Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
TROPIC: Transactional Resource Orchestration Platform in the Cloud

Realizing Infrastructure-as-a-Service (IaaS) cloud requires a control platform to orchestrate cloud resource provisioning, configuration, and decommissioning across a distributed set of diverse physical resources. This orchestration is challenging due to the rapid growth of data centers, high failure rate of commodity hardware and the increasing sophistication of cloud services. This paper presents the design and implementation of TROPIC, a highly available, transactional resource orchestration platform for building IaaS cloud infrastructures. TROPIC's orchestration procedures that manipulate physical resources are transactional, automatically guaranteeing atomicity, consistency, isolation and durability of cloud operations. Through extensive evaluation of our prototype implementation, we demonstrate that TROPIC can meet production-scale cloud orchestration demands, while maintaining our design goals of safety, robustness, concurrency and high availability.
Tailored Synthesis of Octopus-type Janus Nanoparticles for Synergistic Actively-Targeted and Chemo-Photothermal Therapy.

A facile, reproducible, and scalable method was explored to construct uniform Au@poly(acrylic acid) (PAA) Janus nanoparticles (JNPs). The as-prepared JNPs were used as templates to preferentially grow a mesoporous silica (mSiO2 ) shell and Au branches separately modified with methoxy-poly(ethylene glycol)-thiol (PEG) to improve their stability, and lactobionic acid (LA) for tumor-specific targeting. The obtained octopus-type PEG-Au-PAA/mSiO2 -LA Janus NPs (PEG-OJNP-LA) possess pH and NIR dual-responsive release properties. Moreover, DOX-loaded PEG-OJNP-LA, upon 808 nm NIR light irradiation, exhibit obviously higher toxicity at the cellular and animal levels compared with chemotherapy or photothermal therapy alone, indicating the PEG-OJNP-LA could be utilized as a multifunctional nanoplatform for in vitro and in vivo actively-targeted and chemo-photothermal cancer therapy.
Complete Genome Sequence of Bacillus cereus Sensu Lato Bacteriophage Bcp1

ABSTRACT Bacillus cereus sensu lato organisms are an ecologically diverse group that includes etiologic agents of food poisoning, periodontal disease, and anthrax. The recently identified Bcp1 bacteriophage infects B. cereus sensu lato and is being developed as a therapeutic decontamination agent and diagnostic countermeasure. We announce the complete genome sequence of Bcp1.
Reduced lean mass in early Alzheimer disease and its association with brain atrophy.

OBJECTIVE To examine body composition in individuals with early AD and without dementia and its relation to cognition and brain volume. DESIGN Cross-sectional case-control study. PARTICIPANTS Individuals without dementia (Clinical Dementia Rating, 0; n = 70) and with early-stage AD (Clinical Dementia Rating, 0.5 or 1; n = 70) in the Alzheimer and Memory Program at the University of Kansas School of Medicine. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES Participants were evaluated with brain magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), neuropsychological testing, and dual-energy x-ray absorptiometry to determine whole-body fat and lean masses. Body mass index was calculated as weight in kilograms divided by height in meters squared. RESULTS Lean mass was reduced in persons with early AD compared with controls without dementia (F = 7.73; P = .006) after controlling for sex. Whole-brain volume (beta = .20; P < .001), white matter volume (beta = .19; P < .001), and global cognitive performance (beta = .12; P = .007) were associated with lean mass (dependent variable) when controlling for age and sex. The total body fat and percentage of body fat values were not different across groups or related to cognition and brain volume. CONCLUSION Loss of lean mass is accelerated in AD and is associated with brain atrophy and cognitive performance, perhaps as a direct or indirect consequence of AD pathophysiology or through shared mechanisms common to both AD and sarcopenia.
Comparison of Routing and Wavelength Assignment Algorithms in WDM Networks

We design and implement various algorithms for solving the static RWA problem with the objective of minimizing the maximum number of requested wavelengths based on LP relaxation formulations. We present a link formulation, a path formulation and a heuristic that breaks the problem in the two constituent subproblems and solves them individually and sequentially. The flow cost functions that are used in these formulations result in providing integer optimal solutions despite the absence of integrality constraints for a large subset of RWA input instances, while also minimizing the total number of used wavelengths. We present a random perturbation technique that is shown to increase the number of instances for which we find integer solutions, and we also present appropriate iterative fixing and rounding methods to be used when the algorithms do not yield integer solutions. We comment on the number of variables and constraints these formulations require and perform extensive simulations to compare their performance to that of a typical min-max congestion formulation.
Optimising care of patients with chronic disease: patient‐oriented education may improve disease knowledge and self‐management

Many patients with chronic disease do not possess the knowledge and skills required to access and interpret appropriate health information. A pilot study in people with liver cirrhosis (n = 50) identified that only 54% of patients could recall being given written information by a clinician and 64% had self‐sought information, most commonly using the Internet. Many patients reported difficulties understanding the material and the majority wanted more accessible information. A pilot chronic disease educational booklet was well received by the study participants with 85% reporting it was helpful and 78% using it in between clinic appointments.
Event History Modeling: A Guide for Social Scientists

Event History Modeling: A Guide for Social Scientists. By Janet M. Box-Steffensmeier and Bradford S. Jones. New York: Cambridge University Press, 2004. 232p. $65.00 cloth, $23.99 paper. The study of durations in political science has been on the rise over the last decade and a half. Their application spans major research questions in virtually every field, including the duration of parliamentary governments, international conflict, policy adoptions in the U.S. states, and issue emergence in campaigns. Testing theoretical arguments regarding these and other questions involving durations has led political scientists to learn about and rely upon statistical models for durations, often referred to as event history models. Perhaps more than models for other classes of data, learning about event history models, particularly those for continuous-time data, presents a formidable task. This is partly due to the unique language of the models (e.g., terms like “spell,” “failure,” “frailty,” and “hazard”) that developed through their application in other disciplines, but also because of the new concerns that they involve. For example, how should one control for duration dependence? Is the proportional hazards assumption met?
Parallel K-Means Algorithm on Distributed Memory Multiprocessors

Clustering large data sets can be time consuming and processor intensive. This project is an implementation of the parallel version of a popular clustering algorithm, the k-means algorithm, to provide faster clustering solutions. This algorithm was tested such that 3,4,5,7 clusters were created on a cluster of Sun workstations. Optimal levels of speedup were not achieved; but the benefits of parallelization were observed. This methodology exploits the inherent dataparallelism in the k-means algorithm and makes use of the message-passing model.
Stromal cells are critical targets in the regulation of mammary ductal morphogenesis by parathyroid hormone-related protein.

Parathyroid hormone-related protein (PTHrP) was originally identified as the tumor product responsible for humoral hypercalcemia of malignancy. It is now known that PTHrP is produced by many normal tissues in which it appears to play a role as a developmental regulatory molecule. PTHrP is a normal product of mammary epithelial cells, and recent experiments in our laboratory have demonstrated that overexpression or underexpression of PTHrP in the murine mammary gland leads to severe disruptions in its development. The nature of these phenotypes suggests that PTHrP acts to modulate branching growth during mammary development by regulating mammary stromal cell function. We now demonstrate that throughout mammary development, during periods of active ductal-branching morphogenesis, PTHrP is produced by epithelial cells, whereas the PTH/PTHrP receptor is expressed on stromal cells. In addition, we show that mammary stromal cells in culture contain specific binding sites for amino terminal PTHrP and respond with an increase in intracellular cAMP. Finally, we demonstrate that the mammary mesenchyme must express the PTH/PTHrP receptor in order to support mammary epithelial cell morphogenesis. These results demonstrate that PTHrP and the PTH/PTHrP receptor represent an epithelial/mesenchymal signaling circuit that is necessary for mammary morphogenesis and that stromal cells are a critical target for PTHrP's action in the mammary gland.
Mass spectrometric characterization of ceramides derived from brain cerebrosides.

Bovine brain cerebrosides were degraded to ceramides on a milligram scale, using a procedure by Carter et al. These were separated into the 2-hydroxy acid and non-hydroxy acid containing ceramides and subsequently according to degree of unsaturation of the constituent acids. Four groups of ceramides were obtained. Each group was separated into molecular species by gasliquid chromatography as the trimethylsilyl ether derivative. Structures of the molecular species were determined by mass spectrometry.
Use of Support Vector Learning for Chunk Identification

In this paper, we explore the use of Support Vector Machines (SVMs) for CoNLL-2000 shared task, chunk identification. SVMs are so-called large margin classifiers and are well-known as their good generalization performance. We investigate how SVMs with a very large number of features perform with the classification task of chunk labelling.
Early-phase performance evaluation of computer systems using workload models and SystemC

Novel methods and tools are needed for the performance evaluation of future embedded systems due to the increasing system complexity. Systems accommodate a large number of on-terminal and or downloadable applications offering the users with numerous services related to telecommunication, audio and video, digital television, internet and navigation. More flexibility, scalability and modularity is expected from execution platforms to support applications. Digital processing architectures will evolve from the current system-on-chips to massively parallel computers consisting of heterogeneous subsystems connected by a network-on-chip. As a consequence, the overall complexity of system evaluation will increase by orders of magnitude. The ABSOLUT performance simulation approach presented in this thesis combats evaluation complexity by abstracting the functionality of the applications with workload models consisting of instruction-like primitives. Workload models can be created from application specifications, measurement results, execution traces, or the source code. Complexity of execution platform models is also reduced since the data paths of processing elements need not be modelled in detail and data transfers and storage are simulated only from the performance point of view. The modelling approach enables early evaluation since mature hardware or software is not required for the modelling or simulation of complete systems. ABSOLUT is applied to a number of case studies including mobile phone usage, MP3 playback, MPEG4 encoding and decoding, 3D gaming, virtual network computing, and parallel software-defined radio applications. The platforms used in the studies represent both embedded systems and personal computers, and at the same time both currently existing platforms and future designs. The results obtained from simulations are compared to measurements from real platforms, which reveals an average difference of 12% in the results. This exceeds the accuracy requirements expected from virtual system-based simulation approaches intended for early evaluation.
Chapter 6 Computational models of tacit knowledge

When an expert designer uses a term such as “interference fit" or “H7r6", they effortlessly invoke a rich set of associations across a wide range of experience. While at one level, the meaning of a termsuch as H7 is formally specified, many of these associations are implicitand hard to characterize formally. The explicit concepts build on layersof implicit abstraction; e.g. the concept of _t would be difficult toachieve without the commonsense notion of “tight", discriminated byhuman infants from five month onwards. We propose that such ubiquitousexpertise may be acquired as functionally relevant low-dimensionalchunks in an experiential space, which are then stabilized through language.The technical terms of design build on these everyday conceptsby mechanisms such as extension or narrowing of their semantics. Wesuggest a two-stage computational analog of this process: a) the babydesigner stage learns elementary concepts as tacit patterns on an inputspace; and b) the novice designer stage relates these early conceptsto explicitly defined design terms to arrive at a grounded semantics forthe new symbols. We illustrate the process through the development ofconcepts such as interference fit. Now we see tacit knowledge opposed to explicit knowledge; but these twoare not sharply divided. While tacit knowledge can be possessed by itself, explicit knowledge must rely on being tacitly understood and applied.Hence all knowledge is either tacit or rooted in tacit knowledge. A whollyexplicit knowledge is unthinkable. Michael Polanyi [1] 6.1 Design concepts build on everyday experiences Consider a designers' understanding of the terms “running fit" and “interference fit" in mechanical assemblies. A running fit, where an object slides smoothly with very little clearance, may have a tolerance of H7-g6 (e.g. in a bush bearing) [2]. On the other hand an interference fit that can transmit force (e.g. a gear on a shaft), may have a tolerance of H7-r6. Terms such as “H7” are formally defined as a band of tolerance for the hole, and “g6” or “r6”, as a tolerance range on the shaft. A formal inference process can then combine these two definitions to de-
The bacteria responsible for apocrine odor.

Shelley, et at. (1), have shown that apocrine sweat is non-odorous when delivered to the surface but develops odor only when acted upon by the cutaneous microflora. The correctness of this view is demonstrated by the effectiveness of locally applied antibacterial agents in suppressing the pungent axillary odor (2, 3). In undertaking the present study we wished particularly to determine whether odor production was a unique function of a particular organism adapted to this region or whether different species had this capacity more or less nonspecifically.
A comparative study between different modulations techniques used in field oriented control induction motor drive

In industries, where adjustable or variable speed drives are required, induction motor drives are chosen with various control strategies to have fast flux and torque response. In order to overcome sluggish response of induction motor and to have decoupled flux and torque characteristics, field oriented control (FOC) is implemented. These drives consists of voltage source inverters with various modulation schemes like SPWM, THISPWM, SVM etc. in order to minimize the harmonics present in the output voltage or current. Presence of harmonics makes the response non-sinusoidal and generate heating, torque pulsation etc within the machine. But for field oriented control induction motor drives, selection of efficient modulation scheme is important as machine current is controlled and in this current loop presence of ripples may create multiple zero crossing problems in the SPWM. In this paper, different modulation schemes are investigated and their performances are compared for a variable speed three phase FOC Induction motor. This system is modeled in MATLAB and SIMULINK where all the above stated modulation schemes are implemented. It is observed that the FOC based IM drive gives better result when subjected to Space Vector Modulation Scheme.
Towards an Extensible and Scalable Energy Harvesting Wireless Sensor Network Simulation Framework

Energy harvesting approaches are of increasing interest in the context of Wireless Sensor Networks. Energy harvesting as a source of intermittent power offers significant opportunities to extend the operating lifetime of sensors in a number of key application areas, including environmental monitoring and healthcare. This paper surveys existing simulation tool support, and highlights through experimentation the need for more expressive modelling approaches, and presents visions to enhance simulation support for EH-WSN.
Chemiresistive/SERS dual sensor based on densely packed gold nanoparticles

Chemiresistors are a class of sensitive electrical devices capable of detecting (bio)chemicals by simply monitoring electrical resistance. Sensing based on surface enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) represents a radically different approach, in which molecules are optically detected according to their vibrational spectroscopic fingerprint. Despite different concepts are involved, one can find in the literature examples from both categories reporting sensors made of gold nanoparticles. The same building blocks appear because both sensor classes share a common principle: nanometric interparticle gaps are needed, for electron tunneling in chemiresistors, and for enhancing electromagnetic fields by plasmon coupling in SERS-based sensors. By exploiting such nano-gaps in self-assembled films of gold nanoparticles, we demonstrate the proof of concept of a dual electrical/optical sensor, with both chemiresistive and SERS capabilities. The proposed device is realized by self-assembling 15 nm gold nanoparticles into few micrometers-wide strips across commercially available interdigitated electrodes. The dual-mode operation of the device is demonstrated by the detection of a biologically relevant model analyte, 4-mercaptophenyl boronic acid.
Block by calcium of ATP-activated channels in pheochromocytoma cells

We have investigated the effects of Ca2+ on Na+ influx through ATP- activated channels in pheochromocytoma PC12 cells using single channel current recordings. Under cell-attached patch-clamp conditions with 150 mM Na+ and 2 mM Ca2+ in the pipette, the unitary current activity showed an open level of about -4.3 pA at -150 mV. The channel opening was interrupted by flickery noise as well as occasional transition to a subconducting state of about -1.7 pA at -150 mV. The open level was decreased with increased external Ca2+, suggesting that external Ca2+ blocks Na+ permeation. We assessed the block by Ca2+ as the mean amplitude obtained with heavy filtration according to Pietrobon et al. (Pietrobon, D., B. Prod'hom, and P. Hess, 1989. J. Gen. Physiol. 94:1- 21). The block was concentration dependent with a Hill coefficient of 1 and a half-maximal concentration of approximately 6 mM. A similar block was observed with other divalent cations, and the order of potency was Cd2+ > Mn2+ > Mg2+ not equal to Ca2+ > Ba2+. High Ca2+, Mg2+ and Ba2+ did not block completely, probably because they can carry current in the channel. The block by external Ca2+ did not exhibit voltage dependence between -100 and -210 mV. In the inside-out patch-clamp configuration, the amplitude of inward channel current obtained with 150 mM external Na+ was reduced by increased internal Ca2+. The reduction was observed at lower concentrations than that by external Ca2+. Internal Ba2+ and Cd2+ induced similar reduction in current amplitude. This inhibitory effect of internal Ca2+ was voltage dependent; the inhibition was relieved with hyperpolarization. The results suggest that both external and internal Ca2+ can block Na+ influx through the ATP-activated channel. A simple one-binding site model with symmetric energy barriers is not sufficient to explain the Ca2+ block from both sides.
The Lectin-like Domain of Thrombomodulin Confers Protection from Neutrophil-mediated Tissue Damage by Suppressing Adhesion Molecule Expression via Nuclear Factor κB and Mitogen-activated Protein Kinase Pathways

Thrombomodulin (TM) is a vascular endothelial cell (EC) receptor that is a cofactor for thrombin-mediated activation of the anticoagulant protein C. The extracellular NH2-terminal domain of TM has homology to C-type lectins that are involved in immune regulation. Using transgenic mice that lack this structure (TMLeD/LeD), we show that the lectin-like domain of TM interferes with polymorphonuclear leukocyte (PMN) adhesion to ECs by intercellular adhesion molecule 1–dependent and –independent pathways through the suppression of extracellular signal–regulated kinase (ERK)1/2 activation. TMLeD/LeD mice have reduced survival after endotoxin exposure, accumulate more PMNs in their lungs, and develop larger infarcts after myocardial ischemia/reperfusion. The recombinant lectin-like domain of TM suppresses PMN adhesion to ECs, diminishes cytokine-induced increase in nuclear factor κB and activation of ERK1/2, and rescues ECs from serum starvation, findings that may explain why plasma levels of soluble TM are inversely correlated with cardiovascular disease. These data suggest that TM has antiinflammatory properties in addition to its role in coagulation and fibrinolysis.
The Activity of HDAC8 Depends on Local and Distal Sequences of Its Peptide Substrates

This paper introduces a flexible assay for characterizing the activities of the histone deacetylase enzymes. The approach combines mass spectrometry with self-assembled monolayers that present acetylated peptides and enables a label-free and one-step assay of this biochemical activity. The assay was used to characterize the activity of HDAC8 toward peptides taken from the N-terminal tail of the H4 histone and reveals that a distal region of the peptide substrate interacts with the deacetylase at an exosite and contributes to the activity of the substrate. Specifically, a peptide corresponding to residues 8−19 of H4 and having lysine 12 acetylated is an active substrate, but removal of the KRHR (residues 16−19) sequence abolishes activity. Mutation of glycine 11 to arginine in the peptide lacking the KRHR sequence restores activity, demonstrating that both local and distal sequences act synergistically to regulate the activity of the HDAC. Assays with peptides bearing multiply acetylated residues, but in which each acetyl group is isotopically labeled, permit studies of the processive deacetylation of peptides. Peptide substrates having an extended sequence that includes K20 were used to demonstrate that methylation of this residue directly affects HDAC8 activity at K12. This work provides a mechanistic basis for the regulation of HDAC activities by distal sequences and may contribute to studies aimed at evaluating the role of the histone code in regulating gene expression.