Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
A framework with temperature-aware accuracy levels for battery modeling from datasheets

Many solutions for battery modeling have been proposed in the literature; they usually rely on the definition of a generic model template (e.g., a circuit equivalent), which is then populated using data obtained from direct measurements on actual devices. This approach incurs in high costs (for the instrumentation) and long characterization times. In this work we present a modeling framework that is an extension of [1], and which allows to automatically build battery models using only data reported in the battery datasheets, without requiring any measurement. Specifically, we extend the existing methodology by including temperature dependence in the battery behavior. The flexibility and the accuracy of the proposed strategy are demonstrated on some sample batteries that provide temperature-dependent information in their datasheets.
Acute effect of fructose on postprandial lipaemia in diabetic and non-diabetic subjects

We investigated whether the potentiation of postprandial lipaemia by fructose occurs in both non-diabetic subjects and those with non-insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus. Six non-diabetic and six diabetic subjects were studied on two occasions. They were given a meal containing 1 g fat/kg body weight with, on one occasion, 0.75 g fructose/kg body weight, on the other occasion 0.75 g starch/kg body weight. In both groups, plasma glucose and insulin concentrations rose more after starch than after fructose. At 1–2 h after the meal, plasma non-esterified fatty acid concentrations were suppressed more after fructose than after starch, but later they rose more after fructose than after starch. Plasma triacylglycerol concentrations rose more slowly after fructose, but were considerably higher than those after starch from 4–6 h after the meal. There were no differences in post-heparin plasma lipoprotein lipase (EC 3.1.1.34) activity at the end of the test. The potentiation of postprandial lipaemia by fructose was positively related to the fasting plasma insulin concentration, suggesting that insulin-resistant subjects are more prone to this effect. We conclude that the potentiation of postprandial lipaemia by fructose is seen in both diabetic and non-diabetic subjects. Our results suggest that alterations in the dynamics of plasma non-esterified fatty acids might underlie the effects of fructose on triacylglycerol metabolism.
Data Mining Technology for Efficient Network Securi ty Management

Several Network systems are suffering from various security threats including network worms, large scale network attacks, etc, and network security situation awareness is an effective way for solve these problems. The general process is to perceive the network security events happened in a certain time period and cyberspace environment, synthetically manipulate the security data, analyse the attack behaviours systems suffered, provide the global view of network security, and assess the whole security situation and predict the future security trends of the network.
Land Administration and Automation in Uganda

Land administration refers to management of land issues that involve keeping custody of the land title records, documentation and ensuring land transactions are secure to promote investments. The land administration system in Uganda prior to automation was paperbased and premised on the Torrens system that guarantees land title by registration. The land administration system was regionally based, providing separate registry offices countrywide and one in Kampala, the capital city of Uganda. The managerial and technical functions were vested in the Land Registrars.
Age, occupational demands and the risk of serious work injury.

BACKGROUND Interest in the relationship between age and serious work injury is increasing, given the ageing of the workforce in many industrialized economies. AIMS To examine if the relationship between age and risk of serious musculoskeletal injury differs when the physical demands of work are higher from those when they are lower. METHODS A secondary analysis of workers' compensation claims in the State of Victoria, Australia, combined with estimates of the insured labour force. We focused on musculoskeletal claims, which required 10 days of absence or health care expenditures beyond a pecuniary threshold. Regression models examined the relationship between age and claim-risk across workers with different occupational demands, as well as the relationship between occupational demands and musculoskeletal claim-risk across different age groups. RESULTS Older age and greater physical demands at work were associated with an increased risk of musculoskeletal claims. In models stratified by occupational demands, we observed the relationship between age and claim-risk was steeper when occupational demands were higher. We also observed that the relationship between occupational demands and risk of work injury claim peaked among workers aged 25-44, attenuating among those aged 45 and older. CONCLUSIONS This study's results suggest that although older workers and occupations with higher demands should be the targets of primary preventive efforts related to serious musculoskeletal injuries, there may also be gains in targeting middle-aged workers in the most physically demanding occupations.
Language-independent Query Representation for IR Model Parameter Estimation on Unlabeled Collections

We study here the problem of estimating the parameters of standard IR models (as BM25 or language models) on new collections without any relevance judgments, by using collections with already available relevance judgements. We propose different query representations that allow mapping queries (with and without relevance judgments, from different collections, potentially in different languages) into a common space. We then introduce a kernel regression approach to learn the parameters of standard IR models individually for each query in the new, unlabeled collection. Our experiments, conducted on standard English and Indian IR collections, show that our approach can be used to efficiently tune, query by query, standard IR models to new collections, potentially written in different languages. In particular, the versions of the standard IR models we obtain not only outperform the versions with default parameters, but can also outperform the versions in which the parameter values have been optimized globally over a set of queries with target relevance judgements.
A reduced-state Viterbi algorithm for blind sequence estimation of DPSK sources

The Viterbi algorithm is the optimum decoding algorithm for convolutional codes and has often served as a standard technique in digital communication systems for maximum likelihood sequence estimation. With the Viterbi algorithm, the computational complexity increases exponentially with the constraint length of the convolutional code. Reducing the constraint length (hence the number of states) would permit major simplification in the implementation of the Viterbi algorithm. In this paper, a reduced-state Viterbi algorithm for blind sequence estimation of DPSK sources is presented. It can reduce number of states in the Viterbi algorithm by at least half. The reduced state DPSK Viterbi decoder can be made much faster without any performance loss.
THE METHOD FOR QUALITY OF EXPERIENCE EVALUATION OF IT SERVICES

Quality of Experience (QoE) is one of the major aspects that service providers focus on during development of their services. However QoE elements that are meant to increase user satisfaction are sometimes contradicting with Quality of Service (QoS) or Quality of Protection (QoP) factors. In order to balance the QoE to QoS or QoP values ratio we propose a method that takes into account various configurations of parameters and their relations and based on their state and values evaluates the QoE levels. The proposed method includes a model which describes the elements, their relations and the stages in which they are defined and used.
Combining Discriminant Analysis and Neural Networks for Fraud Detection on the Base of Complex Event Processing

A new approach to detect suspicious, unknown event patterns in the field of fraud detection by using a combination of discriminant analysis and neural network techniques is presented. The approach is embedded in a Complex Event Processing (CEP) engine. CEP is an emerging technology for detecting known patterns of events and aggregating them as complex events at a higher level of analysis in real-time. Detection systems can be differentiated in rule based systems and those based on statistical methods. In order to reach the goal of finding unknown fraud patterns, several statistical methods are discussed. On this background, first experimental results of our approach as a combination of CEP, discriminant analysis and neural networks are presented.
NRAGE associates with the anti-apoptotic factor Che-1 and regulates its degradation to induce cell death

Neurotrophin receptor-interacting MAGE homolog (NRAGE) has been recently identified as a cell-death inducer, involved in molecular events driving cells through apoptotic networks during neuronal development. Recently, we have focused on the functional role of Che-1, also known as apoptosis-antagonizing transcription factor (AATF), a protein involved in cell cycle control and gene transcription. Increasing evidence suggests that Che-1 is involved in apoptotic signalling in neural tissues. In cortical neurons Che-1 exhibits an anti-apoptotic activity, protecting cells from neuronal damage induced by amyloid β-peptide. Here, we report that Che-1 interacts with NRAGE and that an EGFP-NRAGE fusion protein inhibits nuclear localization of Che-1, by sequestering it within the cytoplasmic compartment. Furthermore, NRAGE overexpression downregulates endogenous Che-1 by targeting it for proteasome-dependent degradation. Finally, we propose that Che-1 is a functional antagonist of NRAGE, because its overexpression completely reverts NRAGE-induced cell-death.
Analysis of Multi-User ARQ with Multiple Unicast Flows Under Non-iid Reception Probabilities

This paper presents an analysis of multi-user ARQ for multiple unicast flows with arbitrary reception probabilities. The core idea of multi-user ARQ is to exploit knowledge of previously overheard packets by unintended users, and perform wise selection and joint encoding of any retransmitted information. Intended users may decode the jointly encoded packet by exploiting the previously overheard packets. In this paper, a scheduling approach that balances the traffic shares and maximizes the throughput is proposed and analyzed. It is found that identical reception probabilities among the users yield the best performance and that the sensitivity in throughput efficiency, with respect to changes in reception probabilities, is reduced when the number of user increases.
Secondary stem anatomy and uses of four drought-deciduous species of a tropical dry forest in México.

Wood and bark anatomy and histochemistry of Acacia bilimekii Humb. & Bonpl. , Acacia cochliacantha Mcbride, Conzatia nultiflora (Rob) Stand. and Guazuma ulmifolia Lam. are described from stem samples collected in a tropical dry forest (Morelos, Mexico). Enzyme activities were tested in tangential, radial and transverse cuts of fresh material. Histochemistry and stem anatomy were studied on similar cuts previously softened in a solution of water-glicerol-PEG. Our results show that the anatomical patterns of bark and wood, as well as the histochemical patterns and specific gravity, are influenced by water accessibility and climate; these patterns could guarantee mechanical and anti-infection strategies to support extreme conditions. Enzyme cytochemistry reveals biochemical activities probably related to lipid utilization routes for the lignification processes and for synthesis of extractives; these results suggest that the formation and maturation of woody tissue is very active at the beginning of the rainy season. These species are widely used by the local population. Traditional uses include firewood, dead and live fences, fodder, construction, supporting stakes, handcrafts, farming tools, extraction of tanning products, and medicine. There is no relationship between use and abundance. Alternative uses are proposed according to a density index.
Challenges of Implementing Contract Policies for University Academics in Malawi: A Case of Mzuzu University

ABSTRACT Utilising critical theory, we explored the causes of the conflict that arose between academic staff on fixed-term renewable contracts and university administrators at Mzuzu University in Malawi in order to draw lessons. We collected data using semi-structured, in-depth interviews and document analysis. Ten university employees were purposively selected for interviews. The results showed that the causes of the conflict were, in the view of the respondents a mixture of: 1) a mutually antagonistic relationship between academics and university administrators; 2) less-than-effective administration of contracts by the university leadership; 3) dispute with respect to the university council’s views over the age of staff on contract; and 4) the university leadership’s negative response to a group of academics who criticised the administration. We argue that these results suggest leadership skills were less-than-satisfactory on the part of university senior management. We offer suggestions that could improve such leadership skills.
Automatic framework to generate reconfigurable accelerators for option pricing applications

Option Pricing is a fundamental application in most financial institutions dealing with derivative market. It frequently requires huge computational effort and low latency demand. Therefore, a number of different Option Pricing implementations have been developed on FPGA-based platform. However, none of the existing works cover more than one models or different types of options, which yields problem of productively implementing several hardware accelerators for different models. To fill in the gap, we propose a design flow for generating efficient hardware accelerators for option pricing applications with different models and option types. The framework boosts the designers productivity and enables quick prototyping on FPGA platform by providing general template architecture for option pricing applications. The architecture comes along with a prebuilt design library, which covers a wide range of popular financial models. Experimental results for four models show that the accelerators generated from our design flow outperform their counterpart software implementation with two order of magnitude speedup. While comparing with existing hardware designs for the same models, our framework can produce the accelerators that overcome most of manual designed engines.
Cancer treatment in pregnant women

In general, strategies for the treatment of cancer in pregnancy should not differ significantly from the treatment regimens in non-pregnant women. However, this is difficult due to either the effects of anticancer drugs on the developing foetus or the possibility of long-term complications after the exposure to drugs and radiation. The decision about the introduction and continuation of treatment in the event of pregnancy should be preceded by a detailed analysis of the potential benefits and risks. There are no data to suggest that pregnancy termination alters the biological behaviour of the tumour or patient prognosis in the presence of appropriate antineoplastic therapy. All patients should be given appropriate advice and informed that there are insufficient scientific data to determine any generally accepted consensus. It is very important to always respect the will of the patient, and the moral judgment of the physician should have no impact on the decisions taken by the woman. If the woman decides to undergo active treatment and maintain her pregnancy, it is necessary to carry out consultations with experts in the field appropriate to the type of cancer. This paper presents a basic review of the literature on the targeted therapies currently used in selected cancers diagnosed during pregnancy: breast cancer, cervical cancer, Hodgkin's disease, melanoma, thyroid cancer, ovarian cancer, and colorectal cancer.
Differential recognition of members of the carcinoembryonic antigen family by Opa variants of Neisseria gonorrhoeae

Opacity (Opa) protein variation in Neisseria gonorrhoeae is implicated in the pathogenesis of gonorrhea, possibly by mediating adherence and entry of the bacteria into human tissues. One particular Opa protein mediates adherence to epithelial cells through cell surface proteoglycans. Recently, two other eukaryotic cell receptors for Opa proteins have been reported. These receptors are members of a subgroup of the carcinoembryonic (CEA) gene family that express CD66 antigens. CEA family members vary in their distribution in human tissues. In order to understand whether interactions between Opa and CEA-like molecules play any role in pathogenesis, we must investigate which CEA family members are able to serve as Opa receptors and which Opa proteins recognize CEA-like molecules. We therefore studied HeLa cells that were stably transfected with five different members of the CEA family, i.e., CEA, CEA gene family member 1a (CGM1a), CGM6, nonspecific cross-reacting antigen (NCA), and biliary glycoprotein a (BGPa). We infected these transfectants with all possible 11 Opa variants of gonococcal strain MS11 and determined the numbers of bacteria that were bound and internalized. To account for proteoglycan-mediated adherence, infection assays were also performed in the presence of heparin. Our results show that of the 11 Opa variants of MS11, the same 4 recognized CGM1a and NCA. CGM6, however, was not recognized by any Opa variant of MS11. CEA was recognized by at least 9 of 11 Opa variants, and the BGP transfectants specifically bound and internalized 10 of 11 Opa variants and also bound Opa-negative gonococci. Immunofluorescence experiments showed that clustering of CEA-like molecules occurred upon infection of HeLa transfectants with those Opa variants that interacted specifically with the CEA family member. Together these data show that CEA family members are differentially recognized by gonococcal Opa variants, suggesting that this phenomenon may contribute to cell tropism displayed by gonococci.
High-Speed Private Information Retrieval Computation on GPU

A Private Information Retrieval (PIR) scheme is a protocol in which a user retrieves a record out of n from a replicated database, while hiding from the database which record has been retrieved, as long as the different replicas do not collude. A specially interesting sub-field of research, called single-database PIR, deals with the schemes that allow a user to retrieve privately an element of a non-replicated database. In these schemes, user privacy is related to the intractability of a mathematical problem, instead of being based on the assumption that different replicas exist and do not collude against their users. Single-database PIR schemes have generated an enormous amount of research in the privacy protection field during the last two decades. However, many scientists believe that these are theoretical tools unusable in almost any situation. It is true that these schemes usually require the database to use a lot of computational power, but considering the large number of applications these protocols have, it is important to develop practical approaches that provide acceptable performances for as many applications as possible. We present in this article a proof-of-concept implementation of a single-database PIR scheme proposed by Aguilar and Gaborit [2, 3]. This implementation can run in a CPU or in a GPU using CUDA, nVidia's library for General Purpose computing on Graphics Processing Units (GPGPU). The performance results highlight that linear algebra PIR schemes allow to process database contents several orders of magnitude faster than previous protocols.
Dynamic Neural Correlates of Motor Error Monitoring and Adaptation during Trial-to-Trial Learning

A basic EEG feature upon voluntary movements in healthy human subjects is a β (13–30 Hz) band desynchronization followed by a postmovement event-related synchronization (ERS) over contralateral sensorimotor cortex. The functional implications of these changes remain unclear. We hypothesized that, because β ERS follows movement, it may reflect the degree of error in that movement, and the salience of that error to the task at hand. As such, the signal might underpin trial-to-trial modifications of the internal model that informs future movements. To test this hypothesis, EEG was recorded in healthy subjects while they moved a joystick-controlled cursor to visual targets on a computer screen, with different rotational perturbations applied between the joystick and cursor. We observed consistently lower β ERS in trials with large error, even when other possible motor confounds, such as reaction time, movement duration, and path length, were controlled, regardless of whether the perturbation was random or constant. There was a negative trial-to-trial correlation between the size of the absolute initial angular error and the amplitude of the β ERS, and this negative correlation was enhanced when other contextual information about the behavioral salience of the angular error, namely, the bias and variance of errors in previous trials, was additionally considered. These same features also had an impact on the behavioral performance. The findings suggest that the β ERS reflects neural processes that evaluate motor error and do so in the context of the prior history of errors.
Tumor-Specific CD4+ T Cells Are Activated by “Cross-Dressed” Dendritic Cells Presenting Peptide-MHC Class II Complexes Acquired from Cell-Based Cancer Vaccines1

Tumor cells that constitutively express MHC class I molecules and are genetically modified to express MHC class II (MHC II) and costimulatory molecules are immunogenic and have therapeutic efficacy against established primary and metastatic cancers in syngeneic mice and activate tumor-specific human CD4+ T lymphocytes. Previous studies have indicated that these MHC II vaccines enhance immunity by directly activating tumor-specific CD4+ T cells during the immunization process. Because dendritic cells (DCs) are considered to be the most efficient APCs, we have now examined the role of DCs in CD4+ T cell activation by the MHC II vaccines. Surprisingly, we find that DCs are essential for MHC II vaccine immunogenicity; however, they mediate their effect through “cross-dressing. ” Cross-dressing, or peptide-MHC (pMHC) transfer, involves the generation of pMHC complexes within the vaccine cells, and their subsequent transfer to DCs, which then present the intact, unprocessed complexes to CD4+ T lymphocytes. The net result is that DCs are the functional APCs; however, the immunogenic pMHC complexes are generated by the tumor cells. Because MHC II vaccine cells do not express the MHC II accessory molecules invariant chain and DM, they are likely to load additional tumor Ag epitopes onto MHC II molecules and therefore activate a different repertoire of T cells than DCs. These data further the concept that transfer of cellular material to DCs is important in Ag presentation, and they have direct implications for the design of cancer vaccines.