Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Differential Stability and Trade-Off Effects of Pathoadaptive Mutations in the Escherichia coli FimH Adhesin

ABSTRACT FimH is the tip adhesin of mannose-specific type 1 fimbriae of Escherichia coli, which are critical to the pathogenesis of urinary tract infections. Point FimH mutations increasing monomannose (1M)-specific uroepithelial adhesion are commonly found in uropathogenic strains of E. coli. Here, we demonstrate the emergence of a mixed population of clonally identical E. coli strains in the urine of a patient with acute cystitis, where half of the isolates carried a glycine-to-arginine substitution at position 66 of the mature FimH. The R66 mutation induced an unusually strong 1M-binding phenotype and a 20-fold advantage in mouse bladder colonization. However, E. coli strains carrying FimH-R66, but not the parental FimH-G66, had disappeared from the patient's rectal and urine samples collected from 29 to 44 days later, demonstrating within-host instability of the R66 mutation. No FimH variants with R66 were identified in a large (>600 strains) sequence database of fimH-positive E. coli strains. However, several strains carrying genes encoding FimH with either S66 or C66 mutations appeared to be relatively stable in the E. coli population. Relative to FimH-R66, the FimH-S66 and FimH-C66 variants mediated only moderate increases in 1M binding but preserved the ability to enhance binding under flow-induced shear conditions. In contrast, FimH-R66 completely lost shear-enhanced binding properties, with bacterial adhesion being inhibited by shear forces and lacking a rolling mode of binding. These functional trade-offs may determine the natural populational instability of this mutation or other pathoadaptive FimH mutations that confer dramatic increases in 1M binding strength.
Spectral, Energy, and Economic Efficiency of 5G Multicell Massive MIMO Systems With Generalized Spatial Modulation

This paper studies generalized spatial modulation (Gen-SM) schemes in multicell multiuser massive multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) systems as a promising high-throughput and energy-efficient technique for fifth-generation (5G) wireless networks. A detection algorithm for such systems is proposed based on linear processing techniques. By applying the concept of order statistics, a general framework for approximating the achievable sum rates with linear detection is also given. The probability of detecting antenna combinations is analyzed and is used to approximate the sum-rate performance with practical channel conditions, such as antenna correlation, imperfect channel information, and pilot contamination. The fundamental trade-off between spectral efficiency (SE) and energy efficiency (EE) is also investigated. Despite offering less SE, spatial modulation (SM) with a single active antenna per user is shown to be the most energy-efficient transmission mode among the Gen-SM class. Within the operating range of SM (i.e., in the low-to-moderate SE regime), SM is demonstrated to achieve better EE compared with conventional massive MIMO schemes. The performance in terms of economic efficiency, indicating economic profitability (in monetary unit per second), is also analyzed and is shown to serve as a complementary performance metric, enabling an implicit trade-off between SE and EE.
Importance Sampling for Reliability Evaluation With Stochastic Simulation Models

Importance sampling has been used to improve the efficiency of simulations where the simulation output is uniquely determined, given a fixed input. We extend the theory of importance sampling to estimate a system’s reliability with stochastic simulations. Thanks to the advance of computing power, stochastic simulation models are employed in many applications to represent a complex system behavior. A stochastic simulation model generates stochastic outputs at the same input. Given a budget constraint on total simulation replications, we develop a new approach, which we call stochastic importance sampling, which efficiently uses stochastic simulations with unknown output distribution. Specifically, we derive the optimal importance sampling density and allocation procedure that minimize the variance of an estimator. Application to a computationally intensive aeroelastic wind turbine simulation demonstrates the benefits of the proposed approach. Supplementary materials for this article are available online.
Learning Join Queries from User Examples

We investigate the problem of learning join queries from user examples. The user is presented with a set of candidate tuples and is asked to label them as positive or negative examples, depending on whether or not she would like the tuples as part of the join result. The goal is to quickly infer an arbitrary n-ary join predicate across an arbitrary number m of relations while keeping the number of user interactions as minimal as possible. We assume no prior knowledge of the integrity constraints across the involved relations. Inferring the join predicate across multiple relations when the referential constraints are unknown may occur in several applications, such as data integration, reverse engineering of database queries, and schema inference. In such scenarios, the number of tuples involved in the join is typically large. We introduce a set of strategies that let us inspect the search space and aggressively prune what we call uninformative tuples, and we directly present to the user the informative ones—that is, those that allow the user to quickly find the goal query she has in mind. In this article, we focus on the inference of joins with equality predicates and also allow disjunctive join predicates and projection in the queries. We precisely characterize the frontier between tractability and intractability for the following problems of interest in these settings: consistency checking, learnability, and deciding the informativeness of a tuple. Next, we propose several strategies for presenting tuples to the user in a given order that allows minimization of the number of interactions. We show the efficiency of our approach through an experimental study on both benchmark and synthetic datasets.
The Relationship Between MR Demonstration of Extramural Venous Invasion and Nodal Disease in Rectal Cancer

Purpose To investigate the relationship between extramural venous invasion (EMVI) detected at T2-weighted MRI and nodal disease rectal cancer compared with histopathology. Materials and Methods The MR imaging of 79 consecutive patients with rectal cancer who underwent primary rectal surgery without neoadjuvant treatment were reviewed. MR images were scored by an expert radiologist for the presence and degree of EMVI using a five point scale blinded to pathological findings. Receiver operating characteristic curve analyses were performed to determine the sensitivity and specificity of MRI scoring in predicting EMVI and nodal disease at histopathology. Results Compared with histology, an MR score of >2 was found to have 100% sensitivity (95% CI: 77%-100%) and 89% specificity (95% CI: 79%–96%) in identifying EMVI involving veins >3 mm in diameter. An EMVI score of >2 was had a sensitivity of 56% (95% CI: 30%–80%) and specificity of 81% (95% CI: 69%–90%) for identifying patients with stage N2 disease. Conclusions EMVI score of >2 on T2-weighted MR imaging has a high sensitivity and specificity for histopathologically proven extramural venous invasion involving venules ≥3 mm in diameter. However, EMVI scores have only moderate sensitivity in the predicting nodal involvement.
Detection of Hue Modification Using Photo Response Nonuniformity

Hue modification is a common strategy used to distort the true meaning of a digital image. In order to detect this kind of image forgery, we proposed a robust forensics scheme for detecting hue modification. First, we pointed out that photo response nonuniformity (PRNU) separated by a color filter array forms a pattern independent of others, since the position of each PRNU pixel means that they do not overlap. Using PRNUs from each color channel of an image, we designed a forensic scheme for estimating hue modification. We also proposed an efficient estimation scheme and an algorithm for detecting partial manipulation. The results confirmed that the proposed method distinguishes hue modification and estimates the degree of change; moreover, it is resistant to the effects of common image processing.
INTELLIGENT HUMAN ACTIVITY RECOGNITION SCHEME FOR EHEALTH APPLICATIONS

Automatic activity recognition systems aim to capture the state of the user and its environment by exploiting heterogeneous sensors, and permit continuous monitoring of numerous physiological signals, where these sensors are attached to the subject's body. This can be immensely useful in healthcare applications, for automatic and intelligent daily activity monitoring for elderly people. In this paper, we present a novel data analytic scheme for intelligent Human Activity Recognition (AR) using wireless body sensors and smartphone inertial sensors which use information theory-based feature ranking algorithms and classifiers based on random forests, ensemble learning and lazy learning. Further, we propose a novel multimodal scheme based on combining multimodal three dimensional (x, y, z) accelerometer and gyro data from smart phone inertial sensors. Extensive experiments using different publicly available database of human activity show that the proposed approach can assist in the development of intelligent and automatic real time human activity monitoring technology for eHealth application scenarios for elderly, disabled and people with special needs.
Ngugi's Concept of History and the Post-Colonial Discourses in Kenya

ResumeL’article cherche a demontrer que les sens de l’histoire chez Ngugi est etroitement lie a sa politique d’interpretation et que ses textes post-coloniaux peuvent etre mieux compris si on les place dans le contexte des discours contradictoires post-coloniaux au Kenya. Ses romans expressent la quete d’un ordre socio-politique nouveau et critiquent l’elite africaine qui s’est comparee du pouvoir a l’independance pour devenir simple gardien du capitalisme occidental. Une lecture des textes de Ngugi lie son concept de l’histoire aux discours sur la theorie de la dependance au Kenya et a la conceptualisation de la revolution post-coloniale en Afrique de Fanon. L’article declare que les histoires supprimees dans les textes de Ngugi sont invariablement liees a la tendance a supprimer les contradictions a la fois au niveau local et a un niveau plus specifique dans la perspective de la dependance.
EverybodyLovesSketch: 3D sketching for a broader audience

We present EverybodyLovesSketch, a gesture-based 3D curve sketching system for rapid ideation and visualization of 3D forms, aimed at a broad audience. We first analyze traditional perspective drawing in professional practice. We then design a system built upon the paradigm of ILoveSketch, a 3D curve drawing system for design professionals. The new system incorporates many interaction aspects of perspective drawing with judicious automation to enable novices with no perspective training to proficiently create 3D curve sketches. EverybodyLovesSketch supports a number of novel interactions: tick-based sketch plane selection, single view definition of arbitrary extrusion vectors, multiple extruded surface sketching, copy-and-project of 3D curves, freeform surface sketching, and an interactive perspective grid. Finally, we present a study involving 49 high school students (with no formal artistic training) who each learned and used the system over 11 days, which provides detailed insights into the popularity, power and usability of the various techniques, and shows our system to be easily learnt and effectively used, with broad appeal.
An 8-to-1 bit 1-MS/s SAR ADC With VGA and Integrated Data Compression for Neural Recording

Low power consumption per channel and data rate minimization are two key challenges which need to be addressed in future generations of neural recording systems (NRS). Power consumption can be reduced by avoiding unnecessary processing whereas data rate is greatly decreased by sending spike time-stamps along with spike features as opposed to raw digitized data. Dynamic range in NRS can vary with time due to change in electrode-neuron distance or background noise, which demands adaptability. An analog-to-digital converter (ADC) is one of the most important blocks in a NRS. This paper presents an 8-bit SAR ADC in 0.13- μm CMOS technology along with input and reference buffer. A novel energy efficient digital-to-analog converter switching scheme is proposed, which consumes 37% less energy than the present state-of-the-art. The use of a ping-pong input sampling scheme is emphasized for multichannel input to alleviate the bandwidth requirement of the input buffer. To reduce the data rate, the A/D process is only enabled through the in-built background noise rejection logic to ensure that the noise is not processed. The ADC resolution can be adjusted from 8 to 1 bit in 1-bit step based on the input dynamic range. The ADC consumes 8.8 μW from 1 V supply at 1 MS/s speed. It achieves effective number of bits of 7.7 bits and FoM of 42.3 fJ/conversion-step.
Machine Learning Approaches to Maritime Anomaly Detection

Topics related to safety in maritime transport have become very important over the past decades due to numerous maritime problems putting both human lives and the environment in danger. Recent advances in surveillance technology and the need for better sea traffic protection led to development of automated solutions for detecting anomalies. These solutions are based on generating normality models from data gathered on vessel movement, mostly from AIS. This paper provides a presentation of various machine learning approaches for anomaly detection in the maritime domain. It also addresses potential problems and challenges that could get in the way of successful automation of such systems.
Performance of cell loss priority management schemes in a single server queue

The throughput optimality of priority management strategies in a single buffer has been studied for a general aggregate arrival law. The tight upper bounds found are useful to understand optimality in the utilization of specific priority schemes such as push-out buffer (POB) and partial buffer sharing (PBS). This paper further focuses on the maximum allowable load ρmax versus the priority mix α for a PBS and a random push-out buffer (RPOB) of size K for a wide variety of arrival processes. The role of priorities in a special type of bursty arrivals, the compound Poisson process with constant burst length and random priority assignment within the burst is found to be less pronounced than that of ‘pure’ Poisson arrivals. On the other hand, the results for ON–OFF cell arrivals modelled by a MMPP(2), MMPP(3), and higher order Markov modulated processes (MMP) closely follow the behaviour of the maximum allowable load in the RPOB with Poisson arrivals, however, scaled to lower loads. The results indicate that the priority mix distribution within the aggregate arrival flow influences the shape of ρmax(α)-curve more than the aggregate arrival distribution itself. © 1997 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Growth of Vibrio parahaemolyticus O 3 : K 6 at Different Salt 4 Concentrations Modulates Responses to pH and Temperature 5 Stresses 6 7 8

Seth L. Blumerman 1 , and E. Fidelma Boyd 1* 10 11 Department of Biological Sciences, University of Delaware, Newark, DE 19711 1 , U.S. 12 Department of Agriculture, Agricultural Research Service, Delaware State University, Dover, 13 DE 19901 2 14 15 16 17 Corresponding author E. Fidelma Boyd – fboyd@udel.edu 18 Department of Biological Sciences, 341 Wolf Hall, University of Delaware 19 Newark, DE 19716 20 Phone: (302) 831-1088. Fax: (302) 831-2281 21 Copyright © 2010, American Society for Microbiology and/or the Listed Authors/Institutions. All Rights Reserved. Appl. Environ. Microbiol. doi:10.1128/AEM.00474-10 AEM Accepts, published online ahead of print on 14 May 2010
Energy efficiency analysis of relay-assisted cellular networks using stochastic geometry

As energy consumption reduction has been an important concern for the wireless industry, energy-efficient communications is of prime interest for future broadband networks. In this paper, we study the energy efficiency of relay-assisted cellular networks using tools from stochastic geometry. We first derive the coverage probability for the macro base station (MBS) to user (UE), the MBS to relay station (RS), and the RS to UE links, and then we model the power consumption of MBSs and RSs. Based on the analytical model and expressions, the energy efficiency of relay-assisted cellular networks is then evaluated and is shown to be strictly quasi-concave on the transmit power for the MBS to UE link or the RS to UE link. Numerical results also show that the energy efficiency first improves while it hits a ceiling as the MBS density increases.
Psychological therapy with Chinese patients

There is a growing interest about psychological therapy and training in Asian countries. However, there is a paucity of information on how psychological therapy is practiced in Asia. In this article, we discussed 3 methods of psychological therapy in the management of anxiety and depression in Chinese patients – mindfulness meditation, Chinese Taoist cognitive psychotherapy (CTCP) and brief integrative psychological therapy (BIPT). The CTCP for generalized anxiety disorders was a multi‐site randomized study conducted in China. It was found that CTCP reduced symptoms more slowly than anxiolytics but the effect of CTCP was still significant at 6‐month follow‐up. The mindfulness meditation study examined the outcome of a community training program on the management of mild anxiety. We found that overall mental well‐being and anxiety symptoms were significantly improved during the period of the training course. The BIPT project was a naturalistic study of elderly people with depression at an outpatient psychiatric clinic. Results from this study indicated that BIPT was as effective although the onset of recovery was slower compared with BIPT combined with an antidepressant. In the 3 methods discussed, cultural issues are explored with affirmation of cultural values and reinforcement of culturally sanctioned coping pattern. Brief therapy and integration are the psychotherapeutic zeitgeist of the 21st century in Asia and we hope that there will be more studies on psychological therapy from different Asian countries in the future.
Stable Non-Supersymmetric Supergravity Solutions from Deformations of the Maldacena-Nuñez Background

We study a deformation of the type IIB Maldacena-Nunez background which arises as the near-horizon limit of NS5 branes wrapped on a two-cycle. This background is dual to a ``little string theory" compactified on a two-sphere, a theory which at low energies includes four-dimensional = 1 super Yang-Mills theory. The deformation we study corresponds to a mass term for some of the scalar fields in this theory, and it breaks supersymmetry completely. In the language of seven-dimensional SO(4) gauged supergravity the deformation involves (at leading order) giving a VEV, depending only on the radial coordinate, to a particular scalar field. We explicitly construct the corresponding solution at leading order in the deformation, both in seven-dimensional and in ten-dimensional supergravity, and we verify that it completely breaks supersymmetry. Since the original background had a mass gap and we are performing a small deformation, the deformed background is guaranteed to be stable even though it is not supersymmetric.
On the Time-Continuous Mass Transport Problem and Its Approximation by Augmented Lagrangian Techniques

In [J. D. Benamou and Y. Brenier}, Numer. Math., 84 (2000), pp. 375--393], a computational fluid dynamic approach was introduced for computing the optimal map occurring in the Monge--Kantorovich problem. Though the described augmented Lagrangian method involves a Hilbertian framework, the discussion was purely formal. Taking advantage of the recent progress in optimal transport theory [L. A. Caffarelli, Comm. Pure Appl. Math., 45 (1992), pp. 1141--1151], [L. A. Caffarelli, Ann. of Math. (2), 144 (1996), pp. 453--496], [D. Cordero-Erausquin, C. R. Acad. Sci. Paris Ser. I Math., 329 (1999), pp. 199--202], [R. J. McCann, Geom. Funct. Anal. , 11 (2001), pp. 589--608] and despite the lack of coercivity of the Hilbertian problem, we establish an existence result. Then, under a reasonable assumption of positivity for the density, we prove the existence of saddle-points for both Lagrangians defined in Benamou and Brenier, and finally prove the convergence of the numerical method.
Waste collection routing—limited multiple landfills and heterogeneous fleet

This article deals with a real‐life waste collection routing problem. To efficiently plan waste collection, large municipalities may be partitioned into convenient sectors and only then can routing problems be solved in each sector. Three diverse situations are described, resulting in three different new models. In the first situation, there is a single point of waste disposal from where the vehicles depart and to where they return. The vehicle fleet comprises three types of collection vehicles. In the second, the garage does not match any of the points of disposal. The vehicle is unique and the points of disposal (landfills or transfer stations) may have limitations in terms of the number of visits per day. In the third situation, disposal points are multiple (they do not coincide with the garage), they are limited in the number of visits, and the fleet is composed of two types of vehicles. Computational results based not only on instances adapted from the literature but also on real cases are presented and analyzed. In particular, the results also show the effectiveness of combining sectorization and routing to solve waste collection problems. © 2015 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. NETWORKS, Vol. 65(2), 155–165 2015
Twisted K-theory and cohomology

We explore the relations of twisted K-theory to twisted and untwisted classical cohomology. We construct an Atiyah-Hirzebruch spectral sequence, and describe its differentials rationally as Massey products. We define the twisted Chern character. We also discuss power operations in the twisted theory, and the role of the Koschorke classes.
Auditory hallucinations: Failure to inhibit irrelevant memories

Introduction. The frequency of auditory hallucinations (AH) is associated with efficiency in inhibiting irrelevant memories, suggesting that the presence of AH may be related to the intrusion of strongly activated representations in memory. Therefore, we hypothesised that the inability to suppress irrelevant memories would be found only in patients currently experiencing AH. Method. Performance on a repeated, continuous recognition task was examined in 23 schizophrenia patients with AH present, 20 schizophrenia patients with AH absent, and 24 healthy controls. Results. Patients with current AH made significantly more inappropriate responses (false alarms) to distractors seen on previous runs of the task than nonhallucinating patients. The ability to detect targets (hits) was significantly better in healthy controls than schizophrenia patients, however, there was no significant difference between the two patient subgroups. Conclusions. The findings confirm that the presence of AH involves a failure to suppress memories that are not relevant to ongoing reality. We propose that a combination of deficits in inhibition and (episodic) memory provides a useful model of AH, which can accommodate many of the characteristic features of the symptom and fits well with the neuroanatomical circuitry that is believed to underlie the occurrence of AH.