Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Semantic Caching and Query Processing

Semantic caching is very attractive for use in distributed systems due to the reduced network traffic and the improved response time. It is particularly efficient for a mobile computing environment, where the bandwidth of wireless links is a major performance bottleneck. Previous work either does not provide a formal semantic caching model, or lacks efficient query processing strategies. This paper extends the existing research in three ways: formal definitions associated with semantic caching are presented, query processing strategies are investigated and, finally, the performance of the semantic cache model is examined through a detailed simulation study.
The tangible augmented street map

This short paper describes initial progress with the Tangible Augmented Street Map (TASM), which uses tangible Augmented Reality to display virtual geographic objects on the faces of a cube for navigation in the outdoors environment. Rather than specific objects being absolutely linked with specific patterns (one pattern per cube face), a relative linking system is put forward. Rotation of the cube in any one of the four major directions will display objects that are geographically in that direction. This intuitive panning across space is therefore theoretically infinite, limited only by the extent of the spatial data.
Are Endoscopic and Open Treatments of Metopic Synostosis Equivalent in Treating Trigonocephaly and Hypotelorism?

BackgroundPatients with metopic craniosynostosis are traditionally treated with fronto-orbital advancement to correct hypotelorism and trigonocephaly. Alternatively, endoscopic-assisted treatment comprises narrow ostectomy of the fused suture followed by postoperative helmet therapy. Here we compare the preoperative and 1-year postoperative results in open versus endoscopic repairs. MethodsWe reviewed preoperative and 1-year postoperative three-dimensional reconstructed computed tomography scans of patients treated for nonsyndromic metopic craniosynostosis by either open (n = 15) or endoscopic (n = 13) technique. Hypotelorism was assessed by interzygomaticofrontal distance and intercanthal distance. Trigonocephaly was assessed by 2 independent angles: first, an axial-plane two-dimensional angle between zygomaticofrontal suture bilaterally and the glabella (ZFR-G-ZFL); second, an interfrontal angle (IFA) between the most anterior point from a reconstructed midsagittal plane and supraorbital notch bilaterally. Age-matched scans of unaffected patients (n = 28) served as controls for each postoperative scan. ResultsPatients with open repair (9.5 ± 1.8 months) were older at time of surgery than patients with endoscopic repairs (3.3 ± 0.4 months) (P = 0.004). Male-to-female ratios were equivalent at roughly 7:3 in both groups. Preoperatively, the endoscopic group had worse hypotelorism and ZFR-G-ZFL than the open group (P ⩽ 0.04). After accounting for preoperative differences, all of the postoperative measurements (ie, interzygomaticofrontal distance, intercanthal distance, ZFR-G-ZFL angle, IFA) of the 2 groups were statistically equivalent (P ≥ 0.135). Trigonocephaly was significantly improved after repair in both the open (8 degrees [ZFR-G-ZFL] and 18 degrees [IFA]) and endoscopic (13 degrees [ZFR-G-ZFL] and 16 degrees [IFA]) groups (P < 0.001). Postoperative measures in both groups were equivalent to controls (0.12 < P < 0.89). Intrarater reliability ranged from 0.93 to 0.99 for all measurements. ConclusionOur retrospective series shows that endoscopic and open repairs of metopic craniosynostosis are equivalent in improving hypotelorism and trigonocephaly at 1-year follow-up. Additional studies are necessary to better define minor differences in morphology, which may result from the different techniques.
Investigation of morph-based speech recognition improvements across speech genres

The improvement achieved by changing the basis of speech recognition from words to morphs (various sub-word units) varies greatly across tasks and languages. We make an attempt to explore the source of this variability by the investigation of three LVCSR tasks corresponding to three speech genres of a highly agglutinative language. Novel, press conference and broadcast news transcription results are presented and compared to spontaneous speech recognition results in several experimental setups. A noticeable correlation is observed between an easily computable characteristic of various language speech recognition tasks and between the relative improvements due to (statistical) morph-based approaches.
Autonomic System Management in Mobile Grid Environments

Mobile device integration in grid environments is a challenge for many researchers. Due to the transient nature of mobile devices, service management is a critical, but often overlooked area of research. We propose a distributed broker responsible for the autonomic management of grid services. The broker provides self discovery and negotiation, self configuration and self healing for SOA based mobile grids. In this paper the design and prototype implementation of the broker is presented and the importance of autonomic grid service management is shown.
Occupational and residential exposure to electromagnetic fields and risk of brain tumors in adults: A case–control study in Gironde, France

The etiology of brain tumors remains largely unknown. Among potential risk factors, exposure to electromagnetic fields is suspected. We analyzed the relationship between residential and occupational exposure to electromagnetic field and brain tumors in adults. A case–control study was carried out in southwestern France between May 1999 and April 2001. A total of 221 central nervous system tumors (105 gliomas, 67 meningiomas, 33 neurinomas and 16 others) and 442 individually age‐ and sex‐matched controls selected from general population were included. Electromagnetic field exposure [extremely low frequency (ELF) and radiofrequency separately was assessed in occupational settings through expert judgement based on complete job calendar, and at home by assessing the distance to power lines with the help of a geographical information system. Confounders such as education, use of home pesticide, residency in a rural area and occupational exposure to chemicals were taken into account. Separate analyses were performed for gliomas, meningiomas and acoustic neurinomas. A nonsignificant increase in risk was found for occupational exposure to electromagnetic fields [odds ratio (OR = 1.52, 0.92–2.51)]. This increase became significant for meningiomas, especially when considering ELF separately [OR = 3.02; 95 percent confidence interval (95% CI) =1.10–8.25]. The risk of meningioma was also higher in subjects living in the vicinity of power lines (<100 m), even if not significant (OR = 2.99, 95% CI 0.86–10.40). These data suggest that occupational or residential exposure to ELF may play a role in the occurrence of meningioma.
Relation of quinacrine hydrochloride to lichenoid dermatitis (atypical lichen planus).

A MONG the many problems and diseases incident to the service of troops in tropical areas during World War II, those relating to the skin have had a prominent place. Of these, the disease which has been called "atypical lichen planus" has been not only one of the most interesting but one of the most baffling from the etiologic standpoint. Accounts of a cutaneous disease occurring in the Southwest Pacific which resembled lichen planus began to be received in the office of the Surgeon General in the latter part of 1943. Schmitt, Alpins and Chambers 1 and Major Thomas W. Nisbet 2 were among the first to recognize the disease and to submit confidential reports of their observations and opinions. Subsequently a number of other reports of independent observations of this disease were received, not only from the Pacific 3 but from other theaters of operation (Mediterranean 4 and
Mind the gap! Integrating taxonomic approaches to assess ant diversity at the southern extreme of the Atlantic Forest

Abstract Understanding patterns of species diversity relies on accurate taxonomy which can only be achieved by long‐term natural history research and the use of complementary information to establish species boundaries among cryptic taxa. We used DNA barcoding to characterize the ant diversity of Iguazú National Park (INP), a protected area of the Upper Paraná Atlantic Forest ecoregion, located at the southernmost extent of this forest. We assessed ant diversity using both cytochrome c oxidase subunit 1 (COI) sequences and traditional morphological approaches, and compared the results of these two methods. We successfully obtained COI sequences for 312 specimens belonging to 124 species, providing a DNA barcode reference library for nearly 50% of the currently known ant fauna of INP. Our results support a clear barcode gap for all but two species, with a mean intraspecific divergence of 0.72%, and an average congeneric distance of 17.25%. Congruently, the library assembled here was useful for the discrimination of the ants of INP and allowed us to link unidentified males and queens to their worker castes. To detect overlooked diversity, we classified the DNA barcodes into Molecular Operational Taxonomic Units (MOTUs) using three different clustering algorithms, and compared their number and composition to that of reference species identified based on morphology. The MOTU count was always higher than that of reference species regardless of the method, suggesting that the diversity of ants at INP could be between 6% and 10% higher than currently recognized. Lastly, our survey contributed with 78 new barcode clusters to the global DNA barcode reference library, and added 36 new records of ant species for the INP, being 23 of them new citations for Argentina.
Targeting eEF1A by a Legionella pneumophila effector leads to inhibition of protein synthesis and induction of host stress response

The Legionella pneumophila Dot/Icm type IV secretion system is essential for the biogenesis of a phagosome that supports bacterial multiplication, most likely via the functions of its protein substrates. Recent studies indicate that fundamental cellular processes, such as vesicle trafficking, stress response, autophagy and cell death, are modulated by these effectors. However, how each translocated protein contributes to the modulation of these pathways is largely unknown. In a screen to search substrates of the Dot/Icm transporter that can cause host cell death, we identified a gene whose product is lethal to yeast and mammalian cells. We demonstrate that this protein, called SidI, is a substrate of the Dot/Icm type IV protein transporter that targets the host protein translation process. Our results indicate that SidI specifically interacts with eEF1A and eEF1Bγ, two components of the eukaryotic protein translation elongation machinery and such interactions leads to inhibition of host protein synthesis. Furthermore, we have isolated two SidI substitution mutants that retain the target binding activity but have lost toxicity to eukaryotic cells, suggesting potential biochemical effect of SidI on eEF1A and eEF1Bγ. We also show that infection by L. pneumophila leads to eEF1A‐mediated activation of the heat shock regulatory protein HSF1 in a virulence‐dependent manner and deletion of sidI affects such activation. Moreover, similar response occurred in cells transiently transfected to express SidI. Thus, inhibition of host protein synthesis by specific effectors contributes to the induction of stress response in L. pneumophila‐infected cells.
Fault recovery protocol for distributed memory MPSoCs

Fault handling mechanisms become more relevant as systems integrate more hardware logic. For instance, current multi-processor system-on-chips (MPSoCs) consists of hundreds of processors connected by an interconnection network. This type of system can only be cost effective if it can handle faults on its main components (i.e. processors and interconnect). Traditional fault recovery approaches for multi-processors were adapted from the domain of cluster of computers and might be more complex than required for common MPSoC applications domains. This paper presents a lightweight online fault recovery for embedded processors of MPSoCs based on distributed memory. This approach automatically restarts affected applications reallocating tasks to healthy processors. All steps are performed at the kernel level, without changing user application code. Results show very short recovery time, from 110 μs to 425 μs with a 100MHz clock, which are mostly dominated by the size of the reallocated tasks.
Binding of Inhibitory Fatty Acids Is Responsible for the Enhancement of UDP-Glucuronosyltransferase 2B7 Activity by Albumin: Implications for in Vitro-in Vivo Extrapolation

Studies were performed to elucidate the mechanism responsible for the reduction in Km values of UDP-glucuronosyltransferase 2B7 (UGT2B7) substrates observed for incubations conducted in the presence of albumin. Addition of bovine serum albumin (BSA) and fatty acid-free human serum albumin (HSA-FAF), but not “crude” HSA, resulted in an approximate 90% reduction in the Km values for the glucuronidation of zidovudine (AZT) by human liver microsomes (HLM) and UGT2B7 and a 50 to 75% reduction in the S50 for 4-methylumbelliferone (4MU) glucuronidation by UGT2B7, without affecting Vmax. Oleic, linoleic, and arachidonic acids were shown to be the most abundant unsaturated long-chain fatty acids present in crude HSA and in the membranes of HLM and human embryonic kidney (HEK)293 cells, and it was demonstrated that these and other unsaturated long-chain fatty acids were UGT2B7 substrates. Glucuronides with Rf (retention factor) values corresponding to the glucuronides of linoleic and arachidonic acid were detected when HLM and HEK293 cell lysates were incubated with radiolabeled cofactor, and the intensity of the bands was modulated by the presence of crude HSA (increased) and BSA or HSA-FAF (decreased). Oleic, linoleic, and arachidonic acid inhibited AZT and 4MU glucuronidation by HLM and/or UGT2B7, due to an increase in Km/S50 without a change in Vmax. Addition of BSA and HSA-FAF reversed the inhibition. Likewise, coexpression of UGT2B7 and HSA in HEK293 cells reduced the Km/S50 values of these substrates. It is postulated that BSA and HSA-FAF sequester inhibitory fatty acids released during incubations, and the apparent high Km values observed for UGT2B7 substrates arise from the presence of these endogenous inhibitors.
Coseismic ionospheric disturbances triggered by the Chi-Chi earthquake

[1] At 17:47 UT on 20 September 1999, a large earthquake of magnitude Mw 7.6 struck the central Taiwan near a small town of Chi-Chi. The ground-based receivers of the global positioning system (GPS) in the Taiwan area detected coseismic ionospheric disturbances (CIDs) in the total electron content (TEC) triggered by the Chi-Chi earthquake. When the CIDs travel away from the origin on the Earth surface and then propagate into the ionosphere, their amplitudes and periods generally become smaller and longer, respectively. Moreover, two global grid searches, adapting the ray-tracing and the beam-forming techniques, have been used to analyze the observed GPS TEC. We have not only estimated the average speed of the CIDs propagating in the atmosphere and ionosphere but also determined the location of CID origin on the Earth surface by using the two techniques. The results show that the observed CIDs result from shock-acoustic waves triggered by sudden and large vertical motions of the Chi-Chi earthquake.
Cancer patients' attitudes to final events in life: Wish for death, attitudes to cessation of treatment, suicide and euthanasia

One hundred patients with cancer were interviewed regarding their attitude to a range of final life events in both their current real and hypothetical future circumstances. Patients who anticipated a future possible role for the more passive options of wishing death to come early or ceasing all treatment, were more hopeless and had a reduced quality of life. Patients however who anticipated a role for the more active options of suicide and/or euthanasia were less fatalistic and did not report a reduced quality of life. The desire for suicide was particularly positively related to younger age, a personal psychiatric past history, and a number of treatment‐related variables reflecting increased patient autonomy.
Adherence of coagulase-negative staphylococci to plastic tissue culture plates: a quantitative model for the adherence of staphylococci to medical devices

The adherence of coagulase-negative staphylococci to smooth surfaces was assayed by measuring the optical densities of stained bacterial films adherent to the floors of plastic tissue culture plates. The optical densities correlated with the weight of the adherent bacterial film (r = 0.906; P less than 0.01). The measurements also agreed with visual assessments of bacterial adherence to culture tubes, microtiter plates, and tissue culture plates. Selected clinical strains were passed through a mouse model for foreign body infections and a rat model for catheter-induced endocarditis. The adherence measurements of animal passed strains remained the same as those of the laboratory-maintained parent strain. Spectrophotometric classification of coagulase-negative staphylococci into nonadherent and adherent categories according to these measurements had a sensitivity, specificity, and accuracy of 90.6, 80.8, and 88.4%, respectively. We examined a previously described collection of 127 strains of coagulase-negative staphylococci isolated from an outbreak of intravascular catheter-associated sepsis; strains associated with sepsis were more adherent than blood culture contaminants and cutaneous strains (P less than 0.001). We also examined a collection of 84 strains isolated from pediatric patients with cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) shunts; once again, pathogenic strains were more adherent than were CSF contaminants (P less than 0.01). Finally, we measured the adherence of seven endocarditis strains. As opposed to strains associated with intravascular catheters and CSF shunts, endocarditis strains were less adherent than were saprophytic strains of coagulase-negative staphylococci. The optical densities of bacterial films adherent to plastic tissue culture plates serve as a quantitative model for the study of the adherence of coagulase-negative staphylococci to medical devices, a process which may be important in the pathogenesis of foreign body infections.
BOOKS: Pattern Recognition in Practice: Proceedings, International Workshop, Amsterdam, 21-23 May 1980; Optical Fiber Systems and Their Components: An Introduction; Excitation of Plasmons and Interband Transitions by Electrons.

Interacting with Visual Interfaces on Mobile Devices. - Identification Criteria in Task Modeling. - HCI-Task Models and Smart Environments. - Themes in Human Work Interaction Design. - Evaluating User Experience in Technology Pilots. - Interface Model Elicitation from Textual Scenarios. - Virtual Fixtures for Secondary Tasks. - How 'learnable' are CASE tools in diverse user communities? - A Prospect of Websites Evaluation Tools Based on Event Logs. - Habbo Hotel - Academic Studies in Mixed Feelings. - Improving Accessibility to Governmental Forms1. - Communicability in multicultural contexts: A study with the International Children's Digital Library. - Facing the digital divide in a participatory way - an exploratory study. - User Interface Input by Device Movement. - An End User Development Model to Augment Usability of Rule Association Mining Systems. - Investigating Entertainment and Learning in a Multi-User 3D Virtual Environment. - Openphone User Engagement and Requirements Solicitation in Low Literacy Users. - Complex and Dynamic Data Representation by Sonification. - Collaborative Knowledge Building for Decision Support System Development. - Multitouch Sensing for Collaborative Interactive Walls. - Visualization of Personalized Faceted Browsing.
Improving Standard Cell Placement through Adaptive Parameter Control

In this work, we present a profile based meta-level framework to adapt the control parameters of stochastic algorithms, like simulated annealing (SA) or genetic algorithm (GA). The framework uses past data about the algorithm's performance and automatically conditions the parameter selection strategies depending on the resource availability. We use the control framework for solving the standard cell placement problem under time constraints. The experimental results show that the placement qualities can be significantly improved using profile based adaptive control.
Delay-Dependent Asymptotic Stability of Cohen-Grossberg Models with Multiple Time-Varying Delays

Dynamical behavior of a class of Cohen-Grossberg models with multiple time-varying delays is studied in detail. Sufficient delay-dependent criteria to ensure local and global asymptotic stabilities of the equilibrium of this network are derived by constructing suitable Lyapunov functionals. The obtained conditions are shown to be less conservative and restrictive than those reported in the known literature. Some numerical examples are included to demonstrate our results.
Applying Statistical Design to Control the Risk of Over-Design with Stochastic Simulation

By comparing a hard real-time system and a soft real-time system, this article elicits the risk of over-design in soft real-time system designing. To deal with this risk, a novel concept of statistical design is proposed. The statistical design is the process accurately accounting for and mitigating the effects of variation in part geometry and other environmental conditions, while at the same time optimizing a target performance factor. However, statistical design can be a very difficult and complex task when using clas-sical mathematical methods. Thus, a simulation methodology to optimize the design is proposed in order to bridge the gap between real-time analysis and optimization for robust and reliable system design.
168-Gb/s all-optical wavelength conversion with a symmetric-Mach-Zehnder-type switch

Error-free all-optical wavelength conversion at 168 Gb/s, which is the highest repetition rate ever reported, has been achieved by using a symmetric-Mach-Zehnder (SMZ)-type switch. Low-power-penalty 84-Gb/s operation is also demonstrated. The push-pull switching mechanism of the SMZ switch enables such ultrafast operation based on cross-phase modulation associated with the carrier depletion in a semiconductor optical amplifier. The configuration of the delayed-interference signal-wavelength converter, which is a simplified variant of the SMZ switch, is used in this experiment.