paired comparison model. The algorithm, which improves over the commonly used algorithm of Elo by incorporating the variability in parameter estimates, can be performed regularly even for large populations of competitors. The method is evaluated on simulated data and is applied to ranking the best chess players of all time, and to ranking the top current tennis‐players.
Some results on channel capacity when using multiple antennas

Recent research has demonstrated that the capacity of a multipath-rich channel (such as indoor channel) is dramatically increased when antenna arrays are used at both transmitter and receiver. This is achieved by using the multipath to create parallel sub-channels. This ability to achieve parallelism in the channel is influenced by how much information about the channel is known at the transmitter, the structure of the channel, and the structure of the arrays. This paper discusses the influence of the transmitter's knowledge of the channel on capacity, presents closed-form solutions for capacity when there are two paths in the channel, and then presents numerical results based on simulations. For the two-path case, the simulation data compare capacity based on differing assumptions about the transmitter, and compare different array structures. Simulation results are also presented for random channels generated using a statistical model for indoor multipath propagation.
Optimizing compilers for the SPARC architecture-an overview

The authors discuss the user programming model for the scalable processor architecture (SPARC) and the optimizing compilers for the SPARC-based Sun-4 workstations. They are concerned with two broad areas: how the compilers use the architecture and the design of the compilers themselves. They discuss the registers, synthesized instructions, tagged data support, the compilers, the global and peephole optimizers, and compiler performance analysis. <<ETX>>
Diffuse Alternatives and the Lindley “ Paradox ” 159 7 Is the Stock Market Efficient ?

Much of economists’ statistical work centers on testing hypotheses in which parameter values are partitioned between a null hypothesis and an alternative hypothesis in order to distinguish two views about the world. Our traditional procedures are based on the probabilities of a test statistic under the null but ignore what the statistics say about the probability of the test statistic under the alternative. Traditional procedures are not intended to provide evidence for the relative probabilities of the null versus alternative hypotheses, but are regularly treated as if they do. Unfortunately, when used to distinguish two views of the world, traditional procedures can lead to wildly misleading inference. In order to correctly distinguish between two views of the world, one needs to report the probabilities of the hypotheses given parameter estimates rather than the probability of the parameter estimates given the hypotheses. This monograph shows why failing to consider the alternative hypothesis often leads to incorrect conclusions. I show that for most standard econometric estimators, it is not difficult to compute the proper probabilities using Bayes theorem. Simple formulas that require only information already available in standard estimation reports are provided. I emphasize that frequentist approaches for deciding between the null and alternative hypothesis are not free of priors. Rather, the usual procedures involve an implicit, unstated prior that is likely to be far from scientifically neutral. R. Startz. Choosing the More Likely Hypothesis. Foundations and Trends R © in Econometrics, vol. 7, no. 2, pp. 119–189, 2014. DOI: 10.1561/0800000028.
Full-chip interconnect power estimation and simulation considering concurrent repeater and flip-flop insertion

In this paper, we study the full-chip interconnect power modeling. We show that repeater insertion is no longer sufficient to achieve the target frequencies specified by ITRS, and develop concurrent repeater and FF insertion schemes. Considering structural interconnects, layer assignment and concurrent repeater and FF insertion for delay specification, we develop a cycle-accurate microarchitecture-level interconnect power simulation. The simulation reduces the over-estimation by up to 2.46X compared to power estimation based on purely stochastic interconnects and fixed switching factor. Furthermore, we show that interconnect pipelining has a lower IPC but can improve throughput by up to 2.03X. This indicates that the traditional design flow optimizing IPC and clock frequency separately may no longer be valid.
Elicitor-Induced Cinnamyl Alcohol Dehydrogenase Activity in Lignifying Wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) Leaves

The substrate-specific induction of wheat (Triticum aestivum L. cv Fenman) leaf cinnamyl alcohol dehydrogenase (CAD, EC 1.1.1.195) was examined in relation to its role in regulating the composition of defensive lignin induced at wound margins. Treatment of wounds with a partially acetylated chitosan hydrolysate or spores of the nonpathogen Botrytis cinerea elicited lignification at wound margins and invoked significant increases in phenylalanine ammonia-lyase (EC 4.3.1.5), peroxidase (EC 1.11.1.7), and CAD activities. The substrate-specific induction of CAD with time was determined in elicitor-treated leaves and in excised lignifying wounds. In whole leaf extracts no significant increases in p-cou-maryl and coniferyl alcohol dehydrogenase activities were detectable, but a significant 5-fold increase in sinapyl alcohol dehydrogenase activity was evident 32 h after elicitor treatment. Similarly, fungal challenge resulted in elevated levels of only sinapyl alcohol dehydrogenase in whole-leaf extracts. In excised lignifying tissues p-coumaryl alcohol dehydrogenase levels were similar to those observed in healthy tissue. A small yet significant increase in coniferyl alcohol dehydrogenase was apparent, but the most dramatic increase occurred in sinapyl alcohol dehydrogenase activity, which increased to values approximately 10 times higher than the untreated controls. Our results show for the first time that CAD induction in lignifying tissues of wheat is predominantly attributable to highly localized increases in sinapyl alcohol dehydrogenase activity.
Elements of style

The human perception of stylistic similarity transcends structure and function: for instance, a bed and a dresser may share a common style. An algorithmically computed style similarity measure that mimics human perception can benefit a range of computer graphics applications. Previous work in style analysis focused on shapes within the same class, and leveraged structural similarity between these shapes to facilitate analysis. In contrast, we introduce the first structure-transcending style similarity measure and validate it to be well aligned with human perception of stylistic similarity. Our measure is inspired by observations about style similarity in art history literature, which point to the presence of similarly shaped, salient, geometric elements as one of the key indicators of stylistic similarity. We translate these observations into an algorithmic measure by first quantifying the geometric properties that make humans perceive geometric elements as similarly shaped and salient in the context of style, then employing this quantification to detect pairs of matching style related elements on the analyzed models, and finally collating the element-level geometric similarity measurements into an object-level style measure consistent with human perception. To achieve this consistency we employ crowdsourcing to quantify the different components of our measure; we learn the relative perceptual importance of a range of elementary shape distances and other parameters used in our measurement from 50K responses to cross-structure style similarity queries provided by over 2500 participants.We train and validate our method on this dataset, showing it to successfully predict relative style similarity with near 90% accuracy based on 10-fold cross-validation.
Detection and analysis of near-miss software clones

Software clones are considered harmful in software maintenance and evolution. However, despite a decade of active research, there is a marked lack of work in the detection and analysis of near-miss software clones, those where minor to extensive modifications have been made to the copied fragments. In this thesis, we advance the state-of-the-art in clone detection and analysis in several ways. First, we develop a hybrid clone detection method. Second, we address the decade of vagueness in clone definition by proposing a metamodel of clone types. Third, we conduct a scenario-based comparison and evaluation of all of the currently available clone detection techniques and tools. Fourth, in order to evaluate and compare the available tools in a realistic setting, we develop a mutation-based framework that automatically and efficiently measures (and compares) the recall and precision of clone detection tools. Fifth, we conduct a large scale empirical study of cloning in open source systems.
X 6-DoF Navigation Systems for Autonomous Underwater Vehicles

Navigation is one of the most critical factors in determining the operational suitability of any unmanned vehicle for its designated environment. In fully autonomous vehicles, due to the lack of a human operator to perform the navigation task, there is a fundamental requirement to incorporate estimation techniques that can provide the desired information necessary for navigation. Such information includes position, attitude, and velocity of the vehicle. In most vehicles, estimating this information is a relatively straight forward process due to the information available from the measurement sensors, particularly position information from Global Positioning System (GPS) sensors. This chapter will focus on the more difficult problem of navigation, particularly positioning, where GPS reception is limited or non-existent. One example where GPS is only partially available is the case of an Autonomous Underwater Vehicle (AUV) where the vehicle is forced to use dead-reckoning in between GPS sightings in order to navigate accurately. Though an underwater environment is used within the context of this example, the techniques examined can be equally applied anywhere where GPS reception is compromised by other electromagnetically opaque mediums, satellite availability or even deliberate denial. When using dead reckoning, due to the integrative nature of the position estimate, the error of the position estimate will grow unbounded. The growth in this error is caused by errors in the velocity and attitude estimates which are in turn affected by the accuracy of the navigational filter and the accuracies of the measurements observing these states. The accuracy of the measurement sensors is typically related to cost, thus some of the effects can be negated through more precise (expensive) equipment. For a given cost the single biggest factor affecting the accuracy of the navigational estimate is the navigation filter itself. There have been numerous papers on the accuracy of various algorithms employed in the generic problem of state estimation (Arulampalam et al., 2001). Research pertaining to navigation algorithms for underwater vehicles have almost exclusively concentrated on ways to improve positioning accuracy below the surface through the use of ranging information other than GPS (Caiti et al., 2004). The methodology most prevalent in the literature is Simultaneous Localization And Mapping (SLAM) (Choset & Nagatani, 2001; Dissanayake et al., 2001)where information used for mapping, such as sonar ‘pings’, is fed 23
Learning networks for tornado detection

In this paper, different types of learning networks, such as artificial neural networks (ANNs), Bayesian neural networks (BNNs), support vector machines (SVMs) and minimax probability machines (MPMs) are applied for tornado detection. The last two approaches utilize kernel methods to address non-linearity of the data in the input space. All methods are applied to detect when tornadoes occur, using variables based on radar derived velocity data and month number. Computational results indicate that BNNs are more accurate for tornado detection over a suite of forecast evaluation indices.
Social Media and Emergency Services?: Interview Study on Current and Potential Use in 7 European Countries

Social media is much just used for private as well as business purposes, obviously, also during emergencies. Emergency services are often confronted with the amount of information from social media and might consider using them-or not using them. This article highlights the perception of emergency services on social media during emergencies. Within their European research project EMERGENT, the authors therefore conducted an interview study with emergency service staff N=11 from seven European countries and eight different cities. Their results highlight the current and potential use of social media, the emergency service's participation in research on social media as well as current challenges, benefits and future plans.
Multiple-Input Multiple-Output Gaussian Broadcast Channels With Confidential Messages

This paper considers the problem of secret communication over a two-receiver multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) Gaussian broadcast channel. The transmitter has two independent messages, each of which is intended for one of the receivers but needs to be kept asymptotically perfectly secret from the other. It is shown that, surprisingly, under a matrix power constraint, both messages can be simultaneously transmitted at their respective maximal secrecy rates. To prove this result, the MIMO Gaussian wiretap channel is revisited and a new characterization of its secrecy capacity is provided via a new coding scheme that uses artificial noise (an additive prefix channel) and random binning.
The Third Pole of the Sense of Presence: Comparing Virtual and Imagery Spaces

As Biocca pointed out, the “two poles model“ of presence has only considered the virtual and pyshical spaces, but not the imaginary spaces. This work is aimed at comparing the sense of presence between virtual and imaginary environments. 100 participants were randomly assigned to one of the two conditions (imagined versus virtual spaces) and the subjective sense of presence was measured in three moments (begining, middle, and end). Results indicate that the participants in “imagery” spaces indicated a decrease of their sense of presence, whereas the opposite occurs in participants in “virtual” spaces. Imagination seems not to be a long-lasting procedure to elicit presence. However, VR helps users to stay there as time goes by. That is, it provides a “physical” context in which the self can be placed.
Intercellular calcium signaling via gap junctions in glioma cells

Calcium signaling in C6 glioma cells in culture was examined with digital fluorescence video microscopy. C6 cells express low levels of the gap junction protein connexin43 and have correspondingly weak gap junctional communication as evidenced by dye coupling (Naus, C. C. G., J. F. Bechberger, S. Caveney, and J. X. Wilson. 1991. Neurosci. Lett. 126:33-36). Transfection of C6 cells with the cDNA encoding connexin43 resulted in clones with increased expression of connexin43 mRNA and protein and increased dye coupling, as well as markedly reduced rates of proliferation (Zhu, D., S. Caveney, G. M. Kidder, and C. C. Naus. 1991. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA. 88:1883-1887; Naus, C. C. G., D. Zhu, S. Todd, and G. M. Kidder. 1992. Cell Mol. Neurobiol. 12:163-175). Mechanical stimulation of a single cell in a culture of non-transfected C6 cells induced a wave of increased intracellular calcium concentration ([Ca2+]i) that showed little or no communication to adjacent cells. By contrast, mechanical stimulation of a single cell in cultures of C6 clones expressing transfected connexin43 cDNA induced a Ca2+ wave that was communicated to multiple surrounding cells, and the extent of communication was proportional to the level of expression of the connexin43 cDNA. These results provide direct evidence that intercellular Ca2+ signaling occurs via gap junctions. Ca2+ signaling through gap junctions may provide a means for the coordinated regulation of cellular function, including cell growth and differentiation.