Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Restoration mechanisms based on tunable lasers for handling channel and link failures in optical WDM networks

In this paper, we study restoration mechanisms to handle channel and link failures in an optical WDM wavelength-routed wide-area backbone network based on a mesh topology. The solution uses a small number of tunable lasers per link to provide restoration capability. In addition to link failures, we consider individual channel failures link-level mechanisms are presented: redirection algorithm (RDA) and disjoint path algorithm (DPA). These mechanisms use WDM-specific link information to compute the link restoration routes. We present results based on discrete-event simulations to understand the performance of the proposed mechanisms, in terms of restoration efficiency and restoration times. The results show that for networks of varying size and node degree with 32 wavelengths on each link, using as few as 8 tunable lasers per link provides good restoration efficiency under moderate traffic load. which might occur when one or more transceivers fail at the source of the lightpath or due to a failure in the switch fabric. Restoration is first attempted using the tunable lasers to transmit on the failed wavelengths. If all the failed lightpaths cannot be restored using the tunable lasers, unused wavelengths on the same link are used (this requires optical wavelength conversion at the nodes). For the remaining lightpaths requiring restoration, link-level restoration mechanisms are attempted. Two different
Increased age of transformed mouse neural progenitor/stem cells recapitulates age‐dependent clinical features of human glioma malignancy

Increasing age is the most robust predictor of greater malignancy and treatment resistance in human gliomas. However, the adverse association of clinical course with aging is rarely considered in animal glioma models, impeding delineation of the relative importance of organismal versus progenitor cell aging in the genesis of glioma malignancy. To address this limitation, we implanted transformed neural stem/progenitor cells (NSPCs), the presumed cells of glioma origin, from 3‐ and 18‐month‐old mice into 3‐ and 20‐month host animals. Transplantation with progenitors from older animals resulted in significantly shorter (P ≤ 0.0001) median survival in both 3‐month (37.5 vs. 83 days) and 20‐month (38 vs. 67 days) hosts, indicating that age‐dependent changes intrinsic to NSPCs rather than host animal age accounted for greater malignancy. Subsequent analyses revealed that increased invasiveness, genomic instability, resistance to therapeutic agents, and tolerance to hypoxic stress accompanied aging in transformed NSPCs. Greater tolerance to hypoxia in older progenitor cells, as evidenced by elevated HIF‐1 promoter reporter activity and hypoxia response gene (HRG) expression, mirrors the upregulation of HRGs in cohorts of older vs. younger glioma patients revealed by analysis of gene expression databases, suggesting that differential response to hypoxic stress may underlie age‐dependent differences in invasion, genomic instability, and treatment resistance. Our study provides strong evidence that progenitor cell aging is responsible for promoting the hallmarks of age‐dependent glioma malignancy and that consideration of progenitor aging will facilitate development of physiologically and clinically relevant animal models of human gliomas.
Reliable Uncoded Communication in the SIMO MAC

A single-input multiple-output multiple access channel, with a large number of uncoded noncooperating single-antenna transmitters and joint processing at a multiantenna receiver is considered. The minimum number of receiver antennas per transmitter that is needed for perfect recovery of the transmitted signals with overwhelming probability is investigated. It is shown that in the limit of a large number of transmitters, and in a rich scattering environment, the per-transmitter number of receiver antennas can be arbitrarily small, not only with the optimal maximum likelihood decoding rule, but also with much lower complexity decoders. Comparison with the ergodic capacity of the channel in the limit of a large number of transmitters suggests that uncoded transmissions achieve the Shannon-theoretic scaling behavior of the minimum per-transmitter number of receiver antennas. Thus, the diversity of a large system not only makes the performance metrics for some coded systems similar to that of uncoded systems, but also allows efficient decoders to realize close to the optimal performance of maximum likelihood decoding.
Central nervous system phenotypes in craniosynostosis

Though reduction in the number of cranial elements through loss of a suture is a recognized trend in vertebrate evolution, the premature closure of cranial sutures in humans, craniosynostosis, is considered a pathological condition. Previous research on craniosynostosis has focused primarily on the skeletal phenotype, but the intimate relationship between the developing central nervous system (CNS) and skull is well documented. We investigate the morphology of the CNS in patients with isolated craniosynostosis through an analysis of cortical and subcortical features using 3‐D magnetic resonance images (MRI). Results show that a distinct CNS phenotype can be defined for specific diagnostic categories. Many differences in CNS morphology observed in the patient samples may be anticipated based on skeletal morphology, but others are not reflected in the skull. We propose a developmental approach to determining the cause of premature suture fusion, which includes investigation of the craniofacial complex as a system, rather than study of isolated tissues.
Correcting C-band radar reflectivity and differential reflectivity data for rain attenuation: a self-consistent method with constraints

Quantitative use of C-band radar measurements of reflectivity (Z/sub h/) and differential reflectivity (Z/sub dr/) demands the use of accurate attenuation-correction procedures, especially in convective rain events. With the availability of differential phase measurements (/spl Phi//sub dp/) with a dual-polarized radar, it is now possible to improve and stabilize attenuation-correction schemes over earlier schemes which did not use /spl Phi//sub dp/. The recent introduction of constraint-based correction schemes using /spl Phi//sub dp/ constitute an important advance. In this paper, a self-consistent, constraint-based algorithm is proposed and evaluated which extends the previous approaches in several important respects. Radar data collected by the C-POL radar during the South China Sea Monsoon Experiment (SCSMEX) are used to illustrate the correction scheme. The corrected radar data are then compared against disdrometer-based scattering simulations, the disdrometer data being acquired during SCSMEX. A new algorithm is used to retrieve the median volume diameter from the corrected Z/sub h/, corrected Z/sub dr/, and K/sub dp/ radar measurements which is relatively immune to the precise drop axis ratio versus drop diameter relation. Histograms of the radar-retrieved D/sub 0/ compared against D/sub 0/ from disdrometer data are in remarkable good agreement lending further validity to the proposed attenuation-correction scheme, as well as to confidence in the use of C-band radar for the remote measurement of rain microphysics.
UWat-Emote at EmoInt-2017: Emotion Intensity Detection using Affect Clues, Sentiment Polarity and Word Embeddings

This paper describes the UWaterloo affect prediction system developed for EmoInt-2017. We delve into our feature selection approach for affect intensity, affect presence, sentiment intensity and sentiment presence lexica alongside pre-trained word embeddings, which are utilized to extract emotion intensity signals from tweets in an ensemble learning approach. The system employs emotion specific model training, and utilizes distinct models for each of the emotion corpora in isolation. Our system utilizes gradient boosted regression as the primary learning technique to predict the final emotion intensities.
Optimising purely functional GPU programs

Purely functional, embedded array programs are a good match for SIMD hardware, such as GPUs. However, the naive compilation of such programs quickly leads to both code explosion and an excessive use of intermediate data structures. The resulting slow-down is not acceptable on target hardware that is usually chosen to achieve high performance. In this paper, we discuss two optimisation techniques, sharing recovery and array fusion, that tackle code explosion and eliminate superfluous intermediate structures. Both techniques are well known from other contexts, but they present unique challenges for an embedded language compiled for execution on a GPU. We present novel methods for implementing sharing recovery and array fusion, and demonstrate their effectiveness on a set of benchmarks.
From Datalog to flix: a declarative language for fixed points on lattices

We present Flix, a declarative programming language for specifying and solving least fixed point problems, particularly static program analyses. Flix is inspired by Datalog and extends it with lattices and monotone functions. Using Flix, implementors of static analyses can express a broader range of analyses than is currently possible in pure Datalog, while retaining its familiar rule-based syntax. We define a model-theoretic semantics of Flix as a natural extension of the Datalog semantics. This semantics captures the declarative meaning of Flix programs without imposing any specific evaluation strategy. An efficient strategy is semi-naive evaluation which we adapt for Flix. We have implemented a compiler and runtime for Flix, and used it to express several well-known static analyses, including the IFDS and IDE algorithms. The declarative nature of Flix clearly exposes the similarity between these two algorithms.
Evidence for overlapping, but not identical, protein machineries operating in vegetal RNA localization along early and late pathways in Xenopus oocytes

RNAs that localize to the vegetal cortex of Xenopus oocytes are involved in early embryonic patterning and cell fate specification. Two mechanistically distinct pathways lead to RNA enrichment at the vegetal cortex: the early and the late. While several candidate proteins that seem to operate in the late localization pathway have been identified, proteins involved in the early pathway remain to be identified. In this study, we report on the isolation of a novel vegetally localized RNA in Xenopus oocytes that makes use of the early pathway and encodes a protein with a conserved but functionally uncharacterized NIF-motif. The localization signal of XNIF was mapped to a 300-nucleotide region in the 5′-UTR, which is able to mediate both accumulation to the mitochondrial cloud in stage I oocytes, as well as vegetal transport in later stage oocytes. The XNIF-LE contains 16 copies of the previously defined CAC-containing signal motifs for RNA localization. A critical number of such repeats seems to be required for accumulation in the mitochondrial cloud along the early pathway, but additional repeats seem to be required for localization along the late pathway. Cross-linking experiments identify two novel proteins of 62 and 64 kDa that interact with the XNIF-LE but not with the Vg1-LE that operates in the late pathway. Conversely, at least two of the previously identified VgRBPs, Vg1RBP1 and Prrp, also bind to the XNIF-LE. Thus, overlapping, but not identical, protein machineries mediate vegetal RNA localization along early and late pathways in Xenopus oocytes.
Real-time watercolor illustrations of plants using a blurred depth test

We present techniques to create convincing high-quality watercolor illustrations of plants. Mainly focusing on the real-time rendering, we introduce methods to abstract the visual and geometrical complexity of the original 3D plant models that are obtained from the photorealistic rendering. Additionally, we integrate detail layers to emphasize the structure, the texture, and the lighting. We distinguish between particle based, texture based, and line stroke based detail primitives, which provide a wide application range for the individual tree and plant models. To support smooth transitions and the frame-to-frame coherence during an animation, we introduce a so-called blurred depth test to perform depth comparisons. This blurred depth test is utilized for the visibility computations of the detail primitives and for the creation of a soft shadowing effect. With our techniques, we create an appropriate lighting and shadowing of the scene, and achieve a high frame-to-frame coherence. For the final watercolor appearance, we apply a formerly published approach that is implemented using hardware shaders.
Visualizable and interpretable regression models with good prediction power

Many methods can fit models with a higher prediction accuracy, on average, than the least squares linear regression technique. But the models, including linear regression, are typically impossible to interpret or visualize. We describe a tree-structured method that fits a simple but nontrivial model to each partition of the variable space. This ensures that each piece of the fitted regression function can be visualized with a graph or a contour plot. For maximum interpretability, our models are constructed with negligible variable selection bias and the tree structures are much more compact than piecewise-constant regression trees. We demonstrate, by means of a large empirical study involving 27 methods, that the average prediction accuracy of our models is almost as high as that of the most accurate “black-box” methods from the statistics and machine learning literature.
Transcription factors and regulation of photosynthetic and related metabolism under environmental stresses.

BACKGROUND Environmental conditions, such as water supply, temperature and salinity, strongly affect plant growth and development. Extremes of these conditions (abiotic stresses) adversely affect many different mechanisms associated with plant responses and adaptation to stress: photosynthetic mechanisms, e.g. stomatal control of CO(2) diffusion, photosystem II repair, ribulose bisphosphate carboxylase/oxygenase (Rubisco) activity and scavenging of reactive oxygen species (ROS), are susceptible to damage, and photosynthetic efficiency can be greatly decreased. Responses and adaptations require differential gene expression, which is regulated by specific transcription factors (TFs). SCOPE The role and regulation of several TFs involved in abiotic stress response pathways are considered, with emphasis on new findings regarding expression of genes related to both stomatal and non-stomatal limitations to CO(2) photosynthetic assimilation. CONCLUSIONS Many TFs, belonging to different families (e.g. MYB, bZIP and DREB), have been related to abiotic stress responses; however, only a few are known to regulate the expression of photosynthesis-related genes in response to stress. Several TFs belonging to the MYB family play an important role in both stomatal and non-stomatal responses by regulation of stomatal numbers and sizes, and metabolic components, respectively. To obtain more insight into this area of potentially large agronomic impact, it is essential to identify and functionally characterize new TFs that mediate the stress responses regulating the expression of genes associated with photosynthesis and related metabolism.
Profilins constitute a novel family of functional plant pan-allergens

Type I allergy is a major health problem in industrialized countries where up to 15% of the population suffer from allergic symptoms (rhinitis, conjunctivitis, and asthma). Previously, we identified a cDNA clone that encoded a birch pollen allergen as profilin. Profilins constitute a ubiquitous family of proteins that control actin polymerization in eukaryotic cells; in particular, profilin participates in the acrosomal reaction of animal sperm cells. Although profilins had been unknown in plants so far, our finding led to the assumption that profilins might have similar functions in pollens during plant fertilization and therefore represent allergenic components in almost all pollens. We show that profilins are prominent allergens that can be isolated from tree pollens (Betula verrucosa, birch), from pollens of grasses (Phleum pratense, timothy grass), and weeds (Artemisia vulgaris, mugwort). About 20% of all pollen allergic patients tested (n = 65) displayed immunoglobulin E (IgE) reactivity to recombinant birch profilin that was expressed in pKK223-3. An IgE inhibition experiment performed with recombinant birch profilin and purified natural profilins from timothy grass and mugwort indicates common IgE epitopes. Moreover, all pollen profilins purified from these far distantly related plant species, and likewise the purified recombinant birch profilin, are able to elicit dose-dependent histamine release via high affinity Fc epsilon receptor of blood basophils from profilin allergic patients. The presence of profilin and possibly related proteins as crossreacting allergenic components in various plants therefore provides an explanation as to why certain allergic patients display type I allergic reactions with pollens and even food from distantly related plants. A functional pan-allergen, like profilin, available as purified recombinant protein, may be a useful diagnostic and probably therapeutic reagent.
Make It Feel: Use of Facial Imaging Technique to Analyze the Impact of Each Emotional Spot on Ad Success

we propose to lay the foundation of an automated method for classifying impact of various emotional spots on advertisement success. This approach is based on analyzing various muscles activated while making a facial expression in response to certain ad. Each emotion has its own impact on consumers and every emotional spot can help to increase sales. Certain types of emotion are better able to fulfill the purpose and meet the goal of persuading targeted consumers for buying a product than others. The challenge is to analyze which emotion creates consumer engagement with the product and deliver that emotion for creating a brand image. This is a very challenging pattern recognition problem that requires robust detection of various natural, spontaneous expressions and their intensities in real time environment. This paper demonstrates the possibility for an ecologically valid, subtle evaluation of advertisement success, strong speculation of brand building based on facial responses. The framework can be successfully implemented impersonalizing online ads that are shown to viewers while watching media over the Internet or television and in concept testing in order to know what customers' values and what they don't.
Hyperlipidemia and Statins Affect Neurological Outcome in Lumbar Spine Injury

The disabling pathophysiologic effects of lipid and neuroprotective effects of statins have recently been demonstrated for acute spinal cord injuries in animal models. This large scale population-based study aimed to investigate the effect hyperlipidemia and the use of statins in patients with lumbar spine injury. The National Health Insurance Research Database of Taiwan was used to identify patients with lumbar spine injury. A total of 2844 patients were grouped into three: no hyperlipidemia, hyperlipidemia using low-dose of statins (≤90 of the defined daily dosage (DDD)), and severe hyperlipidemia using high-dose of statins (>90 DDD). A Cox multiple regression model was used to compare the incidence rates of disability among the three groups. The results showed that patients with hyperlipidemia appeared a higher risk of permanent disability (adjusted HR = 1.38, p = 0.28). In subgroup analysis, patients with severe hyperlipidemia had a higher risk of disability (adjusted HR = 3.1, p < 0.004), whereas hyperlipidemia using low-dose statins had a similar risk of permanently disability (adjusted HR = 0.83, p = 0.661). Hyperlipidemia adversely affected the neurological outcomes of lumbar spinal injury. Statins may have the potential to reverse this higher risk of disability. However, this beneficiary effect of statins only existed in patients using a lower dose (≤90 DDD).
Testing stability of 2-D discrete systems by a set of real 1-D stability tests

Stability of a two-dimensional (2-D) discrete system depends on whether a bivariate polynomial does not vanish in the closed exterior of the unit bi-circle. The paper shows a procedure that tests this 2-D stability condition by testing the stability of a finite collection of real univariate polynomials by a certain modified form of the author's one-dimensional (1-D) stability test. The new procedure is obtained by telepolation (interpolation) of a 2-D tabular test whose derivation was confined to using a real form of the underlying 1-D stability test. Consequently, unlike previous telepolation-based tests, the procedure requires the testing of real instead of complex univariate polynomials. The proposed test is the least-cost procedure to test 2-D stability with real polynomial 1-D stability tests and real arithmetic only.
Nonenzymatic nitric oxide production in humans.

The tiny diatomic gas nitric oxide is synthezised in biological systems by complex enzymes known as nitric oxide synthases. Recently, a novel pathway for NO production in humans was discovered that involves chemical reduction of inorganic nitrite, a reaction that takes place predominantly during acidic and reducing conditions. Nonenzymatic NO production has been demonstrated, e.g., in the stomach, on the surface of the skin, in the ischemic heart, and in infected nitrite-containing urine. NO produced by this mechanism is likely to play a role in similar biological events as when produced from L-arginine by NO synthases.
Characteristics of Congenital Scoliosis in a Mouse Model

Abstract: Pregnant mice were exposed to 600 ppm of carbon monoxide on gestation day 9. The carbon monoxide exposure produced 38 spinal anomalies in 17 offspring with congenital scoliosis. Microcomputer tomography improved the identification of spinal anomalies and detected more affected animals, as compared when magnified radiographs were used. The curves were measured and ranged from mild to moderate at an age that corresponds to childhood and, on average, remained at the range of mild to moderate through near-maturity. The group of mice with congenital anomalies near maturity contained severe curves. The bone mineral density (BMD) determined by microcomputer tomography in the mice with congenital scoliosis was the same as that in the controls. The cervical spine BMD was higher than the thoracic BMD, which was higher than the lumbar region in the controls and affected animals. The BMD was highest in the apex of the congenital curves in the animals that were near maturity. This relationship was not seen in the younger mice with congenital curves. Histology revealed growth rates in the hemivertebrae, which, over the last half of the growth period measured, had one-third less growth than the adjacent vertebrae. The hemivertebrae were wedged, but the adjacent disks were not.