Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
RVC: a mechanism for time-analyzable real-time processors with faulty caches

Geometry scaling due to technology evolution as well as Vcc scaling lead to failures in large SRAM arrays such as caches. Faulty bits can be tolerated from the average performance perspective, but make critical realtime embedded systems non time-analyzable or worstcase execution time (WCET) estimations unacceptably large. This paper proposes a mechanism to tolerate faulty bits in caches while still providing safe and tight WCET. Our solution is based on adapting structures such as the victim cache, cache eviction buffers or miss state handle registers to serve as replacement for faulty cache storage. We show how modest modifications in the hardware help providing safe and tight WCET on the face of permanent faulty bits with negligible impact in power and performance.
Aluminum–phthalocyanine chloride associated to poly(methyl vinyl ether-co-maleic anhydride) nanoparticles as a new third-generation photosensitizer for anticancer photodynamic therapy

Photodynamic therapy is generally considered to be safer than conventional anticancer therapies, and it is effective against different kinds of cancer. However, its clinical application has been significantly limited by the hydrophobicity of photosensitizers. In this work, a system composed of the hydrophobic photosensitizer aluminum–phthalocyanine chloride (AlPc) associated with water dispersible poly(methyl vinyl ether-co-maleic anhydride) nanoparticles is described. AlPc was associated with nanoparticles produced by a method of solvent displacement. This system was analyzed for its physicochemical characteristics, and for its photodynamic activity in vitro in cancerous (murine mammary carcinoma cell lineage 4T1, and human mammary adenocarcinoma cells MCF-7) and noncancerous (murine fibroblast cell lineage NIH/3T3, and human mammary epithelial cell lineage MCF-10A) cell lines. Cell viability and the elicited mechanisms of cell death were evaluated after the application of photodynamic therapy. This system showed improved photophysical and photochemical properties in aqueous media in comparison to the free photosensitizer, and it was effective against cancerous cells in vitro.
Unwinding strings and t duality of Kaluza-Klein and h monopoles

A fundamental string with non-zero winding number can unwind in the presence of a Kaluza-Klein monopole. We use this fact to deduce the presence of a zero mode for the Kaluza-Klein monopole corresponding to excitations carrying H electric charge and we study the coupling of this zero mode to fundamental strings. We also a describe a T-dual process in which the momentum of a fundamental string ``unwinds'' in the presence of a H monopole. We use the coupling of string winding modes to the dyon collective coordinate of the Kaluza-Klein monopole to argue that there are stringy corrections to the Kaluza-Klein monopole which are in accordance with T-duality.
Euclidean continuation of the Dirac fermion.

We have found a one-complex-parameter family of Dirac actions which interpolates between the Minkowski and a Euclidean Dirac action. The interpolating action is invariant under the ‘‘interpolating Lorentz transformations. ’’ The resultant Euclidean action is Hermitian and SO(4) invariant. There is no doubling of degrees of freedom of the Dirac fermion and no contradiction between the SO(4) invariance and the Hermiticity property of the Euclidean propagator. The Euclidean theory so obtained also satisfies the Osterwalder-Schrader positivity condition.
Editorial: Dialogues in Music Therapy and Music Neuroscience: Collaborative Understanding Driving Clinical Advances

Music is a complex, dynamic stimulus with an un-paralleled ability to stimulate a global network of neural activity involved in attention, emotion, memory, communication, motor co-ordination and cognition. As such, it provides neuroscience with a highly effective tool to develop our understanding of brain function, connectivity and plasticity. Increasingly sophisticated neuroimaging technologies have enabled the expanding field of music neuroscience to reveal how musical experience, perception and cognition may support neuroplasticity, with important implications for the rehabilitation and assessment of those with acquired brain injuries and neurodegenerative conditions. Other studies have indicated the potential for music to support arousal, attention and emotional regulation, suggesting therapeutic applications for conditions including ADHD, PTSD, autism, learning disorders and mood disorders. In common with neuroscience, the music therapy profession has advanced significantly in the past 20 years. Various interventions designed to address functional deficits and health care needs have been developed, alongside standardised behavioural assessments. Historically, music therapy has drawn its evidence base from a number of contrasting theoretical frameworks. Clinicians are now turning to neuroscience, which offers a unifying knowledge base and frame of reference to understand and measure therapeutic interventions from a biomedical perspective. Conversely, neuroscience is becoming more enriched by learning about the neural effects of ‘real world’ clinical applications in music therapy. While neuroscientific imaging methods may provide biomarking evidence for the efficacy of music therapy interventions it also offers important tools to describe time-locked interactive therapy processes and feeds into the emerging field of 3 June 2017 | Dialogues in Music Therapy and Music Neuroscience social neuroscience. Music therapy is bound to the process of creating and experiencing music together in improvisation, listening and reflection. Thus the situated cognition and experience of music developing over time and in differing contexts is of interest in time series data. We encouraged researchers to submit papers illustrating the mutual benefits of dialogue between music therapy and other disciplines important to this field, particularly neuroscience, neurophysiology, and neuropsychology. The current eBook consists of the peer reviewed responses to our call for papers.
A Unified Model of Influence in Social Networks ?

It is difficult to obtain accurate prediction results of cascades over online social networks, therefore a variety of diffusion models have been proposed in the literature to simulate diffusion processes instead. We argue that such models require extensive simulation results to produce good estimates of future spreads, while at the same time requiring training over observed data to learn the parameters that they incorporate into the various influence mechanisms that drive diffusion. In this work, we take a complimentary approach. We present a generalized, analytical model of influence in social networks that captures social influence at various levels of granularity, ranging from pairwise influence, to local neighborhood, to the general population, and external events, therefore capturing the complex dynamics of human behavior. Commonly used diffusion models in social networks can be reduced to special cases of our model, by carefully defining their parameters. Our goal is to provide a closed-form expression for the probability of infection for every node in an arbitrary, directed network at any time t. However prior work in the literature has shown that exact computation of infection probabilities is #P-hard. We make an independence assumption about the infection events of a node’s incoming neighbors, which results our formula being an approximation. We quantitatively evaluate the approximation quality of our analytical solution as compared to numerous popular diffusion models on a real-world dataset and a series of synthetic graphs. Keywords-analytical framework; computational models; diffusion models; dynamics; evolutionary models; influence
Effect of Oral Amino Acids on Counterregulatory Responses and Cognitive Function During Insulin-Induced Hypoglycemia in Nondiabetic and Type 1 Diabetic People

OBJECTIVE—Amino acids stimulate glucagon responses to hypoglycemia and may be utilized by the brain. The aim of this study was to assess the responses to hypoglycemia in nondiabetic and type 1 diabetic subjects after ingestion of an amino acid mixture. RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODS—Ten nondiabetic and 10 diabetic type 1 subjects were studied on three different occasions during intravenous insulin (2 mU · kg−1 · min−1) plus variable glucose for 160 min. In two studies, clamped hypoglycemia (47 mg/dl plasma glucose for 40 min) was induced and either oral placebo or an amino acid mixture (42 g) was given at 30 min. In the third study, amino acids were given, but euglycemia was maintained. RESULTS—Plasma glucose and insulin were no different in the hypoglycemia studies with both placebo and amino acids (P > 0.2). After the amino acid mixture, plasma amino acid concentrations increased to levels observed after a mixed meal (2.4 ± 0.13 vs. placebo study 1.7 ± 0.1 mmol/l, P = 0.02). During clamped euglycemia, ingestion of amino acids resulted in transient increases in glucagon concentrations, which returned to basal by the end of the study. During clamped hypoglycemia, glucagon response was sustained and increased more in amino acid studies versus placebo in nondiabetic and diabetic subjects (P < 0.05), but other counter-regulatory hormones and total symptom score were not different. β-OH-butyrate was less suppressed after amino acids (200 ± 15 vs. 93 ± 9 μmol/l, P = 0.01). Among the cognitive tests administered, the following indicated less deterioration after amino acids than placebo: Trail-Making part B, PASAT (Paced Auditory Serial Addition Test) (2 s), digit span forward, Stroop colored words, and verbal memory tests for nondiabetic subjects; and Trail-Making part B, digit span backward, and Stroop color tests for diabetic subjects. CONCLUSIONS—Oral amino acids improve cognitive function in response to hypoglycemia and enhance the response of glucagon in nondiabetic and diabetic subjects.
Determination of the ureidopenicillins azlocillin, mezlocillin and bay K 4999 in plasma by high performance liquid chromatography.

The ureidopenicillins, a new class of semisynthetic penicillins, were introduced as antibiotics with broad antibacterial activity including gram-negative species. They act especially against Pseudomonas (azlocillin) and Klebsiella (mezlocillin) infections (Pancoast & Neu, 1978; Fu & Neu, 1978). Bay k 4999 is an antibiotic still under development (Figure 1). The analytical method most commonly used to determine antibiotics in biological fluids is the microbiological assay which unfortunately lacks specificity. Since most patients suffering from infections with Pseudomonas or Klebsiella species are treated with a combination of antibiotic substances, it becomes difficult to determine the plasma concentration of each antibiotic seperately. Here lies a second advantage of the chemical assay over the microbiological one. The following method using reverse phase high performance liquid chromatography is rapid and has a sensitivity of about 1 ig/ml using I ml plasma. The extraction and chromatographic procedures used in the assay are described below. Plasma (1 ml), 10 ml chloroform and 1 ml 0.IM tetrabutylammonium phosphate (PIC-A reagent,
Expression of Innate Immunity Genes and Damage of Primary Human Pancreatic Islets by Epidemic Strains of Echovirus: Implication for Post-Virus Islet Autoimmunity

Three large-scale Echovirus (E) epidemics (E4,E16,E30), each differently associated to the acute development of diabetes related autoantibodies, have been documented in Cuba. The prevalence of islet cell autoantibodies was moderate during the E4 epidemic but high in the E16 and E30 epidemic. The aim of this study was to evaluate the effect of epidemic strains of echovirus on beta-cell lysis, beta-cell function and innate immunity gene expression in primary human pancreatic islets. Human islets from non-diabetic donors (n = 7) were infected with the virus strains E4, E16 and E30, all isolated from patients with aseptic meningitis who seroconverted to islet cell antibody positivity. Viral replication, degree of cytolysis, insulin release in response to high glucose as well as mRNA expression of innate immunity genes (IFN-b, RANTES, RIG-I, MDA5, TLR3 and OAS) were measured. The strains of E16 and E30 did replicate well in all islets examined, resulting in marked cytotoxic effects. E4 did not cause any effects on cell lysis, however it was able to replicate in 2 out of 7 islet donors. Beta-cell function was hampered in all infected islets (P<0.05); however the effect of E16 and E30 on insulin secretion appeared to be higher than the strain of E4. TLR3 and IFN-beta mRNA expression increased significantly following infection with E16 and E30 (P<0.033 and P<0.039 respectively). In contrast, the expression of none of the innate immunity genes studied was altered in E4-infected islets. These findings suggest that the extent of the epidemic-associated islet autoimmunity may depend on the ability of the viral strains to damage islet cells and induce pro-inflammatory innate immune responses within the infected islets.
Statistical Approaches to Predicting and Diagnosing Performance Problems in Component-Based Distributed Systems: An Experimental Evaluation

One of the major problems in managing large-scale distributed systems is the prediction of the application performance. The complexity of the systems and the availability of monitored data have motivated the applicability of machine learning and other statistical techniques to induce performance models and forecast performance degradation problems. However, there is a stringent need for additional experimental and comparative studies, since there is no optimal method for all cases. In addition to a deeper comparison of different statistical techniques, studies lack on two important dimensions: resilience to transient failures of the statistical techniques, and diagnostic abilities. In this work, we address these issues, presenting three main contributions: first, we establish the capability of different statistical learning techniques for forecasting the resource needs of component-based distributed systems, second, we investigate an analysis engine that is more robust to false alarms, introducing a novel algorithm that augments the predictive power of statistical learning methods by combining them with a statistical test to identify trends in resources usage, third, we investigate the applicability of statistical tests for identifying the nature and cause of performance problems in component-based distributed systems.
Noise Cancellation using Two Closely Spaced Microphones: Experimental Study witha Specific Model and Two Adaptive Algorithms

We consider the speech enhancement problem in a moving car through a blind source separation scheme involving two closely spaced microphones. We propose the use of a double fast Newton transversal filter algorithm (DFNTF) to estimate and suppress coherent noise components from speech, and a model of signal mixtures able to represent correctly the effect of microphones spacing. We also consider the realistic case where the noises at the sensor inputs contain non-coherent components. The simulation results show that the DFNTF algorithm, when controlled by a voice activity detector (VAD), is able to fully cancel the correlated noise components from speech
Expanding rapid prototyping for electronic systems integration of arbitrary form

An innovative method for rapid prototyping (RP) of electronic circuits with components characteristic of typical electronics applications was demonstrated using an enhanced version of a previously developed hybrid stereolithography (SL) and direct write (DW) system, where an existing SL machine was integrated with a three-axis DW fluid dispensing system for combined arbitrary form electronic systems manufacturing. This paper presents initial efforts at embedding functional electronic circuits using the hybrid SL/DW system. A simple temperature-sensitive circuit was selected, which oscillated an LED at a frequency proportional to the temperature sensed by the thermistor. The circuit was designed to incorporate all the required electronic components within a 2.5” x 2” x 0.5” SL part. Electrical interconnects between electronic components were deposited on the SL part with a DW system using silver conductive ink lines. Several inks were deposited, cured, and tested on a variety of SL resin substrates, and the E 1660 ink (Ercon Inc, Wareham, MA) was selected due to its measured lowest average resistivity on the SL substrates. The finished circuit was compared with Printed Circuit Board (PCB) technology for functionality. The electronic components used here include a low voltage battery, LM 555 timer chip, resistors, a thermistor, capacitors, and Light Emitting Diodes (LEDs). This circuit was selected because it (1) represented a simple circuit combining many typically used electronic components and thus provided a useful demonstration for integrated electronic systems manufacturing applicable to a wide variety of devices, and (2) provided an indication of the parasitic resistances and capacitances introduced by the fabrication process due to its sensitivity to manufacturing variation. The hybrid technology can help achieve significant size reductions, enable systems integration in atypical forms, a natural resistance to reverse engineering and possibly increase maximum operating temperatures of electronic circuits as compared to the traditional PCB process. This research demonstrates the ability of the hybrid SL/DW technology for fabricating combined electronic systems for unique electronics applications in which arbitrary form is a requirement and traditional PCB technology cannot be used.
Effective Snippet Clustering with Domain Knowledge

Clustering Web search result is a promising way to help alleviate the information overload for Web users. In this paper, we focus on clustering snippets returned by Google Scholar. We propose a novel similarity function based on mining domain knowledge and an outlier-conscious clustering algorithm. Experimental results showed improved effectiveness of the proposed approach compared with existing methods.
Forest Policy and Economics Spatial analysis of rural land development

This article examines pattems of rural land development and density using spatial econometric models with the application of Geographical Information System (GIs). The cluster patterns of both development and high-density development indicate that the spatially continuous expansions of development and high-density development exist in relatively remote rural areas. The results also revealed that a closer distance to roads, a closer distance to cities, greater access to streams and rivers, higher elevations, and greater proportions of flat area are valued highly in rural land development. O 2005 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
Calcium scoring of the coronary artery by electron beam CT: how to apply an individual attenuation threshold.

OBJECTIVE Our aim was to assess the inter- and intraindividual variability of the attenuation threshold used to identify coronary artery calcification on electron beam CT and to illustrate a new threshold method. MATERIALS AND METHODS We measured the soft-tissue attenuation of regions surrounding the coronary arteries at the level of the left main coronary artery ostium (high level) and at the bottom of the heart (low level) in 48 consecutive patients (22 men, 26 women). Mean +/- 2 standard deviations (SD) of soft-tissue attenuation and variance of soft-tissue density and SDs were calculated at each level for every patient. It was assumed that setting an attenuation threshold greater than or equal to 3 SDs above that of soft tissue at each myocardial level would eliminate 99.5% of all scatter artifacts, allowing precise identification of calcific deposits. RESULTS For the entire patient cohort, the average soft-tissue attenuation was 41 H and 35 H at the high and low levels, respectively (p < 0.01), indicating a large intraindividual variability. The SDs of soft-tissue attenuation measured by the computer software at the high and low levels were not different (26 H at the high level and 28 H at the low level; p = not significant). However, the calculated SD of the individual mean soft-tissue attenuation was 5 H at the high level and 8 H at the low level, again indicating a large intraindividual variability (p < 0.01). The addition of 3 measured SDs above the mean individual soft-tissue attenuation predicted a mean threshold of 120 and 121 H at the high and low levels, respectively, but with a wide interindividual variability (83-193 H at the high level and 79-242 H at the low level). There was a strong correlation between body weight and SD of soft-tissue attenuation at the low level (r = 0.75, p < 0.001) and a weaker but statistically significant correlation between weight and SD of soft-tissue attenuation at the high level (r = 0.51, p < 0.001). CONCLUSION For the patients in this study, a threshold of 120 H for the detection of coronary calcification by electron beam CT seemed more appropriate than a threshold of 130 H, which is currently in use. However, given the great inter- and intraindividual variability, a biologic threshold tailored to the individual patient and to each individual imaging level should be used instead of a fixed threshold.
Familial colorectal cancer risk: ESMO Clinical Practice Guidelines.

Familial colorectal cancer risk: ESMO Clinical Practice Guidelines J. Balmaña, A. Castells & A. Cervantes On behalf of the ESMO Guidelines Working Group* Department of Medical Oncology, Vall d’Hebron University Hospital; Department of Gastroenterology, Hospital Clı́nic, CIBERehd, IDIBAPS, University of Barcelona, Barcelona; Department of Hematology and Medical Oncology, INCLIVA, University of Valencia, Valencia, Spain
Federalism and the Soft Budget Constraint

The government's incentives to bail out inefficient projects are determined by the trade-off between political benefits and economic costs, the latter depending on the decentralization of government. Two effects of federalism are derived: first, fiscal competition among local governments under factor mobility increases the opportunity costs of bailout and, thus, serves as a commitment device (the 'competition effect'); second, monetary centralization, together with fiscal decentralization, induces a conflict of interests and, thus, may harden budget constraints and reduce inflation (the 'checks and balance effect'). The authors' analysis is used to interpret China's recent experience of transition to a market economy. Copyright 1998 by American Economic Association.
Digital microrobotics based on bistable modules: Design of a non-redundant digital micropositioning robot

High precision manipulation becomes a recurrent need in micro or nanoscale. Microrobots based on active material were designed to perform micromanipulation tasks in various environments such as microrobotic stations or electronic microscopes (SEM, TEM). These active materials are used to generate proportional actuation, but show some drawbacks we want to avoid (non linearity, integration of sensors, …). In this paper we propose a new type of microrobot, called digital microrobot. It is based on the use of bistable modules (Fig. 1), and generates a discrete workspace. This microrobot can be used in open-loop mode and gets rid of bulky and expensive instruments and sensor integration. Moreover, no external energy is required to maintain the microrobot in a given position. The study presented in this paper is dedicated to the design of the robotic structure in order to generate a desired workspace.