Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Techniques for selective revalidation

The authors address the question of how to decide which test cases to rerun after a modification. They emphasize that it is important that these tests be selected systematically, because executing an entire test suite to validate a few modifications can consume large amounts of time and computational resources and involve many people, and it is unreliable to exercise a system by selecting test cases intuitively or randomly. They develop a revalidation strategy that is based on an extension of the Fischer algorithm (see K.F. Fischer et al., Proc. Nat. Telecom. Conf., 1981, p.B6.3.1-B6.3.6). Fischer's revalidation technique is based on a zero-one integer programming model. The authors implement a prototype environment based on his methodology. <<ETX>>
Aronia melanocarpa Treatment and Antioxidant Status in Selected Tissues in Wistar Rats

Aronia juice is considered to be a source of compounds with high antioxidative potential. We conducted a study on the impact of compounds in the Aronia juice on oxidative stress in plasma and brain tissues. The influence of Aronia juice on oxidative stress parameters was tested with the use of a model with a high content of fructose and nonsaturated fats. Therefore, the activity of enzymatic (catalase, CAT, and paraoxonase, PON) and nonenzymatic (thiol groups, SH, and protein carbonyl groups, PCG) oxidative stress markers, which indicate changes in the carbohydrate and protein profiles, was marked in brain tissue homogenates. Adding Aronia caused statistically significant increase in the CAT activity in plasma in all tested diets, while the PON activity showed a statistically significant increase only in case of high fat diet. In animals fed with Aronia juice supplemented with carbohydrates or fat, statistically significant increase in the PON activity and the decrease in the CAT activity in brain tissue were observed. In case of the high fat diet, an increase in the number of SH groups and a decrease in the number of PCG groups in brain tissue were observed.
Modeling the Atmospheric General Circulation Using a Spherical Geodesic Grid: A New Class of Dynamical Cores

Abstract This paper documents the development and testing of a new type of atmospheric dynamical core. The model solves the vorticity and divergence equations in place of the momentum equation. The model is discretized in the horizontal using a geodesic grid that is nearly uniform over the entire globe. The geodesic grid is formed by recursively bisecting the triangular faces of a regular icosahedron and projecting those new vertices onto the surface of the sphere. All of the analytic horizontal operators are reduced to line integrals, which are numerically evaluated with second-order accuracy. In the vertical direction the model can use a variety of coordinate systems, including a generalized sigma coordinate that is attached to the top of the boundary layer. Terms related to gravity wave propagation are isolated and an efficient semi-implicit time-stepping scheme is implemented. Since this model combines many of the positive attributes of both spectral models and conventional finite-difference models in.
Efficient accelerometer-based swimming exercise tracking

The study concentrates on tracking swimming exercises based on the data of 3D accelerometer and shows that human activities can be tracked accurately using low sampling rates. The tracking of swimming exercise is done in three phases: first the swimming style and turns are recognized, secondly the number of strokes are counted and thirdly the intensity of swimming is estimated. Tracking is done using efficient methods because the methods presented in the study are designed for light applications which do not allow heavy computing. To keep tracking as light as possible it is studied what is the lowest sampling frequency that can be used and still obtain accurate results. Moreover, two different sensor placements (wrist and upper back) are compared. The results of the study show that tracking can be done with high accuracy using simple methods that are fast to calculate and with a really low sampling frequency. It is shown that an upper back-worn sensor is more accurate than a wrist-worn one when the swimming style is recognized, but when the number of strokes is counted and intensity estimated, the sensors give approximately equally accurate results.
Speech parameterization based on AM-FM model and its application in speaker identification using AANN

This paper presents the parameterization of speech based on amplitude and frequency modulation (AM-FM) model and its application to speaker identification. Speech parameterization is based on three different bandwidths viz 400Hz, 266mel, 106mel. The feature obtained by this parameterization is termed as PYKFEC which is not directly used as a feature instead its average of each filter is used as the feature and termed as FAP. The speaker identification is done using auto associative neural network and Gaussian mixture model. The AANN/GMM is trained using the SOLO speaking style from CHAINS CORPUS database and a network/model is created for each speaker. The created model is tested using different speaking style like FAST and WHSP of the speaker. The identification rate of FAP is better than PYKFEC, and AANN performs well with these features.
New Hydroxycinnamic Acid Esters as Novel 5-Lipoxygenase Inhibitors That Affect Leukotriene Biosynthesis

Leukotrienes are inflammatory mediators that actively participate in the inflammatory response and host defense against pathogens. However, leukotrienes also participate in chronic inflammatory diseases. 5-lipoxygenase is a key enzyme in the biosynthesis of leukotrienes and is thus a validated therapeutic target. As of today, zileuton remains the only clinically approved 5-lipoxygenase inhibitor; however, its use has been limited due to severe side effects in some patients. Hence, the search for a better 5-lipoxygenase inhibitor continues. In this study, we investigated structural analogues of caffeic acid phenethyl ester, a naturally-occurring 5-lipoxygenase inhibitor, in an attempt to enhance the inhibitory activity against 5-lipoxygenase and determine structure-activity relationships. These compounds were investigated for their ability to attenuate the biosynthesis of leukotrienes. Compounds 13 and 19, phenpropyl and diphenylethyl esters, exhibited significantly enhanced inhibitory activity when compared to the reference molecules caffeic acid phenethyl ester and zileuton.
Calculating Value-at-Risk contributions in CreditRisk+

Credit Suisse First Boston (CSFB) launched in 1997 the model CreditRisk+ which aims at calculating the loss distribution of a credit portfolio on the basis of a methodology from actuarial mathematics. Knowing the loss distribution, it is possible to determine quantile-based values-at-risk (VaRs) for the portfolio. An open question is how to attribute fair VaR contributions to the credits or loans forming the portfolio. One approach is to define the contributions as certain conditional expectations. We develop an algorithm for the calculations involved in this approach. This algorithm can be adapted for computing the contributions to the portfolio Expected Shortfall (ES). Key words: CreditRisk+; Value-at-Risk (VaR); risk contribution; conditional expectation.
Spectrum of anemia after kidney transplantation: pathophysiology and therapeutic implications

The prevalence of anemia in the first month after transplant is 70%–80%. The rate declines to 30%–40% at 3 months and 20% by 12 months. Its occurrence is influenced by the quality of the transplanted organ, bone marrow regenerative capacity, amount of surgical blood loss, and increased iron recycling. There is also a blunted response by oxidative inflammation to the effectiveness of supranormal levels of erythropoietin (EPO) release during ischemic‐reperfusion allograft injury. The prevalence rate of late‐onset post‐transplant anemia (PTA) is 30%–50%. This category of patients falls into two ill‐defined groups: (i) those with impaired renal capacity for EPO synthesis and (ii) those with bone marrow resistance. Given the difference in pathophysiology, the current KDIGO guideline that adopts uniform therapeutic approach for the two groups may be inappropriate. Comorbidity due to iron deficiency is common. Anemia is predictive of cardiovascular morbidity and shorter graft survival. Perhaps due to concern for the safe use of EPO stimulating agent (ESA) to correct anemia, there is often inadequate treatment of late‐onset PTA. However, universal application of ESA may be harmful. Therefore, clinical trials are needed to define parameters for selecting patients (e.g., EPO assay) that will benefit the most from therapy for anemia.
Multi-aperture photography

The emergent field of computational photography is proving that, by coupling generalized imaging optics with software processing, the quality and flexibility of imaging systems can be increased. In this paper, we capture and manipulate multiple images of a scene taken with different aperture settings (f-numbers). We design and implement a prototype optical system and associated algorithms to capture four images of the scene in a single exposure, each taken with a different aperture setting. Our system can be used with commercially available DSLR cameras and photographic lenses without modification to either. We leverage the fact that defocus blur is a function of scene depth and f/# to estimate a depth map. We demonstrate several applications of our multi-aperture camera, such as post-exposure editing of the depth of field, including extrapolation beyond the physical limits of the lens, synthetic refocusing, and depth-guided deconvolution.
Effect of subinhibitory concentrations of antibiotics on mutation frequency in Streptococcus pneumoniae.

OBJECTIVES To investigate the effect of subinhibitory concentrations of ciprofloxacin, streptomycin, trimethoprim, ampicillin and erythromycin on mutation frequency in Streptococcus pneumoniae. METHODS Frequency of mutation to rifampicin resistance was determined in three clinical isolates grown with or without antibiotic treatment. dinB was analysed using PCR and DNA sequence determination. RESULTS Subinhibitory levels of ciprofloxacin and streptomycin increased the frequency of mutation to rifampicin resistance between 2- and 5-fold for all three isolates, which is comparable to the increase seen in mismatch repair mutants of this species. These increases appeared not to be dependent on the function of the error-prone DNA polymerase encoded by dinB, since one of the isolates was a naturally occurring deletion mutant for this gene. Trimethoprim increased the mutation frequency for two isolates, but not the dinB mutant; ampicillin and erythromycin had no significant effect on mutation frequencies for any isolate. CONCLUSIONS Exposure to quinolones and aminoglycosides at subinhibitory concentrations may result in increased mutability in pneumococci, as well as selecting for resistance per se.
Versatile Auxiliary Classifier with Generative Adversarial Network (VAC+GAN)

One of the most interesting challenges in Artificial Intelligence is to train conditional generators which are able to provide labeled adversarial samples drawn from a specific distribution. In this work, a new framework is presented to train a deep conditional generator by placing a classifier in parallel with the discriminator and back propagate the classification error through the generator network. The method is versatile and is applicable to any variations of Generative Adversarial Network (GAN) implementation, and also gives superior results compared to similar methods.
An efficient approach to data hiding based on lattice vector quantization

This paper describes a robust, oblivious data embedding scheme which uses lattice vector quantization. The embedding is done in the DCT domain. The signature image is vector quantized and the indices obtained are coded using error-correcting codes (BCH codes). The codewords obtained are multiplied by a scaling factor and perturbed into the DCT coefficients of the host image which is lattice vector quantized. Experimental results of the peak signal to noise ratio (PSNR) of the watermarked image for different host images and the PSNR of the recovered signature image for different values of scaling factors stand a testimony for the validity of this method
Construction of adenovirus vectors through Cre-lox recombination

Two barriers prevent adenovirus-based vectors from having wide application. One is the difficulty of making new adenoviruses, and the second is the strong immunological reaction to viral proteins. Here we describe uses of Cre-lox recombination to overcome these problems. First, we demonstrate a simple method for constructing E1-substituted adenoviruses. Second, we demonstrate a method to construct adenovirus vectors carrying recombinant genes in place of all of the viral genes, so-called gutless adenovirus vectors. The pivotal feature in each method is the use of a negatively selected adenovirus named psi5. We engineered a cis-acting selection into psi5 by flanking its packaging site with loxP sites. When psi5 was grown in cells making a high level of Cre recombinase, the packaging site was deleted by recombination and the yield of psi5 was reduced to 5% of the wild-type level. To make a new E1-substituted virus, we used psi5 as a donor virus and recombined it with a shuttle vector via a loxP site. The resulting recombinant virus has a single loxP site next to the packaging site and therefore outgrows psi5 in the presence of Cre recombinase. To make a gutless virus, we used psi5 as a helper virus. The only viral sequences included in the gutless vector are those needed in cis for its replication and packaging. We found that a loxP site next to the packaging site of the gutless virus was necessary to neutralize homologous recombination between psi5 and the gutless viruses within their packaging domains.
Developing collaborative environments - A Holistic software development methodology

Sandia National Laboratories has been developing technologies to support person-to-person collaboration and the efforts of teams in the business and research communities. The technologies developed include knowledge-based design advisors, knowledge management systems, and streamlined manufacturing supply chains. These collaborative environments in which people can work together sharing information and knowledge have required a new approach to software development. The approach includes an emphasis on the requisite change in business practice that often inhibits user acceptance of collaborative technology. Leveraging the experience from this work, they have established a multidisciplinary approach for developing collaborative software environments. They call this approach ``A Holistic Software Development Methodology''.
Anion Exchange HPLC Isolation of High-Density Lipoprotein (HDL) and On-Line Estimation of Proinflammatory HDL

Proinflammatory high-density lipoprotein (p-HDL) is a biomarker of cardiovascular disease. Sickle cell disease (SCD) is characterized by chronic states of oxidative stress that many consider to play a role in forming p-HDL. To measure p-HDL, apolipoprotein (apo) B containing lipoproteins are precipitated. Supernatant HDL is incubated with an oxidant/LDL or an oxidant alone and rates of HDL oxidation monitored with dichlorofluorescein (DCFH). Although apoB precipitation is convenient for isolating HDL, the resulting supernatant matrix likely influences HDL oxidation. To determine effects of supernatants on p-HDL measurements we purified HDL from plasma from SCD subjects by anion exchange (AE) chromatography, determined its rate of oxidation relative to supernatant HDL. SCD decreased total cholesterol but not triglycerides or HDL and increased cell-free (cf) hemoglobin (Hb) and xanthine oxidase (XO). HDL isolated by AE-HPLC had lower p-HDL levels than HDL in supernatants after apoB precipitation. XO+xanthine (X) and cf Hb accelerated purified HDL oxidation. Although the plate and AE-HPLC assays both showed p-HDL directly correlated with cf-Hb in SCD plasma, the plate assay yielded p-HDL data that was influenced more by cf-Hb than AE-HPLC generated p-HDL data. The AE-HPLC p-HDL assay reduces the influence of the supernatants and shows that SCD increases p-HDL.
Temperature climatology and trend estimates in the UTLS region as observed over a southern subtropical site, Durban, South Africa

Temperature trends in the UTLS region are under-reported, particularly in the Southern Hemisphere, and yet temperature is one of the most important indicators of changes in dynamical and radiative processes in the atmosphere. Here radiosonde data from Durban, South Africa (30.0° S, 30.9° E) over the period 1980 to 2001 (22 years) between 250 and 20 hPa are used to derive a mean temperature climatology and to determine trends. The seasonal cycle at the 250-hPa level is anti-correlated with the seasonal cycles at the 150-hPa and 100-hPa heights. The 100-hPa level (local tropopause) exhibits a minimum temperature in late summer and a maximum in winter, and closely corresponds to previous results for tropical regions. Based on a Fourier analysis, both the annual cycle (AO) and the semi-annual cycle (SAO) are dominant, although the former is about 4 times stronger. The AO is strongest at the 100-hPa height. A trend analysis reveals a cooling trend at almost all heights in the UTLS region, with a maximum cooling rate of 1.09±0.41 K per decade, at 70-hPa. Cooling rates are in good agreement with other studies and are slightly higher in summer than in winter.
Eyes ’n ears: A system of attentive teleconferencing

Various teleconferencing systems exist, including systems intended for multiple speakers where a speaker must be localized. Although many sound‐localization systems are available, not only are they expensive and nonportable, most require extensive audio arrays resulting in substantial computational processing. A simple, economical, and compact method of sound localization for use in a teleconferencing system is being investigated. In order to localize a sound source, this system relies solely on ITD measurements between microphone pairs, which allows the sound source to be determined as one of many possible locations on the surface of a cone. By taking the intersection of a sufficient number of cones, the location of a sound source in three‐dimensional space may be determined. Our goal is to overcome the problems associated with the sound‐localization systems currently available. In particular, this work seeks to develop an affordable, limited maintenance and compact sound‐localization system for use with.
Scan-Based Movement-Assisted Sensor Deployment Methods in Wireless Sensor Networks

The efficiency of sensor networks depends on the coverage of the monitoring area. Although, in general, a sufficient number of sensors are used to ensure a certain degree of redundancy in coverage, a good sensor deployment is still necessary to balance the workload of sensors. In a sensor network with locomotion facilities, sensors can move around to self-deploy. The movement-assisted sensor deployment deals with moving sensors from an initial unbalanced state to a balanced state. Therefore, various optimization problems can be defined to minimize different parameters, including total moving distance, total number of moves, communication/computation cost, and convergence rate. In this paper, we first propose a Hungarian-algorithm-based optimal solution, which is centralized. Then, a localized scan-based movement-assisted sensor deployment method (SMART) and several variations of it that use scan and dimension exchange to achieve a balanced state are proposed. An extended SMART is developed to address a unique problem called communication holes in sensor networks. Extensive simulations have been done to verify the effectiveness of the proposed scheme.
Peukert-Equation-Based State-of-Charge Estimation for LiFePO4 Batteries Considering the Battery Thermal Evolution Effect

To achieve accurate state-of-charge (SoC) estimation for LiFePO4 (lithium iron phosphate) batteries under harsh conditions, this paper resorts to the Peukert’s law to accommodate different temperatures and load excitations. By analyzing battery heat generation and dissipation, a thermal evolution model (TEM) is elaborated and exploited for on-line parameter identification of the equivalent circuit model (ECM). Then, a SoC estimation framework is proposed based on the Adaptive Extended Kalman Filter (AEKF) algorithm. Experimental results on a LiFePO4 pack subject to the Federal Urban Driving Schedule (FUDS) profile under different temperatures and initial states suggest that the proposed SoC estimator provides good robustness and accuracy against changing temperature and highly dynamic loads.
Recursive Agent and Agent-Group Tracking in a Real-Time Dynamic Environment

Agent tracking is an important capability an intelligent agent requires for interacting with other agents. It involves monitoring the observable actions of other agents as well as inferring their unobserved actions or high-level goals and behaviors. This paper focuses on a key challenge for agent tracking: recursive tracking of individuals or groups of agents. The paper first introduces aa approach for tracking recursive agent models. To tame the resultant growth in the tracking effort and aid real-time performance, the paper then presents model sharing, an optimization that involves sharing the effort of tracking multiple models. Such shared models are dynamically unshared as needed -in effect, a model is selectively tracked if it is dissimilar enough to require unsharing. The paper also discusses the application of recursive modeling in service of deception, and the impact of sensor imperfections. This investigation is based on our on-going effort to build intelligent pilot agents for a real-world synthetic air-combat environment. 1
The role of UML in software development in Greece-Results from an exploratory study

The Unified Modeling Language (UML) is a language for specifying, visualizing, constructing and documenting software systems. The UML proved to be extremely successful and it has achieved tremendous popularity making it the de facto industry standard for object oriented system development. As such, many researchers presented works, case studies and empirical studies on the practical usage of UML but as well criticisms for UML complexity, ambiguity, difficulty to be learnt, etc. Even though a large number of articles and books are devoted to various aspects of UML language, there is little evidence on how UML is used. This study attempts identify the profile of persons using UML, to define the software projects where UML was used, to pinpoint UML diagrams that are being used and their effectiveness, to discover whether CASE tools are being used and to record the perceived usefulness of UML language. For conducting the study a survey was developed and it was distributed to mailing lists of Greek IT professionals and to university students. The findings indicate that UML is used successfully in the majority of software development projects and that most users perceive UML positively since it supports faster system building, development of higher quality software systems, and for specific cases, it leads to software development cost-decrease.