Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Imprint of First Stars Era in the Cosmic Infrared Background Fluctuations

Abstract We present the latest results on Cosmic Infrared Background (CIB) fluctuations from early epochs from deep Spitzer data. The results show the existence of significant CIB fluctuations at the IRAC wavelengths (3.6 to 8 μm) which remain after removing galaxies down to very faint levels. These fluctuations must arise from populations with a significant clustering component, but only low levels of the shot noise. There are no correlations between the source-subtracted IRAC maps and the corresponding fields observed with the HST ACS at optical wavelengths. Taken together, these data imply that 1) the sources producing the CIB fluctuations are individually faint with Sν < a few nJy at 3.6 and 4.5 μm; 2) have different clustering pattern than the more recent galaxy populations; 3) are located within the first 0.7 Gyr (unless these fluctuations can somehow be produced by - so far unobserved - local galaxies of extremely low luminosity and with the unusual for local populations clustering pattern), 4) produce contribution to the net CIB flux of at least 1-2 nW m−2 sr−1 at 3.6 and 4.5 μm and must have mass-to-light ratio significantly below the present-day populations, and 5) they have angular density of ~ a few per arcsec2 and are in the confusion of the present day instruments, but can be individually observable with JWST.
Bit index explicit replication (BIER)forwarding for network device components

The invention relates to bit index explicit replication (BIER)forwarding for network device components. A network device receives multicast packets that include information identifying destinations in the network, identifies next hops associated with the destinations, and populates a cache with the destinations and addresses of the identified next hops. The network device receives a particular multicast packet that includes information identifying particular destinations included in the cache, identifies one or more next hops for the particular destinations from the cache, and forwards the particular multicast packet to the identified one or more next hops to permit the identified one or more next hops to forward the multicast packet toward the particular destinations.
Pattern-based design of a service-oriented middleware for remote object federations

Service-oriented middleware architectures should enable the rapid realization of loosely coupled services. Unfortunately, existing technologies used for service-oriented middleware architectures, such as Web services, P2P systems, coordination and cooperation technologies, and spontaneous networking, do not fully support all requirements in the realm of loosely coupled business services yet. Typical problems that arise in many business domains are for instance missing central control, complex cooperation models, complex lookup models, or issues regarding dynamic deployment. We used a pattern-based approach to identify the well working solutions in the different technologies for loosely coupled services. Then we reused this design knowledge in our concept for a service-oriented middleware. This concept is centered around a controlled environment, called a federation. Each remote object (a peer service) is controlled in one or more federations, but within this environment peers can collaborate in a simple-to-use, loosely coupled, and ad hoc style of communication. A semantic lookup service is used to let the peers publish rich metadata about themselves to their fellow peers.
A High-Directivity Combined Self-Beam/Null-Steering Array for Secure Point-to-Point Communications

A high-directivity combined self-beam/null-steering array for secure point-to-point binary phase-shift keying communications is introduced. The system provides high directivity and reduced probability of interception using just two antenna elements. Using quadrature phase-shift keying modulators allows for compact single-layer fabrication. The 2.4-GHz prototype is tested at interrogation angles of 0deg, -10deg, and +20deg, and demonstrates high signal-to-interference ratio directivity, completely disabling interception plusmn20deg from the direction of the interrogator. The system should find various applications where secure communications are required
Effectiveness of Antimicrobial Peptide Immobilization for Preventing Perioperative Cornea Implant-Associated Bacterial Infection

ABSTRACT Titanium (Ti) is a promising candidate biomaterial for an artificial corneal skirt. Antimicrobial peptide (AMP) immobilization may improve the bactericidal effect of the Ti substrate. In this study, we tested the bactericidal efficacy of a functionalized Ti surface in a rabbit keratitis model. A corneal stromal pocket was created by a femtosecond laser. The Ti films were then inserted into the pocket, and Staphylococcus aureus or Pseudomonas aeruginosa was inoculated into the pocket above the implant films. The corneas with Ti-AMP implants were compared with the corneas implanted with unprotected Ti by slit lamp observation and anterior segment optical coherence tomography (AS-OCT). Inflammatory responses were evaluated by bacterium counting, hematoxylin-eosin staining, and immunostaining. There was a lower incidence and a lesser extent of infection on rabbit corneas with Ti-AMP implants than on those with unprotected Ti implants. The bactericidal effect of AMP against S. aureus was comparable to that of postoperative prophylactic antibiotic treatment; hence, SESB2V AMP bound to the Ti implant provided functional activity in vivo, but its efficacy was greater against S. aureus than against P. aeruginosa. This work suggests that SESB2V AMP can be successfully functionalized in a rabbit keratitis model to prevent perioperative corneal infection.
Convex optimization and utility theory, new trends in VLSI circuit layout

The design of modern integrated circuits is overwhelmingly complicated due to the enormous number of cells in a typical modern circuit. To deal with this di culty, the design procedure is broken down into a set of disjoint tasks. Circuit layout is the task that refers to the physical realization of a circuit from its functional description. In circuit layout, a connection-list called netlist of cells and nets is given. Placement and routing are subtasks associated with circuit layout and involve determining the geometric locations of the cells within the placement area and connecting cells sharing common nets. In performing the placement and the routing of the cells, minimum placement area, minimum delay and other performance constraints need to be observed. In this work, we propose and investigate new approaches to placement and routing problems. Speci cally, for the placement subtask, we propose new convex programming formulations to estimate wirelength and force cells to spread within the placement area. As opposed to previous approaches, our approach is partitioning free and requires no hard constraints to achieve cell spreading within the placement area. The result of the global optimization of the new convex models is a global placement which is further improved using a Tabu search based iterative technique. The e ectiveness, robustness and superiority of the approach are demonstrated on a set of nine benchmark industrial circuits. With regard to the routing subtask, we propose a hybrid methodology that combines Tabu search and Stochastic Evolution as a search engine in a new channel router. We also propose a new scheme based on Utility Theory for selecting and assigning nets to tracks in the channel. In this scheme, problem-domain information expressed in the form of utility functions is used to guide the search engine to explore the search space e ectively. The e ectiveness and robustness of the approach is demonstrated on ve industrial benchmarks.
A flexible and optimal power theory for reactive power compensation in ABC frame

In spite of ABC theory was developed in parallel with pq theory, the second has been more widely used for reactive power compensation due to its flexibility. Indeed, conventional ABC theory is simple and efficient for balanced voltage sources but induces undesired zero sequence currents whether the voltage source is unbalanced. In addition, only one compensation objective is achieved. This paper presents a generalization of ABC theory taking into account not only conventional balanced and pure sinusoidal voltage source but also unbalances and harmonic voltage distortion. Four different compensations objectives are studied: Constant instantaneous active power, unity power factor, constant power and pure sinusoidal current. It is demonstrated this theory is as flexible as pq theory with a simpler implementation. Furthermore, proposed theory optimizes line currents and therefore minimizes network losses. A simulation study using PSIM is presented which considers the switching effect of the shunt converter and the control of its DC link.
A new method for the study of correlations between MT evaluation metrics

This paper aims at providing a reliable method for measuring the correlations between different scores of evaluation metrics applied to machine translated texts. A series of examples from recent MT evaluation experiments are first discussed, including results and data from the recent French MT evaluation campaign, CESTA, which is used here. To compute correlation, a set of 1,500 samples for each system and each evaluation metric are created using bootstrapping. Correlations between metrics, both automatic and applied by human judges, are then computed over these samples. The results confirm the previously observed correlations between some automatic metrics, but also indicate a lack of correlation between human and automatic metrics on the CESTA data, which raises a number of questions regarding their validity. In addition, the roles of the corpus size and of the selection procedure for bootstrapping (low vs. high scores) are also examined.
From content-centered publishing to a link-based view of information resources

Influenced by the linking model which is implicit in HTML, today's publishing model on the Web is content-centered, with the emphasis of publishing on content rather than link. With the growing amount of information available on the Web, and the more powerful hypermedia architectures made possible by new Web technologies, putting the content into context will become increasingly important. In this paper a new way of structuring publishing systems for information providers is presented in an attempt to shift the emphasis in Web-based publishing from content to an improved balance between content and links. After a description of the architecture of a link-based publishing system, a strategy for implementing such a system is described. Finally a number of challenges associated with such a fundamental transition in the publishing model are described, in the technical as well as in the organizational domain.
Position independent pattern matching by neural network

A novel pattern-matching neural network is proposed. The network matches an input to multiple candidates of the stored templates in parallel. It can find the best matching template, whose features are arranged in the same order as those of the input, regardless of positional differences between corresponding features. The network consists of a pattern-matching layer, a minimal distance detection layer, and a recognition layer. The matching between an input pattern and candidates of the to-be-matched template is performed in the pattern-matching layer. The candidates are selected in the minimal distance detection layer, and are fed back in parallel to the pattern-matching layer. The candidate that has features in the same positional order as the input can be determined in the pattern-matching layer. The matched template is classified by the recognition layer. Results of simulation studies on one- and two-dimensional patterns have shown that the network can perform position-independent pattern matching completely. >
Complete mitochondrial genome of Bombus waltoni (Hymenoptera: Apidae)

Abstract The complete mitochondrial genome of Bombus (Mendacibombus) waltoni was sequenced. The circle genome of the bee is 19,349 bp in length. There are 38 sequence elements including 13 protein coding genes, 22 tRNA genes, 2 rRNA genes, and a control region. The order of most elements was consistent with that of other bumblebee species that have been previously described, with the exception of five tRNA genes in two segments. The use of B. waltoni mitogenome as an outgroup significantly improved the robustness of phylogenetic reconstruction for bumblebees.
Childhood sexual abuse of women in Greenland and its developmental correlates among their children

Objectives. The objective was to study the prevalence of childhood sexual abuse (CSA) among the mothers of children in Greenland and its association with the psychosocial adjustment of their children. Study design. The study was based on a 2007–2008 survey of a national sample of children in Greenland designed by researchers at SFI — The Danish National Centre for Social Research in collaboration with the Greenlandic Home Rule. The survey was conducted via telephone interviews with the children’s mothers. Methods. The relationship between the mothers’ childhood sexual abuse and their children’s psychosocial adjustment was examined using OLS regression. Each mother’s CSA was measured by a direct question and the child’s psychosocial adjustment was measured by the total difficulties score on the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire. Results. Thirty-six percent of the mothers reported having been sexually abused as children. The psychosocial adjustment of the children in the sample overall was good, with few children scoring on the upper end of the scale, indicating maladjustment. A strong inverse relationship between the mothers’ childhood sexual abuse and the children’s adjustment was found after controlling for demographic and socio-economic factors. Conclusions. Overall, children of mothers who were victims of CSA suffer from greater psychosocial maladjustment than children whose mothers were not victims of CSA.
Reproductive Organ and Vascular Specific Promoter of the Rice Plasma Membrane Ca2+ATPase Mediates Environmental Stress Responses in Plants

Background Plasma membrane Ca2+ATPase is a transport protein in the plasma membrane of cells and helps in removal of calcium (Ca2+) from the cell, hence regulating Ca2+ level within cells. Though plant Ca2+ATPases have been shown to be involved in plant stress responses but their promoter regions have not been well studied. Results The 1478 bp promoter sequence of rice plasma membrane Ca2+ATPase contains cis-acting elements responsive to stresses and plant hormones. To identify the functional region, serial deletions of the promoter were fused with the GUS sequence and four constructs were obtained. These were differentially activated under NaCl, PEG cold, methyl viologen, abscisic acid and methyl jasmonate treatments. We demonstrated that the rice plasma membrane Ca2+ATPase promoter is responsible for vascular-specific and multiple stress-inducible gene expression. Only full-length promoter showed specific GUS expression under stress conditions in floral parts. High GUS activity was observed in roots with all the promoter constructs. The −1478 to −886 bp flanking region responded well upon treatment with salt and drought. Only the full-length promoter presented cold-induced GUS expression in leaves, while in shoots slight expression was observed for −1210 and −886 bp flanking region. The −1210 bp deletion significantly responded to exogenous methyl viologen and abscisic acid induction. The −1210 and −886 bp flanking region resulted in increased GUS activity in leaves under methyl jasmonate treatments, whereas in shoots the −886 bp and −519 bp deletion gave higher expression. Salicylic acid failed to induce GUS activities in leaves for all the constructs. Conclusions The rice plasma membrane Ca2+ATPase promoter is a reproductive organ-specific as well as vascular-specific. This promoter contains drought, salt, cold, methyl viologen, abscisic acid and methyl jasmonate related cis-elements, which regulated gene expression. Overall, the tissue-specificity and inducible nature of this promoter could grant wide applicability in plant biotechnology.
Forum topic detection based on hierarchical clustering

Forum has become one of the main platforms for people to express their personal point of view, with a lot of information surging in the forum everyday. How to detect automatically a forum topic among the massive information becomes an important and hard task. Though there are plenty of studies for topic detection, it is still a challenge to make it fast and accurately. This paper introduces the principle of maximum entropy and information gain when calculating feature weight. Our algorithm is based on the agglomerative hierarchical clustering (AHC). Experiments are focused on a game forum and handling sparse forum short texts. The result shows that the improved method can detect the forum topic more effectively.
Estimation of Serum Malondialdehyde before and after Radiotherapy in Oral Squamous Cell Carcinoma Patients Undergoing Antioxidant Therapy

The etiology of oral cancer is voluminous but few firm conclusions can be drawn as the incidence of oral squamous cell carcinoma appears to be directly related to the use of tobacco in any form, i.e. smokeless tobacco and smoking tobacco, quantity smoked and the duration of the exposures.1 The role of factors, such as immunological susceptibility and enzymatic induction in promoting the cancer remains unclear. Radiotherapy2 has been used successfully in the treatment of oral cancers for many years, due to rapid development in medical radiotherapy instrumentation and technology. The mode of radiotherapy has generated additional free radicals during the irradiation process, and less defended by poor antioxidant system in these individuals. The major antioxidant defense system appear to be the scavenging of free radicals and signet oxygen in conjugation with vitamin E and superoxide dismutase and the reduction of hydroperoxide by the activities of catalase and glutathione peroxidase. Antioxidants are considered to be agents suitable for chemoprevention trial because they block oxidative damage to DNA resulting from the carcinogen-induced generation of oxygen free radicals during radiotherapy.
A 43%-efficiency 20dBm sub-GHz transmitter employing rise-edge-synchronized harmonic calibration with 33.3% duty cycle

A high efficiency class-E power amplifier (PA) is proposed with only 3 external components. The PA is driven by a 33.3% duty cycle with a rise-edge-synchronized harmonic calibration. The 33.3% duty cycle operation lowers the drain voltage swing as well as the 3rd harmonics, and the calibration optimizes the duty imbalance and the phase difference between the differential signals, improving the PA efficiency and eliminating the external harmonic filters. The PA fabricated in 40nm CMOS has achieved the output power of 20dBm and the TX efficiency of 43% with “only 3 external components” in the impedance matching network.
Economic evaluation of different screening alternatives for patients with clinically suspected acute deep vein thrombosis

Introduction: We examined the cost-effectiveness of the three different D-dimer measurements in the screening of DVT in models with and without calculation of pre-test probability (PTP) score. Moreover, we calculated the minimal cost in DVT detection. Material and methods: In the group of 192 patients with clinically suspected acute DVT, we examined the three different D-dimer measurements (Innovance D-dimer, Hemosil D-dimer HS and Vidas D-dimer Exclusion II) in combination with and without PTP assessment. Results: The diagnostic alternative employing Vidas D-dimer Exclusion II assay without and with PTP calculation gave lower incremental cost-effectiveness ratio (ICER) than the alternative employing Hemosil D-dimer HS assay (0.187 Euros vs. 0.998 Euros per one additional DVT positive patient selected for CUS in model without PTP assessment and 0.450 vs. 0.753 Euros per one DVT positive patient selected for CUS in model with PTP assessment). According to sensitivity analysis, the Hemosil D-dimer HS assay was the most cost effective alternative when one patient was admitted to the vascular ambulance per day. Vidas D-dimer Exclusion II assay was the most cost effective alternative when more than one patient were admitted to the vascular ambulance per day. Cost minimisation analysis indicated that selection of patients according to PTP score followed by D-dimer analysis decreases the cost of DVT diagnosis. Conclusions: ICER analysis enables laboratories to choose optimal laboratory tests according to number of patients admitted to laboratory. Results support the feasibility of using PTP scoring and D-dimer measurement before CUS examination in DVT screening.
NoC simulation in heterogeneous architectures for PGAS programming model

Multi- and many-core systems become more and more mainstream and therefore new communication infrastructures like Networks-on-Chip (NoC) and new programming languages like IBM's X10 with its partitioned global address space (PGAS) are introduced. In this paper we present an X10-based simulator, which is capable to simulate the network traffic that occurs inside the X10 program. This holistic approach enables to simulate the functionality and the indicated traffic together, in contrast to pure network simulators where usually only synthetic traffic or traces are used. We explain how the communication overhead is extracted from the X10 run-time and how to simulate the NoC behavior. In experiments we show that the proposed simulator is up to 10 x faster than a comparable SystemC-based simulator and at the same time preserves high accuracy. Furthermore, we present a quality and simulation speed tradeoff by using different simulation modes for a set of real world parallel applications.
Browsing the Real-World Wide Web: Maintaining Awareness of Virtual Information in an AR Information Space

The authors describe a prototype augmented reality (AR) system that allowed them to experiment with interfaces to a 3-dimensional spatialized information space based on the World Wide Web (WWW). The authors call such an information space the Real-World Wide Web (RWWW), because it merges the WWW with the physical world. They present the assumptions they make about the characteristics of such a system, discuss the implications of those assumptions for AR interfaces, and describe their initial experiences creating a prototype RWWW browser.