Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Conflict-Aware Scheduling for Dynamic Content Applications

We present a new lazy replication technique, suitable for scaling the back-end database of a dynamic content site using a cluster of commodity computers. Our technique, called conflict-aware scheduling, provides both throughput scaling and 1-copy serializability. It has generally been believed that this combination is hard to achieve through replication because of the growth of the number of conflicts. We take advantage of the presence in a database cluster of a scheduler through which all incoming requests pass. We require that transactions specify the tables that they access at the beginning of the transaction. Using that information, a conflictaware scheduler relies on a sequence-numbering scheme to implement 1-copy serializability, and directs incoming queries in such a way that the number of conflicts is reduced. We evaluate conflict-aware scheduling using the TPCW e-commerce benchmark. For small clusters of up to eight database replicas, our evaluation is performed through measurements of a web site implementing the TPC-W specification. We use simulation to extend our measurement results to larger clusters, faster database engines, and lower conflict rates. Our results show that conflict-awareness brings considerable benefits compared to both eager and conflict-oblivious lazy replication for a large range of cluster sizes, database speeds, and conflict rates. Conflict-aware scheduling provides near-linear throughput scaling up to a large number of database replicas for the browsing and shopping workloads of TPC-W. For the write-heavy ordering workload, throughput scales, but only to a smaller number of replicas.
Streptococcal Surface Proteins Activate the Contact System and Control Its Antibacterial Activity*

Background: The contact system, a branch of innate immunity, is also exploited by bacterial pathogens. Results: Group G streptococcal surface proteins activate the system and protect bacteria against the antibacterial effect of the activation. Conclusion: Negative effects of contact system activation are counteracted by group G streptococci. Significance: The results define novel molecular interactions with implications for bacterial pathogenicity. Group G streptococci (GGS) are important bacterial pathogens in humans. Here, we investigated the interactions between GGS and the contact system, a procoagulant and proinflammatory proteolytic cascade that, upon activation, also generates antibacterial peptides. Two surface proteins of GGS, protein FOG and protein G (PG), were found to bind contact system proteins. Experiments utilizing contact protein-deficient human plasma and isogenic GGS mutant strains lacking FOG or PG showed that FOG and PG both activate the procoagulant branch of the contact system. In contrast, only FOG induced cleavage of high molecular weight kininogen, generating the proinflammatory bradykinin peptide and additional high molecular weight kininogen fragments containing the antimicrobial peptide NAT-26. On the other hand, PG protected the bacteria against the antibacterial effect of NAT-26. These findings underline the significance of the contact system in innate immunity and demonstrate that GGS have evolved surface proteins to exploit and modulate its effects.
Reducing workload in systematic review preparation using automated citation classification.

OBJECTIVE To determine whether automated classification of document citations can be useful in reducing the time spent by experts reviewing journal articles for inclusion in updating systematic reviews of drug class efficacy for treatment of disease. DESIGN A test collection was built using the annotated reference files from 15 systematic drug class reviews. A voting perceptron-based automated citation classification system was constructed to classify each article as containing high-quality, drug class-specific evidence or not. Cross-validation experiments were performed to evaluate performance. MEASUREMENTS Precision, recall, and F-measure were evaluated at a range of sample weightings. Work saved over sampling at 95% recall was used as the measure of value to the review process. RESULTS A reduction in the number of articles needing manual review was found for 11 of the 15 drug review topics studied. For three of the topics, the reduction was 50% or greater. CONCLUSION Automated document citation classification could be a useful tool in maintaining systematic reviews of the efficacy of drug therapy. Further work is needed to refine the classification system and determine the best manner to integrate the system into the production of systematic reviews.
Does a retrograde response in human aging and longevity exist ?

The retrograde response (RR) is a compensatory mechanism by which mutant strains of yeast are able to cope with mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) impairments by up-regulating the expression of the stress-responder nuclear genes and signi®cantly increasing lifespan. Starting from the observation that both mtDNA variability and Tyrosine hydroxylase (THO, stress-responder gene) variability are correlated with human longevity, we asked ourselves whether mechanisms similar to RR may exist in humans. As a ®rst investigative step we have analyzed the distribution of the mtDNA inherited variants (haplogroups) according to THO genotypes in three sample groups of increasing ages (20± 49 years; 50±80 years; centenarians). We found that the mtDNA haplogroups and the THO genotypes are associated randomly in the ®rst group, while in the second group, and particularly in the centenarians, a non-random association is observed between the mtDNA and nuclear DNA variability. Moreover, in centenarians the U haplogroup is over-represented p  0:012 in subjects carrying the THO genotype unfavorable to longevity. On the whole these ®ndings are in line with the hypothesis that longevity requires particular interactions between mtDNA and nuclear DNA and do not exclude the possibility that an RR has been maintained throughout evolution and it is present in higher organisms. q 2000 Elsevier Science Inc. All rights reserved.
Online Stochastic Matching: New Algorithms with Better Bounds

We consider variants of the online stochastic bipartite matching problem motivated by Internet advertising display applications, as introduced in Feldman et al. [Feldman J, Mehta A, Mirrokni VS, Muthukrishnan S (2009) Online stochastic matching: Beating 1 − 1/e. FOCS '09: Proc. 50th Annual IEEE Sympos. Foundations Comput. Sci. (IEEE, Washington, DC), 117–126]. In this setting, advertisers express specific interests into requests for impressions of different types. Advertisers are fixed and known in advance, whereas requests for impressions come online. The task is to assign each request to an interested advertiser (or to discard it) immediately upon its arrival. In the adversarial online model, the ranking algorithm of Karp et al. [Karp RM, Vazirani UV, Varirani VV (1990) An optimal algorithm for online bipartite matching. STOC '90: Proc. 22nd Annual ACM Sympos. Theory Comput. (ACM, New York), 352–358] provides a best possible randomized algorithm with competitive ratio 1 − 1/e ≈ 0.632. In the stochastic .
Sensor-guided manipulation in a manufacturing workcell

The main problem that we address in this paper is how a robot manipulator is able to track and grasp a part placed arbitrarily on a moving disc conveyor aided by a single CCD camera and fusing information from encoders placed on the conveyor and also from encoders on the robot manipulator. The important assumption that distinguishes our work from what has been previously reported in the literature is that the position and orientation of the camera and the base frame of the robot is a priori assumed to be unknown and is 'visually calibrated' during the operation of the manipulator. Moreover the part placed on the conveyor is assumed to be nonplanar, i.e. the feature points observed on the part is assumed to be located arbitrarily in R/sup 3/. The novelties of the proposed approach in this paper includes a (i) multisensor fusion scheme based on complementary data for the purpose of part localization, and (ii) self-calibration between the turntable and the robot manipulator using visual data and feature points on the end-effector. The principle advantages of the proposed scheme are the following. (i) It renders possible to reconfigure a manufacturing workcell without recalibrating the relation between the turntable and the robot. This significantly shortens the setup time of the workcell. (ii) It greatly weakens the requirement on the image processing speed.
The Use of Open Data to Improve the Repeatability of Adaptivity and Personalisation Experiment

This work has been supported partially by the European Commission as part of the FALCON project (contact number 610879) and the ADAPT Centre for Digital Content Technology which is funded under the SFI Research Centres Programme (Grant 13/RC/2106) and is co-funded under the European Regional Development Fund.
Crosstalk Between HER 2 and MED 1 Regulates Tamoxifen Resistance of Human Breast Cancer Cells

Cancer Cells Jiajun Cui, Katherine Germer, Tianying Wu, Jiang Wang, Jia Luo, Shao-chun Wang, Qianben Wang, Xiaoting Zhang Department of Cancer and Cell Biology, Division of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, Department of Environmental Health, Department of Pathology and Lab Medicine, University of Cincinnati College of Medicine, Cincinnati, OH; Department of Molecular and Cellular Biochemistry and the Comprehensive Cancer Center, The Ohio State University College of Medicine, Columbus, OH; Department of Internal Medicine, University of Kentucky, Lexington, KY
A Small Amount of Fat Does Not Affect Piperaquine Exposure in Patients with Malaria

ABSTRACT Dihydroartemisinin-piperaquine is a new, highly effective, and well-tolerated combination treatment for uncomplicated falciparum malaria. The lipophilic characteristic of piperaquine suggests that administration together with fat will increase the oral bioavailability of the drug, and this has been reported for healthy volunteers. This pharmacokinetic study monitored 30 adult patients with uncomplicated falciparum malaria for 4.5 months to evaluate the effects of the concomitant intake of fat on the total piperaquine exposure. The fixed-drug combination of dihydroartemisinin-piperaquine was given with water to fasting patients (n = 15) or was coadministered with 200 ml milk containing 6.4 g fat (n = 15). The drug combination was generally well tolerated, and there were no severe adverse effects reported for either group during the study. Total piperaquine exposure (area under the concentration-time curve from zero to infinity [AUC0-∞]; results are given as medians [ranges]) were not statistically different between fed (29.5 h · μg/ml [20.6 to 58.7 h · μg/ml]) and fasting (23.9 h · μg/ml [11.9 to 72.9 h · μg/ml]) patients, but the interindividual variation was reduced in the fed group. Overall, none of the pharmacokinetic parameters differed statistically between the groups. Total piperaquine exposure correlated well with the day 7 concentrations in the fasted group, but the fed group showed a poor correlation. In conclusion, the coadministration of 6.4 g fat did not have any significant effect on piperaquine pharmacokinetics in the treatment of uncomplicated malaria.
Two-photon quantum walk in a multimode fiber

Control of a two-photon quantum walk in a complex multimode system by wavefront shaping. Multiphoton propagation in connected structures—a quantum walk—offers the potential of simulating complex physical systems and provides a route to universal quantum computation. Increasing the complexity of quantum photonic networks where the walk occurs is essential for many applications. We implement a quantum walk of indistinguishable photon pairs in a multimode fiber supporting 380 modes. Using wavefront shaping, we control the propagation of the two-photon state through the fiber in which all modes are coupled. Excitation of arbitrary output modes of the system is realized by controlling classical and quantum interferences. This report demonstrates a highly multimode platform for multiphoton interference experiments and provides a powerful method to program a general high-dimensional multiport optical circuit. This work paves the way for the next generation of photonic devices for quantum simulation, computing, and communication.
The effect of OSAS on sick leave and work disability

The objective of the present study was to examine the independent contribution of symptoms of obstructive sleep apnoea syndrome (OSAS) to long-term sick leave and permanent work disability. Using a historical cohort design with 4 yrs of follow-up, information on sick leave and disability benefit recipiency were merged with health information from the Hordaland Health Study, carried out in western Norway during 1997–1999. Persons aged 40–45 yrs (n = 7,028) were assessed for self-reported symptoms of OSAS (snoring, breathing cessations and daytime sleepiness), body mass index, somatic conditions and other potential confounders. The outcomes, cumulative sick leave of ≥8 weeks and permanent work disability, were identified in records from the National Insurance Administration. After excluding participants with work disability at baseline, symptoms of OSAS were found to be a significant predictor of both subsequent long-term sick leave and permanent work disability. These effects remained significant after adjustment for a range of possible confounding factors. Daytime sleepiness showed the greatest explanatory power, followed by breathing cessations and snoring. It is concluded that self-reported symptoms of obstructive sleep apnoea syndrome are an independent risk factor for subsequent long-term sick leave and permanent work disability. These findings need to be replicated using objective measures of obstructive sleep apnoea syndrome.
Two Screen Viewing and Social Relationships. Exploring the invisible backchannel of TV viewing

Use of social networks to create a real-time backchannel of communication among viewers of television programs has been documented, and has been termed “two-screen viewing,” with one screen devoted to the program being watched, and a second screen (usually a laptop, tablet, or cell/mobile phone) devoted to maintaining the backchannel. Prior research has examined twoscreen viewing through content analysis of social media posts. However, little has been done to explore the way in which two screen viewing qualitatively changes the viewing experience, or to understand how this behavior contributes to the construction or maintenance of social relationships. Couch (1992) noted that social interaction require a shared focus, a social objective, and congruent functional identities. The first screen program provides the shared focus. Using online interviews, this small pilot project seeks to discover whether social objectives and congruent functional identities are established through two-screen viewing. That is, the study explores how one might go about determining whether this communication actually contributes to social relationships or serves some other, asocial purpose. The present study is a small pilot project only. Preliminary data suggest that there are two types of two-screen viewing defined by different degrees of visible and invisible online practice.
Incorporating ancient Israel's worldview into the teaching of Biblical Hebrew

Modern language instruction always includes a cultural component - students do not learn just isolated words, morphology and syntax, but rather the cultural context of the language and its speakers. The teaching of Biblical Hebrew, however, has usually taken place in a cultural vacuum without reference to the cultural concepts that permeated ancient Israelite society. In this paper we describe an initiative to embed the teaching of Biblical Hebrew within the cultural world-view of ancient Israel in accordance with modern language pedagogy. Because South Africa is a multi-cultural society, we pay particular attention to the differing cultural backgrounds that our students bring to the learning of ancient Hebrew.
Anisotropic Diffusion for Details Enhancement in Multi-Exposure Image Fusion

We develop a multiexposure image fusion method based on texture features, which exploits the edge preserving and intraregion smoothing property of nonlinear diffusion filters based on partial differential equations (PDE). With the captured multiexposure image series, we first decompose images into base layers and detail layers to extract sharp details and fine details, respectively. The magnitude of the gradient of the image intensity is utilized to encourage smoothness at homogeneous regions in preference to inhomogeneous regions. Then, we have considered texture features of the base layer to generate a mask (i.e., decision mask) that guides the fusion of base layers in multiresolution fashion. Finally, well-exposed fused image is obtained that combines fused base layer and the detail layers at each scale across all the input exposures. Proposed algorithm skipping complex High Dynamic Range Image (HDRI) generation and tone mapping steps to produce detail preserving image for display on standard dynamic range display devices. Moreover, our technique is effective for blending flash/no-flash image pair and multifocus images, that is, images focused on different targets.
INVESTIGATING ALUMINUM SHEET WRINKLING DURING THE DEEP DRAWING PROCESS UDC

The purpose of this study is to consider the effect of different parameters on the wrinkling phenomenon of square cups during the deep drawing process. An experimental system was prepared which consisted of a hydraulic press capable of applying different loads on the sheet metal blank and a blank holder and the process was controlled by a computer. All simulations were performed by using the ABAQUS/EXPLICIT V6.9 software, and the effect of different aluminium alloys, punch and die radius, blank holder force, blank holder gap, and friction coefficient on the wrinkling phenomenon has been investigated. Moreover, the minimal blank holder force was obtained by plotting minor strain with respect to the major strain of produced cups, and obtaining the maximum height of wrinkle in a cup. The wrinkling phenomenon was further investigated on different alloys such as A6111-T4, AA5754-O and Al-1050. The results imply that increasing the blank holder force and friction coefficient on the one hand and reducing the blank holder gap, punch radius, and die radius on the other hand, may lead to a reduction in wrinkling during the deep drawing process. Nevertheless, under the same circumstances of the deep drawing process, the wrinkling of the A6111-T4 alloy is more significant compared to the Al-1050 and AA5754-O alloys, while the Al-1050 alloy needs less blank holder force to avoid wrinkling. Using this simulation program it is possible to easily simulate the wrinkling of sheet metal blanks with the least number of trial and error.
Compact ultra-wideband in-phase power divider using three-line coupled structure

A compact ultra-wideband in-phase power divider with planar structure is presented. The proposed device utilizes three-line parallel-coupled microstrip lines. To realize the required tight coupling for an ultra-wideband performance, a slotted ground is utilized underneath the coupled lines. Moreover, chip capacitors are connected between the central line and each of the side coupled lines. Both of the equivalent circuit and fill-wave electromagnetic simulations indicate that the presented device operates across the band from 3.1 to 10.6GHz, with good insertion loss, return loss and isolation.
Progestin receptor isoforms and prostaglandin dehydrogenase in the endometrium of women using a levonorgestrel-releasing intrauterine system.

This study has examined endometrial tissue in 14 normal women prior to insertion of a levonorgestrel-releasing intrauterine system (LNG-IUS) and thereafter longitudinally for up to 12 months post-insertion. The specific endpoints examined by immunohistochemistry were progesterone receptor (PR) subtypes A + B, oestrogen receptor (ER) and prostaglandin dehydrogenase (PGDH). Two antiprogesterone receptor antibodies, one specific to PR(B) subtype and the other to PR subtype A + B, were employed to examine the localization of both PR isoforms. The activity of PGDH, a progesterone dependent enzyme, was also measured. ER and PR(A+B) and PR subtype B were significantly down-regulated in glands and stroma in the presence of continuous intrauterine LNG delivery. There was an apparent increase in PR(A) immunoreactivity in endometrial glands between 6 and 12 months post-insertion. Consistent with down-regulation of both isoforms of PR was reduced glandular PGDH immunostaining following LNG-IUS insertion, and PGDH activity (as measured by metabolism of excess substrate in vitro). Furthermore, PGDH activity, known to be localized in the glands, significantly increased (P < 0.05) at 12 months post-insertion, coinciding with the observed increase in glandular PR(A+B) immunoreactivity at this time. Since the LNG-IUS suppresses the PR(B) so strongly, PR(A) is likely to be the subtype that mediates long term LNG action in the endometrium. PR(B) is the more suppressed of the two subtypes, and only PR(A) rises along with PGDH activity. Alterations to normal endometrial morphology and function, e.g. perturbation of normal sex steroid receptor expression, following exposure to high concentrations of local LNG, may play a role in the aetiology of bleeding disorders associated with the LNG-IUS. Further elucidation of local uterine mediators involved in the mechanism of bleeding problems is required.
Regulatory T Cells Resist Cyclosporine-Induced Cell Death via CD44-Mediated Signaling Pathways

Cyclosporine A (CSA) is an immunosuppressive agent that specifically targets T cells and also increases the percentage of pro-tolerogenic CD4+Foxp3+ regulatory T cells (Treg) through unknown mechanisms. We previously reported that CD44, a receptor for the extracellular matrix glycosaminoglycan hyaluronan (HA), promotes Treg stability in IL-2-low environments. Here, we asked whether CD44 signaling also promotes Treg resistance to CSA. We found that CD44 cross-linking promoted Foxp3 expression and Treg viability in the setting of CSA treatment. This effect was IL-2 independent but could be suppressed using sc-355979, an inhibitor of Stat5-phosphorylation. Moreover, we found that inhibition of HA synthesis impairs Treg homeostasis but that this effect could be overcome with exogenous IL-2 or CD44-cross-linking. Together, these data support a model whereby CD44 cross-linking by HA promotes IL-2-independent Foxp3 expression and Treg survival in the face of CSA.