Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Parameterized path-based, randomized, oblivious, minimal routing in 3D mesh NoC

Multi dimensional Network on Chip (NoC) with high density devices scaling has emerged as a better alternative for large Systems-on-Chip (SoC) design. Add-on ports in 2D or 3D NoC multilayer structure, using over the cell routing and Through-Silicon-Vias (TSV) overcome performance and scalability constraints. Routing over 2D or 3D topology must be capable to handle congestion and provide deadlock free communication. In this paper a Path-based, Randomized, Oblivious, Minimal (PROM3D) routing algorithm for 3D mesh NoC is presented which diverse path using efficient, local randomized decisions at each hop without any cost overheads. Promising results are obtained compared to XYZ and turn model based partially adaptive routing algorithms in larger 3D mesh under different traffic patterns and congested network.
Outcome Prediction by Quantitative Right Ventricular Function Assessment in 575 Subjects Evaluated for Pulmonary Hypertension

Background— Although right ventricular (RV) dysfunction is a major determinant of outcome in patients with pulmonary hypertension (PH), the optimal measure of RV function is poorly defined. We hypothesized that RV strain measured by speckle-tracking echocardiography predicts outcome in PH over a broad range of pulmonary pressures. Methods and Results— Prospective peak RV longitudinal systolic strain measurement was performed on 575 patients (mean age, 56±18 years; 63% women) referred for echocardiography for known or suspected PH. Survival status was assessed over a median of 16.5 (interquartile range, 7.6–20.0) months. There were 406 patients with PH (71%) (74% group 1, 14% group 3, and 12% group 4) and 169 patients without evidence of PH (29%). Among patients with PH, 46% were World Health Organization functional class III–IV. The mean RV strain was −21.2±6.7% for all patients. RV strain declined with worse functional class, shorter 6-minute walk distances, higher N-terminal pro-B-type natriuretic peptide levels, and the presence of right heart failure. RV strain predicted outcome across pulmonary pressures and groups of PH. Eighteen-month survival was 92%, 88%, 85%, and 71% according to RV strain quartile (P<0.001), with a 1.46 higher risk of death (95% confidence interval, 1.05–2.12) per 6.7% decline in RV strain. RV strain predicted survival when adjusted for pulmonary pressure, pulmonary vascular resistance, and right atrial pressure and provided incremental prognostic value over conventional clinical and echocardiographic variables. Conclusions— Quantitative assessment of RV free-wall systolic strain is feasible and is a powerful predictor of the clinical outcome of patients with known or suspected PH.
Styrylquinolines, Integrase Inhibitors Acting Prior to Integration: a New Mechanism of Action for Anti-Integrase Agents

ABSTRACT We have previously shown that styrylquinolines (SQLs) are integrase inhibitors in vitro. They compete with the long terminal repeat substrate for integrase. Here, we describe the cellular mode of action of these molecules. We show that SQLs do not interfere with virus entry. In fact, concentrations of up to 20 times the 50% inhibitory concentration did not inhibit cell-to-cell fusion or affect the interaction between GP120 and CD4 in vitro. Moreover, the pseudotype of the retrovirus envelope did not affect drug activity. Quantitative reverse transcription PCR experiments showed that SQLs do not inhibit the entry of the genomic RNA. In contrast, the treatment of human immunodeficiency virus type 1-infected cells with SQLs reduced the amount of the late cDNA, suggesting for the first time that integrase targeting molecules may affect the accumulation of DNA during reverse transcription. The cellular target of SQLs was confirmed by the appearance of mutations in the integrase gene when viruses were grown in the presence of increasing concentrations of SQLs. Finally, these mutations led to SQL-resistant viruses when introduced into the wild-type sequence. In contrast, SQLs were fully active against reverse transcriptase inhibitor- and diketo acid-resistant viruses, positioning SQLs as a second group of anti-integrase compounds.
PROTECTION OF AUTOTRANSPLANTED PIG KIDNEYS FROM ISCHEMIA-REPERFUSION INJURY BY POLYETHYLENE GLYCOL1

Background. Ischemia-reperfusion injury (IRI) is often responsible for graft rejection and leads to delayed graft function of cadaveric kidneys. We have shown that adding polyethylene glycol (PEG 20M) to the preservation solutions helps protect isolated perfused pig kidneys against cold ischemia and reperfusion injury. Methods. We compared the effects of adding PEG to a simplified high-K+ perfusion solution of cold-stored kidneys to Euro-Collins or University of Wisconsin solutions on the function of reperfused autotransplanted pig kidneys. The left kidney was cold-flushed with the preservation solutions and stored for 48 hr at 4°C before reimplantation. Creatinine clearance and fractional excretion of sodium were analyzed 2 days before surgery and over 7 days after transplantation. Histological sections were obtained 40 min after reperfusion and on day 7 after surgery. Results. Adding PEG to the perfusate significantly reduced IRI from autotransplanted pig kidneys. Creatinine clearance was significantly higher and fractional excretion of sodium was significantly lower in pigs transplanted with kidneys cold-flushed with PEG-supplemented perfusate than in those flushed with Euro-Collins or University of Wisconsin solutions. PEG supplementation also better preserved the integrity of kidney cells and markedly reduced interstitial cell infiltrates. Conclusion. PEG protects against IRI and reduces early cellular inflammation. PEG may impair the recruitment and migration of leukocytes into retransplanted pig kidneys. Cold preservation of donor organs with PEG-supplemented solutions may therefore help limit IRI in human renal transplantation.
ERM, a PEA3 Subfamily of Ets Transcription Factors, Can Cooperate with c-Jun (*)

A human cDNA clone for ERM, a member of the ets gene family, has been obtained by polymerase chain reaction with degenerate primers corresponding to highly conserved regions within an Ets DNA binding domain. ERM mRNA is expressed ubiquitously. The gene was mapped to chromosome 3q27. In in vivo transient-expression assays, ERM induced transcription more efficiently from a synthetic element containing both an ets-binding site (EBS) and a cyclic AMP response element (CRE) than from one containing an EBS alone. The activation of a synthetic EBS-CRE site by ERM was likely to involve a leucine zipper protein capable of dimerizing with CRE-BP1 leucine zipper. Indeed, ERM and c-Jun synergistically activated the EBS-CRE without making an apparent ternary complex. The synergy between c-Jun and ERM may be attributed to the enhancing effect of c-Jun on the transcription activity of ERM, because c-Jun increased ERM transcription activity by more than 20-fold in an assay system using a variety of fusion proteins between a Gal4 DNA-binding domain and a portion of ERM. This enhancing effect of c-Jun required the amino-terminal portion of ERM.
An autonomous SRAM with on-chip sensors in an 80nm double stacked cell technology

An active solution to overcome the uncertainty and fluctuation in nano technology SRAM is introduced. It automatically adapts SRAM's operation optimized for the process variation and operating environments by using on-chip timer, temperature sensor, substrate noise manager and leakage current monitor. A test SRAM chip fabricated with an 80nm SRAM process, shows that average power consumption is reduced by 9%, and the standard deviation decreases by 58%.
Comparison of energy relaxation in one-dimensional thermionic and tunneling transistors

We compare energy relaxation in 1-D tunnel field-effect transistors (FETs) vs. thermionic FETs, focusing on carbon nanotubes (CNTs). In CNTs the strongest inelastic scattering process with optical phonons has very high energy, Λω<inf>OP</inf> « 0.18 eV, three times higher than in Si. We find the energy relaxation rate in tunnel FETs is up to 20 times slower than in thermionic FETs for −1000 μΑ/μπι current and −0.3 eV band gap, when most carriers are injected below the OP energy. More generally, this relaxation rate depends on band gap, phonon energy, inelastic scattering rate, and desired drive current. The results have strong implications for the design of new, low-energy transistors based on non-equilibrium tunneling transport.
BAG2 Gene-mediated Regulation of PINK1 Protein Is Critical for Mitochondrial Translocation of PARKIN and Neuronal Survival*

Emerging evidence has demonstrated a growing genetic component in Parkinson disease (PD). For instance, loss-of-function mutations in PINK1 or PARKIN can cause autosomal recessive PD. Recently, PINK1 and PARKIN have been implicated in the same signaling pathway to regulate mitochondrial clearance through recruitment of PARKIN by stabilization of PINK1 on the outer membrane of depolarized mitochondria. The precise mechanisms that govern this process remain enigmatic. In this study, we identify Bcl2-associated athanogene 2 (BAG2) as a factor that promotes mitophagy. BAG2 inhibits PINK1 degradation by blocking the ubiquitination pathway. Stabilization of PINK1 by BAG2 triggers PARKIN-mediated mitophagy and protects neurons against 1-methyl-4-phenylpyridinium-induced oxidative stress in an in vitro cell model of PD. Collectively, our findings support the notion that BAG2 is an upstream regulator of the PINK1/PARKIN signaling pathway.
Cellular Localization and Role of Kinase Activity of PMK1 in Magnaporthe grisea

ABSTRACT A mitogen-activated protein (MAP) kinase gene, PMK1, is known to regulate appressorium formation and infectious hyphal growth in the rice blast fungus Magnaporthe grisea. In this study, we constructed a green fluorescent protein gene-PMK1 fusion (GFP-PMK1) to examine the expression and localization of PMK1 in M. grisea during infection-related morphogenesis. The GFP-PMK1 fusion encoded a functional protein that complemented the defect of the pmk1 deletion mutant in appressorium formation and plant infection. Although a weak GFP signal was detectable in vegetative hyphae, conidia, and germ tubes, the expression of GFP-Pmk1 was increased in appressoria and developing conidia. Nuclear localization of GFP-Pmk1 proteins was observed in a certain percentage of appressoria. A kinase-inactive allele and a nonphosphorylatable allele of PMK1 were constructed by site-directed mutagenesis. Expression of these mutant PMK1 alleles did not complement the pmk1 deletion mutant. These data confirm that kinase activity and activation of PMK1 by the upstream MAP kinase kinase are required for appressorium formation and plant infection in M. grisea. When overexpressed with the RP27 promoter in the wild-type strain, both the kinase-inactive and nonphosphorylatable PMK1 fusion proteins caused abnormal germ tube branching. Overexpression of these PMK1 mutant alleles may interfere with the function of native PMK1 during appressorium formation.
Essentials of stochastic finance

This important book provides information necessary for those dealing with stochastic calculus and pricing in the models of financial markets operating under uncertainty; introduces the reader to the main concepts, notions and results of stochastic financial mathematics; and develops applications of these results to various kinds of calculations required in financial engineering. It also answers the requests of teachers of financial mathematics and engineering by making a bias towards probabilistic and statistical ideas and the methods of stochastic calculus in the analysis of market risks.
Effectiveness and cost-effectiveness of a pharmacy-based screening programme for Chlamydia trachomatis in a high-risk health centre population in Amsterdam using mailed home-collected urine samples

In order to increase case-detection of Chlamydia trachomatis (CT) in a multicultural, low-income and high-CT-prevalence neighbourhood, a novel approach was piloted in collaboration with the pharmacy of the health centre. During a two-year period, women aged 15–29 years who collected their contraceptives at the pharmacy were offered CT-test materials. Home-collected urine could be mailed to the laboratory and the general practitioner received the results. Nine percent of respondents were CT-positive (14% among 15–24 year-olds). There was a strong association with Surinamese/Antillean background. Uptake of the programme was low (27%). Net cost per pelvic inflammatory disease prevented ranged from cost-saving up to €3872 in a low complication rate/high testing cost scenario. Faced with higher risk, but low participation rates, active case-detection of CT-infections in 'high-prevalence-areas' needs a concerted approach by different providers and community organizations, both in secondary and primary prevention. Pharmacists can contribute if proper liaison is made with primary care providers and/or public health services for (partner-)treatment, counselling and comprehensive sexual health care.
Application of artificial neural networks in establishing regime channel relationships

The main purpose of this study is to evaluate the potential of simulating regime channel treatments using artificial neural networks. A collection of regime channel data with 371 data sets was collected from available literature. These data sets were randomly split into two subsets, i.e. Training and validation sets. The multi layer perceptron artificial neural network (MLP) was used to construct the simulation model based on the training data. The results show a considerably better performance of the NN model over the available empiric or rational equations. The constructed ANN models can almost perfectly simulate the width, depth and slope of alluvial regime channels. The values of correlation coefficient (R2) are close to one and the values of root mean square error (RMSE) are close to zero in all conditions. The results demonstrate that the ANN can precisely simulate the regime channel geometry, while the empirical, regression or rational equations can't.
Energy Harvesting Aided Device-to-Device Communication Underlaying the Cellular Downlink

The specific family of device-to-device (D2D) communication underlying downlink cellular networks eliminates the reliance on base stations for its transmission by allowing direct transmission between two devices in each other’s close proximity that reuse the cellular resource blocks for enhancing the attainable network capacity and spectrum efficiency. By considering downlink resource reuse and energy harvesting (EH), our goal is to maximize the sum-rate of the D2D links, without degrading the quality-of-service requirement of the cellular users. We formulated a sum-rate maximization problem of joint resource block and power allocation for the D2D links, which resulted in a non-convex problem that was then transformed into a more tractable convex optimization problem. Based on the results of our Lagrangian constrained optimization, we propose joint resource block and power allocation algorithms for the D2D links, when there is non-causal (offline) and causal (online) knowledge of the EH profiles at the D2D transmitters. The performance of the algorithms is quantified using simulation results for different network parameters settings, where our online algorithm performs close to the upper bound provided by our offline algorithm.
Chemical and biological assay procedures for lysine in fish meals.

Sixteen laboratories from different countries undertook chemical tests to determine the lysine content of 8 samples of fish meal. The chemical tests were total lysine (gas liquid chromatography or ion exchange chromatography), dye binding capacity (DBC), dye binding lysine (DBL), and reactive lysine (FDNB). The same samples of fish meal were analysed for biologically-available lysine in four laboratories by chick feeding experiments. Estimates of lysine by all methods except DBC differed significantly between laboratories, but generally meals were ranked similarly by each laboratory. The largest estimate of between laboratory variance, and also the poorest concordance of ranking of the meals by the different laboratories was shown by DBL. The chemical methods for measuring lysine gave means which were significantly different from the bioassay results. However, all the chemical methods gave values which correlated with the bioassay values. The DBC, DBL and FDNB methods gave similarly high correlation coefficients while total lysine was less well correlated. Use of the chemical methods to predict values for biologically-available lysine gave wide confidence limits which are likely to encompass the variability in the majority of commercial fish meal samples. Consequently none of the chemical methods can be regarded as satisfactory for the purpose of distinguishing between normal commercial samples of fish meals in terms of an absolute content of biologically-available lysine. The chemical methods may, however, be used in a more limited sense to detect differences in quality between meals of known history without indicating any absolute values for biologically-available lysine. The dye binding methods appear suitable for process control within a fish meal factory where the analyses are carried out in a single laboratory and the nature of the raw material is known.
Efficacy of Work-Based Training for Direct Care Workers in Assisted Living

This article reports on the efficacy of a work-based learning program for direct care workers in assisted living. The program goal was to improve skills and facilitate career development. The training program had positive impacts at both individual and organizational levels. Survey data found that workers felt more competent and self-confident about their abilities to work with residents. Furthermore, increasing satisfaction with the training program over time led to greater job satisfaction and a desire for additional education. Organizations have better outcomes when workers are well trained, feel empowered, and are satisfied with their work. Policy implications for assisted living settings and meeting the growing demand for a competent direct care workforce are discussed.
Automated detection of pulmonary nodules in PET/CT images: Ensemble false-positive reduction using a convolutional neural network technique.

PURPOSE Automated detection of solitary pulmonary nodules using positron emission tomography (PET) and computed tomography (CT) images shows good sensitivity; however, it is difficult to detect nodules in contact with normal organs, and additional efforts are needed so that the number of false positives (FPs) can be further reduced. In this paper, the authors propose an improved FP-reduction method for the detection of pulmonary nodules in PET/CT images by means of convolutional neural networks (CNNs). METHODS The overall scheme detects pulmonary nodules using both CT and PET images. In the CT images, a massive region is first detected using an active contour filter, which is a type of contrast enhancement filter that has a deformable kernel shape. Subsequently, high-uptake regions detected by the PET images are merged with the regions detected by the CT images. FP candidates are eliminated using an ensemble method; it consists of two feature extractions, one by shape/metabolic feature analysis and the other by a CNN, followed by a two-step classifier, one step being rule based and the other being based on support vector machines. RESULTS The authors evaluated the detection performance using 104 PET/CT images collected by a cancer-screening program. The sensitivity in detecting candidates at an initial stage was 97.2%, with 72.8 FPs/case. After performing the proposed FP-reduction method, the sensitivity of detection was 90.1%, with 4.9 FPs/case; the proposed method eliminated approximately half the FPs existing in the previous study. CONCLUSIONS An improved FP-reduction scheme using CNN technique has been developed for the detection of pulmonary nodules in PET/CT images. The authors' ensemble FP-reduction method eliminated 93% of the FPs; their proposed method using CNN technique eliminates approximately half the FPs existing in the previous study. These results indicate that their method may be useful in the computer-aided detection of pulmonary nodules using PET/CT images.
Rehabilitation in acute stroke patients in German-speaking Switzerland.

PRINCIPLES The aim of this study was to obtain an overview of stroke-specialised rehabilitation facilities in German-speaking Switzerland, as well as the numbers of stroke patients treated. It also focused on the mode of goal-setting and evaluation, and the use of instruments to assess the patient's state and progress. METHOD Out of 28 stroke rehabilitation facilities, 21 participated in a structured telephone interview. Of these, 18 institutions provided full data. RESULTS The results show that the facilities (n = 18) vary considerably in numbers of patients treated per year (Ø 124, range 7-500) and length of stay (Ø 40 +/- 17.23). Goal-setting and evaluation, including the setting of short term and long term goals, is a common feature. They differ, however, in terms of patient involvement, processes and professions participating in goal-setting and evaluation. A variety of instruments are used for patient assessment at admission and during rehabilitation. Admission to rehabilitation does not rely on standardised patient health status assessment. CONCLUSIONS Stroke rehabilitation in German-speaking Switzerland embraces a heterogeneous landscape with respect to use of instruments, goal-setting and evaluation process and patient involvement. To facilitate comparison, the same core instruments for assessment and evaluation should be selected and consistently applied. Also, the admission criterion "potential for rehabilitation" should be transformed into a universally and scientifically valid term. The effect of patient involvement in goal-setting on rehabilitation outcome has not yet been investigated. Thus no recommendations can be made for the moment.
Facial expression recognition using Stochastic Neighbor Embedding and SVMs

Facial expression recognition (FER) has become a hot topic in the computer vision and pattern recognition communities because of its great potential applications in many areas such as human computer nature interaction, animation etc‥ In this paper, we present a new approach to facial expression recognition, which uses Stochastic Neighbor Embedding (SNE) for reducing the high dimensional data of facial expression images into a relatively low dimension data and then uses support vector machine (SVM) as the classifier for the expression classification afterwards. The proposed new algorithm is applied to facial expression recognition on Japanese Female Facial Expression (JAFFE) database, better performance is gained compared with those traditional algorithms, such as PCA and LDA etc‥ The results have further proved the effectiveness of our proposed algorithm.